Yule is a great way of finishing a year

I mean, going out with a bang!

But... as always, when one year ends, another begins. As with all beginnings, I am filled with hopes and dreams and wishes. This year, 2014, I'm going to play my own Fairy Godmother and give myself everything I deserve.

One biggie for me - probably for most everyone - is money.
I really want to travel, but it's rather expensive, and I don't have that kind of money.
There are some interesting experiments going on around the internet, though.

31 days to find 1000 dollars, Save 1000 dollars in a month, 52 weeks challenge, Amaze everyone by saving a penny...
OK. So... I'll see what I can do in January. If I fail, I haven't lost anything, but every penny I do manage to save - and I expect myself to be able to save at least one penny! :-D - is money saved.

My January will be a "need only" month.
Now, I haven't prepared this very well, as January is already only two days away, but no more eating out for this family.
"Need only" month means that every penny NOT USED is counted as saved. :-D

I wonder how much we actually spend on "pleasurable substances", like coffee, tea, tobacco and candy. I can't expect Henric to stop snuffing, but I can expect him to cut down coffee drinking. I can see he has a bottle of water by his chair at all times. I can also expect him to stop smoking.
And I can stop cold turkey with all "pleasurable substances". Let's have a "White Month". :-)

Also, I wonder how much money we would save if I actually made a menu plan and kept it.
I wonder how much weight we'd lose, as well.

Also, a budget plan is supposed to cut down the excess spending.

We would really need to stop our cable tv. Every penny not used is a penny saved, and we could really use the money... What if we stop the prenumeration for a month, and open it if we miss the channels?

I need to stop my pool membership. I'm not using it. I just have to walk more and do my exercises. And swim in the summer in the lake. *sigh*

We need to freeze our book account, and read the books we want to read through the library. :-( At least for a month.

No new clothes, I need to fix and remake the existing things.

It WOULD be REALLY nice to save with the "start-with-a-penny-and-double-the-amount-daily" plan :-D I would really NOT say "no" to 21 million Kronas.

I just don't think it is manageable. But - we'll try and see how far we get.
At least a penny a day is manageable. Five pennies a day is manageable. 10 pennies a day... 10.000 a day is not manageable, but... perhaps... This is intriguing. I wonder if I could actually fool my brain.

I wonder how much more money we use, when we use a debit card, instead of using cash only.
One doesn't get the coins, either...

Then I need to sell things. If I get the daily penny by selling something for three pennies (one penny for initial investment, one penny for expenses and one penny profit)... People should be willing to pay tiny amounts of money.
Now, what do I have that I could sell or make into something sellable?
How about all the books and CDs and games and stuffs we have but don't use?
I need to sell that dog crate.