out with the old...March

Here it is, March 1st! so its time to review the "out with the old, in with the new" goals for the month, and set some new ones!

February Review

I talked a bit about my progress against this goal here, and it's interesting side effects! 

But - still need to wrap up with a monthly overview!

Here's what I said:

In with the New: Make a gosh darn budget already. Its sort of ridiculous that I wing it. I need to build up my savings. Pay myself first, etc. etc. I am committing to having a reasonable budget put together by the end of the day tomorrow (the 1st). I think Mint.com may help me in my first step: where does my money go now?

I did this! I did this right after I wrote it. Mint.com is kind of the best thing ever. I love love it. Did you know that besides rent, groceries are our number one thing (well, it WAS clothes - gasp). There are only 2 of us! I guess that's why they call it Whole Paycheck...but, on the other hand - we eat good, healthy, fresh food, and I can tell when its from Whole Foods v. Safeway. I can. So this is an expenditure I can live with.

So, I have a budget, and I stuck to it in Feb! Yay! And I have money in savings! Yay! A tiny little bit but Yay!

I also said:

Out with the Old: Sort of related to the New: no new clothes. (slightly hyperventilating). Yep, no clothes shopping. No shoes shopping. No jewelry, accessories, or other accoutrements shopping. Small exceptions may be made for 1) tights, if all are worn out/have runs. And...um, that's it.Woooo. breathe. ok. ya. I'm committed.

I mostly did this. Honestly, I did not by anything you would generally call clothes, as in, things worn over one's underwear. I DID buy underwear, and jewelry, and some shoes. Also, as I mentioned before, a lot of house stuff.

So, I kind of did this, kind of failed to follow the spirit. Therefore, it continues. Yesterday, being a leap day, was not real and did not count, so I bought a couple things on final sale from J Crew. Today! I am back on this wagon. I just don't NEED anymore clothes, ya'll. Until I shrink a size (which, yeah, I'm getting close to, woo!)

March Time!

In with the new:

I am going to re-introduce running into my fitness routine. I used to run, I did the Couch to 5K program, and the first time I ran 3 miles I thought I might die, but I was also prouder of myself than I'd ever been. And, running makes you skinny. I swear, it does. I don't know why its different than any other form of exercise, but it is. So, there you go. I like it, makes you skinny, we got a winner.

I'm going to use Couch to 5K again, and until it is consistently warm in the mornings, I will probably mix running with my workout vids, P90X2, etc. But the goal is 3 days / week.

Out with the old:

Shopping hiatus, again. Also, over this month, I'm going to do my best to cut back my smoking to 3 cigs a day - morning/noon/night. I'd say I smoke about 8-10 a day now.  This week I will cut back to 5, and then 3 the following week for the next 3 weeks. This is in preparation for quitting before my 34th birthday (May 2nd).