At the beginning of this week I made a resolution to get my home life better under control. I shouldn't say "home" life, I guess. That implies an issue in my family. "House life" would be a better term. Someone once said that your home reflects yourself. The meaning being that if your house is in shambles, your life probably is too. That's certainly true for me. I realized I owe it to my family, and myself, to get my shit straight. I had a grand plan to work on scheduling and time management this week, but that didn't exactly work out. Here are some things I've learned this week, and how they apply to budgeting:
1. Start where you can. Unfortunately for us perfectionists, life is never going to be perfect. You will never be in the perfect place to do ANYTHING. You think, "in order to start a budget, I need to have X amount of money." Not true. In order to start budgeting, you need to have exactly what you have. I remember the first time I was introduced to budgeting. I was working a job making $7.25 an hour. I scoffed at the person who could have been my savior, because I felt like I didn't even have enough money to budget! Now I kick myself because had I listened to her then I could have saved myself a lot of heartache later. But we live and learn. We start where we can.
2. You won't do it right the first time you try. Yep, it's true. Again, Perfectionist Number One here. I have given up on pretty much everything I've ever tried to do. Well, I've stuck with a few things, but they're always the things that were waaaaaay too easy for me. Like, I spent five and a half years at a job because they never asked more of me than: 1. Put dirty laundry in washer, 2. Put washed laundry in dryer, 3. Fold laundry from dryer. I could do that from day one and never had to question myself. For me, keeping my house and life organized are really, really hard. It's much easier to let messes pile up and freak out about it than it is to try to learn the new skills it takes to manage my life effectively. Budgeting your money can be really, really hard. I'm trying to learn how to do it with one income, and guess what, I'm failing sometimes. Sometimes I have to juggle money between accounts just so the checking account doesn't bounce. Sometimes I just have to take it out of the meager savings account for that reason, then it never gets put back. It's frustrating, and it's tempting to throw that budget in the trash and just rely on blind hope that money will miraculously be in the account when it's supposed to be (never worked before, but ya never know). But I try, try again. At the end of the month I look at where I went wrong, why I ran out of money, and I learn from my mistakes. Well, at least I know what my mistakes are. Sometimes I make them again. But one of these days I'll get it right. (*note: this weekend is the end of the month, so I'll be reviewing and letting you know how February worked out for me.)
3. Do the best you can. In my week of prioritizing and cleaning, I have learned to accept the best from myself, and know that that's not always the best in the world. A sad fact of life is that I am not Martha Stewart, no matter how much I would love to be. I will never have a house worthy of a magazine cover. I have kids who leave toys EVERYWHERE, and pets that leave hair in even more places than that! This week I focused on one room a day to clean. Tuesday I cleaned my bedroom. It was the biggest mess in the world. Seriously. Awful. It took me half the day. I absolutely overexerted myself. But it's clean! But then I spent the rest of the week totally burnt out. So clearly I did something wrong. But here's the thing, I didn't give up! That's a first for me. I haven't wanted to clean much since then, but I did the best I could. Sure, I used the Swiffer and ReadyMop on the bathroom floors instead of the real broom and mop. But at least I did something. I did the best I could. Same thing goes for budgeting money. Sometimes we do great, other times not so great. Sometimes we make purchases that we then think "OK, I probably could have lived without that," and we feel guilty about it. Don't feel guilty anymore! Accept it for what it is and move on. If that wasn't a wise purchase, don't give up on the whole thing, just don't make that purchase again. Just do the best you can. With practice and perseverance, your best will get better and pretty soon you'll have a balanced budget!
Friday, February 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Making a List
So I'm trying this new time management thing. Today is really day 1. So far I'm not so much managing my time better as spending it better. A lot more has gotten accomplished today, but that's pretty much just a manic fit. I did not get an hour-by-hour schedule created, but I did make a list of the things I wanted to accomplish in any given day. The list goes like this:
1. Unload/load the dishwasher
2. Wash, dry, & put away one load of laundry
3. Spend 1 hour on homework/studying
4. Read a big stack of books to my boys
5. Make 1 room bearable to live in.
6. Make dinner
And the crazy thing is, I accomplished it! It is 3:15 in the afternoon, and all of the things listed are done. Of course, this probably means that I don't have an ambitious enough list. But it's sadly a lot more than I get done with no list.
And speaking of lists, I am currently on the search of resources to tell me what my daily routines should look like. Today I turned to Martha Stewart. Her site has a plethora of checklists for daily, weekly, etc., chores that, if done, will leave your home looking like hers. OK, maybe not, but it's worth a shot.
I was also referred to FlyLady.com. This site offers a month's worth of "BabySteps" to kick start your home organization. Step 1: Shine the sink. I have done 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, and cleaned 2 rooms, but I have not accomplished shining the sink yet. I have an hour and a half of "work day" left, I think it will take that entire time to gather up the courage to shine the sink. Time to stop blogging and start shining, I suppose.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Time Management
Of course the "budgets" in the title of my blog refer to the budgeting of money, but I am beginning to realize there are many other things out there we can budget. My pet budget today: the time budget.
I was watching a news story this morning about procrastination. Now as you can probably tell from the three weeks since my last post, I have a little issue with that. Well, little issues become bigger every day. My older son is now four. I've made a commitment to my family to be a stay at home mom and a homeschooler. We're getting to the age where homeschooling is something that actually needs to be done instead of a philosophy that will come to fruition someday. My responsibilities are growing constantly, but I have yet to change much. I have no schedule to speak of, beyond "it's 2:00, go take a nap so I can sit here and stare at the tv for a while." My day usually goes something like this:
7:30 or 8ish: wake up, give the kids some juice and whatever convenience breakfast they want (Finn likes instant oatmeal and Jude likes those cheesy peanut butter crackers-- yeah, I know, worst mother ever. My kids eat processed crap for their most important meal of the day.).
8:30: Turn on PBS Kids. The kids stare at it for a while and I drink coffee and check my email... somehow this turns into 2 hours. I think Bejeweled might have something to do with that.
10:30: Realize we've all been staring like zombies at flashing screens for the last 2 hours and turn off the TV. From here sometimes we make it to the library or grocery store, but more often the boys just go play in their room and I... what do I do? I couldn't really tell you, honestly. I throw a load of clothes in the washer sometimes.
Noonish: Fix some sandwiches or something equally easy for lunch.
12:30-1 I usually chat with Hubby.
1: Sometimes we read books, sometimes we go our separate ways and they play some more. Sometimes we color or work on a project, though sadly these times are rare.
2-4: nap/quiet time. I do homework, watch TV, surf the internet (for what, I don't know), and take a shower
4-5: prepare dinner. at 5 Hubby gets home and there is absolutely no schedule after that.
Now, somedays there is a special event or I am just feeling motivated and I clean a room or exercise a bit. But more often than not I am about the laziest, most slovenly person. It's a bit ridiculous. So today I decided I would look up time management. I found a totally awesome blog, Wanting What You Have, that I will be referring to A LOT over the next few days as I try to create lists of things that need to be done everyday, a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, and all those other good things. Maybe this seems extreme to some of you, but believe me, I need it. As a natural born Procrastinator, the thing I need most is an hour by hour schedule telling me exactly what to do. Or else I'll spend 12 hours of my day playing puzzle games on the internet.
This may seem counter to my money budgeting plans, but it's really not. Time is money, as they say. I waste so much time and get so little accomplished, I know I have got to be paying for it in my finances. As my breakfast example already proves. Instant oatmeal and snack crackers cost a lot more than homemade foods. With better time management there is time to make from scratch breakfast foods that can be stored and used throughout the week for convenience. Also, I just had to shell out $12 in late fees to the library because I forgot to return items. A clearer schedule would probably keep me more organized and items would not be late because they would go back to the library on scheduled library days.
It's a grand goal, I realize. If anyone has any time management tips, I would love to hear them. Currently I'm still trying to figure out how to even begin. I'm not even sure what things are supposed to be done every day, much less allotting time to do them. Wish me luck.
I was watching a news story this morning about procrastination. Now as you can probably tell from the three weeks since my last post, I have a little issue with that. Well, little issues become bigger every day. My older son is now four. I've made a commitment to my family to be a stay at home mom and a homeschooler. We're getting to the age where homeschooling is something that actually needs to be done instead of a philosophy that will come to fruition someday. My responsibilities are growing constantly, but I have yet to change much. I have no schedule to speak of, beyond "it's 2:00, go take a nap so I can sit here and stare at the tv for a while." My day usually goes something like this:
7:30 or 8ish: wake up, give the kids some juice and whatever convenience breakfast they want (Finn likes instant oatmeal and Jude likes those cheesy peanut butter crackers-- yeah, I know, worst mother ever. My kids eat processed crap for their most important meal of the day.).
8:30: Turn on PBS Kids. The kids stare at it for a while and I drink coffee and check my email... somehow this turns into 2 hours. I think Bejeweled might have something to do with that.
10:30: Realize we've all been staring like zombies at flashing screens for the last 2 hours and turn off the TV. From here sometimes we make it to the library or grocery store, but more often the boys just go play in their room and I... what do I do? I couldn't really tell you, honestly. I throw a load of clothes in the washer sometimes.
Noonish: Fix some sandwiches or something equally easy for lunch.
12:30-1 I usually chat with Hubby.
1: Sometimes we read books, sometimes we go our separate ways and they play some more. Sometimes we color or work on a project, though sadly these times are rare.
2-4: nap/quiet time. I do homework, watch TV, surf the internet (for what, I don't know), and take a shower
4-5: prepare dinner. at 5 Hubby gets home and there is absolutely no schedule after that.
Now, somedays there is a special event or I am just feeling motivated and I clean a room or exercise a bit. But more often than not I am about the laziest, most slovenly person. It's a bit ridiculous. So today I decided I would look up time management. I found a totally awesome blog, Wanting What You Have, that I will be referring to A LOT over the next few days as I try to create lists of things that need to be done everyday, a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, and all those other good things. Maybe this seems extreme to some of you, but believe me, I need it. As a natural born Procrastinator, the thing I need most is an hour by hour schedule telling me exactly what to do. Or else I'll spend 12 hours of my day playing puzzle games on the internet.
This may seem counter to my money budgeting plans, but it's really not. Time is money, as they say. I waste so much time and get so little accomplished, I know I have got to be paying for it in my finances. As my breakfast example already proves. Instant oatmeal and snack crackers cost a lot more than homemade foods. With better time management there is time to make from scratch breakfast foods that can be stored and used throughout the week for convenience. Also, I just had to shell out $12 in late fees to the library because I forgot to return items. A clearer schedule would probably keep me more organized and items would not be late because they would go back to the library on scheduled library days.
It's a grand goal, I realize. If anyone has any time management tips, I would love to hear them. Currently I'm still trying to figure out how to even begin. I'm not even sure what things are supposed to be done every day, much less allotting time to do them. Wish me luck.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Is this a test?
As I've mentioned before, living on a budget is nothing new to our family. The thing is, that budget used to be fairly loose. Now, it's much much tighter. So while this is not our first year on a budget, it is the first year of living frugally. And let me tell you, it is NOT easy.
I keep finding myself in these "you have to spend money to make money" situations. I have these grand visions of planting a garden and living off the land (at least a little), but I have all of zero gardening tools. So yes, we could in theory save money by planting, harvesting, and canning our own vegetables. But in the meantime we must purchase everything we need to do all that. I have no gardening tools, no seeds, no planters (I'm toying with the idea of container gardening this year. It seems a bad idea to ruin half my yard when I don't even know if I can grow a tomato yet), and none of the tools required for canning, should we make it that far.
This is just the biggest example. There are others, such as the fact that my water bill is atrocious. I know we could greatly benefit from a water-saving shower head. And I know you can get those for as little as $30. But then I think, "is that in the budget?" And the answer is no. The budget is a work in progress, we're still trying to figure out how to buy the things we need right now, so we're definitely not at a place where we are saving for the next home renovation (and yes, in my Budget Nazi head, a $30 shower head is a major renovation).
Today my bread machine died. I use my bread machine at least once a week, oftentimes more. It provides us with pizza dough, dinner rolls, and cinnamon bread, among other things. I'm trying to figure out what my new Frugal Self should do. On one hand, the answer to the question, "is a new one in the budget?" is not one I want to answer honestly. On the other, it saves us so much money and provides us with such yummy goodness, how can we not replace it immediately?
So to sum it all up, being frugal is way harder than I expected. You don't realize how spoiled you are until you really start questioning every purchase you want to make. But I'm determined to see this through. I know I'm not perfect. I already know I'll be buying concert tickets sometime this week. Is a concert a necessity? Is it in the budget? No. But ya know what? I haven't been to a concert in at least five years. I've been waiting for this particular concert for even longer than that. I have already made the decision to sacrifice in other areas so I can be there, because it is really important to me. I will not go further into debt for it, I will use "real" money. There are probably more practical places for that real money to go. Like I said, I'm not perfect. But I'm learning. And I think now I am going to go Google how to knead bread dough, because I no longer have a machine to do it for me.
I keep finding myself in these "you have to spend money to make money" situations. I have these grand visions of planting a garden and living off the land (at least a little), but I have all of zero gardening tools. So yes, we could in theory save money by planting, harvesting, and canning our own vegetables. But in the meantime we must purchase everything we need to do all that. I have no gardening tools, no seeds, no planters (I'm toying with the idea of container gardening this year. It seems a bad idea to ruin half my yard when I don't even know if I can grow a tomato yet), and none of the tools required for canning, should we make it that far.
This is just the biggest example. There are others, such as the fact that my water bill is atrocious. I know we could greatly benefit from a water-saving shower head. And I know you can get those for as little as $30. But then I think, "is that in the budget?" And the answer is no. The budget is a work in progress, we're still trying to figure out how to buy the things we need right now, so we're definitely not at a place where we are saving for the next home renovation (and yes, in my Budget Nazi head, a $30 shower head is a major renovation).
Today my bread machine died. I use my bread machine at least once a week, oftentimes more. It provides us with pizza dough, dinner rolls, and cinnamon bread, among other things. I'm trying to figure out what my new Frugal Self should do. On one hand, the answer to the question, "is a new one in the budget?" is not one I want to answer honestly. On the other, it saves us so much money and provides us with such yummy goodness, how can we not replace it immediately?
So to sum it all up, being frugal is way harder than I expected. You don't realize how spoiled you are until you really start questioning every purchase you want to make. But I'm determined to see this through. I know I'm not perfect. I already know I'll be buying concert tickets sometime this week. Is a concert a necessity? Is it in the budget? No. But ya know what? I haven't been to a concert in at least five years. I've been waiting for this particular concert for even longer than that. I have already made the decision to sacrifice in other areas so I can be there, because it is really important to me. I will not go further into debt for it, I will use "real" money. There are probably more practical places for that real money to go. Like I said, I'm not perfect. But I'm learning. And I think now I am going to go Google how to knead bread dough, because I no longer have a machine to do it for me.
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