Trying to save and live happily

With only about 90 days (or less!) to go before we bring another person into this family, I am realizing the importance of saving as much money as possible. I read that the cost of a new baby in the first year is around $10,000. While I don't believe we spent nearly that much during Aiden's first year (thanks in big part to no medical co-pay on well-child visits and lots of gifts from family), it still makes a good point that babies really do cost a lot of money.

John has always been really good at keeping track of our finances and paying our bills on time. But even with all he does to keep us steady, we still seem to spend more than we should. Now that it's become extremely important to me to learn how to save us money, I'm trying to figure out things to do. How to shop better, how to fully use everything in my kitchen, how to cut out the extra little things that we really don't need. I can't work, so bringing in extra money isn't really an option. But I want to be a part of our financial future and help us to live to the absolute fullest. So, how do I do it?

I wish I had a bunch of answers. I'm trying to research all I can online with ways to save, but most of them don't really apply to us very much and we actually already do a lot of it. That's not to say that I haven't found ANY good tips, just not as many I was hoping for. Does that mean we're stuck? No, but it means that it may take a little while for us to really see any effects of extra saving. I know every little bit helps, but I am a very impatient person when it comes to this kind of thing. I like results immediately. The hardest part of all of this will be the waiting. I have to teach myself to stick to it all and not just assume that everything I'm doing isn't making any difference. If I don't, I'm likely to fall right back into the same behaviors and then of course no difference will be made. Frustrating, but also a little exciting at the same time. I welcome the challenge.

There are things that I already do to try to save us a little here and there. I keep every gift bag and tissue paper that we receive. That way, when we have a gift to give someone else, the wrapping is taken care of. It really comes in handy around Christmas when our costs are high to begin with. I invested in a huge cook book. Learning how to cook more and more things and really put to use every ingredient we buy helps us to cut down on eating out and buying pre-prepared foods. We still are eating out more than we need to though, so this is an area that really needs continued work for it to be successful. I've also realized that at Aiden's age, it doesn't make sense to buy all new clothes every time he grows out of what he's got. I just went clothes shopping for him at Value Village and got barely worn brand name shirts and pants for him for $23. Pants and shirts that would have cost me around $75 brand new. The only thing we bought for him new this time were shoes and pjs.

In attempting to live "frugally", I don't want to feel limited or poor. Mainly because we're not, so it would be silly to feel that way. But I know that by making pizza instead of ordering out for it, we'll be able to feel good about taking a date night and not have to worry if that nice dinner is going to break the bank. And I know that it will all start to really show in the years to come. My next step? Creating a Christmas budget.....