one bed at a time

Our yard has become the eyesore of the neighborhood. It happened so slowly I hardly even noticed. And, yet, I knew. I knew the beds were getting weedy. I knew the forsythia bushes were beginning to overtake the sidewalk. I knew the creeping Charlie was, well, creeping. But it's just too much work. There's a house to tidy, kids to play with, money-earning work to complete. I couldn't even imagine how to begin improving the yard. So I ignored it and hoped Andrew would cave first and at least mow the lawn.

This noon as I drove up to the house transitioning out of work mode and ready to take the reigns, I felt embarrassed by our little neglected corner. So as soon as I put Elliott down for a nap, I rallied Liam and dug out the mower. I was just going to cut the weedy grass but I couldn't stop. My little helper and I pulled enough weeds to fill a lawn bag and hacked away at the bushes until they actually sort of looked nice.

There are still weeds galore in our yard and other bushes that need to be trimmed and, of course, the lawn will need to be mowed again. But we made progress. Even a neighbor noticed and marveled at how nice our front yard looked tonight. (Yes, it was that bad.) It wouldn't have happened if we hadn't just started.

The three hours spent in the yard had me thinking a lot about our financial situation. For years we've been winging it and ignoring the weeds. Digging in, budgeting, developing a plan, it all seems so overwhelming. So we try not to look too closely. But, like knowing your lot has become the ugliest one on the block, not having a grasp on your finances is stressful and embarrassing.

So tonight we just started and opened three savings accounts through ING Direct: one for emergencies, one for taxes and one for travel. These are three areas where we always seem to get ourselves into a bind and have to pull out the credit card. The accounts are small but like the yard that can only be weeded one small bed at a time, it's a start. And the landscape looks better already.