This Season of My Life

I have talked about saving money and making things from scratch like my laundry detergent here, but what I didn't talk about was time. Even the best laid plans can go wrong if there isn't time to implement them.

You see I work a rotating shift of 2 days one week and 3 the next. My husband's new job requires that he works longer hours, some nights he isn't home at all. We have 4 kids and 3 of them are old  enough to be in activities.

That being said, there are some nights that I am lucky to get a meal on the table, but then feel guilty about not having any homemade bread or biscuits to go with it. When the most important part really, is that we are eating together at the table, right?

I do a TON of laundry a week, between towels, 6 people and sports thrown in, we have lots of dirty clothes. Yes the homemade detergent saved a ton of money, but it didn't save time. And I had trouble with getting spots out of the sports clothes that had dirt and grass stains on them. Which meant rewashing or resoaking them again. So I have gone back to store bought.

I do still make homemade goodies and especially for my daughter with food allergies. However I am not going to make everything from scratch. You see I always have the best intentions. I usually try to make muffins and lazy granola every week, and I normally do. However those last 2-3 days and some mornings I do not have time go cook a hot meal. But I also don't have the time on the weekends to do batch cooking every weekend. So to keep from having my family go hungry, I have had to go back to buying some premade snacks and breakfast foods.

I am okay with this. This is my season of life. It dawned on my yesterday that I need to realize that in this season of my life: working, having 4 kids between 1 and 9, my husband working lots of hours; that it is more important for me to focus on what is important, my family. They don't care that my hot pretzels are store bought and not homemade, only that we get to watch our movie on our Friday night family night.

And I don't like telling my child that I can't play a game because I am busy making homemade bread, or homemade whatever, you get the picture.

So I rest easier now and do not stress over this, I have accepted that this is just where I am right now. And grateful that we have the means to allow me to do this.

Being frugal also means figuring out what works best for you and your family.