We'll take a brief pause at this point to let everyone catch up. I just posted the latest assignment yesterday, Assignment #8: Create a Blueprint for your Dreams. It will help you turn your Top Ten list into a specific, workable plan. Don't skip this step! Make it a goal to have it completed by Monday, when I'll post the next assignment.

Did you enjoy the dreams/top ten list assignment? For those who did it the first time, did the things you put on your list give you some insight into what is really important to you? Are you excited about the things you chose as your Top Ten? How is spending coming? Are you able to stick to the modified spending freeze at this point?

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I'm sorry I haven't been with you Kim! We had family in town ALL last week, plus I have just been trying to keep up with my forums!

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Bekah
Co-founder and CEO of the NOVITZKE FAMILY INC.

I really enjoyed the Top 10 assignments. 100 dreams is a LOT. It was fun to come up with them, and I categorized them and everything, but I really didn't think much about them after that. Choosing the Top 10 really made me think about what I want to accomplish. I've already taken steps to do some of them.

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It's not what you make; it's what you spend.

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I am trying to catch up. I am almost done with my list of 100 and tomorrow I will get them broke down into the top 10 and catagorized.

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"This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave."~Elmer Davis



Don't forget about our Veteran's on November 11th!!!

Whoops.. I guess I must have forgotten that we were supposed to attempt to write 100 dreams... it sounds familiar now that other people are saying it! I will work on that. I don't know if my Top 10 will change though. We'll see!

The past two weeks have been great! We decided to do another money-spending freeze this week, although we don't really have any money to spend so it kind of worked itself out. I am going to Sunflower Market for their double-ad Wednesday and Wal-mart. I have a grand total of $7.85 left in our grocery budget. I looked at the ads and made a list and I should be able to buy some fruits and veggies, milk and bread with that money. I will be contributing $0.23 from my coin purse though.

The whole "living within our means" thing has become WAY easier than I thought it would. Honestly, I wasn't sure I could do it when I first started this, but I am so proud of myself! I was the spender in the relationship and my husband's only fault is that he didn't tell me no more often (although I don't think that would have gone over very well if he had). We literally do not buy anything unnecessary anymore. We've never really been those people that try to account for every dollar so this is really good for us! We still have our "allowances" ($10/week) so I think that helps the spending bug (for me anyway).

I am so proud of us as a family, my 7 year old included! We are eating up forgotten food in the pantry and doing free activities! And no one is complaining! I think the best thing we did was explain what was going on to my son and involve him in all of it. He doesn't even bother asking anymore (ie treats at Starbucks). We stopped eating fast food on May 10th after watching the show Super Size Me and I've lost 6 lbs since then! Not to mention all the money saved from that alone (we were eating out at least 2-3 times per week). Now we are going to have a family dinner out once a month to celebrate paying down the credit cards. And it has to be a place we have a coupon for!

Tomorrow's the big day for calculating how much we spent/paid on credit cards and our new net worth for the month! I'm really excited to see how it went!

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Monica ~ Mommy to Matheu, 7 and Liliana, 23 months

I think the spending freeze has stopped me from new house shopping (30 day till the big move). Still I will be doubling our space so we have a lot of wants for the new space. I have been spending time just shopping so I really will know what I can get where for less and the like. So we will be getting a 2nd and a 3rd bath and that means towels and linnens, a guest bed room so a bed a 2nd living room, might need another couch and looking for drapes and window coverings that won't break the bank.

Still this week we plan to be good with our spending So we will have a little extra for all the extra's we want to buy.

I also think that I will be planning a Portland (no Sales tax) shopping trip for sometime mid August. I get to visit my mom (just a tank of gas) and really can save big when you have a lot to buy.

Incentive to keep our spending froozen. Looking at our plans this week it should be pretty cheep though I need to figure out something to send to my dad for his birthday.

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Kimberly Proud Mommy to Bethany Rose April 2006 &

Organizer of the Coupon Clippers of Tacoma