Coming up for air

Whew - I swear I will get back into my blogging routine soon!  It has been wild and crazy around here the past week with both of my boys starting school and trying to get settled into routines.

Nick also has been moved projects at work which has caused a bit of confusion around here.  His new work schedule is going to be 10 hour days, 4 days a week, so he'll get every Friday off!  It's going to be looong days though (he needs to wake up at 4:30am, yuck!)  And this project could involve a lot of overtime, which on the one hand is YAY! and on the other hand a lot of BOO!  We have to be grateful for all the income we can bring in, but it certainly is busy around here.  Nick earns a heck of a lot more than I do though, so if he's doing OT I can relax a bit on my end.

I am having a VERY difficult time keeping up any semblance of a work day.  I did not meet my $1200 target for this pay cheque, I fell about $200 short :(  Hopefully now that the craziness of the first week of school has died down that will get better.

We also came to the conclusion that Tristan really needed to be involved in more activities.  Tristan had told us that he decided he didn't want to be in Beavers, so we felt it was best to respect his decision.  He claimed it was because he was "shy" - if you know us personally, you know that this is soooo far from the truth.  Tristan is the type of child will strike up a conversation with each and every person he passes walking through the grocery store.   So after much debate, Nick and I felt we should push him out of his comfort zone a little bit, which unfortunately meant pushing our budget a bit out of our comfort zone.  We signed Tristan up for Broadway Show Choir, Beavers, and Art Classes.  They are pricey (like ouch pricey), but in the end we want was is best for our kids, and he really needs to have his time filled up in a way that I cannot do entirely on my own.  I spoke with my mother-in-law tonight and she said she would love to help out, so we'll see what comes from that.

I promise I will back tomorrow with our budget, right now I need to go have some quality time with my pillow.  Nick's brother's family is coming to visit this weekend so it's going to be busy, busy, busy!

Spending totals for August 28th to September 3rd, 2011

Having to do a bit of catch up today.  We've been enjoying an extra long Labour Day weekend as a family.  Our last hurrah before settling into the fall routine of school and preparing for winter.

I have been terrible this week about writing everything down and had to scramble to dig through my wallet to find receipts for everything.  Up to this point I have been just separating cash into different areas of my wallet, but I think I need to use actual envelopes and tuck the receipts inside so that I can keep a better record of it all.  All in all, not a bad week.  I highlighted a few things that weren't really planned.  I really need to quit taking my kids shopping with me!  It always costs me more.

August 27, 2011
$105.00 Life jackets for the kids (we realized last minute after being invited to go boating with the friends that the boys no longer had life jackets that fit.  No time to shop around and find a better price)
$109.99 Anti-virus software (Paid for 2 years upfront, I need this for work since I work remotely by computer)
$17.00 Doll dress for Brighton's birthday


August 28, 2011
No spend!

August 29, 2011
$33.96 Personal tax payment installment
$255.10 Payment to mom
$48.80 Bank fees (ouch!  overdraft interest is getting to us)
$70.57 Fuel - van
$11.54 Lutes building centre - screws for privacy screen Nick built in the yard
$12.00 Car wash

August 30, 2011
$42.44 Fuel - car

August 31, 2011
$70.92 Extra Foods - groceries

September 1, 2011
$1305.00 Mortgage payment
$2.72 Phone/internet
$161.34 Cell phone bills
$29.13 Domino's Pizza (we let Tristan choose dinner since it was his first day of school and he wanted to order pizza)

September 2, 2011
$62.99 Sump pump

September 3, 2011
$44.67 Bulk barn - groceries
$54.23 Michael's - quilting cutting mat for me, and craft supplies for the kids
$23.29 Dollarama - art supplies for the kids and some misc school supplies

Total spending for the week: $2397.70 (seems like an awful lot, but the mortgage makes up more than half of that)

A bunch of randomness

I have been a bad blogger this week!  It's been busy and I've been feeling a little bit like a chicken with my head cut off.

On the work front I've been really struggling to meet my goals and then further struggling with whether working more is the right decision.  After much debate and pros and cons list making, I've decided that instead of coming up with a number goal, I'm going to work set hours and accomplish what I can within those hours.  Since I get paid per piece of work I complete it at first seemed logical that I would go by earnings to determine targets - the problem with that is that some pieces of work take longer, and I have worked until 11pm a couple of nights to get everything done.  Nick and I sat down and worked out a schedule that hopefully will work for all of us.  Doesn't hurt to try different approaches and see what ends up being the best.

The other big thing going on this week is that Tristan started kindergarten yesterday!  He had a tour of the school on Wednesday and yesterday was the big day.  He had a blast!  When I picked him I asked him, "How was it?".... his reply?  "It. was. AWESOME!"   Gabe starts preschool next week so I hope he has the same reaction.

And on the not-good news front, my mother who is battling stage 4 breast cancer found another lump in her breast this week.  It was a big blow as her last CT scan showed that the chemo protocol she is on was helping.  She is having a mammogram right now to check everything out, so we're hoping and praying that it's not bad news.  It puts things into perspective, health and family is what truly matters.... not money.

So no meal planning or food waste to report today.  I'm not going to meal plan for the next few days until I use up everything we have on hand.  Usually if I wing it I'm more resourceful with what's in the fridge, freezer, and cupboards.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful start to September!