It is almost halfway through the month, and my money goals are not sticking in a way that I had hoped. I am spending, spending and on things I don't really need like $4.50 for a coffee. So I need to really buckle down and get that under control. It seems that I made a goal to not spend money and I am spending more than I would usually. So now I am going to try the 40 days so by Easter I will have a fat pile of money.
Workouts are going really good, and I will make my 21 workouts by February 21. I will have to power through the rest of this week and be diligent in making this a priority. But it is going well so far. Some of the benefits of all of the exercise is less appetite, more sex drive, less tired, sleeping better when I get to sleep. So this is going well. I have lost about 2 lbs so far. Eating is not where it needs to be, and that goes hand in hand with the money thing. So cut out expensive coffees, bring my lunch and breakfast and healthy snacks and I should start to see the scale fall.
So right after my birthday I had a blast from the past. It opened up some emotions that I haven't felt in a very long time and made me realize that I haven't put closure to a lot of the stuff from my past. And it needs to be closed. I can't take the heartache again. Or jeopardize the life I have now. So while it made me feel good to remember the good times, that is what they need to be. Good times... and I need to concentrate on making new good times with my husband and son. So I need to work on the inside of me, and especially concentrate on what I want out of life. This whole thing made me realize that what I have is good right now, and that my past was good too, but it doesn't have a place in the right now. And again, I can't go through the heartache of that time period again either. So enough of that... I just had to sort it out a bit.
So my next 40 day goals are to complete and stick with my workout schedule... maybe not as crazy as it has been the last two weeks, but at least 3 times per week and shoot for 4-5 depending on scheduling and daycare.
Finances: QUIT SPENDING MONEY! My husband and I need to save money and get out of debt. End of story.
Eating: Just start eating healthier and being mindful of what it is that I eat.
Do you have any 40 day goals, or celebrate Lent?
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Working Out
Good Afternoon! Today is a good day and it started off right with a really great workout last night, and then a follow up work out this afternoon. I have never gone to the gym and said I really hated that, I won't do that again. And I am ALWAYS so much more productive when I work out. And I feel great. I think this afternoon will be a very productive afternoon and I will get a lot of stuff finished up.
I signed up for a contest to see if I could do 21 workouts by February 21. I have 13 left and today is the 6th. I need to buckle down and make sure not to skip workouts. This is good, because it is all part of my half marathon training which is coming up in June. I have to run 13.1 miles, and I am not even up to 2 yet. It will get there, I just need to really focus on getting in my runs.
Thinking about cutting out all wheat products out of my diet. I am not sure if this will help or not, but an article that I read says that wheat triggers carbohydrate cravings. If this is the case, and I am a carbo junky, then maybe I would feel better and not have those cravings as often. I have seen other people really have success with this. Since I am trying to find a cross between healthy eating, and a diet, I am experimenting with different things. Weight Watchers is not really working for me. I can't seem to stay within the points system even with all the "free" fruits and vegetables. This is something I am going to have to REALLY work at and put the effort into.
Money/Finances: So far my no spend month, I have spent about $6 that was not budgeted. I bought a peanut butter chocolate frozen yogurt yesterday, and today I bought a salad for lunch. I had a lunch, but it wasn't enough to get me through the day. So hopefully that is all that I will spend. It is kind of weird, I am more mindful about what I spend, and if it is really worth it. It isn't impulse anymore. And I haven't found anything that I have to have.
Organizing: Did not get anything done last night. It was late when I got home, and I got dinner made, diaper bag packed and that was about it. So hopefully tonight, I will be able to spend at least 15 minutes cleaning and decluttering something. I know that I will feel so much better with more space, and not every available space taken up with something.
How are your goals coming along as we hit the second week of February?
I signed up for a contest to see if I could do 21 workouts by February 21. I have 13 left and today is the 6th. I need to buckle down and make sure not to skip workouts. This is good, because it is all part of my half marathon training which is coming up in June. I have to run 13.1 miles, and I am not even up to 2 yet. It will get there, I just need to really focus on getting in my runs.
Thinking about cutting out all wheat products out of my diet. I am not sure if this will help or not, but an article that I read says that wheat triggers carbohydrate cravings. If this is the case, and I am a carbo junky, then maybe I would feel better and not have those cravings as often. I have seen other people really have success with this. Since I am trying to find a cross between healthy eating, and a diet, I am experimenting with different things. Weight Watchers is not really working for me. I can't seem to stay within the points system even with all the "free" fruits and vegetables. This is something I am going to have to REALLY work at and put the effort into.
Money/Finances: So far my no spend month, I have spent about $6 that was not budgeted. I bought a peanut butter chocolate frozen yogurt yesterday, and today I bought a salad for lunch. I had a lunch, but it wasn't enough to get me through the day. So hopefully that is all that I will spend. It is kind of weird, I am more mindful about what I spend, and if it is really worth it. It isn't impulse anymore. And I haven't found anything that I have to have.
Organizing: Did not get anything done last night. It was late when I got home, and I got dinner made, diaper bag packed and that was about it. So hopefully tonight, I will be able to spend at least 15 minutes cleaning and decluttering something. I know that I will feel so much better with more space, and not every available space taken up with something.
How are your goals coming along as we hit the second week of February?
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Check In
It is now day 5 of being forty. I am sticking with my goals and trying very hard to follow my plan that is outlined in my previous post.
Diet: Still eating healthy, need to get more of a plan going and start measuring, weighing, and tracking. Ate too much junk over the weekend so trying to stick to it.
Finances: Still on the no spend track. I haven't bought anything unneeded. This is going to be a long process to see how much I can actually save.
Decluttering/Organizing: Such a work in progress. It is getting there, but it is so hard to do anything while Baby Max is awake. So last night I managed to get the diaper bag packed, lunches made, clothes laid out for today, dishes done and dinner cooked. So not as productive as I had hoped. Tonight is gym night, which puts me on track for my half marathon.
Half Marathon training: It still isn't quite a habit, but have managed to get in a few more workouts than before. The weather is still crappy so it is hard to get out to train with snow and ice on the ground.
Business: Not sure if this is still in line with what I want to do. While I love scentsy and their products, I am not sure that direct sales is for me. I would love to make extra money at this, but sometimes it seems like just more work to do in a schedule that already has no time.
Some thoughts on motherhood:
What is it that makes your baby scream bloody murder all.night.long then be perfectly happy when you finally make it to work the next day?
He is one, and I still can't seem to get a handle on what this is all about. It seems I spend most of the time second guessing myself and trying to figure out what is wrong. And it is never the same answer twice.
How can that precious being look so incredibly adorable when sleeping?
The love that overcomes me is so significant that sometimes it just swallows me up.
I guess he is teaching me patience, love, gentleness, and kindness all wrapped up into one.
For all the mom's out there, how do you have a sense of organization with baby?
Diet: Still eating healthy, need to get more of a plan going and start measuring, weighing, and tracking. Ate too much junk over the weekend so trying to stick to it.
Finances: Still on the no spend track. I haven't bought anything unneeded. This is going to be a long process to see how much I can actually save.
Decluttering/Organizing: Such a work in progress. It is getting there, but it is so hard to do anything while Baby Max is awake. So last night I managed to get the diaper bag packed, lunches made, clothes laid out for today, dishes done and dinner cooked. So not as productive as I had hoped. Tonight is gym night, which puts me on track for my half marathon.
Half Marathon training: It still isn't quite a habit, but have managed to get in a few more workouts than before. The weather is still crappy so it is hard to get out to train with snow and ice on the ground.
Business: Not sure if this is still in line with what I want to do. While I love scentsy and their products, I am not sure that direct sales is for me. I would love to make extra money at this, but sometimes it seems like just more work to do in a schedule that already has no time.
Some thoughts on motherhood:
What is it that makes your baby scream bloody murder all.night.long then be perfectly happy when you finally make it to work the next day?
He is one, and I still can't seem to get a handle on what this is all about. It seems I spend most of the time second guessing myself and trying to figure out what is wrong. And it is never the same answer twice.
How can that precious being look so incredibly adorable when sleeping?
The love that overcomes me is so significant that sometimes it just swallows me up.
I guess he is teaching me patience, love, gentleness, and kindness all wrapped up into one.
For all the mom's out there, how do you have a sense of organization with baby?
Day One of turning 40
Today is the day that I have turned 40. I feel like it is a turning point in my life and onto bigger and better things. I LOVED my thirties, it was probably one of the best times in my life. But now I have grown more and have new goals. I am starting this blog to document and keep myself accountable to the goals that I want to achieve. Journaling and writing have always helped me to do this, and maybe this time I will get to where I need to be in the next 10 years.
So to start my goals are:
*Get out of debt - 2 years max.
* Lose 45 lbs. - 1 year max.
*Declutter, get organized, and use my small space to its full potential.
*Put "Baby Max" in preschool. He is one now, by the time he is three.
*Run a half marathon. June 22.
*Build up my Scentsy business.
So to elaborate on each of these a little bit, I want to get out of debt. I am sick and tired of paying minimum payments and watching my paycheck go to unwanted bills. So I am going to use the snowball effect, pay off my highest interest credit card first, (while still making the minimum payments on my other credit card) and then combine payments to pay off the second one. I am going to use any extra money I get to pay this off!
In the long run, it is saving money. In the meantime, I am really trying to live a simpler, more natural way of living. I hate the word frugal, so I will use simple instead.
Lose 45 lbs. Last year, I gave birth to "Baby Max" and gained quite a bit of weight. I was already overweight to begin with, and now have 45 lbs to lose. With today being my birthday, I am not going to start a diet plan today. But tomorrow I am going to hit it full force and move into 40 with style, grace and ending up 41 as a skinny hot mama!! I want "Baby Max" to have a healthy mom, one that can play ball with him and run after him. I don't want to be sitting on the sidelines just watching. Some diet plans that I am researching right now are WHOLE30, and Metabolic Research Center Diet along with Weight Watchers. I am going to try to do it on my own for the first couple of months and hope to have lost 10 lbs by March 31. I think that is doable. I will weigh every week.
Declutter and get organized. I live in a very small space, and with the addition of "Baby Max" it is imperative that I get cleaned up and organized. Don't get me wrong, I am not like those hoarders you see on TV, but I have A LOT of clutter, and just stuff laying around. Stuff that is junk, and paper clutter is huge for me too. It seems that I am always bringing home paper clutter and junk clutter. So to get a handle on this, I have implemented a NO SPEND MONTH. For this year I am going to do that twice a year, the month of February - (it is a short month) and the month of June. I can only by necessities such as groceries, gas, and what I deem as necessary.
Necessary items:
1-2 32 oz diet pepsi per day. The rest of the time drink water.
Groceries - try to cut the budget by $20 every month.
Baby supplies. Nuff said.
Gas for the car
And my yikes, bad habit of smoking. Those are necessities still, but looking to quit when I get everything else in order. Baby steps.
Unnecessary items:
Coffee at a coffee shop
Eating out
Clothes, internet shopping, anything that doesn't fit in with my necessities list. I am a huge internet shopper, and I tend to impulse buy when at the grocery store. No more for one month.
Put "Baby Max" in preschool. Start researching preschools and get on a waiting list. This will cost money, so I need to budget for that also.
Run a half marathon: Make training a priority. This falls in line with my weight loss goals.
Build up my Scentsy business. This is far down on the list, but hopefully by the end of this year, I can increase my sales somewhat. My first thing to doing this is attending the Spring Sprint at the end of February.
New goals will be added, and old goals will be updated, but I think for this year I have a reasonable amount to work with and hopefully this won't completely overwhelm me. What goals do you have for the coming year? Would love to hear about your goals and attempts to get there.
Thanks for listening!
Char
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)