Level 3 Lunch & Gratitude

Good morning friends!

I realized during a conversation with my sista’ a couple weeks ago that if I tightened the belt, only so to speak since I rarely wear belts, I could expedite debt-payoff by 2 months. And when we’re already talking less than a year, 2 months is a big deal. I’ve been living pretty comfortably and giving myself a decent leash on eating out, even having things like a Luxuries category and an Entertainment category. Often I would, when I had extra dollars in practical categories like Fuel and Groceries and Random at the end of a budget cycle, I would roll those dollars into the Luxuries category. Wahoo!

So after that fateful conversation, I’ve decided to cut back and some of those non-essential categories were practically cut in half. And that’s a good thing! I’ll just have to be a lot more choosy about what I buy and where I indulge. Some bloggers recommend “spending fasts” as a way to jumpstart debt payoff or to hustle that process along and for those that can do it, good job! Seriously. I admire your discipline and at least temporary spartan lifestyle [spartan: marked by strict self-discipline or self-denial]. However, you and I are probably different:) I am more of a, ah, “natural spender” and that would simply cause me to resent budgeting and myself for putting me on such an awful budget. So, I’m not doing a budgeting fast, but I AM “trimming the fat” as I believe the phrase goes.

Anyway, part of my effort to trim the fat is to pack a lunch more often. It hasn’t happened a lot this particular week but I’ve still been watching the newly-cut-back Restaurant category and staying within it. Anyway again! As I was packing my lunch one day last week I was having advance food envy and already not enjoying my boring, non-tasty lunch. It was not good, you guys. It was literally rice and non-fat, non-seasoned beans.

On the spectrum of WAY YUMMY (10) to GROSS (1) it was like a 3 or 4. But then the thought struck me (and here’s where I finally make my point): “I have FOOD to eat and plenty of it. How about you be grateful for THAT?” Revolutionary. Gratitude. It really is the secret to enjoying what you have. I’m signing myself up for more of it, especially the quiet gratitude that gets captured only in my journal and prayers and hopefully thinking less of my supposed needs and wants. And maybe one day I’ll have made gratitude such a way of life that I won’t even see a Level 3 Lunch as such but rather a delicious feast:)

‍