Filling the Jars: Family, Home, Money, Life

Hello, my name is Julie. I’m sitting here writing my first-ever blog post. I’ll be honest – I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing, so please bear with me!

What’s the point of this blog? I know you’re wondering. The title – Filling the Jars: Family, Home, Money, Life – could make you think that maybe I can’t figure out what one thing I want to blog about. Ummmm… yep, that’s pretty much the truth.

I’m not an expert at any one thing, but I know a little about quite a few things. I like to write and there is so much in my life that I want – or need – to work on improving and blogging seems like one of the best ways to keep myself accountable and reach my goals. I’m thinking of this whole thing as a multi-functional blog.

For now, I’m going to post about how to “fill the jars” of the four aspects of my life that I’m always trying to keep in balance.  Some jars might be looking pretty good to start with and some might be empty, but they all deserve attention.

Family

I’m a 40-something woman who has a wonderful hard-working husband, a son at college, and a teen son still at home. I probably won’t spend much space writing about our private lives, but I put “Family” first in the subtitle because my ultimate goal is to be the best person I can be in order to make their lives as happy as possible.

Home

We’ve lived in the same house for seventeen years. When we bought it, in my mind it was a starter home. Well, here we still are. While I don’t love my house, I’ve been working on projects to help me at least like it enough to not dread the thought of a few more years here – probably at least until our younger son graduates from high school.

I’m a sort-of handy person and DIY just about everything around here with inspiration from the unbelievably creative people who have blogs and websites linked on Pinterest. I’m not a great photographer, but I do know how to link and I know I’ll be posting a few of my favorite inspiration projects.

Money

My family and I are not uber-spenders by any means. I have been a member of couponing and frugality boards for something like fifteen years (shout-out to the awesome ladies on the forums at Frugal Families who helped keep me sane for many years), but life is simply expensive. We need to be a two-income family and right now that isn’t the case. I have been unemployed for several months and unsuccessful at finding the right fit with a new employer.

My goal is to step it up in both saving and making money. Part of this blog will be a journal of my search for the best career possible for me and eventual financial independence for my family. I dream of working mainly from home, and I’m hoping writing and the internet will become a big part of that. Hopefully, you and I will benefit from my experiences and tips that I will work hard to pass on to you.

Life

Sometimes I get a little freaked out by how quickly time passes. I don’t want to be one of those people who’s eulogy goes along the lines of, “She had a husband and two children, but never really did anything else.” Nope. I want it to be more like, “She may have started later, but once she got going she was really rockin’ a great life!” My new life goal is to tackle things that scare me, and the first on the list is putting myself out there online for anyone to see. That is some scary stuff for one of the most introverted people you could ever meet.

So there it is. Four virtual jars – Family, Home, Money, Life – some of which I’m sure will fill more quickly than others. Thanks for reading and I hope you will join me on my journey. You can also follow me on Pinterest. (I’m still trying to figure out Facebook and Twitter.) Please leave a comment and let me know what you would like to see here or what things resonate with you that you would also like to work on.