So as my loyal readers know (all 3 of you thanks for checking in!) Chris and I are getting fit - emotionally, financially and physically! You will have to scroll to the end if you just want to see the results in numbers!
We sat down, paid off all our credit cards and Chris cancelled one of his cards. We have enough credit between us to be able to book any minor travel but not so much we can't pay it off right away if we got in to far! We have a pre paid card as well if we need to charge something more than what would fit on each of our credit cards. That feels pretty good!
We have set out our budgets and after making some changes we are both putting away some decent savings and are on track to purchase a new to us car in May (with cash...no payments please!), to take a dream trip to europe in 2013 and to consider purchasing mid 2014!!! So as long as our plan and God's plan is still in line and our money flows stay, we are looking pretty tight financially!
This does mean we are in financial lockdown for the next year though! We made an executive decision and decided since date nights will be few and far between that we would take the bond money I had and do some upgrades to our entertainment system and to our organization in the house (the rest went to the above noted pay off)! This should make the house a more fun place to be if we are stuck there! LOL
The cleaning out of the cupboards and fridge was a huge eye opener for us! We donated a large box of food and threw out two garbage bags full of things that could not be donated! It was an expensive way to go grocery shopping let me tell you! However now our kitchen is filled with fresh, fresh frozen and healthy foods and treats!
We have taken the one step at a time approach and right now we are focusing on healthy choices and portion control. We are making more active choices and adding bits of exercise here and there when we can (mostly walking at this point). We will slowly start adding more structured work outs as we go!
One of the things we are also going to work towards is weaning out all of the processed foods...this is a hard one, especially with our busy schedules. But necessary as packaged foods have tons of sodium and thats one of the things we are trying to lower! One step at a time though and getting into the routine of making all our own meals has been fun and delicious!
We have been using quite a few of the Hungry Girl recipes and if you do not know about her I would highly recommend you check her out http://www.hungry-girl.com/
You can search for recipes, subscribe to her email list (totally worth it!), and read her blog. She is a master at making the low fat version of your favorite restaurant food and the recipes are easy to follow and modify! Many of them are single portioned which is great if your doing this on your own and have to make meals seperate from your family, are just making lunch for you or you can just quadruple the ingredients for the family! You can find tons of the recipes online and she has 4 awesome cook books out too! She includes nutritonal info and weight watchers points on each menu.
Okay...enough babbling...here are the results!
Chris - down 5 pounds and several inches all over
Tara - down 6 pounds and several inches all over
We sat down, paid off all our credit cards and Chris cancelled one of his cards. We have enough credit between us to be able to book any minor travel but not so much we can't pay it off right away if we got in to far! We have a pre paid card as well if we need to charge something more than what would fit on each of our credit cards. That feels pretty good!
We have set out our budgets and after making some changes we are both putting away some decent savings and are on track to purchase a new to us car in May (with cash...no payments please!), to take a dream trip to europe in 2013 and to consider purchasing mid 2014!!! So as long as our plan and God's plan is still in line and our money flows stay, we are looking pretty tight financially!
This does mean we are in financial lockdown for the next year though! We made an executive decision and decided since date nights will be few and far between that we would take the bond money I had and do some upgrades to our entertainment system and to our organization in the house (the rest went to the above noted pay off)! This should make the house a more fun place to be if we are stuck there! LOL
The cleaning out of the cupboards and fridge was a huge eye opener for us! We donated a large box of food and threw out two garbage bags full of things that could not be donated! It was an expensive way to go grocery shopping let me tell you! However now our kitchen is filled with fresh, fresh frozen and healthy foods and treats!
We have taken the one step at a time approach and right now we are focusing on healthy choices and portion control. We are making more active choices and adding bits of exercise here and there when we can (mostly walking at this point). We will slowly start adding more structured work outs as we go!
One of the things we are also going to work towards is weaning out all of the processed foods...this is a hard one, especially with our busy schedules. But necessary as packaged foods have tons of sodium and thats one of the things we are trying to lower! One step at a time though and getting into the routine of making all our own meals has been fun and delicious!
We have been using quite a few of the Hungry Girl recipes and if you do not know about her I would highly recommend you check her out http://www.hungry-girl.com/
You can search for recipes, subscribe to her email list (totally worth it!), and read her blog. She is a master at making the low fat version of your favorite restaurant food and the recipes are easy to follow and modify! Many of them are single portioned which is great if your doing this on your own and have to make meals seperate from your family, are just making lunch for you or you can just quadruple the ingredients for the family! You can find tons of the recipes online and she has 4 awesome cook books out too! She includes nutritonal info and weight watchers points on each menu.
Okay...enough babbling...here are the results!
Chris - down 5 pounds and several inches all over
Tara - down 6 pounds and several inches all over
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