A New Year

So Larry & I started the new year with a new church calling and

some new goals. I am still a relief society teacher

which I quite enjoy till I learn my lesson

is just 1 page front and back.

Luckily we have a lot of sisters

willing to share their thoughts and ideas.

Larry is now 2nd counselor

in the Branch presidency.

He would rather be seminary teacher.

Maybe with our next move.

We always joke about moves with callings,

but I think we are here for a while longer.

Now onto our goals. So Larry & I are

trying to become debt free. 2009 was a little

unfriendly to us with some unexpected medical

expenses with both Savannah & Larry. Usually the 2

are quite healthy children or get sick at entirely different

times. Not in 2009. And little Larry's situation

unexpectedly involved more hospital visits / stays, medical supplies,

and just round trips between Baltimore and Asheville.

But hopefully all that is behind us now.

Each year, Larry has to take CPE (continuing education)

courses for his CPA license. This year he chose:

Obviously the goal here is to get out of debt

and build up that nest egg.

One of the small ways we have started

was to get rid of our cable TV.

I know, for those of you who know me well, I am a TV junkie.

I live off TV. I love TV. I always have, thanks Dad.

I can watch anything just to be watching TV.

Well, on Jan 3rd, we enjoyed our last day of

cable. It was difficult at first. No food network,

no travel channel, no Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs.

But we have been playing with Hulu for the past year.

We have it streaming to our HD television and I can

honestly say it is awesome!

Not only is it free, but Hulu now has where

you can subscribe to your favorite shows and it will

save them for you. It is like my very own free DVR.

Of course some shows aren't found on Hulu, but you

can always go to the network website and watch for free there.

The only problem is we have to wait a day.

But honestly, this is what we already did.

Of course Larry Denzil is going through

some sports withdrawals. Luckily UK is a

ranked team this year and we have

found most of their games on ESPN 360.

But his NFL is out. So is his ultimate fighting shows.

But hey, we still get Ugly Betty & Grey's Anatomy.

So one of us is very happy.

Some other little things we have begun to do is pay

for our groceries with cash. We have also

frequented Aldi's, Dickie's & GO to make

our grocery budget go further.

We are leaving our credit cards at home except for

our gas card. That way we will no longer have the temptation.

Hopefully by the end of the year, we will have all our

small debts paid off. That will just leave us 1 student loan, a

house mortgage and Larry's car payment.

I will keep you updated on how this goes.