Coupon Brag Book

Penny is a good dog but she's been fired as a blogger. I promised her she could log in sometimes, but she gets so much hair on the keyboard it's not worth letting her surf. As promised last post, here is a photo of the coupon brag book. As you can see, the pages are the perfect size for just about any coupon, and it's a snap to flip pages through. I bought mine at the dollar store, and they had a large selection. I carry it everywhere in my purse so I am never caught without my coupons.



Onto other subjects... I was at Albertson's yesterday and I noticed a bin selling all the New Year's goodies off at .10 each. I hit the motherlode for party supplies! Of course there the usual New Year's fare, napkins, noisemakers, etc. I bought a few of these things for next year.



The real treasures were the party horns and bags of confetti. I bought all I needed to fill out three birthday party's worth of goody bags this next year, plus enough confetti to add a little glam to special cards and gifts and spice up the pinatas. All in all, I carried out 3 stuffed bags of party supplies for less then $4. I hope the rest of 2008 turns out to be this exciting!



Speaking of 2008, I've been thinking about what my goals are. We have always been pretty frugal, but last year a simple remodeling gone wrong drug us into deep debt territory. We're talking $80,000 worth, give or take a thousand. It's hard not to feel sick about it, and yes, I have been losing sleep (see me losing sleep right now!;).



It's easy to feel hopeless. Not only is our own debt like a hobgoblin sitting on our chests at night, all his little friends flit and dance around in the shadows whispering about stagflation, rising oil and plummeting housing values. As we struggle to pay the last bit to get the house finished (which is a new front door and getting the shower fixed - the last tile job on it had to be ripped out because it leaked) I find myself getting the urge to go stark raving mad with debtophobia.



As I was brooding over all things dark and gloomy the other day, the Bible verse about God clothing the lilys in the field finer then King Solomon came to my mind. I realized that I had stopped trusting God and had started listening to the media's fearful whispers. It suddenly came to my mind that if He can feed 5,000 off a few loaves and fishes, how much can He magnify my few pennies into paying off my debt? I have faith that He can do it.



Like the Proverbs 31 Mystery Woman, I have to start watching over my household before He can bless it. He wants to see me move before He can move for me. This blog is about me seeing that "my lamp does not go out at night" (which is good since I can sleep anyway;). We have 4 years left before we retire, and though we have a little set aside we started with too little too late. My goal is to see if I can get rid of the debt from last year this year.



I've actually always wanted to do this anyway. For years I've been reading about Amy Dacyczyn (I actually got to do a phone interview on her once and she really walks the walk!) and wondering... could I do that? Could we cut our expenses low enough to empower ourselves with the finances we have already in our pockets? Could we really be free?



Freedom. We live in the land of the free and yet our lifestyles make us not free. It is such a sweet thought, though, to think of owing no one but God. That's my goal this year. I may or may not make it, but we'll definately be better off for the effort.



Well, now that I've bored you to tears with my philosophical flounderings, let me invite you to join me on this journey. Please leave a comment, give advice or share some frustrations. We've no time to lose - four days of 2008 are already gone (and I'm going to need EVERY day to finish this goal!).



Have a New Year full of abundant joy,
prosperity and love.

2008 WILL be GREAT!