Yes, Yes it Does Actually

This weekend I read Does This Clutter Make My Butt Look Fat? by Australian organizational guru Peter Walsh. Walsh is also a "FOO" or "Friend of Oprah" making his word gospel. I had seen Walsh on Oprah a year or so ago talking about this book and tackling some real world households and it was fascinating.

The book, while a quick and easy read, is rather bloated for a manual on how to divest yourself of clutter and weight. I found a lot of repetition and a lot of basic truisms that seemed like filler to me: "The weight didn't appear over night, it won't disappear over night."

Walsh does give his readers credit for knowing quite a bit before opening the book. He acknowledges that anyone dealing with weight loss issues is probably very well skilled on what they should eat and how much, they just can't get control of the situation. That is where the organization comes in.

Walsh gives some very good advice on rearranging your kitchen to utilize it to the utmost for preparing good healthy food. Chapters 5 (The Kitchen You Create), 6 (The Food You Stock) and 7 (The Meals You Prepare) were the most useful to me. A lot of the rest of the book is psychological analysis of why people gain weight and collect clutter and while interesting I have already been working through that, I didn't just realize I need to lose weight, I have known for about 25 years.

I feel this book is really geared more towards families with homes and not single girls in apartments (thank god I don't have a whole garage to organize!), but I did take enough away from the book to have a good plan for cleaning and organizing my kitchen over the upcoming long weekend. I also got some good ideas on meal planning that I hope to put into place for the next month.

All in all worth a check out from the library!

Invest in Your Health

Whether it is paying for a gym membership or buying a Wii Fit or a treadmill for home, an investment in your health is money well spent even if you are on a budget.

Sure, you could work out in your living room with the Jane Fonda video cassettes of your high school days and you could go outside to walk or run (and I highly recommend doing that once in a while when weather cooperates) but serious dedication to getting fit requires some tools. And I live in a 3rd floor apartment, stomping around doing kick boxing makes me really self conscious about the folks living below me.

Here in Boston there are dozens of health club options from the luxury of Equinox to the local independently owned place. I started off a couple years ago going to Boston Sports Club and when money got a little tight I dropped it altogether. It was spring and I thought I can just work out outside. I did for awhile, but last fall I decided if I was going to get serious about fitness I needed the machines at the gym.

I found a Gold's Gym closer to my apartment and half the monthly fee of BSC. And I went regularly for a long time. Then spring crept in, work got busy the weather got beautiful and all I wanted to do at lunch was stretch out in the park and read a book.

Not only was I not exercising, but I was wasting money. In order for my gym membership to be a savings over the pay-as-you-go option the gym offers, I have to go 3 times a week. I went 3 times a month for May, June and July.

I tried to guilt myself into going by telling myself I was wasting money, but guilt rarely works, you need to want to go and you need to plan and get into a routine where going is part of your life, not an added chore you tack on to your otherwise busy day.

Shop around for a gym, many offer great deals with low joining fees and incentives. The end of the month is a good time to go in as membership reps are trying to meet their goals and may have special offers. Remember that while price is important, convenience is key too. If you have to take two trains and a bus to save $10 a month you won't be as likely to go. Find the right balance and work up a sweat!

Sunday Recap Week 2

Overall another good week. Work stress crept in on Friday, but I was able to relax Saturday with some beach time.

Budget: Stuck to my budget again for week 2, even a little bit ahead of budget in some categories for the month. The big news this week was my Debt Management Plan was accepted by my creditors, so everything is set in stone now and barring any unforeseen financial hardships I will be debt free in 4 1/2 years!

Diet: Worked out 5 days again, 4 in the gym and 1 day outside (taking advantage of outside while I can). Ate well, but really need to work on a better meal plan. I ate the same thing pretty much for five days. It was all healthy and good, but got really boring near the end. Goal for next weekend is to write a meal plan for a month. Met my weight goal for week 2!

Mood: Most of the week was rainy which dropped my energy level a little and work stress was high by week's end, but I have rebounded this weekend with some down time at the beach and some good friends around to keep my mind focused on productive things.

This coming week will seem long with the prize of a 3 Day weekend at the end, but I have shopped for good food and am ready tot ake it on!

Clip Coupons Cautiously

Coupons can be a great way to save a little money on groceries, household items and even clothes and electronics. Buyer beware though, sometimes those coupons will cost you more money or convince you to buy something you don't really need.

Groceries: 50 cents or a $1 off something you buy regularly is a nice little treat, but don't buy Ring Dings just because there is a coupon in the Sunday paper. Coupons can derail your diet by convincing you the deal is too good to pass up on pork rinds this week. At the same time if you see a coupon for something healthy that you have wanted to try this might be a less costly way of incorporating a new healthful food into your diet. Watch the sales and match your coupons up to weekly specials for even bigger savings!

Household Items: I live in a city with no Wal Mart or Target. Without these "Big Box" stores around I am forced to by all my household items and toiletries at drug stores and grocery stores. While the regular prices are generally higher, they often run good sales with their loyalty cards and regular coupons can be applied to increase savings. Beware loyalty card coupons that encourage you to spend X dollars to save Y. A "Save $5 when you spend $25" coupon is not really a deal if you were only planning to buy toothpaste and walked out with a bunch of unnecessary stuff to "save" $5.

Clothing: Kohl's, Macy's, JC Penny they all offer coupons (primarily to their credit card customers only). Make sure to read the fine print, lots of things are not included on the coupon including sale items some times. If you read the coupon and still want to use it, maximize the discount, buy that winter coat or new suit.

Electronics: Best Buy is always sending me coupons for 10% off, but only off full priced items and with lots of disclaimers. Read the fine print and the sale flyer, you might be better off without the coupon.

Grab tomorrow's paper and see what coupons are out there, use them wisely and they will help reduce your weekly costs, but don't buy the Ring Dings, you don't need them.

Budgeting 101

So a few people have asked me to share more specifics about my budget. I am not going to share monetary amounts, but I will share percentages so you can take your own income and see where you spend your money.

Big Disclaimer: I live in a fairly expensive urban area, my housing expenses (i.e. rent) are much higher than they should be, but I don't have a car so my transportation costs are much lower (I figured that out when I moved to downtown Boston 11 years ago, higher rent and no car was a wash financially).

So we began by me confessing to how much I spend on everything (see extensive list below) and the financial counselor figured out the percentages. He tweaked some and asked me to make some concessions (less money for clothes and gifts, more for food and reducing my debt). Then he broke the percentages into 3 big categories:

Household Expenses (Not including rent, but everything else): 28%
Rent: 43%
Credit Card and Student Loans: 29% (this is now with the credit cards rolled into a DMP)

The last 2 are pretty straight forward, but Household Expenses is subdivided into 14 different categories, so I thought I would break that down for you.

Household Expenses Include:

Transportation: 3% (remember no car payment, insurance or gas this is public transport only)
Cable: 14% (trying to find a way to get that down a little)
Gym Membership: 5%
Clothing: 2% (trying to increase that a little)
Charitable Contributions/Gifts: 6% (going to be a lean Christmas)
Entertainment: 6% (luckily I am very entertaining on my own)
Groceries: 26%
Household Items (non-food): 8%
Laundry/Dry Cleaning: 5%
Medical(co-pays, prescriptions): 6%
Personal Care (i.e. hair cuts): 4%
Savings: 1% (baby steps)
Telephone: 6%
Utilities (I only pay electric): 9%

This is a very comprehensive list. In two weeks of tracking every penny I spent there was no time when I couldn't classify something. I won't lie to you, I borrowed a little money from groceries to pay for entertainment, but I didn't go hungry. It is a fluid process and things will certainly shift and settle.

Right now I am tracking my budget with a steno pad and an Excel Spreadsheet, but I am investigating online tools like mint.com and others and will report back on my journey to the 21st century.

Save the Earth, Save Some Money

Earlier this week I mentioned cutting back on snack packs for financial savings and to reduce packaging. Here are a few other ideas to save some money while saving the earth:

Recycle: This is pretty common for most people nowadays. Save your cans and bottles and turn them in for their deposit (5 cents here in MA) a little pocket change is never a bad thing.

Reusable Shopping Bags: You probably own a couple good size bags you can use as shopping bags, but if not the $1 per bag investment at the store is worth reducing the dozens of flimsy but toxic plastic bags you would use every week. Some stores will give you a discount for using reusable bags, Whole Foods credits you 5 cents per bag right off your bill. CVS has a Green Bag Tag that you buy for .99 (although I got mine free with a coupon) and scan like a loyalty card every time you don't take a plastic bag (even if you just buy a pack of gum) and after 4 scans you get a $1 coupon. And don't worry about using one store's bags at another store, I have never had a cashier sneer at my Shaw's bags at Whole Foods.

Read News Online: I still believe an investment in the Sunday paper is worth it, it has tons of news and local information and all your sales flyers and coupons (not to mention funnies!) but a daily newspaper is an unnecessary expense and a lot of waste. Same thing with magazines, most magazines have an online forum now, cut the cost of buying mags and eliminate the piles of paper.

Swap: Before you spend the money on something new look around and see if a friend is planning to get rid of something, go to a yard sale or look online at Craigslist or Freecycle. There is a lot of stuff on the planet, let's not keep buying more if we can reuse something cheaper (or free!).

Anyone else have a good idea for saving cash while saving the planet?

Invisible in the City

I grew up in a fairly small town, everybody knew everybody (and still does for the most part) and it's impossible to go to the grocery store without running in to someone. Then I left small town for bigger town, smaller campus private college in Maine. It is really hard to completely disappear amongst 1,500 classmates.

Something happened to me the spring of my Junior year when I went abroad, I discovered what it was like to live in a city. I spent 6 months in St. Petersburg, followed by a year in Moscow after graduation. I realized that the more people there are the lonelier a person can be. It is a true conundrum.

Now living in Boston it is very similar, I know more people here, but still I can go for days without running in to anyone I know and what I have discovered is, unless you are skinny and gorgeous, you are invisible. No one turns their head to look at me (except the occasional drunk man) and I have gotten very comfortable with that. I don't yearn for the attention, I like the anonymity. I wonder if that is one of my fears about changing.

Love Your Library

US News and World Report contributed to this article on Yahoo last week about items we should not be paying for. It was a quick and interesting read. Some of the items I agree with (water, books, DVDS) and some (gym, tax prep and cell phones) I do not.

I am going to piggy back on the article's point about libraries though. Sadly it took the current economic situation for libraries to get their public due, but the articles have been many about the services libraries provide for free:

Books: Well this is the obvious one. Libraries offer you an unlimited amount of free books at your finger tips or mouse click. Can't find what you are looking for? Odds are the friendly and attractive librarian can order it from another library for you. What you want is the latest smash hit? You may have to wait, but most libraries have a very orderly hold system done online so you can keep track of where you are on the list. Aside from books given as gifts, I only purchased 4 books last year and I read a lot!

DVDS: AV collections vary from library to library, but like books you can search the library's catalog and place online requests. New releases are popular and get snatched up fast. If you really have to see the latest installment of Twilight tonight, try Red Box for $1 (or use this site to skip the fee). I gave up my Netflix subscription this month and am doing fine using the library and saving $10 a month.

CDS: Music, audio books, language lessons all at your library! A great way to try new things before you invest in them.

Computers/Internet: Need to cut back on internet costs? Go to the library. You can print that recipe you need or copies of your resume, apply for jobs online or order a new pair of running shoes. Printing generally incurs a small fee, but nowhere near the cost of setting up a computer, getting internet, a printer, toner and paper at home.

Entertainment: Have kids? Like movies? Lectures? Odds are your library has programming for all ages, for free. Check out their website or stop by and ask. This past year I went to a book reading, 2 films and a story telling slam.

Information: This is the amazing thing about libraries. All these things add up to this. The library is the one place you can go for free and get access to any kind of information you could possibly need. You can ask a librarian anything and they are happy to help you.

There is no wonder that library user ship has spiked in the past couple of years. I am very lucky, my local library is the main branch of the Boston Public Library and it is a wonderful part of my life.

Snack Pack Attack

So the biggest problem I have with food (aside from a constant overwhelming desire to eat an entire wheel of brie) is Portion Control. If only I was learning this PC in college and not Political Correctness or Personal Computers (those will never last!).

Nowadays you can buy individually packaged 100 calorie portions of just about everything. I have done this for many years, stamping down my inner voice that says "it is so much more expensive" and "that is so much packaging" in favor of the faulty voice that said "I will eat less if someone else tells me what the portion size really is." Sadly that voice never made it to "If you eat all 6 packages at once you aren't really cutting calories."

Here are a few ways I have managed to save money and stick to portion size:

1. Yogurt: I love Greek yogurt and I have actually gotten to a point where I buy plain and add in my own fresh fruit and a little honey. Instead of buying the individual cups for $1.39, I buy the bigger tub for $3.49 and scoop out my serving every day. There are 4 servings in the container, so roughly $.88 a serving, a nice little $2 savings every week.

This one is easy as I am not usually tempted to eat the whole container of plain yogurt in one sitting.

2. Pretzels/Crackers: I cannot ever bring the bag/box with me to the table or couch. I have a small bowl and count out the portion, then I seal the bag/box and put it away in the cabinet. My apartment is small, but the walk back to the cabinet for a second serving is long enough to contemplate the consequences. The time it takes to dip my hand in the open bag/box by my side is not. I got a big bag of pretzels on sale for $2, it would have taken 3 packages of individual bags at $3.50 each to equal the same number of servings!

3. Nuts: I love almonds and they are good for you! I buy a big bag at Trader Joe's for a very affordable amount of money and I am good at only eating a serving size. I have a small reusable container that holds about 14 almonds and I put it on my desk in the afternoon and I usually do not go back for more. My grandfather was so excited when he came home from the doctor and the doctor said nuts were good for him and that he could have a "can full" every day. My grandmother laughed and said "A HANDful, not a CAN full!"

4.Cookies/Candy: This is the one exception. I cannot have any volume of cookies or candy in my home. I can buy a bag of miniature KitKats and tell myself I will only have 1 a day, I can hide them, I can scatter them in different places, at the end of the first day my apartment will look like the KitKat factory exploded and the wrappers are everywhere. I will spend MORE money to buy 1 regular sized candy bar than take the economical route of a bag of candy. I will also spend more money on 1 fresh bakery cookie than a box of Keebler's.

This is one of those huge bridge issues between dieting and budgeting. It is also about fooling yourself into thinking you will eat less with corporate-forced Portion Control. Until you take control of your portions it won't matter. So save some money and reduce some waste and skip the 100 calorie packs.

Sunday Recap

So I decided that I would use Sunday as a recap of the week. Discuss any successes and failures the week has brought and look aheads to next week.

Budget: I completed my first week on a budget and did very well. Overspent a little on groceries, but underspent on generic household items, a statistical tie as it were. I organized all my non-perishables and started a list and inventory to keep those things in stock when on sale and successfully budgeted a tiny amount of savings for the week.

Diet: Worked out 5 days (Mon - Fri). Four in the gym and 1 outside on a gorgeous day. I ate very well Mon - Fri and have indulged in a couple of treats this weekend. I met my weight goal for week one.

Mood: I felt great this week. I was productive and forward-thinking for the first time in a long time. I don't doubt the "what-ifs" and "if-onlys" will find their way into my life again, but they don't do any good. You cannot change your past, but you can change your present. A visit with my parents this weekend was the perfect follow-up to last weekend's visit with dear friends.

This week starts out with some excitement and then I hope it tapers off to another productive week with more organizing and the beginning of some recipe experimenting.

Thank you all for your support, getting this blog off the ground was a big step for me and I am thrilled with the response so far.

Cheap Light Beer Taste Test #1

If you are embarking on one or both of my journeys it is best to have a friend or 2 along for the ride. Some people needed bigger support systems than others, so please find the right mix for you. If you need a Weight Watchers meeting, find one, if trading recipes with others online works, do that.

I have wonderful friends and many of them are helping immensely along this path already. One of them met me in the park last night for a long, relaxing, cheap and healthy picnic dinner. We then wandered to the local liquor store for some beer.

Alcohol is a bit of an enigma in the health care world. Some say a drink or two in moderation is perfectly healthy others think you should cut it out all together. I figure if I am going to live on a budget and a diet I am going to need a drink now and then, I am not a saint!

I like beer, a good handcrafted beer is a delicious balance of flavor, crisp and refreshing and very filling. When I am drinking beer at home I opt for light beer as it is, to quote the old commercials, "less filling".

My friend and I are going to taste test some cheaper light beer options and I will post my reviews.

Last night: Michelob Ultra
Cost: $7.43 for a 6 pack of bottles (I will be destitute before I drink beer from a can)

To quote my friend this beer "had a hop run through it" and when asking for another (now mind you we drank more than one) she asked for another "bottle of water". It was not very flavorful, but what flavor there was was not bad. It was refreshing and it was not filling at all yet provided the calming sensation that alcohol is renowned for. I would consider it again for a similar type of drinking occasion.

In addition to our beer reviews look for our Ramen price shopping comparisons, coming soon!

Balancing Act

Life is a balancing act. This is not news, we are constantly torn between what we want to do and what we have to do. Most of us have to work, probably at a job that causes us some angst (and if you love your job all the time know how very lucky you are). We have to clean our living spaces, we have to pay our bills (whether we want to or not). If all you do are these things than life will be one long tedious day.

I live alone which makes this balancing both easier and harder. I do not have a husband or kids that I have to help balance, but there is no one to help me balance myself. I must remember to take small moments and enjoy them.

Living in Boston, I can get on public transportation and be at the ocean in just about 30 minutes and believe me that is my respite of choice. When time or weather does not allow I can skip down the street (have you ever seen me skip? It is a thing of beauty) to this little gem:

This is Ramler Park and it is 3 blocks from my apartment. There is an amazing fountain that attracts the cutest little birds, nice benches and picnic tables as well as grassy areas to stretch out and read.

Yesterday I planned to go to the gym at lunch, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day and summer is waning, so I took my book and laid on the grass. I promised myself (since there is no one else to promise) that I would go to the gym after work (and I did!).

There has to be some reward in life, some time to escape and reflect. I am so lucky to live so close to this beautiful spot. You will see me mention it a lot. In fact, tonight I am having a picnic there with a friend.

Before and After

So a couple days ago I suggested in the Tip of the Day Column to the right to clean out your space. I can't expect people to adopt my tips if I don't follow through myself. So I took 3 spaces in my apartment and emptied them out and organized.

I live in a 1 bedroom apartment, storage is at a premium, but I have managed to find cabinet and drawer space to keep a nice supply of non-perishable items on hand so I am never running out and paying full price for something in a moment of hair care-related panic.

First, my bottom dresser drawer where I keep all my personal care products. On Tuesday it looked like this:


Now, after 10 minutes of sorting and organizing, it looks like this:



And in the process I found brand new bottles of conditioner, shampoo and really high end face wash I forgot I had!

I have a big cabinet in the kitchen, that looked like this:



And now...


Look at all those reusable containers (with lids!) perfect for saving healthy left overs, good for both the budget and the diet! Although I must admit for someone on a diet I own an awful lot of muffin tins, but I am not willing to throw them out just yet, baby steps...

Finally, my desk was a disaster. What girl on a budget can be expected to manager her finances when her desk looks like this:



While watching DVD episodes of Party of Five (having Matthew Fox withdrawal post-Lost) I fixed this mess up to resemble a grown-up person's desk:



Found almost a whole book of stamps, with current postage even!

Total this project took less than an hour. I was able to take an inventory of what I had on hand for personal care products and what I need to buy right away and what can wait until I find it on sale. I have tons of useful kitchen items at hand to facilitate a more healthful cooking and eating environment and I have a calm organized work space to handle all my bills.

Don't get me wrong there is still tons to clean and organize around here (do not open the hall closet it will kill you), but just having these 3 spaces organized has made me calmer.

The Other Half of the Equation

So yesterday I wrote about different avenues for debt reduction. I do not have the space in all the infinite internet to describe the different ways to lose weight. Go to your local library or book store and see for yourself, everyone has written a weight loss book/plan/life style/mantra.

What I can tell you is I have tried many of them, some more successfully than others and it all comes down to one thing: you have to want to change your life.

I will never mention my actual weight on this blog, I will track my progress in percentages of goal achieved and those who see me on a regular basis will be able to tell if I am lying or not :) By putting this out there I become accountable now in a much more public way.

I will confess one thing here though: I have never been thin. And I am certain that there is something buried deep in my subconscious that has always prevented me from succeeding. I cannot picture myself thin and that is a huge stumbling block. The psychological implications are obvious and this blog is not a replacement for therapy, but know that I do not enter this lightly (ha!) or without compassion for others facing the struggle.

I will never preach to you about what to eat (although please do not eat this) or how much. I am not an expert (obviously or I wouldn't be in this position) and you should always consult a doctor before starting any weight loss program.

Debt Annihilation

There are lots of programs right now to help reduce credit card debt. I didn't realize what the different names meant and I was briefly lead astray, so let me try to clarify it a little for you.

Debt Reduction/Debt Relief: This is an aggressive form of relieving your debt. The for-profit company encourages you to stop paying your monthly minimums until the creditors send your accounts to collections and then they settle your debt for a small fraction of the original amount. It can be very helpful if you are already in trouble with your creditors, but it is not without risk, you can be sued and the debt relief folks will not help.

Credit Counseling/Debt Management: If you are, like I am, current with all your accounts but mired in high interest rates that make your minimum payments simply a piling up of interest payments that don't reduce your total debt, you may benefit from Credit Counseling and a Debt Management Plan. You talk to a non-profit agency (non-profit does not mean free and if you chose to do the DMP there will be fees for the services) and lay out a realistic budget based on every aspect of income and expense you can imagine. The counselor will then figure out how much you can commit to paying off your debt, they offer a proposal to your creditors to reduce interest rates and monthly payments and the lump sum is automatically withdrawn from your bank account and disbursed appropriately by the DMP. The cons here are you have to close all your accounts and commit to the budget (thus this blog).

Bankruptcy: Often a last resort, but in this economy not an unusual one. You will need an attorney to declare bankruptcy, but if you are at the end of your financial rope know that bankruptcy is not the end of the world and can be a very positive solution.

The National Foundation for Credit Counseling is a great resource for additional information.

Finances are very private to most of us, but many people are in a similar boat and I have found great support from friends and family that have had similar issues.

As scary as life on a budget seems to me right now I think it is a healthy step, not only for me but for many. If we learned anything when the economy cratered it is that nothing is guaranteed in life and having a budget and some savings is just good common sense.

Welcome to My New Blog!

I recently turned 36 and it is hitting me harder than any birthday yet. There are life goals I have not achieved and I have come to terms with the fact that I might not get married, which I didn't actually realize I wanted until I figured I have a better chance of getting struck by lightning than getting married at this point.

So, even though I have managed to take care of myself pretty well since I moved out of my parents house for college 20 years ago, I am now panicking about my future.

The debt has piled up and I have to come to terms with my health, which means losing weight and going to a doctor (one of my biggest fears on the planet).

I know I am not alone in these struggles and the more I think about dieting and budgeting the more interstices I see between the two, not only the emotional issues that got me to this point, but also in the solutions.

I am going to tell you my story as it happens and if it helps one other person deal with their issues than I will have succeeded. I am open to suggestions on both fronts, recipes or cost-cutting advice all greatly welcomed!