How I turned by day around. ( A quick thought before I begin another one)

What I should be doing is getting ready for work. The kids are still sleeping, and I have to shower. Thankfully we get ready pretty quickly.  I have been up for almost an hour. I took the time to have some coffee and get through some math papers that I wanted to look at.  Whew! Paperwork is a challenge for every single teacher, but I digress.

Yesterday morning was a challenge. The brownies I baked for an after school meeting didn't seem done, I had no cute brownie papers, it was raining and I couldn't figure out what to wear. We left later than usually, but we made it on time.  I was able to add some time to the brownies, cut enough to make it work, and get in the car. I did not want to start work off on a grumpy note. In the car I promised myself to let it go and turn the day around. So, I let it go and turned the day around. My day was manageable, and I wasn't in a terrible mood all day. 

So my message is that you too can turn your bad day around. They are only brownies, a bad meeting, a rainy day, a frustrated client, but only you can turn that day around.

Happy Day!

I am so bad at 100 percent

I recently read an article that if you want to do something it is easier to do it if you put in 100 percent of your time.  The article made sense, but the more I think about it the harder it is.  The author recommended that you select the thing that needs doing and everything else will fall into place.

What if you have too many areas to focus on?  There are a handful of areas in my life that could use 100 percent.  I think my marriage needs 100 percent effort, but with two full time jobs, kids and a house to run that can be tough. My kids need 100 percent as well, but their day is long and we are frequently apart for 9 1/2 to 10 hours a day.  The weekend hits and my number one goal is to get the house cleaned up. Ouch! Or as my ten year old would say, "That's not what the weekend is for Mom."  I also think my job needs 100 percent, although sometimes it feels like even 100 percent isn't enough.

What about me?  I am desperately trying to lose weight. My overall goal is 40 pounds, but I am taking it slow. The only way to commit is to put 100 percent into my weight loss goal. Eating those chips isn't as important as being comfortable on the beach this summer. I have struggled with my weight most of my life, and I want to do something about it before I get too old. The first 5 pounds came off and then I floundered a bit. I am still down the 5 pounds with about 35 to go. Putting 100 percent into myself seems like a good choice because then it would spread to my marriage, my kids and my career.

There are other things that I interested in as well. I have always been interesting in writing. Hence this random blog I post on for multiple days in a row with major breaks. Maybe I can choose my 100 percent and the other things will fall into place. 

I guess I could always give it a try.

I tried hard to be positive, but at least I can still save money

Remember Sunday's post about being positive and having a good attitude. I already failed. Bad, I know. Work was hard today, and I almost could not take it. Thankfully my other half got home early and was able to get the kids. It did save me from having to leave work and let me catch up just a bit. The biggest problem with teaching is that you never really catch up. It is continuous. "You never really catch up. You never really catch up."  Maybe if I make that my mantra I will relax a bit more.

Now let's talk money. Thursday is pay day. Yippee. I already know the total so I can crunch the numbers and transfer that $500 into savings.  I did make it through the first two weeks. My spending was quite low. I have to really tweak the numbers because a few unexpected things happened. I missed the cable/internet/phone bill in January, so now it is double. Yes, I know, kill the cable. Well, killing the cable is off the table for now, but maybe we will revisit it in the future. Also, my excise tax came in, so now I have to find another $52.00 in my already tight budget because I have been a life long spender I am the queen of saving money.  Trying to reframe things to keep myself positive. Anyway I am really looking forward to waking up Thursday and throwing the $500 into the savings account.  I can't wait. Also, it may snow Thursday, so let's pray for a snow day!

Why I dread the weekend and how to make a change

Pretty negative title, I know.  But it really wraps up how I feel when Saturday morning roles around. Stressed, overwhelmed, a list of crazy things running through my head, clean the house, do the laundry, grocery shop, take kids to activities, be a crank. The last one is just what happens. I become a drill sergeant and start bossing the kids around.  I didn't even include work in my post.

This weekend started sort of the same way with the exception of grocery shopping. That was one thing I managed to get done on Friday after work. My plan was to leave work at a reasonable hour, but I got caught up in things to do. So there I was, grocery shopping at 5:00 p.m.. Wandering around Wegman's and thinking about my grocery budget, savings goal of $6,000 by June and how tired I was when it became Frozen Pizza Friday. It worked and it wasn't that expensive. Probably twice the cost of homemade, half the cost of Wegman's premade refrigerated pizzas and a fourth of the cost of ordering out.  It wasn't half bad. 

Saturday morning was basketball, cooking and cleaning the house. I made the kids do their part. We all live here. Saturday did get better. I did not exercise like I planned, but we had my mother over for dinner, which was fun. 

Today I made blueberry bread and hit the store (oops) again. We already used all the eggs and were out of sugar so I really had to go.  I spent about four hours on work doing my plans. Now I have snacks in the oven and will be signing off to watch the Super Bowl.

My point of a rather negatively titled post is that it is my choice to have a good weekend. Stressful job or not, messy house or not, bad mood or not, I make the choice to have a good weekend. It is up to me to separate my job from my life and choose to live in the moment. Enjoy every minute and just be there.

In addition to my goal of frugality is a new goal, an important goal, a goal to be happy in all that I do.

Save or Pay Off?

I am rethinking my hard core, extreme savings plan. I just ran the numbers about applying my $500 per check to our biggest loan. I actually ran it as applying an extra $1,000 per month on the loan. There would be a few extra checks in there as well. If we go with the extra $1,000 per month theory that loan would be paid off during the summer of 2018. Also, applying that money and seeing the balance drop may be motivating enough for us to find extra money to get rid of that bad boy. Hmmm.

Regardless of whether I save it or put it towards a bill, I am not spending it.  That much I know is true.

The First $500-Gone

Bright and early on pay day, well early enough that is wasn't really bright, I went online and paid my bills. The first bill I paid was to us. I transferred $500 into our savings account. I had shared my goal of saving $6,000 by June with my husband on Wednesday.  It is really hard to break down finances at 9 0'clock on a Wednesday. I thought it was a good first goal because it will give us a true emergency savings account and more than double our savings. We are going with this plan for the time being and will revisit it soon to see if it is the best first step.

Meanwhile I took out some books at the library that I am perusing to see what sort of ideas I can use to save money.  One idea I think I am finally figuring out is that frugal people don't really spend their lives looking for bargains, they simply don't shop very much. When they shop, it is extremely intentional. Well, I have been quite intentional with all my purchases in the past few days. I have my money broken up into envelopes for groceries, gas and miscellaneous expenses. Sort of a pain rifling through them at the register, but there will be less debits when I go to balance my checkbook.

What I didn't buy yesterday

• I did not get a haircut. Wow I really need one, however, I just bought hair dye because I always do it myself. I am hoping I can make it a few more weeks without getting a haircut.
• One child needed sneakers. I took her to Kohl's and was able to get sneakers on sale with additional discounts and $20 Kohl's Cash. I paid the $11.00 balance using a Kohl's gift card. Sweet.

What I bought

• I had dinner out on Friday. We had a work commitment Friday night. This dining out was an opportunity to get to know my coworkers better. It is a new job, so it is important to work on your relationships. I only spent $16.
• Two Patriots t-shirts. Ahhh. The kids have Spirit Week next week. I found Patriot's t-shirts at TJ Maxx for $15 each. I had already checked a consignment shop and what they had looked really bad. Kohl's was outrageous and another discount store had nothing. They are large shirts, so they should be able to wear them for many Patriot Days to come. I caved for my kids, but I did not buy one for myself. 

So I am really not that frugal......

I just had to say this to get it out there. Also, I am impulsive, not just with shopping, but with life. Last winter I had this frugal plan and it sort of fell by the wayside. Many of my ideas do. I am great at getting ideas, but I am not always good at following through on them.

However, I am old folks. Yes, by frugal standards I feel old. I have been reading these frugal blogs written by people 10-15 younger than I am. These are amazingly smart people that had no debt and understood the dangers of it.  Why has it taken me this long?

I have always been really bad not that great with money. It has always burned a hole in my little pocket. Gel manicures, a few new clothes, nice haircuts and eating out are things that I have spent money on for so long.

So here are a few things I am going to hold off on so that I can make my $6,000 goal by the end of June.

• Clothing-I do need clothing for work, but I have plenty of clothes in good condition. I can hold off on this purchase
• Salons-I get in and out of the gel manicure routine. Gosh, they look so good. I am out now, so out I will stay.
• Hair-Yikes. My hair is short and is really in need of a pick me up. My hair dresser charges $40 and I tip her, so I am trying to hold off for a bit more time.  I have done the cheap hair place route, but when it comes to short hair that can be a gamble. One gamble that I lost last year.  I will get keep blow drying it with extra mouse.
• Eating Out-Our January eating out has been gift card based. I am working on a budget like there is no tomorrow, and while it is daunting. The pay off has been worth it. 
• Kids need sneakers. I have a gift card and Kohl's cash with a 30% off coupon. I plan to take them there for sneakers and hope they find new sneakers that they love!

Oh, and I quit the gym. I mean I quit throwing money out of the window each month. I am an idiot sometimes.

So tomorrow is day 1 of making a big deposit into our savings. Then I am going to say. "Hon, I just put $500 in savings." Hopefully he will respond with a "How did  you do that?" and be super impressed  with how I was able to make that happen.  My simple plan includes an Excel spreadsheet. I don't really get how to use it, but I can use the sum function. I get paid every two weeks. I tweaked all my bills until I got a minimum of $500 per paycheck into savings. An extra goes into a miscellaneous column for kid clothing, birthday gifts or a desperate haircut:). Basically all the stuff I did not budget for. I am trying the envelope system, but I am so bad at it. This past paycheck I over budgeted on gas and used it for food. Not what you are supposed to do. Oh well, I am learning.

   

Extreme Hard Core Saving Plan

Starting today I am launching my Extreme Hard Core Saving Plan.  I have been cutting back for the new year and thinking about how to best enjoy life.

Note: January is a crazy time for teachers. Standardized tests loom and overall I always feel down and defeated at this time of year, but I digress.

My new goal is to sock as much from each check as I can. I have organized my bills and tried to budget for extras. I have a set grocery budget that I plan to stick with. We have done very well with groceries for January. 

Pay day is two days away. I just checked my account, made sure I had enough for gas and transferred my last $50 into savings. When I get paid Thursday, I plan to stick almost $500 from my check into savings. I have been transferring $200 per month, plus another $100 into another account, plus $100 into one of our 529.  Lame!  I could be saving so much more.  I have found some places to cut back and hope to save as much as humanly possible from each check through June. That is 12 checks @ hopefully $500 per check. I am hoping to add $6,000 to our savings in the next five months.

Can I make my goal?  Every single time I try to purchase something I will think $6,000, $6,000, $6,000. 

The Big Saving Plan

So I have been reading and reading and thinking and thinking.

I have a plan. Although we still have debt, including the mortgage and home improvement loans, I am going to begin an aggressive saving plan starting now through June. My goal is to save a minimum of $500 per check, which is about $1000 per month. Right now I am saving about $300 per month, however, ahem, sometimes I may take it out and use it. Let's not discuss that right now.

I am in love with my new plan, and knowing that we will have a big chunk of money in savings by June will give me the incentive not to spend any extra money. 

Vacation Cooking and What I Really Did

So I planned meals for our vacation. I really thought it through. We brought some things and then hit the Market Basket near our destination. They are a well priced local grocery chain, and although we have every possible chain near us, we do not have a Market Basket. I tried to learn from last year so my purchases were good.  For example, if you buy juice and water at the local market you will pay $12.00 and your jaw will drop open. That being said I tried to buy enough to last us the week.  Our biggest error was over buying cold cuts. We bought two pounds of meat which was too much. We ate them through Wednesday and then I got rid of them. Cold cuts have a short shelf life. Although I hate food waste, I hate food related illness more.

Besides my zealous purchase of cold cuts, we had a steady supply of food. We even got more when my mother spent two days with us.  However, we did eat out. We had two dinners, pizza and two brunches out. So, it wasn't cheap, but it was vacation and we had fun. Plus, with the cold cut exception and bit of frozen salad, I was able to bring most of what we did not eat home. I will admit that it was quite repetitive and we need a cheeseburger and hot dog break! We usually have a bit more variety, however, I wanted to relax as much as possible.
                                                               

Vacation Menu

Saturday Cheeseburgers (too tired for salad)

Sunday Out

Monday Cheeseburgers and Hot Dogs, pasta salad and salad

Tuesday Hot Dogs and watermelon

Wednesday Marinated Chicken with left over pasta salad and salad

Thursday Out for pizza

Friday Out

Saturday-back at home and shells from freezer

So now that we are back I have inventoried everything I have left in my freezer, fridge and pantry and am working on a two week menu plan. We have an abundance of food, and I am getting a new meat delivery on Friday. I was going to change my order up, but I think I will go with the current order and maybe skip August.  After a week of spending, I want to tighten things up and use up the food that we have. With the exception of fresh fruit we could probably go a full week without shopping.  

If you go on vacation and you plan your meals and stick to it, that is great. I am impressed by you! If you stray from your plan or eat out more than you planned don't fret. It is vacation. The goal is just to have fun.

So Much to Say

It has been five months since I have shared anything in cyber space. Although I think this is more like an online diary than a well read blog. Nevertheless there is much to tell.

I lost my job. Don't worry, I found one as well. However it was a bit worrisome for about two months. Now to clarify how that happened, I was never actually unemployed. I learned in April that there were not enough students to allow me to stay in my building. Due to my lack of professional status I could not be transferred within the town, but I was able to apply to open positions in the district.

Once I was done freaking out, I threw my name in the ring everywhere that I could. In early June I had two other districts reach out and I am happy to say that I have a great job with a super commute. Right now I am enjoying this wonderful summer with my family, but come August I will be getting ready for a new town, new curriculum and a new grade. Truly there is so much gratitude that I feel about actually getting a job. I do know how lucky I am.

On the finance front I have been working on many things. Some of those frugal ideas that I had during the dark and cold winter did not come to fruition. I wish I could stand on my soap box and say I have not purchased any new clothing, but alas I can not. It is just a revelation that I had. I am better at reading frugal blogs than actually being super frugal. I can be somewhat frugal, but my frugality is not blog worthy. However, I will continue to read the frugal blogs that I enjoy. I always get good ideas and am impressed with how creative people are.

I will say though that some of the things that I implemented when I was trying to be uber frugal have made a difference. I started saving some extra money each month, and it is nice to check that statement out and see what I have done.

Finally I want to talk about food. Yes, food because I like to cook and eat. Food because at this point I care so much more about healthy eating than extreme couponing. A few months ago I started getting our meat from a local company that gets all their meat from New England farms. They have good practices, are great to deal with and their products are great. It is not cheap, but I am working it into the budget. It feels good to know what we are eating, and I appreciate that we can afford to do this. My sister and I are also sharing a CSA box this year. There lots of greens that no one wants to eat, but it has been fun to see what comes each week.

Well, I think I said plenty for a first post back. Time to go make a stir fry with all of those veggies.

You Can Only Go Forward

It's my new mantra. Really I think it is the best way to live your life. Stop looking back and beating yourself up. Learn from what has been done but don't miss out on today because you are feeling bad about something from yesterday, last week or ten years ago.

So here we are with a new mantra and a fresh start. Let's focus on the positives.

• Everyone is healthy
• We have two solid incomes
• We have a lovely little house
• Everyone is healthy (worth repeating)

Things we are working on

• We are paying the equivalent of two mortgages a month.

 Ouch. Really. We are. If you take our mortgage that we refinanced to pay off quicker and the loans from our renovation we are really paying the equivalent of two mortgages. It sounds bad, but it is what it is. Well, we can only go forward. The payments are being made. We can eat. We are trying hard to save and pay things off as quickly as possible. We I am helping us to transition into a more frugal lifestyle. My transitions are subtle so as not to scare anyone. Sure I talk about it. I talk about everything. I am into my third week of not spending extra money. It feels great. I have been perusing tons of different blogs that focus on more extreme frugality to get different ideas on what people do and what works for them. Every blog is different, but they all have something to offer.  My current plan includes no more clothes for me for the rest of the school year. Baby steps. When it get hot we will see what happens.

Financially Grown Up

Drifting of to sleep last night thinking about why now, at this point in my life am I getting really serious about a real budget, real saving. I think I know. I am an adult. We are adults. In the past few years we have experienced some very adult things that make us even older than our years. It is time to get control of our situation, to know what is going on, and to make decisions that make sense.

Our priority is to pay the mortgage and renovation loans. We can, thankfully, do that. We don't have that cushion that we should, but we are able to pay those monthly bills. We have a few years before any of them are paid off if we do it traditionally, but I think we may know we can do it quicker with some hard work. A second priority is to eat. Unfortunately it is what we have to do, and we enjoy it. Activities for the kids are also important. Participating in sports keeps them active and allows them to try things that they may be able to continue with as they get older. Busy kids with good activities = less trouble and hanging out.

Those are really the main things we have to do. I did not include utilities, but they should be understood. Things that we never have to do are eat out, buy coffee (that is me, not not anymore), waste energy, gas, get nails done, go to salons, get hair colored, buy trendy clothes and shoes.  The list goes on and on. These are things that we have not been doing and do not need to do. Since the new year we have had almost all homemade meals, and we eat them together at the table. (Another important part of connecting with your kids).

With all this extra money hanging around we will get rid of the few small credit cards and start working on the loan with the biggest monthly payment. When loan is paid off it will free up so much money to pay other loans off.  It will be AMAZING to pay those bills off.

In the past week, since I started my no spending zone, I am happy to say that I have not spent any extra money. My purchases were groceries only. No coffee, no lunch out Friday, no shopping, no nothing. It feels great. I also found a free site that will help me keep track of a budget, and it is free. I can't wait to get paid and plug everything in. That way I can send the extra money to a bill.  One final thing I did last night was to up my weekly savings transfer to $50.00. It was not much more than I was putting in, and it felt good to increase it. The money is there. We can do this.

Getting a Handle on the Grocery Budget

Our grocery total for January was $676.41. That total feeds two adults and two children in elementary school.  The thrifty plan, according to the USDA is $648.80 for our family. Not bad. There is one receipt I don't have from when my husband picked up bread.  We are still under $700.00 for the month. I shopped this Friday, but since it was January 29th I put it at the beginning of February's spending.  I am tracking our monthly grocery costs on a spreadsheet to see what we spend per month, if it is enough and how to potentially tighten it up. Believe me when I say that my spending took a lot of additional work. I did a lot of cooking, planning, and baking.  For the most part we shopped weekly and avoided too many midweek trips to the store.  I ate the majority of leftovers for work lunches.  We utilized almost every bit of food we had.  I thought we had done well, but we still spend more than I would like to spend per month.

February is a short month. We are already at $112.74. If I aim for a $600.00 total for this month I still have $488.00 dollars left to spend. This month also includes a vacation week that we are all home to eat, eat, eat, as well as the fact that I will have class once a week until May and not be able to make dinner that night. That means I need to have something already made with instructions or something frozen ready to go. My plan this week is enchiladas that I hope to make. If not I have frozen raviolis as a back up. It will prevent a weekly meal out that I am really trying to avoid.

Personal Spending Update

 I have not spent any extra money this week. No coffee, no shopping, no nothing. I feel great!

Strange Timing with Sadness

It has been two months since my father died. Lots of strange things happen when someone dies. Throughout the whole ordeal I have just felt odd. That is not clearly articulated, but it is all I can come up with. December was bizarre with the constant stream of holiday cards and sympathy cards coming at the same time.

One night after work I got the mail and was sorting through said assortment of sympathy and holiday cards. A card with half a return address jumped out at me.  There was no name, but I knew that address. It was a friend with whom I had parted ways with 13 years ago.  We had a falling out of sorts. It does not matter now. Slowly I opened the card. She had heard about my father's passing and sent me a card. In the card she had written a great deal about how sorry she was to hear about my father. It was overwhelming to get this card from someone who had seen so much of my father when we were growing up.  It made me think about what has happened in our lives in the past 13 years. What we don't know about each other and how we have moved on to our own worlds.

Five weeks have past since I received that card. Tonight I learned that this same old friend lost her mother Sunday. I am in shock. The sadness I feel for her family is indescribable. I have some lovely memories of her mother and feel terrible for her father. I am taken aback by the timing of both incidents. How do two people who were friends for so long and then not, lose parents in the same time period. It is coincidence? Is it fate opening a door to reconciliation? Do I reach out? I know, given how things have happened, that I will send a card? Do I offer further support or the willingness to listen. I don't know. I am overwhelmed with sadness.

No More Spending

There are so many financial wizards out there trying to help you create a budget, pay off your debt, and get smart about money. You can buy that sandwich, but budget it. You can get that new purse, but budget it.  Yes and no. I have read many books and blogs about not spending as much money, but the concept of not spending ANY extra money is pretty amazing to me.  I think it may be the thing that saves us.

What does it mean to afford something? The old me (from the other day) thought if I had the money in my checkbook I could afford it. That is so not true, and I think I knew that. I just needed a wake up call. I am awake now, and am ready to live my new life that cares less about stuff and more about freedom. The freedom that comes with having some money.  It will take us many years to get there, but I am convinced we can do this.

With my new mindset I have eliminated coffee and take-out from our lives for now.  I do have a gym membership, but I will get reimbursed for the first two months and use it until the spring. Once the weather is good I will freeze it until the fall. There is no need to pay for the gym when I can walk in the world. Duh!

For the next month I am going to keep track of every penny and spend nothing on ridiculous items like clothes I don't need, make up, or new books.  My daughter needs winter boots, so that will be one purchase. Other than groceries, child care, and paying for kids activities I solemnly promise to make no extra purchases that are not necessities for any reason. I think this lack of spending will show me how much extra money there really is when I don't blow $2.00 here and $40.00 there. That money will go toward my first bill that I am paying off and hope to pay off very quickly.
  

So I Read the Blog that May Have Changed My Life

Strong title, but I think it may be true. In searching more grocery budgets and ideas I found this blog that has a sarcastic yet funny way of explaining how people need to get it together with their money. I read several posts over the last few days and am hooked.

This doesn't mean that I will run out and cancel my cable television (my other half would never agree and I probably would miss it too), but there are so many things he mentions that changed my thinking. I feel more motivation to push forward with some new goals.

This well known blogger saved most of his money and retired early. Yikes! This loser (me) has been spending all her life.

Some things that I have done well include hitting Super Cuts and coloring my own hair (for the past 6 months and forever after). That is around $30 to do it this way, but the salon would be over $100. Nice.
Manicures and pedicures have left my budget. They have left my budget. They have left my budget. Seriously I don't even want one and haven't had one a six months. When the spring hits I can soak my feet for an hour and figure something out. I have also done a great job (although a bit tiring) of shopping on the cheap and feeding us a fairly healthy diet without breaking the bank. That will continue as well.

Things that need to be eliminated include shopping in general, drive thru coffee ever. I really will never get coffee again. I promise.  Eating out (there may be a few exceptions like spending time with a friend). Tightening it up all around and kicking debt in the shins.

My first goal is to get rid of one credit card that is 0 percent interest and then a credit card with a piece of furniture on it that is 0% as well.  Then we can figure out what loan should be paid off next.

I have a plan.

Groceries for This Month

My total for January was about $500. That is awesome. Really I am quite excited about it. Also exhausted from spending so much time in the kitchen cooking, planning and organizing, but still quite pumped that I was able to feed us that well for what I spent. Part of it was participating in a pantry challenge on another blog. I certainly did not have the food supply that many people seemed to have, but it was a huge help.

Next week's shop will count towards February's spending. Another thing that really helped was all the coupons I was able to use. Great local store coupons that gave me $ off the end of my order. Two or three weeks in a row I have been able to get an additional $10.00 of my order. That is fabulous.

For this week I already planned and prepped dinner for tonight and Monday. I have a tentative plan for Tuesday and the rest of the week as well. We will see how it goes. Right now I have work to do, but I feel like I need a nap. 

It Looked Good on Paper

We could make the payments. Everything seemed great. We got all the loans.  I felt trapped in such a small house and did not have a community to share that with. It was one of my reasons for starting this blog. Everyone in town that I had any exposure to had real houses or so it seemed to me at the time. It was the main reason I went back to work full time.  Now fast forward.

Here we are over a year after everything is complete. The house looks great, but it is still a modest house.  But the money keeps going out. We have come to a place where all the payments can be made, but if people only knew what we were paying out a month. They would be shocked. It is like we are paying two mortgages. We have the mortgage, which we refinanced to a fifteen year almost three years ago to save money. So it was a good decision but made our mortgage higher. We also have a series of different loans that we are paying out. They all have different end dates and interest rates.   The largest loan still has four and a half years on it.  So we have to keep this up for another four and a half years. Watching each penny and breathing very slowly.

Did we do the right thing?  Some would say no. We couldn't afford it and should not have done it. I would say what we did was not the worst decision. Yes, it looked better on paper than it feels each month,but we can make our payments. Selling seemed challenging when we started this process. Real estate came up quick, but we were underwater for years. Buying another house in the town we live in would have cost us a lot. We would not have found much that didn't need a face lift for under $550,000. We did not want to start all over with a 30 year mortgage at our ages.

It looked good on paper, but it feels stressful sometimes.

The Beauty of Sleep

Guess where I am going once I hit Publish? Bed time. I am finding that I really need a full eight hours of sleep to get me through a day without being grumpy. Well, maybe I am still a little grumpy with eight hours, but I can hide it better.

I have always been sort of a night owl. Actually I fall asleep on the couch a lot these days. Could be the 6:00 AM wake up, the two kids, the job. For most of my life I have always enjoyed staying up late. It could be my procrastinating personality. I spent a lot of late nights writing papers.  The 44 year old me is not that different than the college me. Maybe a bit more organized, but last minute is my specialty. My husband likes to stay up late. When we met we always talked on the phone or emailed really late. Once he married me he got a girl that falls asleep on the couch. Oops.

Time changes us and at this point in my life if I want to be productive I know I need some sleep. Getting good sleep helps me to be less groggy in the morning and allows me some time to enjoy a cup of coffee before the kids wake up, get ready for work without racing around, help the kids get ready without getting mad at them. It also helps me to stay focused and patient with an entire classroom full of kids all day. They are young and need a happy, smiling and patient face no matter how I may feel. Sleep helps with all those things. It helps me finish the day, clean my classroom, pick up my kids and feed them.

And start all over again. It is 9:14 on the east coast. Bed time.