The season without tickets

We successfully made through our very first weekend of our Total Money Makeover. Its a big deal for us because we are very guilty of compulsive spending on the weekends. A quick trip to Walmart to grab an item forgotten while grocery shopping can quickly turn into a $100+ shopping trip for things we feel we have to have. But this weekended, with a budget and a plan in place, we didn't spend all kinds of money. We even found we had enough money to pay the appropriate bills.
The downside is that in doing the budget and setting some long term goals we have decided that we cannot renew our Pirates season tickets this year. As a mother, this is very hard for me. This is something our family has been doing since we moved to Maine 5 years ago. Many of our memories that we all look back on and talk about most often are from hockey games or hockey related events. So many of our friends (and over half of the guest list for Mackenzie's birthday party!) are friends we have made at hockey games. McKenzie was just over 2 months old at her first hockey game (she was born in the off season), and Alyvia was there the day they released us from the hospital. So Pirates hockey is a big deal for us. When it came time to tell everyone the decision, they took it like champs. Disappointed, yes of course! But something we will all figure out how to deal with. I however, feel like I have taken something very important from everyone. I feel like there will be a whole season of memories we will be missing out on.
The reality is that it will be OK. This is a decision that had to be made to help us reach our bigger goal that will make for an even happier family and will be worth it in the end. So even though we may have to cut some of our hobbies for now, the truth is we will eventually have them back and then some when we finally achieve our goals. If I can keep telling myself that, and as long as my wonderful husband helps to remind me of that, I think we will do just fine.