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@MrsBrewer: So exciting
We are really hoping for December of this year at the absolute latest. We have some stuff that we want to wrap up first, including getting married (womp womp, neither of us are "wedding" people so we will be having a simple elopement!), I need to pass my registration exams, and we need to finish up a few things on the house. I would also like to save a bit more money. I know we are young (going on 26) and there is no real rush, but I cannot wait to start a family. December seems far away! @Mrs.Someone: My cycles are irregular, that's what sparked the post. I guess at this point I figure charting-stress can't be any worse than the stress of having no idea what is going on with my body! Thank you for your honesty, though. It may turn out that charting is not for me, but I won't know until I try!
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This is my first month off BCP and I wish I started charting right away just to get to know my body better! My original plan is to take it easy and start TTC in March but I realize you can't really TTC without some accumulated info first.
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@Permastudent: I still have my mirena, but as it is "old" and all the hormones are used up my OB/GYN told me to start charting now, even though I don;t plan to remove the mirena until June, and TTC in September. So far I am pretty regular, so that is promising! I just hope that the removal of the iud doesn't throw everything off, but we plan to remove it on CD1 or CD2 to minimize the effect! Looks like we are going to be TTC buddies!
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@Mrs. Microscope: That is so exciting! I still can't believe that this is the year we will start trying!
@snowjewelz: Of course you can TTC without the info from charting, it just isn't as mapped out - that isn't always a bad thing!!
Hopefully your body handles coming off BC very well and everything goes smoothly for you!
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@PermaStudent: That exciting! have you decided when you are going to elope??
Saving is a priority to us as well, along with trying to pay off our billions of dollars of student loans!! hahahah We are young too though (we're both 25)
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Sorry if I am repeating what others have said, but I thought I would put in my two cents. I would try to make things relaxed and have fun with TTC. There's no need to be stressed about it unless you have a reason to be. As long as you have an idea of when you ovulate (or are committed to having sex about every other day during the time between your periods), you should be fine. If it doesn't happen in about three months, then start charting to figure out when the ideal time is to TTC. On the flip side, if you have wacky cycles and you really want to figure out when you're ovulating, start a couple of months out from when you want to start TTC to get an idea if you are right or wrong about when you think you are ovulating. It's easy enough to take your temp, so it doesn't hurt. I'd also pay attention to your CM and when you're in the mood because those can be good indicators of ovulation as well (but temp is the most reliable). It just changes your mindset a little (at least for me!) because it isn't "Let's just see what happens!" which is fun to try for a few months. It's a little more calculated and "I'm ovulating tomorrow - let's go!". Good luck!
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@PermaStudent: Thanks! I am supposed to get AF this week if my cycles stay as if I was still on BC... Fingers cross, because I will start thinking I am pregnant if I don't get AF lol, but I know it could just be my cycle still regulating
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I started charting and using OPKs when I went off BCP. That was March last year and we officially started trying during my fertile week in June (we wanted a spring baby so starting in the summer was our goal). We got a BFP on the first cycle. It definitely helped to see my cycle ahead of time. I didn't want to waste any OPKs, so I just used them around the time I was usually fertile to confirm my O date. Then we had sex every day leading up to O (we also did it 2 days after O).
I guess this isn't a very relaxed way to go about it but having a summer baby would have made things difficult for me work wise so we really wanted to have a spring due date. If you don't really care about baby's arrival time I think your way would be great! Even if it seems intense I thought it brought DH and I closer together, although I'm not sure I could have kept up with this for months.
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I took the approach of wanting to be more relaxed going into TTC and so didn't start charting until I knew that cycle #2 had failed. In retrospect, I would love to have more information at my disposal and be able to look at months of data to make conclusions about my cycle. I don't find charting to be stressful; I find it stressful to try to interpret my cycle based on only a couple of months of data. So in summary I'd recommend that people start charting several months prior to TTC. It's really not that much work, just a moment in the morning.
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@Mrs. Chickadee: Thanks for the helpful response
I absolutely do want to approach TTC in a relaxed way, but at this point I feel like my always-changing cycles will only frustrate me, so it might be more of a knowledge is power kind of thing. I'm thinking that by understanding my body a little better, I will be able to relax more? Hopefully this makes sense. @MrsBrewer: I love that we are the same age! Ugh, student loans. I feel ya. SO has none, but I have a hefty loan that I'm going to be paying down for a while. Eloping - we are thinking August, only because we are hoping for the best weather possible when we fly out to Western Canada. We are in no rush, but we do want to be married before TTC
@snowjewelz: Fingers crossed for you, lady! The waiting thing drives me crazy too - pregnancy thoughts always running through my head! SO doesn't help by telling me how happy he would be if I did get pregnant, even this far ahead of the game
@debbiei8: Baby arrival time is not an issue for us, but I can absolutely see how charting would help when you are in a bit of a time crunch! I think I will start by charting very loosely, trying to keep the pressure off, and see if it is something I can maintain.
@PawPrints: We are still 8-10 months off, so maybe I'm jumping the gun a little. Even taking TTC out the equation, it would be nice just to have a basic understanding of my cycles! Hoping TCOYF will help me with that a bit.
Thanks so much for all of your kind responses!
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@PermaStudent: AF came today, kind of happy, kind of sad! Mostly happy thought, because in the back of my mind I really didn't think I would get KU the 1st month, esp I don't think we BD enough. So here's to the next cycle for me!
We are really hoping for December of this year at the absolute latest. We have some stuff that we want to wrap up first, including getting married (womp womp, neither of us are "wedding" people so we will be having a simple elopement!), I need to pass my registration exams, and we need to finish up a few things on the house. I would also like to save a bit more money. I know we are young (going on 26) and there is no real rush, but I cannot wait to start a family. December seems far away! 
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