(This post comes at the beginning of the New Year which is when people are making resolutions, but that was not my intent. Just a happy coincidence there, so... Happy New Year! Hope your 2015 is going well so far.)
I was thinking about the processes of saving money and how people struggle with doing so, so I wanted to share some tips/ideas on how to get started. Granted, now that I have an understanding of more financial things than I did, I still believe that "Big Wins" (investing well, automating, etc.) are a great way to do things. But on the same level, I understand that sometimes, working on something like that can feel like a stretch at best and impossible at worst, if you can't even get some basic money in the bank-believe me, I get it.
So if you need a few Small Victories to help you feel like it is possible to get started, here are some things I find to be helpful to get STARTED in your savings goals, in no particular order. A lot of these I have used personally, and some of them I have seen around that I think could work for people.
Use as many or as few as your tolerance allows (allowing you to still enjoy life, and not spend every waking moment obsessing about the next thing to cut), and soon you'll find that you're starting to build a nice nest egg. I'd even wager that you'll start to see your own creative brand of saving money emerge and come up with other ideas, all your own. Good Luck!
1. Starting very basic: Save $1/day. At the end of a year, you'll have saved $365. (Or, more accurately, $365 and some random change if you have the savings in an interest-bearing account.) I truly believe that ANYONE can save one dollar a day. Mastering the idea of saving small amounts when you don't have money or are just getting started is extremely important too-because if you are not in the habit of saving and managing finances with nothing, having money won't change that, and can lead to some very bad money habits that are harder to correct when you DO have money. $1/day is a great way to start a good habit in a sustainable way.
2. Conversely, there is the Savings Money Jar idea that people have been using. In this, you save progressive amounts each week, starting with $1 the first week, then $2 the second week, etc., to the point where you save $52 in the last week, so at the end of the 52 weeks, you'll have saved $1378. That's a nice chunk of change to add to the nest egg, and of course, if you're able, you could always ramp it up to save more each week, as well. One thing though: While most/all of the links that talk about this use a Jar, PLEASE put the money in a savings account and not on your counter/in a jar where it's too easy to be tempted to spend it...
3. Round Your Funds. One Thing I have always is to round up and down on funds, down on deposits and up on expenses. For example, if a purchase is $3.50, I will say it's $5 in my tracking. Conversely, if I make a deposit of $100, I will note it as $95. If you use this method, it will create a cushion for your account, in amounts that may be a pleasant surprise for you. After a certain period of time (once a month, once every week, whatever works for you), transfer the cushion amount to savings.
4. Brown bag your lunch. This seems like an obvious choice, but one that many people don't take advantage of. Of course, bringing your own lunch is definitely less expensive than buying it every day. This also has the advantage, from a fitness standpoint, that you can control what is in your meal and the portions. Win, win if you ask me.
5. Do you shop at a grocery store that puts the "You saved XX Today" on the receipt? Transfer that amount to savings when you get home. True, it may only be a few dollars, but every little bit adds up. This also works well with the rounding technique I use above for things. If your budget for groceries is $50/week and you only spend $46, that $4 could be transferred to savings to help add up.
6. When I finally automated finances (in a better way since it had always been auto pay, etc.), I set up Separate bill/spending accounts and 7. Separate savings/spending accounts. So Three Accounts total (in reality, more than that because, as I've mentioned before, I have at least 3 saving accounts for different goals)- one for the bills, one for savings and one for the spending money that I allotted to us. You don't have to get as complicated as that if you choose not to (or, you can get more complicated if you choose to), but I would recommend at least having separate accounts for everyday and for the savings so the savings you're building don't accidentally get spent on regular things. And, if you can keep your savings so that it's harder to access, even better.
8. Automate Savings. Yes, this is a "Big Win", and I was giving ideas on smaller victories you can do, but this is probably the easiest way to save. Use Direct Deposit and set aside part of your pay directly into savings account. The amount is up to you and your situation, but even $10/paycheck ($5/week) adds up. And If you don't have to worry about transferring money each time you're paid because it is direct deposited, you're that much more likely to stick to it.
9. Find ways to spend less on things you already buy. This one is a bit more broad, but leaves a lot of possibilities. For example, with few exceptions, store brand items are just as good as their more expensive name brand counterparts. (But you should double check the per-unit pricings, because some things are grouped as if they are savings, but aren't. 3/$5 on an item for store brand is not as good as $1.50/each for a name brand.) It also helps to buy from the bulk section of grocery stores so you can get just the amount you need. (Bonus: Better for the environment since there's less useless packaging.) There's also the dollar store for many, many things. I've never been one for coupons, really, unless I have one for something I am already buying, but many people use them to great effect. Since this option breeds creativity, I bet you can find other ways to shave off expenses and save.
10. Define why you are saving. This, perhaps, should have been tip number one, but these things happen when you are working from random parts of your brain. But the point stands: Defining why you are saving or what you are saving for is an important step. I have mentioned this before, and many (if not all) finance experts agree. Defining your goals in clear terms will help you reach them because it gives you something to reach for-like a house down payment-rather than just saying you need to save. It also can help prioritize and stick to the plan when other things come up or give you motivation, so it's a good mental boost.
11. I am not one to tell you to cut back on your mochas or coffee if that is something that you value, but are there things you can cut out that you don't value or that may be costing you? As an example smaller coffee, or getting one less a week saves not only a few dollars here and there, it also saves hundreds of calories a week. (Another win-win for the fitness and finance marriage.) Or Cable subscriptions you don't even use? (Watch one channel, anyone?) Look at your own spending and ask yourself: Are you spending within your VALUES? If not, can it be axed? This is a very personal choice in one's habits, but if you can find things you've been mindlessly consuming and get rid of them, it opens a lot of possibilities on where to find that extra money you are working to save.
12. Did you just get a new cost of living raise? 50 cents an hour is $20/week before tax. Maintain your current spending levels (with direct deposit, of course so you don't even know it's there anyway), and you'll start to see your savings grow a little bit faster with each paycheck.
13. Does your grocery store have a gas rewards program? If you're shopping there anyway, you may as well take advantage of the savings on gas that you can get. For many stores, you can save up to $1.00/gallon off, just for having the free grocery store key which definitely adds up. Just remember the golden rule: Transfer the amount of savings to your savings account(s) when you get home. (See item 5.)
14. Walk/Bike more often. Of course, as another way to save at the pump, you could always use your car less. And again, this is a win-win for the fitness and finance super-duo. (Yes, I just made it sound like it's a super hero. Deal with it.) Walking and biking keeps you fit, and the less you drive, the less you pay in gas, maintenance, and (in many cases) insurance.
There you have it! 14 ideas on how to START saving. Pick even one of them, and you should see your savings grow and, hopefully, have developed a habit of saving. This is nowhere near a fully comprehensive list, but some ideas to get started, so let your imagination run wild and watch the nest egg grow! Good Luck!
Thursday, January 22, 2015
Monday, December 22, 2014
End of Year Goals Check-In
Towards my birthday, I wrote a post about End-of-Year/29th Birthday Goals, and shortly after, wrote about how hubby and I were going to do the Buff Dudes' Challenge.....
Well, I'll just come right out and say it: I didn't achieve any of those fitness goals. I was on track and making good progress before it got colder, but as the temperature dropped dramatically and it started raining more days than not, I struggled to keep my motivation and routine going (still struggling). I failed to account for that aspect when MAKING the goals, so maybe that aspect alone may be that my goal was less realistic than it could have been.
Or, maybe I just needed to work harder and meet my goals instead of being a lazy butt.
Either way, I am not going to cry over it because you can't change the past, only the future. For now, between the cold and the holidays (including our anniversary on the 28th), as long as eating is decent and I am getting a walk here and there to maintain, I am ok with what it is. In January and heading into Spring, hubby and I will work as hard as we can to meet the goals.
On the bright side, I am lower in weight than I have been in a while-and definitely lower than I was this time last year, mainly due to the fitbit I have in helping me keep on track. On my birthday, I was 196-199 pounds, but I currently sit at 181, so that is a huge win for me, and I will take it.
As for the financial side of things, here's where we stand on that:
You may remember from this post that both my husband and I were going to be laid off from the same job. As I mentioned in that post, I had already got a new job so had taken my PTO and applied it to my car payment. Husband's last day was 11/4, and once he (finally) got his first unemployment check, we took a large part of his severance and finished paying off the car. So the car is now owned free and clear! We are very excited about that, but unfortunately, the plan to SAVE that same money got wiped out by the fact that we will need to pay for ACA insurance (instead of having it come out pre-tax from our checks), and that will be about $167/month, and we got notice that our rent is increasing $50/month starting 1/1/2015. So we were kind of bummed about that since instead of saving it, the amount, and a little more (car payment was $180 including principle payments) will be eaten up by other things. On the bright side: By getting rid of our non-working car (which we've meant to do for months), we save about $20 off the car insurance premium over what we were paying for two cars, so it all balances out and pretty much breaks even, so at least there's that. And, of course it's only temporary that we break even right now, since as soon as hubby gets a job, we SHOULD be able to save a bit more than we are now.
As for where we stand on the rest of the finances, I would say we're doing pretty well, actually. Here are some of the highlights:
-I finally have the day-to-day things fully automated and correct. Since we now have two checking accounts, one is used for "spending" money and one is used for bills money. Since I had calculated what it takes to cover all bills and have it direct deposited in the bills account, and automated, all bills get paid on time (which they were before, but sometimes would get crossed because different due dates so sometimes spending money would screw it up) and having an account for a set amount of spending money has been very helpful for us because if it's not in the account, we don't spend it. (The ultimate, can't-see-it-can't-spend-it set up.) And because of this, it has really cut back on our accidental spending and then having to rearrange/transfer money from savings to cover bills. Win, win!
-While I do still need to set up IRAs for both myself and (help) hubby, and transfer my 401k from previous employer to a new carrier, our savings themselves are slowly growing. When I first started this blog, I believe between all accounts for savings, it was ~$1800, but is now around $2200-2300 (though I do have a few small things to pay off like a medical bill from October when I had laryngitis), so there's good news that we're maintaining the same level, if not growing it very slowly while husband is still unemployed.
That's where I am at currently. I hope that by the end of 2015, I will have all previously laid out goals met, and then some. (I won't rehash them since they are in the linked info and you can see them, so don't want you to have to re-read them, again.)
How about you? Where are you at in your goals and plans? Have you had some set-backs that you're working to overcome? How is that going for you? Feel free to share in the comments below!
Well, I'll just come right out and say it: I didn't achieve any of those fitness goals. I was on track and making good progress before it got colder, but as the temperature dropped dramatically and it started raining more days than not, I struggled to keep my motivation and routine going (still struggling). I failed to account for that aspect when MAKING the goals, so maybe that aspect alone may be that my goal was less realistic than it could have been.
Or, maybe I just needed to work harder and meet my goals instead of being a lazy butt.
Either way, I am not going to cry over it because you can't change the past, only the future. For now, between the cold and the holidays (including our anniversary on the 28th), as long as eating is decent and I am getting a walk here and there to maintain, I am ok with what it is. In January and heading into Spring, hubby and I will work as hard as we can to meet the goals.
On the bright side, I am lower in weight than I have been in a while-and definitely lower than I was this time last year, mainly due to the fitbit I have in helping me keep on track. On my birthday, I was 196-199 pounds, but I currently sit at 181, so that is a huge win for me, and I will take it.
As for the financial side of things, here's where we stand on that:
You may remember from this post that both my husband and I were going to be laid off from the same job. As I mentioned in that post, I had already got a new job so had taken my PTO and applied it to my car payment. Husband's last day was 11/4, and once he (finally) got his first unemployment check, we took a large part of his severance and finished paying off the car. So the car is now owned free and clear! We are very excited about that, but unfortunately, the plan to SAVE that same money got wiped out by the fact that we will need to pay for ACA insurance (instead of having it come out pre-tax from our checks), and that will be about $167/month, and we got notice that our rent is increasing $50/month starting 1/1/2015. So we were kind of bummed about that since instead of saving it, the amount, and a little more (car payment was $180 including principle payments) will be eaten up by other things. On the bright side: By getting rid of our non-working car (which we've meant to do for months), we save about $20 off the car insurance premium over what we were paying for two cars, so it all balances out and pretty much breaks even, so at least there's that. And, of course it's only temporary that we break even right now, since as soon as hubby gets a job, we SHOULD be able to save a bit more than we are now.
As for where we stand on the rest of the finances, I would say we're doing pretty well, actually. Here are some of the highlights:
-I finally have the day-to-day things fully automated and correct. Since we now have two checking accounts, one is used for "spending" money and one is used for bills money. Since I had calculated what it takes to cover all bills and have it direct deposited in the bills account, and automated, all bills get paid on time (which they were before, but sometimes would get crossed because different due dates so sometimes spending money would screw it up) and having an account for a set amount of spending money has been very helpful for us because if it's not in the account, we don't spend it. (The ultimate, can't-see-it-can't-spend-it set up.) And because of this, it has really cut back on our accidental spending and then having to rearrange/transfer money from savings to cover bills. Win, win!
-While I do still need to set up IRAs for both myself and (help) hubby, and transfer my 401k from previous employer to a new carrier, our savings themselves are slowly growing. When I first started this blog, I believe between all accounts for savings, it was ~$1800, but is now around $2200-2300 (though I do have a few small things to pay off like a medical bill from October when I had laryngitis), so there's good news that we're maintaining the same level, if not growing it very slowly while husband is still unemployed.
That's where I am at currently. I hope that by the end of 2015, I will have all previously laid out goals met, and then some. (I won't rehash them since they are in the linked info and you can see them, so don't want you to have to re-read them, again.)
How about you? Where are you at in your goals and plans? Have you had some set-backs that you're working to overcome? How is that going for you? Feel free to share in the comments below!
Tuesday, December 9, 2014
Book Review: Why Smart People Do Stupid Things With Money
In the recent past (a couple months ago), I read Bert Whitehead's Why Smart People Do Stupid Things With Money: Overcoming Financial Dysfunction, and here's some of my thoughts on it.
Whitehead, for the most part, writes in easy-to-understand language for people who may not be familiar with every concept he speaks about. He occasionally goes off into something that, to me, didn't always make sense, or sometimes left things without examples, but I guess that's to be expected sometimes.
One thing I did like about the book, was that Whitehead talked about different Money Personalities that he created by observing his clients. (That link goes to a completely different site since I could not find the personality matrix on Whitehead's own site, which you'd think would have it.) The personalities are The Bon Vivant, The Entrepreneur, The Nester and The Traveler, and each has it's own different quirks and "dysfunctions" about them. While no one thing can pinpoint any one person, the personality types are a great way to get an idea on what makes one "tick" as far as money and to start to identify ways to help direct things the way that is wanted/needed. So that is one positive thing about the book.
However, Whitehead has some distinct things he writes about that I simply don't agree with, and would never practice in my own life or recommend to others. For example, he talks about NOT paying your house off early if you are able to and says instead that you should keep the mortgage for the entire term and put the money into the stock market, giving an example of how much more it can grow over time, etc. While that could be true, there's no guarantee of it, and while a house is NOT an investment and also carries no guarantees, I feel that if you are able to pay off your house early, it's a good idea to do so since at least you'll have a place to live. Suze Orman agrees with me on this.
Another point that Whitehead makes that struck me as odd and I don't really agree with, is that he would like people to "upgrade" their mortgage and take on more debt at different stages of their lives, almost regardless of their need for a different house. If you're making more money, he wants you to upgrade the mortgage to a more expensive one. I don't agree with this simply for the fact that you should not take on more debt just because you may make more money or something changes in your life that DOESN'T require a different dwelling-in fact, if you make more money than when you bought your house, that's a great way to add to your retirement nest egg through your chosen method of investment or savings. If your life circumstances change and you need to upgrade or downgrade, then by all means, explore your options for changing your dwelling and/or mortgage, but not simply because your income increases.
Overall, I think there is some value in some of the information provided in the book-such as the money personalities listed above-but that many things are either so far removed from the average person that they are not entirely helpful or that things (like above) are out of the scope of reality to the point of being bad advice. If using the star rating system, I'd have to say for me, this book falls in the category of 3/5 stars.
Whitehead, for the most part, writes in easy-to-understand language for people who may not be familiar with every concept he speaks about. He occasionally goes off into something that, to me, didn't always make sense, or sometimes left things without examples, but I guess that's to be expected sometimes.
One thing I did like about the book, was that Whitehead talked about different Money Personalities that he created by observing his clients. (That link goes to a completely different site since I could not find the personality matrix on Whitehead's own site, which you'd think would have it.) The personalities are The Bon Vivant, The Entrepreneur, The Nester and The Traveler, and each has it's own different quirks and "dysfunctions" about them. While no one thing can pinpoint any one person, the personality types are a great way to get an idea on what makes one "tick" as far as money and to start to identify ways to help direct things the way that is wanted/needed. So that is one positive thing about the book.
However, Whitehead has some distinct things he writes about that I simply don't agree with, and would never practice in my own life or recommend to others. For example, he talks about NOT paying your house off early if you are able to and says instead that you should keep the mortgage for the entire term and put the money into the stock market, giving an example of how much more it can grow over time, etc. While that could be true, there's no guarantee of it, and while a house is NOT an investment and also carries no guarantees, I feel that if you are able to pay off your house early, it's a good idea to do so since at least you'll have a place to live. Suze Orman agrees with me on this.
Another point that Whitehead makes that struck me as odd and I don't really agree with, is that he would like people to "upgrade" their mortgage and take on more debt at different stages of their lives, almost regardless of their need for a different house. If you're making more money, he wants you to upgrade the mortgage to a more expensive one. I don't agree with this simply for the fact that you should not take on more debt just because you may make more money or something changes in your life that DOESN'T require a different dwelling-in fact, if you make more money than when you bought your house, that's a great way to add to your retirement nest egg through your chosen method of investment or savings. If your life circumstances change and you need to upgrade or downgrade, then by all means, explore your options for changing your dwelling and/or mortgage, but not simply because your income increases.
Overall, I think there is some value in some of the information provided in the book-such as the money personalities listed above-but that many things are either so far removed from the average person that they are not entirely helpful or that things (like above) are out of the scope of reality to the point of being bad advice. If using the star rating system, I'd have to say for me, this book falls in the category of 3/5 stars.
Sunday, September 28, 2014
No Job? No Problem! (Or at least silver lining to being laid off.)
Note: I started this Thursday, and actually just forgot to post it, so the part about yesterday was referring to Wednesday. That is all. ;)
About three weeks ago (exactly three weeks ago yesterday actually), Husband and I (who work at the same place) both received "Pink Slips" informing us that our office was closing and that we'd all be laid off between November 2 and December 31. This didn't come as a surprise since the parent company closed another of our offices just before Christmas last year.
We do, however, regret not finding other jobs on our own timeline instead of a forced one that was thrust upon us by impending unemployment. We actually both had been looking earlier in the year but didn't necessarily find things or have luck when we did, so knowing we had this job to go to, kind of became placated and stopped looking as hard as we maybe could have. But that's life. Just have to get back on track.
I would have perhaps liked the opportunity to take a few weeks of unemployment to focus on personal projects and decide what I want to do, but since our savings are not nearly sufficient to weather the storm (most experts recommend 6 months basic living expense for this very reason, and we have about 1 months worth ) since we really only started to save again this year, I did actually go get another job that I will start on Monday. It may not be a "Dream Job", necessarily, but since the idea of unemployment puts me in the "Physiological" and "Safety" tiers of the Self-Actualization Pyramid, it also means doing what's necessary for a while. But it is a job that will pay the bills, and that I would at least be happy to go to, so that's always good. And has a nice bonus of being a bit more money than the job I am leaving, so that when Husband also finds a job, we can save a little more.
While being laid off almost always sucks, and breeds a negative situation, there was a lot of good that came from this that I hadn't thought of before we got the letters. So it got me thinking and doing, and here are some of the most positive things that came from it (or will come from it, hubby has been laid off yet) that I can think of:
-Finally Opened a second checking account so that bills can come from one and spending money from the other, so there will be no more accidental spending of money that is meant for something else. This will also allow me to more finely tune/correct the due dates/autopay for things.
-Since I got a nice payout for accumulated/unused PTO of about $500, I am going to apply that to the Principle of my car payment. Currently, it sits around $1300 left, so this will bring it down to around $800 and make it paid off that much faster. My husband, since he is staying till the end of the company, will also get a severance that will also be applied to the car. His severance will be more than the remaining $800 by a few hundred dollars, so we'll officially be free from the car payment which will also officially make us COMPLETELY debt free! It was a goal to pay off the car by the end of this year, but due to other circumstances, we knew we weren't going to be able to. (It wouldn't have been much farther off though-we were looking at around February, which would still have put us about 20 months ahead of the contracted loan date.) But now, with severance and PTO, we will. And this frees up the $180/month ($160 contracted plus $20 for principle) for savings--which since the car payment is on Autopay, I will just set it up to be auto-transferred on the same day it would have cleared so we don't even see it. Automation for the win!
-Since my husband will stay until the very end, unless he finds something he can't pass up, and we can maintain our finances with my job and unemployment, this will give him a chance to spend some time on personal projects and decide what he would like to do. I think this is really important for him, and had we been able to keep up with us both not working, I would have done the same for a short while. We figure that since unemployment is for 6 months, that gives about 3 months where he can look for only things that interest him, and complete personal projects/go to the gym/etc. At the 4 month mark is when he'll start to apply more broadly, but doesn't need to accept a job for the sake of a job right away. We are both hoping this strategy will work well for us, but we will have to see where it goes.
-Technically, I gave myself a raise with the new job since I'll be making about $1/hour more. It may not seem like a lot in the moment, but that extra $40/week is an extra $2080/year toward savings and/or retirement/investment funds, and therefore, a chance to be a millionaire that much sooner. I know what you're thinking: "But people tend to blow their money when they get raises. You won't even see that extra money." Wrong! It is important to maintain your standard of living when you get extra money, and this is where automation of finances really comes into play. If you can't SEE that extra money in your checking account because it is automatically deposited in savings, you can't SPEND that extra money.
-And finally, one more positive that I could think of was that I will finally be able to correctly automate via direct deposit so I don't have to transfer money from checking to savings. With our current company, the payroll system has been kind of messed up/complicated to make changes to for a while. So, this gives me a chance to start completely fresh with the correct amounts needed for each thing, so I am actually excited about this part.
So, how's that for a silver lining to a dark rain cloud?
About three weeks ago (exactly three weeks ago yesterday actually), Husband and I (who work at the same place) both received "Pink Slips" informing us that our office was closing and that we'd all be laid off between November 2 and December 31. This didn't come as a surprise since the parent company closed another of our offices just before Christmas last year.
We do, however, regret not finding other jobs on our own timeline instead of a forced one that was thrust upon us by impending unemployment. We actually both had been looking earlier in the year but didn't necessarily find things or have luck when we did, so knowing we had this job to go to, kind of became placated and stopped looking as hard as we maybe could have. But that's life. Just have to get back on track.
I would have perhaps liked the opportunity to take a few weeks of unemployment to focus on personal projects and decide what I want to do, but since our savings are not nearly sufficient to weather the storm (most experts recommend 6 months basic living expense for this very reason, and we have about 1 months worth ) since we really only started to save again this year, I did actually go get another job that I will start on Monday. It may not be a "Dream Job", necessarily, but since the idea of unemployment puts me in the "Physiological" and "Safety" tiers of the Self-Actualization Pyramid, it also means doing what's necessary for a while. But it is a job that will pay the bills, and that I would at least be happy to go to, so that's always good. And has a nice bonus of being a bit more money than the job I am leaving, so that when Husband also finds a job, we can save a little more.
While being laid off almost always sucks, and breeds a negative situation, there was a lot of good that came from this that I hadn't thought of before we got the letters. So it got me thinking and doing, and here are some of the most positive things that came from it (or will come from it, hubby has been laid off yet) that I can think of:
-Finally Opened a second checking account so that bills can come from one and spending money from the other, so there will be no more accidental spending of money that is meant for something else. This will also allow me to more finely tune/correct the due dates/autopay for things.
-Since I got a nice payout for accumulated/unused PTO of about $500, I am going to apply that to the Principle of my car payment. Currently, it sits around $1300 left, so this will bring it down to around $800 and make it paid off that much faster. My husband, since he is staying till the end of the company, will also get a severance that will also be applied to the car. His severance will be more than the remaining $800 by a few hundred dollars, so we'll officially be free from the car payment which will also officially make us COMPLETELY debt free! It was a goal to pay off the car by the end of this year, but due to other circumstances, we knew we weren't going to be able to. (It wouldn't have been much farther off though-we were looking at around February, which would still have put us about 20 months ahead of the contracted loan date.) But now, with severance and PTO, we will. And this frees up the $180/month ($160 contracted plus $20 for principle) for savings--which since the car payment is on Autopay, I will just set it up to be auto-transferred on the same day it would have cleared so we don't even see it. Automation for the win!
-Since my husband will stay until the very end, unless he finds something he can't pass up, and we can maintain our finances with my job and unemployment, this will give him a chance to spend some time on personal projects and decide what he would like to do. I think this is really important for him, and had we been able to keep up with us both not working, I would have done the same for a short while. We figure that since unemployment is for 6 months, that gives about 3 months where he can look for only things that interest him, and complete personal projects/go to the gym/etc. At the 4 month mark is when he'll start to apply more broadly, but doesn't need to accept a job for the sake of a job right away. We are both hoping this strategy will work well for us, but we will have to see where it goes.
-Technically, I gave myself a raise with the new job since I'll be making about $1/hour more. It may not seem like a lot in the moment, but that extra $40/week is an extra $2080/year toward savings and/or retirement/investment funds, and therefore, a chance to be a millionaire that much sooner. I know what you're thinking: "But people tend to blow their money when they get raises. You won't even see that extra money." Wrong! It is important to maintain your standard of living when you get extra money, and this is where automation of finances really comes into play. If you can't SEE that extra money in your checking account because it is automatically deposited in savings, you can't SPEND that extra money.
-And finally, one more positive that I could think of was that I will finally be able to correctly automate via direct deposit so I don't have to transfer money from checking to savings. With our current company, the payroll system has been kind of messed up/complicated to make changes to for a while. So, this gives me a chance to start completely fresh with the correct amounts needed for each thing, so I am actually excited about this part.
So, how's that for a silver lining to a dark rain cloud?
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Buff Dudes' 12 Week Challenge
I've been meaning to write this for a while, but as always, sometimes life gets in the way. Oh well, here we go now...
My husband recently decided to re-commit to fitness, so a couple weeks ago, on September First (convenient that a Monday is also the first day of the month!), we started The Buff Dudes' 12 Week Challenge.
Technically, this should be week three for us, but we were so sore after the first week, that we could barely do more than walk-and even that was a challenge. (I even missed Zumba last Tuesday because I was too sore. *Sniff, Sniff*) So with that, we made this week two and got our exercises with walks and whatever we could do last week.
(Side note: if you are sore after the gym or any workout, make sure to stretch and do what you can while recovering. Moderate movement like walking is actually really helpful to feel better. Don't overdo it--work within your limits and respect that your body may need to heal after an intense workout-especially if you are just starting or it's been a while. But "Don't overdo it" does NOT mean, sit around on the couch like a lump. Lack of movement is likely to make your pain worse.)
Husband and I somewhat modified the program because I have somewhat different goals than what's laid out, and we both have limitations in some exercises so we have to do others (Can't do pull ups yet, so work a lot on lat pull-downs, etc.), but this is a great program we can both do that is closest to our individual goals, that still allows us to work as a team. Which is great because we can help keep each other going and kick each other's butts, which is why we like working out together, but gets hard when people have totally different goals.
Since it is only week two for us, there's not much that we can report on in terms of progress. But I will periodically make updates on how we're doing, any changes we are making to the plan, etc. In the meantime, here are the "Before" Pictures (which are technically "progress" pictures for me):
Until Next Time, as the Buff Dudes say: STAY BUFF, DUDES (and BUFFETTES)!*
*They call women "Grrls", but Husband came up with Buffette, and I like it way better so that's what we use. (And you can feel free to use it, Buff Dudes!)
My husband recently decided to re-commit to fitness, so a couple weeks ago, on September First (convenient that a Monday is also the first day of the month!), we started The Buff Dudes' 12 Week Challenge.
Technically, this should be week three for us, but we were so sore after the first week, that we could barely do more than walk-and even that was a challenge. (I even missed Zumba last Tuesday because I was too sore. *Sniff, Sniff*) So with that, we made this week two and got our exercises with walks and whatever we could do last week.
(Side note: if you are sore after the gym or any workout, make sure to stretch and do what you can while recovering. Moderate movement like walking is actually really helpful to feel better. Don't overdo it--work within your limits and respect that your body may need to heal after an intense workout-especially if you are just starting or it's been a while. But "Don't overdo it" does NOT mean, sit around on the couch like a lump. Lack of movement is likely to make your pain worse.)
Husband and I somewhat modified the program because I have somewhat different goals than what's laid out, and we both have limitations in some exercises so we have to do others (Can't do pull ups yet, so work a lot on lat pull-downs, etc.), but this is a great program we can both do that is closest to our individual goals, that still allows us to work as a team. Which is great because we can help keep each other going and kick each other's butts, which is why we like working out together, but gets hard when people have totally different goals.
Since it is only week two for us, there's not much that we can report on in terms of progress. But I will periodically make updates on how we're doing, any changes we are making to the plan, etc. In the meantime, here are the "Before" Pictures (which are technically "progress" pictures for me):
Until Next Time, as the Buff Dudes say: STAY BUFF, DUDES (and BUFFETTES)!*
*They call women "Grrls", but Husband came up with Buffette, and I like it way better so that's what we use. (And you can feel free to use it, Buff Dudes!)
Friday, September 5, 2014
Pom-Cran-Bluberry Smoothie Recipe
Last year when I was doing a fruit and vegetable cleanse with juicing, smoothies and fruit/veggies as my only source of food/nutrition for a week, I went to Emerald City Smoothie near us, and got an all fruit version of their Eternal Energizer. (So, no soy milk or alternatives, as their menu offers.) Since the first time I had it, I loved it, and had several more (of course) here and there. I wanted to recreate the recipe at home, but had forgotten to look for cranberries for the longest time. I finally had some cranberries a few weeks ago,and after some experimentation, I've come up with a pretty good emulation of it, and wanted to share it with you.
Ingredients:
-1 cup frozen blueberries
-1/2 cup frozen cranberries
-1/4 cup concentrate (100%) pomegranate juice (I used POM Wonderful)
-3/4 cup water (you can use less if you'd like a thicker smoothie)
Toss everything in your blender and mix until it's your desired consistency.* Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Nutrition Info:
150 Calories, 0.4g fat, 4.3g fiber, 38.1g carbs, 5.1mg sodium, 1.1g protein
* You may need to use less or more water, depending on your preferences. I also use frozen fruit, so if you use fresh fruit, you'll probably need to forgo the water since you'll add ice.
Ingredients:
-1 cup frozen blueberries
-1/2 cup frozen cranberries
-1/4 cup concentrate (100%) pomegranate juice (I used POM Wonderful)
-3/4 cup water (you can use less if you'd like a thicker smoothie)
Toss everything in your blender and mix until it's your desired consistency.* Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Nutrition Info:
150 Calories, 0.4g fat, 4.3g fiber, 38.1g carbs, 5.1mg sodium, 1.1g protein
* You may need to use less or more water, depending on your preferences. I also use frozen fruit, so if you use fresh fruit, you'll probably need to forgo the water since you'll add ice.
Thursday, September 4, 2014
Fitbit One Review
My husband got me a Fitbit One for my birthday 2 weeks ago, and after more than a week of wearing it and debating about it, here are some of my thoughts on it.
If you're not familiar with it, Fitbit is a company that makes various body trackers. They come in various styles, including bracelets and, like mine, one you clip to yourself via a holder, and they track things like steps, stairs, calories burned, and sleep.
Pros:
-Sleek, compact design makes it so I don't notice when it's clipped to me. (I keep it clipped to my bra, but you can wear it at your hip, etc.)
-It does keep me moving since I am always trying to get at least the daily goals (10k steps, etc.) or badges, and will find creative ways to do so. I have been known lately to walk around and around and around my kitchen to get more steps, or run up and down the stairs, and have also started taking walks on my breaks at work. So this is very, very good.
-The Fitbit interface makes it very easy to track calories in and out. So easy, in fact, that I actually care and remember to do so every day (so far), as opposed to my maintaining my ideal of "not counting calories, but make each calorie count". (Which, by the way, I think is very important for people who are not trying to lose weight, but maintain. You don't need to stress about every single calorie, but you should work on making the calories you consume count and be productive.) Fitbit interface keeps track of most logged food and recently logged food, so if you are a creature of habit like me and can eat the same thing every day, it is right there and easy to click on to log it. It also allows you to create meals to track multiple foods at once-for example, husband makes turkey wraps for me and after I created the meal and logged the food the first time, I no longer have to find/click every ingredient when I need to log it.
-As mentioned above, the Fitbit awards badges for activities, such as 10,000 steps or 10 flights of stairs, and increases the amount you need to earn the badge as you keep earning them. So, if you like to make a game of things, this is a great way to get extra movement.
-Syncs very easily, as long as all things are working correctly. It syncs approximately every 15-20 minutes when you are within 15 feet of the USB and have internet connection. I have sometimes had to refresh the dashboard once or twice to see the new steps, but otherwise had not had problems.
Updated 09/05/2014 to add: Last night, I could not get it to sync automatically. I followed the trouble shooting steps in the help, including removing USB and reentering, etc. I was able to finally manually sync it by reopening the main platform and "Restarting" it, and then it did automatically sync on it's own after that. So I am glad for that, but it does make me a little twitchy that it had to have that done so early on. We'll see how it goes.
Cons:
-It sometimes has questionable accuracy. There was an instance last week that, from 6:30pm to 8:15pm, it said I took zero steps. I knew this was inaccurate because I had just come from an hour long cardio class, and to get home required walking down stairs, to my car, out of my car, up apartment stairs, and I was walking around the apartment during that time (grabbing dinner, using bathroom, etc.) So it should have tracked at least 200-300 steps during that period. It occasionally also goes in the opposite direction and, depending on where you wear it, may pick up extra steps than actually occurred. I mostly see it pick up less than actuality though, which is OK. For the most part, it seems accurate within reason. (No device will ever be 100% accurate 100% of the time.) But when it's off, it seems to be off a bit, as demonstrated above.
-Stairs are not accurate. There is no way around this, at all. Since it is elevation based, and not actual stairs based, it will record flights very differently than what stairs you actually climb. In the Help/FAQ for Fitbit, it shows that it equates 1 flight to 10 feet in elevation gained. So if you are walking in a hilly area, you get credited with flights of stairs, which is awesome. But it's annoying when you spend time climbing up and down stairs over 20 times in a row, which I have done, and get credited with only one or two flights. So, realizing that, I kind of of gave up on the stairs thing. If I see that I am close to the goal (10 flights/day), I will still go climb a few times to get those in, but don't really rely on the stairs part.
-It is very inconvenient to have to put the tracker in the bracelet it came with at night to track sleep, and then back into the carrying clip in the mornings to track steps, etc. It requires finagling with Velcro wrist strap at night, which occasionally falls off during the night, and then fidgeting with it in the morning to get it back in the clip in the morning. This is specific to my device, but there are others, so if you get a bracelet style (which I believe is named Fitbit Force), you don't have to worry about this issue.
-Sleep tracking is not accurate. While it is kind of fun to set the timer and then see the numbers, it is not an accurate way to determine sleep patterns. Nor can it be. The Fitbit devices "track" sleep patterns by movement. So if you toss and turn in your sleep, it will track that as restless, which can be good to know, but does not actually have a way to track sleep vs. awake, since you can be wide awake but if you are lying perfectly still, it will count it as asleep. I do not know if you stopped and restarted the timer each time you awoke, if it would count it as awake. I was thinking that I would test this soon to find out, but is a matter of remembering to do so during the night. If I ever test this, I will update this post with that information. In the mean time, I will say it's good to get a general idea of sleep times, but would not recommend someone with sleep problems to rely solely on the information you get from the Fitbit devices.
Overall:
Though it does have some things that are...quirky...about it, I did decide to go ahead and keep it. It did, after all, get me moving more and help me track calories in a convenient way so I knew I wasn't taking in too few or too many. And because of those things, it allowed me make this exciting statement:
I finally broke my 2-month long Plateau and lost just over 5 pounds last week! Hooray!!!
So that's where I stand on the Fitbit One. I hope this helps if you are deciding if you should get one or not. Do you have any cool fitness tools that have been helping you? Please share below!
If you're not familiar with it, Fitbit is a company that makes various body trackers. They come in various styles, including bracelets and, like mine, one you clip to yourself via a holder, and they track things like steps, stairs, calories burned, and sleep.
Pros:
-Sleek, compact design makes it so I don't notice when it's clipped to me. (I keep it clipped to my bra, but you can wear it at your hip, etc.)
-It does keep me moving since I am always trying to get at least the daily goals (10k steps, etc.) or badges, and will find creative ways to do so. I have been known lately to walk around and around and around my kitchen to get more steps, or run up and down the stairs, and have also started taking walks on my breaks at work. So this is very, very good.
-The Fitbit interface makes it very easy to track calories in and out. So easy, in fact, that I actually care and remember to do so every day (so far), as opposed to my maintaining my ideal of "not counting calories, but make each calorie count". (Which, by the way, I think is very important for people who are not trying to lose weight, but maintain. You don't need to stress about every single calorie, but you should work on making the calories you consume count and be productive.) Fitbit interface keeps track of most logged food and recently logged food, so if you are a creature of habit like me and can eat the same thing every day, it is right there and easy to click on to log it. It also allows you to create meals to track multiple foods at once-for example, husband makes turkey wraps for me and after I created the meal and logged the food the first time, I no longer have to find/click every ingredient when I need to log it.
-As mentioned above, the Fitbit awards badges for activities, such as 10,000 steps or 10 flights of stairs, and increases the amount you need to earn the badge as you keep earning them. So, if you like to make a game of things, this is a great way to get extra movement.
-Syncs very easily, as long as all things are working correctly. It syncs approximately every 15-20 minutes when you are within 15 feet of the USB and have internet connection. I have sometimes had to refresh the dashboard once or twice to see the new steps, but otherwise had not had problems.
Updated 09/05/2014 to add: Last night, I could not get it to sync automatically. I followed the trouble shooting steps in the help, including removing USB and reentering, etc. I was able to finally manually sync it by reopening the main platform and "Restarting" it, and then it did automatically sync on it's own after that. So I am glad for that, but it does make me a little twitchy that it had to have that done so early on. We'll see how it goes.
Cons:
-It sometimes has questionable accuracy. There was an instance last week that, from 6:30pm to 8:15pm, it said I took zero steps. I knew this was inaccurate because I had just come from an hour long cardio class, and to get home required walking down stairs, to my car, out of my car, up apartment stairs, and I was walking around the apartment during that time (grabbing dinner, using bathroom, etc.) So it should have tracked at least 200-300 steps during that period. It occasionally also goes in the opposite direction and, depending on where you wear it, may pick up extra steps than actually occurred. I mostly see it pick up less than actuality though, which is OK. For the most part, it seems accurate within reason. (No device will ever be 100% accurate 100% of the time.) But when it's off, it seems to be off a bit, as demonstrated above.
-Stairs are not accurate. There is no way around this, at all. Since it is elevation based, and not actual stairs based, it will record flights very differently than what stairs you actually climb. In the Help/FAQ for Fitbit, it shows that it equates 1 flight to 10 feet in elevation gained. So if you are walking in a hilly area, you get credited with flights of stairs, which is awesome. But it's annoying when you spend time climbing up and down stairs over 20 times in a row, which I have done, and get credited with only one or two flights. So, realizing that, I kind of of gave up on the stairs thing. If I see that I am close to the goal (10 flights/day), I will still go climb a few times to get those in, but don't really rely on the stairs part.
-It is very inconvenient to have to put the tracker in the bracelet it came with at night to track sleep, and then back into the carrying clip in the mornings to track steps, etc. It requires finagling with Velcro wrist strap at night, which occasionally falls off during the night, and then fidgeting with it in the morning to get it back in the clip in the morning. This is specific to my device, but there are others, so if you get a bracelet style (which I believe is named Fitbit Force), you don't have to worry about this issue.
-Sleep tracking is not accurate. While it is kind of fun to set the timer and then see the numbers, it is not an accurate way to determine sleep patterns. Nor can it be. The Fitbit devices "track" sleep patterns by movement. So if you toss and turn in your sleep, it will track that as restless, which can be good to know, but does not actually have a way to track sleep vs. awake, since you can be wide awake but if you are lying perfectly still, it will count it as asleep. I do not know if you stopped and restarted the timer each time you awoke, if it would count it as awake. I was thinking that I would test this soon to find out, but is a matter of remembering to do so during the night. If I ever test this, I will update this post with that information. In the mean time, I will say it's good to get a general idea of sleep times, but would not recommend someone with sleep problems to rely solely on the information you get from the Fitbit devices.
Overall:
Though it does have some things that are...quirky...about it, I did decide to go ahead and keep it. It did, after all, get me moving more and help me track calories in a convenient way so I knew I wasn't taking in too few or too many. And because of those things, it allowed me make this exciting statement:
I finally broke my 2-month long Plateau and lost just over 5 pounds last week! Hooray!!!
So that's where I stand on the Fitbit One. I hope this helps if you are deciding if you should get one or not. Do you have any cool fitness tools that have been helping you? Please share below!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)