Step by Step

There are two things that I am finding I need to master in my "new career."  Yes, it is a new career at least that is how I am viewing it.  One of the areas I need to master is working step by step to get my house in order.  Instead of trying to look at the total big picture I am breaking everything down into manageable pieces. This is much the same steps I used when I was a legal assistant and had to tackle some big projects.  Yesterday I didn't think I was doing very well. After all it is hard to play catch up on housework when you are trying to do the day to day chores of laundry, meals, picking up and so on.  Yesterday I sat down and tackled going through all of the music and music books that had cluttered up the area around the piano.  I sat down and just went through the stack in about 20 minutes.  The room instantly looked better.   When one room looks better I get energized to work on other areas.

Sometimes as I write in this blog I think that if any "seasoned" homemaker reads this she will think I am nuts as she has been doing it for years, but in all honesty we cannot be on the "top of our game" all the time.

The second area I need to master is money.  My husband and I discussed a food budget of $125 per week for the three of us.  We have also budgeted another $25 a week for the type of items you would purchase at Wal-mart.  Now I have been stockpiling food since February when I subscribed to the Grocery Game - www.thegrocerygame.com.  It only costs $1.25 per week and it has helped me save a lot of money and really stockpile my pantry and my freezer with rock bottom prices on meat, canned goods and so forth.  However, I can do better.  Instead of buying paper towels at a rock bottom price, why am I buying paper towels at all?  Any money spent is not money saved so I am now looking at everything I can make homemade or do without as a way to save money.  $125 per week for 3 of us is quite a lot of money when you look at things as a whole.  I can bake bread, tortillas and such.  I can cook soup from scratch so I am now starting to look at my grocery budget a little differently.  I do have a supply of cleaners that I had purchased in the past year when there was a two for one special and I had a coupon, but do I really need all those different type of cleaners and also, I can make my own cleaners for less than what I bought them for on sale. Everything that I feel we need to purchase I am now looking at differently.

We need to save more money to replenish our savings account and I know that even a penny here or there can add up. 

Now, I am devoting my time to getting my house in order and to saving money.  Thankfully the internet is a wonderful source of information for me.  I have come across a blog entitled Under $1000 a Month in which a young family with small children are actually living on that amount per month.  Also I have come across other sites such as the frugal mom and all of these sites have wonderful ideas of saving on everything.  I am not bringing in an income now but I can save as much money as possible and contribute financially in that way.

I am going to quit buying paper towels.  I have a supply of old bath towels that I am going to cut down and make into manageable towels about the size of a paper towel. Also I am already making my own powdered laundry soap and plan to convert to the homemade liquid laundry soap that is more economical as soon as I can find a big covered bucket.  I tried a homemade dishwasher detergent yesterday and it worked great.

I am retraining myself in the area of money and instead of running out when I feel we need something I am seeking other alternatives. When I was employed as a legal assistant, I was well paid.  I worked for a very long time so I never really thought about eating out or going on line and buying something.  I just did it.  It takes awhile to change a habit.  I want to stay home and never work again so I am motivated to make the changes that I need to in order to make this happen.