How do you keep from getting overwhelmed?

**itlw8** · 09-22-2010, 04:56 PM

The problem is he turned EVERYTHING over to you sorry life is a partnership. together you need to plan for those big things and set up a way to save to them... the day to day is what you plan and that includes putting what you need to save for those big things into an account.. That savings account also has catagories so you know where you are in saving for those goals.

example you know what the trip will cost so divide it my the number of months left and that is how much you need to save each month. How old is your son ? it would be good if he had to earn and save part of that even if it is just the spending money as they need lots of that on these trips.

**imagine** · 09-22-2010, 05:05 PM

Originally Posted by itlw8

The problem is he turned EVERYTHING over to you sorry life is a partnership. together you need to plan for those big things and set up a way to save to them... the day to day is what you plan and that includes putting what you need to save for those big things into an account.. That savings account also has catagories so you know where you are in saving for those goals.

example you know what the trip will cost so divide it my the number of months left and that is how much you need to save each month. How old is your son ? it would be good if he had to earn and save part of that even if it is just the spending money as they need lots of that on these trips.

I probably feel that it is my responsibility more than it is actually my sole responsibility. Hubby hasn't left me high and dry with this duty. He is still very hands on and we discuss things constantly. We are more partners on this task now then we were before when I was the hands off, not wanting to know girl.

Hubby pointed out/reminded me that this month is definitely not a typical month. Lots of extras that needed paid, as well as a change in bills. We changed some of those things around and so this month had some old bills as well as new bills and every mix in between. Next month should have a clearer picture so that we can see the pictures clearer and exactly how it will all work out.

My son is 13. He is saving, doing fundraising, and asking for some of his Christmas/birthday presents to be money toward.
We still have not got the final total on how much the trip is going to actually cost.

Still all these things now swarm in my head when I use to be able to be free from all that stuff.

**shoiji** · 09-22-2010, 05:14 PM

How about having a designated basket where all receipts for the day are put at the end of the day. This should help you keep track of spending.

I always put any receipts on my computer keyboard.

**prudent lass** · 09-24-2010, 06:46 AM

I like itlw8's sinking funds recommendation. I have bills that only have to be paid once per year, but they're a part of my budget every month. That constancy means there's less budget juggling and more peace of mind.

I agree with the others that doing the accounting every day can make you buggy. Saving up the receipts and entering them into the ledger once per week would be better. You can even sort the receipts as you go along into major categories -- Food, Transportation, etc. If your husband has a pop at work, have him write the expense on a piece of paper and add that to the basket of food receipts. That way you can have an idea of what your expenses for the week are.

Also, are you doing a budget separate from the accounting program? If not, that could be part of the stress. AFAICT, double-entry accounting is good at tracking where money has come from and where it's gone, but I don't know if it's really suited for projecting these things like a budget does. Unless you temporarily fudge the numbers, you can't enter things like paycheques or utility bills until they have come in or been paid out. So you end up rolling in the moment rather than looking at the month as a whole.

The budget I like to use has a column for projected income and costs, and a column for actual income and costs. At the top, it gives me my projected balance (always zero) and my actual balance (should be moving towards zero), so I can get a sense of how the month is going. The "projected" column acts as my budget and the "actual" column acts as my accounting system.

**Judi Dial** · 09-24-2010, 07:57 AM

I wish my DH was as responsive as yours, but mine isn't an accountant, so maybe that's why!

At any rate, I'll tell you the same thing I tell myself when I'm overwhelmed: track the progress, NOT the distance to the goal. If you reduce the cc debt by 4% this month, then make a chart showing the GAIN of 4%. All you can do is all you can do. Things take time and doing.

Part of the reason I post on the "fling things" goal almost every day is that it gives me a reason to 1)tell someone else how how I moved forward/back that day and 2)over time, when I look at the overwhelmingly huge job I've got yet to do, I can track the fact that I actually AM making progress; it's just the job was so big to start with, I frequently can't see it.

I also agree about breaking the big job into little jobs. Try sitting down and listing all the tasks associated with the big job, then assign the little tasks a day/time you'll do them perhaps? (Sometimes that helps me, because I find I get overwhelmed when I think there's just NO WAY I can accomplish what I've set out to do. When I make an "assignment sheet" of days/times I will deal with x or y tasks, so that they all get done, it shows me that I CAN deal with all the issues relating to the big job.)

I don't know if any of this will help you, but that's what I do!

IHTH!

Judi