Stress and Spending Money

I recently reviewed my 'spending tracking worksheet' and noticed that my spending has been out of control this month. My spending always seems to spike when I am under a lot of stress at work and when my schedule is crazy busy. I often fall into bad habits of eating out, buying Starbucks 4-5 days a week, and scheduling appointments like pedicures and massages. This month has been a pricey one and unfortunately has limited the amount of money I can put in savings at the end of the month. I really enjoy tracking my spending and keeping receipts to show myself where the money is going. Today is a wake up call for the budget and the month of July needs to be a bit more thrifty. I am setting a goal for myself to put $250 in our Baby Savings Fund next month... which means the spending needs to lighten up! :)

New Book...

After my post last week about feeling stressed and overwhelmed and the journey to having a baby, I decided to order the popular book 'Taking Charge of Your Fertility' and plan to start reading the book this weekend. I read the reviews online and found a lot of women that enjoyed reading the book and felt like it was a good guide to understanding your body and your fertility. My husband and I are looking forward to reading this book together and trying to practice patience as we continue on this journey together. I hope this book is an enjoyable read as well as educational... stay tuned, I plan to blog about my reading soon!

Deep Breath

Sometimes life is crazy, overwhelming, and stressful and just taking a deep breath can really help... I have been under an insane amount of stress at work lately and we have also been trying to start a family (which so far has been unsuccessful and very emotional). There are days when it feels like too much to handle... and then I remember something my mom has said for years, "God will not give you anything more than you can handle". I have been reminding myself of that quote for the past few weeks when life just feels heavy. I am also learning a new level of patience with the 'trying to conceive' process... God will give us a family when it is the right time, which is so much easier to say than to actually feel. I am practicing what I preach today and taking a few deep breaths and saying a few prayers...

New Book Club Selection

As always, book club was great last night... we enjoyed the time to chat and catch up and only spent about 10 minutes talking about the last book club selection. We spent the majority of our time just chatting and discussing plans for the summer. One of the best parts of book club night is choosing the next book and we chose 'The Four Ms. Bradwells' by Meg Waite Clayton. I am excited to start a new book and I can guarentee that I will enjoy this one more than last month's selection!

Book Update

Okay... this month's book club selection is not a subject I would choose to read again. The book 'Our Man in Tehran' is over 400 pages and honestly feels like reading a textbook. There are so many names and places to keep track of that it is actually somewhat exhausting to read. I must admit that I have learned a lot about Iran and have a whole new appreciation for foreign policy, but this would not be a book I would read again. I am only about 70% done with the book and with our book club meeting tomorrow night, I don't think I will be finishing this book. I have a feeling that the most exciting part of book club tomorrow will be choosing a new book!