Living Well Spending Zero Week 2 Reflections

Oh how I hate filing paperwork!

Well, I blew it! Waaa! I spent un-budgeted money. I won't even tell you what I spent it on because it's not a big deal. And if I did tell you'd probably be like, "Oh, you needed that. No biggie." And I'm not into excuses. I didn't spend a lot, but I really wanted to stick to the goal. Boo.

On the bright side today went much better. I had budgeted 20 bucks for our "field trip" to the pumpkin patch and I only spent $17! Woo hoo! I think not beating yourself up when you mess up is one of the hardest things. But I've learned that the less I sulk the more quickly I get back to being awesome! ;-D And today I was awesome! Seriously, have you noticed how quickly a little outing can turn into Starbucks + all the attractions + lunch + possibly another Starbucks? Yeah, me too. Lame. That's where I've noticed the biggest change in my spending. I'm not out running errands all the time at lunchtime, and when I know I'm going to be out late I pack snacks.

At the end of each week of the LWSZ challenge we have a "Reflection" assignment, so here's my thoughts... There was A LOT of cleaning this week! I still have a pile of papers to sort and file. This lovely picture of my laundry basket full of just papers that need to be filed is one of two. Blah. But my living spaces, my kitchen, my bathrooms are BEAUTIFUL! Oh and did I mention how my master bedroom is coming together? Well, it is and it's so great and calming to walk in and not have a pile of, well, anything staring at me! I'm loving having a clean home. I am hoping to implement a cleaning schedule going forward to maintain all this loveliness. There's just something about having a clean space to live in. Ruth Soukup, the author of the challenge, says when you have a clean house it's like you have a clean brain. And I agree!

My beautiful work-in-progress bedroom

The best part of the challenge thus far is that compared to last month we've already saved over $1400!! Mind. Blown. I can't believe it! I've been going over our expenses the last two months with a fine tooth comb and I'm in awe. I realized how a little bit here and a little bit there adds up to so much. The things we think are inconsequential really never are. What I find most interesting is how our finances and our eating were spiraling out of control almost at the same time and the same rate. Eating out is a huge contributor to both of those things.

Many times we'll eat out simply because I didn't have a plan. I've noticed big time how I hate to plan lunch every day. I even forgot to plan it for the weekend so we were scrambling because I didn't have any leftovers and we'd been cleaning all morning. Whoops! This was a weekend when we would have very likely eaten out lunch and dinner. I'm learning that I need a plan if I'm going to be successful in saving money and eating healthy. It's a good thing, just not always an easy thing. I've also found that as I've been intentional about cleaning up the kitchen after every meal it's so much more inviting...to mess it up again! It's good though because I'm not having to wash every pan right before I use it again. Super helpful!

My little man standing tall!

My biggest "reflection" though is how I pour myself into these things, challenges, goals, and ideals that I want to attain. I forget about the other things as I hone in on one thing. Like last week when I should have been prepping the Christmas music for our first choir Christmas rehearsal and I used the challenges to procrastinate. I ended up with an over full and very stressful Sunday as I scrambled to throw it all together. And then there's my boys. Number 2 is still getting up at least once a night. I think it's a combination of waking up for some unknown reason mixed with testing his boundaries. But I read an article today about how much our little ones need us, and I thought maybe he just wants to be with me. It made me sad because as I looked back over these last three weeks (since I started Whole 30) I realized that I haven't been taking as much time for my little guys as I could, or maybe even should. I want to pour myself into them and do the other stuff if it fits. They need me. And I love that about them.