Splurge a little to stay sane

I learned that although you have to cut out the extras and be very cautious with every penny you spend, I also learned that sometimes a small splurge goes a long way!  Find something little that makes you and your family smile.  When I splurged and bought a bag of our favorite cookies at the store or some chocolate chips to make some cookies, I saw a big difference in our emotional status.  I learned that when we were at our darkest moments, frustrated, angry, depressed that buying each of us a small treat at the checkout line may cost us $4-5 total but it made us feel normal and that is important.  I also learned that if I didn't splurge and buy a little item, the frustration built up and I tended to splurge on bigger items in the long run (costing us more of our precious savings). 

Maintaining some normalcy in your life is important for your emotional stability and helps children feel secure in the face of a tough challenge.  Find little things you can do to stay normal.  For us, we ate out A LOT.  We had to cut that out, but we learned that a $5 pizza was a splurge we could do once in awhile and our kids really looked forward to it.