January 23, 2019

Our Sunday Sit-downs

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I have shared a few times on my Instagram Stories about how we do a Sunday Sit-down every Sunday. This is where Zach and I take some time after we tuck the kids into bed to make sure that we are on the same page with everything. We started this when we realized that we were spending money a little out of control and needed to make sure we knew where our money was going and what it was being spent on. It has turned into something that neither one of us get excited to sit down and do, but has changed so many things in our lives and after we are done we both walk away feeling good that we are on the same page. 

I get asked a lot what all we talk about and how it all goes down. My biggest thing is I feel like you need to talk about the things that you need accountability on and that you feel like you need to work on as a couple/family. It could be anything from chatting about how you each made the other person feel during that week, when you need help during the week (this is something that I struggle with), budgeting, meal planning, etc.

Here is how our night generally goes:

We start with going over the finances for my business. We go through what payments I have coming in, the bills that need to be paid, what money needs pulled out for our envelopes (we use an envelope system to save money for different things like conferences, photography, upgrades in computers, etc.), and if I have anything big coming up that we need to budget for or pull money from a different category to. 

Next we go over our family budget, how much we are spending on random things, groceries, gas, what bills we have coming up etc. At the beginning of the month we write down all of our payments on our big calendar in our kitchen too so we can see what is coming up. We go through if we have any unexpected expenses, things coming up like extra field trips for King, etc. 

After both of our budgets are done then we go over our calendar. I tell Zach if there are days that I have something and need help or I need him to be somewhere different than normal. If I need him to do something or need him to be somewhere different than normal I also send him a Google Calendar notification then too. 

Zach usually starts doing the dishes or something else while I go through and meal plan for the week. After I meal plan I write down what groceries that we need and order them on ClickList to pick up the next day. 

Staring in the New Year I also want to go over our goal that we set and check in on how we are doing. Zach isn’t going to be too thrilled with this, but it is something super important to me.

Generally all of this takes under an hour, at the beginning of the month it does take a little bit longer just because we have to clear out our budgets and start fresh. It has been something so good for us to realize where we are spending our money, our time, and so much more. If you don’t do this in your family I highly recommend it whether it is on a Sunday or different night of the week. It has been game changing for our family!