Wednesday, September 19, 2012

It's not so bad...

It has been two days and 9.5 hours since my last soda. I'm doing pretty good. Feeling a bit headache-y but not as bad as Monday night. I've been drinking a lot of water and I've had two sweet teas from Mc Donalds...that will probably be my next bad habit to conquer...no fast food...

But at any rate, I'm pretty happy with how this is progressing so I will keep it up! (Plus I like making my red marks on my calendar!)

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Bad Habit #1 Soda Addiction

This the first habit that I am going to work on. Starting on Monday, September 17th, I will be cutting out all soft drinks and will be switching to lightly sweetened iced teas and water.

The benefits:

1. Soda is empty calories. It offers no nutritional value.
2. It is bad for your teeth. and bones. and skin.
3. It makes you bloated.
4. It costs money. On average, I would guess that I spend about 50.00 on bottles sodas per month...that's almost a third of my grocery budget.

I will not drink any soda for at least 21 days. After that I may have a treat day or just drink one if I go out to eat.

A Weight-y Problem

I'm overweight.


I'm 5'5" and I weigh 210.  My ideal weight is 130.  I know if I worked hard and put in the time and effort, I could lose the weight.  It's just that I don't want to...but so much is at stake.


Why I Am Fat:

I'm an emotional eater and I have issues with food.
I'm addicted to Mtn Dew.
I hate exercise.
I love the drive-thru...and food tastes better when I don't have to cook.
Fruits and Vegetables are boring.
I work night shift.
I like candy bars...and honey buns...
I may be a sugar addict.
I eat to procrastinate.

Why Being Fat Is Not Productive To My Life:

My self-confidence is at an all time low.
Hard to meet people because I'm not feeling good about myself.
My health! I do not want diabetes, heart disease or any other weight induced illness.
It affects my energy.
Junk food costs money!

What I Am Going To Do To Change:

1. Establish new habits...it takes 21 days to establish a habit. I've printed off some calendars from this site...http://lds.about.com/library/weekly/2004/goal_sheet.pdf and I will pick a new habit to work on every 21 days.

2. Figure out the emotional connection and work to heal that... I have this workbook and I will be taking time out every day to work on one exercise. The workbook is set up to be read and worked 4 times. http://www.amazon.com/The-Dont-Diet-Live-It-Workbook/dp/0936077336

I expect that it will be an interesting journey changing into everything that is good!

Tenative 1500.00 Budget

So in a perfect world this would be my 1500.00 Budget


Rent                    620.00
Car Payment      275.00
Car Insurance       65.00
Renters Ins.          15.00

Electric                 50.00
Phone                    55.00
Internet                 20.00
Gas                      150.00
Food                    150.00
Debt Snowball      50.00
Savings                  50.00

Any amount over 1500 would be split in half with one half going to savings and the other half going to debt.  After I get my Emergency Fund established, I will start giving myself a bit of an allowance...as of right now, whatever I am able to save from my Food Budget is mine to do whatever I want with:)
Also out of my food budget comes my laundry expense of 20.00 a month.

If you notice in my side bar, there are 3 funds listed...I over budgeted on a few things so the excess will go into one of these funds...for instance, I budget 150 for gas...if I only spend 120 for that month I will have 30.00 to go into my car fund. This will be used for maintenance and etc for my car. The same goes for the apt fund and utilities fund.

I'm excited to try this budget out in October!

Numbers Round-up September...

So I'm just going to crunch a few numbers so we can get a view of where I'm at this month...

Checking: 193.06
                 -65.02 Car Insurance
                 128.04
                  -19.95 Internet Service
                 108.09
                -100.00 Gas (Budgeted)
                      8.09  Projected Balance for September

Food Budget: 33.00 left

Emergency Fund: 702.64  I suspect this may go lower as I have a tire that will either need to be plugged or replaced (YIKES!) Monday morning.


Tuesday, September 11, 2012

A New Beginning...

to an old blog...

 I have decided to re-do my blog as it wasn't quite what I wanted earlier in the year. Initially, I wanted just a personal finance blog, but it was hard to keep it just strictly financial. So this new and improved blog will follow both my financial and personal goals.

Financially my goals are as follows:

1. Create a workable monthly budget.
2. Pay off two tax bills (IRS and  State)
3. Save up a $1000 Emergency Fund
4. Begin a debt snowball  ( I have a car loan and...I may also have some medical bills, but I will have to pull a credit report and get an accurate accounting.
5. Save 6 months of living expenses.

Personally my goals are as follows:

1. Lose weight! (I'm about 80lbs overweight and need to get healthy!)
2. Sharpen up my domestic skills...(mainly organizing and cooking)
3. Spiritual and personal growth.

Of course these will be broken down into obtainable steps so I will be able to measure progress!