Another Year, Another Budget

2011 it is and a new budget The Bean Team is planning...only because our health insurance premiums went up $40 a month (boo).  There goes my grand plan of possibly upgrading to a smart phone, which would cost us $40 more a month.  Oh well, life is full of giving and taking, right? 
Then there's the glorious tax return.  Since Anthony is still in school, we usually get most of what we put in back..even though every year the entire check goes directly from our hands (what a great two seconds) to our student loan lender.  It's bittersweet but shoving any and all extra money towards those cotton pickin' loans will pay off in the future.  After they're paid and closed, I'm not sure what we'll do with the extra money.  I guess we'll just start shoving money towards our retirement fund?  Go out to eat at least once a week?  Skip the clearance section?  Can you go from being frugal for so long to being un-frugal?  Probably not.  :)  Although maybe that day I'll splurge and buy something from Pottery Barn.  I love that store (I've been inside it once) but right now it's only a distant dream.
New Year's Resolutions?  I've never been one to make them.  My thought is, why wait to make changes or better yourself for a new year?  Why not start today!  When I was 10, I remember making a personal resolution that on my 11th birthday I would start doing everything 100%.  My room would always be immaculate, I would get an A+ on every assignment and test, I would listen to my parents all the time, I would never get angry at anyone...yes, I know, a little ridiculous.  I remember making this two months before my birthday...probably the laziest, most hypocritical two months of my short life!  :)
Anyways, back to the budget.  We're excited to start a new Excel document for our 2011 budget...we're nerds, we know.  In case you want to be budget-conscious with us, you can start here.  
As much of a downer "being on a budget" can sometimes be, we really do love it.  It's taught us how to be smart with money - make smart purchases, pay off credit cards balances every month (if in order to buy it, you have to use credit, don't buy it), wait until that thing on our 'wish list' goes on sale, price-shop...the list goes on and on.  It's also taught us how to be creative and get great quality on little moolah.  Budgets bring blessing.  :)   

Happy New Year to you all!  Tag along with us this new year and watch as we tackle tons more budget-friendly home projects (we've got lots of big ideas) and just keep working on ourselves so that when blogging and the world as we know it falls away, we'll find ourselves in heaven.  
Peace out!     

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