Despite the attempts by all retail locations to start Christmas prior to Halloween, I refuse. I celebrate each holiday as they come up and do not begin any Christmas preparations prior to Thanksgiving. With that being said, Thanksgiving is over so bring on Christmas!
Speaking of Thanksgiving, I managed to lose 4.6 lbs this week, bringing my total weight loss to 17.2 lbs in 6 weeks! For all my co-workers mocking my food scale on Thanksgiving, this is why I do things the way I do. This week's goal is to lose at least 1.8 lbs, bringing me to 10% of my starting weight lost!
With Christmas comes parties, dinners, and my favorite, Christmas cookies. The season is not complete without my baking journey. Each year I bake 15-20 varied types of cookies and candies at Christmas time. I still plan to bake this year but I will attempt to "lighten up" some of my recipes with Splenda and other low-cal ingredients. The majority of the cookies will not remain in my home. My work, Matt's work and the daycare centers for the kids will get a significant portion of my baking yumminess!
I am a pack rat. I always have been and it is a habit I am working to change. Last month I made a decision to list my wonderful front loading HE washer and dryer with the under drawers on craigs list. This was a very difficult decision because I LOVE these appliances. However, we are paying an extra $160/month for a storage garage to store items we never use, including these appliances. Since we will be renting for the foreseeable future, there is no point in letting them sit dormant and unused. I am feeling a little better about it this week because the $850 we sold them for has funded the Christmas fund, allowing us to spend the Christmas account on a vacation. We will be going on an Easter cruise from Baltimore to the Bahamas in March! I will have this vacation completely paid off before we go and we will be settling our onboard accounts with cash this time! $0 on the credit card. The total amount I am estimating we will need is $5546 to cover everything. This allows us to spend a little extra to get the kids their own adjoining room as a traditional stateroom is very tight with a pullout sofa and a pack n play set up!
Black Friday was a success...I went out around 4am (after Asher's morning feeding) and was back by 7am! Kohl's left me $250 poorer but I got $75 Kohl's cash for this week and most of the Christmas shopping is done. All in all, the trip was worth it and I feel this week was very successful!
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Thanksgiving Gluttony
Another week, another 2.2 lbs of fat lost and another $870 added to our income (sold a couple of things). Here comes the beginning of the holiday season and with it stretching wallets and waistlines. This year, I cannot afford to overindulge on either. Here is the plan:
Diet:
Although I am not cooking this Thanksgiving, I will actually be eating two dinners. I work on Thursday and we will be having a pot luck. It will be tempting to eat all day. I will attack this by eating the main meal only once and still having a reasonable breakfast so that I am not starving by lunch time. Call me crazy but I will be armed with my measuring spoons, food scale and light condiments (i.e.: margarine) and ready to battle the endless spread of calories in front of me. The same goes for my family Thanksgiving on Saturday. I WILL LOSE WEIGHT THIS WEEK!
Money:
I love Black Friday. Typically, I loathe crowds but the idea of getting a great deal excites me. I have already begun my master plan for Friday's festivities by searching the ads on blackfriday.com. However, we have decided Christmas will be small this year as we are trying to eliminate clutter and "stuffitis" and teach our children that time spent together is better than a new toy. We don't really need much for the house so that eliminates that as well. I will mostly window shop and pick up a few presents and other things that I need (i.e.: new workout clothes). I am planning to be done with shopping by noon, leaving time for a trip to the gym (work off that turkey) and to clean out the garage (I would love to actually be able to park a car in it before moving again). We want to get rid of our storage garage (costing an extra $160/month) by January 1st so we are in search of more things to sell.
Debate of the week: To get or not get a housekeeper? I have battled this idea for awhile now. A long time ago (pre-kids) I had someone clean the house once a week and it was highly unnecessary as I was perfectly able and had the time to do it myself. While I had (or thought I had) more disposable income back then, I need it more now. I can barely keep up with the laundry and dishes and shopping most of the time. My house is typically in an embarrassing state of disarray. A housekeeper would eliminate this.
Pros: Clean house, less stress about condition of home, more time to spend with family.
Cons: Budget (a housekeeper would run about $75 biweekly in this market), someone in your house, still have to pre-clean the clutter.
Any thoughts on whether a housekeeper is a wise choice? I think I would feel better about my house with one but am unsure if that is worth the cost.
Diet:
Although I am not cooking this Thanksgiving, I will actually be eating two dinners. I work on Thursday and we will be having a pot luck. It will be tempting to eat all day. I will attack this by eating the main meal only once and still having a reasonable breakfast so that I am not starving by lunch time. Call me crazy but I will be armed with my measuring spoons, food scale and light condiments (i.e.: margarine) and ready to battle the endless spread of calories in front of me. The same goes for my family Thanksgiving on Saturday. I WILL LOSE WEIGHT THIS WEEK!
Money:
I love Black Friday. Typically, I loathe crowds but the idea of getting a great deal excites me. I have already begun my master plan for Friday's festivities by searching the ads on blackfriday.com. However, we have decided Christmas will be small this year as we are trying to eliminate clutter and "stuffitis" and teach our children that time spent together is better than a new toy. We don't really need much for the house so that eliminates that as well. I will mostly window shop and pick up a few presents and other things that I need (i.e.: new workout clothes). I am planning to be done with shopping by noon, leaving time for a trip to the gym (work off that turkey) and to clean out the garage (I would love to actually be able to park a car in it before moving again). We want to get rid of our storage garage (costing an extra $160/month) by January 1st so we are in search of more things to sell.
Debate of the week: To get or not get a housekeeper? I have battled this idea for awhile now. A long time ago (pre-kids) I had someone clean the house once a week and it was highly unnecessary as I was perfectly able and had the time to do it myself. While I had (or thought I had) more disposable income back then, I need it more now. I can barely keep up with the laundry and dishes and shopping most of the time. My house is typically in an embarrassing state of disarray. A housekeeper would eliminate this.
Pros: Clean house, less stress about condition of home, more time to spend with family.
Cons: Budget (a housekeeper would run about $75 biweekly in this market), someone in your house, still have to pre-clean the clutter.
Any thoughts on whether a housekeeper is a wise choice? I think I would feel better about my house with one but am unsure if that is worth the cost.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
Beginning a Journey
This is my blog about trimming the fat, both literal and theoretical, in our family's life. When we begin the journey into adulthood many of us (my family included) are overcome by new-found independence and income. As we grow, so do the credit card balances, the accumulation of crap, and, after popping out our allotted 2.4 kids, the scale. This makes for a very unhealthy, selfish lifestyle. This blog is to keep me honest; here I will lay it all out...the weight, the money (or lack thereof), and the stuff.
Let's start with the weight. I used to be thin. I was never the skinny child but my weight was healthy for my height. Enter college, and unlimited access to Krispy Kreme doughnuts, ice cream, and pasta (all included in your meal plan), I put on both mine and my roommate's freshman 15. Fast forward to 2009 and the birth of my daughter. What a blessing, she gifted me with an additional 10-15lbs. Here we are now after another pregnancy and another 10-15lbs heavier. I swore I would never see the scale tip 150 and there I was at an all time high of 193. Buckling down with the help of Weight Watchers and an expensive gym membership, I have shoved aside 10lbs in the last month. I do not know exactly where I want to end up but I know I have a long way to go. In the short term, I plan to lose an additional 10lbs by Christmas! This will make my total 20lbs lost; it is a little slower than my weight loss this month but with all the holiday food in there it is realistic.
Next, the money. My motto used to be that money was there to be spent and credit cards were there to be filled. Can't afford the college you want to go to? Take out a loan. Buy as much car(s) and house(s) you can so that there is nothing left at the end of the month (but you have the appearance of wealth). My new motto....who cares about appearances? Eventually, steam will run out, the wallet will dry up, the credit cards will max out. After making several stupid financial decisions (BMW, expensive house we would only live in for a couple years, etc...), we learned the art of budgeting and that there is a better way to live. A friend introduced me to Dave Ramsey's program My Total Money Makeover. Now, I will never follow all of his advice (although I'm sure it works great for many people) but the basic concepts are great. With some diligence, we have worked out way out of a ton of debt. But...there is still a lot to go. My tracker has us debt free in November 2014...still two years away. My goal is December 2013! The last credit card will be paid off by January 1, 2013. How am I going to shave 11 months off of this plan? That brings me to the next area to trim....
CRAP! Moving every 2-3 years has taught me a few things...#1: don't buy anything nice, the movers will ruin it. #2: if it is still in a box two moves later, you can probably throw it out. And #3: do we really need/use that? Also, why do you need the latest model and highest trim vehicle, granite counters and an HOA? How is paying an extra $150/month for a storage garage full of stuff you never use worth it? This is what we are finding out. Last month we traded in our 2009 Hyundai Veracruz Limited (bought new for approx $36000) for a 2009 Mazda 5 ($11900 with only 30k miles). This brought our payment from $682/mo to $290/mo. We refinanced our underwater (thanks housing crash) expensive, ridiculous house under the HARP program, saving 2.5% on interest and about $600/mo in mortgage payments. This is good since we don't even live in the house. Currently we are selling a washer and dryer, extra couches, and a big screen TV amongst other smaller things we no longer need. We dropped cable to local channels only and cut the home phone. Cutting the phone cut some stress out also since the only people who called other than my mother were telemarketers and creditors for the person that used to have the phone number. This move saves us over $60 a month. My goal for the next move is to not have anything we don't actively use (with the exception of a small amount of sentimental things).
I encourage everyone to examine their own lives and see what areas need to be adjusted. I'm still learning as I go and the road ahead is filled with pot holes and flat tires but in the end I ask myself...
Do I want that cookie more than I want to be thin? Do I want that new thing or do I want to go on vacation/live well in retirement? Do I use this? Where would I put that? If I cannot answer the question, it stays where it is!
Let's start with the weight. I used to be thin. I was never the skinny child but my weight was healthy for my height. Enter college, and unlimited access to Krispy Kreme doughnuts, ice cream, and pasta (all included in your meal plan), I put on both mine and my roommate's freshman 15. Fast forward to 2009 and the birth of my daughter. What a blessing, she gifted me with an additional 10-15lbs. Here we are now after another pregnancy and another 10-15lbs heavier. I swore I would never see the scale tip 150 and there I was at an all time high of 193. Buckling down with the help of Weight Watchers and an expensive gym membership, I have shoved aside 10lbs in the last month. I do not know exactly where I want to end up but I know I have a long way to go. In the short term, I plan to lose an additional 10lbs by Christmas! This will make my total 20lbs lost; it is a little slower than my weight loss this month but with all the holiday food in there it is realistic.
Next, the money. My motto used to be that money was there to be spent and credit cards were there to be filled. Can't afford the college you want to go to? Take out a loan. Buy as much car(s) and house(s) you can so that there is nothing left at the end of the month (but you have the appearance of wealth). My new motto....who cares about appearances? Eventually, steam will run out, the wallet will dry up, the credit cards will max out. After making several stupid financial decisions (BMW, expensive house we would only live in for a couple years, etc...), we learned the art of budgeting and that there is a better way to live. A friend introduced me to Dave Ramsey's program My Total Money Makeover. Now, I will never follow all of his advice (although I'm sure it works great for many people) but the basic concepts are great. With some diligence, we have worked out way out of a ton of debt. But...there is still a lot to go. My tracker has us debt free in November 2014...still two years away. My goal is December 2013! The last credit card will be paid off by January 1, 2013. How am I going to shave 11 months off of this plan? That brings me to the next area to trim....
CRAP! Moving every 2-3 years has taught me a few things...#1: don't buy anything nice, the movers will ruin it. #2: if it is still in a box two moves later, you can probably throw it out. And #3: do we really need/use that? Also, why do you need the latest model and highest trim vehicle, granite counters and an HOA? How is paying an extra $150/month for a storage garage full of stuff you never use worth it? This is what we are finding out. Last month we traded in our 2009 Hyundai Veracruz Limited (bought new for approx $36000) for a 2009 Mazda 5 ($11900 with only 30k miles). This brought our payment from $682/mo to $290/mo. We refinanced our underwater (thanks housing crash) expensive, ridiculous house under the HARP program, saving 2.5% on interest and about $600/mo in mortgage payments. This is good since we don't even live in the house. Currently we are selling a washer and dryer, extra couches, and a big screen TV amongst other smaller things we no longer need. We dropped cable to local channels only and cut the home phone. Cutting the phone cut some stress out also since the only people who called other than my mother were telemarketers and creditors for the person that used to have the phone number. This move saves us over $60 a month. My goal for the next move is to not have anything we don't actively use (with the exception of a small amount of sentimental things).
I encourage everyone to examine their own lives and see what areas need to be adjusted. I'm still learning as I go and the road ahead is filled with pot holes and flat tires but in the end I ask myself...
Do I want that cookie more than I want to be thin? Do I want that new thing or do I want to go on vacation/live well in retirement? Do I use this? Where would I put that? If I cannot answer the question, it stays where it is!
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