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!

The Junk - It Has Served Its Purpose

A couple of months ago I read a book that really helped change my thinking around getting rid of things. In the book The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, she turns purging and organizing on its head.While somethings are basic like going through your items other concepts were novel to me and left me feeling excited and hopeful as I continue my journey at tackling the junk in my house. She invites you to tackle by categories and not rooms, which really spoke to me and so far as been working really well. She helps you see what is really essential and what is not. And she tells you the most liberating question to ask yourself when you are going through things, "Has it served its purpose?"

That question, "has it served its purpose?" truly is amazing. I don't know why I hadn't thought of it before but when you start using that in your purging efforts things just seem to start rolling. I think the hardest thing about getting rid of things is thinking of the future of "I might need it someday" or "it still has some wear in it, it would be wasteful to get rid of it" or "so-and-so gave me it, I better keep it in case they ask". The thing is, if we aren't using it right now then it is wasteful. It is dragging our life down and not giving us the happiness that our things should. So if we stop asking ourselves those questions and instead ask ourselves "has it served its purpose" then we will really be getting at the heart of the issue.

One of the first categories that Kondo suggests we tackle is our clothing. That is always a tough one for me. Even though there were clothes that I don't wear anymore, some even from high school, I just couldn't get rid of them. Some items were still in good shape and so I felt I should be wanting to use them, even though I didn't. Sometimes things just aren't our style anymore, even if it was a recent purchase. So this past time when I was going through my clothes, it really was a breeze. When I got to clothes that I didn't really wear anymore but felt weird getting rid of I just asked myself "has it served it's purpose?" Nine times out of ten the answer was yes and I was able to put the clothes in the giveaway bag without a twinge of guilt. That round I was able to get rid of two bags of clothing and accessories and man did that feel good! I kept only what I loved and I was able to pass on clothing to someone who would appreciate it more than I would.

The purpose of your items can be anything. It could be the original happiness you felt when you bought it. That could be its purpose and then you pass it on. (That is a bit consumerist but, sometimes that happens.) Its purpose could be just for a certain period in your life, like maternity clothes, or the concert t-shirts from your youth. When you think of the purpose of the item and the fulfilling of that purpose, it helps give you pause to think about what the point of that object was, and seeing if it still serves a purpose in your current life. Like gifts. Sometimes people give us gifts and we feel obligated to hang on to them because we don't want to offend. The purpose of the gift was to allow the gift giver to feel happy about giving you something. Purpose completed. If that gift is something you love and want in your space, awesome, keep it. If not, well it has already served it's purpose so pass it on.

I used this mantra when I was going through the clothes etc. in the mudroom. And I got it looking pretty good and it is still looking pretty good.

one of my mudroom walls. I got rid of a lot of unnecessary shoes

So, I reccommend reading Kondo's book. It is a pretty fast read. It's not too long. It gets kind of hokey with the whole thanking your things when you put them away and it can get a bit repetitive but, there are some cool ideas in there. If you don't have time to read it, then take this advice... ask yourself "has it served its purpose?" That will be a life altering question for you and your junk.

The Junk: Baby Steps Are Key to Decluttering

Decluttering this year is a big thing for me. I am ready to purge and let go. If you are like me you may feel like you are drowning in stuff. I let things accumulate and accumulate until it is just ridiculous.

I have given myself the deadline of March 31st to have my basement purged. So that means our office, playroom, kitchenette, and garage. Though, our garage is not insulated, so I might wait until spring to do that.

Because there is so much junk the thought of decluttering can see overwhelming and time consuming, but, it doesn't have to be. By organizing things into babysteps you can get things done without feeling over burdened and defeatist.

My friend sent me this link to Home Storage Solutions 101's 15 minute declutter challenge. They give you a calendar for the month and give you a task to complete that day, spending only 15 minutes each day to complete that day's task. January starts with your kitchen.

I like the idea, it allows you to break things into smaller chunks but you are still doing something instead of ignoring the problem, which, let's face it, we all do. Since my kitchen isn't that bad, I'm not following their plan. But, I am taking the principles they are using and applying it to my own situation. Here's what I'm doing.

• Choose a room and divide that room into different sections to tackle.
• Set a timer for 20 minutes and do what you can in that time.
• Complete the first section before moving onto the next section.
• Empty out the section of the room you are working on and put back what you actually want, everything else goes either in the garbage, recycling or give away.

I have been doing this for two weeks now. I give myself a break on the weekends so we can do other chores and fun family things. I didn't do it yesterday as it was a busy day full of errands and then I felt utterly exhausted, so I might set the timer for 30 minutes today instead. And you know what, it is okay if you have to bend the rules a bit for this. The important thing is consistancy. I am amazed how much I have done in so little time. The first section of the office is looking great and I can't wait to tackle the next section.

Do you have decluttering tips you like to use?

THE JUNK 'Tis the Season to get Organized Finally!

before

Well it is starting to look like spring outside. There is still lots of snow. And the temperatures aren't quite as warm as they could be. But, I see grass in my front yard. The sun feels warm. And it is not -30. The temperature is steadily climbing today and is supposed to continue to climb overnight. That makes me super excited, windchill and all.

With all this Spring feeling organizing fever has over come me. Now is the time for me to get organized and I'm really excited about it. It is also frustrating too as the rest of the family hasn't caught it yet. But I'm sure they will and I'm sure we will all be happy about that, right?

after

The first room that I tackled was my older children's room. I had been meaning to do it for awhile but, I'm discovering that a one year old and trying to go through stuff is not a good combination. So things are going a bit slow and that makes me feel ancy and that I'm not going to accomplish anything! Luckily, during the March Break my husband took the day off and took all three kiddos to the museum and I went to town on their room, finishing it off later that week.

 So as you can see before and after. What a difference. Now the kids actually know where their toys are supposed to go. I finally know where the toys are supposed to go. And the best part. It has been about two weeks now and their room still looks neat! Amazing. It is also amazing what a bag of recycling and give away will do to make a room look nice. My next project is to get the office downstairs looking nice. More pictures of that to come.

What do you do when you get in the organizing mood? Do you have any tips of the trade to make it easier?

THE JUNK - Doing the Pile Shuffle

Last week, since it was March break, I had time to do a bit of organizing around the house. I tidied and cleaned the babies room, as that had become the dumping ground of things we weren't sure what to do with when we were doing a quick clean before guests came over. It was amazing the things that came out of that room. I also had the opportunity to tidy the older girls' room. It was ridiculous, I swear my 7 year old is going to be on the show Hoarders when she gets older. By the way a shout out to makers of all children's movies, you made my job going through their stuff much easier. I thank you.

While I was going through the rooms I made the inevitable piles. Piles of clothes to go through to see if they still fit or not. Piles of stuff to go to different rooms in the house. Piles of papers to file, recycle, or shred. Piles that have been sitting there for months waiting for you to do something about and you just get complacent and don't. Piles, piles everywhere.

In a perfect world there would be a place for everything and everything would be in its place. When we were using something we would put it back in its aforementioned place. Life would be quite peachy. When spouses or children asked where an item was we could tell them with confidence instead of racking our brains retracing its steps and trying to remember the last place you saw it. I call that stuff utopia.

I do not live in stuff utopia. Instead I deal with the pile shuffle. No matter what room you tidy there always seems to be a pile of things that made the great migration out of their spot into a room they do not belong. It seems that tidying is just a shuffle of stuff and that it seems to be a never ending shuffle of stuff. The worst is when you are in the middle of a tidying or organizing project and you can't finish it. You have to leave your piles and hope you get back to them soon, otherwise the stuff in the piles want to have a party and start moving and making new friends in piles that are not their own. Or sometimes you simple don't know where to put the item, or don't have the storage set up to house the item. These items are in pile limbo, being shuffled everywhere.

The worst culprits for the pile shuffle are toys. With three kids ranging from 7 to 1 we have toys for different ages and interests. Some toys I have in their bedroom, others are in the living room, the rest are in the playroom in the basement. Yet without fail, the 5 year old wants to play with the babies toy, or their Barbies in their room need to have a movie party downstairs etc. etc. The worst is when they are playing and then want a snack so they bring their toys into the kitchen put them down while they get a yogurt and then leave them there on the floor for me to step on when I do my cooking stuff. I had to ban toys from the kitchen, and so far, so good.

While, we cannot get rid of the piles altogether as they do come in handy, there are somethings they can do to use them as a help and not a hinderance. Here are some tips I thought of while in the middle of the chaotic pile shuffle.

1. Put piles in baskets. This is super helpful for piles of things that don't belong in that room. It makes transport of these items to their proper home so much easier. It also helps keep the piles contained. They won't become the leaning tower of Pisa and merge with other piles. It also helps break up your cleaning. Once the basket is full you can take a break and walk around returning items to their homes. It is nice to be able to take a break to help you feel refreshed and ready for the next round of organizing.
2. Make sure you actually deal with the pile. I know I have just dumped a pile onto the couch or the dining table and then just left it there. If you don't deal with it immediately the items will disperse, get ripped, wrinkled or lost. I know after a long day of organizing it is the last thing you want to do, but your sanity will thank you later.
3. Be honest. If there is an item that always seems to be in a pile, ask yourself "do you really need that item?" If it so important to you it should have a home, or making it a home should be your top priority. If you don't, maybe you shouldn't have that item. (This does not count for files that are needed for taxes or other necessary things like that. Bite the bullet and get a filing system, seriously.) Also, if there is an items that are always in your bedroom but it's home is really in the living room, perhaps you should change its home to the bedroom. Some battles are worth fighting but where a certain toy or magazine is kept is not worth it. Ask yourself "is this really the best place for this?"
4. Give away piles need to leave immediately. For items that are giveaway it is best to put them directly into the box or bag you are going to take to the donation place. As soon as the tidying is done or the bag is full put that bag into your car or out in the garage so no one is tempted to pull things out. You want those items gone, make it as easy as you can for yourself. We are saving items for a yard sale. We have a dedicated spot for those items. It is in a closet so we cannot easily see what is in there. This makes it easier for those items not to get back into the rooms.
5. Be realistic. Right now I have three young kids. My expectations for what I can get through, organizing wise, is quite low. My 1 year-old is quite fast at emptying baskets, getting rid of piles, finding the quickest way to make the biggest mess. It is a true art really. Don't give yourself a huge pile to sort through unless you know you have the time to do it, without interruptions or "help" from little hands. It will make you feel frustrated if you are constantly not able to get it done. Accept what you can do with your limitations and be happy with that. Also accept that you might need help and do what you can to get that help.

Remember the less your things go on vacation the less rounding up of them you will have to do. Make their homes a place that makes sense for their use and try to educate others in your home of where they belong, but listen to your families input as well. What might make sense to you, will not always make sense for others. Work together on this.

What do you do to reduce the amount of time you have to do the pile shuffle?