AND 2021 IN REVIEW…
Happy new year frugal friends! Today marks the first day of 2022. I am honest when I say that 2021 all kind of blurred together. There were a few notable events. This post serves as both a recap of last year both in our family’s life and on the blog as well as my 2022 word of the year post.
2021 WORD OF THE YEAR
My 2021 Word of the Year was Transform, which really didn’t seem to happen. 2021 was slightly better than 2020 but I wouldn’t say I transformed anything about myself or my life.
Thank goodness for grocery pickup because navigating in-store shopping with children in masks is not my idea of fun. Children in grocery stores period really. Once I got the hang of acceptable substitutes things ran much more smoothly.
JANUARY, FEBRUARY & MARCH
I sort of did No Spend February. We definitely spent more than usual, but the hubby had a lot of overtime, so we ended up saving an unprecedented amount for the month. You can check out the total breakdown of spending and saving for the month in the recap.
There was another school party I wasn’t able to attend at school.
In March the hubby had a birthday and took off work Spring Break. We also did Minimalism in March again, and I decluttered a heck ton of stuff. This is really easy to do when you’re home almost all of the time and get tired of staring at said stuff. I highly recommend a good declutter. Check out these Three Things to Declutter to get started.
I guess in a way with so much decluttering we did manage to transform our living space a bit.
APRIL & MAY
A Life on a Dime got a new hosting service AND a makeover. Most of the work on the blog during these months was adjusting everything (and I do mean almost everything) to accommodate the new theme. The hubby and I got our COVID vaccines.
JUNE
June is that crazy month where we have both kids’ birthdays. It can get expensive. It can also lead to a pile-up of things you don’t want in your home. Luckily, our family and friends are mostly good about asking what the kids want/can have. For a handy reference, I posted a list of things not to buy kids as gifts.
We were rather uninspired on the gift idea front this year and decided to just bite the bullet and finally buy a trampoline. I highly recommend spending a little extra and buying a bigger trampoline with the highest weight capacity you can afford. The kids aren’t outgrowing this thing anytime soon. I posted the annual Birthday Budget Recap as well if you want to check our party deets and costs.
The kids also had swim lessons, but I timed it all wrong, and early June was way too cool to have outdoor swim lessons. I paid $50 to have our four-year-old sit on my lap pool-side for all but the first lesson. This year we’ll do indoor lessons at the Boys and Girls Club.
A Life on a Dime also turned two.
JULY
In July we took our kids on a little trip to the Kansas City area. It was our first out-of-state vacation as a family. The kids really enjoyed Lego Land. Of course, when we met our daughter’s third-grade teacher at Open House the only things she remembered to tell the teacher were that she had a swim party and watched a lot of TV. Typical.
We also started receiving the child tax credit payments in July. It came in handy for back-to-school shopping as I had about zero luck at the resale shops and selection was pretty limited at stores.
AUGUST
School started up again and for the second year in a row, we weren’t able to walk our daughter to her class on the first day of school. It’s bittersweet, but we’re so grateful she gets to go to school in person and interact with her classmates. The virtual schooling she did at the beginning of the pandemic was very hard on our little social butterfly.
SEPTEMBER & OCTOBER
Our little man started preschool. It’s only one morning a week, but he loves it! After watching her brother do gymnastics every week over the summer, a spot opened up for her, and we officially had both kids involved in one extracurricular activity.
September also saw my return to the gym. Home workouts weren’t happening and both my mood and weight took a turn in the wrong direction last year. Now I am slowly but surely seeing an improvement in my workout stamina.
I participated in Second-Hand September again. I have a recap post in drafts I hope to get posted this month. I’m a bit backlogged with all my post ideas vs the time and timing to post them. Spring 2022 should be pretty busy on the blog as I have so many seasonal things started.
We were able to take the kids trick or treating. We visited the local fire station, one church, and two blocks of a relative’s neighborhood. The evening’s activities were all outside and we managed to get the kiddos home and in bed on time.
Our once shy little guy really got into the spirit of things and I was very impressed. One year ago (had there not been a pandemic) he wouldn’t have been willing to participate at all. This year he was all about yelling “trick or treat.”
October also saw the 200th post on a Life on a Dime! That felt like quite the accomplishment.
NOVEMBER & DECEMBER
The hubby took off both the week of Thanksgiving break and the week following Christmas for some much-needed R&R. So naturally, he took on some projects around the house. We now have floating nightstands on either side of our bed. I believe I shared pictures of those on the blog’s Twitter.
Thanksgiving and Christmas went by rather quickly. We got some good quality time in with family and friends. The kids participated in the church Christmas program and that was definitely memorable. Having extended family attend services with us was also a major highlight of the season.
The hubby spent a couple of days of his week off digging and moving gravel around the driveway with the kids in preparation for garage construction. Due to the rain, we now have a muddy but flat area where we typically park surrounded by a little moat.
Fingers crossed footers and a concrete pad will happen before March. We aren’t willing to accrue more debt, so this project is happening one stage at a time to prevent draining our savings.
MY 2022 WORD OF THE YEAR
And saving the best for last; my 2022 word of the year. I again took the Dayspring quiz and came up with a new word to focus on for the year. This year the quiz results came up with the word fulfilled. I must say I really like this one.
We have lots of plans for 2022 including the mentioned construction of a garage. Our little man will start kindergarten and I would like to substitute teach a couple of days a week. With so much new planned for the year ahead I think focusing on fulfillment and gratitude is an excellent mindset to have.
Looking back on 2021 I really feel like last year’s word transform was meant for our youngest. Our shy little guy really came into his own this past year and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Here’s to a healthy, happy, fulfilling 2022.
