Fiscal Fitness and Automatic Bill-Pay

When I moved into my first apartment in college, I happily took on the role of bill-payer.  The phone bill was my favorite part, as I hi-lighted calls made in different colors by roommate and calculated the appropriate taxes and fees on the long distance charges.  (Yes, I was--and still am--a huge nerd).  Something about figuring the bills was extra-pleasing to the control-freak within, and I suspect that monthly opportunity to "be green" probably balanced out college stress a little bit.  

Fast forward a bit.  J bought the MP before we got married, so he set up all the utilities.  Everything was on different payment schedules and over time, practically all of our bills have been set up on automatic bill-pay.  These automatic withdrawals are awesome in so many ways--no late fees, no running to the post office for stamps, etc.)  This week, though, I discovered a way in which the automatic bill-pay is anything but awesome!

July/August is the month I typically call our cable company to see if we can save money.  On Wednesday, I did that as usual ("Incentive" rates typically last 12 months so calling yearly keeps us paying about $15-20 less for our service than the average customer).  Then, in a wonderfully warm-fuzzy flash-back to my college-aged bill-paying self, I decided to check out our other bills.  No change to the phone bill (we're one of the lucky few accounts with an unlimited data plan and trying to pay less for minutes would mean paying much more for data); no change to electric or water; but OH! What a change to our garbage collection!!

Here's the scoop.  Back in 2005, the garbage collection service was set up to bill quarterly.  Then sometime after that, the account was set up on automatic bill-pay.  The in 2009 our company was bought by another company.  Then in 2010 or '11, our account actually migrated to the new company's billing system.  Sometime (seriously, we've no idea when, and neither does the new company), we started being billed (and paying) monthly.  Except, when this change happened the only thing that changed was the frequency, not the amount. Now, if this was some huge bill, we probably would have noticed, but it wasn't and we didn't.  

The thing is, those small amounts add up.  Since we don't know when the change happened, we can't guess how much we overpaid.  It's sickening to think about, really. The good news is that it is fixed now--we won't be paying for garbage collection for the rest of the year and we'll be saving about $250 over the course of the year moving forward at the correct rate.  

So here's the lesson of the day:  Automatic Bill-Pay is not a 'set it and forget it' method for getting fiscally fit.  Check your accounts periodically!

Fitness 500!

So this is VBS week at church/work and I've not spent nearly enough time near a computer.  As I commented to a dad yesterday, I totally underestimated the ability of 15 kids to wear. me. out.  Seriously.  I've been leaving work at 5:30, driving home, and crawling right into bed this week.  But, I had a super-exciting moment this morning on the scale that I wanted to share with y'all--

I officially weigh the least since purchasing our scale in Winter 2005-2006.  We entered our heights, weights, and other details into the scale, and every time I get on, it tells me how much my weight has gone up (or down) compared to that first weigh-in.  Today, for the first time, the scale showed a net loss.  So my "unofficial" weight is just under 190 (189.2).  That alone is exciting (for beating my last two attempts at weight loss), but is made doubly so by beating out that very first weigh-in.  

THEN.  (Yes, it gets more exciting!)  I pulled up the blog to share the exciting scale-related news and realized that this post (this very post that you're reading right now) is our 500th post here at the MP!  Crazy, right??  I feel almost bad for not realizing this milestone was approaching--some blogs would do something special for a special occasion like this.  Sadly, I'm too focused on VBS to even think clearly about a special giveaway to mark this one.  

So--reader involvement time--What do you think we should do to celebrate 500 posts??

Fitness Friday--July 20

I had the best walk Monday morning (actually, it was hot, insanely humid, and it took me the better part of an hour with a fan pointed right at me to recover), and it felt so good to be back on the walking wagon (that part is true).  I've missed regular walks and am glad to be back at it.  My WW weigh-in is evidence that I've been doing something right, as I weighed in at 191.0 this week.  This is a huge milestone, as I went back and dug up records from previous weight loss attempts.  Y'all, I've not weighed less than 191 since probably some time in 2005 or 2006.  In 2010 I made it just to 191.0 before I started gaining.  My 2007 weight loss had a similar result. We'll see what this year brings for me!

With respect to fiscal fitness, I mentioned last week that we're starting our annual spending freeze early this year.  (Read about our first spending challenge back in 2008 here) Specifically, this year we're doing two things.  First, we are each limited to $75 for eating out, entertainment, and other personal incidentals.  To hold us to that limit, we're using cash which is totally foreign.  Does anyone really use cash anymore?  Second, we're limiting the grocery budget to $125 a week.  To help meet that goal, I'm now back in charge of grocery shopping.  We're under $60 for the week, though that's really because we are saving some to go shopping with on Saturday for our game night.  Simply put, when we started pulling up the pie-charts in mint.com, it became clear that our food budget (groceries, restaurants, fast food, etc) was out of control.  Way out of control.  If we can stick to this challenge for a few months, I think we'll be on our way to new food spending habits!

Fitness Friday--July 13

Okay, so it's been three weeks awhile since I posted a Fitness Friday post.  In the past, that probably would have meant I'd fallen off the healthy living wagon and was too embarrassed to discuss it publicly.  Guess what?  That's not the case!  When I last posted I had lost a bit more than 28 pounds and was solidly in the 190's.  Now, nearly four weeks after that weigh-in, I've reached my "Summer" goal and am happily hanging out in the low 190's!  Getting past this threshold will be another long-term goal for me--to reach and to stay there for awhile without bouncing back up as I've done so many times before.  While schedules and such have prevented my Monday walks with B for the last few weeks, I have managed to squeeze in walks with J, as well as a dance class.

With regard to fiscal fitness, J and I have decided to put ourselves on our annual fall spending freeze a little early.  The goal for this year?  Keep personal discretionary spending (hobbies and meals out) to $75 a week each.  I reviewed our food spending for the first half of 2012 the other day, and lets just say we spend a lot of our budget there.  We start Monday, and I'll keep you posted!


How are you doing at working towards your summer time fitness goals?

Fitness Friday--June 22

So it's been one of those weeks where I've had something to post every day, but a longer to do list than time to finish.  That said, I'm heading to DC for DAR Continental Congress (our national convention) next week and I expect my blogging to be even more sporadic.  I figure I owe you.

Physical fitness--I made it below 200 last week!  And at Monday's check-in I was a little lower.  I'm now solidly in the 190's and a little more than 12.5% (remember, my goal for the summer is 15%).  The stress of getting everything ready to be out of the office for a week isn't doing good things for my diet, but I figure I've built in the wiggle room this summer.  I'd planned to walk every Thursday night with J this summer to help meet the goal, but three weeks in we've only done that once.  Last week we had other plans, and last night we both worked late.  Next week is out due to my travel.  I guess we'll recommit in July?

Fiscal fitness--Did you know that you can call the phone company and they'll send someone out to cut down the phone lines you don't use?  For free??  Needless to say, I didn't.  If I had, those lines (apparently we had two phone lines; thanks, PO!) would have been gone years ago!  I've got a cable company rep coming by later today to discuss options for the cable line.  J says cutting that one down is not one of the options.  I'll post pics Monday to show you how much more open that part of our deck/yard looks without the phone lines!

How are you doing on your summer fitness goals?

Fitness Friday--June 8

Last Sunday, J asked me about the cross on my pedometer.  The explanation is easily summed up by saying it is a reminder to me that what I eat is a choice.  As I explained it, I was really proud of myself for this 'aha' moment.  This whole weight loss thing is a choice.  I choose to eat healthy (or unhealthy) amounts of food.  I choose to (or not to) exercise.  Now, you should know that I totally ate cookies this weekend.  And a cinnamon crunch bagel (my first since starting WW, though I consider it a win that I didn't eat the Krispy Kreme donut sitting next to it).

So I went off to my weigh-in on Monday proud of my "choice" realization and confident that it would be reflected in my weigh-in.  Y'all probably know better than I did where this is headed.  Turns out that figuring things out doesn't necessarily equate weight loss.  And figuring things out plus eating cookies/bagels definitely doesn't equal weight loss.

I was down about it for a while.  Then, I realized that, like what I eat and how much I exercise, my response to this is also a choice.  So I chose to get real about recording every bite I ate this week.  I've been lax the past few months; choosing to eat smaller portions, but not necessarily looking up the points or staying under my point allocation for the day.  My 'unofficial' daily weigh-ins indicate that this is a good choice.  I'll let you know next week how right (or wrong) I am about that.

WW recommended we set a summer goal for ourselves, something to strive for between now and Labor Day.  I chose my 15% weight-loss (34 pounds total; almost 8 pounds less than my "official" weight on Monday) .  Now, if I keep making good choices, I'm thinking there is a great chance I will meet that goal early.  J suggested I hold off on adjusting my goal until I meet it.  He's probably got a good point.  I'll keep you posted!

Fitness Friday--June 1

Short post today, since I'm actually writing it Thursday night and I am beat!  K and J both chipped in on the craft project (while watching the first night of Hatfields and McCoys--thank goodness for DVR) and we finished it in great time.  J even made an awesome steak salad for us to enjoy on a break.  I'm grateful to be done, but aware that I still have progress to make in the way of craft projects before the weekend is up.

Best news of today's Fitness Friday post is that I am officially under 200 lbs!  As I said last Friday, I have reached this mark three times now in the last five years (though I think it's worth pointing out that I didn't yo-yo as far above it this most recent time than the time before...).  My next WW goal is 15%, and I'm seven pounds away from that (which, at the rate I've been losing lately, might happen sometime before fall), but my next 'big' goal is to get under 190 lbs.  I haven't been there since some time in 2005.

Some have asked about J's knee, and it is healing nicely.  He still needs to ice it regularly, particularly when he's been standing or walking a lot.  I'm eager for it to heal completely so he can take walks with me again!

Fitness Friday--May 25

So the big news of the week is that I am thisclose to breaking a weight loss barrier (the 200 mark).  I've done so unofficially (yesterday morning), but I don't quite consider it 'real' until my WW weight record reflects it.  I haven't been under 200 lbs since October 2010, right after I left GS.  I also hit the magic mark in the summer of 2007, just before my wedding.  (Yo Yo Much?)  Interestingly, in both cases I didn't break 190, so that's probably my bigger goal at this point.  But the 200 point is my current goal.  My WW center is closed on Monday, so I'm trying to decide if I'll go in on Sunday or Tuesday.  Whichever I do, you can believe I'll report back here!

I'm still fighting the cold I caught last week, though I'm mostly feeling better.  I'm just dealing with some lingering exhaustion.  Is it possible for a stuffy nose to keep you from breathing well/sleeping well?  That's my only guess.  Well, that and a faulty immune system! :)

Have a great weekend, and don't overdo it at your Memorial Day picnics!

Fitness Friday--May 18

J and I are definitely on two sides of the physical fitness coin this week!  I earned my much coveted 25lb charm at Weight Watchers on Monday (so I'm down 25.6 pounds in 20 weeks), and actually walked 6 miles (split between two three-mile walks) that day, too.  I think I'm getting ready to register for a 5K and start to add a little jogging to my schedule.

J, on the other hand, completely overdid it when he took up running a couple weeks ago.  After weeks of taking it easy, his knee kept feeling worse, so he finally went to the doctor to get it checked out.  Two doctors visits later (including a sports medicine doc at UK), he's learned that he has some kind of bursitis.  While painful, it isn't serious enough an injury to warrant surgery or casting, and we're grateful for that!  J is looking at 4-6 weeks of ice and care before he can ease back into exercise.

How's your physical fitness?

Finicky Friday--April 6

I realized last night (after a friend pointed out I'd been AWOL for a week) that I've been completely absent for longer than I expected to be.  As I said to J, I knew this week (wrapping up DAR and wading through Holy Week) would be tough.  I just didn't realize how tough.  Add in staying up late Monday night to watch the UK Wildcats win the National Championship and juggling doctor's appointments didn't help my week at all, either.  It's been rough.  So rough, that I seriously considered writing a late Thursday post expressing how thankful I am for springing for the leather interior--it came in handy when I over-reacted to bacon on my bacon,egg & cheese biscuit without meat yesterday morning.
Anyhow, it's been a long few weeks, and I'm looking forward to a bit of a break before launching back into craziness for a few weeks at the end of April/first part of May (have I mentioned planning another 5K?).
The most exciting part of this week has definitely been my Monday morning trip to Weight Watchers.  After three months, I've lost 21.6 pounds, and am officially one pound away from my 10% key chain!
Anyhow, there's a bit of an update for you.  I hope to be back to a more regular blogging schedule soon!

Finally, Happy Birthday Mom!

Fitness Friday--March 9

Happy Friday!

This morning I celebrated a milestone on the scale.  Now it's typical for me to see a "new" number then pop back up for a few days before getting back down to it, so I'm trying not to get too excited,  And really, I'm about ten pounds from serious excitement, but I think that adding exercise to me daily routine is helping.
Speaking of exercise, I'm up to about six miles a day.  Any bets on how many miles I'll be walking every day when Easter rolls around?  If I could figure out how to get home, I'd suggest to J that we walk to church on Sunday. Of course, I wouldn't be able to take any other steps, so maybe I should hold off on that plan until next weekend!

With regard to our fiscal fitness, we're doing okay.  With any luck we should finish up this refinance thing this month.  Why yes, it does feel like I've been saying that for months.  Anyhow, we're settling back into 'normal' spending having saved up everything we need for the refi and gotten comfortable with our new car payments.  Next up, saving up for gutters and vinyl trim on our woodwork.  Yes, I know.  We just paid to have the wood work painted.  But we paid to paint it white.  But we painted it knowing that some of it would come down for replacement when we redid the gutters.  And then I discovered in all of my walks around the neighborhood that some of the brick houses with black doors/shutters have khaki colored trim.  After one particularly long walk where I noticed a few houses like this, the white trim on our house seemed almost jarring.  So, rather than repaint all of the trim in an attempt to match factory colored gutters, I think we're just going to have everything fabricated to match.  We kicked around the idea of vinyl trim last year and decided against it because of the cost (it basically doubles the cost of the job), but now we're coming back around.  I'll keep you posted!

Fitness Friday--March 2

I've got two parts to share on the physical fitness front this week.
First, I'm officially 5% lighter than I was two months ago!  The star-shaped sticker that Weight Watchers hands out for reaching the 5% is even bigger than the 5lb star and looks great in my weight log.  I think my next big reward will be the key-chain I'll earn at 10% (there are a couple more 5lb stickers to earn before then, of course).  I'm so looking forward to that key-chain!
Second, I mentioned yesterday one part of my Lenten dedications.  That part is to walk every day more than I did the previous day.  On Ash Wednesday, I walked about 2500 steps.  Today, my goal is to walk 11,750 steps.  I've been amazed at how quickly my total has risen, but beautiful weather and the opportunity to take a walk with a good friend makes it easy.  Most people only think about Lent as a time to restrict something.  I'm doing that, too (no sweets!), but I really value the idea of adding something for Lent.  Adding steps is a literal interpretation, I guess, but it works for me.

From a fiscal fitness perspective, we're feeling a little more comfortable.  We've got the total necessary for closing on the refi set aside and we've finished (I hope!) paying for those extra items necessary to 'pass' the appraisal process.  It's such a relief to have only our new car payments weighing over us, rather than the laundry list of unknowns that we were dealing with for the last few months.  The next project for us is to set aside the funds for our new gutters and trim work.  Now that winter seems to be over, that project is just around the corner for us!

Fitness Friday--February 17

Happy Friday!

Physical Fitness.  My Friday is totally not the last day of the week since I'm going to a lock-in for our diocesan youth tonight, leaving early tomorrow to set up an a women's day at church, then leaving that early to head to NKY for a cupcake making event with the DAR Juniors.  My eating hasn't been great this week, but it's been decent (better than last week!), and I'm a little worried that my Friday night/Saturday is going to hijack that.  Even after last week's awful week of eating, I managed to lose 0.2 lb last week.  With luck (well, with good eating this weekend) I'm on target to lose another 0.4 lb this week.  That will put me at my 5% weight loss since Jan 2.  Woohoo!

Fiscal Fitness.  J and I did our taxes last week, and now we're just waiting for the refund.  Part of the refund will go towards our gutters, but the bulk of it is going toward my peace of mind.  We decided last week that I can't keep driving Sandy.  J was a real trooper about driving her for me, but she was stalling out for him, too.  On Monday, he tried to take her in to the mechanic, but a flat tire thwarted that effort.  Thank goodness for AAA!  After several days at the shop with no progress made toward identifying the problem, we gave up and traded her in.  Her replacement, a much more reliable and practical Toyota Corolla, arrives next week.

How are you doing toward meeting your fitness goals this year?

Fitness Friday--February 10

Five weeks on WW and I'm officially down ten pounds!  I mentioned my struggles with hormones this week which have totally led to some unhealthy eating, but I still think I'm on target to hit my 5% weight loss goal on Monday.  I think the best thing about WW is that it makes me stop and think.  Tuesday afternoon I called J and commented that I really wanted mac & cheese, with a side of mashed potatoes and chocolate for dessert.  While my eventual choices (beef snack bites, hummus and meringues) weren't the greatest nutritional choices ever, they were far more balanced than my initial cravings.

With regard to our fiscal fitness, well... Ugh.  I highly recommend refinancing in this market.  I really do.  That said, it's a bit of a nightmare.  Between trying to keep a large sum of money in pretty liquid status so that it is readily available if we ever get to closing and also having smaller, but still significant to us, sums available for the various random repair jobs the mortgage company keeps tossing our way, it's getting a little stressful.  Yes, those record-low interest rates are a great carrot, but good grief!  Ask me again in a month.  Hopefully we'll be through this by then.

Fitness Friday--January 13

So it turns out Weight Watchers gives out stickers!  I received my 5 pound sticker at Monday's meeting.  This week hasn't been nearly as good as last week, so I'm just hoping to not gain weight.  I don't think they'd take their sticker back...  I'll let you know next week!

Like I mentioned yesterday, we're heading down to Cumberland Falls this weekend.  My fitness goal for the weekend?  Hike from the cabin down to the falls and back.  The guys do it every year and J assures me that it's tough.  Wish me luck!!

Fourth Friday Fitness Check

Hi there! 

I'm almost through my third week of Weight Watchers and continue to see the weight come off, slowly but steadily.  At my 'official' weigh-in on Monday, I was down 7.8 pounds total.  My first WW goal is 5% of my body weight, and I'm not there yet.  I think I'm still a couple (three?) weeks away from that, and I'm trying really hard to be okay with that.  J reminds me that I'm not on a crash diet; I'm trying to become more aware of portion size and a healthier lifestyle.  I'm trying to be open to that idea.  I'm definitely coming to terms with the "eat less" part of the equation better than the "move more" part.  I did buy a pedometer last week, and I enjoy checking it to see how I'm doing throughout the day.  If anything, I've learned that I'm horribly sedentary, especially during the work week.  While I'm working every day to walk a few more steps, I've got a long way to go.

How are your fitness efforts going?

First Fitness Friday of 2012

J and I have a few physical fitness goals for 2012, among them to lose weight and exercise.  (Specifically, J would like to lose another 40 pounds this year, and I'd like to lose 25.  In addition, we'd both like to run 150 miles.  Yes, that's the same as last year, but we figure we might as well try again.)  One week in, we're doing okay.  I told you Wednesday that I started Weight Watchers this week, and I'm down a few pounds already.  J has re-committed to Atkins, and he's down a couple pounds this week, too.  As for exercise, well...  Y'all.  It's cold outside.  And J has bronchitis (see yesterday's post).  Exercise just isn't happening yet.  We're starting though, and that's got to be worth something.

With respect to fiscal fitness, J and I are thrilled to be starting off 2012 with a credit card balance of $0.  It wasn't easy last Fall to cut back on our food spending or our Christmas spending (not to mention my crazy idea to work 50 hours a week between two part time jobs for six weeks), but starting fresh this year makes it all worth it!

Reflection Friday

So it's almost the end of 2011, and since it's also Finicky Friday, I decided that I'd dedicate this post to reflecting on the past year--checking out how we did on our goals for 2011 and generally just waxing eloquent (maybe).

So our (my) first and largest goal was to blog daily in an effort to reach our stated blog goal of consistent blogging.  For the first six months of the year, that was accomplished almost without exception.  For the next five months, I blogged consistently 2/3 of the time. This month, I blogged half the time, though not necessarily every other day.  Moral of the story?  I can't work and blog reliably.  The more time spent at work, the less time spent blogging or doing things worth blogging about.  But still, since the big goal was to be consistent in our blogging, I think this is a goal accomplished.

As for the rest of our goals, I finally got around to stating them a week into 2011 here.

• Run 150 miles each. Not even close. Best case scenario, we maybe walked/ran 85 miles. 
• Participate in a half-marathon. Right now, we're looking towards the Flying Pig in Cincinnati, but we are open to others.  Right.  See previous goal.
• Continue our weight loss efforts. 25 pounds for JE; 40 for J.  I gained and lost and gained and lost.  J lost his 40.

With respect to the MP, complete the following home improvement projects:

• Finish the main bath (seal and grout the marble, prime and paint the walls, reinstall toilet and vanity, buy and install mirror, install new shower curtain curtain rod)  Actually, we got this one mostly done.
• Finish the master bedroom (make and hang curtains, print pictures for photo wall, hang pictures on photo wall)  Um...no.
• Finish front of house (paint shutters, reinstall flag pole)  I'd say 50/50 on this one.  The shutters are still green and the gutters still need replacing.
• Back of house (rebuild deck using composite lumber, move storage shed)  Not a darn thing done here.
• Library (stain bookshelves, figure out what kind of countertop to install, install built-ins)  No.
• Living room--if we accomplish everything else and are feeling a little bored (In the words of President Reagan--Tear down this wall!, and then fix the stairs, paint)  Obviously this didn't happen.

Continue to work on our finances. Currently, we spend entirely too much on food for two people (grocery and eating out combined), and we hope to pare down to half of what we spend now.  Meh. We've been more intentional and aware of our spending.  We don't eat out nearly as often as we used to, and when I take over the grocery shopping, we don't spend as much there, either!
Internalize and live our 2011 phrase--Be alert, for God is a whisper. Read more about that in yesterday's post.  I think we've worked on this one a lot.  Something we're still working on it figuring out how to tell when God is telling us something.  That's kind of a hard one.

This is kind of tough to look at, because there is a lot of negative in the way of accomplishments.  Someone asked me the other day how I would describe 2011 in one word.  My word?  Rebirth.  The person I became in 2011 is a very different person I was in 2009 and 2010.  While there were parts of that person who was happy, I think that the new me is a generally happier, more at peace person.  I don't want to put words in J's mouth, but I think I'm probably an easier wife, too.  Unforunately, this new me doesn't seem to have been nearly as goal oriented as the old me... Check back next week to see what I'm going to do about that.

Fitness Friday--December 16

It's been a while since I wrote a Fitness Friday update.  As with most things, when I'm not checking in, it means things aren't going well.  I haven't been checking in with my scale either.  I can tell from the way my clothes fit that I've gained weight and I don't really need to get on the scale to tell me that.  Ironically, I maintain my weight much better when I do step on the scale daily.  Stepping off, for any period of time, is (for me) a sure path to weight gain.  So there you go, five more pounds.

In terms of fiscal fitness, well...  We're okay.  Two car wrecks in two months (thank goodness for comprehensive insurance, but there's still the deductibles to pay), plus J's transmission going out (and the bills we paid en route to discovering that was the final problem), plus the rental we needed (and loved) for a week equals a lot of love for our credit card.  It tough to balance using up the emergency fund with the tantalizing
"short-term loan" of a credit card.  We split the difference, but still have a higher balance than we did a month ago.  So much for paying that off by the end of the year! 

So there's our not so rosy fitness check.  See why I've been avoiding thinking about  it?  As with physical fitness, not paying attention to our fiscal fitness almost always seems to worsen our situation.  There's probably a lesson there.

Thoroughly un-Fit

So this is probably the least 'fit' fitness friday ever.  After our fabulous efforts at walking last week, we haven't walked at all this week.  Most of the week it rained, and that's just not something I'm willing to go walk in.  Unfortunately, after the rain came cold.  Since I wasn't exercising, I did feel the need to make a positive change somewhere else--most days this week, I went to work with a big bottle of homemade sprite--a liter of water, a few squirts of lime juice, a long squirt of lemon juice, a teaspoon of Truvia and a CO2 catridge full of bubbles.  I probably still drank more diet coke than is good for me, but I didn't drink as much as last week, and that's got to be a good thing!

There is no real fiscal fitness news to report this week, either, other than to say that we've completely fallen off the limited eating out wagon.  I suppose it is a positive to report that we're not eating out as much as we were a couple months ago, but I also think that kind of thinking leads to the slide back down the slope into more spending.  I had been doing a good job at using cash for eating out, but it's so easy to just hand over the debit card and then not keep track of how much you've spent.

How do you keep from backsliding, either in your diet or your spending habits?