Crafty Mama

One thing that I have always been good at is thinking ahead. My best friend teases me that I start thinking about our camping menu for July just after Christmas is over, but it’s kinda true! I think there are several reasons I have this mindset, but overall it has served me well and I want to share a few ways that it could do the same for you (even if you THINK you don’t have time for it).

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Exhibit A: Christmas. A joyous time of year when children’s eyes light up in wonder and there is peace on earth, amirite? Yeah, no. Don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas! But in reality, Christmas for a single parent (or even most dual income families) is a juggling act. How can you stretch your already super-tight budget to accommodate gifts for not only your precious brood, but the neighbors and the teachers and the scout leader and the coach….it goes on and on! The answer is: PLAN AHEAD.

Laugh all you want, but I am Christmas shopping all year round. (Birthday shopping, anniversary shopping, graduation shopping, you name it). Waiting until the last minute to think of and buy a gift for someone results in an overpriced purchase that doesn’t have a lot of thought put in it at all.

I am a serial clearance section shopper. You never know what bargain you might find! Haven’t you been in a shop and seen an item on sale or clearance and thought “Oh, wow…so and so would LOVE that”? When that happens to me, I purchase the item and put it away for the next holiday. Even if I can’t think of the recipient at the time but an item is a great gift and an unbelievable deal, I purchase it and put it in what I call ‘the gift closet’. Unexpected occasions arise and you will be prepared with a gift when you have a ‘gift closet’ (PS–it’s not a closet…who has THAT to spare? HA! )

Gift shopping year round also helps me spread out that section of my budget. Buying a little at a time has helped me tremendously and allowed me to live a FAR better lifestyle than my salary would usually afford. (pro tip: stock up on cards at your local Dollar Tree for every occasion. This way, you aren’t stuck buying a $7 card at another store last minute! Keep them organized in an accordion file labelled by occasion and you will always be ready!)

It isn’t only gifts that I think ahead on, however. Exhibit B: Meals. It is completely true that being an adult means wondering what you are going to make for dinner. Every night. For the rest of your life. My sister and I have bemoaned our “rotation” of dinner recipes for years! I try to keep this agony to one day a week. I do make my family dinner more than once a week, but I also plan the full week’s dinners out ahead (even if the plan is ‘leftover night’) and shop accordingly for them.

We have established that I am a bargain hunter. Mom raised me to ‘shop the sales’ and she was right! I look at the grocery circular (Thursday’s mail usually), or at my grocery store online and see what proteins are on sale that week. These are generally the base for my week’s dinners. I find making a list for grocery shopping or, even better, placing a pickup order online helps keep me on track and on budget. When I wander into a grocery store (one of my favorite places, by the way) I get all caught up in new fancy items and shiny packages and oooh…look, local corn is in season! It goes on and on, and before you know it, I have a $400 grocery bill and half of it will be rotten before I get to eat it. Shopping online for pick up at the store is, in my opinion, the greatest thing to come out of Covid-19! I keep a shopping cart going for a day or two and when I am ready, I send to the store and wait maybe 5 minutes for them to put it in my car. MIRACLE! I don’t over shop, and I don’t waste time; Win-Win!

When my kids were little, they really enjoyed being a part of the meal planning. We would sit and make the menu for the week and by me considering their suggestions or ideas it made them excited to not only eat what was on the table but participate in the preparation of it. We had a white board in the kitchen for most of my kids’ childhood. It went from emergency numbers for babysitters to the week’s meal plan to sports schedules and now is work schedules!

Thinking ahead is what has made me successful in my career as an event planner, as well! Staying organized and checking off one task at a time all leads to accomplishing a goal, and in my case, for years, that goal was someone’s wedding or special event!

When planning trips or events of my own, I take the same approach as I do at work. I make lists, know the deadlines of when things need to be completed by and keep on top of it. A few moments a day to check off one item on a planning list can result in a really relaxing family vacation, or a fantastic birthday party or even a home renovation. To some, this seems like an impossible task, but when broken down into sections, planning an event, project or trip is really easy!

Exhibit C: Checklists. Ask my kids what is ALWAYS on our kitchen counter? Their answer will always be: ‘a list’. I live and die by my lists. Yes, I am still a paper and pen gal, but you can do your lists on your phone or laptop with a notes app! To me, there is something so satisfying about crossing off an item on a list!

Lists help me break the world down into smaller more manageable pieces. We are faced with large tasks daily: cleaning house, packing for a trip, getting errands done, it goes on and on. We are living in a fast-paced world that expects WAY too much of us every single day. The only way I get through it with a smile is to take this life one step at a time, hence, MY LISTS!

My lists really started when the kids were little and I was trying to teach them about cleaning up their toys. I made them a LIST! It was a picture list with a word beside it. I had a picture of a car, and wrote the word next to it. The kids not only learned how to spell, but knew that meant to put away all the cars and trucks that were notoriously spread around the living room! There are lots of customizable charts like the one I made so you can start your kids off on the right foot accomplishing their day one chore at a time.

I think lists also help with teaching time management no matter what age you are. My son would look at the Sunday chore list, estimate the time it would take to accomplish his share, and know that in that amount of time, he could get back to his video game. No complaints, just motivation to get it done. He is now great at time management!

I think seeing what you need to do written down can go one of two ways: you can get completely overwhelmed by it or you can approach it one line at a time. I am a one line at a time kind of gal. Life is not going to end if my list does not get accomplished. That’s the beauty of a list…you can transfer incomplete tasks to the NEXT list and try again tomorrow! If you don’t know where to even begin, look online for specific planning lists to get you started. Pinterest is my best friend for looking up creative things other people have done!

I could tell you endless stories of how thinking ahead has saved me, but for now I will bring my musings to a close. Just tackling one little task towards a future event will really ease your stress level and budget. Take it from a planning expert!