YHM: Week 3 {I Will Not Quit!}

Something really exciting happened yesterday. 

I pulled my jeans off the drying rack – those babies were as crispy as could be, since I refuse to put them in the dryer for fear of them getting even tighter. 

And I put them on. 

And zipped. 

They always zip (thank God), so that’s not the miraculous part. 

The miraculous thing was that these extra-crispy, newly-washed jeans, which would usually require Olympic-level lunges to break them in, just……

zipped. 

It was awesome!  (Feel free to laugh at the mental image of me doing lunges to fit into my crispy jeans.  lol)

I still have muffin top – heck I have a whole BAKERY of rolls going on down there in my belly area. 

But it’s progress, people.  And I’ll take it.  :)

My actual weight loss has been slooooooooow.  On Friday I had dropped 2.6 pounds, but then a certain Event happened that makes me gain 3-4 pounds on average so when the Event is over I will be back to weighing myself like normal.  I refuse to weigh myself right now because the water bloat is killer and I refuse to see numbers on the scale that aren’t really true to what’s going on right now and have that messing with my head.  So the fact that no lunges were required to wear the crispy-jeans, especially this week, is even more exciting. 

Because normally I would be throwing on a pair of leggings right now and calling it a day. :)

So I’m just plugging along……watching portions….limiting treats…..working out every single day that I can (which has averaged to be about 6 days a week for the last 3 weeks). 

I took my measurements in week 2 so I can see progress in a month or so.  I read a GREAT post yesterday about NO MORE EXCUSES.  This girl also wrote about how over a 2-month period she hardly lost any weight but she still dropped from a size 10 to a size 8 because she was exercising and things were still toning up.  That was super encouraging to read! 

I’m in this to win this, baby!

 

P.S. My bloggy friend Sarah has a degree in nutritional science and is also a health coach and a trained wellness coach (I hope I got that right, Sarah!). She blogs at Growing on Gettysburg and she wrote a post talking about some of the things she has learned and taught over the years.  There is a great line in her post that she recommends putting on your fridge:  “If you’re not hungry then what you need isn’t in here.”  LOVE IT!  I totally put it on my fridge.  She said she would love to help anyone else who needs a little direction on the weight loss/healthy eating journey and you can reach her at sgh131{at}yahoo{dot}com.  :)

NSM {Week 3}: I MET MY GOAL!

Yup, it’s true!  My goal for our No-Spend Month, besides not using my debit card at all, was to contribute $200 all on my own toward paying off a certain debt.  I am happy to say that as of right now, I have earned:

 

   

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! :)

The crazy thing is, when I gave myself a goal for $200, I was expecting to teach one extra piano lesson and also have a Wildtree tasting party for someone.  None of those things ended up happening, yet God was still gracious enough to let me earn the money….and the month is not over yet! :)

I have prayed many times this month that God would provide extra ways for me to earn money to pay off debt.  The Facebook resale groups that I mentioned 2 weeks ago have been such a blessing….I keep finding stuff to sell and post and praise God, people keep buying it!  lol

As I mentioned in my review post for The Money Saving Mom’s Budget, having a goal has been invaluable.  When I didn’t get the money for the lessons or party like I originally thought I would (I was expecting to bring in between $100-$120 from those events), I was forced to reevaluate and get creative with selling what I could. 

The crazy thing is that the more I purge our house, the more I find that I can get rid of!  Our house is like a Mary Poppins bag!  lol

Anyway, I just wanted to encourage you to think outside the box and keep pressing on if you’re working at chipping away debt.  And most importantly, don’t forget to PRAY!  I really believe that living debt-free is a big deal to God and that He will bless you in those efforts. 

You can do it!

 

P.S. I do have to admit here that I did use my debit card on Wednesday to buy a salad at Wendy’s.  Luke had an evaluation for his feeding issues that was an hour and a half away and in my nervousness about the meeting I totally forgot to pack a lunch for myself.  We left the house at 9:20 and didn’t get home til almost 3 – and I was starving.  So yes, the debit card did get used once!  Our printer ink was completely out so we had to buy an almost $30 cartridge for it – otherwise I would have had extra cash.  I am hoping to have $6 left over this week to put back in the account to make up for it! 

P.P.S.  If you ever have a situation where you need to eat fast food, remember that Wendy’s supports the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption!  Their Baja salad is really yummy and you can order it with a baked potato instead of chili so you don’t have to eat fake meat aka FEET.  lol!   

Three Random Things to Tell You

Okay actually four. 

1.  A while ago when I posted my Crockpot Salsa Chicken recipe I also shared a recipe for homemade tortillas.  These tortillas are so, so good –and I had wondered if I could freeze them to use at a later time.  I just wanted to share that I have since tried freezing them two ways: first, I made all the balls and froze them that way and then pulled them out of the freezer, thawed them, rolled them out and cooked them when I needed them.  They turned out fine but it was a lot of extra work. 

Now I make a big batch, cook them all, then wrap the extras in plastic wrap, then foil, then put in a freezer bag.  Thaw before you need them and they come out great!  Still chewy and everything.  I love this because now I only need to make a mess of rolling them out and getting out the griddle once.  Just wanted to pass that along. 

2.  We made it to January 19th without any serious snow.  We now have about 8-10 inches.  I still can’t believe we made it to mid-January in Connecticut without snow.  It’s unreal!  I feel like I got a taste of a Southern winter this year and I’m not gonna lie….I’m kinda jealous of what it must be like down there every year! It was so nice to have such a mild winter.  But the snow is pretty, I will admit – so I’m trying to be content that it’s here now and I really have absolutely no choice but to live with it.  lol

3.  I’m still pressing on in the weight loss and exercise department!  I will post an update next week.  If you’re working hard at this, too, KEEP GOING!  You can totally do it!  :)

4.  My son Luke had a big eval this week for his feeding and sensory issues.  The reason I didn’t post at all this week was because we learned that he is going to need more therapies than we originally thought.  It has been a really hard and emotional week for both of us as we’ve processed this info.  I will share more at a later time but for now we could both totally use prayer for wisdom for us and the specialists who will be working with him in the future. 

Thanks all!  I hope you are enjoying your Saturday – whatever it may look like outside your window.  :)

NSM Week 2: Our Weekly Household Budget

Before I get into the details of my shopping trips, I am super happy to say that this week I earned $45 by selling $20 worth of Luke’s old clothes, an oven hood we bought for our last house and didn’t install before we moved, a DVD, some coffee mugs, and some Christmas items on the Facebook resale group I mentioned last time.

That means that so far this month I’ve brought in a total of $174, which means I only need $26 to reach my goal of $200 to put toward debt this month!  So close!! :)

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So I mentioned last week that I thought it would be interesting to write down in detail how much I spend a week on our household needs.  I wanted to do this for 4 reasons:

1.  To remind myself in years to come what food and household items cost in 2012 (I’m sure I will be shocked at how “cheap” it was!)

2.  To show you what a family of 3 in Connecticut who eats mostly clean/whole foods spends their grocery money on

3.  To actually somewhat dispel the myth that it’s not all that expensive to eat well.  I COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH THAT STATEMENT.  Our family could survive on much, much less per week if I shopped solely what was on sale and cheapest.  But the expense is worth it to me (remember when I said, “You pay now or you pay later, but either way, you pay?”).  Sometimes it kills me to pay this much for food every week ($12 on 2.5 pounds of beef, anyone?!), but I feel so strongly about eating well that it is worth it to me.  

4.  To see if there were any ways I could improve when I saw it all written out – and I definitely did learn a lesson.  At this point I had been making it a goal to use coupons on any name-brand item I bought – and overall, I did well on that front.  But I’m going to try harder to really get the best deal on those non-couponable items (like baby carrots, for instance).  That might mean some more trips to Wal-Mart are in my future (ick – I realllly don’t like that place!) but I think it would be financially beneficial right now.

I used a couple of letters to designate certain things I wanted to remember:

S = the item was on sale
C = I used a coupon
D = I used a Dollar Doubler coupon
WL = I bought this specifically to aid in my weight loss (not a normal purchase for me)
* = I bought this specifically for Luke to help fill in the nutritional gaps in his diet; not a normal purchase for me if he was eating normally

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Without further ado, this is where the money went this week:

Monday, CVS:

Whole milk for Chris, $3.49 S (plus 1 ECB back)

 

Tuesday, Stop & Shop:

Hood sour cream: free plus overage C/D
Horizon DHA organic whole milk: $4.09*
Stonyfield organic skim: $2.89 S/C
Laughing Cow wedges: 2 for $4.08 S/C/D/WL
Land o’ Lakes butter {Honestly, I got tired of melting butter in the microwave!}: $3.79
Whipped cream: $1.99*
2% American cheese: $3.25 S

Brown lunch bags {for homemade popcorn!}: $2
Napkins: $1.89 S
Latex gloves: $1.50 S

Flatbreads and Teddy Grahams {treats}: 4 for $5  S/C/D
Spaghetti: $1 S

Organic chicken broth: $1
Preservative-free ham: $5.78 C/D
Veggie fed, hormone/antibiotic-free ground beef: about 2.5 pounds for $12.38 {This is why we don’t eat a lot of beef! We are currently all out of our pastured beef so this will have to last us about 5 meals} S
Veggie fed, hormone/antibiotic-free ground turkey: 1 lb for $3.49 S
Wild-caught haddock: about 1 lb for $5.78 S

Strawberries: $2.99 S*
Onions: $2.49
Bananas: $1.13
Organic potatoes: $5.99
Organic romaine: $2.99 S
{Plus 5 reusable bag credits}

Total: $75.48

 

Wednesday, Wal-Mart:

Lipton Green Tea: $2.16 WL
Lemons: $2.50 WL
Tape Measure: $1.47 WL

Feta cheese {feta is like water in this house – we need it for survival! lol}: $.67 C
Lance WW PB crackers: 2 for $4*
All-natural bread: $2.50

Diapers (Luke moved to size 6 and we just can’t afford Pampers anymore!): $5.97
Shampoo (I have super-thin hair and this really helps!): $5.97
Pillow : $2.50

{Story about the pillow:  my husband has hated his pillow for a while and it frequently gives him neck pain.  Last week he said, “Honey, do you think in February we could buy a new pillow for me?”  Ummmmm….I got the poor man a pillow this month.  lol}

Total: $28.37 

Friday, Shop-Rite:

Emerald peanuts (for homemade trail-mix): 2 for $1.48 S/C
Granola bars: 2 for $4 S/C
Scotties tissues: 5 for $3.40 S/C
Lysol wipes: $.99 S/C
V-8 Fusion: 2 for $4 S/C*
Black beans: 4 for $1.92 S
Salsa {for Crockpot Salsa Chicken!}: 4 for $4.36 S/C
Cabot cheddar cheese: 2 for $3.98 S
Turkey Hill ice cream {for guests on Saturday}: $2.99 S

{Plus 3 reusable bag credits}

Total: $27.03

On Friday I bought pastured eggs from our Pastor’s family ($4) and Saturday I bought some more milk since my husband was out and we were having guests and I wanted some available for their kiddos.  It came to $2.69 – and I had to pay with a dollar bill and spare change I found around the house.  Awesome. Not my first choice but you better believe I was not whipping out that debit card!

 

So that, my friends, is how you spend $141.06 in food and household items for one week. (My budget for all things food and household related is $140.  I stretched it by using spare change to buy the milk this week.}

 

Depressing, right?! I see a few areas I can improve on, so that’s encouraging, at least. 

So those of you trying to stick to cash – only: did you stick to the plan?  Did you pull out your debit or credit card?  Let me know! We’re halfway through the month – we can do this! :)

Giveaway Winner!

Well kids, I think it’s safe to say that my review and giveaway post was the most highly viewed and commented post on This Blessed Life EVER.  That is what happens when Crystal Paine mentions your blog on her Facebook page!  My FB friends already know how I literally felt weak in the knees after seeing her reference my blog and my review – and my Google Analytics site basically blew up after that!  haha

Enough about me, let’s talk about YOU!

The lucky winner is:

“SUE G”

Sue, I have sent an e-mail to your inbox – please message me back with your address so I can pass it on to Crystal!  She has very generously offered to mail the winner the book herself. 

Be back tomorrow with my no-spend update! :)

YHM Progress, Week One: The Honest Truth

I am sitting here and seriously dreading the words that my hands are currently typing.  I worked SO hard last week – I worked out 5 days on my elliptical, plus did some light weight lifting each of those 5 days.  I ate much smaller portions than I had been, got back on the clean eating bandwagon (that had derailed a little over the holidays), stopped eating all treats and leftover Christmas candy, and….

I lost .2 pounds.  Yup, that’s right.  POINT TWO.  For real, I could cry. 

Let me give you a little insight into how my week went.  Let’s just pretend, for the sake of argument, that my starting weight was 1 pound (because so help me but I am just not brave enough to post my real weight on the internet yet). 

Tuesday – 1 pound
Wednesday – 2 pounds (????)
Thursday – still 2 pounds
Friday – .4 pounds
Saturday - 1 pound
Sunday – .8 pounds
Monday – .8 pounds
Tuesday – .8 pounds

WHAT THE HECK??!!!

You want to know the crazy thing?  The two days I didn’t exercise at night were Thursday and Saturday.  Not only that, but Saturday I also went out to eat at Olive Garden!  (I ate only until I was satisfied and ate healthier choices, but I thought for sure I would see it in the scale in the morning.)  And those are the only two days I showed a loss! I don’t understand!!

I’ve always known I have a really sluggish metabolism, and clearly this week is evidence of that. Who in the world starts dieting and exercising and loses TWO-TENTHS of a pound?!  I did some research online today and saw a few tips that are supposed to help: like interval training, lifting higher-pound weights, drinking green tea and taking fish oil supplements before working out.  I’m going to implement some of those this week.

Does anyone have any insight for me?? Clean eating is my thing – but exercising and weight loss are definitely NOT my thing.  I need help, people!

Sorry for the downer post – I just needed to vent.  Some of you had mentioned that you were also trying to get your eating and exercising under control.  How are you all doing?  Specifically Kathy, Becky, Tina, and Sarah!  Let me know girls!  E-mail or comment!

No-Spend Month Check-In {Week One}

Just thought I’d pop on and give you my weekly update about how our No-Spend Month has been going! 

First of all, I am happy to say that NO plastic was used this week!  YAY!
I did use every last dime of my grocery budget, though.  hahaha

Also, on the positive side, so far I have earned:

to put towards debt this month!

Which only leaves me with:

to reach my personal goal of adding $200 toward our loan payment this month!  Sweet!

I reached that number by getting paid $80 for music lessons, plus I sold $49 worth of items from my house on a local resale group I’m a part of on Facebook. 

{This group, by the way, is a GREAT idea that I cannot take any credit for…but I want to pass on the idea to you!  It’s a group of local shoppers/sellers who list items for sale in a group on Facebook by creating an album.  People can see the items and the prices and then set up a time to meet each other by messaging the seller.  It’s a little safer than Craigslist because you see real names and the person can potentially get deleted from the group if they repeatedly don’t show up to meet and stuff like that.  I always meet in a neutral location, just to be on the safe side!}

 

I did get a Vera Bradley diaper bag (that I am in looooove with) for $15 via one of those groups (using Christmas money – remember, I allowed myself that in “the rules” haha!).

We also were able to go out to Olive Garden on a date on Saturday night, thanks to my parents watching Luke and $50 in gift cards from my in-laws for Christmas.  This is why January is a good month for us to do this challenge…it’s not as hard to stay sane this month like it might be in February!  :)  I think summer is also a good option since you can grill out, have picnics, go to the park, the beach, etc. all for free. 

There’s something about knowing you CAN’T spend any money that somehow makes it all the more tempting!  lol

Throughout this upcoming week I’ll be taking pictures of what I spend our money on so you can get a glimpse of how our weekly budget works.   

How about all of YOU? I know several of you said you were trying the challenge – how’s it working out for you??