My husband and I have learned that spending an hour on Saturday mornings after breakfast cleaning the house makes us happy. And I do mean us--it was his idea! For the past few weeks, we've had company over on Saturdays, so we had to clean everything, including sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. Then the house was at least presentable for the rest of the weekend, even with the toys that inevitably get scattered around. I was doing all of those things (most weeks!) but rarely all on the same day so the house never seemed clean and now it does. We also enlist the kids in the cleaning up so they learn that cleaning up is a FAMILY responsibility and not a MOM job (that's my motive, anyway!) I'm having a garage sale this weekend, so we won't be doing it on Saturday but that's okay. It's nice to have some help.
- Until we took Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University, we never had a budget. Mainly because I didn't know how to do one--I am NOT a math person and also, I didn't understand that the amount you budget for each category can change every month. (Yes, I graduated with honors--but not in finance!) I now know that having a budget--and sticking to it--is life-changing. Using a budgeting program that does all the math for me makes it super-easy. Now that I know exactly how much we're spending, it no longer terrifies me to look at our balance online. Gone are the days when I used to wonder whether I could afford something or not--now I know exactly how much I have to spend on extras. Rather than feeling deprived (which I always thought I would if I used a budget), I now feel empowered because I never freak out thinking the bank MUST have made an error because there's no way we spent that much--and yet we had. As Dave says, it's telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went. In this economy, financial peace is hard to come by, so it's comforting to know we can make wise decisions to help us weather the storm.
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It is better cleaning as a team, isn't it. I would much rather do it that way!
ReplyDeleteWe took the FPU class this fall. He really has some great concepts. It's a relief to know where your money is going, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteMy hubs and I always clean together on Saturdays. I do the maintenance stuff during the week, and we do the big stuff (vacuuming, bathrooms, mopping) together on Saturday. Love it! Lightens my load, and he loves to help me out. I've been wanting to take the FPU class at church, but it is only offered on Wednesday nights, and I work with the kids then. It may be time to find it at another church on another day. We looked at our budget again last night and it needs help. Thanks for the encouragement today. I needed it!
ReplyDeleteCleaning Saturdays is what we do also :-) oo love Dave Ramsey and all the wonderful tools and books he has available.
ReplyDeleteWe have those Saturday morning cleaning sessions too! Doing it as a team makes it go by so much faster!
ReplyDeletethat's the 21st century couple, isn't it? there are no longer housewives only, there are housemen too!!! *wink*
ReplyDeletein fact, such work-outs do bring the couple closer subconsciously....
Telling it where to go instead of wondering where it went truly is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteWe clean for an hour every Saturday after bowling. The kids are still full of energy and I just want it done. We can get so much done in that time, I love it!
ReplyDeleteA clean house does make you HAPPY! And kudos do your hubby for helping you!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have begun using Dave Ramsey's budgeting guide, and I too found it revolutionary to change the budgeted amounts each month!
ReplyDeleteAnd a clean house does WONDERS for my mental health. If only it would stay that way for more than 5 minutes... :-)
Cleaning as a team, you say? I like the sound of that. Normally, we only clean as a team when I'm desperate.
ReplyDeleteHaving a good budget makes all the difference.
Love the idea of group cleaning :)
ReplyDeleteOur budget plan is let's pretend we're broke. Then guess what? Every month, bang on success! We're broke!
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