Where did my Frugal Fun go?

A couple of years ago, I started a little series on here called Frugal Fun, where I shared about the ways I was saving money and having fun doing it. But last year I suddenly stopped sharing these frugal posts, and today I wanted to tell you why.

It was because I got really stressed about money. Like, I-was-struggling-to-breathe stressed. I don't know if it was because of the pressure I put on myself to be frugal for my ironically-titled Frugal "Fun" blog posts, or because money was something my parents often fought about, so it's a trigger for me, but I started to stress over every dollar I spent. 

More frustratingly, despite all my efforts to cut costs, we still ran out of money before the month ended, every month.

All this anxiety cropped up and I was having trouble sleeping, so when I started going to counselling to work through issues from my past, my counsellor helped me realise I needed to hand over my money worries to Paul for a while and just take a breather from them. Paul took over paying the bills so I wouldn't have to think about them, and it did help me unwind from the anxiety spiral I was twisted up in. 

When I felt ready, I took the bill payments back over. Ever since then, I've been trying to figure out how to balance our budget, but I still find we run out of money before the month ends, so I'm obviously not doing a very good job of it.

This month I was inspired by the YouTuber Frugal Fit Mom to be proactive and find ways to bring in more money when we were getting low. I was able to do this through World Organic sales, by selling homeschool curriculum we no longer needed, and by babysitting for a friend. That really helped me feel like I was taking constructive steps towards my budgeting problems. 

I also did an eat-from-the-pantry challenge where I got creative in the kitchen to use what we had instead of shopping for more ingredients. That was actually really fun, and I enjoyed the puzzle of it - figuring out ways to turn what I had into edible meals. 

One night I made my own pasta sauce out of homegrown cherry tomatoes that I had frozen last summer. Another night I made a stir-fry to use up all the odds and ends of vegetables that were in the fridge. A third night I pulled out pinto beans from the freezer and made Mexican Rollups. There were enough left over to freeze for another meal, and I was able to pull those leftovers out for lunch this week. I also made a delicious creamy basil pesto spaghetti and meatball concoction that became my son's new favourite meal. 

All in all, it was a good end to the month, but I want to do even better next month. 

I would love to get a handle on our finances so that we don't overspend at the start of the month and then run out by the end. If you have any tips on how to budget on a monthly income, when expenses each month are variable, I would LOVE to hear them.

Also, please share any resources you've come across that have helped you learn how to be wise with your money. 

Thanks friends!

Emma