The past week or so has been a struggle. My grandfather passed away, my husband has been working massively long hours, I'm not even close to being well rested, and all of this is sucking away energy and motivation.
The hardest part of simplifying everything so far has been the financial side of it. It's hard to feel like we're making any difference whatsoever and finding nothing else that we're able (or willing) to cut out. Some days I feel like we've hit a wall, but don't you worry - I'm going to keep plugging along. I know deep down that there are always ways to improve and save and I just have to figure out what works for us.
Household wise, I continue to see a difference. Basic straightening is taking less and less time and we've been able to welcome people into our home at little notice without it giving me a panic attack. That itself is an amazing feeling. Over at TidyMom, the Countdown to Clean Series was completed, and I printed out everything (twice). One set is up on my fridge and the other set is by my desk upstairs. It really has helped me decrease the feeling of being overwhelmed when I need to clean, plus when I do get a little behind in housework, the house only looks slightly cluttered instead of suddenly looking like a drug house. I'd highly recommend her series to anyone. Things are by no means perfect yet - I still have lots of purging left to do - but seeing a difference here is encouraging.
Speaking of purging, I do not even want to talk into my garage right now. As I'm purging the house, stuff is getting put into the garage into various piles (keep, organize, sell, give away). The garage needs help so badly (we never really organized it when we moved in over a year ago), but I don't really feel like I can attack it until I finish purging the house. I'm hoping that I can at least get through some of the items to sell in order to set that money aside for Christmas gifts. I don't expect to cover our entire Christmas budget by selling our unwanted items, but hopefully I can at least make a small dent.
So that's where I sit mentally. I'm hoping to pop my energy and motivation up a couple notches this week. Since I feel ready to attack a few more things, I think I can do it - provided I can stick to my bedtime this week and get the sleep that I desperately need.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Yet Another Good Reason to Simplify!
Is this another great reason to simplify or what?!
I don't know about you, but I'd rather have my marriage than a house full of stuff.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Household Management Stress Free Holiday Series
Household Management 101 is having a 13 week series on how to have a stress free holiday season, covering from Halloween through New Years. I'm excited about this one and plan on challenging myself to this as I go about my simplicity plan. You should try it too! Everyone wants stress free holidays, right? I'll keep the series button up on my blog just below the links and websites so you don't have to go digging through posts to find it again.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Grocery Challenge Month #1
We completed our first month of our grocery challenge ($300 for food, $100 for household items). We went over budget. It's hard to say if it was due to not watching closely enough, or from needing to buy extra food due to the three parties we hosted (although we were over even without the parties). Thankfully, we do not host three parties in a normal month (we rarely host any parties at all!), so here's hoping that October shows what a normal month of shopping looks like. Here's how it all looked:
Grocery/Food: $369.07 (over budget by $69.07 - this does not include party food)
Household items (Pet, toilet paper, shampoo, etc): $142.94 (over budget by $42.94)
Total Cost: $512.01 (w/party: $612.42)
Total Over Budget: $112.01 (w/party, over budget by: $212.42)
Grumble. Looks like we have some work to do on our shopping habits still. Looking at these totals is painful and makes me ashamed. I thought for sure we were doing better, but these totals make it look like a regular month of willy-nilly purchasing. Hey, that's what this blog is for, right? Putting my challenges, successes, AND failures out there.
So how to change it? Let's look at some mistakes from last month.
1. I didn't plan meals. I think I was focusing too hard on getting crap out of my house and making sure the place was clean when I should have been also including meal planning and looking at finances. I should have scheduled a time each week to create a meal plan for the following week. I went to the grocery store every Wednesday. Tuesday evening would have been a perfect time to write down any extras that I might need for the following week. Meal plans have to be a priority.
2. I sent my husband to the store for extra shopping trips too many times. My dear husband likes to worry about finances and tell me exactly how much money we have to spend on what. But when it comes to going into a grocery store, he turns into an impulse buyer. Granted, I was very sick for a few days and needed some items that we didn't have in the house (cold meds, ginger ale, soup, crackers), so it was kind of unavoidable. I can't control him when he's at the store without me though, and sending him with a list doesn't help much. I'm not sure how I can fix this other than limiting when he gets to shop alone to when it's absolutely needed (like my sick weekend). I sent him to the store two extra times when I could have gone.
3. I didn't keep a price diary. I didn't see it as necessary because I thought I knew what I would and would not pay for things, but it can't hurt. If I'm really serious about making this budget work, I need to be willing to employ some crazy shopper techniques (especially since I'm not willing to take 1000 coupons with me each time I go to the store). Don't know what a price diary is? Check this out: The Price Diary - How to Save More From Knowing When to Buy. This also includes knowing what fruit and veggies are in season to avoid over paying for them. You can get that list here: WiseBread: Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, By the Month.
4. I just used my debit card and ignored the envelope system for the month. It's hard to really think about how much you're spending when you just swipe a card. It's hard to know/remember how much you have left in your budget when you're not physically looking at how much cash you have available. For some reason, I figured since I was keeping track by keeping receipts, I might not need the envelope system. Obviously, I was wrong. I've bought some groceries already this month by using the debit card, so whatever is left in the budget is how much cash I will take out next time I'm at the ATM. I must not ignore the envelopes!
I'll start with these changes and we'll see where that takes us. It's not easy to admit failure, but I know that looking over where we went wrong will help us in the long run. What an eye opener this first month has been! Here's hoping I have better results to show for October.
Grocery/Food: $369.07 (over budget by $69.07 - this does not include party food)
Household items (Pet, toilet paper, shampoo, etc): $142.94 (over budget by $42.94)
Total Cost: $512.01 (w/party: $612.42)
Total Over Budget: $112.01 (w/party, over budget by: $212.42)
Grumble. Looks like we have some work to do on our shopping habits still. Looking at these totals is painful and makes me ashamed. I thought for sure we were doing better, but these totals make it look like a regular month of willy-nilly purchasing. Hey, that's what this blog is for, right? Putting my challenges, successes, AND failures out there.
So how to change it? Let's look at some mistakes from last month.
1. I didn't plan meals. I think I was focusing too hard on getting crap out of my house and making sure the place was clean when I should have been also including meal planning and looking at finances. I should have scheduled a time each week to create a meal plan for the following week. I went to the grocery store every Wednesday. Tuesday evening would have been a perfect time to write down any extras that I might need for the following week. Meal plans have to be a priority.
2. I sent my husband to the store for extra shopping trips too many times. My dear husband likes to worry about finances and tell me exactly how much money we have to spend on what. But when it comes to going into a grocery store, he turns into an impulse buyer. Granted, I was very sick for a few days and needed some items that we didn't have in the house (cold meds, ginger ale, soup, crackers), so it was kind of unavoidable. I can't control him when he's at the store without me though, and sending him with a list doesn't help much. I'm not sure how I can fix this other than limiting when he gets to shop alone to when it's absolutely needed (like my sick weekend). I sent him to the store two extra times when I could have gone.
3. I didn't keep a price diary. I didn't see it as necessary because I thought I knew what I would and would not pay for things, but it can't hurt. If I'm really serious about making this budget work, I need to be willing to employ some crazy shopper techniques (especially since I'm not willing to take 1000 coupons with me each time I go to the store). Don't know what a price diary is? Check this out: The Price Diary - How to Save More From Knowing When to Buy. This also includes knowing what fruit and veggies are in season to avoid over paying for them. You can get that list here: WiseBread: Fresh Fruits and Vegetables, By the Month.
4. I just used my debit card and ignored the envelope system for the month. It's hard to really think about how much you're spending when you just swipe a card. It's hard to know/remember how much you have left in your budget when you're not physically looking at how much cash you have available. For some reason, I figured since I was keeping track by keeping receipts, I might not need the envelope system. Obviously, I was wrong. I've bought some groceries already this month by using the debit card, so whatever is left in the budget is how much cash I will take out next time I'm at the ATM. I must not ignore the envelopes!
I'll start with these changes and we'll see where that takes us. It's not easy to admit failure, but I know that looking over where we went wrong will help us in the long run. What an eye opener this first month has been! Here's hoping I have better results to show for October.
Monday, October 3, 2011
What A Challenge!
A top news story on Yahoo today is about one couple who was able to retire by age 43 by leaving below their means. Of course, they didn't have children, so it was probably a lot easier to do than it would be for those of us with families, but what an interesting challenge. What amazes me is how quickly they did it: In about 15 years after making the decision to go for it. I don't know....could you make those kind of sacrifices in order to leave the work force so early? You can read their story here: 5 Tips from Early Retirees.
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