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Shared Jan 15, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 5 (Apparently, I’m a Spice Hoarder!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 15, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #5 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge… Hi! My name is Crystal and apparently I’m a spice hoarder!!

Today’s project for the #500Things #Decluttering Challenge was to go through your pantry and get rid of 25 items.

Our pantry didn’t need much decluttering, but 2 days ago, when I had done a quick decluttering of our kitchen cupboards, I discovered that our Spice Cupboard was kind of out of control!

I often get sent spices from companies, Jesse has bought a number of different spices this year… And, gulp, I even have some spices in there that we got as wedding presents — 13 years ago!!! Yikes!

Today: I went through all of them, checked dates, threw out all the expired items, combined the jars of non-expired duplicates, got the bags of flour and sugar dumped into the canisters they are supposed to go in, and wiped down the cupboard and reorganized it.

Today’s total: 26 things decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 224 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

P.S. You can read more about the Decluttering Course I’m going through here. If you’d like to join me in going through it in January and get the videos, information, and printables every day, you can go here to purchase and get it for just $5.99 right now!

Shared Jan 15, 2016 comment

Brigette’s $42 Grocery Shopping Trip and Weekly Menu Plan for 6

Published: by Brigette on January 15, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

After 19 days of traveling (and 51 hours of driving time!), it feels great to be home! In full disclosure, I went to the grocery store as soon as we got back on Friday and that particular (LARGE) trip wasn’t posted here as there were too many other things to do. 🙂 So my total is lower than usual this week, but it’s helping to balance out that post-vacation grocery trip from last week!

Aldi

1 gallon milk – $2.49

64-oz Half and Half – $2.29

32-oz Cottage Cheese – $2.29

1 dozen Eggs – $1.59

2 cartons Egg Whites -$3.98

1 20-oz pkg Zucchini – $1.99

1 pkg Grape Tomatoes – $1.69

1 Avocado – $0.59

1 Cauliflower – $1.99

1 head Cabbage – $0.99

1 Spicy Brown Mustard – $0.99

1 3-pk Multi-Colored Peppers – $1.79

1 bag Spinach – $1.49

1 Artisan Lettuce – $1.99

2 16-oz bags Organic Baby Carrots – $1.98

2-lb bag Grapes – $3.99

1 bunch Bananas (@$0.29/lb) – $0.78

1 Pineapple – $1.79

1 pkg Blueberries – $1.79

1 can Green Beans – $0.49

Total – $36.97

Harris Teeter

2 pks Mueller Pasta – $1.69, used $1/2 printable – $0.69/2 after coupons

1 Cantaloupe – $2.00

1 Ginger Root – $0.60

1 Almond Milk – $2.00

1 4-pk Dannon Yogurt – $1.39, used $1/1 printable – $0.39 after coupon

Total: $5.68

Weekly Total: $42.65

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Breakfast at church (I’m bringing fruit salad)

Cereal x 2

Oatmeal with Fruit x 2

Toast, Scrambled Eggs x 2

Lunches

Baked Potatoes with Cheese, Bananas x 2

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches, Carrots, Apples x 2

Rice Cakes with Almond Butter, Grapes, Pepper Strips

Leftovers x 2

Dinners

Ham and Spinach Quiche (I don’t normally buy ham, but someone gave us one for Christmas), Oranges, Toast

Hamburger Vegetable Soup (using ground venison), Big Daddy Biscuits

Taco Salad, Grapes

Homemade Pizza, Tossed Salad

Baked Chicken Nuggets (I make my own breadcrumbs), Homemade Baked French Fries, Roasted Broccoli

Venison Roast in the Crockpot, Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots, Milk Rice

Leftovers

Shared Jan 15, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 5 (I woke up at 4:35 a.m. — on my own!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 15, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day 5 of the Get Up Early Challenge and I woke up on my own at 4:35 a.m. — feeling quite rested!!! I stayed in bed until my alarm went off at 5 a.m. just to make sure it wasn’t a fluke… Well, and also because it gave me more time to snuggle with my husband. 😉

I cannot believe that my body is beginning to adjust so well, so quickly! Every day gets better, every day feels a little smoother, and every day I keep wondering if I’m missing something because my to do list feels so short!!

But I guess that’s one of the big perks to getting up and knocking out so many things before 9 a.m.!!

I’ll be hopping on Periscope at 7:30 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

P.S. Read more about the Get Up Early Challenge here. Need some help and inspiration to use your mornings well? Download Day 1 of Make Over Your Mornings for free (scroll to the bottom of this page to sign up for it!)

Shared Jan 14, 2016 comment

What To Do When You Wake Up Feeling Overwhelmed

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 14, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Do you ever wake up and just feel completely overwhelmed? Like there’s just too much to do that you feel defeated and discouraged before your feet even hit the floor?

Here are 3 strategies I use that help me on those days when I feel overwhelmed.

1. Start By Making a List of Your Top Priorities

Instead of just thinking in terms of a to do list, I want you to make out a list of priorities for your life.

Ask yourself, “What am I about? What’s going to matter in 25 years from now? What matters most right now? What do I want to wrap my time and energy around in this season of life?” These questions will help you determine your priorities are for your life right now.

In my book, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, I talk about the importance of making what I call a “Best Stuff List”. These are the best things in your life that you want to pour the majority of your time and effort into.

3 Things to Do When You Wake Up Overwhelmed

When you wake up completely stressed and feel like, “I have so much I should do” or “I have so many things I want to do”, start first with your Best Stuff List and compare it with your daily to do list or what you think should be on your daily to do list.

Are their things on your daily to do list (or that you think should be on your daily to do list) that aren’t in line with your Best Stuff list? If so, let them go. Delete, skip, or delegate them. You can only do what you can do… so focus on the most important things.

The same goes when people ask you to help out or invite you to attend something or be involved in something. If their requests do not line up with the things that you consider to be a priority, then you can guiltlessly saying, “no”.

3 Things To Do When You Wake Up Feeling Overwhelmed

2. Choose The Next Right Thing to Focus On

You can easily feel like there are so many things you should be doing.

I need to get a handle on that…

I need to do these things…

I must do that thing…

I have to get this done or else everyone will be disappointed in me…

Instead of being consumed with all of these thoughts, ask yourself this one question, “What’s the one thing that is going to make the biggest difference in my life right now?”

Based upon your answer to this question, then ask yourself, “What is the next best thing for me to do right now?”

Maybe that’s to read to your child, take a shower, call a friend, clean your kitchen, make dinner, write a blog post, run an errand, working on that project, or hang out with your husband.

Don’t try to conquer the whole world (or 7 different tasks!) in the next five minutes, just pick one thing that you are going to focus on next and then give it all you got.

Do that next thing, finish it, and then ask yourself again, “What is the next best thing for me to do right now?” And then do that.

Every night before I go to bed, I map out the following day. This helps me to relax and get a good night’s sleep.

There are some parts to my day that are routine and I keep the same from day to day. When I get up, I get up, make coffee, and go straight to my office or the living room and open my Bible to study God’s Word. Then I take a few minutes to write in my blessing journal.

When I’m done with the first two things on my list, I go to the next thing. I don’t have to ask, “what should I do next?”, because it is already mapped out. This keeps me from feeling overwhelmed.

5 Things to Do When You Wake Up Feeling Overwhelmed

By establishing habits, you won’t get out of bed every morning and thinking about of all the things you could do. Instead, you will know exactly what you need to get up and do.

You can also apply this idea to priorities in your life. Instead of trying to improve in 15 different areas and feeling overwhelmed, choose to focus on the one thing that will make the biggest difference in your life.

For example, maybe when you survey all of the priorities and goals you want to set, you realize that the biggest thing you really need to focus on right now is making it a priority to keep up on the laundry every day. You realize that it’s just been piling up all over the place and you really need to put in the time and energy it takes to wash, dry, fold, and put away the clothes everyday.

Make that your one and only main priority to focus on for the next 4-6 weeks. Stay on top of that one priority and get it down before moving on.

Many times, focusing on one priority only will have a trickle down effect in other areas of your life. For instance, as I shared about on Periscope this morning, making the priority of consistently getting up at 5 AM and following through with a Morning Routine every day this week has impacted so many other areas of my life.

Just by making early rising a priority and then following through with it, our house has stayed more organized, I’ve felt calmer, I’ve had more time to cook from scratch, I’ve had more time to devote to one-on-one time with Jesse and the kids, I’m getting more done, I have more breathing room in my life, and I’ve had more time to invest in other people, too.

3. Keep a Running List of Other Ideas

What about all those other things you feel like you have to make a priority? Keep a running list of those other ideas. It is natural to become motivated to do more when you feel accomplished in one area of your life.

When you are thinking: “I need to organize that. I should change that thing in my life. I need to teach my kids this important thing…” Write these ideas down, but don’t try to implement them yet.

Choose one idea or focus area to hone in on at one time. Then, when you feel like that idea or priority has become more of a habit, go to your running list and choose the next most important priority to focus on.

If you start working on these priorities one at a time and add a new one every month or two, just think of how much you will have accomplished by the end of the year! It all starts by taking it one step at a time, and pretty soon you are looking back to miles walked.

When you have a when you know your priorities and you have a plan, it will go a long way to beat those overwhelmed feeling you can have in the mornings.

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? Be sure to grab a copy of my brand-new online course, Make Over Your Mornings.

This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you revolutionize your productivity, streamline your routines, invest your time in things that truly matter, and find more joy and peace in the process.

If you’ve ever wished that you could figure out how to get more done, have more organization in your life, and find time to spend on things you love, the Make Over Your Mornings Course is for you. Find out more about it here.

Shared Jan 14, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 4 (60 more items decluttered!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 14, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #4 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge! Today, we were supposed to clean out the home office — whether that’s an actual room or a corner of a room or a pile on the kitchen counter. We were challenged to get rid of 50 items.

In all honesty, I didn’t think I’d find many items to get rid of. I thought we kept our offices pretty pared down (Jesse has an office and I have an office that also serves as our guest bedroom & Kaitlynn’s closet/storage).

Well, when I started going through all of the drawers, I was surprised that I came up with not just 50 items, but 60 items to declutter — things like paper, a selfie stick we don’t use, outdated business cards (I didn’t count each card or the numbers would have been WAY higher!), notebooks we no longer use, and more!

Today’s total: 60 things decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 198 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Click here to sign up!

Shared Jan 14, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 4

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 14, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day 4 of the Get Up Early Challenge and today was the first day of this challenge that I didn’t feel exhausted when I woke up — probably because my body was very ready to go to bed at a much more decent hour last night for the first time this week!

The last 3 days have felt pretty brutal, but I think we’re turning a corner and I couldn’t be more excited!

Habits don’t form overnight. Change doesn’t happen instantaneously. It requires effort, sacrifice, and perseverance. But it pays off!

Also, I can’t believe how much more I’m getting done and how much more margin I have in my life by getting up early! Now I remember why I’m such a big fan of this!! 😉

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Shared Jan 13, 2016 comment

How one woman built a successful subscription business, and how you can too!

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 13, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Justine Brooks about how she used CrateJoy to start The Bookish Box subscription service — a subscription service that is now generating a full-time income from home for her family!

As someone who is always looking for outside-the-box (pun fully intended!) ideas, I was intrigued by Justine’s story and thought it might inspire some of you who are looking for creative ways to increase your income. And as a fellow book-lover, I adored the idea of a book-related subscription box.

Justine is a stay-at-home mom who lives in the Phoenix suburbs with her two daughters, ages five and two. She was originally inspired by her persistent, hard-working mother who made a successful career for herself without any background education, all while raising 5 children. Justine knew if her mother could follow her dreams while being a mom, she could do the same.

As an avid reader, Justine began her entrepreneurial journey by opening an apparel shop called Appraisal Pages so she could pay for all of her reading and book-reviewing habits. (I love how she thinks! I totally geeked out in the early years of blogging when I discovered that I could often get review copies of books I was interested in — for free!)

Over time, as she did an increasing number of book reviews, author meet-and-greets, and book signings, she decided to smart a small e-commerce shop selling t-shirts and apparel with literary and fandom references and grace notes. The e-commerce shop was started with a business partner, but she took over the business completely 18 months ago.

Since Justine has a background in art and design, she was excited to take on the challenge of growing a business from home while being a stay-at-home mom. She found that being a stay-at-home mom gave her the opportunity to keep and maintain momentum, while growing the business slowly at the pace that worked best for her and her family.

She knew it was important to plant the seeds that she could afford to plant, let the business grow, reinvest, and wait again while it grew. So to increase her revenue and grow her business, she decided to try starting her own subscription box service.

She researched her options and chose to set up her subscription box service through CrateJoy. She loved the all-in-one platform that CrateJoy offered and she found that this made the process much easier and smoother.

Justine knew she wanted to stay in the literary realm as she built this new subscription out of her shop, because that’s a passion of hers and she has found book lovers and fans to be so inclusive and welcoming. With this in mind, The Bookish Box was born. She was delighted to discover that her idea was a success — and her subscription numbers went from 300 to 1200 really quickly!

Using CrateJoy’s platform and focusing on slow and steady growth, she’s been able to stay in the black with her business the entire time she’s been in operation (something that can be a challenge to do — especially when starting a business selling physical products!)

She said that while running a business has its challenges, she’s so grateful that it allows her and her husband the chance to spend more time with their children and with each other.

Have you ever thought about starting a Subscription Box service?

If you are, definitely check out CrateJoy. I was recently introduced to them and have been very impressed with what I’ve seen.

They offer an easy-to-use platform that lets anyone start a subscription box business. Users can select templates and host their business on the site without needing any programming or design experience. How simple is that?!

Find out more about CrateJoy here.

This post is underwritten by CrateJoy. Read our disclosure policy here.

Shared Jan 13, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 3

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 13, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #3 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge! Today, we were supposed to clean off the kitchen countertops.

I’m sort of a Clean Countertop Fanatic, so I broke the rules and went through some of my kitchen cupboards instead. And I came up with 30 random items to get rid of — including lids, tea I don’t like, a few mugs that I never use, and some spices.

Today’s total: 30 things decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 138 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many paper (or other!) items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 13, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 3 (the day I forgot to set my alarm!!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 13, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #3 of the Get Up Early Challenge… Today, I forgot to set my alarm clock last night (cheesy mistake, but true! I was SO tired when I went to bed!)… So when I woke up on my own at 6:12 am, I chose not to beat myself up or feel like I’d failed.

Instead, I celebrated the fact that 1) I woke up fairly early — without an alarm! 2) I probably needed to extra sleep. 3) I abbreviated my morning routine so that I’d be back on track by 8 am.

We aren’t going to do things perfectly, and when we make mistakes, it’s an opportunity for us to give grace, focus on the good, and make Plan B!

I’ll be hopping on Periscope at 7:45 a.m. to share some Morning Motivation encouragement and to some thoughts and insights from The 5AM Miracle book. I’d love for you to join me or watch the replay (just download the app and search for @MoneySavingMom).

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Shared Jan 12, 2016 comment

How to Become an Early Riser, Even If You Hate Mornings

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 12, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

Do you want to join the Get Up Early Challenge, but you’re having a really tough time getting out of bed each morning? Here are some ideas for those who would love to become early risers and make the most of your mornings:

1. Make a Plan.

If you’re going to get up early, you need to have a plan and know exactly what you’re going to do the moment your feet hit the floor. This motivates you to actually get out of bed — because you have a reason for doing so!

I have my morning routine I do every day, plus I take 10 minutes each evening before bed to make a quick plan of action for the following day. It helps me SO much on those days when I’d really rather just stay in my warm, cozy bed.

When making your plan, it’s really important to think about the things that will fill you up. If you spend your morning hours doing something you love and that will give you energy and motivation for the day, you’re much more likely to be excited about getting up each morning!

I like to spend quiet time in God’s Word, filling up and my refreshing my soul for the day ahead and then spend a little time reading, journaling, and exercising before taking a shower and getting dressed for the day I want to have!

How to Be an Early Riser, Even if You Hate Mornings

2. Get Some Accountability.

If you need some extra inspiration to get up, put some accountability in place! That could be an accountability partner, an app, or even doing something like publicly blogging about it to keep you on track!

When you tell someone your goal and speak your intention out loud, it challenges you to actually follow through with it.

I have the accountability of my husband. We have committed to get up together each morning at 5 a.m.. It’s wonderful accountability! I also have the public accountability of blogging and scoping each day.

If you need accountability, I’m posting every morning between 6:30 and 7:00 a.m. CT on this blog, plus I’m scoping and posting on Instagram every morning . This gives you multiple ways to check-in with the rest of us and stay accountable!

How to Become an Early Riser, Even if You Hate Mornings

3. Start the Night Before.

A good morning starts the night before. I love my evening routine. It helps me wind down for bed, brain dump everything swirling around in my mind, and go to bed with a feeling of peace that everything is set up for the following day when I wake up.

I try to always do a quick clean-up of the house, set my clothes out for the following day, and have a plan in place for the following morning. I’ve found that if I at least do these three things, my next day always goes much more smoothly!

4. Get Enough Sleep.

If you want to be able to get up early, you can’t go to bed late, too! Getting enough sleep is SO important. If you try to sacrifice sleep, you will hurt your health and your productivity.

I love the book Sleep, It Does a Family Good. I read it a few years ago and it really challenged me to make sleep more of a priority. If you aren’t sure if you’re getting enough sleep, this book helps you figure out the perfect amount of hours you need each night so that you have enough energy to get through your entire day.

Remember: Burning the candle at both ends does not make you super woman; it makes you exhausted and void of the energy you need to tackle your day!

One Last Note…

Remember that everyone is different, and people have different hours of productivity. You may be a night owl who thrives on productivity at night! Don’t compare yourself to others. Remember that this isn’t a competition; it’s about figuring out what works best for you.

Want some practical help with setting up your day for success? Be sure to grab a copy of my brand-new online course, Make Over Your Mornings.

This 14-day online course includes videos, a workbook, and step-by-step projects and is designed to help you revolutionize your productivity, streamline your routines, invest your time in things that truly matter, and find more joy and peace in the process.

If you’ve ever wished that you could figure out how to get more done, have more organization in your life, and find time to spend on things you love, the Make Over Your Mornings Course is for you. Find out more about it here.

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

Click here to download!

Shared Jan 12, 2016 comment

500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 2 (I got rid of 44 items!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 12, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day 2 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge!

Today’s project was to declutter at least 25 things from your bedroom.

Gulp.

Truth be told, our room is one of the most cluttered rooms in the house. It doesn’t really look cluttered, usually, but our Master Walk-In Closet has been hiding a lot of excess. So I spent time really decluttering in the closet today and am so happy with the results.

I went through the shelves, the shoes, and my jewelry… And came up with 44 items to retire/give away/donate — including two pairs of running/athletic shoes that I already have new replacements for (my husband has a thing for a good sale on running shoes!) that I’ve not wanted to part with until they were super used and worn. I decided today was that day!

Today’s total: 44 things decluttered

Total for the entire challenge: 108 items so far!

I’m keeping a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many paper (or other!) items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

Shared Jan 12, 2016 comment

Get Up Early Challenge: Day 2

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 12, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #2 of the Get Up Early Challenge! This morning, when my alarm went off at 5 AM, I did not want to get up. My bed was warm. The house was cold. And I came up with a dozen other excuses as to why I should go back to bed.

But then I reminded myself that the first week of any habit-building is always the hardest. If I give up on Day 2, I’ll not only set up today for failure, I’ll also miss the benefits that are waiting for me in the coming weeks.

So, I got up. Reluctantly. And not with the greatest attitude. But I got up.

And that’s half the battle. Sometimes, you have to just do the next right thing — and your attitude will change as a result of your actions.

It certainly did today! Because it’s 5:45 am now and after spending time reading, praying, journaling, and thinking, I feel so much better. And I’m ready to face today!

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Shared Jan 11, 2016 comment

How we discovered that a budget brings freedom, not restriction

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 11, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

As you well know, our family has become big fans of You Need a Budget over the past year.

YNAB aims to be a different kind of budgeting software — one that will help you break the paycheck to paycheck cycle, get out of debt and save money, and ultimately help you live the kind of life you want.

When I shared earlier last year about how much we love this software, I was so happy to hear how many of you also loved YNAB. We recently partnered with YNAB to offer $100 Amazon gift cards to the top success stories we received from readers about how YNAB has changed your life.

We received so many wonderful success stories and it was hard to choose just a few to share here! Thank you to everyone who submitted entries! (The winners have now been contacted, and we will be posting the winning success stories over the next few weeks for all of you to read and be encouraged by.)

Here’s the first winning post…

We Discovered That a Budget Brings Freedom

Guest post written by Maria

My first attempt at budgeting was as a 24-year-old newlywed. It felt like going on a diet: restrictive, depriving, and definitely no fun!

I decided that budgets were bad and I concluded that budgets were for people who had money to actually budget. It took me over a decade to understand that it’s actually the reverse. People who don’t budget don’t have money.

Though my husband and I were fortunate enough to leave college with good paying jobs, we also left with credit card and student loan debt and a largely unpaid wedding to boot. I did manage to pay off our credit card debt in 2 years through the “luxury” of living off one paycheck and allocating the second to debt. That was the extent of our budgeting.

A decade later we found ourselves under another $30K of credit card debt through the simple act of living just a bit above our means each month. We were still paying off student loans that now included grad school, except now it was without the luxury of being able to exclusively dedicate one paycheck to debt.

I decided to give the budgeting thing another try. After doing some digging, I came across YNAB. And that’s when my relationship with money started to change.

YNAB flipped the script on budgeting from one of deprivation to one of empowerment.

A budget was a money plan. The simple act of assigning each dollar a job gave me the sense of control over a situation that felt hopeless.

I started the first month with the goal of entering all of our transactions. I asked my husband to give me all of the receipts, and I did all of the number entering. I thought it would be easier to enter the receipts all at once at the end of the day.

I started off the month with the full intention of entering each day and for the first few days I did. But my commitment — like my energy at the end of a long work day — quickly fizzled. I fell behind and by the time I caught up, it was too late.

We had exceeded our take home for the month. Frustrated and disappointed, I committed to try again and again, continually finding ourselves behind. Two months in, I declared to my husband that this system was not for us. Then my daughter was born.

It’s funny. They cover everything in childbirth classes: labor, feeding, and sleeping. The one thing they don’t talk about is the staggering cost of daycare.

I knew having a baby was expensive, but it turns out I only thought I knew. We were now facing the credit and student loan debt, monthly bills, and childcare costs. There were moments when I thought, “My goodness, how could I bring this kid into a family so burdened with debt? I should have gotten my act together before I had her!”

The beautiful thing about motherhood, though, is that you only need a few seconds of a smiling baby to make it all better and to be reenergized with the fact that you now have the biggest motivator to do better. All I could think was, “I don’t want her to grow up not knowing how to manage her money. We have to learn so we can teach her.”

And that’s when we gave YNAB a second chance. This time we did a few things differently. Here’s what we learned:

1. There’s no “I” in budget. For years, I had handled the finances because I thought it would be easier for one person to do it. It turns out that it takes two to budget in a marriage.

Spoiler alert: It isn’t pretty, especially if one partner has been doing the lion share of the finances. You’ll often hear, “How did we spend that much on restaurants?” It’s not fun, but it gets better!

2. We have to keep it real. We entered expenses in real time. Because of the wonderful mobile app, there was no more waiting to get to our home computer to enter the pile of receipts. My husband became obsessive with this, literally entering purchases at the cash register, which fueled me to become equally neurotic.

3. Flexibility is the spice of life. A budget is a living document. Flexibility is key for success and YNAB is built for that.

Spending too much in one category? Adjust from another.

Christmas was a true test. For the first time ever, we created a budget for gifts. Even so, we realized that at the current rate we would still end up over budget for the month. We worked together to readjust categories and consider pending income to make sure that we would enter the new year with a balanced budget from December.

4. Let YNAB be the bad guy. Nobody wants to be the bad guy and have to say “No, you can’t buy that or no, we can’t go out to eat.” Now we say, “We have to ask YNAB if we can buy this” or “YNAB is going to yell if go out to eat again this month.”

It may sound a little infantile, but we are the parents of a toddler and sometimes you just need to have some humor to get through the tough parts. It gives us a good laugh and takes the pressure off.

We have been successfully YNABing for three months now. When I first read about this contest, I thought, “I’m not successful yet because we are not debt-free.” But then I thought about how much better we are doing and realized that success is defined by each of the milestones that you achieve to reach the goal. The goal is simply what happens when you have successfully completed all of the steps to get there.

We still have a long way to go, but like the saying goes: the journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step (or two, or three).

Interested in trying out YNAB? Go here to sign up for a free 34-day trial.

This post is underwritten by YNAB. Read our disclosure policy here.

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500 Things Decluttering Challenge: Day 1 (64 items decluttered!)

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 11, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day 1 of the 500 Things Decluttering Challenge!

Today’s project was to declutter at least 100 pieces of paper. This could be any kind of paper in any part of your house — paper scraps, magazines, newspapers, junk mail, etc.

I’m pretty much a fanatic about staying on top of paper piles (see my system for staying on top of paper clutter here), so I wasn’t sure if I’d come up with 100 pieces of paper to toss/recycle. Then, I remembered the junk drawer in my kids’ bedroom… There was more than paper in there to declutter — I found candy wrappers, jar lids, and even an empty medicine bottle.

Today’s total: 64 items decluttered (yes, I counted candy wrappers and all! Because I get to make the rules on what counts!! ;))

I’m going to keep a running total of all my items decluttered during this challenge as I thought it would be fun to not only do Daily Totals but also Overall Totals.

How many paper (or other!) items did YOU declutter today?? Leave a comment and let us know.

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Get Up Early Challenge: Day 1

Published: by Crystal Paine on January 11, 2016 | This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

It’s Day #1 of the Get Up Early Challenge… and when my alarm clock went off at 5 a.m., I so did not want to roll out of my warm bed — especially since our room was freezing!

But I did and I’m so glad I did because I loved getting to spend some early morning time being inspired and filled up with the Genesis study from She Reads Truth, as well as reading another chapter from Jefferson Bethke’s thought-provoking book.

Then, I was able to get in a brisk walk on the treadmill and a shower before the kids woke up. Yay for morning productivity!

Are you joining me for the Get Up Early Challenge? If so, leave a comment on this post to let me know how you did with your wake-up goal this morning.

We’re in this together… And if you didn’t hit your goal, that’s okay! Give yourself grace, don’t beat yourself up, and know that you can try again tomorrow!

Summer Bucket List

Summer Bucket List

FREE Summer Bucket List!!

Aldi

Harris Teeter

Weekly Total: $42.65

Weekly Menu Plan

Breakfasts

Lunches

Dinners

1. Start By Making a List of Your Top Priorities

2. Choose The Next Right Thing to Focus On

3. Keep a Running List of Other Ideas

WANT TO SAVE $100 FAST?!Join the FREE 14-Day Savings Challenge!

Have you ever thought about starting a Subscription Box service?

1. Make a Plan.

2. Get Some Accountability.

3. Start the Night Before.

4. Get Enough Sleep.

One Last Note…

OVER-SPENDING EVERY SINGLE MONTH?Grab these FREE Budgeting Sheets!

We Discovered That a Budget Brings Freedom

Interested in trying out YNAB? Go here to sign up for a free 34-day trial.

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