Here we gooooooooooooooooooooo!!!

For those of you who haven't heard of the "Lewis family insanity experiment", I'm gonna break it down for you one time:
We, the Lewis family, are sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck! Especially since Greg makes enough money for us to live comfortably; we aren't extravagant people (although we are fabulous), so where the HELICOPTER does all the money go????? So our vow for the next year is to live way within, or below our means. Translation: we are not going to spend one dime of our income on anything that is not absolutely necessary.
Those of you who know me, know that I am a major coffee addict, as well as shopping lover and purse buyer extrordinaire (did I really just say in the previous paragraph that I don't know where the money goes?!) so I am going cold turkey on all of those things. If I wants me some coffee, I gots to make it at home. I have enough purses to accessorize a small gathering of very fashionable women, so I can just rotate those puppies. Shopping will just be a Zen exercise in self control that will probably end with tears and a bad case of the shakes (like most addicts get when detoxing). My three adorable children (hahahahahaaaa) have not really grasped the concept yet since Santa just came and gave them everything they need to keep them happy for at least one more week. Once that time is up, they will be hit with the reality that they will not be getting any new toys during this year. If they want to get something new then they have to sell some of their old toys that they don't use to earn the money to buy the new item. They also have the option of doing work for Nonnie (my mom) to earn the thing they want, but they actually have to work for it and it's not going to be an available option all the time. If they need clothes we will get it for them, but other than that, if it's just a want they will have to do without.
Now I think it will hit Greg the hardest, he has a major fast food addiction (and it's not like I can replicate that at home easily, like my coffee problem). We won't be spending any money on fast food and will be only going out to eat every now and again for a special occasion ( we can go on dates every few months, but we can't spend more than $50). So when Greg starts his new shift and is on the road all day he's going to have to bring his cooler of food with him instead of stopping.
I don't want anyone to take pitty on us, it's not like we'll be sitting at home crying, we have a Zoo membership, an OMSI (the science museum) membership and a gym membership so we'll have plenty of things to do and now we won't have any excuses not to use them.
So, in conclusion, we are hoping to have most, if not all, of our debt paid off by the end of the year and to have a new idea of what we really need to be happy in life. Plus, I already have a ton of things in the house that I'm looking forward to selling throughout the year so I can color my hair (can you believe that Greg things my hair coloring in not a necessity? That, my friends, is INSANITY!!!!!) and my house will finally be uncluttered and tidy! Yay team. Oh, one last thing, we will be bartering as one option to get things we want, so if anyone has a child that needs to be watched, a stereo that needs hooking up or something that we can do for you in exchange for a coffee card or something like that (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), we're at your service.
Please check back here often, I'll be blogging at least once a week to whine and complain and generally suck the joy out of your day, but I promise to do it with panache and humor and extreme honesty. And if my blog breath smells like coffee, I swear I made it myself, at my house, it's not from Dutch Brothers (yum), unless I bartered for it (again, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).

Thanks for reading!
Sabrina