Going from one kid to three kids really sent us throw a whirlwind.

Not only mentally but financially too. I had a ton of plans prepping for baby #2. But when we found out that I was having twins, all plans went out the door. I wasn’t going to be able to work the way I did; childcare would have been insane. Looking back, we got such little sleep I would have been so burnt out to work more than the two days I picked back up (I worked 4-5 days when it was just Sammy).

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I owe most of my mind-shift change to A Minimalist Home, by Joshua Becker. I read his first book The More of Less and knew I needed to read his next.

Although I had already decluttered my physical space, I still wanted to read it. A key point I took from his book is that your home should be a space you want to escape to, not escape from. Many times after having the twins, I just wanted to escape our home because I was either getting cabin fever with the three all day (my husband worked 10-12 hour days) or just couldn’t stand the clutter of kids toys. But when we moved to our house, I started decluttering even more.I realized that the physical space really does impact the mind. No longer do I rush to get out of the house or go to the mall just to roam. I’ve created a space I enjoying relaxing in. We have a nice backyard and I have been taking advantage of it as much as I can when I am off from work. It also made me realize I wanted to put more focus on my passion for fitness. I worked on getting clients back and my bootcamp program.

With more clients and work, comes more income. I wanted to figure out where money should go, but more importantly, start a savings and an emergency fund for our family.

Our savings was wiped clean after buying our house and we acquired a ton of credit card debt plus debt we already had. I wanted to start making a plan to get out of debt but also still enjoy life.Here’s SEVEN things we have done over the past few months:

1. Cut down on take out: We were eating out 3 times a week (usually no more than $15 each time, but still) and we nixed it to one.

2. We do a paid activity twice a month (instead of 3-4) with kids. This includes the trampoline park or going to an indoor park.
   • We were gifted a membership to a kids place during Christmas that has music classes (if you have kids ask for experiences vs. gifts). 
   • The summer does make it easier for activities such as the park or the farm. Check out my post on cheap/ free activities for toddlers HERE.
3. We buy more things in the supermarket: My hubs likes to get Redbulls at work. Instead of getting 2, he’ll gets one and brings an energy drink mix to work.
4. Meal Prep: This pretty much goes with the one above, but I was going to Whole Foods 1-2 times a week and getting their coconut steel cut oatmeal.
   • Even thought it was only $1.25 plus tax, I could buy a giant thing of oats for that price. I decided to just get all the fixings I enjoy and now I like my oatmeal way more than the Whole Foods one.
5. I cut out Starbucks: I talk about this more in this post HERE. But simply put that saves me $30-$40 per month!
6. I stopped buying items “just in case:” I used to stock up when things were on sale and have items in case one broke. But that just lead to more clutter. Truthfully I’d forget about what I bought half the time and would end up with even more items.
   • Diapers and wipes are the only thing I may have extra but when I have less than a week of both, it makes it’s way on my grocery list.

7. We started an online savings account: I have heard about Ally in the past as a great online bank and decided to open an account.

   • You get charged to take out money, so that’s an incentive not too. Since it’s not attached to your regular bank account, out of sight, out of mind.

We aren’t trying to deprive ourselves; we are still trying to enjoy life but also be a bit more mindful of our spending habits and become better at planning ahead.I have made the same income for the past 18 months, yet I find that I have more money now in the past few months then I did before. It’s the little spends (at least in my opinion) that really add up. 😉