What in the world did I get myself roped into? One day this week, I heard Anna and Andrea talking about Adventure Bootcamp. Before I could stop myself, my mouth opened and I said "Can I join you?" So after talking to hubby about the cost ($204.99 for 12 sessions) and getting the okay, I signed up.
Today, I went out and got some new running shoes, a yoga mat, and some 3lb weights. Our first session is bright and early Monday morning at 5:30am. I'm really REALLY concerned that I wont be able to keep up with everyone, and will feel like a miserable failure, but I'm going to go and do the best I can. I'm not going to let the money go to waste, so I've got to make it worth it...
Wish me luck!
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Homemade Laundry Soap?
I've read about this on the Dave Ramsey forums, and some of the frugal money websites I've participated on, but I haven't actually gotten around to trying it yet. Why? Because you need a 5 gallon bucket, and I dont have one, or the space to store one. PLUS, using coupons, I'm stocked up on laundry detergent at least for another year.
Nonetheless, I wanted to post a link to this story because I believe it's got alot of truth to it. They have a point - how did people in the olllllld days clean their clothes? Here's an idea - with WATER. If you like the smell of laundry detergent, this may not be the best option for you though.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109349/do-it-yourself-laundry-detergent
Nonetheless, I wanted to post a link to this story because I believe it's got alot of truth to it. They have a point - how did people in the olllllld days clean their clothes? Here's an idea - with WATER. If you like the smell of laundry detergent, this may not be the best option for you though.
http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/109349/do-it-yourself-laundry-detergent
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Amanda's gonna try again...
A couple of weeks ago, my employer started a new health initiative to get all of us healthier and happier, and all that jazz... One of the sessions that week was a lunch and learn from a nutritionist. Work paid for us to each have a health assessment done, which included standing on this machine that looked like a scale, but instead of measuring only your weight, you had to stand on it barefoot, and it sent electrical currents through your body to determine your muscle mass, your water weight, fat mass, etc.
This assessment was SUCH an eye opener for me. It confirmed a lot of stuff for me - for example, just because I'm 5'8 does NOT mean that my ideal weight is 150 pounds, which is what standard weight charts tell me. Because I DO have very large bones, and large shoulders (I'm built like a linebacker, lol) and a lot of muscle, I realistically only need to get down to 205 to be considered "Healthy." Now granted, I'll probably try to get down just below 200 just for numbers sake, but that makes my target weight a lot more achievable and doesn’t feel so impossible anymore.
The nutritionist offered other services, such as a metabolism test, which tests your metabolism to see how much your body burns just on it's own, and how many calories per day you need to eat to lose weight, versus what you've been eating to maintain your current weight. So on Monday, i met with her to take the metabolism test (you breathe into this machine for 10 minutes and it's able to calculate everything out for you). What I learned shocked me:
My metabolism is actually fast. It's smack dab in the middle of "normal" and "very fast" This basically means that is I cut back on the amount of calories I'm eating, my metabolism will kick in and help me lose weight quicker than it would if it was only "normal." The downside of that is apparently, I've been eating so much garbage which is why I haven’t been losing, but rather, maintaining.
I also learned that I have 142 pounds of solid muscle, which she said was very good, and will work in my favor.
She's put me on a 1800-1900 calorie per day diet, which may sound like a lot to you guys, but you gotta remember I'm a big girl - and truthfully, I've been eating much more than that. She's helping me work on portion control. She gave me 1 week worth of sample menus that I can use to plan my meals, and what ways I can substitute one item out for another.
She has an 8 or 12 week program that you can sign up for with her, but honestly, I just cannot afford to pay that right now. So my plan is to go back monthly for follow up visits with her. The cost for that is only $35 a session, which I can swing to have accountability for my follow ups.
In addition, I signed up on SparkPeople.com to keep track of my food and exercise. SparkPeople is COOL because you can plug in your nutrition and fitness goals, and it will help keep track of where you did good and what you need to improve on daily. So for me, my nutrition goals are 1800-1900 calories, 200-275 carbs, 25-50 fat (she's got me on a low fat diet), and 125-200 protein. The other AWESOME thing about sparkpeople is that after plugging in these goals, it will offer sample menus to me as well, which also fall within those parameters. If you don’t particularly like the meal they have suggested, you can click on it, and pick out a different one. if you pick a meal out, but there's one or 2 things on there that you don’t have or won’t want to eat, you can click on that individual item, and it will give you a list of appropriate substitutes which have close to the same nutritional value.
Yesterday was my first day following it. I went over my calories - but not by much. I has 1981 calories yesterday, but I feel good about it, because that's a whole lot better than the 2500+ that I had been eating.
If I stick to this plan, I should lose 1.5-2 pounds per week. I might be able to reach my under 200 plan by the end of the year. WOOO HOO! Plus, she stressed that it's important to not deprive myself, and splurge every now and then, in order to avoid completely falling off the wagon. Jonny and I are going camping this weekend, and I'm going to have a fatty lumberjack breakfast with sausage egg, cheese and hash browns over the fire. That's okay, that’s one meal. I'll eat healthy the rest of the weekend, you know?
I'm trying to look at this the same way I am attacking my debt. I'm being intense about paying off the debt, but every now and then, I have to go buy something I don’t necessarily need. If I can treat them equally, I think I can be more successful this time. Weight watchers "worked" for me, but it was too hard to stay on the program. With sparkpeople, and a range of nutritional values, and meal options planned in advance, hopefully I can quit letting food control me, and I'll eat what right not just what happens to be within reach.
I haven’t been as good about getting to the gym as I had hoped for, so she's starting me off slow - I just need to make a commitment to workout at least once a week for now. That should be easy enough because I play softball with the church, but I don’t want to count that - I still need to start making it to the gym...
I'm tried of my weight being a roller coaster, and I'm tired of falling off a plan. Maybe the metabolism test and the AWESOME news that my goal is not THAT far out of reach will be the motivation I need to "getrdun" this time.
This assessment was SUCH an eye opener for me. It confirmed a lot of stuff for me - for example, just because I'm 5'8 does NOT mean that my ideal weight is 150 pounds, which is what standard weight charts tell me. Because I DO have very large bones, and large shoulders (I'm built like a linebacker, lol) and a lot of muscle, I realistically only need to get down to 205 to be considered "Healthy." Now granted, I'll probably try to get down just below 200 just for numbers sake, but that makes my target weight a lot more achievable and doesn’t feel so impossible anymore.
The nutritionist offered other services, such as a metabolism test, which tests your metabolism to see how much your body burns just on it's own, and how many calories per day you need to eat to lose weight, versus what you've been eating to maintain your current weight. So on Monday, i met with her to take the metabolism test (you breathe into this machine for 10 minutes and it's able to calculate everything out for you). What I learned shocked me:
My metabolism is actually fast. It's smack dab in the middle of "normal" and "very fast" This basically means that is I cut back on the amount of calories I'm eating, my metabolism will kick in and help me lose weight quicker than it would if it was only "normal." The downside of that is apparently, I've been eating so much garbage which is why I haven’t been losing, but rather, maintaining.
I also learned that I have 142 pounds of solid muscle, which she said was very good, and will work in my favor.
She's put me on a 1800-1900 calorie per day diet, which may sound like a lot to you guys, but you gotta remember I'm a big girl - and truthfully, I've been eating much more than that. She's helping me work on portion control. She gave me 1 week worth of sample menus that I can use to plan my meals, and what ways I can substitute one item out for another.
She has an 8 or 12 week program that you can sign up for with her, but honestly, I just cannot afford to pay that right now. So my plan is to go back monthly for follow up visits with her. The cost for that is only $35 a session, which I can swing to have accountability for my follow ups.
In addition, I signed up on SparkPeople.com to keep track of my food and exercise. SparkPeople is COOL because you can plug in your nutrition and fitness goals, and it will help keep track of where you did good and what you need to improve on daily. So for me, my nutrition goals are 1800-1900 calories, 200-275 carbs, 25-50 fat (she's got me on a low fat diet), and 125-200 protein. The other AWESOME thing about sparkpeople is that after plugging in these goals, it will offer sample menus to me as well, which also fall within those parameters. If you don’t particularly like the meal they have suggested, you can click on it, and pick out a different one. if you pick a meal out, but there's one or 2 things on there that you don’t have or won’t want to eat, you can click on that individual item, and it will give you a list of appropriate substitutes which have close to the same nutritional value.
Yesterday was my first day following it. I went over my calories - but not by much. I has 1981 calories yesterday, but I feel good about it, because that's a whole lot better than the 2500+ that I had been eating.
If I stick to this plan, I should lose 1.5-2 pounds per week. I might be able to reach my under 200 plan by the end of the year. WOOO HOO! Plus, she stressed that it's important to not deprive myself, and splurge every now and then, in order to avoid completely falling off the wagon. Jonny and I are going camping this weekend, and I'm going to have a fatty lumberjack breakfast with sausage egg, cheese and hash browns over the fire. That's okay, that’s one meal. I'll eat healthy the rest of the weekend, you know?
I'm trying to look at this the same way I am attacking my debt. I'm being intense about paying off the debt, but every now and then, I have to go buy something I don’t necessarily need. If I can treat them equally, I think I can be more successful this time. Weight watchers "worked" for me, but it was too hard to stay on the program. With sparkpeople, and a range of nutritional values, and meal options planned in advance, hopefully I can quit letting food control me, and I'll eat what right not just what happens to be within reach.
I haven’t been as good about getting to the gym as I had hoped for, so she's starting me off slow - I just need to make a commitment to workout at least once a week for now. That should be easy enough because I play softball with the church, but I don’t want to count that - I still need to start making it to the gym...
I'm tried of my weight being a roller coaster, and I'm tired of falling off a plan. Maybe the metabolism test and the AWESOME news that my goal is not THAT far out of reach will be the motivation I need to "getrdun" this time.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Coupon Swap List
I love love LOVE seeing my friends getting into this couponing thing as well. I've been talking to several folks about starting a coupon swap list, but we havent seemed to actually do it yet, so here's the place to start. If you have particular items that you want to stock up on, list them below, and those of us who dont use those coupons, or may have extras can make arrangements to send them your way.
Here's my list (for now).
Prilosec
Wheaties Fuel Cereal (this stuff is to DIE for)
Gillette Fusion razors and blades
Sister Schuberts frozen breads
Frozen Pizza coupons (any kind...Jonny and I have pizza night once a week)
Birds Eye Steamfresh meals
I can't really think of anything else that I really use on a regular basis, but if I do, I'll add to the list below....
I want to tell you all about my Target Trip this weekend.
Dishwasher Disposer Care - On Sale $1.99 - normal $2.49 - $0.55 coupon - total savings on each $1.05 (bought 3 of these, used 3 coupons) Spent $2.88, saved $2.10
Betty Crocker Cake Mix - On Sale $1.00 - normal $1.29
Betty Crocker Icing - On Sale $1.00 - normal $1.29 - $0.75 WYB (when you buy) cake mix and icing together. Bought 2 cake mixes, 2 icings, used 2 coupons. Spent $2.50, saved $2.66
Clearasil Face Wash - On Sale 20% off - $5.59, normal 6.99. $1 coupon. Bought 2, used 2 coupons. Spent 9.18, saved 4.80.
Crest Toothpaste - $2.99 each, coupon for B1G1F - bought 2. Spent $2.99, Saved $2.99
Oral B Toothbrush - $2.99 each, $1.50 coupon, bought 2, used 2 coupons - spent $2.98, saved $3.00
*Big Deal Here*
Crest 3D Whitestrips (this is one of those things that I probably would have never bought, but at the savings, I thought it was worth trying. I may never buy them again after this, but like I said, figured I would try them. I don't advocate buying things JUST to use coupons - it's stupid to spend money on stuff you dont need, but I figured I could afford this deal to try it out...)
Regular Price: $22.49. Manufacture Coupon: $10, Target Coupon $10. Bought 2, used 4 coupons (2 store, 2 manufacturer coupons) - Total Spent: $4.98, Total Saved: $40.00 <--talk about EXCITING!
Ore Ida Hash Browns - B2G1F - $2.50 each, $0.75 coupon. Bought 3, used 2 coupons. Total Spent: $3.50, saved $4.00
Archers Farm Coffee - 5.89 each. Get 1 International Delight Coffee Creamer free with purchase of Coffee. 0.55 coupons to use on the creamers. used 2. Spent $11.78, saved $5.04.
I had a couple other random items - birthday present for my niece, etc...but my total spent was $56.58, total saved $76.57.
This stuff is addicting!
Here's my list (for now).
Prilosec
Wheaties Fuel Cereal (this stuff is to DIE for)
Gillette Fusion razors and blades
Sister Schuberts frozen breads
Frozen Pizza coupons (any kind...Jonny and I have pizza night once a week)
Birds Eye Steamfresh meals
I can't really think of anything else that I really use on a regular basis, but if I do, I'll add to the list below....
I want to tell you all about my Target Trip this weekend.
Dishwasher Disposer Care - On Sale $1.99 - normal $2.49 - $0.55 coupon - total savings on each $1.05 (bought 3 of these, used 3 coupons) Spent $2.88, saved $2.10
Betty Crocker Cake Mix - On Sale $1.00 - normal $1.29
Betty Crocker Icing - On Sale $1.00 - normal $1.29 - $0.75 WYB (when you buy) cake mix and icing together. Bought 2 cake mixes, 2 icings, used 2 coupons. Spent $2.50, saved $2.66
Clearasil Face Wash - On Sale 20% off - $5.59, normal 6.99. $1 coupon. Bought 2, used 2 coupons. Spent 9.18, saved 4.80.
Crest Toothpaste - $2.99 each, coupon for B1G1F - bought 2. Spent $2.99, Saved $2.99
Oral B Toothbrush - $2.99 each, $1.50 coupon, bought 2, used 2 coupons - spent $2.98, saved $3.00
*Big Deal Here*
Crest 3D Whitestrips (this is one of those things that I probably would have never bought, but at the savings, I thought it was worth trying. I may never buy them again after this, but like I said, figured I would try them. I don't advocate buying things JUST to use coupons - it's stupid to spend money on stuff you dont need, but I figured I could afford this deal to try it out...)
Regular Price: $22.49. Manufacture Coupon: $10, Target Coupon $10. Bought 2, used 4 coupons (2 store, 2 manufacturer coupons) - Total Spent: $4.98, Total Saved: $40.00 <--talk about EXCITING!
Ore Ida Hash Browns - B2G1F - $2.50 each, $0.75 coupon. Bought 3, used 2 coupons. Total Spent: $3.50, saved $4.00
Archers Farm Coffee - 5.89 each. Get 1 International Delight Coffee Creamer free with purchase of Coffee. 0.55 coupons to use on the creamers. used 2. Spent $11.78, saved $5.04.
I had a couple other random items - birthday present for my niece, etc...but my total spent was $56.58, total saved $76.57.
This stuff is addicting!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Slimey AFLAC Agent
My employer officers us an allowance of $20 bi-weekly towards the purchase of any AFLAC policies. When I started at this job, Pre DR, I signed up for the accident policy, and the cancer policy.
I verified today that the cost per each is 14.97 for the accident policy, and 26.67 for the cancer policy bi-weekly. If I were to cancel the cancer policy, my employer would drop my benefit to the 14.97 for the accident policy, but it's no money out of my pocket. if I cancelled both, it would still be no money out of pocket, but they wouldnt give me that additional benefit. Additionally, this has been a pre-tax benefit, so really, in th last year and a half, I've only been paying $20 or so out of my own pocket, bi weekly. Well, thats $40 a month I'm paying towards a policy that dave says I don't need.
So I figured that I could cancel that policy and use that $40 a month to pick up an additional life insurance policy through zander instead, because I don't have enough.
Well, this slimey aflac agent starts giving me the run around today. Tried to make me feel guilty about wanting to cancel, and I even told him "Look, I know you're a salesman, and it's your job to sell to me, but I don't need this policy." and he was like "Why not? Who have you been talking to?" and I told him, "My close, personal friend, Dave Ramsey." He paused for a minute and he said "I know who Dave Ramsey is, and I know what he teaches, but he's wrong about not needing cancer policy. There's a little girl in my church who got cancer, and we paid out $50K cash to the family. Would Dave Ramsey tell you to give that $50K back?" and I said no, but he would tell me to save my $40 a month to use it for something better, like life insurance or paying down debt, especially since my health insurance will cover cancer..."
So then he goes into overdrive, and says "Well, your company uses the cafeteria plan, and IRS code 125 blah blah blah....something about it being pretax dollars you can't un-enroll until open enrollment (which is in december)" and I said "Um, You can't ENROLL until open enrollment, you can opt out, at anytime." and he said "With anything else, yes, but not this." and he went on to say "Tell ya what I'm gonna do, I'll talk to your employer and see if they are going to allow you to do this, but they might get audited and fined by the IRS, so I'm going to recommend that she not allow you..."
I pressed record on my phone about halfway through the conversation. He was really beginning to tick me off now - trying to scare me in to it - how can an insurance agency, or my company force me to continue to purchase a product that I don't want any more? Is he right? Or is he just pushing my buttons, trying to keep my business?
OH! The other thing I told him was that i was planning on keeping the accident policy, because it was a free benefit to me, but realistically, it hadn't done much for me anyway, except payout a single $60 claim from having my yearly exam. He said that my cancer policy had the same benefit - I could get a cancer screening every year, and they would pay me $75. And I said "So let me get this straight, I should pay you $26 every 2 weeks, so that I cn get a $75 check from you once a year?" and again, he stumbled, "Well, yeah, but if you get cancer, we pay you cash....blah blah EFFING blah."
So, I emailed my HR lady to tell her that he was going to be calling, and I told her that he said he was going to recommend to her that I not be allowed to opt out until open enrollment. I'm calling BS. This stinks. What an @$$.
I verified today that the cost per each is 14.97 for the accident policy, and 26.67 for the cancer policy bi-weekly. If I were to cancel the cancer policy, my employer would drop my benefit to the 14.97 for the accident policy, but it's no money out of my pocket. if I cancelled both, it would still be no money out of pocket, but they wouldnt give me that additional benefit. Additionally, this has been a pre-tax benefit, so really, in th last year and a half, I've only been paying $20 or so out of my own pocket, bi weekly. Well, thats $40 a month I'm paying towards a policy that dave says I don't need.
So I figured that I could cancel that policy and use that $40 a month to pick up an additional life insurance policy through zander instead, because I don't have enough.
Well, this slimey aflac agent starts giving me the run around today. Tried to make me feel guilty about wanting to cancel, and I even told him "Look, I know you're a salesman, and it's your job to sell to me, but I don't need this policy." and he was like "Why not? Who have you been talking to?" and I told him, "My close, personal friend, Dave Ramsey." He paused for a minute and he said "I know who Dave Ramsey is, and I know what he teaches, but he's wrong about not needing cancer policy. There's a little girl in my church who got cancer, and we paid out $50K cash to the family. Would Dave Ramsey tell you to give that $50K back?" and I said no, but he would tell me to save my $40 a month to use it for something better, like life insurance or paying down debt, especially since my health insurance will cover cancer..."
So then he goes into overdrive, and says "Well, your company uses the cafeteria plan, and IRS code 125 blah blah blah....something about it being pretax dollars you can't un-enroll until open enrollment (which is in december)" and I said "Um, You can't ENROLL until open enrollment, you can opt out, at anytime." and he said "With anything else, yes, but not this." and he went on to say "Tell ya what I'm gonna do, I'll talk to your employer and see if they are going to allow you to do this, but they might get audited and fined by the IRS, so I'm going to recommend that she not allow you..."
I pressed record on my phone about halfway through the conversation. He was really beginning to tick me off now - trying to scare me in to it - how can an insurance agency, or my company force me to continue to purchase a product that I don't want any more? Is he right? Or is he just pushing my buttons, trying to keep my business?
OH! The other thing I told him was that i was planning on keeping the accident policy, because it was a free benefit to me, but realistically, it hadn't done much for me anyway, except payout a single $60 claim from having my yearly exam. He said that my cancer policy had the same benefit - I could get a cancer screening every year, and they would pay me $75. And I said "So let me get this straight, I should pay you $26 every 2 weeks, so that I cn get a $75 check from you once a year?" and again, he stumbled, "Well, yeah, but if you get cancer, we pay you cash....blah blah EFFING blah."
So, I emailed my HR lady to tell her that he was going to be calling, and I told her that he said he was going to recommend to her that I not be allowed to opt out until open enrollment. I'm calling BS. This stinks. What an @$$.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Jonny got a job!
Tomorrow, Jonny starts a job as a bookkeeper for a property management group here in Columbus. One of his professors recommended him. It's 10-15 hours a week, and it's going to be an extra few hundred bucks a month. He interviewed on Monday and they offered him the position yesterday.
Oh happy day for more money going toward our debt snowball to pay that sucker off even faster. It's financial/accounting experience, and it's current, and it's going to look great on his resume. YIPPEE!
As we quicken the pace with getting stuff paid off, I find myself becoming more and more gazelle intense. My snowball calculator estimates a debt freedom date of November 2011. I've already set a personal goal of this Christmas, but I'm hoping I can shave a couple of more months off of that. Maybe by our anniversary? October 6 - we'll have been married 3 years. That would be AWESOME. With a few extra hundred dollars a month, I feel confident we can make it happen, if we just...don't spend everything we budget, and throw it at the debt at the end of the month....
I wish I had some crap I could sell. I have boxes and boxes of books that at one point, I care about keeping, but now I don't, and I cant find a way to get rid of them AND make a profit. I could donate them, but I'd rather keep them if I can get any money off of them.
I'm going to have to go through my clothes and see if there's anything I can offload at Plato's Closet. Maybe I can do that this weekend....
Until next time...
Monday, March 22, 2010
We're already there!
Well, in my post last week about the month ahead plan, I lied. I said the money I had coming in from the GIBill was about $2000.
Wrong. It was $4000. And it arrived today.
Oh my gosh, I cannot even express how excited I am. The money is sitting in our account, waiting for April 1st, when I'll go ahead and pay everything. I don't even care when payday is, because it doesn't matter.
I don't have to temporarily pause my debt snowball, and I don't have to wait until June to implement the month ahead plan. WE'RE ALREADY THERE!!!
The only downside of this is that it's KILLING me to not throw that entire amount at our debt, NOW. That's 50% of our remaining consolidation loan debt, and as much as I would love to throw it all at it, I really believe that getting on the month ahead system is going to help us be in a better position.
Now, let's see how this job interview situation with Jonny turns out. That will be a treat to see if that results in more income.
YEAH!
Wrong. It was $4000. And it arrived today.
Oh my gosh, I cannot even express how excited I am. The money is sitting in our account, waiting for April 1st, when I'll go ahead and pay everything. I don't even care when payday is, because it doesn't matter.
I don't have to temporarily pause my debt snowball, and I don't have to wait until June to implement the month ahead plan. WE'RE ALREADY THERE!!!
The only downside of this is that it's KILLING me to not throw that entire amount at our debt, NOW. That's 50% of our remaining consolidation loan debt, and as much as I would love to throw it all at it, I really believe that getting on the month ahead system is going to help us be in a better position.
Now, let's see how this job interview situation with Jonny turns out. That will be a treat to see if that results in more income.
YEAH!
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