It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeeeear! … sang no parent ever.
Ugh. Not that you thought a website called Live Beneath Your Means was going to be a rollickin’ festival of sunshine, but I’m not going to lie—the holidays turn my kids from everyday urchins into whiny, entitled, gift-obsessed urchins which in turn makes me 8% angrier than usual … so, like, really angry. I legit took my kids to a birthday party today—for the record, we were invited—since I thought, Well, I probably won’t kill them in public.
My kids are at the ages at which well-meaning strangers will walk up to us, sigh nostalgically, and say to me, Blink, and you’ll miss these years. At which point I immediately start blinking as if it were an Olympic sport. They usually start slowly backing away at that point.
I once used a permutation problem to explain why going from two to three kids was so much worse than going from one to two since on the surface, you seem to be adding the same number of kids to the family. Yes, but with two kids, you only have ONE sibling relationship to manage. With three kids, you have FOUR. YOU ARE ACTUALLY QUADRUPLING THE OPPORTUNITIES TO BICKER:
Math, people. Believe it.
Sorry, had to get that off my chest—it’s been a rough start to winter break. Only 15 more days to go!
This is actually a post about making New Year’s resolutions, the last item on the LBYM end-of-year to-do list. Things like, Stop scaring people with math on your blog. I have to admit I do love New Year’s resolutions. I make lots … usually ’cause I’ll have just gotten through Christmas and it’s pretty clear I could be, ahh, doing better in some areas.
My resolutions are so … hopeful, always envisioning a kinder, gentler version of me, one that practices daily meditation (from 2015), spends quality one-on-one time with each of her kids (from 2017), and cuts people some slack (from 2012).
Clearly, I just make resolutions 😆😆😆.
In my defense, meditation was kind of a trendy corporate thing in late 2014 and who amongst us couldn’t be a little less judgy? Anyhoo, I do keep some of them. You know which ones those tend to be? The ones where I have regular check-ins to keep me accountable. I keep almost all my financial resolutions because I review all of those numbers on a regular basis. Deep down, I know that if I am really going to commit to regular quality one-on-one time with each of my kids … I need to tell them about the resolution. That way, I’d never hear the end of it.
This year, I hope you’re inspired to make one or two financial resolutions, really just goals by another name. And when you do, build in some accountability. I’ve been thinking about starting some informal groups with women who have financial goals and would be interested in regular, ongoing support. If this sounds like you, subscribe to the blog or send me an email at grace (at) livebeneathyourmeans.com and I’ll keep you posted.