Time to Get Serious! Getting back to budgeting and taking care of the home.

This fall everything just stopped. I had morning sickness that made me a couch potato. I paid the bills but that was about it. I was not super careful about keeping track of the budget. Housework and organizing was not a priority. I was in survival mode. And, to be honest, sometimes survival mode is what we need to be in sometimes. Especially when dealing with nausea or other health concerns. Sometimes real life just gets in the way of our plans.

When you are at zero it is really hard to get going again. Who wants to have to be the responsible adult with housework and budgets and other things that just aren't as fun or as interesting as my latest book? It is really hard to get out of the survival mode funk, even when you are physically feeling so much better.

While it is hard to get back into the groove of things, and we might delude ourselves into thinking that it is so much easier just to ignore things, that attitude can come with a price. That price is feeling out of control and stressed. That is how I was beginning to feel. My handle on the finances and the amount we accrued on our line of credit did not make me feel happy. The junk that was starting to spread throughout the house and made things impossible was adding to the stress of daily living.

And here is a mini-rant: Why is it that if something is missing it is the mom's responsibility for finding it. Seriously! Who came up with the mom must keep track of everything and know where everything is at all times rule? It totally sucks! End rant.

Now that I am in the third trimester I know it is time to get serious. Baby #4 is going to be here sooner than we think. Another survival mode is right around the corner once the baby comes and it would be super nice not to be derailed again. The closer to the due date I get the more I get what Jim Gaffigan was saying about becoming a parent of four. If you haven't seen it I highly recommend it. It is hilarious. You can see it here.

So what am I going to do?

It is definitely time to get serious about the budget. I was definitely lax with it, we probably bought more than we needed or didn't think everything through during my MIA months. Throw Christmas in there and bam! I am not where I wanted to be at this time.

So, now is the time to re-evaluate our expenses and see where the money is going and figure out where we would like it to go. While there are some expenses you can't do without, such as rent/mortgage, food, insurance and other utilities there are lots of expenses that you can do without, or not fund as much. Figuring out how you want your money to work for you while being responsible with the most pay bills is super important and allows you to have more of a focus on your financial goals.

Part of this evaluation process has led to the creation of a slush fund. This is where we set aside money every month for those things that come along annually but aren't a set monthly thing. This would include things like sport fees, clothing, renewals for licenses, activities for the kids, and so on. To create our slush fun we opened a free savings account (we used Tangerine) and have it set up to take out a set amount of money from our chequing account each month. As we spend in our slush fund categories we can take the money from the slush fund and put it on the Credit card or back in our chequing account (wherever we spent the money from). I know it is more transactions (though with our accounts we have free unlimited transactions) but it will make keeping everything separate and easy to manage.

To keep track of our slush fund spending and regular spending I created a google sheet and shared it with my husband. That way both of us can more easily keep our spreadsheet up to date. Thanks Google! When I buy the kids clothes I just go to the slush fund sheet and put in the amount I spent in the "kids' clothes" category. It shows me how much we had budgeted for the year and how much we have left.

How did I come up with the yearly totals for the slush fund amounts. I went over what we had spent over the year, or how much things cost, like license renewals and got my numbers. Some categories I padded what with inflation, or in the case of kids clothing, if I can't find it used and have to pay for it new. (And my kids aren't going without snow boots just because I can't find their size at the thrift store). Every year we can go over and adjust the category amounts, but I would rather allot too much than too little.

Now that my spreadsheets are made, the slush fund is created and semi-functioning and I feel more organized in the finances once again I feel excited to challenge myself to live below the budget numbers I have set out. I look forward to challenging myself to be austere but still have fun. I look forward to putting more on the mortgage so we can get rid of that millstone around our neck. I am looking forward to see where we are at by the end of the year, and reflect to see if these changes, especially the adoption of the slush fund are working well for us. It is going to be a good year. I just need to make sure I stick with it, because I am the factor that will make it work or not.

Now is the time to get serious about stockpiling.

While I was researching ways to help cut food waste and keep groceries down, everyone talked about stockpiling. I sort of do this, but I found it confusing to implement for a long time. I still sort of do. But this is what I am going to do to get ready for June and to hopefully carry one with afterwards.

I am going to make sure the freezer is full of easy to prepare foods. That way my husband can make food without asking me a billion questions. And, when I am tired and not wanting to do anything I can just go down into the freezer and there will be something that I can throw into the crockpot in the morning or in the oven if it is later. Living in the city is so easy just to say "pick up a pizza on your way home" or "let's go out, I don't feel like cooking". But I know that this will not help with our budget, waistline, or health in general. Now, there is nothing wrong with going out, but you should do so for something special not the norm.

To cut down on some of the produce waste I have I am starting freeze whatever I can. Lately with apples I have been peeling and chopping them and throwing them into freezer bags. I usually put four cups in each bag. (Four cups gives me enough to make an apple crisp, and I love apple crisp!) I have also done that with peppers. That way I can just throw them into fajitas or other meals when I want some extra umph. Did you only use half an onion. Chop up the rest and freeze it. There are so many little ways, that don't add much to your time that can help reduce food waste and make food prep easier down the line.

I am starting to do the sale thing more where I stock up for 6-8 weeks of food that is on sale. And these are foods that I would have bought at full price anyway since I use them. It is not much use if you aren't going to use it, even if it is on sale. It's not a deal unless you use it has been my mantra for a while.

Slowly but surely I think I will get this whole thing figured out. But for now, I just want to make sure there is food in the freezer for when baby #4 makes its grand debut. Otherwise, who knows what we will eat!

Now is definitely the time to get serious about getting rid of the excess. The more stuff you have the more stuff you have to look after. And I think looking after the actual kids is enough. I don't want to have to look after all the stuff too.

So what I am doing to battle the craziness of stuff. Well I am overhauling almost everything. I am trying to maximize the storage I have and put things where they make the most sense. I am getting rid of paper clutter and staying on top of the papers that come in. I cleaned out the medicine cabinet this past week and got rid of all the expired medications and ointments etc. (Make sure to dispose of those in a responsible way. You can take them into your local pharmacy and they will make sure they are disposed of correctly.) It is amazing how much space you have once you take the time to actually get rid of the things that are expired. Seriously, why was I hanging on to it? I am reorganizing cupboards to help things function better. Visual clutter is being put away. It is so nice to have an item and know exactly where it's home is instead of shoving it somewhere and hoping you remember where you put it.

Matt is almost done our new office space. He just has baseboards to put up so that means the office will be moving. That will be exciting because we will be able to figure out what we want to keep and how we want to store it. I am excited for this liberating move and the chance to get rid of even more things!

On the kid front, a couple months ago I was a "mean" mom and took all the toys out of their bedroom. There room was just a mess with paper and clothes and toys. It was too much for them to be able to handle by themselves. So I took everything out put it in boxes and moved those boxes to the garage. They were able to keep a couple stuffies but that was it. And you know what? They have been able to keep their room neater, though I still have to remind them about putting their clothes in the laundry. (Seriously the laundry hamper is a foot away from where they get dressed, not even, just put the clothes in the laundry!!!) And you know what else? They haven't even asked for any of their stuff back! Once I am done with the office I will go through the girls' toys with them and we will see what we can get rid of. I am not completely heartless (only mildly so). But I think what we are learning is they don't need that much stuff. Less is truly more. You can have more happiness when you are not drowning in junk. With less stuff, will be less upkeep, will be spending more time with the people I love and doing the things I love. That sounds heavenly to me.

While this at times feels like pulling teeth, it is time to get truly serious about getting the kids involved in the upkeep of the house. Especially their own stuff. It is important to break the cycle of apathy and laziness that quite frankly they inherit from their parents. (Seriously, give me a hammock and my book any day over sweeping.) While I still want them to have the fun and joy of their childhood, now is the time to help them get into good habits that won't make them a nightmare roommate.

This means, helping with laundry, wiping the table, emptying the dishwasher, setting the table, sweeping and dusting. While they help with these everyday tasks, it means I can focus on the organizng of the house and the running of the home. It means I can invest my time in some of the bigger aspects of life and be less stressed in general because I know I have a team of kids (plus husband) who are helping with the little things that when go undone makes everything worse. Miss P loves having jobs to do. She loves helping to tidy and loves helping to sweep. Now is the time to harness this williness, as Miss V, who is almost 9 though seems more like 15 does not have the same enthusiasm. We may have missed the boat with Miss V, but here is the next one to put her on. We'll get there.

Hopefully doing all this, keeping better track of our finances, stockpiling, getting rid of the excess in our home and getting the kids involved will help us get organized and back into some good habits. My hope is this will help to simplify our lives, allow our family to be more joyful and be able to live a more full life. And, if it can crank down the stress I feel, and know I will definitely feel once baby #4 comes, well that is a a big fat bonus!