It's almost 2010! Time for a new blog!

I'm poor.

I shouldn't be poor. I make a good salary. I don't live an extravagant life. My purse, for example, cost less than $20. My house? Cost less than $100,000 when I bought it. My car is completely paid for.

But I am in debt. A lot of debt.

I hate it. I loathe it. I despise it. And I'm doing everything in my power to get out of it.

I shriek at my husband constantly to keep the heat low. I've spent an entire day in the house, in the middle of winter, at 63 degrees. I don't shop, ever, unless it's for groceries. I utilized lay-a-way for Christmas gifts this year. I buy all my books at the used book store and then sell them back when I'm done.

The last thing I feel like I can cut down on is my grocery bill. I have two kids who are almost teenagers and one of them eats like a pig. The other one eats like a piglet (for some reason they are both extremely skinny. Jerks). My husband loves to eat too. Thus, we spend a lot of money on food.

Part of it is my fault, of course. I want my family to eat boneless, skinless chicken breast because it's better for us. I like to bake and cook and spend quite a bit on baking supplies. I really don't understand how people consider baking a money saving activity...I can buy a loaf of white bread at Kroger for 78 cents and I certainly can't make a loaf of bread for that. Plus, my family eats my homemade bread in like, two minutes. Not that I blame them. It's really good.

I want to do better though, and it's my plan to budget $100 for groceries each week in 2010. Our grocery trips include food, toiletries, and paper products. I don't know if it's possible, but I'm going to try and I'm going to use this blog to document my progress.

Come along with me. Should be a trip.