The January Summation

So first, all of you fans out there.

Your continued want to read about our trials and travails during this process, in addition to your ability to talk to us everyday, is simply outstanding and much appreciated.  For that, we both want to thank you.  Greg personally can't believe you all want to read this much about our lives.  But you want more than I assume, you want the updates on how we're doing.

So far we have paid off  $1,521.  That leaves us with ($39,479) left to pay off.  Not a bad start to a completely new way of living.  As always though, there's room for a bit of improvement.

For starters, sickness is not a way to live cheaply.  You stay home from work, take medicine, and use public transportation because peddling your bike makes you feel woozy and cough.  Also, the random trip to the grocery begins to enlarge your grocery budget.  An avocado on the way home from work that you forgot to buy at the grocery when you planned tortilla soup, a six pack of beer to celebrate being off antibiotics, etc.  All legitimate purchases in our eyes, but they begin to add up.  Add maintenance on your primary mode of transportation and you begin to understand that living frugally isn't so much a random act of savings, but a planned, concerted effort.

So where to start?  Well, easily number one is: don't get sick.  Ahhh, but the randomness of the universe simply doesn't let you off on this one.  Unless you go around kissing flu patients.  Then well.....

Second: maintain your transportation.  We can't believe how many rusty bike chains, wobbly wheels, and bikes in disrepair we see everyday.  No wonder BikeShare does so well.  A simple check on your ride would save a bunch of headache and dollars from your pocket. 

We haven't found a third yet, but we're looking into the problem.  We will keep you informed of our discoveries.  For now, onwards to February!