Reporting In -- And Reporting Out.

I've learned a lot about money over the past six months but more importantly, I've learned that I'm a terrible blogger.

I'm sure that to many "blogging" means daily or weekly updates and well, that's not really been going so well. And while everyone is entitled to their own opinion about my writing ability, I think we can all agree that my ability to be a regular blogger blows.

But, true to the spirit of what FrugalJo is, things have been pretty quiet over the past couple of months and I'd like to think the blog reflected that. Yes, all's been quiet on the Frugal Front.

And just because it's been fairly quiet, it doesn't mean there aren't stories to share. "The True Cost of Reusing Baggies", "Confessions from a WIC Mom", "Why Going Organic is Really More Expensive" and "Let Me Put a Bug in Your Ear" are all topics that come to immediately to mind, but those stories will have to wait.

And I'd love to give a little update on the goals we set out to achieve, but not only am I terrible regular blogger, but I just can't seem to tell a short story. I had a final entry written with little updates, but each "little update" ended up being it's own super-long entry, which defeated the purpose of a final entry. It just went on and on and on and on....

So, it's been fun to report in, but now it's time to report out. Thanks for all the comments along the way -- I think all of us trying to live well on one income enjoy knowing that we are not alone.

Yes, you are not the only one whose van doesn't start on the very day that you're to take the kids to the first day of that trendy, super expensive music class that required a third mortgage that all the mommies are talking about because your mother-in-law forgot her purse in there the day before and when she came to get it left the door open resulting in a dead battery

on the same day that...

your new water heater explodes (and nobody -- not the company or the installer will take responsibility for it)

on the same that...

the cat eats a plastic baggie that you're proudly reusing to be more frugal and environmentally-conscience resulting in a $1000 vet bill

on the same day that...

your kids both get ringworm from playing at the compost pile at the organic community garden (which you signed up for thinking the $15 fee is much cheaper than trying to start a garden yourself, but now, reviewing two doctor bills for two kids and the co-pays on four medications makes you wonder if it wouldn't have been cheaper to buy a frickin' roto-tiller)

on the same day that...

you reach for the piece of chocolate cake that you had quietly hid behind an old pasta jar in the fridge -- the piece that you were saving for that moment in your day when the kids were finally -- finally -- all doing something that allowed you a precious mommy moment -- and you reach for it and it's GONE, and you realize your husband must have been on to you, and you lay on the kitchen floor and cry. A good, let-it-all-out cry. And then you see the dust-bunnies, cobwebs and a collection of Tinker Toys under everything as you're crying. And this makes you cry more. Until you realize that you kids have been oddly quiet. And then discover they both pooped, took their diapers off and did "art" on the couch....

And it just goes on, and on, and on....