Retrenchment

How many of you remember the old church movie about Abigail, the bishop's daughter who liked nice things and wanted to party (19th century, small town style)? You know, the one about Brigham Young starting the Young Women's Retrenchment Society called Pioneers in Petticoats? Did anyone else make mock the funny looking little girl who didn't want Abigail to be president?

Anyway, I digress. I hereby announce my intent to RETRENCH. Okay, you may be thinking, "Elizabeth doesn't really wear nice things, and her car is nearly a decade old." But boy, do I spend money. Duran and I created a detailed spreadsheet with every single non-cash transaction we made in 2008. That's right, EVERY SINGLE ONE. All billion, gazillion of them. Some things didn't surprise us (like spending oh so very much on a certain fourplex in SLC). But two categories did--I will not mention them now, but believe me, we were surprised (can you guess?).

In years past, we have been very diligent at detailed budget making and keeping (one certain husband might argue that one certain wife is a little OCD about budgets). This year our personal bookkeeping has been based way too much on general balances--you know, just getting by until our income and expenses stabilize, but now that we're stable and the last remodeling bill is paid, it is time to RETRENCH. No more trips to Mrs. Backer's Bakery (Duran....) and no more paperbacks from Costco (me, all me).

So as our family's CFO, I declare March the month of retrenchment. I will dedicate my blog to reporting on our efforts to restructure and save money. Yup, 31 days of retrenchment ideas. Are you up for the challenge? Stay tuned. It'll be fun.