Sunday Nights

My husband dreads Sunday.  Starting about 4 o'clock, the stress of the week ahead begins to bear down on him and squash out his enjoyment of the weekend.  I don't think he's alone.  I just read about Sunday Night Insomnia: when people can't get to sleep either because their circadian rhythms are out of whack from sleeping in during the weekend, or like my husband, they are beginning to feel the stress of the looming work week.

I don't have this problem.  In fact, I quite like Sunday nights.  I'm certainly not bothered by the idea of the work week ahead.  I know that many people actually start their work week on Sunday afternoon or evening, checking their emails and to-do lists and trying to get a head start on the upcoming week.  Truth is, I rarely have the time to shift into work mode before Monday morning.  Of course, I'll do work on the weekend if I absolutely need to, but for the most part, I'm busy keeping the children entertained, hoping to make our time together quality time, and trying to enjoy them more than endure them.

But I do like it when they go to bed.   Especially on Sunday night.  For me, every Monday is like a fresh start, a new beginning.  So on Sunday night, I like to get prepared for the coming week.  It's my chance to make sure the house is (relatively) tidy, take stock of the laundry situation, plan meals, pack my lunch.   They say we should think of each Monday as a chance to recommit to our resolutions, so I like to use Sunday night to organise myself.  I don't find it stressful at all.  But then, I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to being organised, aren't I?

How do you spend your Sunday nights?

How taxing

I finally calculated my income tax return.  OK, I didn’t calculate it myself.  Instead, I either lazily or efficiently chose an on-line tax preparation system over the old-fashioned pencil and workbook method.  Although I wonder if I had done it by hand myself, would it have made more sense to me?  In the end, I am sceptically thrilled at the result.  But I’m torn between wishing that I had submitted it sooner, and wondering if there has been a mistake.

This is the first income tax return that I’ve filed after working (almost) a full year with three kids in child care, and apparently, having three kids in child care bodes well for our income tax calculations.  It seems that the tax credit for child care expenses is primarily responsible for the nicely sized income tax refund we will be receiving.  (I knew there were added benefits to paying someone to look after our kids!)

I don't want to seem unappreciative of our forthcoming income tax refund, but I am wondering a little at the logic of it all...  The thing is, if the child care tax credit is what is primarily responsible for our tax refund, then the whole system seems a little backwards to me.

Instead of making us pay it all out, and then crediting some of it back to us in the end, why can’t the government make child care more affordable and accessible in the first place?

Of course, there's also the federal government’s Universal Child Care Benefit - $100 each month, per child under 6, to support us in our child care choices.  While it's nice to receive the extra money, it certainly doesn't go far in covering child care costs.  Plus, it’s considered taxable income!

As it is, the tax credit for child care expenses capped at $21,000.  We are using one of the most economical options for child care, and even still, it costs us quite a bit more than $21,000 a year.  And the cap doesn't seem to vary according to the number of kids being cared for; the $21,000 limit would apply to a family with one child and to a family with more.

As it is, our refund is not going to be spent in any way that would meaningfully support the economy.  Instead, it’s being used to pay down some of the debt that we incurred by paying for child care in the first place.  Does this make any sense to anyone else?

Spring Cleaning

I took some vacation time this week. Two days. Although I had planned from the outset to use the time to do some spring cleaning and organising, I also thought excitedly about some of the other things I might be able to do: get a hair cut and colour, maybe a pedicure, see a movie, finally get my orientation at the gym and maybe take a fitness class...

It probably won't come as a surprise when I confess that I often make my to-do lists impossibly long to complete. Not just on big errand-doing days, but even on a regular evening, or routine shopping trip, I try to do way more things than are realistically feasible. So, even though I had booked off two whole days, I was proud of myself for recognising the need to prioritise. I made a real attempt to reduce my list, lower my expectations, and to focus my efforts on some projects from the Never-Gets-Done list.

My abbreviated plans looked something like this:

Things to do on my days off:

- sort through the children’s clothes: remove clothes from drawers that never get worn, have persistent stains or holes,

- sort through books, children’s books, toys, movies, stuffed animals, and donate some to charity

- dust

- reorganise the laundry/storage room, including hanging a couple of shelves and sorting through ‘stuff’ for charity or disposal

- build storage unit and hang medicine cabinet in bathroom

Cooper, our Walker Hound, after his visit to the groomer.

 I am proud to say that I did pretty well at accomplishing my goals.  Day 1 started by going for a run, taking Cooper to the groomer for his quarterly bath, and then tackling the children's clothes.  Between the nanny putting clothes away in the wrong drawers (I acknowledge that it can be challenging to distinguish between size 2 and size 3 and size 4 pink leggings, but I don't understand putting dresses in the pyjama drawer), and children rummaging around for their favourite sparkly shirt, their dresser drawers are just a jumbled mess.  It gave me great pleasure and satisfaction to put properly folded shirts, pants, dresses, socks and underwear in their proper places.  Even if it only lasts for 2 weeks.  (I'm optimistic.)  I also sorted through my dresser and closet.  I'm hoping that these will last a little longer.

Next, I grabbed a snack and tried to sneak out of the house before the nanny and the girls came in for lunch.  I was unsuccessful.  It's hard to explain to the children that I'm not 'working', but that I'm working in the house.  I'm not sure the nanny really appreciated it either.  There were a few tears, but I was focused.  I was heading out for a shopping trip to IKEA.  How could I properly organise the basement without storage containers?  I also picked up a new picture frame, pillow, curtains, the aforementioned medicine cabinet for the bathroom.  (Why does a trip to IKEA always cost me more than I planned?)

For Day 2, I knew I needed to start with the laundry/storage room or else it might never happen.  I was somewhat successful at hanging a new shelf.  (The screws are at least halfway into the studs.  I really should learn how to use the drill).  I cleared out a lot of junk.  I sorted lots of odds and ends.  I made space.  I wish I had taken before and after pictures.  For an unfinished basement laundry room, I think it's beautiful. Maybe not suitable for houzz.com, but I actually feel happy when I go in there now.  Even if it is to do laundry.

My cabinet building project was the frustrating low-point of my day.  We live in a small, three bedroom, one bathroom semi-detached house.  Our one bathroom is tiny.  Until littlest sister was born, we kept towels in a chest of drawers in the spare bedroom.  Now there is no spare chest of drawers, so finding a place to store towels has been a problem.  I finally found a not ideal, but not bad storage cabinet for the bathroom.  After at least three weeks in the box, I spent about 2 hours building our IKEA bathroom cabinet.  (I actually enjoy putting together IKEA furniture.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.)  Then, I proudly carted it into the bathroom where I discovered that it's too big.  Sigh.  It's fits, but it takes up too much space.  When placed on the wall opposite to the toilet, the cabinet is so deep that I nearly knocked my head on it when getting up.  Sigh again.  Back to the wicker chest of drawers which is barely suitable for holding 2 towels, let alone a whole set.  And now what do I do with this extra piece of furniture.  Sigh.  I was too discouraged to build the medicine cabinet.

Overall, however, I had a successful spring cleaning vacation.  Never mind that I didn't really do any spring cleaning, such as dusting (still on the Never-Gets-Done list), just lots of therapeutic sorting and organising.  While organising might not be how everyone would choose to spend their time off work, for me it was something I needed, and actually wanted to do.  If I could organise my house, could organise my life?

Actual spring cleaning, including dusting, will have to wait for another set of vacation days.  Just remind me to book an extra day for a spa and pedicure.