The Month of Reduction

That's what we're going to call October.  I'm going to reduce spending, reduce my waistline and reduce my possessions.  Do you ever feel like I'm always working on the same goals month after month?  Yeah, me too.

September was a strange month.  I had a forced week of from work, during which time I failed pretty spectacularly to accomplish any of the lofty goals I set for myself.  Then, I went to Minneapolis for a week to hang out with my little brother.  That was possibly the best week I've had in a long time.

I went to the Renaissance Festival:

Minnesota Renaissance Festival!  Since 1971!

And discovered that I don't think I'm a Ren Fest type of gal.  I can see that it might be fun with friends, but my parents were not super into it, and it seemed to me like a dusty shopping mall full of people wearing costumes.  So now I know, and I will save money on future Ren Fest admission!

I ran in the woods:

Fall comes early to the north country

My brother lives right next to a small State Park, and I spent a major part of the week exploring the network of trails that run through it.  It was a fantastic sporty adventure, and I discovered a Nature Center, an Outdoor Gym, a boat launch and other woodsy wonders.  Good stuff.

Outdoor Gym!  How cool is that!?!?

I also spent the week lazing around (recovering from running, um, yeah), catching up on True Blood, seeing old friends and eating a lot of chips and pizza.  Seriously, when I got back and went to a hot yoga class, I smelled like sour cream and onion.  Sorry you had to read that, but honesty is important.

Therefore, my October goals are as follows:

• Get back on an exercise routine.  My next half marathon is October 14th, and I want to do well.  The weather is perfect running weather, and I just need to get out there instead of sleeping in all the time.
• Get back on budget.  My vacation to Minneapolis was actually quite frugal because I stayed with my brother for free, he paid for pretty much everything and I had $200 worth of Southwest vouchers to pay for the plane ticket.  So that was the cheapest vacation of all time, but I'm still feeling a bit off, and need to get back into a money, as well as exercise, routine.  I'm not carrying a balance on my credit cards, but I haven't really been saving.
• Do more reading.  I've been a total tv whore and have woefully neglected my beloved books.  I'm currently reading Tell The Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt.  Anyone read it?  It's really, really good (so far) and if you haven't, you should.
• Explore crock pot recipes.  I feel like I've been eating out forever, even though I bought a bunch of groceries when I was at my brother's.  Here's the rub though, he doesn't eat normal food.  I had to think of foods that I could prepare in his house with his limited supplies.  Example: I bought eggs thinking I could scramble or fry them.  He doesn't have a frying pan, so I had to boil them.  I had to buy instant coffee because he doesn't have a coffee maker, and he didn't have a knife sharp enough to slice a cucumber.  So, I'm looking forward to more home cooking.  Last night I made vegetarian chili in the crock pot, and it was awesome.

What do you have planned this month?