new year – One Dollar Allowance

Organization Push

January 30, 2025mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

It’s the new year, so that means everyone’s pushing to “start fresh” and “get organized.” Someone I follow on Instagram talks about “getting organized” at least once per month. This month, she bought a new electronic tool that her husband hung on the wall to get her organized. Here’s my unpopular opinion: organization happens in your consistency, not in a new gadget or container.

This electronic calendar costs $300, unless you want the biggest one, then it’s $630. I bought a $14 chalk board with calendar boxes on it. Each month, I write the month’s agenda day by day. Then at the end of the month, I erase it and put the next month’s activities on it. It requires about 10 minutes of my time each month, which I acknowledge is more effort than an automatically synced electronic calendar (if you’re even using your electronic calendar), but I believe those 10 minutes per month are worth keeping that $300 in my bank account to use on something else that brings me joy.

Here’s the thing: the $300 calendar is only as good as your commitment to using it. This isn’t a special robot that keeps your life organized and calendar up to date. You still need to input data. Then you need to create an expectation and routine where you check that data. If you can commit to putting items on your electronic calendar that syncs with the system, why can’t you make the commitment to consistency in other areas? That’s all it comes down to – consistency.

I don’t disagree that there are some people who benefit from this product. But I’d venture to say those are the people and families that are already organized and already have systems in place to provide a well-oiled-machine type household.

STRESS AND MESS

I haven’t delved into the topic in detail, but the blurbs I’ve seen have stuck with me. I think they ring true. “A 2009 study found that mothers with cluttered homes had higher levels of the stress hormone, cortisol.”

The people I know who have high levels of stress and anxiety are also the people who have a lot of clutter in their home and office. They’re surrounded by a lot of distractions and don’t keep a routine, have systems, or make an effort to eliminate the mess. Less things to tidy up, means less time putting things away or finding a home for things. Everything having a home and putting things in their home as soon as possible are good first steps.

MY KEYS TO SUCCESS

Everyone has a different way of thinking, so this isn’t a one-size fits all situation. However, I do have a few things that I do that could be little nuggets into improvements in your day.

Room “Sweeping”

Another thing I’ve seen on social media is that expectation that things are put where they belong in one action. The concept seems like a good idea, but to me, it provides for inefficiencies and everything taking longer. If it takes longer to complete a task, then I don’t think it’s something you’d keep up with.

The idea is that instead of placing your keys on the counter, which then need to go on a key rack or in a drawer, you just put them there to begin with.

Where I see a flaw come in, is that when I’m tidying after my family, if I pick up one item that goes to the basement and put it away, then come upstairs and find another item that needs to go to the basement, I’ve waste that time walking up and down the stairs. Instead, I move room to room.

I usually start in the living room. I move items to where they belong. If they go in the living room, they get put away right away. If they go to another room, they just get placed on a surface (e.g., cups and bowls are placed on the kitchen counter, basement toys are placed at the top of the basement stairs). Then once that room is tidy, I move on to the next, which is probably the kitchen table. The table gets cleared and items get placed in the room they belong in, unless it’s the living room, then it gets put away since I already cleared that room.

I do my best to complete this task all at once. I do the kitchen last because I know an unkept kitchen drives me crazy, so it motivates me to complete the other rooms so that I can get the kitchen cleaned up.

I’ve seen basket concepts too. I haven’t tried this out, but it seems to be generally the same concept. The only issue I’ve noticed is that there’s no expectation that it’s cleared out daily. Once the items are in a basket, it doesn’t seem the room is cluttered anymore, so it doesn’t motivate the final step of clearing out the baskets and putting the items away.

Resets

My days are significantly better if I wake up to a clean kitchen and house. If I need to clear dishes from the sink, pick up toys in the living room, and wipe off the table and counters, then I’ve put my ‘morning chores’ 15-20 minutes behind. I learned that I appreciate focusing only on morning chores in the morning, so I make sure I tidy up the house before I go to bed.

My morning routine is simple, but I know it takes at least a half hour. I empty the dishwasher (which is essentially ran every other night), make the kids’ snacks and lunches for school, get their water bottles filled and set on the table, lay out their vitamins, start my coffee, and get the dog ready for the day. It’s the same thing every school day morning.

I also know that I much prefer to have it all done before any children wake up. They create a distraction. Tasks that take me 3 minutes now take me 8 minutes because I’ve been interrupted several times. While I’m trying to empty the dishwasher, they can now see a plate or cup they want, and then they start asking for these things. While I’m trying to make someone’s lunch for school, they’re asking me what I’m giving them and now having an opinion on whether they want it or not. If everything is done and out of sight before they wake up, it eliminates those distractions and I can accomplish tasks quicker and more efficiently. It also gives me the ability to give them attention for their stories and their breakfasts requests once they start waking up, so I’m not flustered or forgetting steps of the morning that make the rest of my day feel successful.

I used to require all dishes be put immediately into the dishwasher. There was no reason to set a cup in the sink when it could have easily been placed in the dishwasher without having it sit in the sink first. Then I had 3 kids. There’s no way I can keep on top of the dishes, and the fact that they even clear the table and put things in the sink at their ages is a huge win. Instead, I just make sure that before I start any meal, the sink is emptied. One, it allows for no distractions in my own head (because I know that I will see dishes and keep thinking about them being there when they shouldn’t be). Two, it clears out the sink so that I have room to fill pots with water or dump dirty things into the drain (I can’t stand when plates are rinsed off on top of other plates, leaving those plates with a greasy film that I then need to touch). Keeping up with a reset before each meal means that it doesn’t get to an overwhelming point at the end of the day that’s taking a lot of focus and time.

SYSTEMS

Organization comes down to systems. You don’t need to spend a fortune to create organization in your life. Sure, bins here and there create a distraction-free, clutter-free environment. But having an aesthetic container that you pour a box of cereal into creates another step for you to be successful, and it doesn’t gain you anything in the organization realm.

My pantry isn’t organized with perfectly matched bins or containers, but it’s organized. I have all our cereal boxes on one shelf. I expect those boxes to go back on that shelf, not left on the counter and not just put anywhere in the pantry. Cereal has a home. Pasta has a home. Appliances have a home. Every once in a while I realize that we could benefit from having a container, and I’ll get a bin to house several tiny things that kept falling on the floor when someone touched something else. Overall, everything has a home in its original container.

Don’t get me wrong, there are clean ups that need to happen in my life. There are 5 of us touching things in that pantry and this house, so things aren’t perfect. However, everything has a home. There’s a well-known expectation that things are put where they belong (especially since mom answers enough “where is…” questions here).

SUMMARY

The general concept is that your desire to get organized is fueled by your own actions and thoughts. It’s not going to be ‘fixed’ with expensive gadgets if you’re not willing to put the effort into the follow through.

Don’t take this as I’m perfectly organized and have everything under control. I cheat. The last load of laundry is in the dryer. If it stays in there instead of on my bed, then I don’t have to deal with it until I really need or want to. This happens about 75% of the time I do laundry… that last load just lays in there until the next time I do laundry and need to move things along. I also have learned that if I fold the clothes during the day, then I can put them away right away. If I fold clothes after the kids go to bed, then they sit on my dresser for days because I couldn’t immediately put them away while they were sleeping, and I’m typically only seeing them and being reminded while I’m in the middle of another task.

So on top of creating systems and expectations for your household, it’s a matter of finding what makes you tick. When you’re successful at keeping the kitchen clean, does it make you feel like you have better control over the rest of the day? Find these little items that you can be successful at so that they snowball into bigger actions – all of which can be done for free.

Year in Review

January 2, 2025January 1, 2025mrsonedollarallowanceLeave a comment

This was a good year. We took a lot of trips, made some good memories, and purchased some fun things. While day to day life has been hard with 3 little kids and managing some of my own interests, it really was a fun and rewarding year when I look at the big picture.

PERSONAL: MY YEAR

I went through a lot of growth in this year. I started the year with a girls trip, which was really healing in my mom-of-3 world. After that trip, I hunkered down on my diet and exercise. Over 10 months, I lost 22 pounds. Each kid added about 10 pounds to my body’s desired size (where I just plateau unless I put a lot of effort in). It’s not something that I regularly discussed with people or mentioned, but it is something that I’m pretty proud of and took effort. I ran a 5k in August, where I beat my time from the year before, and it didn’t feel like it took any effort to beat that, which was nice.

But then my oldest started kindergarten, which was a surprisingly hard adjustment in my schedule. He was completely ready for school, and him going wasn’t the hard part. I welcome new phases of life and mostly don’t dwell on the losses that those mean. However, the schedule of the year took me two or three months to get used to. He gets on the bus at 7, #2 gets dropped off at 9, she gets picked up at 12, baby takes a nap from 1:30-3:15, oldest gets off the bus at 2:45. It was just a lot of broken up time in my day, and it took so much out of me each day. I finally feel like I’m used to it and can be productive in those short periods in between.

We were told that our preschool will be changing ownership next school year, which threw a wrench in my plans. Sure, things will work out. But it doesn’t change that I had a plan that didn’t need to be thought about. I had a financial expectation that didn’t need to be budgeted for or considered any further. It was another thing that took mental energy from me. I had originally thought I’d not send the 3rd kid to a 2s year like the other two kids. I spent some days mourning that alone time I was giving up by keeping him home. But I toured a preschool, and that’s my wish list for next year. If we don’t get into that preschool, I’ll likely just keep him home with me and try for the 3s year there. It’s just a socializing desire. I don’t work and need child care, so it’s a privilege to send him if it works out.

On top of all the parenting jobs I have, my job managing our rental properties is another job that takes a ton of time and mental energy, but no one really sees the fruit of that labor. May was the only month this past year where everyone paid rent on time. While I’m pretty lenient on that, that’s still time that I’m taking to manage and keep up with. I have one tenant who hasn’t put the water bill in her name yet. Supposedly it’s a city issue, and she always pays when I send her a picture of the bill, but it’s still a time sucker that I have. Then add in that we have several maintenance requests that come up, and a few big projects that were needed.

Related to the rentals, I made 44 posts on this blog. I set a goal to post once per week, preferably on Thursdays, for the year. I fell short by 8 weeks, and I wasn’t consistent with the Thursday post each week. I did well when I had inspiration, and I always did the monthly updates, but I didn’t meet my goal. I’ll keep the same goal of once per week, preferably on Thursdays, for this year. While my reach isn’t far, I do hope that someone will find this little corner and gain a new perspective on their finances. Plus, I appreciate being able to go back to our monthly updates to see how things have changed. It’s hard to see it when you’re looking month-to-month, but to see a drastic jump in numbers from a year ago is nice.

PERSONAL: THE FAMILY

We made it to 12 states this year, and that’s pretty cool. The kids got to see a lot, and they’re really interested in different states and their stats. I appreciate that curiosity and the ability to learn while traveling. Only one trip was on a plane, which was to Colorado. We did a 2-week long trip to New York and Michigan, with a few stops in there. We went to Chicago for a wedding and explored the area, took the kids to Gatlinburg for Fall Break, went to Ohio to watch the eclipse in totality, and tagged along on Mr. ODA’s work trip to South Carolina.

Mr. ODA sold his 15 year old vehicle, and we purchased a Tesla. I didn’t have a great experience with one in Colorado, but I think that was more related to the circumstances than actual electric vehicle ownership. I had a great experience with the test drive, and we picked one up by the end of that week. We took advantage of their 0% interest and 3 months of free charging. We also referred a friend of ours, so we received $1000 in Tesla credits that we’ll use for charging after the free period.

We bought a hot tub. That was a purchase that was about a year in the making, so it wasn’t made lightly. There hasn’t been two days in a row where someone didn’t get in it, until we just left for a week (hoping that the water is in good shape when I get back!). Our deck was crushed by a tree in July 2023, and it wasn’t rebuilt until May 2024. Then we had to take the time to make the decisions on what we wanted, get it ordered, and wait for delivery. It was delivered in November, and it’s been a great purchase thus far. We haven’t done such a splurge before, and it’s nice to give ourselves something that we can enjoy.

The kids are doing their activities. We’ve been in a nice lull, but I recently saw our March calendar from this past year and was reminded of all those hours! Our oldest is doing t-ball for a second year. Our second is regularly doing gymnastics, but we’re also letting her do t-ball this spring. Our oldest is also doing an after school activity for checkers, but supposedly it’s in a fun way, so that’ll be interesting to see pan out. He was accepted into an advanced program for his 99th percentile state testing scores, which was a really exciting moment as parents. Our second will finish out her preschool year and go to kindergarten next year. And we hope to have another fun season over the next two months with everyone on skis!

RENTAL PROPERTIES

Besides the management of late rent payments, I had to put a lot of hours into these houses this year. We took a trip to Richmond, VA to work on quite a few of these houses. On top of that, there were several other activities that were needed, management of tenant turnover, and management of rental income, but I’ll save that for a future post so this doesn’t grow too long.

FINANCES

Our net worth increased by $745,000. We started the year with a goal of hitting $4 million net worth, and that was achieved in a short time. Month to month feels like we’re barely moving the needle, but it’s amazing to see that number over the course of a year.

We paid off one 0% interest credit card from our carpet replacement in our personal home, and then we opened a new 0% interest credit card to pay for the hot tub. That new card gets 2% cash back, so it’s being used more than we usually use a 0% interest card. Typically, we just pay for the major purchase and then pay it down over the 0% interest period. This time around, it’s being used for every day purchases so the monthly payment I’m making is more than I’d usually see.

I have a separate post that goes into our extra income that we brought in over the last year, which is related to earned credit card rewards and interest on savings accounts and bonds. That’s even cooler to see the total ($14k!) because that was actual cash that went into our account and was used.

In the last year, I only officially worked 11 days, which is crazy to think about. But I’ve been doing random other jobs to help others out. I’m on our homeowners association board of directors, and I’ve been helping a new school get their financials up and running. I’m ready to take a step back from the finance work because my commitment to the HOA feels more pressing, but we’ll see how the next couple of months progress. It’s just really hard to get things done when I’m rarely without a toddler who wants my attention (unless I get up at 4:30 or 5 am).

SUMMARY

This year has felt like it took a lot more hours from me for work and management of things. But I also feel like I have more energy now that I’m two years from having our last baby. We have lots of other things planned for this coming year, and I hope to take some even bigger trips to see more of the country now that we have a bit less baggage coming out of the baby years. We have no plans to make any big purchases at this time (although there are new windows needed on our house in the next couple of years), and I really hope this year is lots of fun with the family more than anything else.