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?

week 4 update - no spending month challenge

I've made it to the end of Sharon's No Spending Month Challenge and had a great month!  My goal for Week 4 was to spend $125....and I spent under that!  For week 4, I spent about $115, most of which was on groceries.

So, did I meet my goal of staying under $800 for the month?  Let's see:

Week 1 - $139.58 spent
Week 2 - $366.72 spent
Week 3 - $148.87 spent
Week 4 - $114.26 spent

Total for the month?  $769.43...$30.57 under budget!

My **WISH** for the month was to add $3900 to savings.  Because of a garage door repair ($250) and a car repair ($1100), we didn't make that goal.  But, we managed to save some and we had a great month being frugal!  Had I not been working so hard to keep our "everyday expenses" under $800 we wouldn't have been nearly as successful as we were.

Thank you Sharon for hosting the challenge! 

"yes money"

The vacations that we're taking this week were planned and put in the 2011 budget so that we would have the money in the bank and not go into debt!  (I love knowing that there will not be a credit card bill waiting for us when we get home!)  But before we left I "found" some extra money here and there that I've tucked away for our Chattanooga trip.

I'm calling it my "yes money".  My 12 year old is SOOOOO used to hearing me say "no" when he asks me to buy something that I thought it would be nice for him to hear "yes" for a change.  My thoughts are that the "yes money" will go towards things like extra souvenirs, snacks or sightseeing things he might like to do that I hadn't already planned.   He has brought his own money to spend as well, but it'll be fun for me to treat him to things that I normally wouldn't at home!

So where did I find my "yes money"?
$95 - an insurance check for his braces (that were removed 7 months ago) that I wasn't expecting to get
$6 - sold a movie on half.com
$7 - found in my coat pocket
$19 - survey money
$5 - sold a book on half.com

So...to my 12 year old, "Yes honey, you can get that!"  ...but once it runs out....

road trip!

This week my kids are on Winter Break from school and we're trying something new as a family.  One-on-one vacations with the boys.  My husband had originally planned to take the boys on a trip, leaving me home to enjoy a week of peace and quiet...ahhhh! (now that would be heavenly!)  The more the boys talked about where they were going and what they wanted to do, it was evident they had very different ideas on how they wanted to spend time with Dad. 

So?  They each are getting a trip with Dad!  And they each get a trip with me!  This week my 9 year old is skiing with Dad in Colorado and my 12 year old and I are taking a road trip to Chattanooga!  Come Spring Break, we'll flip it around and my older son will be fishing in Florida and my 9 year old and I will be taking a road trip!

We've never vacationed this way, but I'm really and truly looking forward to it.  My husband has taken 1-on-1 trips with the boys before but I've never done it.  I'm not sure if going on a road trip with mom is something they'll always want to do, so I'm taking full advantage of it while they are eager!  I'm so excited!

Plans for us in Chattanooga?  We're going to be HUGE tourists!  First stop is a private hiking tour through one of the caves.  Then, everything else there is to do in Chattanooga...the aquarium, Rock City, Ruby Falls, Lookout Mountain, Incline Railway, battlefields, and a college basketball game!

More details when we return!

cloth vs. paper napkins

On way we save money and reduce waste at our house is to use cloth napkins.   Occasionally I'll grab a paper towel to use at lunch, but for the most part we only use cloth.  To reduce waste even more, sometimes we'll use the same cloth napkin all day long!  gasp!  (unless it's truly dirty...).  When it comes to eating ribs though (or something equally messy) we don't use cloth napkins but instead use dish towels!!!

How about you?  What do you use?  Cloth or paper?

Carla over at My Half Dozen Daily has a giveaway going on this week for cloth napkins that she has made herself!  She has some very cute patterns and it's definitely worth your time to check it out.  Take a look and enter her giveaway!

week 3 update - No Spend Month Challenge

We've made it through 3 weeks with minimal spending and I excited at how well we're doing!  My goal for this week was to spend $150 or less.  Here's what we spent our money on this week!

Groceries - $94.52
Personal Blow Money - $18.34
Gas - $27.26
Dry Cleaners - $5.65
Balance due on newspaper subscription - $3.10

So, if I did my math correctly, we spent $148.87, coming in $1.13 under budget.  Yippee!

A couple of things that I've been doing to SAVE at the grocery store.  I have been making a lot of homemade breakfasts for our family this month.  I did buy a box of cereal last week to give myself a break for a morning or two, but other than that, I've been making muffins, french toast, waffles, eggs and/or bacon in the mornings.  Not buying Pop Tarts, and frozen waffles and pancakes has saved a lot of money!

Another area where I've saved money is with LUNCH stuff.  We all have our favorite bread and we are never are able to go through 2 loaves between the 4 of us before it gets stale.  I have found a fresh baked deli bread that we all like, and our grocery deli will sell it by the 1/2 loaf.  It's the perfect size for us to eat sandwiches from for 2-3 days.  I'm able to get a half loaf of fresh sandwich bread for less than $1.50!  I have also been getting fresh deli lunch meat and cheese.   It's cheaper by the ounce/pound for me to buy it from the deli counter AND I am able to get only what I need. 

So - we enter our 4th and final week of Sharon's No Spend Month Challenge.   My goal is to finish the month with $125 cash which will go towards food, gas and any incidentals.

Here is my monthly recap.  My goal for February was to keep my everyday expenses under $800.

Week 1 - $139.58 spent
Week 2 - $366.72 spent
Week 3 - $148.87 spent