Happy Days

Good morning!

I hope you had a fantastic Christmas filled with love and hope that is what this season should bring out!  Love is what God showed when He sent his precious son to this world for our behalf.  Hope is what Jesus brought us thru his resurrection!  What amazing gifts we already have.  This was the focus of our Christmas. 

We choose to buck the American tradition of overspending and pay for our Christmas with the money budgeted and planned ahead to spend.  I started looking for Christmas gifts in August and watching the wonderful blogs Money Saving Mom and Frugal Living NW for special deals.  That really helped. 

We had a nice quiet weekend at home, just the 4 of us spending time together and relaxing.  We didn't put any pressure on ourselves to go and do but rather to just be and enjoy. 

As I've been back to work the past couple days, I have tried to bring the weekends calm with me.  Problems have arose, like they invariably do but they are not causing a panic or anxiety like they normally do.  I have just been rolling with them and they are getting resolved.  Truck break downs, intense snow storms, road closures are just part of the business but in my being proactive about tracking the trucks that are in bad weather, I have been able to head off upset customers not getting their product on time by letting them know the problems before the truck just doesn't show up.  Much better way to go. 

That's my big success of the week.  Being proactive so I don't have to react to the situations.
I have a lot of goals for the new year but that is matter for another blog.  This proactive approach is something I want to get down to where it's 2nd nature before I try to tackle the rest of the list. 

How was your Christmas?  Did you make it thru without having to incur the financial hangover that comes in the mail in January?  I hope you did but if not, I encourage you to start today looking at the way you budget and plan for Christmas.  It comes every December so it shouldn't take us by surprise when we get there. 
By planning I was able to get my family far more and better gifts than I do by waiting til later to prepare.  If you don't follow any blogs about saving money and getting more out of what you spend, I highly encourage you to do so.  There are so many great one's out there that provide everything from the latest store deals/coupon match ups to how to stretch your money to save for your goals to basic budgeting.  If you need help finding one for your particular needs/wants, let me know and I will help point you in the right direction.

Coming soon, I will be blogging about a great book I'm reading called Blind Hope.  It's incredible so far.

I will also be sharing some of my goals and plans for the new year. 

Take it easy and be safe.