More Packing Progress :)

I got into another packing kick this past week, and I am now up to 63 boxes, not including the ones Gairod has packed in the garage. Yes, I am a big dork, and I actually counted all the boxes. ;) Not all of them are in the picture, as some are in the kids closets.

We now have just under 3 weeks to possession, and 4 weeks to moving day! I am kind of at another stand-still, and need to wait another week or two to be able to pack a bunch more stuff!

Change.

After chatting with a good friend on Friday, I think I've figured out what my problem is right now.

I think I am just really nervous/anxious about moving. Moving is change, and change scares me. Don't get me wrong, I AM excited about moving, but I am nervous and stressed about all of the unknowns. I am a planner, and I like to be in control, and I feel like right now, so many things are out of my control, and I can't plan anything in my life past March.

I'm not too worried about the actual moving process - I know that packing and moving all of our possessions is going to be stressful and crazy, but honestly that part doesn't bug me too much. I can plan that part - to some extent! lol!

The part that I am most anxious about, and haven't really even admitted to myself until now, is the part that comes after. Actually living on an acreage, 45 minutes away our current home, and almost an hour away from where we spend a lot of time, getting groceries, doing speech therapy, swimming, going to the library, etc.

I am excited, but nervous, about our new life. I am excited about all of the possibilities, the space, and the fact that we are finally going to be living in a place where we can start moving towards the lifestyle that we want for our family.

But I am nervous about all of the unknowns, and the distance from everything, including family and friends. I'm nervous about living on a acreage! I've always lived in a town, and so has Gairod, so this will be a new thing for both of us. I'm nervous for when he is working nights, and I am all alone out there with the kids. I am nervous about the loss of "freedom" to just call up a friend and have them come for coffee that afternoon, or to just "pop into" Airdrie on a whim.

It's going to be a lifestyle change, and honestly, I am happy about it, but I am also nervous and anxious, and I know it will take some getting used to. I just want to hurry up and move, so that I can start getting used to my new life!

What is it with February?!

I don't know what it is with February, but it really seems to be a month that just doesn't agree with me.

Two years ago, I was diagnosed with PPD in February.

Last year, I slipped on some ice, hit my head, and ended up with a major concussion in February.

I lack motivation in February, I have bad luck in February, and I get depressed in February.

I used to think that maybe it was the weather, but this winter has been exceptionally mild, and I have made a point to get out and soak up the vitamin D, and yet I still feel unmotivated and blue.

I don't know what my problem is, I just don't really feel like doing anything. I have been eating like crap, which makes me feel like crap, yet I can't seem to motivate myself to start eating healthy again. I have tons of packing to do, but I am struggling with it, and would rather sit around doing nothing all day. I just feel blah. I know I am just in a funk, and I will eventually come out of it, but it is frustrating me.

Why does February seem to hate me so much?!

Packing Progress.

I hate to say it, but I am kind of at a stand-still with packing. I only have 31 boxes packed, but we still have 6 weeks left until moving day, and I feel like I have pretty much packed everything that I can for now. Everything else is stuff that needs to wait until we get a bit closer. At first I was bummed, thinking we have WAY too much "last minute" stuff, but then I realized that that's actually a good thing, and it means that my constant de-cluttering is actually paying off, because we don't have a lot of stuff sitting around that we never use! Most of what we have, is stuff that we use on a regular basis :)

It's Official!!!

We got our water test results today, and they were fine, so it is now OFFICIAL - we are moving! :)

Packing!

Yesterday, I decided to break my own rules, and start packing. ;) We are just waiting on the water test, and we *should* get that in the mail sometime this week. I am sure it will be fine, as there is a renter living there right now, and he is drinking the water.

I was going to wait until we had the water test back, and everything was official, before I started to pack, but I just couldn't wait any longer! lol! I am sure I will have some productive packing days, and some days where NO packing gets done, so I figure it doesn't hurt to start a bit early, and hopefully avoid cramming at the end! ;)

We have 6 weeks until we get possession, and just over 7 weeks until Moving Day! I have 13 boxes packed, and A LOT more to go!! :)

Time to Start Budgeting!

I am embarrassed to admit, that I have never really used a budget. It's stupid really, especially since I grew up with a mom who was always on a strict budget. Actually, maybe that's why I have always balked at the idea of using one! I remember my entire childhood, my mom having X number of dollars to spend on groceries every 2 weeks. We only bought food every 2 weeks. If we ran out of something before it was grocery day again, we simply did without. We never ate at a restaurant or ordered take-out. My mom baked almost everyday - we couldn't afford to waste money on store-bought treats. We never had new clothes, always hand-me-downs. I also remember my mom having X number of dollars for "spending money" every 2 weeks. And when I say "spending money", I mean anything that wasn't groceries had to be covered with this small amount of money. Did I have a deprived childhood?! Not at all!! So why, have I been so resistant to the idea of budgeting, and better managing our money?!

Since the triplets were born, all of my kids have always had brand new, usually name brand, clothing. If I see something at a store that I want, I buy it. When I am grocery shopping, I throw whatever I want into the cart, and don't worry about what the total is going to be until I get to the till. We eat out, or order take-out, several times a month. I want to bake, but I usually just end up buying over-priced packaged snacks, because it is easier.

Why? I think part of it has to do with wanting "better" for my kids. MY kids aren't going to wear hand-me-downs, WE can afford to buy them brand new clothes! And I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have never really felt like we have needed to budget!

Just after we found out we were expecting the triplets, Gairod quit his job, and started up his own welding company. He made really good money that first year, and we pretty much just wrote ourselves another pay cheque whenever our personal bank account started to get low. We continued that trend, even when the company wasn't bringing in very much money - we had enough padding in the company account, why should we change our spending habits?!

Fast-forward to this past September, when Gairod's welding truck and tools were stolen, and Gairod started working for CFD. Suddenly, we had to wait for payday to get money, I couldn't just randomly write us a cheque if we were getting low on money in our personal account! It was definitely an adjustment, but to be honest, I actually started to enjoy feeling like I needed to start planning our spending better! lol!

Now that we are hopefully (just waiting to find out the results of the water test!!) going to be moving, we are going to have some different and additional expenses. There are a bunch of renovations we want to do on the new house, but they all take money!

I don't think we are really bad at managing our money, but there is definitely room for improvement!  We have some debt, but not a lot compared to a lot of people!

Over the past few weeks, I've started looking at a few blogs and websites about money management, budgeting, getting out of debt, and saving up to pay cash for things. It has motivated me to start looking at our finances, and see where we can cut back and start saving money, to pay for reno's, and start paying off some debt.

I realize that over the next few months, we are likely to get into a bit more debt, before we can start working our way out of it. But I want to start budgeting NOW, and once we are settled into our new place, I want to start really scrimping and saving, paying off debt, and saving up for things we want, instead of just putting them on a line of credit or a credit card.

Monthly Decluttering - Month #1 - Kitchen

Despite the crazy, unproductive last couple of weeks I've had, I was VERY productive at the beginning of the month, and I got my kitchen all done!! At the beginning of January I posted some "before" pictures, and now here are my "after" pictures:

You probably won't notice much of a change, but if you look closely, you will see in the first picture that all the craft stuff is cleared off the top of my storage cupboards! The biggest changes however, are inside my cupboards. I cleared out 2 big boxes and a bag of stuff, that we simply don't use! I also deep cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom! :) 

Now that my kitchen is done, I am kind of at a stand still. I was originally thinking of doing the little girls and boys bedrooms next, but now those plans are derailed, since we are most likely moving! There's no sense cleaning things out and organizing, if I am going to be packing it all up in a few weeks. I might as well wait and go through stuff as I'm packing. I definitely want to make sure I do this. Even though we will be moving to a house that is 3 times the size of our current house, I DO NOT want to move a bunch of crap with us!! I want to really make sure I go through everything as I pack, and sell or give away anything we won't need or want at our new house!

So February will be a month of packing. We got our possession date moved up to March 15th, so that our renters can be in this place for April 1st. We are still waiting on a few things to be finalized, and I am scared to start packing until those things are all done - I don't want to jinx us!! But I will start packing by February 1st, no matter what!! :)

Moving?!?! - Part 3

Soooooo, it looks like we are going to be getting the house!!! :)

Our mortgage broker worked on the numbers ALL day Monday, and submitted everything to the bank Monday evening. Tuesday afternoon, we found out that they approved our application!! We have a few more documents to get to them, and we need to get a water test, but it's looking like everything is going to work out, and we will be getting our acreage!!! :)

Moving?!?! - Part 2

So we went back out on Wednesday evening, and I was able to get another look at everything, and try to picture us actually living there! I was SO much happier after seeing it again! It's better then I remembered, and we would be totally fine to move in "as is", and slowly start renovating! :)

Both mine and Gairods parents came out and looked as well, and they all loved it!! (Well, my parents loved it at least, Gairod's parents seemed to like it, but were still skeptical about us moving "all the way out there".)

When we got home, I had two Facebook messages from people interested in renting our house! I was thrilled - things seemed to be falling into place! :)

On Thursday morning we got a call from our realtor. They had countered our offer, which we pretty much expected them to do, since our original offer was pretty low. So we countered back, and continued the waiting game! Meanwhile, I had lined up the first person interested, to come and look at our house on Friday evening. I was also starting to get excited. REALLY excited, and already planning moving and reno details in my head! lol!

Friday the 13th. Let me start by saying I have never put much stock into superstitions, until now. Friday started out great. I got a call from the realtor Friday morning, that they had accepted our offer!!! YAY! Now we just needed to firm up a renter, and we would be good to go!! :) Shortly after that call, I got a call from a friend, telling me that a mutual friend of ours had her house burn down that morning! I was shocked and sad, and now my mind was on a million more things!

Later in the afternoon, I got a another call from our realtor. She had mentioned to our banker that we would be coming in to sign financing papers soon. Our banker then told her that us having a renter for our house didn't necessarily guarantee that we would get the financing that we need. We would need to get someone to sign a lease, bring in the papers, and then see if that would work. This is NOT what our banker had told Gairod. I called Gairod at work right away, and he was PISSED!! We would NOT have put an offer in on a house if we didn't think that we were pre-approved for financing!

By now I just felt sick to my stomach. We had already decided that we would just rent out our house, since realistically there is no way it will sell before our deal closes. Now we're finding out that that won't necessarily work.

So the girl that was supposed to come look at the house Friday night ended up calling and cancelling at the last minute. Great. Another blow to the stomach. I had spent all day cleaning and getting the house ready to show, so I called up the second person, who had seemed REALLY interested, and asked if they would like to come over and take a look that night. They were thrilled, and came over about an hour later!

These people ended up loving our house, and wanted to sign a lease right away! We then had to explain to them our bank issues, and tell them that we might need them to sign a lease for the bank to see, but that we then might have to break it, if the bank doesn't end up giving us the money for the new house! They were very understanding, and willing to try to help us out! 

Later Friday evening, Gairod called a mortgage broker that his brother recently used. The way she was figuring it out, we wouldn't qualify for another mortgage, while keeping our existing mortgage. Our credit rating and everything is fine, it's just that our debt to income ratio will be too high. She said she would work on it over the weekend, and see if she could try to make it work. I went to bed Friday night feeling totally depressed. I didn't want to let myself get attached to the idea of moving, until I was sure it was actually going to happen. But I did let myself get attached, and now I was feeling disappointed and hopeless.

So now it is Sunday, and we are waiting. We have to wait until Monday, when the banks are open, to really know anything. Gairod has been texting back and forth with the mortgage broker all weekend, trying to come up with different ways to make it work. We are looking at the possibility of seeing if his parents can co-sign. We would rather not do this, as we prefer to do things on our own, but if it will work, and it's what we need to do, then we will do it.

Worst case scenario, we can't get financing, and we don't get the acreage. It won't be the end of the world, we will just be back at square one. It will just suck, because this is such a great opportunity for us, to get a bigger house and a piece of land, for a great price!! I am trying to stay positive, but also not get my hopes up.

I've said before that I am big believer in fate, and that everything happens for a reason, even if we don't understand that reason at the time. I have to give up my worries, and believe that if we are meant to get this house, then everything will work out, and we will get it. If we don't end up getting it, there is a reason. Maybe it's not the right house for us. Maybe this isn't the right time for us to make a big move. I don't know. Time will tell.

"Que sera sera,
What ever will be, will be,
The future's not ours to see,
Que sera sera."