Monday, January 11, 2010

Week One of the Makeover

Happy Monday everyone! I just wanted to give you an update today on how my working out and our grocery shopping on a budget went. It went REALLY, REALLY WELL!!!! Chee Hoo!

I did make a change in my workout schedule and decided to make Friday my day off. Friday is my eat whatever I want day....so if I'm eating high calorie, high fat foods....why work out? It's easier to find the time on the weekend anyway, so I think that will be better.

So including Sunday I did Pilates three times, Yoga three times, walked four times, stretched twice and worked my arms twice! I have passed on the walking for three days because the wind chill has been brutal. It's suppose to warm up this week, so hopefully I will get lots of walking in. Yesterday it was 4 degrees with a -15 below wind chill. I won't walk in that. It hurts. :(

I have a couple of other little changes I plan to make to my program because I want to do some specific leg work, so I'll need to figure that out as well. If I'm consistent with the yoga, I won't need the extra stretching either.

I ate pretty good all week and really didn't have much junk and that is a positive for me as well. I am also trying to increase my iron since it was too low to donate blood again, and that really bothers me. Irv and I donate regularly and it's important to me to be able to do that.

Ah....the grocery store. I spent time during the week planning my meals and then I made my shopping list. Next, I went online and found some coupons I could use for a few things. I'm going to spend a little more time on that this week to see if I can find more. With our $3.50 in coupons we ended up spending $116.96 for the week! I paid very close attention to the prices of things to see if I could find cheaper items than what I usually buy...sometimes I did and sometimes I didn't. It was kind of a pain, but the end result was worth it. Now we have money left for our carry out on Friday night.

We have a couple of things to tweak in our budget....like why do I have to use my spending money on Starbucks if I want it, and Irv used grocery money on a 6 pack of O'Doules? That doesn't seem quite fair to me. I think we are going to have to work on that one! Isn't that right Irvie? ;-}

I gave Irv all of his money for the week and I have mine. We will see how we do. No using the debit card at all! I really am psyched about this. Hope we see a difference in our bank account and can use the extra money to start really paying down our debt.

I hope your Monday is just as awesome as it can possibly be! Don't forget to do something really nice for yourself today.

14 comments:

Lori P said...

I love hearing about this! It's a great idea to post a weekly update - kind of holds you accountable, doesn't it? We've done the money thing before. In the end, I've continued to make a menu and stick to the list when shopping. It makes a HUGE difference with an added bonus of NOT pulling my hair out each day trying to decide what to have for dinner. I just have to refer to the list.
Have a great week.

Bagman and Butler said...

Yoga, pilates, running...I'm exhausted after reading your blog. But we, also, make a list for groceries. It works best when she makes the list and I shop because I don't know enough about prices or calories to vary the list and buy ONLY what is on it. If she shops, she can get creative. If I make the list it only has cookies on it.

Kittie Howard said...

You're doing great, Kathy. But happy you're not walking in the deep freeze out there. Coupons and item pricing Work! Hang in there.

Cathryn said...

I'm so happy for you! Another way to save money is to buy in bulk. Like this summer, I bought $50 in fresh green chile and roasted it myself. That sounds like a lot, but it saves us from spending $7 every week because we want green chile. You're learning ways to save and I'm learning reading your ways! :D

Anonymous said...

What swell news! I love doing yoga--it does prevent lots of extra stretching, even if you only do it once a week. What an accomplishment on that grocery bill! I know what you mean though--I "eat" a lot of expenses with the grocery bill. Like D's poker party--all the snacks come out of MY budget!

Oklahoma Granny said...

Fantastic news! You go, girl!

DUTA said...

Congratulations! Very well done!

You've achieved your goal in all the important domains: grocery shopping, work out,(no) use of debit cards.

You could sure serve as a model to other people.

Joyce said...

This is a tough task, but you are doing it- very impress. Yahoo... xo

Bluebell said...

This is really interesting, I think we all spend too much because we have debit cards it's too easy to buy things you do not need. I always used to go shopping with cash and I new I could not spend more than I had so I just bought the essentials, after reading your blog I may give this a try again.Well done you.
Love Jillxx

Lanyardlady said...

Awesome. Keep up the good work.

Nancy/BLissed-Out Grandma said...

Good for you for sticking with it, AND for adjusting as you go in order to make things work even better.

gayle said...

You are doing such a awesome job!! Makes me want to try to do better!!! I worked out 3 days and ate pretty well!! I am interested in this free eating days...could you tell more about that??

Angela said...

Good for you!!! There will be many kinks to work out along the way- but you can do it!! Maybe you can get the Grocery Store Starbucks if Irv gets O'Doules(and I had no idea they still made that stuff!)

Beth Anderson said...

Just catching up over the last couple of days - good for you - you really have got it all going. Such discipline Kathy.
I'm glad to hear with the budget you are checking prices, clipping coupons, etc. All those little bits of savings DO add up.
Keep it up!

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