There's more to fitness than exercise

I'd like to say I've been taking a hiatus to work on personal development or something snazzy like that, but that would be a lie. I haven't been working out because I hit a lazy streak, and I'm running with it. The one area I'm not lazy in at the moment is our finances. We have GOT to get out of debt - or at least lower it a lot - before kids come in the next (hopefully) year or two, as those little munchkins are expensive in their own right.

I took a step a few weeks ago that at least got us on the map to the right track, and bought Dani Johnson's "War on Debt" program. I watched the DVD, took notes, and decided Zach and I would do this together! Well, life always likes to toss a wrench into the best laid plans, so I'm basically flying solo and telling him what we are going to do. Rule one is to find all the unnecessary spending in your budget, so I did that this afternoon. Last night, I did step two, and listed all our debt in order from lowest to highest amount and made a pretty killer little chart, if I do say.

This morning, I went through and created this awesomeness:

Now, I separated ours out like this because all of our school loans and a few other bills are on an autopay set up through our bank. The other monthly bills category is a guesstimate rounded up to the nearest pretty looking even number (no change), based on last month's bills (Vectren will go up come winter, as that's our gas bill). I probably flubbed when I totaled our savings total with the bills in the monthly outgoing, but I figure it's leaving our checking account for another account, so it counts as an expenditure in my book, as I can't use it to pay down the debt. I also didn't add in our retirement savings to this (bad, me!), basically because I forgot. There's so much to go through! 

That last column - "fat" - that is unnecessary spending, and boy, do we know how to do it. Friday lunch out with my dad has turned into not such a bad thing, as dad has said he'll buy my lunch if I drive - but my gas is still being used. 

I'm really hoping to get a second job soon, to get the loans in order and get rid of the credit cards, but we also need to ditch the coffee (especially since we have a coffee pot at home, and Zach has the K-cup thingies at work), eating out (I pride myself on my cooking), and the shopping. I really didn't need some of the stuff (yarn) that I bought over that weekend. Although a few things in the shopping category was a one time thing for the photoshoot I had a few weeks ago, like a mani/pedi and tanning. I never tan, and I almost always do my own nails. 

If you want to know Dani Johnson's 'War on Debt', I put the link above. I'm not going to give the woman's secrets away, but I will tell you the strategy is so simple, it's ridiculous, and it's only $100, so it's way cheaper than that Ramsey guy. 

I'm still here

After our team call last night, I realized I haven't written one of these in a while. The fact that Lauren brought it up during our team call really hit it home.

My name is Chelsie, and I need a break. Welcome to the human side of me. I'm not go go go all the time. I just graduated with my Masters degree, and other than a year in between my last Associates and my Bachelors, I have been going to school since mom enrolled me in Kindergarten back in 1990. In case you don't want to do the math, that's 24 years of school. TWENTY-FOUR YEARS. If you think it sounds like a long time, try living it. It sucked - the outcome was great, but the first 4 years of our marriage was "Do you have homework tonight? When is your paper due? Would your parents mind if I used their computer - this is due while we'll be at their house, and the professor hasn't opened it yet." Thank God I married an awesome guy, and he not only put up with it, but encouraged me to follow my dreams.

SO, in the words of Ron White, I told you that story to tell you this story. I'm taking a much needed break from everything. I'm reading things I want to read, crocheting because I finally have time, spending time with my awesomely amazing husband and trying to make up for lost time. I actually get to watch TV now, although I couldn't find anything good last night, so I wound up watching a documentary on Marie Curie. (Fun fact I learned, Marie is the one who found the element Polonium, and since it was unnamed, she named it for her mother country of Poland - she was an expat living in France.)

I do intend to continue working out - I'll be restarting Cize tonight - and posting things about that on Facebook. Since I feel like I've been constantly going since the dawn of time, however, I will be taking time for ME. We all need that, sometimes, and now is mine.

Feel free to keep following me, reading up on my exercise journey, and know that I'm still cheering you on, even if I'm currently on the couch with a book or my crochet project.

With graduation over, just waiting on my diploma to come in the mail, I'm kind of like Muffin up there - trying to find my purpose in life again, since all I've known for the past 4.5 years is being a student. Bear with me - I'm a work in progress.

Revvin' it up!

I'm finally almost over this stupid cold, so I can finally get back to working out - and just in time. I just booked my boudoir photoshoot from two weeks from today! Holy cow, talk about going into hyper overdrive. I have to pick out the outfits for this thing, continue to get my workouts in, get my nails done - aaaaaahhhhh!!!!!! Cue stress and a bit of a panic attack, as this is completely outside my comfort zone, but something I want to do for both Zach and I. I want to drive him crazy, and I want to be able to look back down the road and be able to say "I was HOT! And here's the proof!"

Today I have to finish off the rest of the Body Combat - only 45 minutes of that left for phase one, then do the workout for the Change It Up Challenge that Sondra started, and my own workout for the Little Black Dress Challenge I started today. Cize has been backed off until next Monday, so I'll be doing two workouts a day for about a week, three for a week, then back down to two. I promise to stop if I start to feel pain or a little off - I learned from that last time with my shoulder. Luckily, the LBD challenge isn't that terrible, just three to four moves a day, with a rest day every 4 days. Cize is just dancing, so it shouldn't be too bad. As long as I keep my food intake on track, I should be fine with all this.

In order to follow along with my workout, I'm planning to up my nutrition shake intake, and cut all junk. That's right, no Blizzards for me for a month. The only time I'm allowing myself to splurge is on August 15th, when we have my graduation party. I will only be graduating with a MLIS once, so I might as well make it count!

For the next two weeks, this is going to be my mantra more than usual. Time to kick some tail in the gym! Only 30 more minutes of work, and I'm there! Who's with me?