Health
1. Use my gym membership. Go to the gym at least 4 days a week.
2. Stick to my diet of no more than 1700 calories per day.
3. Lose at least 79 pounds this year.
Financial
1. Pay all bills on time.
2. Pay off GCX Leasing, Capital One credit card, my car, and all collector bills.
3. Re-establish emergency fund.
4. Stick to monthly budget.
Work
1. Take vacation days.
2. Take and pass LCSW test.
3. Learn required theory of practice for abuse victims.
4. Get at least 10 CEUs.
Spiritual
1. Read bible cover to cover again.
2. Spend daily time in prayer and reading the bible.
3. Attend church every Sunday.
4. Tithe
Personal
1. Blog at least twice a week.
2. Make at least an extra $150 this year without working.
3. Organize my home.
4. Organize my life.
Marriage
1. Pray together nightly
2. Go to at least one marriage retreat.
3. Use kinder words.
4. Tell him what I love about him more often.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
2011 Recap
I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon and write a short recap of 2011.
January
Rang in the new year at church and really enjoyed it for the first time. My hubby and I started to work out and eat right for the first time ever. We spent every night in the gym and hated every minute of it. Lost 30 pounds each.
February
Continued to eat right and work out daily. Began loving the gym. Continued the weight loss journey. Lost 12 pounds. Celebrated Valentine's Day with a splurged meal out at the Nagaski Inn...mmm sushi.
March
Argued over college basketball with co-workers. Switched jobs within my company (inpatient therapist to a clinical director). New job caused us to slack off on gym...went about 3-4 times a week. Lost 7 pounds.
April
My new position became hectic. Lost a co-worker causing my workload to double. Barely made it to the gym. Lost 2 pounds.
May
Allowed a family to move into our home. Work became even crazier. Stopped going to the gym. Gained 2 pounds. Started couponing.
June
Maxed out credit cards. Planned a trip to the Smokey Mountains. Barely saw my husband due to craziness at job.
July
Went to the Mountains July 1-5. My hubby lost his job July 6 and I lost mine July 9. Looked at all my debt and cried. Hard. Started a debt blog. Had my first ever yard sale. Started emergency fund and had it to $1,300. Hubby started new job July 24 and a July 25. I struggled to find a job and could not get one. Cancelled our gym membership.
August
Hubby continued working two full-time jobs. I barely seen him. I contracted meningitis and was sick for almost 3 weeks. My prescriptions were not covered through insurance. My hubby ate out for 3 weeks. Our emergency fund was gone :( Had several interviews after my illness. New nephew was born.
September
Started a PRN job that was full time throughout the month. Hubby worked 2 full time jobs the first two weeks of Sept and quit the third shift job. Our two cars were broken into as was our home. Began extreme couponing.
October
My full-time job went to PRN. Began looking for a true full time job. Continued extreme couponing. Hubby continued working one full time job with many hours of overtime. Interviewed for two therapist positions.
November
Landed a chief clinician position. Realized that we need to move from Indiana to Kentucky. Developed plan to move to Kentucky when bills are more under control. Quit PRN job. Left for 2 weeks of training for new job.
December
Learning my new job. Found out hubby maxed out credit card again. Paid less on Christmas this year than ever before, but had more gifts than ever thanks to extreme couponing. Refinanced our home to a MUCH LOWER RATE! Paid extra on my car payment. Paid for gym membership again and just now realized we haven't used it yet again. Lost a total of 52.1 pounds this year.
January
Rang in the new year at church and really enjoyed it for the first time. My hubby and I started to work out and eat right for the first time ever. We spent every night in the gym and hated every minute of it. Lost 30 pounds each.
February
Continued to eat right and work out daily. Began loving the gym. Continued the weight loss journey. Lost 12 pounds. Celebrated Valentine's Day with a splurged meal out at the Nagaski Inn...mmm sushi.
March
Argued over college basketball with co-workers. Switched jobs within my company (inpatient therapist to a clinical director). New job caused us to slack off on gym...went about 3-4 times a week. Lost 7 pounds.
April
My new position became hectic. Lost a co-worker causing my workload to double. Barely made it to the gym. Lost 2 pounds.
May
Allowed a family to move into our home. Work became even crazier. Stopped going to the gym. Gained 2 pounds. Started couponing.
June
Maxed out credit cards. Planned a trip to the Smokey Mountains. Barely saw my husband due to craziness at job.
July
Went to the Mountains July 1-5. My hubby lost his job July 6 and I lost mine July 9. Looked at all my debt and cried. Hard. Started a debt blog. Had my first ever yard sale. Started emergency fund and had it to $1,300. Hubby started new job July 24 and a July 25. I struggled to find a job and could not get one. Cancelled our gym membership.
August
Hubby continued working two full-time jobs. I barely seen him. I contracted meningitis and was sick for almost 3 weeks. My prescriptions were not covered through insurance. My hubby ate out for 3 weeks. Our emergency fund was gone :( Had several interviews after my illness. New nephew was born.
September
Started a PRN job that was full time throughout the month. Hubby worked 2 full time jobs the first two weeks of Sept and quit the third shift job. Our two cars were broken into as was our home. Began extreme couponing.
October
My full-time job went to PRN. Began looking for a true full time job. Continued extreme couponing. Hubby continued working one full time job with many hours of overtime. Interviewed for two therapist positions.
November
Landed a chief clinician position. Realized that we need to move from Indiana to Kentucky. Developed plan to move to Kentucky when bills are more under control. Quit PRN job. Left for 2 weeks of training for new job.
December
Learning my new job. Found out hubby maxed out credit card again. Paid less on Christmas this year than ever before, but had more gifts than ever thanks to extreme couponing. Refinanced our home to a MUCH LOWER RATE! Paid extra on my car payment. Paid for gym membership again and just now realized we haven't used it yet again. Lost a total of 52.1 pounds this year.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Opinions please
Now that I finally have a full time job that pays well, we are starting to attack our bills again. Here's the question, though: how do y'all keep your bills organized? Do you do an excel spreadsheet, file them, stack up in a pile!? We are trying to figure out what others are doing because our way isn't working.
On a positive note, I got a call today from the training department at my new company and they're having all out meals for the next two weeks catered. So thankfully I don't have to pay anything out of pocket for food! Praise God! I am packing a few snacks and my faithful vitamin water and pomegranate juice, though. Yum!
On a positive note, I got a call today from the training department at my new company and they're having all out meals for the next two weeks catered. So thankfully I don't have to pay anything out of pocket for food! Praise God! I am packing a few snacks and my faithful vitamin water and pomegranate juice, though. Yum!
Thursday, November 3, 2011
A new adventure awaits
God has been amazing and faithful to me. Much more than I ever deserve. I was offered and accepted a new position for a residential therapist position this week. The benefits and pay are better than I have ever received. I start on Monday, November 14 in Lexington KY for an academy of training for child welfare workers. I will be there for two weeks. I will drive down on Sunday afternoon and come home late Friday night. My only fear for starting this job are the expenses associated with the academy. They will pay for my hotel accommodations, but I will be responsible to pay for all my gasoline and food expenses. Luckily they will reimburse me. If anyone has any ideas on how to eat out for 6 days reasonably cheap, I'd love to know. The Monday following Thanksgiving I will start at my office, which is luckily only a little over an hour from my house.
I have also decided to keep my other job as it is only PRN. I will be able to continue to do on call for the weekends and pick up an occasional day since my new job is flexible. The extra $150-$300 I'll get from my extra PRN job will help with bills and debt. I'm so excited about this opportunity and just continue to praise my great God!
I have also decided to keep my other job as it is only PRN. I will be able to continue to do on call for the weekends and pick up an occasional day since my new job is flexible. The extra $150-$300 I'll get from my extra PRN job will help with bills and debt. I'm so excited about this opportunity and just continue to praise my great God!
Friday, September 30, 2011
Some debt reduction
Since I have been working between 8-9 hours a day and driving for a total of 2 hours a day, I don't have time to do anything, let alone blog. Nonetheless, here's a mini update for today. I have an interview next week for a full time position that pays almost the exact amount that I made at my last job plus it's only 30 minutes away. I'm putting my faith in God for this position because I really need full time employment. Luckily that job have flexible hours and days so I will be able to maintain my prn position to bring in extra money to go to debt.
With me working this month, we've made an extra mortgage payment and paid a little extra on the credit card. I'm very thankful the money and hope it continues.
Next week we plan to pay off what we owe to the Indiana IRS! I'll update when we do.
More to come later...
With me working this month, we've made an extra mortgage payment and paid a little extra on the credit card. I'm very thankful the money and hope it continues.
Next week we plan to pay off what we owe to the Indiana IRS! I'll update when we do.
More to come later...
Monday, September 19, 2011
God's plan
Now that hubby has turned in his notice at the second job and informed the day job that he will only be working there, the day job has informed him that there will be big changes for him next week. They will begin training him next week in the office to eventually take over an office and he will officially start for the company on Monday with a full time, insurance eligible position. God definitely had His hand in this one. No way could this have worked out any better for him. He so deserves it, too, for working 85 plus hours a week outside in the elements busting his butt and now he will be working in a temperature controlled room. Thank you, God!
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Exreme couponing & cooking
Last week my company had a class on extreme couponing. I decided to go because I have always been interested in it & have always used coupons. I was never getting anything for free, but I was saving some dough. This class taught me how to organize the coupons, where to shop, when to buy, and how to combine coupons. My hubby and I decided we would give it a try this weekend and it seemed that we did pretty well. We got all the following items for $22:
My favorite purchase by far was the free shirt I scored from Kohls. When we get a pretty good stock pile going, we are going to start donating to our local food bank. I am excited and hope we can do well at this.
In other news, our church is finally offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University again. It starts up next Sunday afternoon and we are attending. Yay! My hubby has been on board with the finances and food since we had the talk, which has been wonderful! He is also quitting his second job that is from 6pm-4am. They increased his hours and he has been working from 5:30pm-5am and then going to the other job at 7pm. Crazy. Next Friday is his last night there. His day job has been wonderful for him in working with his exhaustion and schedule. They are starting him on the management track so he can take over an office. We will be super tight on money for a while, but we are putting our faith in God.
Since I lost my job back in July, I really started watching food shows and have been getting more into cooking Here is my latest creation. I surprised my hubby when we came home. When he walked in the door, he said, "mmm, smells like olive garden in here." He loved it! I will continue to make it because it's yummy and cheap to make. Sorry for the picture quality. There from my cell phone.
I put olive oil and a little butter into a hot, hot pan and then added cubed chicken to brown it along with my homemade cajun seasoning. Cut up purple onion, red peppers, and green peppers. Put them in the pan with more cajun seasoning once the chicken was cooked and removed. Once the veggies were done, I removed them. Keeping the pan on high, I added a little homemade chicken stock, cooking sherry, and whipping cream. I let it thicken and then added more cajun seasoning. Once it was thickened, I tossed the chicken and veggies back into combine. When everything was coated, I added the noodles and more seasoning. When I plated the pasta, I added fresh parsley. YUM!
My favorite purchase by far was the free shirt I scored from Kohls. When we get a pretty good stock pile going, we are going to start donating to our local food bank. I am excited and hope we can do well at this.
In other news, our church is finally offering Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University again. It starts up next Sunday afternoon and we are attending. Yay! My hubby has been on board with the finances and food since we had the talk, which has been wonderful! He is also quitting his second job that is from 6pm-4am. They increased his hours and he has been working from 5:30pm-5am and then going to the other job at 7pm. Crazy. Next Friday is his last night there. His day job has been wonderful for him in working with his exhaustion and schedule. They are starting him on the management track so he can take over an office. We will be super tight on money for a while, but we are putting our faith in God.
Since I lost my job back in July, I really started watching food shows and have been getting more into cooking Here is my latest creation. I surprised my hubby when we came home. When he walked in the door, he said, "mmm, smells like olive garden in here." He loved it! I will continue to make it because it's yummy and cheap to make. Sorry for the picture quality. There from my cell phone.
I put olive oil and a little butter into a hot, hot pan and then added cubed chicken to brown it along with my homemade cajun seasoning. Cut up purple onion, red peppers, and green peppers. Put them in the pan with more cajun seasoning once the chicken was cooked and removed. Once the veggies were done, I removed them. Keeping the pan on high, I added a little homemade chicken stock, cooking sherry, and whipping cream. I let it thicken and then added more cajun seasoning. Once it was thickened, I tossed the chicken and veggies back into combine. When everything was coated, I added the noodles and more seasoning. When I plated the pasta, I added fresh parsley. YUM!
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