Ups and Downs

About 15 years ago, my mother-in-law passed away. I didn't know her and Craig was just a kid. When we started dating, he told me about his Mom and how much she meant to him but I couldn't really grasp the concept of losing one of my parents. All I could do his hug him. A few months into dating, Craig said "today is the anniversary of my mom's death" and I just froze.

Then I hugged him.

Then he continued, "also, today is my aliyah (immigration) anniversary".

So, I hugged him, again.

Today is both an upper and a downer. A downer because I, too, mourn the loss of his mother. I never met her and Craig was just a boy when she passed but her memory lives inside of him. This day is an upper because if my in-laws hadn't shoved Craig on a plane and made him come to Israel - our paths may not have crossed.

For that, I am eternally grateful to them.

I won't lie and say that today was FANTASTIC - because it wasn't. I'm wrestling with my own demons and dealing with other stuff going on in my life.

The up side? I found more information about my Papa's family before WWII in Hungary. I made an amazing connection. The down side? Finding the new information really makes me miss my Papa. I wish I had him around so I could bombard him with questions about his past. But I can't. The anniversary of his death is March 2nd... only a few days from now.

Today is full of ups and downs:
- Downside: Craig left the trash bag out of the cupboard
- Upside: Cecil, the dog, took the trash out for him... he took out all the trash and sprinkled it throughout the house.
- Downside: Things are work are shifting into a direction I'm uncomfortable with.
- Upside: The people I work with make me laugh every day - keeping me sane.
- Downside: I miss my family.
- Upside: I'll get my dose of them this summer ... and then I'll miss Israel.
- Downside: I couldn't figure out what to make for dinner tonight.
- Upside: I concocted something so delicious, it's probably horrendous for me.

See? Full of ups and downs.

What about your day?

Tomorrow...

Tomorrow is the memorial day of my mother whom passed away 15 years ago…

Tomorrow is the anniversary of me making Aliya 7 years ago…

Tomorrow is one week away from my 7 month wedding anniversary with my amazing wife…

I look forward to tomorrow…a life with my amazing wife.

The Husband

Non-Toxic Cleaning

For those of you who've been following our NO SPEND MONTH updates, tomorrow will be our final update but we have a MARCH MADNESS surprise to announce on March 1st.

For now, I'll explain a little of what happens when Craig forces me to clean.

Yesterday, Craig was bugging me to clean the apartment so we did it together. It took us an hour to actually clean but then it took me 4 hours to get over the dust and dirt stuck in my lungs and nose.

I hate cleaning. Always have. Always will. I love to organize. Hate to clean. There's a reason I like to invest in a cleaning person. They do a better job than I do and I am not stuck inhaling dog fur and copious amounts of dust.

I am not as happy as the lady above. I look more like an angry Polak. Seriously. Within 5 minutes of cleaning, I start sneezing and coughing. It's not a pretty site.

My Mom's advice? Wear a mask.

Spring cleaning needs to be done but I think Craig and I will start using non-toxic materials like vinegar, lemon juice, and sodium bicarbonate.

What are your favorite natural cleaners?

So Juicy!

So, yesterday, I promised my facebook friends something JUICY that wasn't in our post yesterday. We went over the basics yesterday but I'm going to bare it all today and be real.

There's a few things you may not know about me:

• I hate going out. Like REALLY don't like to venture out of my house. I rarely get cabin fever.
• I'm allergic to soy which means if I ever found out that I'm allergic to dairy - I'd be SCREWED. Upside? I'd totally be thin... because I'd eat nothing.
• I suffer from depression.

I try not to rely on my friends too much because getting out of depressive funks are really hard for me. I become closed off, kinda mean, downright angry at times, and not fun to be around. I've seen more therapists than I can count and none of them really helped me. I believe in therapy as a tool but at some point, it was my therapists that won because I didn't learn much.

I started to see a life coach because it felt like the walls were caving in at times and I needed real techniques for getting back to reality. I didn't know what to do. I buried myself in my work and disconnected from reality. It happens in cycles but it's a b*tch to break out of.

I'm not sure why I'm telling anyone this - my husband grew up in a culture where you don't air your dirty laundry - but I've had these issues since I was a kid.

If you're suffering from depression - even if it's just on occasion, I urge you to seek help. I don't know what I'd do without my fantastic husband but I know that, at times, I'm too much for him to handle.

A bissel about us

Every once in a while, we get visitors to our blog who don't know us very well so I thought this would be a GREAT time to tell you a bissel (Yiddish: little) about us!

Hillary: Other names include - Hillanu (by the grandparents); Harley (by the parents); Hilly (by the nieces and nephews); HillyG (by the bloggers and karaoke crowd)

I grew up in Metro-Detroit and come from a family of a lot of siblings. Some full. Some step. All are 100% my family. I wasn't a very good student - in fact, I didn't take the SATs until I was 25. I probably could have used SAT tutoring in high school but college wasn't on my radar at the time. I wanted to do HAIR! I started traveling to Israel at 17 years old and from my first trip, I fell in love... with the country, not a guy. By age 24, I knew it was time to pack up and give another lifestyle a try and that's what I did. I moved to Israel at age 25. It wasn't without its heartaches and heartbreaks. It's definitely not easy to leave your family behind.

My first year in Israel was hard but much easier than I thought it would be. At first, my favorite part about the country was...well, boys. I was REALLY boy crazy! I started University and lived with three roommates all under the age of 20. It was difficult at first but they are three of the most amazing people I've ever known. By 2007, I was back in the U.S. - my grandfather's health wasn't great and my mom became ill. I stayed at home for a year - which drove me INSANE! By 2008, I was back in Israel, living with two of my best girlfriends. That wasn't easy either but we had a lot of good times.

After I returned to the holy land, I dated... A LOT. It was exhausting. One Saturday, my friend Tali told me to come meet her at her boyfriend's house (who happened to live in my city). I did. I was unshowered. Had no make up on. But I came with baked goods. Then I met my husband. I thought he was 18 when I first met him and I kinda insulted him when he told me how old he was. About a month or two later, we started dating! Four months after that, we got engaged!

The rest, as they say, is history! I have some of the best friends in the world - and they actually live all over the world! I'm a lucky girl.

Craig:

Full birth name is Craig Ralph Glaser; I dont really like the name Ralph but its there, I do how ever fancy that my initials 'CRG' are an abbreviation for my first name.

I was born in the deep dark jungles of Johannesburg South Africa. I grew up in the suburb of Sandton with my two younger brothers. When I was, 12 my mother passed away; thats a bit of a long story and will be told another time. My father re-married to an amazing woman who took on the challenge of raising three boys that were not her own and did an amazing job.

I lived in South Africa 'til the age of 19 when, due to the crime and general down fall of South Africa, I decided to make Aliyah (immigrate) to Israel. Note that I had never actually been to Israel, though I had attended a private Jewish day school and hence had heard just a bit about Israel.

I was in Israel for two years before I was drafted into the IDF (Israel Defense Forces). When I went for the physical and the weighin's I actually had 10 Kg (22lbs) weights on each ankle so that I would weigh more and be eligible for a combat unit because, at the time, I only weighed about 40kilo (around 88lbs). Yeah, I was a really small guy.

Thankfully, I was enlisted into the unit of my choice, the Combat Engineers. The IDF's Combat Engineers are very different from the U.S. version, as not only do we specialize in explosives and such but we are also both Urban and Field units. In the IDF, the Combat Engineers are always the first unit to enter any zone so that it may be cleared of IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and booby-traps for armor and infantry units.

I completed commanders course with the unit and went on to being a commander with the permanent forces in Ramalla and along the Lebanon border and commanded a unit of 8 soldiers.

I served for a period of two and a half years and both loved it and hated , but for the most part loved it. I complete with the rank of Staff Sergeant. I still have 30 days of reserve duty every year until age 45, which drives Hillary crazy. (Hillary: yes it does! I hate it!)

One weekend, while I was visiting a good friend of mine I met this cute American who thought that I was very very baby faced and actually thought that I was 17 years old and not 24 like I was at the time. Anyways, she brought baked goods along with her and I knew she was a keeper and that was that. Found the love of my life so decided to never let her go and married her.

Currently I am studying for my BA in Communications with a major in New and Interactive Media, I am in my second semester of my second year of a 3 year degree.

I also work close to full-time as a Fraud Analyst for the consumer side of LivePerson, its an amazing job with an even more amazing company.

Needless to say studying full-time and working pretty much full-time ain't easy but it gets done.

I have always considered my-self rather lucky with regard to how things have always fallen in place and not for even one second do I not count my self lucky and appreciate what I have and whom I share it with.

The World of Blah

Welcome to the world of Blah. Well, maybe it's more like the hour of BLAH - it's the time of day when you feel like doing absolutely nothing. You lack motivation and just want to do nothing.

Ever been there? Have you ever joined my world?

Well, I'm starting to break this habit. It's a nasty habit that I don't particularly like. I feel a little overwhelmed lately and I am definitely still in Funk-y Town.

I recently started this eCourse called "How to Overcome the 5 Common Obstacles to Soul-Centered Success". That's right, I'm making BIG changes in my life. SoulfulCoach.com is helping. Have you heard of Joanna? If you haven't, you should. She's one of the most impressive people I've had the pleasure of knowing. I highly recommend her eCourse - it's free and comes to your email box.

If you've noticed lately that I'm rather blah-y, you may have also noticed that I had no clue how to get out of it without spiraling out of control. I sought help. If you've ever felt like me, you may want to try Joanna's course. Her story is quite interesting and she's definitely helping me get out of the "World of Blah"!

Mmmmm...cookies

Last week was a little rough for us - between budgeting money and budgeting time to spend with each other, by Thursday night we were wiped out. Thursdays are our new "shopping day" because we get in and get out more quickly than we did on a Friday.

The fact is, shopping on a Friday resulted in 400 shekel shopping sprees for crap we didn't need.

Shopping on a Thursday means I'm tired and cranky... so we get what we need and what we forget, we leave for next week. When I say "tired" and "cranky" I mean I revert to being a 4 year old that just wants to take a nap but can't.

We split up the shopping list and just go. In and out.

Last Thursday was no exception ... except that I did a little taste testing. Shufersal came out with these AMAZING cookies. No, wait, they're not cookies. "Cookie" isn't strong enough. "Biscuit", as Craig calls it, isn't the right word either.

"Party in my mouth"? Maybe that fits better.

Either way, we tried 5 different types of cookies:

- Wafer Rolls filled with Hazelnut Cream

- Cookies with almond flakes and swiss milk chocolate

- Meringue cookies with swiss dark chocolate and hazelnut cream

- Meringue cookies covered with swiss dark chocolate and filled with hazelnut cream

- Wafers filled with hazelnut cream and covered in swiss milk chocolate

My favorite? The one with almonds. I'm not sure why but I couldn't stop eating them. They were crunchy without being messy and totally satisfying.

The husband's choice? The meringues... which was surprising. They were a bit too sweet for me but really hit the spot when you had a sweet craving.

Regardless of our favorites, Shufersal did an AMAZING job with their cookies. They're not only tasty, they're satisfying! I'm so sick of eating cookies with little to no taste and especially cookies that are filled with disgusting fillers.

If you want a great cookie (especially for parties) AND you're in Israel - head to your local Shufersal grocery store. You NEED to try these cookies. Seriously. Treat yourself.

This review was sponsored by Shufersal but the views in this post are 100% mine and mine alone.

Out with It!

I am a ball of emotions lately. Between work and "real life", I don't know what's up with me. Lately, at work, I've received some not so nice emails from people I've never even had contact with.

Today was no exception.

I contacted a blogger in hopes that she'd write about us on her site. This was the response I got:

hi there. i have already said no to you before. if you leave another message on my blog i will file a harassment suit. my brother is a lawyer and i am super sue happy. really, willing lawsuits is one of my favorite things to do.

try me.

i have saved your IP address along with all of your blogs and blog aliases.

ooooh all kinds of good stuff for my lawsuit.

awesome.

now bugger off!

Needless to say, her grammar sucks and she doesn't see the point in capitalizing anything but that's besides the point. The fact that this was the first time I contacted her and this was her response really surprised me. It was also rather hurtful. As I mentioned before, if you don't want money from my company - just say "no thank you". There's no reason to threaten me with legal action (which wouldn't hold up in court because my email was NO WHERE NEAR harassing).

Out of the goodness of my heart, I will not reveal the name or URL of this blogger (unless you message me and ask me nicely) ... OK, so I won't do it publicly. Still, I can't deal with people like this.

What are your thoughts on bloggers like this? Do you think they deserve a forum for their thoughts if they are mean to bloggers like me?

NO SPEND MONTH - Valentines Day Edition

So, it's Valentines Day. Craig's at work. I'm at home. It's *almost* perfect. I write "almost" because the dogs are SO loud. The upside to not doing anything on Valentines Day - we can't spend money. The downside, well, right now - the only real downside is that Craig's at work!!

This time alone gives me time to plan for next week. I had a craving for kebab today - well, red meat in general. A craving this bad hasn't happened since I was 15 and I was anemic. I figured I'm a little iron deficient so, I paid 36 shekels for rice, kebabs, fries, hummous, pickles, salad, and carrots. So, for a meal that will last me 2 lunches, I paid $9.80.

62% of our budget is gone.

If I spend wisely, I think I can get by with 150 shekels/$41 per shopping trip for the next two weeks. Think I can do it?


Happy Valentines Day!

NO SPEND MONTH - Weekend Update ... oh sh*t edition

Craig and I moved our shopping nights to Thursday (as opposed to Friday). Needless to say, we went a bit overboard this week but, it's OK - it was necessary. I tried to track down as many sales as possible and delete as much from my list as I could but, in the end, it made no difference.

We went to 3 different places for different items.

FreshMarket total: 35.89ILS/$9.76

Shufersal total: 179.27ILS/$48.74

Moshe the Veggie guy total: 47.10ILS/$12.81

By the time we got home, I was exhausted and not in the mood to cook. I hadn't been home all day so we decided to use our 20% off coupon to order pizza, pasta, and cola from Pizza Hut. Upside? It was 20% cheaper than it would have been. Downside? The idiots that work at Pizza Hut screwed up our order, didn't have the pasta on special, and forgot to bring the garlic bread they promised us BECAUSE they didn't have the pasta.

Pizza Hut total: 71.94ILS/$19.56 (with tip)

Weekend total: 334.20ILS/$90.86

That brings us to a total of 59% of our budget spent by February 11, 2011. That means we've spent around 59shekels a day! Whoa.

We bought a lot of necessities this week - which means there are things we won't need to buy next week. I learned my lesson - when it comes to things like cooking oil - always buy the bigger one. I spent 10shekels last week on a small bottle of canola oil. I spent 20shekels THIS week on a large 3 liter (almost 1 gallon) jug of canola oil... which will last me about 2 months.

I'm a little bummed though. I tried to make chili this weekend and I failed - miserably. That means I literally threw away money because I forgot how to make chili.

The smartest thing I did this weekend: put my parsley and dill in the freezer. Since I only use a little at a time, I don't need that much of it - so the rest goes in the freezer. Same with the Parmesan cheese that I grated myself.

The dumbest thing I did this weekend: not stick to my list and not really plan out intelligent meals in advance.

It's almost the halfway mark for us and we've already spent 59% of our budget. With only 454.59shekels/$123.60 left for the next 17 days - we really need to buckle down and get creative.

If only things here weren't so expensive...

NO SPEND MONTH - Days 8 and 9 ... irritation

I spent a little today... just a little. This morning, I noticed that I had very little food left to take with me to work so I stopped at the grocery store across the street from my office.

I bought:

• 6 Mini Challah (egg bread) Rolls
• 100 grams of cheese (5 slices)
• Cheese balls (so gross, never making that mistake again)
• Rice cakes (to go with the tzaziki sauce I left at home)
• Mike & Ike candies (it was better than chocolate)
• A small container of hummous

The total: 39 shekels / $10.67

On my way home, I stopped at the local drug store to pick up medicine for Craig.

I bought:

• The Israeli brand of Robitussin
• 2 packets of Fishermans Friend throat candies

The total: 50.60 shekels /$13.80

Besides the irritation of spending money, something at work really bothered me. Every day I contact dozens of awesome bloggers in hopes that they'll write a great post for us. Today, I received the snarkiest email back from a blogger.

Here's a note: if someone is offering you money to write about their company on your blog, don't burn a bridge and get upset. If you don't want to work with the company, just say no. I'm a professional blogger. If I don't want to work with a company, I simply say no. I've worked with some great companies over the last few years and I would never EVER burn a bridge with anyone who wants me to work with them.

It's a compliment. Someone values your site enough to WANT to work with you - just say "no thank you" if you're not interested.

This blogger really angered me - mostly due to the blatant disrespect.

In the end, I wrote this person a not-so-nice yet professional email back and blocked her from my list.

The end of this week can't come soon enough...

The upside? I get to come home to the most amazing man ever day. Yesterday, we celebrated 6 months of wedded "bliss". I'm incredibly grateful for him. He's incredibly grateful for his watch.... and me.

What do you look forward to after a really irritating day?

Hi-jacked again

So here I am again....

Today I thought I would tell all ya'all (I have been learning my Americanisms; the difference between ya'all and all ya'all) about a few of my hobbies. Most of which conflict with the new budget saving scheme we are on but thankfully I am quite well equipped.

First of all I am a huge gadget fan. Anything has has flash lights and I wil

l be a fan of it. And oh boy do I own a few of them, my current favorite would be my iPad.

Next on my list would be my love for photography and videography both of which I have not had enough time to keep up with. But am making plans to take more pictures...

Camera wise I have the FujiFilm HS10. Its a bridge camera, semi-DSLR and semi-point and shoot, oh and did I mention that its a superzoom as well and shoots full HD video at 1080p 30 FPS and can even shoot 1000FPS though at a terrible resolution:

I have taken a lot of photos so far but admit that I need to take more to experiment with the camera a bit more. Though recently I did get a chance to have a lot of fun with the video as I had to shoot an assignment for a final-cut coarse at school. I am still editing it and it is looking good, will post the video here once its done.

Next on the list would be the obvious cellphone; Blackberry of course as I am addicted to checking my emails. I own the 9700 Bold.

Recently my father-in-law bought me an early birthday gift, something that I had my eyes on since the day that the concept designs were posted on Gizmodo. The amazing Zero (Ziiiro) watches. Its simple, yet elegant and fancy at the same time. And I more than love it.

And yes I did take the above photo as well ;-)

And then there is the obvious computer which has too many peripherals to go into detail.

As can be seen, I have an eye for the shiny and the pricy. But we are on a savings plan and I actually cant think of any toys that I might want or need. My toy box is full and I have a lot to play with.

Until the next Hi-Jacking....keep well.

The Husband

NO SPEND MONTH - Days 6 and 7

OK, if you missed yesterday's post, the hubby came on board and hijacked blogger for the day. No only did he not talk about NOT spending, he went on and on and on and on about the car and how much he loves me (mush! melt! swoon!) - which was a nice break.

Back to the game. That's what this really is. It's a game. NO SPEND MONTH is a game for me. Well, maybe challenge is the right word. So many things are breaking in our kitchen - like my pots and pans! Maybe breaking is the wrong word... more like shedding teflon. Ich!

My pots are basically useless and I'm tempted to go to Yafo's flea market to pick up something for the mean while. Sure, Shufersal is having a GREAT... no, not the word for it, OMGAMAZINGIWISHIHADMONEY sale. That's better.

We recently tasted their private label Belgian dark and milk chocolate with hazelnuts! WOW! Amazing!

Anyway, the grocery giant is having a sale - 2 pans from Kenwood for 100 shekels.

Here's my question: Do I take 100 shekels from our budget to replace my pans or do I wait?

OMG I am here too!!!

So I know that its been a while and its about time that I started adding to "our" blog too, so here is my first post.

Hello World (only true geeks would understand it).

As Hillary might have posted a while back, we have two car; the legendary Black Panther and the Mazda 2 that I lease from the company I work for (its still nameless). So as the Black Panther is nearing its sweet 16th it has a few quirks. One of them being that there is something that seems to be draining the car battery (I am assuming that its either the car radio or the car alarm), anyways so when the car is parked for more than two days I usually land up having a dead battery.

This morning was no different, the car had been parked since Thursday afternoon and now since it was Sunday the battery was deader than dead!!!

Thankfully my wife came to the rescue and "shocked" the Pather and I back to life. (Side note - I got to use my birthday present - a road side emergency kit that Hillary bought me containing many many useful tool because we all know how reliable the Panther is).

My love you are my life and my savior and love you lots and see you later.

Regards to all

- The Husband

NO SPEND MONTH - Day 5 ... The Sabbath

Ever since we started our NO SPEND MONTH, money has been at the forefront of my mind. I have student loans to pay off; a payment that must be made to the school; credit card debt; and a lot of anxiety. That's what I'm dealing with right now.

The good news? We spend NO money today!

The bad news? I have one egg, 2 slices of bread, and 1.5 slices of cheese left. My staples are all but finished! WTF!

Anyway, I got creative today - which is great because I'm pretty sure today was the LONGEST.DAY.EVER!

Here's what we made today:

- split pea and lentil soup (lunch... and the leftovers are in the freezer)

- oatmeal bars (I knew making my own oatmeal packets was a brilliant idea!)

- salmon and mashed potatoes (dinner)

- loads of salad

- scrambled eggs to go with bagels

That's a lot to do in one day ... for me.

Needless to say I'm WIPED!

I have a lot of anxiety lately over spending money. We failed at the grocery and now I'm considering cutting most dairy products out of our menu and sticking to grains/beans/vegetables.

I also REALLY miss fruit. Eating citrus fruit is getting boring.

Tomorrow starts our work week - do you think we can make it an entire week without spending anything??

NO SPEND MONTH - Day 4 ... forgetfulness

Last night, when we were at the grocery store, I forgot a few things... or rather, I thought I could get them cheaper elsewhere. Things like fruit and rice.

In hindsight, we would have been better off buying this stuff at the grocery store.

I bought a few extras today ... like stuff to put in soup... because Craig is sick.

Anyway, we spent an extra 56 shekels today - bringing our total 221.61 NIS or $59.43.

So far, we're still on track. We went over our 200 shekel spending budget by 21 shekels and 61 agurot. Next week, I am aiming for us to spend 22 shekels less than we did this week.

I'm in a bit of a funk. The rain isn't helping. Any suggestions for getting out of funk-y town?

NO SPEND MONTH - Days 2 and 3 ... smelly edition

Craig is sick and I'm heading down that road. Day 2 was less than eventful.

We spent money on day 3. We needed groceries tonight. Just the staples - milk, sugar, fruit and veggies, a few toiletries, and dog food.

Dog food is insanely expensive in this country!!

Here are our totals:

Dog Food = 57.99 ILS/$15.75

Fruit and Veggies = 40.40 ILS/$10.97

Food and Toiletries = 79 ILS/$21.46

All in all, we spent 177.39 ILS/$48.18

Not too shabby!

Since we spent our evening grocery shopping, we decided to treat ourselves to a little snack. For 14 shekels, we ate some really disgusting pretzel bites.

Our full total for the evening was 191.39 ILS/$51.98.

That leaves us with 908.61 ILS/$246.79.

So far... so good.

Tomorrow, I'm experimenting. I'm trying to find a do-it-yourself fabric refresher. With 2 dogs, we need something that takes the stink out of fabric. Febreeze doesn't exist in this country and the closest version to it costs a whopping 39 shekels ($10.59)!! No thanks.

Here's what we need:

- 1 spray bottle

- 2 cups filtered hot water

- 2 tablespoons baking soda

- 1 cup fabric softener

Put your ingredients in the spray bottle, shake, and spray! I've heard you can use vinegar, too, but I think we'll stick with baking soda.

Do you have any DIY tips for us??

NO SPEND MONTH - Day One ... Funk-y Town

Somehow, when Lipps, Inc. sang "funky town" I don't think they were referring to the mood I've been in since yesterday. There should be a sign that says "Funk-y Town - Population: 1" and it should hang over my head at all times as a warning.

Anyway, our first day of our NO SPEND MONTH was fairly easy. With the exception of some bills paid (they're not counted, remember?), we spent $0 which is the equivalent of 0 NIS. We spent nothing. Nada. ZERO.

So, what'd I make for dinner?

Potato Soup with grated cheese (that was about to go bad) and cheese muffins (that turned out to be kinda bland...) - not a bad dinner when you consider that I brought the potato soup for lunch today, as well. I finished up our cucumbers last night when I made my not-so-famous Syrian Cucumber-Mint Soup... minus the mint. It's more like a dip.

So far, so good.

My Temptations:

I am really tempted to go out and spend a little on more fruits and veggies. The problem? Thursday is shopping night and I KNOW I can wait. We're out of cucumbers, rice, strawberries, carrots... a lot of fresh stuff basically. We're also out of oil and I don't really like using so much butter.

I'm also tempted to go out and buy a new pair of jeans since my old ones are basically ripped to shreds. In all fairness, I've had them since I was 22 - I'd say 8 years with the same pair of jeans is not a bad deal, right? If only my other clothes lasted as long. I have a due bill at a store but I'm reluctant to use it on this. I want to see if I can wait it out JUST a bit longer.

The Upside:

A lot of people have asked me the upside to all of this. My upside? Our sanity. Buying stuff in Israel is expensive. I remember when this country used to be cheap! Even buying at the shuk (read: market) is expensive! Who spends 10 shekels on juice!!! Seriously. We're trying to be creative and since food is the MAJOR expenditure for us, we're trying to cut down on it.

The Downside:

I haven't been paid yet which means I can't withdraw the money we need for this budget. Right now, we're literally living on not spending ... until I get paid.

Wish me luck and hope my funk-y-ness passes quickly... for Craig's sake.

NO SPEND MONTH - the start...

Yesterday, I wrote that Craig and I are starting something BIG. No no, we're not pregnant and we're not getting any more animals. We're not buying anything new and we're not really getting rid of anything (except my netbook... any takers?) - we're starting our NO SPEND MONTH!

I confiscated our credit cards (all but one for Craig... just in case the car breaks down). I took all the money out of my wallet (except 15 shekels) and I put EVERYTHING in a safe hiding place. Let's just hope that come March 1st, I remember where that hiding place is. :-)

What We're Starting With:

Our cupboard is stock piled with beans, lentils, barley, and pasta. We also have a TON of tomato paste, popcorn kernels, tea, canned mushrooms (although I'm pretty sure THOSE should be tossed), spices, chicken consume, vegetable soup mix, dried peas, and other random staples.

Our freezer is stocked with last week's pasta casserole, bagels, pita, bread, Popsicles (seriously, in winter??), frozen soup, frozen veggies, frozen chicken, frozen salmon, and pie dough. Needless to say, I can't put anything else in there. The malawach takes up A LOT of room!

Our fridge has some staples like milk, eggs, lettuce, other veggies, lunch meat, cream, coffee, ranch dressing, and some other random items that I buy too much of ... like jam.

My Mom always told me that I'm creative with food and now is my chance to test her theory that I can create anything with only a few items. We really don't plan on eating out because the average meal is around 90 shekels for two people (without overly priced soda drinks) - which is half of our food budget.

Our Plan:

• Budget out the groceries first. Each week, I'm giving us 200 shekels to spend on groceries.
• Plan a few "no cost" weekend adventures. We'd like to take the dogs hiking and exploring instead of spending the weekend at the mall.
• Plan out our meals ahead of time so we know exactly what we need at the grocery store!
• USE CASH!

We're not planning on depriving ourselves - this is our chance to be creative and get into good financial habits while we still have no kids.

Our first challenge? We ran out of olive oil and canola oil last night ... any suggestions on what to use instead when using a frying pan?