Getting back on track

Why is it that vacation gets you so off track? Maybe its because you have to pack your entire house (into your car) and live someplace different for a week. Or maybe it's because we are creatures of habit and getting us out of our routine causes chaos in our brains.

How is it that on vacation you have more time to do things and essentially less 'chores' to do but you can't find time to do the things that need to be done?

Whatever the case may be, I am totally messed up after this week!

Lillian has gone to bed at about 12am all week, opposed to her normal 'in bed by 10pm' that I could count on. I forgot about 3 (yes, three) bills while on vacation. We spent wayy more money than we had planned. I got 50 (ok 3) free magazines in the mail and didn't have the chance to read them. I only cooked one (yes, one) dinner while we were on vacation. (sad) 

I am not going to let it get me down, though! We have meals planned for all this week. I went grocery shopping yesterday and saved $12.00 on groceries by using coupons. Wow! I was so proud of myself. 

I have goals to set up new budget and spending tracking worksheets. You would think I would already have that sort of thing in place considering my degree and anal personality, but many things change when you have a child. Like not having the time, energy, or brain power to do things that you did with ease before. :o)

I also want to set up a master meal-plan list that we can post on the refrigerator and use it to choose our meals for the next week. New recipes can be added as they are discovered, but this will just be an easy way to decide at the beginning of the week what we want. And I need easy.

I would also like to organize my coupons better... and start getting the sunday paper to get more. Right now I am using a pink portfolio that my aunt got me to store them in while shopping. I used it for the first time yesterday and I think I liked it. 

That's it for now. I have many other goals, but I'll share those later. :)

To all my family who read this,  I love you and miss you (especially today for some reason). 

P.S.

Here is what I have been drinking as I post this. :)

Organization...

So, all this new blog reading has inspired me to get organized. How am I going to do it? Well, I purchased this calendar to start. It is a post-it calendar that I got at Target. Isn't it beautiful? It is set up to be a weekly calendar, but I modified it to be monthly to fit our needs. 

Some may call me old-school for not going digital, but using this helps for me to visualize things as I walk around the house. And, it so colorful and pretty... it makes me want to use it. :) Not to mention I am a sucker for (ok, semi-obsessed with) post-it notes. 

What do I want to organize? 1. Bill paying, 2. Upcoming events/birthdays, etc., 3. Meal planning.

Number one and two have been slipping my mind way too easily lately and I need to make a change if I am going to get them in order! Number three is really my new venture. We have always been the kind of people that decide what we are going to eat at 6:00 in the evening when I'm supposed to be cooking dinner already. Many times that has ended up in "I don't feel like cooking tonight, want to eat out?" and lots of money spent and food in the refrigerator/pantry wasted. I want to eliminate this. I have read lately about how meal-planning can help you save money because you already know what you are going to eat during the week, so you already have a plan - and don't get sucked in to dining out. Aside from that, my husband gets frustrated when I ask him 'what do you want to eat?' at dinner time -- after he's spent a long day at work. He's like 'you don't already have that figured out?' So, I am going to try to be a good wife and get on the ball. hehe

Why are we trying to save money? Other than being like every other American who is suffering from the way the economy is right now, we have another challenge. My husband and I had our first baby girl on April 23rd of this year, and I am trying to do my best to stay home with her. Cutting our budget is key to meet that goal!

Back to menu planning: So September 29th marks the beginning of week one on our menu-planning venture and we are looking forward to roast, spaghetti, tacos, and chicken. Yum. The stinky part of starting this week, though, is that next week we are going on vacation. BUT, better to start now than never, right? At least I am telling myself that.