fROZEN fEBRUARY

After a careful analysis of our budget, we realized... we weren't. Budgeting. At all. So we decided to start again, considering we currently have no income. We revamped our budget and our finances and thanks to our trusty bank USAA, did so on a spiffy chart online that keeps track of what we spend where. We are loving it and made two Family Home Evening's out of it. (I love to read approximately ten talks on budgeting/finances for at least an hour and a half... sorry Dan!)

We decided to get our new financial outlook started off on the right foot, we would kick it off with something a little extreme to get our heads in the right place. That's where FROZEN FEBRUARY came into mind (Finanical Freeze February, shortened to Frozen Feb). We are challenging ourselves to see how little we can spend this month. It's actually pretty fun. It's a challenge.

I was checking our budget a few days into the month and noticed we had a charge from our credit card company. Dan reminded me that I had paid last months credit card bill a few days late (oops). Not the best way to start frozen Feb. So I waited until I was in the right mood, called up Chase, and explained to them that we just switched to paperless statements and I wasn't used to it yet and that I just had a baby and I've been a little overwhelmed and out of my funk (sighh...) and was wondering if there was any way he could waive the fee. He replied, "Well, Rachael, I see you have been one of our loyal card-holding customers since 2010 (woah), so I would love to waive that fee for you."

Learned that from my mama.

We had to completely replace our tires in November so we were surprised when our tire light kept coming on and Dan would have to refill them almost every day. We went to Sam's Club and they told us there was a huge hole in our tire and they would have to order a totally new tire. Since they were so new, they would prorate the price, but it would still cost us quite a bit. They called us yesterday to let us know the tire was in. We went over there tonight to have it replaced and another man helped us. He told us he checked our tire and we might not need a new one after all. We wandered around the store for about half an hour, then he found us, handed us the keys and it was fixed- no charge!

Had to pick something us from Target and happened to find a bag with a sweater to return on the way there... so we made $15.00 on that trip.

Jude had his two month appointment yesterday... no copay or anything!

It's like everyone else knows we are having Frozen February and they all want to contribute.

I will be keeping you posted.... wish us luck!