get organized for spring

Here is something fun that I came across this week.  A 30-Day Organize-athon!   Michelle will post daily assignments on her blog and the assignment should only take about 5 minutes to complete.  You can leave comments on her daily posts to be entered for a prize.  Sounds interesting and like good way to get some Spring Cleaning accomplished! 

Definitely worth a shot, because...you only have 30 minutes out of the month to lose! 

operation boot camp - week 5 update

It's raining today!  That means today's boot camp was a bit wet.  Unless we see lightening in the area, we are working out in the rain!  Today wasn't too bad though.  Our instructors showed us some mercy and we didn't make us do anything in the wet grass.  Instead, we ran.  And ran.  And ran.  It was a very nice change though from all the sit ups, squats and push ups that we normally do!  And, getting wet was still better than exercising in the heat.

I'm in my 5th week of boot camp and have completed 30 days on the program.  Results have slowed down from the first two weeks (which is to be expected), but I'm still making progress and am enjoying the way I feel.  I can certainly see physical changes and can see new habits being formed.  Even though it's not my first choice in snack, I'm beginning to reach for the fruits and veggies to snack on in between meals instead of chips and crackers!

So - here are my results to date.

My results after 4 weeks:
Weight loss = down 5.8 pounds
Chest = down 1.5 inches
Waist = down 2 inches
Hips = down 1.5 inches

Boot camp ends a week from today.  I'm almost positive that I'll sign up for the next one which begins towards the end of April.  I'm hoping that after 12 weeks of boot camp, that I'll be pretty close to my goal weight (another 7 pounds to lose)!

For now...I'm logging off to go get dry and enjoy my "Fun Friday" (which was rescheduled to today)!!

the week ahead

We're on the countdown to Spring Break!  whoo hooo!!!!   I think I'm as ready for it as my boys are!  So - I'm trying to get my lists taken care of so that I can take care of "business" before going out of town.  That way when we get back home from our trips, we won't be behind the 8-Ball.

So - here's what's on the menu for the next week:

Tonight - Sandwiches and Mac & Cheese (hubby out of town...)
Wednesday - Spaghetti (hubby out of town...)
Thursday - Oriental Chicken
Friday - Tuna and Quinoa
Saturday - Steaks
Sunday - Burgers & Hot Dogs
Monday - Ziti
Tuesday - Leftovers & Pizza
Wednesday-Saturday - vacation!!

**I'll add veggies and fruit to all the meals...depending on what looks good and what's on sale at the grocery.**

As for that To-Do list?  I've really enjoyed my "Fun Fridays" where I've kinda taken the day off from housework.  This week Wednesday will be a better day for taking off, so my Fun Friday will actually happen tomorrow.  Which should be good because there is a 100% chance of rain, which will be a perfect day for being lazy!

Things to do:

Today:
30 minutes cardio
Mail golf shoes that I sold on e-bay
Get oil changed in my car
Take charm bracelet to jeweler to have charm added
Sweep and Mop wood floors
Clean boys bathroom
Edit basketball pictures & email
Email about 3rd grade testing snacks
Work on April budget
Finish laundry that was started yesterday
Complete one more load of laundry
Tidy kitchen
Pick up contacts at eye doctor

Wednesday:
Boot camp
"Fun Friday" -- scrapbook

Thursday:
Dentist appointment
30 minutes cardio
Round Up in the backyard (if not too wet)
Pick up trash in woods
Dust
Vacuum upstairs & stairs
Wrap up March expenses/e-mail overview to hubby
1 load laundry
Buy Frontline for dog
Return to Sam's

Friday:
Boot camp
Bank - get cash for month
Dust upstairs
Clean my bath and hall bath
Dust, vacuum basement
If time, start on cleaning windows
Drop off clothes at cleaners
1 load laundry


That's some exciting stuff, huh?!?  So...I'm off to get busy so I can PLAY tomorrow!  How about you?  What does your week look like?

food waste friday & fun friday

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!

So this week I had some broccoli slaw that I ate as much as I could before I just didn't want anymore.  The pork and lettuce...same thing.  Sometimes after eating it for dinner and then again for leftovers, we just don't want it a 3rd time.  There was some deli turkey that I found in the bottom of our cheese/lunch meat bin that was from a month ago!   

I try to make sure when I cook, that I'm making enough for just the 4 of us.   But sometimes we have too much left and either didn't like it enough to have it as a leftover or don't want to eat off of it the entire week.  I know some of you plan leftovers into your menu and have a "leftover night".  I may try that this next week.  The past 2 weeks we've thrown out the makings of perfectly good meals.  

So...what is everyone doing today?!?  Last week I organized my week so that I can "play" on Friday and I was able to scrapbook for a little bit.  I wasn't quite as efficient this week, but after I get a couple of things finished this morning (clean the hall bath, sweep/mop floors and do 1 load of laundry), I'm going to hit the craft room and work on my 2010 Scrapbook!

Let me know how you did this week with your food wastes (or lack thereof!!!) and if you have anything planned for "Fun Friday".



  

operation boot camp - week 4 update

So I'm officially at the 1/2 way mark for Operation Boot Camp.  The 3rd week was a bit of a struggle.  The newness has worn off and it was more difficult to eat right 100% of the time.   I did pretty good eating until we got to the weekend and then, well...., let's just say I over indulged at a couple of meals.  Mainly in the wine category.  I paid the price.  I was still feeling it at Monday's workout.

Speaking of workouts...Our boot camp is 3 days a week for 45 minutes each time.  The other 4 days a week we have "homework".  We exercise every single day.  7 days a week.  No days off.   So depending what we do at boot camp, sort of determines what I do for homework.  Sometimes I'll jog or go hiking, but normally I'll do some sort of strengthening exercises.  My favorite "homework" when I'm in a hurry is to do 10 push-ups, 10 sit-ups, 20 seconds of plank and repeat 5x.

So, how did I do this past week on the scale?  Well, I was disappointed that the scale did not move, BUT I did lose a bit with the measuring tape.  Here are my results...

My results after 3 weeks:
Weight loss = down 5.2 pounds
Chest = down 1.5 inches
Waist = down 2 inches
Hips = down 1.25 inches

As for my "reward" that I earned last week for losing the 5 pounds?  I bought these black running shorts from Old Navy and a blue Nike shirt.

So, this week, I'm expecting to continue with good results.  I'm going to focus more on what I'm eating and be sure to track my Weight Watcher points.  I'm going to do at least 2 days of cardio on my "homework days".   And, I'm going to continue to remind myself that while the scale didn't move, I did lose an inch in my waist and a 1/4 inch in my chest. 

that's not good enough!

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I'm taking Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University Class at our church.  I am about half way through the 13-week course and am loving it.  It has been holding me accountable for tracking my expenses, budgeting, and using cash instead of plastic on our everyday purchase.  One of my favorite topics of the course was last week's class:  "That's Not Good Enough!".

The class focused on not only finding bargains, but also on negotiating!  Negotiating is something I NEVER have been comfortable, but with practice, I'm getting better at it and am getting to be more comfortable in doing it.

The first time I ever negotiated was 3 years ago.  We were about to move and needed to replace the carpet throughout our house.  Bid #1 was ridiculously expensive.  I think it was around $8,000 to carpet the entire house.  I told them I needed to think about it.  I had a second company come give me a bid and it came in at $3,800.  I about fell out of my chair when I saw the bid and couldn't believe it was more than 50% less of what the #1 bid was!  So, I said to Salesman #2, "I really want to do business with you, but my husband told me that I can only spend $3,500.  He's fishing in Mexico and he doesn't have cell service.  If you can do it for $3,500 I can say yes today, otherwise I'll need to get back to you later this week."  Well...he said, "Yes!  I can do it for $3,500."  That gave me my start in negotiating!  And the thing is, my husband had given me clearance to spend $4000, but I thought I'd ask just to see if I could get it for less!

For a couple of years, I always used the, "my husband will only let me spend $xxx", but now I leave my husband out of it and just ask for a lower price.  Almost any type of service product we use, I ask for the price to be dropped some.  Just this past week alone, I negotiated two different times and saved about $90.

Negotiation #1:  My youngest son and I are renting a small house up in the mountains for Spring Break.  I asked the owner if she could come down 10% for a 3-night rental and she agreed to it.

Negotiation #2:  The other thing I negotiated on was our lawn service.  My husband has always fertilized our yard, but the yards around us who are professionally fertilized are consistently greener and prettier than our yard.  So, I called a lawn service and they gave me a quote, I asked them if they could do it for a different amount and I ended up saving $50 for the year. 

I'm still learning on how much to ask off, but I know it'll come with practice.  With the rental house, I was pretty certain that I could get it for less than the published rate because she didn't have any weekends booked for the next several months.    And with the lawn care service, I think I could have gotten more than $50 off, but spoke too soon and rushed though the negotiation.

So, what about you?  Are you a negotiator or do you always pay the asking price? 

Food Waste Friday - the makings of a sandwich!

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!


So...it looks like I have the makings of a what could have been a couple of really good sandwiches!  Rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, 5-grain bread, and basil.   I could have added some cheese to it, toasted it and voila!  yum, yum!  But instead...it was wasted. 


Now for the rest of my day...I DID get all (or most...) of my to-do's finished before the end of yesterday, so I'm off to my craft room to Scrapbook and watch a movie!

operation boot camp - week 3 update

I've started Week 3 of Operation Boot Camp and am still loving it!  One of the main reasons I wanted to join the group was to lose weight, get my body stronger, and revamp my eating habits.   Our boot camp is all outdoors at a park next door to our library.  We have about 10 people in our group and meet 3 days a week.  The other 4 days we have "homework" and have to exercise.  There are no "off days".  Another part of our homework is to track EVERYTHING that goes into our mouth!  Since I've been doing Weight Watchers already and kinda used to tracking, this wasn't too hard for me.  But, we are held accountable for it and have to show our logbook to the instructors each time we meet.  The instructors are great and give some wonderful feedback.  If we need to tweak something in our diet then they kindly let us know!

Before boot camp, I tried to watch what I eat (most of the time...), but I loved to have my glass of wine (or two...) each night after dinner.  And I loved to have a piece (or two...) of chocolate with that wine.  During the day, I rarely drank water, but instead drank a LOT of Diet Cokes.  So, how is my diet now?  Here is what I eat on a typical weekday now:

Meal 1 at 6:45 - Whole Wheat English Muffin with a smear of Natural Peanut Butter

Meal 2 at 10:15 - 1/2 cup Egg Beaters with green onions and salsa, 3 slices of Canadian Bacon, Grapes

Meal 3 at 1:15 - Carrot sticks and Fat-free Ranch, 1 slice of Ezekiel bread, turkey and low-fat Swiss cheese

Meal 4 at 3:30 - 4 pieces of wheat Melba toast stacked with low-fat Swiss, turkey and a sliced tomato, Grapes, and a Diet Coke

Meal 5 at 6:30 - Lots of lettuce with fat-free cheese, Green onions, red onions, Grilled chicken, fat-free vinaigrette dressing, and 1 slice of Ezekiel bread

Meal 6 at 8:00 - 100 calorie popcorn, 1 oz almonds

And my results after 2 weeks?
Weight loss = down 5.2 pounds
Chest = down 1.25 inches
Waist = down 1 inch
Hips = down 1.25 inches

I have created a couple of incentives (or rewards) for myself for my weight loss successes!

When I...
lose 5 pounds, I'll treat myself to a new workout outfit
lose 5% (7 pounds), I'll treat myself to a pedicure
lose 10 pounds, I'll treat myself to another new workout outfit
reach my goal weight (lose 13.6 pounds), I'll treat myself to a massage

So...I'll be shopping this week for myself something new to wear for my workouts!  yea!  :)

things to do this week!

I felt like I started Mach behind the 8-ball and have spent 2 weeks trying to catch up.  I didn't sit down and make out goals for March and since we're 1/2 way into the month I thought it might be better to simply make weekly goals and get ready for April before it actually gets here!

February was such a good month spending-wise and I haven't done nearly as well this month.  So, mission #1 is to get back to cash!

Here are my to-do's for this week:
1.   Get cash for my "envelopes"  done!  Got cash for the rest of the month
2.   Thoroughly clean the house  done!
3.   Change light bulbs -- you'd be amazed at how many are burned out in our house!  done!
4.   Write a letter to a friend living in South Korea and send pictures, done!
5.   Write a letter and send pictures to our adopted child in Liberia
6.   Apply Round Up to flower beds
7.   Clean my craft room!  (I guess this goes with #2 though....)
8.   Work on itinerary for Spring Break trips
9.   Begin 2Q11 budget,  started...will need to review a couple of more times before "finalizing"
10. Scrapbook on Friday

I love to scrapbook and haven't made the time to do it in a long while!  Mainly because I feel like I need to be doing something else!  So, my goal is to get my to-do's done before Friday so that on Friday I can sit down, scrapbook and maybe watch a movie while doing it!

goodbye to "little tan"

We said Goodbye to "Little Tan" (aka: my 1999 Toyota Camry) this week and hello to a new (well...new to me!) car!  I mentioned this week that Little Tan left me somewhat stranded and that it might be time for a replacement car.  I have been resisting getting a new car because (1) I didn't want a car payment and (2) I really didn't to see our savings reduced if we chose to pay cash for it.

So, what did we do?  After much debate between New vs. Used, and Financing vs. Paying Cash, we decided to purchase a used Toyota Camry and pay cash for it!  We found a great pre-owned car -- a 2010 Camry XLE with 17k miles on it.  It's got so many "bells and whistles" on it and I LOVE it!  And best of all?  No car payment!  Dave Ramsey would be proud!

We had planned to put our tax refund in our Retirement Account, but decided to put it towards purchasing the car.  Then, we took money out of our Emergency Fund to pay the balance of it.  We had 6+ months of expenses saved in our Emergency Fund and the withdraw brought it down to around 5 months.  But...we'll get it replenished very soon.   We sold my '99 Camry a couple of days ago and that $$ has gone back into the EF.  Between that and our regular savings, we should have it replenished in a month!

I am disappointed that we won't be getting to "Baby Step 4" this year.  My goal for 2011 was to put 15% towards Retirement (we're at 6% now...).   Once we get our EF replenished, I'll take a look at the budget for the rest of the year and see what we can do that's at least more than 6%. 

My boys were home when Little Tan was sold and my oldest was in giddy when he saw the cash!  He looked like a King counting his money!

operation boot camp - refrigerator makeover

On March 1st I started a 6-week program in our area called Operation Boot Camp (OBC).  It's an intense training program that focuses not only on making exercise a daily habit, but also focuses on proper nutrition.   I have been wanting to take this Boot Camp class for a couple of years, but have never done so because it's a bit pricey (about $300 for a 6-week session).   This past November though, my husband and I were the high bidders in a charity's Silent Auction that included a gift certificate for Operation Boot Camp along with several other gift certificates.  I was ecstatic!  I was able to donate money towards a charity and sign up for the Boot Camp that I'd been wanting to do for 2 years.

Well - I'm about to begin my 3rd week of Operation Boot Camp and I absolutely love it!  I've been resisting talking too much about OBC on my blog because I could certainly get carried away and talk about nothing besides this!  I'm very fired up about it though!  I think I will though talk about it some, simply because it's creating so many new habits for not only me, but also our entire family.

One of the main areas where we've made changes is in our nutrition.  Our "homework" prior to OBC beginning was to complete a refrigerator makeover.  My refrigerator was the perfect candidate!  What do you think?

BEFORE!  The hummus and yogurt are the only healthy things in sight...

I removed all this from my freezer...

and this from my refrigerator...

 and then I stocked it with lots of nutritious food!

And, drum roll please....

my AFTER!

I know it's hard to see, but the freezer is stocked with frozen fruit & veggies, chicken breasts, shrimp, ground turkey, Ezekiel bread, shrimp, homemade pesto and frozen fruit bars.  In the refrigerator I have lots of water, fresh fruits and veggies, yogurt, low fat cheeses and deli meats, Egg Beaters, hummus and low fat/whole-wheat English Muffins.

Beginning this week I'll dedicated Wednesdays to blogging about what's going on with my Operation Boot Camp and all the fun things I'm learning!

food waste friday

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!


It's been ages since I've participated in a Food Waste Friday!  Well...it's time!  I've started Operation Bootcamp and was "strongly encouraged" to do a refrigerator make over!  Below is what was removed on "Round 1" of the clean out.  The cantaloupe and lettuce were a bit "expired" and is why they got tossed.

A post of the entire refrigerator makeover will come tomorrow!

one-on-one vacation - road trip #1

I mentioned that my oldest son and I took a road trip to Tennessee 2 weeks ago.  We had an absolute blast!  I never expected to have so much fun.  My husband has taken one-on-one trips with each of the boys several times but I always stay at home with the "one left behind" and we do something fun locally.   We had a great time bonding, sightseeing and being silly together.  Best of all, he LOVED me saying yes to everything!  I even said YES to staying an extra day!  We went a little bit over budget (too many souvenirs!), but nothing that we can't make up by cutting back on entertainment and restaurants for a month.  It was definitely worth it!

"Vacations" is the third largest line item on our Budget after "Savings" and "Mortgage".  Spending time together and exploring new and different places is something that we enjoy doing and that is important to us.  We would rather cut back on other things throughout the year in order to take a few trips. 

Here are some pictures...

Ruby Falls

Ruby Falls

A Mocs Basketball Game

A great trip and great memories!  And the best part of it all?!?  We get to do it all again in 5 weeks!  Spring Break is the first week in April and we're switching kiddos and heading out again!

What about you?  What is something that you absolutely love that you make "work" within your budget?

the car I drive

"Little Tan" has been my car for 12 years, 2 months and 5 days.  It's a 1999 Camry LE and I bought it new when my oldest son was a newborn.  He was such a newborn that the Car Salesman had to teach us how to transfer the baby seat from our old car to this new one!

We paid the car off more than 7 years ago!   I love not having a car payment!!!

I've been driving with the "check engine" light on for almost 4 years!  We pay about $100-200 each year to fix it long enough for it to pass inspection.  What we pay each year is SOOOO much less than a car payment would be for one month!

Because of its body style, my husband has hated this car for 12 years, 2 months and 5 days!

It only has 130,000 miles on it!

He's wanted me to get a new one since before the check engine light came on.  I've always told him that when I got stranded in it AND watched it burn, then I would feel like I truly needed a new car.  Until then...Little Tan was doing just fine!  Did I mention that I LOVE not having a car payment!  I really don't want one...

Well...

...I got (kinda) stranded.  And while there was no fire, there was a bit of smoke.  It was one of the happiest days of my husband's last 12 years!

Stay tuned to see the future of "Little Tan". 

income tax

I absolutely LOVE tax-time of year because it means my family gets back all the money our government has been holding from us throughout the year!  Because of the way my husband earns his income (more than 30% of it is commissions...), the IRS holds a huge amount of his commission checks.  We have tried and tried to adjust our Withholding, but it is never enough to break even.  This year we are getting back a nice little chunk and it's very depressing to think about how we could be investing that money if the government wasn't withholding so much more than what they need to!

So, what are we going to do with our Tax Refund?   We do have PLANS for it and I'll share with you later this week where it's going!

What about you?  Do you have to pay taxes this year or are you getting a refund?  What are your plans for your refund money if you're getting one?