Facing some harsh realities

Ok it is that time for me... time to face some realities that are not so fun to acknowledge...

#1 being quite evident. I stink at keeping up with a blog. however, it is such a therapeutic outlet that I am determined to better manage my time in order to post. My goal is to post at least once a week!...

#2.. my family has far too much "stuff"... As a stay at home wife and mother, the majority (and I mean like 99%) of the cleaning, organizing, etc falls solely on me and lemme tell you.. in this home, and family, that is a full time job on its own.

#3. baby boy #2 is totally rocked my world.. In both good and bad ways!  Good, the love between my two boys is just indescribable.. however, my control of this home and our schedule etc basically has been thrown out the window. Managing two kiddos, one who has new demanding hobbies and activities (school, tee ball, friends) and the other little kiddo who is determined to simply make his own schedule that includes early bedtimes and earlier wake ups!

With those things said I have decided.. it is time... beyond time actually.. time to simplify, reorganize, re calibrate our little household, financially, physically, emotionally.

My main concern as of lately has been budget. We are a single income family. In Georgia, cost of living was much simpler, Houston, not so much. Add in cost of new activities, groceries (not bought in a commissary), and gas due to my husband horrid commute, we are coming up with new ways to stretch a buck (we as in me).

So here are my goals.. and I will be posting on them periodically

#1 simplify... there are quite a few categories within this...
    Stuff-Naptime thankfully has started to happen more consistently... thus it is going to be my clean out time. Each day I will have an area in which I want to organize and simplify.. Weeding through things we do not need and then figuring out what to sell and what to toss and what to donate.
    As soon as I work up a list and realistic expectation I will share it with pictures and progress shots.

#2 groceries - It is nothing new to think that as a single income family we eat at home A LOT.. and that falls solely on me.. I meal plan and attempt to keep it as organized and healthy as possible. Keeping this on budget is SOOO tough.. my goal is to simplify this. Lunches propose the worst issue for me.. I pick up J from preschool and it is so much nicer to just run through chick-fila or subway instead of just making something at home. I mean lets face it, cooking AGAIN and cleaning it up AGAIN just doesn't sound so fun right.. and those leftovers, well they are getting so old and gosh darn it I can easily talk myself into deserving a $6 meal... BUT those $6 add up quick especially when you are including a kids meal. So I am leaving a "fun lunch" to once a week (preferably on Friday after a good week of school).
   We typically only eat out as a family for dinner maybe once a week. And that isn't too hard to stick to or hard on our budget. We use coupons and don't go crazy and only order water.

#3 activities - I find myself pushing myself to the limit with thinking we have to go go go go ... mainly because that is my husbands personality and I am trying to keep up, but mainly because I want my son's lives to be enriched and exciting. However, what am I raising ya know, someone who can't entertain himself? Someone who expects to go go go and can't appreciate a quiet moment? And more than anything, what am I trying to prove? That I can run myself so ragged that I literally crash?... so here is the thing.. we are choosing one activity a season, this season is it tee ball. I am cutting out a moms group and hoping to replace it with a care group from church (for my own sanity). And not put so much pressure on myself to have something to do every single day, or a play date constantly. Hopefully this will simply my stress level with regards to that!

#4 household duties..
     I truly believe this will be so much easier with less "stuff"... less things to put away, less things to organize and keep clean. Also sticking to my cleaning schedule and delegating some duties more, including to J.

Ok so.. first up on this list is organizing and purging my closet..... this should be interesting and fun...