Do you ever feel like your daily schedule is dragging your through your life?

Not going to lie…I’ve been experiencing that lately and it is completely disconcerting. I have so many drop dead deadlines looming that the current disarray thanks to the vacancy left by a long-time employee makes my head spin.

And, when I concentrate on trying to keep my work life humming, my home life and personal life go sideways. I haven’t been to the gym in over a week, my family has been spending a ton of money eating garbage rather than home cooked meals, my clothes and dishes need washed, and my bank account is constantly in danger of being empty.

In short, this is a mess.

My oldest returned for her second year at the university. My goal for her this year is not only to settle into her major and classes, but also to start budgeting for her living expenses more consistently and effectively. Part of it is because she is nearing 20, but the other part is because I don’t do particularly well budgeting my own living expenses–pretty sure I was better at it when I was in college than I am now, actually. I don’t want her to follow in my footsteps, but also I’m struggling to keep her afloat along with the household. It isn’t just because I don’t think being her ATM is good idea, but also because I’m not capable of doing it, even if I wanted to (which I don’t).

My youngest is in private school and is playing the most expensive sport aside from ones that require a vehicle or a horse. Luckily, we were able to put down a big down payment on her school tuition so that our monthly payment is less. She is, however, a great saver and pretty responsible with her spending, so I have hopes for her.

Today, I resisted the urge to go into the office to put out more work fires–they will still be there tomorrow–and use my Sunday to try and put some things in order. First, I did the dishes. Second, I sat down and mapped out recurring monthly expenses and it became apparent that the reins and felt sick to my stomach. Third, I did an inventory on what we have in the house to eat, made a meal plan and a grocery list of less than 20 items that should get me through this coming week.

I’m taking the advice of this Jordan Page YouTube video on envelope budgeting for the grocery piece specifically.  I am committed to returning to a weekly grocery shopping schedule for the house and this will be a shared responsibility. If we all eat it, the adults can share the responsibility of purchasing it. My next job is to block out a small space on my calendar to plan meals and make a list each week.

The good news? I’m teaching a class this semester and the extra pay will start appearing in my next paycheck. And, my husband never shies away from overtime opportunities. And, now that I have mapped out the recurring expenses, I’ve identified a few I can cut from my own list that don’t seem like much, but I’m sure will add up soon enough. I feel pretty optimistic about that idea, but it could be the almost entire pot of coffee I drank by myself today. Oops!

Even though no one reads this blog except me, I plan to use it to keep myself accountable going forward. I mean, I’m paying for this space on the internet. I can’t justify that if I’m not using it in some way.

Fingers crossed.