Fancy on a Budget

Once again we have our house on the market. I think we are insane. This is the second attempt at moving out of the city and after only a week we're almost ready to throw in the towel. Two preschoolers, two yappy dogs, a home based business...its practically impossible to keep the house in "showing" condition. I'm exhausted. Add to that a failed offer on a spec home ( I hate builders!!) and 25+ showings in the last week, did we really need to stress?

For a really long time James and I have been wanting a shift in lifestyle, to move somewhere with some real land and privacy and slower pace of life. Because James works out of the house, we spend a tonne of time here and although we love Tuscany, we also feel like we live in a fishbowl, everyone can see our yard, and we can see into a lot of windows (not that we try to, that sounds a bit more "peeping Tom-ish" than was intended. So, after flip-flopping for months on whether to make a go at it, we decided to take the plunge. Anyone want to make my life easier and buy my house? Check me out on mls.

A big part of this move plan was to try a reduce our mortgage. But, as we tend to lose focus, we're actually now starting to look at bigger homes on bigger lots, and hence, bigger budgets. So, since that is obviously not reaching our goals, we've really cracked down and created a budget. One that I think we can stick to, and I will blog about so that I'm held accountable.

The biggest cut to my spending is in the grocery budget. Is it just me or is it near-impossible to keep a shopping trip under $150? I really paid attention this week and managed to keep it to $125, but that meant cutting a lot of "fancy" treats and opting to make it myself. One of my favorite treats is cream cheese spreads. I LOVE the veggie cream cheese from the Great Canadian Bagel, but its oober expensive. So yesterday I made it myself. Who knew it was so easy and yummy! Here's what I did. I took about 125ml of light cream cheese, mixed in about 2T of cream of leek dry soup mix (Knorr), and added some shredded carrot, celery, and spinach. Its awesome. I think next I'll try a fruit one.

Fancy even on a budget.