Growing up...

I'm trying to get a hold on my life.

I've gained 30 pounds since getting married.

We haven't saved up the kind of money we were hoping to.

We had no food storage.

That's not the kind of life I want to continue with. So I've implemented a few changes. Like, we're counting calories now.

I've lost six pounds in a week, just by cutting out snacking and eating better. Incredible really. I know I can't always expect these kinds of results, but I think it's a tribute to just how unhealthy our life style had been, just one week ago.

We've started budgeting. See below for the awesome tool we're using.

We're started on the food storage. It's not huge, but we're working on it.

I want to tell you about the website we're using to budget though. I had spent a few hours chronicalling all of our spending in Excel (my least favorite program in the world) when I made a facebook plea for suggestions. After multiple "try using excel" suggestions, my Mama suggested I look at Mint.com and holy cow, I wish she had said it 4 hours earlier. Here is a little tour of Mint.com - just in case you too are looking for an easy to use, free, budgeting program. I realize the pictures are a bit small, so you can also check them out at flickr.com/areedwedding for a closer look at the details.

After creating an on Mint.com, you can add your bank accounts. I know this seems a little sketchy, but the connection between Mint.com and your bank is Read Only. They can collect the information, but they (and you) can't move money or do any other kind of transactions.

This is super useful for us, as we share accounts, but we have accounts at two different banks. They pull all of the transaction from both banks, and put them in one place. As you can see in the picture below, it's completely customizable - if something is listed incorrectly, you can change it and label it with one of the pre-made labels, or you can add your own. I changed Wal*Mart to mean groceries, since that is where we do our grocery shopping.

It also lets you split a purchase, so if you buy groceries, and a new pair of jeans on the same trip, you can set $30 for the groceries and $20 for the jeans, or what ever you spent.

Once all of your transactions have been listed, they create your current budget based on your past purchases. This was pretty shocking for us, since we had been spending far too much money on eating out. If the "pre-set" budget isn't what you want to spend, then you can change it, or if they don't have something you want to include in your budget, then you can add it. It also shows your spending compared to the US.

Another feature is it lets you decide if you want the budget to roll over. I said yes on the entertainment/eating out budgets, but no on the groceries, rent, etc - because those are pretty set in stone.

After you set up your budget, you can see it. I love the visual aspects of this website

As you can see, our ridiculous Electric bill hasn't hit our account yet, so but our rent, phone, and internet bills have. It tell you how much of your budgets money is left. If you go over - the bar turns red.

If you stick to the budget, then on the right it tells you how much money you will (potentially) have left over, and you can see how much it adds up over the next 3, 6, 9 or 12 months!

It also gives you pretty pie-charts! These can be organized by category, merchant, and over time. If you click on one piece of the pie chart, it gives you another breakdown of that specific category.

On the left it shows the potential to add other types of accounts, like managing your student loans, investments, and property. On the bar graph is also shows you where you are in the month, so for items like groceries or entertainment you can see how much money you have left compared to how much of the month is left.

You can also set up alerts, to let you know when you're reaching your Credit Card limits, or when you (or some one who has stolen your card) makes a huge purchase, or when bills are due.

Overall I am very pleased with this website. It also offer investment opportunities, and "ways to save" - or offers for credit cards/accounts based on your spending habits.

And the last thing I need to say is:

Thanks Mom!

Dieting.

This may be the most personal blog I've ever written. So with that in mind, tread lightly because this is a sensitive topic.

I weigh too much. How much? I'm not comfortable putting a number on the internet. Let's just say my BMI puts me into the "Obese" category, and I'm determined to change that.

With small steps.

One of my goals before I turn 23 is to lose 20 pounds. To be honest... I had considered putting ten. That would've been easy - but I'm hoping to go above and beyond 20. My goal is actually to lose 100 pounds. If I lost 100 pounds I would be considered a "healthy weight."

How am I going to do this? Here are a few things B-man and I are using:

1. We're walking the dogs. Every morning. Further and further. We started out with a 30 minute walk, but eventually we'll get up to jogging. I really need to work on building up strength in my hip - which keeps my from wanting to go jogging for fear of weeks of pain.
   


2. I bought a book. A cook book. A diet book. I don't know. It's by Taste of Home magazine, and it's called the "Comfort food cookbook diet." Here is why this works for me:
   


It all looks delicious!
It does not depend on fish or other seafood to get the low calorie count.
It does not depend on bell peppers for the flavor. This is a big one as bell peppers give me the worst heart burn ever. EVER!
It's easy.

And lastly? It has 6 weeks of meals already planned out for you. You just have to buy the ingredients and make it. And these recipes aren't just some thing a chef came up with, but tried and true recipes from people who have had success with this diet.


3. We're using the above methods in combination with The Hacker's diet online. It's just an easy place to keep track of your progress and goals, and it gives you a good idea of how many calories to cut out in order to lose "x amount" of weight a week.
   
   
4. That's the fourth thing. We're calorie counting. It sounds scary, and crazy. The only thing that makes it easier is that every recipe in this cook book is already counted up!
   
So... any "diet cookbook" that includes donught



And pizza pockets...



Is okay in my book!

I get the impression that people think I'm a confident, capable young woman. In most cases, that's true. But really - I hate the way I look. I hate the way my clothes feel. I hate the number on my pants. I hate the way my heart races when I walk up a hill, or the way my hip hurts when I'm just sitting down. I look in the mirror and see some one who is fat, and ugly, and I am going to change it.

Weight has always been emphasized in my family. Diets and work out plans and relatives telling me "You'll never find a husband if you weigh that much." Ridiculous. I'm not doing this for them, I'm doing it for myself. Because I want to like myself.

The End.