It's hard to hold a candle in the cold November Rain

November is already shaping up to be a busy month for me. It is my own doings, and I hope I like the results.

Not only have I decided to write a novel with the National Novel Writing Month motivating me, but I've also decided to step up my gym attendance and focus a little more on healthy eating (excepting Thanksgiving day where I WILL indulge). Plus, I'm working on adding to food storage in case of emergencies and also planning for a dinner at church in a few weeks and reading a book for a book club meeting in a couple weeks. I also need to step up my walking, but with the weather turning to the rainy season, I may have to drive to a nearby mall to walk around or something. I did find a co-worker who wants to walk together, so I'm going to have to send her an email and see if she has any suggestions.

Meanwhile, we have to save up money for our December trip (we've already bought most of our Christmas gifts, and we probably won't do much decorating this year since we will be gone and the kittens are in their super-curious mode lately, making messes everywhere). And I read about a challenge to save $1000 in 30 days, so we are going to try that this month also, so we can use that money for the aforementioned (for more information about the challenge, click here).

I have the opportunity to work overtime (up to 10 hours extra each week) as work goes into the busy season. And we have a couple items that we're going to sell (our LoveSac and our entry bench), so between those things, we could get quite close. But instead of spending $35 or more going out to eat, we're going to eat in and count those savings. We're going to be frugal with our spending, and we're going to keep track of where we've saved money and how much. We've already cut back expenses by combining our cell phones into a family plan (and then reducing minutes when we realized we weren't using nearly as many as we were paying for). Plus we still have our DVR and cable TV, but we've cut back expenses there by shopping around and trying to leave our current service provider (it's amazing how much money they'll knock off your bill if you just threaten to go to a competitor). We will probably have additional expenses coming up now that we're going to be sure we have an activated alarm system and we have to pay to replace the broken window, but I think we can still manage it.

So while it is getting chilly out, maybe I'll adjust the thermostat a couple more degrees and use the "I'm cold" excuse to cuddle and bundle up a bit more. I have some of Stephen's Gourmet Peanut Butter Cup Cocoa to help keep me warm. Yum!