Life has looked like a lot of exploring lately, but it’s also looked like a ton of… spreadsheets.

This is not a sexy topic, but as of late, we have been conscious of our finances putting a big emphasis on replenishing our savings and paying off our investment to the downstairs of our house. It can feel stressful sometimes, but mostly, i’ve grown detached from feeling any sort of way about it. Money in our 30’s feels like a game. Money comes and goes and as long as we’re doing our due diligence and being responsible, it all tends to work out.

Perhaps that’s life though, opportunity is luck meets preparation, right? I recognize how lucky we are to be in our circumstance, however, I also acknowledge it takes strategy, work ethic and a ton of planning to do what we’ve done with our situation. It’s a give and take, and being stressed never helps anything move forward. It keeps us stuck in a future that may or may not come to pass, or worse, the past which already happened.

Putting aside a “fun budget” has felt essential for my spirit. We are new to North Carolina and without day trips and the occasional lunch or brewery outing, I’d likely go crazy stuck at home during this transition. Jaime is better about this than me. I can get very narrowly focused on saving, while he recognizes the value that spending our money on fun brings. And it’s true, being out in our environment exploring makes me feel more creative, happy and connected, which in turn adds fuel to my work.

With that said, we’ve had a ton of nights at home and sometimes it can be a challenge to make staying in feel fun. We both work from home, so we don’t tend to get out during the day. Planning to work from a coffee shop can be challenging for Jaime in particular whose role requires a ton of phone calls, which are tough to take out in a public place. So, really, home is where we’re at 5 days a week at least. By the time afternoon comes around, of course we’re clawing at the walls wanting to get out. I’ve found cooking new recipes makes being home more exciting, getting into a TV show gives us something to look forward to, and the occasional bottle of wine and conversation – my personal favorite.

There really can be so much to do at home, but sometimes at the end of the day I simply don’t feel motivated to take out my scrap book and start a project. Do you know the feeling? It’s a tough one, on the one hand there’s the desire a switch up the current circumstances, and on the hand there’s a lack of enthusiasm to do so. I can get caught up in this place a lot. This is where dreaming helps me. I’ll ask Jaime to tell me about all the things we want to do like a story that’s already happened. And you know what? That works. I suppose this is visualizing, though I never thought of it that way.

For now, I’m recording all these ideas and having fun dreaming. No guilt for not executing them right now and zero guilt for forgoing a productive night for a fun one. You can say we’re in a period of saving and dreaming. All the ideas are flowing and we’re enjoying that part of the process before we move on to the creating phase.