Weight Lifted

Remember when I told you all about starting our Dave Ramsey journey?  We decided that 2012 was going to be our year (after the horrendous way that 2011 treated us), and wanted it to be our year to become debt-free.  Well, we are 3 months in, and things are going great!  We have paid off Mark's truck (my car was paid off last year), my medical bills (from Natalie's birth), and one of our credit card balances.  Yes!  We have two credit cards, Natalie's medical bills, and our Nebraska Furniture Mart card left.  Feeling very manageable, actually!  With what we have paid off, we freed up $500 a month that we used to pay in minimum payments - so we are using that to tackle our remaining debts.  Woohoo!
I'm not saying it's been easy.  We eat out once a month.  We don't buy extras.  No impulse purchases.  It's been very tempting many times to buy something unnecessary when it's on sale - but I instituted the one-week rule.  If I am still thinking about buying it a week later, then I will go back and get it.  99% of the time, I forget about it.  It is really hard to see everyone around me carry on with a normal life - pedicures, spring vacations, new spring outfits, and all of those other great things that I can't have right now.  But I am remembering Dave's mantra:  Live like no one else, so you can live like no one else.  It will all be worth it in the end.

Carrying cash has been another big adjustment - I've never carried cash.  I finally feel that I have gotten more used to it, and haven't used my debit card since we started 3 months ago.  Impressive, huh?  The real "life-changer" has been writing out our budget each month.  We've never done that before.  We sit down and plan out how every dollar will be spent over the course of the month.  And every extra dollar goes towards the next debt on our pay-off list.  Of course, we haven't been able to stick to a perfect budget each month, but we have learned a lot about where our money goes and how we spend.  And, let me tell you, we are spending wayyyyy less.  We've cut our monthly grocery spending by about 25%, and our Target spending by 45%.  Yes, you read that right.  I used to be addicted to Target.  I can admit it!  In just those two areas, we are saving nearly $450 dollars a month....and that, my friends, is going towards the debt.  Seeing a pattern??  I am debt-obsessed!

Each dollar we save, each check I write to pay off debt, every smart purchase and thought-out budget, every sacrifice....it all leaves me feeling just a little bit lighter each month.  Weight coming off my shoulders little by little.  I feel back in control of our money again - and if you know me at all, you know I do love being in control!

** We now interrupt this rambling session with an obligatory cute baby picture. I know that's why all of you read my blog. :) **

Those legs.  Poor kid got her momma's squishy white legs!  Seriously, my legs looks just like hers right now.

Anyway, as I have been reveling in the debt weight being lifted little by little, I've been weighed down by something else.  Literally - my own weight.

If you struggled with your weight, you know how it feels to suddenly see yourself in a picture and not recognize yourself.  It has never been easy for me to maintain my weight.  I have gone up and down in size over the past several years.  Overweight in highschool, slimmed down in college.  Got married and got heavy again.  Worked hard to lose weight before I got pregnant, and managed to slim down by 20 pounds - just in time to start growing a baby. 

Well, it's been over a year and I am still the same weight that I was 3 weeks after delivering Natalie.  I lost 30 quick pounds of water weight in the first month after I had her, then got stuck at my current weight.  I waited and waited.  And waited.  I thought that by some miracle nursing would make me lose weight magically.  Um, no.

This past week, with temperatures in the 80s, I went rummaging through some of my spring and summer clothes.  Yikes.  Last spring, I had a newborn baby and I was on maternity leave.  I lived in pajamas.

The spring before that I was 20 pounds lighter.  Translation - no clothes that fit.  Sigh.  I'm sorry, but there is nothing worse than trying on pair after pair of shorts and capris that won't zip.  Insert crying and throwing clothes here.

Ok, you just heard me talk about our crazy budget - a budget that doesn't allow for momma to go buy a new wardrobe.  So momma is gettin' back on the diet bandwagon.  Not that I'm doing some crazy diet or starving myself.  But I am writing down what I eat and counting my calories - that's what I did when I lost weight before I had Natalie and I know it works for me.  Unfortunately, I'm not the kind of person who can eat whatever she wants - so I'm saying goodbye to Oreos and barbeque potato chips.  Hello fruits and vegetables.  I also need to work some exercise back into my routine - that means cleaning the inch of dust off my treadmill and getting my butt moving.  A gym membership is not budget-friendly for us right now.  On my last weight-loss journey, I took a great class at the local community center that I loved.  It's $45 a month.  Also not budget friendly.  I'm thinking of buying a workout DVD maybe?  Recommendations??

Now that I've made it public, I guess I have to stick with it. :)  I really want to stick with it.  'Cause once that weight starts coming off these shoulders (and butt!), there's no going back. 

And, hey, if you are going through something like this right now - email me.  jennyshinny (at) gmail (dot) com.  I'd love an accountability buddy - on budgeting OR on weight-loss!

And one more...