There's an app for that...

I love my iPhone...not in a weird, I should be on an episode of My Strange Addictions way, but in a, I've found cool apps that are actually useful way.There is an app for everything and most of them are free.

One thing I desperately need to do for myself is to get, and stay, organized. I'm so much calmer and feel way more collected when things are in order. Anyone who has known me a long time will attest that I have fallen from my "Martha" perch since having kids. Before kids, I would apologize for the mess when people dropped by. My apology was met with perplexed sideways glances as people would try to see what was out of place in my perfectly put together living space. After kids, my apologies for the mess were met with sympathetic expressions. I could see the gears turning in people's heads...couch cushions all rumpled from being piled high for forts, the mountain of laundry that took up a seating space and begged to be folded in the corner of our family room, burp cloths and receiving blankets haphazardly strewn about the house, my hair was pulled back in a ponytail, yoga pants had a day's worth of boogers and drool on them and my darling newest little either attached to me in a wrap or cradled in my arm...screaming her little head off.

It's not that I LIKED how my house had fallen to the wayside... I just didn't have the energy to care about it. My main goal each and every day since having my littles has been to ensure that they are loved, busy and alive. I was getting little to no sleep, and surviving on coffee, donuts, kiddie left overs and the support of a few good friends (and my husband now understands why I wanted a text plan for our phone!)

It wasn't pretty but this was me....

And I'm tired of it....not of pouring everything into my kids, but of the chaos that holds me back from reaching my goals. So 2013 is the year to get organized... only I'm not giving us a year...I'm getting this set up in January (Well hello Super Type A Personality...nice to see you again!) and just to make my life easier there is an app for that!

I've already gotten a head start on the house (more to come) so next it just makes sense to tackle our finances. You know how you watch those tv shows that talk about money and you're all "Oh man are they stupid! There's no WAY I'd ever waste that much"....well enter Mint* and I discovered that our December latte factor was WAY out of whack. This little app allows us to always see the balances in our accounts, on our credit card, mortgage, etc. I can go to the store and know exactly how much money we have. We've set up our budgets for everything from monthly utility payments to entertainment and diapers and now we have to live within them...because I don't want to see the red line that will show up if we don't! Austin is 4 now and it's time to start teaching him about money. He is already saving for his "Special Trip" (he has no idea where we're going but he knows he needs money to get there). (More on that later)

So is January a perfect time to redo the budgets and get ourselves organized? I think so. The shiny new minivan in our driveway thinks so too. And so does my need for order and calm. Now that I have the happiest little girl instead of a shrieking violet and a boy who is growing and maturing at a rate I can hardly stand, there really is no excuse not to. And besides my kids deserve us to get this right.

Yup Christmas morning....looks like they had too much eggnog at the Reindeer kegger!

Now let's just see how this goes...

* I think I need to put in a disclaimer....no one at Mint knows me or has paid me to say good things about them!