In the midst of dealing with the ins and outs of life lately, including Sonny’s upcoming birthday on Wednesday, I forgot that not only is my kiddo still a KID, but he’s still prone to a few growth spurts every now and again. Today was a big reminder of that.
Last night we had a horrible time trying to keep him asleep. He woke up at least 5 times with the last time being around 4am, about 2 hours before Hubby needed to be on his way to work. Besides this peeving me to no end, I didn’t realize that he was just doing his routine growth spurt ritual, and I was in for a long day of sleeping and eating on his part the coming day. Well, lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened. Once Hubby was off to work, I got him to lay back down and off he went to the land of snoring. 6 hours later, we awakened asking for “breakfast” and extra pancakes and anything else I could scrounge up. Now, he’s laying next to Mama on the couch slowly drifting back off to sleep. I know that tomorrow he’ll be up bright and early, back to threatening the cat with bear hugs and running around with the neighborhood kids, on his way to growing another inch or two.
I tell this story because I think that those of us that are somewhat new to being frugal(at least 10 years or less) forget that although we start to become experts in the ways of frugality, we are still KIDS in this game. Every once in a while, we’ll stop in order to “spurt” ourselves with more information, or just to take a break from this new part of our lives. The best part is, we shouldn’t feel guilty about it because it’s something that is natural to do and it helps us re-group.
Lately, I haven’t been chasing the deals like I want to and have been spending so much on getting ready for the duchess. I started to feel like maybe I was losing my way frugally, but what I was doing needed to be done since I needed to rest and I needed to make sure certain items were here for when the little kiddo shows up. Then, the week after Father’s Day, I just stopped. I took a break from everything and ended up re-grouping and reflecting. I’m so glad I did.
I realized that not only had I grown so much since we started our frugal lifestyle 3 years ago, but as a family we are much more better off than we would have been if we were expecting another child right now and still living the way we were. We had a few “spurts” since then, mostly realizing that a few things we thought we were doing frugally(shopping at bulk stores, getting new clothes during “sale” days every few weeks, etc.) were not the way things needed to be. For example, I was getting super-down on myself for not being as ready for duchess as I had planned. I finally wiped away the tears and realized that not only was I doing very well when it came to planning, but that last time we had a baby in the house, we paid full price for diapers, formula AND childcare. We don’t have to worry about doing any of those things this time around, which will save us thousands of dollars just within the first few months of her life.
Same goes for our grocery situation. I used to use BJ’s wholesale club as our “regular” store, thinking that a big box of granola bars and an expensive box of store brand diapers would save us so much money. But when the bills came around and it was a giant struggle for us to pay them, even when I was working 60 hours a week, I knew something wasn’t adding up. Yet another “spurt” happened and even a growing pain or two when we weren’t able to get the foods we “liked and wanted” anymore, but now we are much better off. Within the few years, I’ve developed a new love of cooking and creating my own recipes, we are able to eat dinner together almost every night, and if we feel the need to eat out one day, we don’t have to search the car for extra change to do so.
Although growth spurts are more or less spontaneous, I know that we’re gonna have another one pretty soon when kid number 2 shows up. We’re also in the works of starting a new business, which is a growth in itself. This time around though, I can’t wait to see what the outcomes will be.
Oh do tell…what kind of business??
Thank you so much, Amiyrah, for the philosophical post today – I was also feeling very down about not being able to do EVERYTHING frugally, examples being handling all these q’s from Mad coupons, and our upcoming trip that I know we can’t really afford, and then to top it off, the check engine light came on this morning! EEEK!
But when I contemplate (after popping a couple of hounded Aleve), I realize we are much better off than before, not nearly as “in the red”, and if I don’t use that giant pile of q’s, it’s still OK; and we are making the trip because of several age and time issues that just can’t be adjusted. Hope that check engine light is not something too vital…
Anyway, thanks for bringing down my blood pressure several levels, and reminding me it’s improvement and growth, not perfection, I’m looking for!
Aloha,
Tenney
I’ve learned I can’t chase every deal and use every coupon. Prioritizing has helped me so much along this journey you and I take.
Dear Amiyrah;
Don’t know if you’ll see this, as it’s much after the fact, and you may be busy with a bundle of joy – but just wanted to tell you the cause for my check engine light! I went to my second job and asked the mechanics to help me check the trans fluid, and then they offered to check the code on the light, which I didn’t realize they could do – the gas tank top was not on tight! Talk about an easy fix! Sure glad I didn’t have to pay $120 and hour to find that out!
Aloha – Tenney