The Ultimate Buyers Remorse

There is something you should know about me. When I make a major purchase of ANY kind I have immediate buyers remorse. I could be in dire straights and need said purchase in a bad way and yet, here comes the remorse. The thoughts of: I should have done more research, maybe I could have gotten a lower price, could I have just dealt with the situation in another way instead of replacing the item….variables of self doubt float through my head and into my stomach until they settle in that special place that makes me want to vomit. Nice mental picture I know. 

So what is my own personal hell you ask? Well purchasing a home of course! So many decisions, so many questions, so many….everything. Just filling out the application to get pre-qualified to purchase the home had my hands shaking. What if they say no? What if they laugh me out of the office? Get out here silly girl with these wild dreams of home ownership, we have actual grownups that are ready to move forward with this important step in their life. 

I do feel ready though. 

My husband and I didn't make the best financial decisions our entire relationship and we have been paying the price for quite some time, and the interest that goes along with it. As we have grown up we have really tried to make better financial decisions to try and get us ready for this moment. We have gone without many things to pay off debt and make payments on time for this moment.

This moment.

We have mentally prepared ourselves that the answer might be no and secretly hope that the answer will be yes. If no, we will retreat back to our credit reports and see what other things we can do to make things better and vow to try again in one years time. 

But if the answer is yes. 

If the answer is yes…. It will take me at least a week to appreciate the new house as I wallow in buyers remorse…but when that week is over…oh beautiful wonderful day. 

Until Next time, Pass the Sugar.

Just a Hop Across the Pond

In about eight days my mother, my child and myself will be embarking on an international adventure to Northern Ireland. We are going to visit my family that live there (my mother is Northern Irish and immigrated to America to marry my American father). It has been ten very long years since I was last there and I am so very excited to see them all, especially my lovely little Irish nanny. 

Preparing for international travel is no joke and preparing for international travel with a five year old is even less funny. My daughter, Lily, who is a pretty fantastic traveler, I think will probably do well on the flight but I think by the time we hit our seven of eleven…might be a different story. So how does one prepare to try and minimize airplane meltdowns as much as possible? Well I have a few thoughts for you on what I do to prepare. Enjoy!

Packing Prep

1. Children’s Medicine. Did you know that many over the counter medicines are only available by prescription in other countries? When your kid is running a fever or has an earache having readily accessible medicine makes all the difference, in both peoples worlds. Make sure to pack a travel size of children's Motrin or Tylenol to have on the ready. 
2. Pack with meaning: Just like with an adult you don't want to pack a ton of random clothes because they are cute or you hope she gets a chance to wear it so everyone can see, you pack with meaning. I like to lay out all my daughters outfits on my bed, match an outfit together, roll it all together and pack it. This makes your life so much easier when you need to just grab an outfit and get going out the door for the days events. I also only pack three pairs of shoes; sandals, sneakers, dress shoes (for church on sundays). 
3. Important Documents: Make copies of your child's passport (and yours!) and scan and email the copies to yourself. This is also a good idea to do with their birth certificate. If the passport gets lost or stolen it can become a huge headache dealing with the Embassy to try and get a replacement and get home.

Plane Ride Prep

1. Parental Entertainment. I use this time on flights to talk to my daughter about where we are going, what to expect when she gets there and ask her about a zillion questions about what she thinks it will be like. I have her draw pictures of places I have only described to her. It is important to realize that on any flight you are your child’s primary source of…everything. On flights with my daughter I wait until she goes to sleep before I break out my book or device. I find that if she sees that she has 100% of my attention, she is a little more well behaved.
2. Electronic Entertainment. I am packing my daughters iPad (she has our old one, don’t judge us) with movies, TV shows and her favorite games that don’t need an internet connection. Also on the international leg our our journey from Chicago to Dublin each seat comes with a personal TV for people to watch. They have such channels as the Disney channel and some animated movies. You can check your airlines website to find out what is playing so you don’t double up and put that on your electronic device also (variety is the spice of life). 
3. Nurture the Artist within: My daughters backpack carry on will have a few favorite toys, a blanket and some art supplies. I have packed her a blank notepad that she can fill up to her hearts content and then also two very different coloring books (princess’ and animals). My daughter will get so caught up in coloring that she will ignore you for very long periods of time. Win.
4. Potty Time/Stretch Time. Use potty time as a time for not only taking care of nature’s call but a chance to stretch your legs. On international flights the plane larger and there is usually more room in the bathroom area towards the back of the plane. I plan on letting my daughter and myself stand and look out the window at the back of the plane for a few minutes before returning to our seat. It is also fun to chat with the flight attendants if they are not in the middle of something, they usually have funny stories and respond really well to children (read, give them free stuff to entertain them). 
5. Sleep time. It might be hard for your little one to settle down and I judge no parent for the steps they have to take to survive an international flight with a small child. What I like to do for long flights it bring a favorite sleep toy, a small pillow and a small blanket of their choice. I make a big freaking deal about letting my kid pick it out as we pack, this gives them a sense of the importance of the item and are less likely to reject the item at sleep time on the flight. My daughter also quite enjoys listening to soft lullaby sounding classical music at bedtime, I shall have this on the ready for her also. 

Don't Forget about You!

In addition to all the fun stuff we get to haul around for our kids, we can not and must not forget about ourselves. Even when I traveled to Ireland myself as a college graduate I walked off that plane in complete misery. With huge time zone differences to deal with along with a small cramped seat that your have been occupying for the last eleven hours, its hard to be in high spirits and want to deal with…well anyone. Well you got a five year old in tow who more than likely got more than just one or two hours of sleep and is feeling grand. SO, I have decided I will not be Heather pissy-pants when we land but at least a somewhat functional human being. This is how I plan to make it through. 

1. Neck Pillow and noise canceling headphones. Seems like common sense right? Well the key here is quality. Nothing will tick you off faster than watching your companions and the whole rest of the freaking plane sleep and you can’t. And anger is not a good emotion for trying to get to sleep. I purchased my wonderful, amazing neck pillow from www.cabeau.com. It is a memory foam pillow that provides great support all around your neck and can be adjusted based on how you sleep. And bonus! folds up into a small little travel bag. The Noise canceling headphones can be tricky because of how bulky they are. I found a little travel headband on Groupon with built in headphone, that wrap snuggly around your head. I figure if I can have some soothing sounds of rain I am good. 
2. Snacks: Now this goes for everyone you are traveling with. I have had situations that I have just been starving upon arrival because the airline food was just not that great. This time I plan on packing granola bars and some gummy fruit snacks (clearly for the kid…clearly) for us to munch on. Again…trying to avoid Heather pissy-pants upon arrival. 

Again, this was not an all inclusive list but just some thoughts regarding getting ready for travel with a child. I am so excited to get the adventure underway! Pass the sugar!

Treat Yourself First

Money makes me very angry sometimes usually because it seems like there is not enough to go around. When my husband and I first got married we had loads of debt, anything from student loans to a bunch of crap we put on credit cards. It seemed like our entire paychecks went to pay bills and we had little to nothing left over. I would cry as I opened what seemed like bill after bill. I cried mainly because I realized how many foolish decisions I had made financially while in college. I really wish someone had sat me down and said, look you need to chill the eff out, because you are going to regret this for...oh a decade or so. Yup folks, a decade.

In the years since those times things of course have gotten better, it had to or we wouldn't have survived. All the credit cards from college are paid off and we now only have three, one for each of us and one joint one for when the world ends and the only they accept is MasterCard. I am now 15 months away from paying off my student loans which is just amazing to me. I learned a lot about myself, my family and financial stability along this train wreck of a financial journey. A concept I want to talk about today is called pay yourself first. Now there are a lot of ideas about what this means and we take two theory's into consideration in my house. The first being, make sure to take some money right off the top of your paycheck and put it in an emergency savings account. The second, allow yourself to enjoy the fruits of your labor, or as I call it "treat yourself first." I realized I got really angry at my husband and life in general because I felt like I was working for nothing. Sure we were paying off bills like gangbusters but I never felt like I got to enjoy my earnings, at all.

We decided to allow ourselves to start doing something really small with each of our paychecks, honestly just to make ourselves feel better. So I started to take $10 from each paycheck (I get paid twice a month) and I get a little something for myself. It has become a challenge to see what all I can get for $10 and as it turns out with a little planning and sometimes coupons  it is quite a lot. It has become a game of sorts and as a recovering shopaholic this helps me keep the beast at bay. Here are some of the things I do with my $10:

• Hair trim (such a small thing but makes me feel loads better)
• Coupon @Ulta. When you have the $3.50 off $10 you can actually get about $13 worth of products and still be in budget.
• Coupon at Drugstores for new makeup-Drugstores like Walgreens and CVS always have sales going on so I buy stuff for a little "me time."
• Matinee movie with a friend, no concessions: we each pay for ourselves and bring our big purses.
• Lunch with a girlfriend
• Book purchase: now this one might mean I have to save for 2-3 paychecks depending on the book. I do have a Nook though and can usually find cheap classic books that I have never read. I also visit my local library (FREE) depending on the book.

In a world where it seems like there is a cost for everything and it is just never ending I hope that my little idea might give you some insight on how to make you even just a little more happy in your life.