April was full of changes

If you "like" my page on Facebook then you know starting next week everything here will be crazy, and different! I am joining the working outside the home world FULL TIME. And I left my night job, giving myself 1 week in between end of that and start of a new one.
I haven't done this in over 7 years and never the same schedule as the Mr.
I never thought I would go back to work full time, but the company hubby works for has been making some major changes and one of them was eliminating positions, his happened to be one of those so as of mid July he doesn't have a job. 
I thought I would be way more upset and stressed out about it but really I am just excited for him to get to spend some time with the kids over the summer and to start a new adventure doing whatever he finds that sounds interesting. Not the end of the world like I had imagined it being.

But the logistics of how our Monday-Fridays are going to work is where I am a little nervous!
I have my usual cleaning schedule but I won't BE HERE to do it! I am going to try to stick with it but do the majority in the mornings, and really try to get the kids to help with what they can.
Some of it is easier lately, eliminating some clutter, and I guess things won't get as dirty if we aren't here all day right? Please tell me that is true!
And my Daily Schedule will be a thing of the past. It will for sure need a make over. I'm trying out a new one this week to give me a start.
I have this week to prep for all the new changes. Here is what I need to do
~Get the house SUPER clean. Hope that makes it easier to keep a little clean as we all adjust.
~Get in a new Daily Routine/Schedule
~Meal Plan, crock pot will be my new best friend
~Work on bags, we will need a babysitter bag, T-ball bag, baseball bag and lunch for everyone. I see some new checklists in my future!
~Lots of fun things in the evenings before it gets too crazy.
~Plan my outfits for the week, I don't want to be late because I can't decide what to wear! Business casual is new to me, I've been in Mommy Casual mode for so long!
~Plan my snacks and my activity during the day, I haven't had a desk job in 7 years but last time I gained easily 15 lbs the first couple months. I am 8 tiny pounds away from my goal weight (but not all my fitness goals) and I don't want to undo everything.

I keep finding myself saying "this is going to be so hard" and I need a big fat reminder of this!

Because I can, and I know this change won't be forever, things will change again in less than 2 months when the kids are out of school and there is no baseball to plan for. Then it will be swimming lessons and horse riding and I don't want to wish any of these stressful but important days away. So I am embracing that stuff is not going to go by MY plan but it will go, some days things won't be perfect, some days they won't even resemble good and those are the days I won't remember in 3 months anyway! 

And April has some good things too like
~I barely had coffee at all, and when I did it was with a gift card or groupon. I am *hoping* I will not be tempted at 730 in the morning on the way to work EVERYDAY! To help with the temping
I am making my protein shakes a priority again! What is your fave shake recipe? I love my vanilla protein mix, frozen peaches, ice and peach Greek yogurt.. but in the morning I need coffee! Same vanilla protein mix, coffee, non fat milk and ice!

~We paid off $2800 off of our debt, and have almost 1 more card to cut up! I feel really optimistic right now about getting out of debt, if ever we needed a push to do this, hubby losing his job was the THING. Yes I got a job fairly easily, but that wasn't guaranteed and then what would have happened?

~I quit my night job, it was fun enough and helped a little but I was grumpy and over tired, I was not meant to be a parent with 3 hours of sleep.

~The sun is shining, our few little fruit plants look amazing (compared to last year) and our kids are happy, healthy and willing to go with the flow of life. That is enough for me right now.


So that's what's happened/happening here. I should have my new schedule for life as a working mama after a couple weeks, maybe those of you that thought I was a nutter for planning my at home day can relate more to one with 9 hours away from the house :)
And I am sure I will have a whole new catagory :Crock Pot Disasters haha.. give me a week and there should be 2 or more!



 

Sparkle Party Inspiration!

I have the Party Planning bug and no plans for a party until September. I have no idea what we will be doing for our little guys birthday either. He isn't like most 3/4 year olds. We don't watch TV so he really isn't in to any characters, scared of garbage trucks and dump trucks. All those traditional 4 year old themes just are not him. Soo while I try to decide what to do for my Starbucks and Target loving boy I am checking out the party world for his little buddy. I think all 4 year old girls like glitter and sparkle.. right? Like it enough to make a party theme "Sparkly". Sure!

 

 

So when I pick a theme that isn't common,  that's not going to have a bunch of printables, or character plates and stuff. Like our little guys Lumberjack Party I like to make a list of all the basic requirements.

Cups, plates, napkins, banner, balloons and all those and think or look at ideas to make them fit my theme. There are some cute glitter ideas out there!

Just like when I clean I like to start from the top and work my way down.

Banners and Puffs/Poms/Lanterns

I can't share the banner yet but there are SO many banner ideas, and glitter can be added to anything. I am personally loving the letter style like I did for our Back to School Party

 

Could easily be made with glitter!

And pennant banners are always cute and easy to glitter. Just the glittered letters are easy to make, or find and match to most parties.

 

The tissue poms! Pretty sure there is glittered tissue paper

oh there is

 

Or if the lanterns are more your thing this is clever!

 

 

We almost always do basic, solid color plates/cups and sometimes pretty them up to work better for us. These cups with some added Washi Tape is SO smart, and cute and they make glittery tape!

 

And I personally wouldn't be putting glitter on any plates, no one wants to eat that kind of glitter.

But these are precious and just the right amount of sparkle without being expensive or hard to do!

  or

 

Super easy! Those stick on rhinestones are often in the $1 bin at our craft store in a ton of colors!

 

They do make glittery plastic silverware but it's expensive. If you like the wooden utensils I think you could glitter those lightly without them dumping too much glitter later on into your food.

 

Oh, balloons. I saw this and thought it was a cute idea! And also inexpensive

And you could probably add the bigger chunky glitter confetti too, or certain shapes if that matches your party better. I think I would use clear balloons and colored glitter for most of them though.

 

And once you have the decorations done, the food part is fun! Especially if you have a main color.

I LOVE these cake pops! Edible Glitter can make any regular treat party worthy!

 

And if the kids are old enough they can handle hard candies these I saw on etsy would be SOO cute!

 

And I was thinking you could probably add the edible glitter to your punch but went on a hunt to see if someone had tried it yet. She didn't use it in punch but jam! And it is SO pretty!

That ^ has me convinced that there needs to be a little glitter in everything!

 

I think I would use the washi tape again

And make some fruit kabobs but make some little flags for the end of the skewers with the tape.

and maybe glitter some beads ahead of time, this is a cute idea!

 

 I am sure there are a million other cute ideas out there. But now that I have distracted myself from a party I REALLY need to plan for a few days I better start looking for boy stuff again!

 

Budgeting #2 Home Managment Binder

How we organize our bills to pay

I would be completely lost without our "plan". We use a spreadsheet on our computer, I know some people prefer a hard copy but for us, the computer version is easier because I pay most of our bills online. But I do like some hard copy stuff too! You never know when you will need it.
In the finances section of my HMB we have a few sections:
1. REFERENCE

~ A list of ALL of our accounts, with the account number and customer service phone number. Even if we do not use them right now, or haven't in a while. I keep the info for about a year or so just in case there is an issue down the road.

One day I might figure out an easier way to share these printables!

 

~ The due date for each account we have, everything from credit card to water bill. I'd hate to get a late fee for being 1 day late!

~ Calendar with paydays listed. Hubby gets paid every other week so we split things up in a spreadsheet by paycheck.


~ Folder pocket for incoming bills to be paid.

2. THE PLAN

~Our Snowball plan with all our debts listed in order to be paid off, so I don't have to re figure it every month, it shouldn't change without there being something major.

~Paycheck Plan (IF I get around to printing it out, usually don't) This is what we use to decide what bills get paid with each of hubby's checks. Makes my Friday bill paying so  much easier to already know what to expect, I just match it with what came in the mail, or e-statements.

~List of upcoming irregular expenses. Things like drivers license renewal, car tags, swimming lessons, sports fee's all those things that can add up!

3. CASH ENVELOPES

~I just use some dollar store school envelopes and a page protector that is made for 4x6 photos, it holds them well, I can see them and get to them fine. But I would like to get something like these, or maybe make them in my free time (haha)

 

 

But it would also need a 3 hole punch, or some easy way to keep them in my Home Management Binder.

 

4. GROCERIES

 

~This one might be getting cut soon as I have less and less time. But if you have time and ambition to keep it up it's super helpful.

I have a list of our frequent purchased items per month. So I know about what our grocery bill should be each month if we I stick to it at the store. It makes it a little easier to plan grocery shopping if I know something is expensive I can split them up between to the 2 grocery trips each month and not have 1 be way more than the other. I like consistency. Knowing the approximate price for our usual things helps me to know when is the right time to stock up. If it's a great deal I would buy more and save a little the next month.I have a spreadsheet with all the groceries. I used to just use our receipt and update the prices for the store I went to. I pretty much only go to 1 or 2 stores now that so many are price matching. That has really helped too.

 

~I also have an envelope for grocery coupons (SO few and far between for stuff we buy)

 

April!!!

I am sooo ready for more of this gorgeous weather we have had. It just makes everything a little better! March went by even faster than February, makes me a little sad but it was also a productive month!

 

Paid OFF my Target Credit Card, that is a HUGE deal for me! I even cut it up!

 

That ^^^ feels SO seriously good! Good enough to keep me working on the rest even though I am not loving the lack of sleep and seriously falling behind on housework!

 

Spring Cleaning.. Pssssh SO not happening. I did wipe down a few of the baseboards but nothing else! Hoping for a garage sale in the next couple weekends, has me purging big time! But other than that I am just working on my weekly chores and a new routine that works with my work schedule.

 

I am still having coffee out, not as bad as last month, can I blame the new job for last month?! But I am also sticking to buying the gift cards and just using those (doesn't hurt to get gas discounts with the gift cards!)

 

Our Christmas fund has almost $200 in it! I cannot tell you how easy Swagbucks REALLY can be, I do a survey in the morning and then use it for my regular searching, no extra work outside of that most days! It's not a gimmick and it's FREE! No reason not to do it! Sign up HERE and start saving for Christmas, or Disney or a new car or whatever you are working towards!

 

I haven't been to the gym other than a few times, debating just canceling my membership unless I can get myself there more often! I think my work schedule will be about the same now and I COULD make it to my 2 fave classes. Giving it through April and if I make it more than 4 times I will keep it!

 

Even though things were crazy in February, I made some changes in my attitude about stuff and March turned out to be much better, although it went by much faster too!

 

My April goals are the same as they have been but I have a few more added. I HAVE to plan our summer activities before it gets any later and my main goal is to go through every room and purge as much as I can in the next 2 weeks!

 

What are your April plans? How was March for y'all?

And I am SOO counting down the weeks until school is out! 11 weeks!