Streeeeeeeeeeeetch

I'm learning a new-ish routine. I've always wanted my own morning routine, but didn't rely on much. Nothing was telling me I had to do this at this time, I had to that at that time.

But then we got a puppy.

Fin is now almost 8 months old, and she and I have a great morning routine (I'm getting somewhere with this, I promise). I roll out of bed at 6. Wake her up, take her outside, and then we go through the motions. She gets water, I feed her, she rolls her toy around under my feet as I write at the computer for a little bit. By 6:45, we are out the door for our morning jog. My colleague honks at us (part of her new morning routine) as she drives by. We get back, and I make my coffee and get ready for work, and Fin wakes my boyfriend up with a jump and plenty of dog "kisses."

It's become as easy as breathing. I only muddle the routine on weekends, but even then I try to keep some semblance of my weekday motions.

Beginning this new routine has taken some time, taken some getting used to, and will be tweaked as time goes by (as I'm able to wake up earlier, among other things). But it has become a routine that I enjoy. It's no longer a chore to go jogging; no longer as hard to roll out of bed so early.

And that is exactly what needs to happen when we create a budget.

Saving money, buying smartly, and saving some more is something that should become so routine that if you spend more than you ought, it feels like you're stutter-stepping (you know that feeling--didn't you have to try hurdles in junior high, too?).

Creating a budget and sticking to it is a hard chore when it begins. I make mistakes, too: I let up on myself when pay day rolls around or when I buy something a little on the uneccessary side (chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream--but it was the generic brand!).

The important thing to remember is that this whole budget thing gets a lot easier. Once we live to learn more frugally and more conscientiously, it will become a habit.

My mother is the perfect example of budgeting her money. In fact, she always tells me that my grandfather used to tell her, "It's not how much money you have, it's how you manage it." She lives in a beautiful home with new floors and has the kind of style you'd see in House Beautiful Magazine--and she finds everything at resale or thrift stores. She's the queen of repurposing, bargain shopping, and stretching her dollar to the max.

I'm going to brink you links soon, I promise.

Until then, here's to beginning the morning with a good stretch and turning budgeting into a you'd-miss-it-if-it-wasn't-there routine!

-Budget Girl