Friday, February 27, 2015

Best "Healthy" Muffins Ever!

I made muffins today.  This alone is not a big deal.  I like making muffins and I tend to make them often.  They are individual-sized snacks that have limitless possibilities.  Breakfast muffins, veggie muffins, blueberry, cinnamon, oatmeal muffins....  There is bran, flour, whole-wheat flour, oat flour based muffins.  I love how easy it is to "sneak" healthy things (ie zucchini) inside of the sugary sweet capsule of warm, gooey deliciousness.  I love muffins!

Today I tried out a new muffin recipe.  It was risky, and I knew that when I began measuring out the first ingredients.  There was carrots involved.  Diced carrots to be exact.  Carrots are a vegetable, and a very visible one, at that.  Baked inside of a dessert or "snack", it would most certainly be detected by the keen eyes of my brood.  Not only were there carrots, there were apples (acceptable), walnuts (iffy) and raisins (also acceptable) involved in the recipe.  I was concerned, but I had all of the ingredients for this healthful(ish) recipe of muffin goodness so it was a no-brainer.  Baking began.

My kids both LOVED the end result.  It is rare that they both love a single recipe.  This one was a winner all around!  Both boys agreed to take the muffins for snack at school and both ate all of their "tester" muffins in two bites flat.  Success!

Here is the recipe that I followed.

Sunshine Muffins

3 eggs
1/2 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups carrots, grated
1 cup apples finely chopped (I used Gala)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (I used walnuts)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine all ingredients except carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts; mix well. Once all ingredients are mixed well stir in the carrots, apples, raisins, and nuts.

Grab some muffins tins and grease them. Then fill each muffin tin about 3/4's full. Bake for 15-18 minutes.


Remove from muffin tins and let cool. Then enjoy!
I call this recipe healthy"ish" because it does contain sugar.  My batch came out to 18 muffins so the 3/4 of a cup of sugar was a good trade off for me for the victory of having my boys SEE and EAT flecks of carrots in their muffin.  They are not picky generally, but seeing a veggie in a "sweet treat" could have pushed them over the edge easily.  Next time I may increase the apple and decrease the amount of sugar to make these a better snack for them.  I do the same "trick" with zucchini muffins in the summer.  The first batch is full of sugar and deliciousness and the boys swoon over the sweetness.  Then the following batches of muffins have decreased amounts of sugar.  I don't want to "trick" the boys into eating hidden veggies, so I am sure to point out that there are carrots involved in what you are about to place inside your mouth.... but I am no fool either.  I sugar those babies up the first time around.  I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night.

*Just wanted to add that my oldest requested these again today!  He wants them in his snack for school this week....  That is a huge deal!  Try them out if you haven't yet!

Thursday, February 26, 2015

5 Ways We Saved Money

Once we identified our goal, I began looking at all of our regular expenses using the simple calculation to identify savings with compound interest over a ten year period.  Some expenses were very apparent.  Here are some of the top things we adjusted:

#1 Cut the Cable

This was a no brainer, there are countless financial sites from Market Watch to Consumer Reports to my favorites The Simple Dollar and Mr. Money Mustache that say to do this IMMEDIATELY.  Even AARP recommends ditching cable.  Since we already had an Amazon Prime EDU account, the next logical choice was to get Netflix streaming service for $8.99/mo.  There is so much content for both adults and kids, we have been lacking for nothing.  We used the DVD trial for 1-month, but there is no way to make it worth the expense, so we cancelled.  We have discovered great programs like Cosmos and House of Cards.  We even had a Star Trek marathon during our frigid President's Day break. We use a Roku and AppleTV to watch all of our programs.

We could not cut the cord completely because we needed Internet.  The great thing about just having basic Internet service in my area is that the cable company cannot filter out the basic cable channels.  So we still got the Super Bowl in HD and enjoy a commercial laden version of Walking Dead every Sunday.


  • Previous cable bill with Internet: $136/mo
  • Internet Only: $35/mo
  • Netflix: $8.99/mo
  • $136-($35+$9) = $92/mo or $15,916 savings over ten years

#2 More Economical Vehicle

My '09 Pontiac Vibe is a great car.  I love the hatchback and it is great on gas getting 28mpg combined.  My car was not the issue.  Stephanie's vehicle on the other hand only got 14mpg combined, her beloved '05 Jeep Wrangler had to go.  Although awesome in so many ways, we were outgrowing it.  The boys were outgrowing the backseat, they play two extremely large instruments and our puppy is only getting bigger.  We will miss the top off, raising the roof to Usher's Yeah!

We traded the '05 Jeep Wrangler (85k) for a '06 Subaru Outback (69k).  A much better fit for our family.  We did not go with something even more economical because we live in the snow belt of Western NY and AWD is pretty awesome in the snow.

  • Gas Difference: Jeep 14 MPG @ 10k miles * $3.00 =  $2142 vs. Subaru @ 23 MPG @ 10k miles = $1304
  • Savings of $838/yr or $70/mo
  • $12,110 savings in 10 years
* Subaru is also cheaper on insurance by $121/yr or $1730 savings in 10 years

#3 Auto Insurance

We also adjusted out auto insurance removing comprehensive and collision.  Our cars are older and high milage.  They are worth more to us, than the insurance company.  We are willing to accept the risk.  Insurance companies make money based on a high percentage of people NOT getting into accidents and scaring them into taking the highest level of insurance possible. We do not own new cars, we do not own expensive cars and they are 100% debt free.

  • Savings of $580/yr or $48/mo
  • $8304 savings in 10 years (A new car!)

#4 Vanguard

Since I was young, I have been investing with Wells Fargo.  We did not know any better and thought they were looking out for our best interest.  With the help of some education (See Jim Collins' Stock Series among others), we made the decision to divorce Wells Fargo and invest in Index Funds and REIT's at Vanguard.  It is too early to tell exactly what this is going to save us, but initially I am estimating minimally 2.4% (1.5% WF Brokerage fee + 0.9% avg. fund expense*).  I am through paying for their Audi's and Mercedes!

#5 Sold Items on Craigslist and Ebay

In the spirit of simplifying our lives, we went through our basement and began selling items on Craigslist and Ebay.  We have collectables, old gold chains, car parts, pictures, etc that we just did not need anymore.  Our first pass yielded over $1200 and still many more things to sell.  All of this money went directly to our mortgages.  Once you resolved to not be attached to any THINGS you will find your options for making some money are endless.
  • This $1200 should be $2,411 savings after ten years.

In Summary

These 5 simple changes yielded some real cash over the course of ten years assuming 7% annual compound interest.
  • Cutting Cable: $15,916
  • Change Vehicles: $13,840
  • Auto Ins. Redux: $8,304
  • Vanguard (assume $100K investment): $34,000
  • Ebay and Craigslist: $2,411
After ten years, we will save $74,471.  Not much work to save almost $75k!

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

What We Did Today - Bootcamp 2/24 and 2/26

Here is what we did this week in Bootcamp! 
Use regular Tabata timing 20/10. 
 

Click Here For a Free Online Tabata Timer 

 

Set 1:
Fast Cross Jacks or Reach Down Cross Air Jack
Plie Squat/Plie Pulse

Set 2:
Pilates Pedal Push (holding behind leg)
Beast Hold, Knee tap

Set 3:
One Leg Burpees
Chatterunga Hold

Set 4:
Punch Skiis
Close Leg Squat, Step Back Touch Ground, deep lunge

Set 5:
One Leg, Table Top Lift and Down
Lateral Squat Jumps

Set 6:
Elbow Plank, Hip dip touch – all one side
Pushup, Downdog

Set 7:
Single Leg Squat with DBs, touch down to ground
Side lunge, curl



High Plank, Downdog leg up, Plank Knee in, DD Leg up, Heel Tap 5x each side
Chest Fly, Legs up, Up and down

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Financial Independence: Ground Zero

Over my past few blog entries, I explained our Goal of Financial Independence, the simple math of FI in Running the Numbers on Early Retirement, and the Impact of Saving a Few Chronic Dollars with Compound Interest.  And Stephanie explained How We Pay for Stuff.

Now lets put it all together and show our starting point.

Recall, in Our Fiscal Epiphany Stephanie stated our goals:
  1. We pay off our mortgage(s) in less than 8 years.
  2. Mike wants to "semi-retire" as soon as we can.
  3. We declutter our lives of stuff. 
  4. We spend as much time as possible together as a family.
By using Stephanie's operational budget as our starting point, let's look at our current spending, debts and assets. 

Our Spending.

Using Stephanie's envelope system, we have been able to get our spending under $25k, more specifically $22,584.  This includes groceries, utilities, spending money, vacations, car repairs, home repairs, auto insurance, gas, clothes, gifts, charity and even wine and hair cuts, okay Stephanie's hair cut. Me and the boys all go to the same barber named Mom.  Of course, this is our budget.  It has been in fairly accurate since we began several months ago.  This DOES not include property taxes, mortgages and health insurance. We will re-evaluate after we have been through a full year's cycle.  Even though we budget for an item, it does not mean we need to spend the budget every month.  We still are making fiscally responsible decisions with every purchase. Any extra money is going toward our mortgages or stock investment.

Our Debts.

The $22,584 yearly spending amount DOES NOT include our only debt, our mortgages.  Yes, we have two.  We have our primary residence worth about $270k with about $125k left on a 15yr mortgage at 3.75%.  Not too bad.  We also have a lake house worth about $110k with about $77k on a 15yr at 3.5%.  I am not going to go into detail on these properties, it really deserves its own blog entry.

So you can see why our #1 goal is to payoff our mortgages.  We have made some adjustments to our lifestyle to get down to the $22k spending level as well as shifted some assets to get some cash to throw at our mortgages.

Our Assets.

We have been very lucky to to be relatively debt free.  We paid off our student loans quickly and have had great support from our parents for higher education.  Although we have made several car related mistakes, we are now on the straight and narrow with used cars paid for with cash.  We currently have 3 cars, a '09 Pontiac Vibe, '06 Subaru Outback and an '82 Alfa Romeo Spider.  The Alfa was not a mistake, it has taught me a ton about cars that only saves us money, plus it was basically free albeit highly unnecessary.  Other than the cars, we have some stuff that we have been holding onto for several years for no apparent reason.  Oh yeah, we also have a small 14" fishing boat and some kayaks and a canoe.  Other than that, we just have out furniture, appliances, kids toys and clothes.

It's date night without the kids and time for another beer, in my next blog entry I will go over all of our financial changes that are going to help achieve our goals.




Photo credit: Jeremy Brooks / Foter / CC BY-NC

Friday, February 20, 2015

What We Ate Today - Vegetarian Lentil Chili

It is officially Lent and if you are Catholic you know that means meatless recipes are on the menu.   For my family, meatless meals grace our table at least twice a week... it reduces the grocery bill and it is healthy too.  This week I had a meatless chili on the menu for Friday.  I love a good traditional chili recipe with cheese and sour cream on top.  Come Fall, when the weather changes, that is the first "fall food" I look forward to making. I was flipping through a magazine in the waiting room at the dentist's office and saw this Vegetarian Lentil Chili recipe.  It looked really good, so I snapped a picture of it and put it on the monthly menu.  It was super easy to make.  All the ingredients get thrown into a crockpot and pot does the work from there.  It was so very good in a "sort-of-traditional-but-with-a-twist" kinda way.  I will be making this often here, even when Lent is long gone.


I should also add that I doubled the recipe to have enough to freeze leftovers.  Glad I did that and I suggest that you do the same - you won't regret it!


Vegetarian “Lent"il Chili
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 celery stalk, chopped
  • 2 bell peppers, chopped
  • 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 1 can water
  • 1 cup dried lentils
  • 1 15 oz can Bush's Pinto Beans (I did not have Bush's in my pantry so I used regular old canned pinto beans as well as a can of black beans because I love them so much in chili)
  • 2 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons cumin
  • 1 tablespoon oregano
  • 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa

Instructions
  1. Place all ingredients into slow cooker. Cook on low heat for 8 hours.
  2. Serve with some shredded cheese, sour cream, avocado, or whatever else you like on chili.

Impact of Saving a Few Chronic Dollars with Compound Interest

Up until recently, I would not call our lifestyle frugal, but rather conservative. We have had fun with our money, but looked for ways to save money at every opportunity. I received some good advice when I was starting my career. My boss told me that with every raise, take half of it and invest it.  I directly deposited half of every raise into my stock account.  We have been doing this for years and have accumulated a pretty good net egg. Even with this philosophy, we have spent our money on some big items. It seems we either go big or go home.  After all, you only live once and the kids are only young once. A story for another blog entry.

Our mindset has changed since we met Mr. Money Mustache.  We are now looking at everything we spend money on as either a necessary expense of life or as a missed opportunity to invest.  We want a different lifestyle and in order to do that, we need to invest at every opportunity.  When you take this mindset, you analyze every expense, especially those that are chronic.  MMM uses an easy calculation to determine your ten year return on that opportunity to invest.  Simply:
  • to calculate a weekly expense compounded over ten years, multiply the price by 752
  • for a monthly expense, multiply by 173
The important word in this calculation is compounded.  Compounding interest is a very powerful thing.  A good explanation of this concept can be found at The Simple Dollar's post on How "Letting Your Money Work For You" Really Works.

For example, if you go to lunch every day spending conservatively $8 per day or $40 per week, trimming that expense and investing it instead gives you $30,080 (752*$40) after ten years of compounding.  Gonna brown bag it tomorrow?

If you can look at everything you do using these calculations, you can really see how reducing chronic spending can lead to big returns in the future.

 Photo credit: orangeacid / Foter / CC BY

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Running the Numbers on Early Retirement

The formula for retiring early is quite simple.  All you need to do is figure out your annual spending, multiply that by 25 and use the 4% rule to withdraw funds from your nest egg forever.  Simple.

Let's dig into what this means a bit more with a simple hypothetical example.  Mr. and Mrs. Walleye make $100,000 combined after taxes, both are 39 years old with two kids.  They save 20% per year for retirement and have $100,000 in investments.  Not too bad and way above most Americans.  Based on the information given, they live off of $80,000 ($100k-20%, the money has to go somewhere).  They have new cars, a mortgage, go on expensive vacations to Disney, eat out a few times per month and have an eye for expensive items like Coach bags.  I made a spreadsheet with their expenses and it it reasonable to spend $80k/year based on their lifestyle.  Overall, they are not extravagant.  Their only debt is in cars and a mortgage.

What does this mean for their retirement?  To be fair, lets reduce their needed income after retirement to $60,000.  They will not have a mortgage and their work expenses (commuting) will not exist.  However, they are still the same people wanting new cars, expensive accessories and to travel to posh resorts.  So based on the retirement rules above they will need to save $1.5 million (25 x $60,000).  This means they will need to work for another 21.9 years.   They would be able to retire at age 61.  Not too shabby.

Now, lets look at the same couple, Mr. and Mrs. Muskie, same age, same income and same investments at age 39.  The only difference between the Walleye's and the Muskie's is that the Muskie's have reduced their spending habits and increased their retirement savings to 50% of their income.  Mr. and Mrs. Muskie found away to pay off their mortgage early by making these changes when they were 36.  Instead of investing 50% of their income into stocks, they used the surplus it to pay off the remainder of their mortgage in 3 years.  Now at age 39, their house is paid for, they have adjusted their spending to be able to invest 50% of their income.  This philosophy allowed them to cut their living expenses to less than $30,000 including property taxes.  And, by the way, still live a rich and fulfilling life.

Mr. and Mrs. Muskie's timetable for retirement is quite different from the Walleye's.  The Muskie's goal is $750,000 (25 x $30,000).  Now that their house is paid for, they are now able to save almost 70% of their income.  At this savings rate, they will be able to retire in 6.6 years.  Wow, financially independent by 45 years old.  If they learned these principles when they were out of college, 45 might have been 35.

Stephanie and Mike want to be like Mr. and Mrs. Muskie.  Our numbers are quite a bit different.  We have much more invested, so we have a good head start.  Aside from mortgages and property taxes, we have pared our living expenses down to under $25,000 thanks to How we pay for stuff.  We are now focused on paying off our mortgages, yes plural.

The important part of the formula is cutting down your spending.  I equate this principle to fitness and weight loss.  Eating healthy is the foundation for dropping pounds and keeping them off.  You can work out like a maniac everyday, but you can easily negate the workout by making one bad food choice.  A 30 minute run can burn 435 calories, but can be quickly wiped out by a hotdog.  Saving money is eating healthy and investing wisely is working out.  Both are needed, but have different benefits on your body and wallet.


Photo credit: 401(K) 2013 / Foter / CC BY-SA

Monday, February 16, 2015

Cleaning Stainless Steel on the Cheap!

About a year ago I noticed some staining/spots on our stainless steel appliances that I was not able to get out by using the stainless specified cleaners that cost more than I care to admit that I spent on them.  I panicked and did what every housewife would do, I Googled what to do!  The first, most reccommended and easiest method of removal was so obvious I first thought that it could not possibly work.  But I tried it, and it worked better than any cleaner I had ever bought.  Best thing was, I already had it in my pantry!

Olive Oil!!!





It is hard to see the smudging in the picture.  You can kind of see the discoloring in the bottom right hand corner of the freezer drawer.





Here is a little better picture of the streaking and discoloring.



Much better!  Just a little olive oil on a paper towel and streaks are gone!!!!!



That is until the dog finds the project "lick worthy"...


Sunday, February 15, 2015

What My Dog Eats - Stella Stew!

First, let me introduce you to our newest, cutest, and furriest addition to our family - Stella! 

She is adorable, sweet, energetic, curious, mischievous, and stubborn.  We love her so much!  She is 10 months old now.  We got her at 7 weeks old.  I can't believe how big she has gotten and I know that she is still growing like a weed. 

Stella does adorable things all day long.  Things like...



Lay in fresh laundry piles.....


Find the sunniest spot in the house and lay in it.....


Take part during yoga exercises by laying directly underneath someone doing Downward Dog...


Help herself to a yogurt from an unsupervised, half-put-away, grocery bag full of food.
As you can obviously see, this dog has it tough.  She clearly has figured out a way to correctly open a yogurt from the top which makes her the smartest dog ever.  Clearly.

When Stella was a wee-pup, she was skinny.  The vet was concerned about her gaining weight so he suggested I add in our food in whatever quanities we felt would entice her to eat and gain weight.  We have always given our dogs "people food" over the years.  I contemplated the whole raw diet thing for her, but with our lifestyle right now, I didn't think it was the best option for us.  So, this would be the next best thing.  I invented Stella Stew and I am still so happy and excited about it!

All week long, as I am making dinners/meals for the family, I save any cut veggies and fruits that I otherwise might have tossed aside.  Nothing "inedible", just pieces of apples that were trimmed off, celery ends, potatoes that were left over, etc....  I pop them in a freezer bag in the freezer.  I take that bag at weeks end and I add in some meat that I have left over from the week, usually a breast of chicken, and I throw in a starch (if potatoes weren't frozen in the first place).  I pop it all in the crockpot and viola!  Stella Stew!


Last weeks version of Stella Stew had some tomato sauce, potatoes, carrots and celery.


After it is finished cooking, I scoop it into the Ball freezer safe jars.


Pop it into the "Stella" bin in the freezer and we are good to go for the week!

When she was really little I would give her a jar with her kibble 2 or sometimes 3x a day.  These days she gets kibble all day and a jar mixed in once a day, usually for breakfast.  I do admit though, she gets a lot of scraps during the day of meats and fruits and veggies.  I have never seen a dog that loves fruit as much as she does!  She drools over my apple cores and orange slices!





She is gaining weight great these days and is still on the skinnier side of normal, but I suspect that she will thicken up a bit after she hits a year.

Goal of Financial Independence

Hi, this is Mike, Stephanie's wonderful husband.  I have even been called Motivational Mike on occasion (more on that at another time).  You have been reading about All of Steph's Stuff, however she is giving me the opportunity to blog about some of our Mike's Stuff and our journey to achieve a better life through financial independence.

A little about me.  I am 37 years old, though last birthday I thought I was 38.  A slight miscalculation by me, a Mathematics major.  The good news is, Stephanie is also a year younger than she thought!  I share Stephanie's passion for fitness, healthy eating and enjoying every minute we can with our boys.  I am currently employed by the state as an IT manager.  This career has treated us well.  I make a very good salary with great benefits.  I work for a great boss that would probably take a bullet for me.  The work environment is dynamic and my co-workers are great.  It has allowed us to enjoy a great life, has allowed Stephanie to stay at home with our boys, and given us the opportunity to be debt free (aside from mortgages) at an early age.

Even though I have achieved some great things in life, I have always wanted something more.  It took me 37 years, marrying someone like Stephanie (I'm a type A, she is a type B), and having children to realize that the something more was not things (i.e. money), but rather time.

I also love to learn.  My original degree was in CIS.  I then took advantage of a benefit to earn a Mathematics degree because I love numbers.  And now, I am beginning a Masters degree in Ecology.  I do not like to sit around and am always looking for something different to do.  I love cars, fixing things and fishing.  Over the years my interests and priorities have changed, but nothing is more apparent right now that my priority is working toward the goal of financial independence.  I want to have time to spend with my family and have the comfort to just do something different.

Stephanie's acceptance as our family's Chief Operating Officer (COO), has allowed me to invest more time in planning our future as Chief Financial Officer (CFO).  We are both working toward the same goal, Stephanie day-to-day and me with long term planning.

My plan is to discuss our starting point, some of the good things we have been doing, some of the mistakes we have made and how we put this plan into high gear a couple of months ago.  I will share some great advice from my favorite blogs, like Mr. Money Mustache and Jim Collins and other tidbits of information I have picked up along the way.  I hope you join us for our journey and get inspired to begin your own journey to a better, more fulfilling life.  The goal is closer than you think!


Photo credit: Oengna / Foter / CC BY-NC-SA

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Dinner Idea - Crockpot Chicken and Gravy

Here is a healthy and EASY crockpot meal for you and your family.  Throw all the ingredients in a crockpot in the morning and let it to its cooking thing all day.  Come home to a magically delicious, healthy meal!

Here is the short list of ingredients that you need:
  • 1-2 pounds chicken (I used boneless thighs, but breasts would work well too)
  • 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup
  • 2 packets of chicken gravy mix
  • 2 cups water
  • salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste
  • 1/2 cup sour cream (optional)
  • rice, noodles, or mashed potatoes to serve
 Directions:


Throw soup, water, and gravy packets in your crockpot.


Mix it up well.

Throw in your chicken.  It is best to defrost your chicken before this step but clearly I did not have time for such details.  I added an hour or so to the cooking time to compensate. 

Cook on low in your crockpot for 6-8 hours.  Break up chicken with a fork and if you choose to, and I do think it is in your best interest to do so, add in the sour cream and stir.  I also added some frozen peas, mainly because I knew my kids were more likely to accidentally swallow some random peas than eating steamed  asparagus.  That worked too.  

Season with salt and pepper and garlic powder at this point.  I didn't add much of any of that to be honest, just a little bit of pepper.  The gravy packets were plenty flavorful enough for us.


Then plate it up!  We had ours with asparagus and some mashed potatoes.  Yummy and easy!  

Friday, February 13, 2015

How I Worked Out Today: Insanity Max 30: Friday Fight



NOT what I was expecting!  Hours after showering off the buckets of sweat, I am still trying to decide if I liked it or not.  It was tough.  Shaun T. himself was nervous at the beginning of the workout.  That itself should have been enough of a warning of what was ahead.  Friday Fight was a challenge for me.  I consider myself to be in good, to slightly-better-than-good physical shape.  Cardio was never a strength of mine, I much prefer lifting weights and bodywieght training but I can hold my own.  I was expecting a "fighting" workout.  Kicking and punching, my favorite way to burn off the calories and some aggression.  I instead was left gasping for air, crouched in a puddle of my own DNA on the floor.  There were punches and kicks, but mostly there was burpees, pushups, planks and a hell of a lot of jumping around.

Shaun T. describes Friday Fight as the fight between your mind and your body.  I am trying to figure out if my mind or my body was the victor.  It was indeed one hell of a workout.  It was 30 minutes long, as are all the workouts in Max 30.  I love that.  As hard as it got and as much as I wanted to quit I knew that there were only 30 minutes to get through.  I totally got through it and I will tell you that the "after" feels better than the "during".  A crap ton of calories sweated out and I feel better for it.  It is worth the effort and I am curious how I do the next time Friday Fight rolls around.  Notice I didn't say I am looking forward to it???

Overall I give Insanity Max 30: Friday Fight 4 out of 5 water bottles!  It was tough and challenging and I said swear words a lot... but challenging is good.  If everything was easy, I would get bored too easy.  






To find out more about Shaun T, Insanity Max 30 and other Beachbody programs, click HERE


Wednesday, February 11, 2015

Cardio Kick Track List - Winter 2015

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

What We Did Today - Bootcamp 2/10 and 2/12


Here is what we did this week in Bootcamp! 
Use regular Tabata timing 20/10. 
 

Click Here For a Free Online Tabata Timer

Set 1:
Front Back Clap Jacks
One Leg Mt Climber

Set 2:
Switch Pop Lunges
V-pushups (one leg)

Set 3:
Fast Knee Ins
Squat, upright row

Set 4:
W curls
Plank arm punch or balance pushups

Set 5:
MB Jack Twist
Up and Down Arms with DBs

Set 6:
High Knee Punching
Pike Up, Groiner (all right)
 
Set 7:
Vsit, tap overs
Kneeling One Arm Row

Monthy Menu Master List - February

Each month after the second pay check is deposited in the bank, I plan and shop for my family's meals for the month.  Each month I plan out 30 meals as well as a few "kid meals" for the nights when Mike and I eat a meal that I know the kids just won't eat.  I always try to plan a double batch for leftovers and lunches.  I keep breakfasts pretty simple since my kids eat pretty much the same 3 things over and over.  I make a big ole list and each week pick what I have a taste for and what works best with our schedules.  I always have 3 or 4 crockpot meals, 4 Taco Tuesdays, and four Fiesta Fridays planned.  What can I say, we like our Mexican food and they are easy to prepare. 


Here is February's Master List! If I have the recipe it is linked below.

1.  Pear Medallion Pork Chops
2.  Quinoa, Chicken Kielbasa with Peppers and Onions
3.  Chicken, Cranberry and Walnut Wraps
4.  Black Bean Soup and Cornbread 
5.  Southwest Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potatoes
6.  Stuffed Sweet Potatoes
7.  Roastitoes
8.  Baked Shrimp with Tomato and Feta
9.  Turkey Sausage and Apple Saute
10.  Caribbean Pork and Mango Chili
11.  Sweet and Sour Chicken and Lo Mein Noodles/Stir fry
12.  Smoky Black Bean Rice and salad
13.  Lentil Chili 
14.  Crockpot Beans and Ham with Roasted Potatoes and Veggies
15.  Roasted Chicken and Squash
16.  Portabello Sliders
17.  Pita Pizzas
18.  Pancakes and Sausage "burritos"
19.  Waffles and Fruit
20.  Taco Chili
21.  Salads (Taco salad?)
22. Taco Tuesday
23. Taco Tuesday
24. Taco Tuesday
25. Taco Tuesday
26. Fiesta Friday
27. Fiesta Friday
28. Fiesta Friday
29. Fiesta Friday
30. Chicken Burrito Bowls

Kids Meals:
1. Layered Taco Cups
2. Sausage Skewers
3. Meatball Subs
4. Hamburger Soup
5. Cheeseburger Mac
6. Hotdogs and Mac N Cheese



Monday, February 9, 2015

My Monthly Mega Shopping Trip

Today begins my most favorite week of the month - shopping week!!!  I look forward to it like a kid waits for Christmas morning.  I obsess over menus and Pin ideas on my Pinterest boards all month long and then this is the week that I put the deep cleaning on hold and focus on what my family is going to eat for the next month.  The WHOLE month.  Breakfasts, lunches, dinners and snacks are planned and shopped for.  It takes some patience and a lot of planning but I found the effort to be so worth it.  Less trips to the grocery store means less money spent.  A month of planned, shopped for meals means lots of options and less "what's for dinner" stress at home.  A full pantry, until grocery day near again...which is wear we are until Friday this week... Now we play the game "What can we make with....?"

Here are a few points to note about G-Day:
1.  I go to three stores.  Aldi, Walmart, and Wegmans
2.  I go alone to Aldi and Walmart.  Wegmans is a family affair because we usually need two carts and I enjoy torturing my kids at least once monthly and this fulfills the quota.
3.  I use the Wegmans website and App on my phone to make a very specific, detailed grocery list.  If you create an account, you can make a grocery list right on their webpage and it will add up your total for you.  This is a HUGE help to me.  It allows me to stay on budget and make any changes that I need to in my meal plans before going to the store where last minute decisions can be stressful and backfire at the register.   Having this list helps me when I begin shopping at Aldi's and Walmart as well.  I will get into that in a bit.


First, let's talk about how the week of shopping goes.

Sunday - I make the last Weekly Meal Plan before grocery shopping.  This is the most difficult plan to make of the month because it usually requires some creativity with ingredients.  So far though, we have had plenty of food to last us.  To see how I do my Weekly Meal Plank click Here

Monday - Clean out the fridge day.  I pull out everything left over in the fridge and give the shelves, walls and drawers a good wipe down.  I toss anything expired and make note of what needs to be used up.

Tuesday - I finish/review my Monthly Master Menu List and add any ingredients I may need to the grocery list. 

Wednesday - I go to the bank and pull out the cash for my shopping days ahead.  We only use cash for purchases, which includes groceries.  This keeps us on budget and makes me second guess every item that goes into our cart.

Thursday- I head, alone, to Aldi and Walmart with my Wegmans list that I view on the app I have on my phone.  I get as many items there as I can, provided they are cheaper than the Wegmans price.  If I find something cheaper, I get it.  I know by getting it cheaper than what Wegmans has it listed for will reduce my shopping list and make some wiggle room for "fun" items like snacks or convenience foods that I normally wouldn't add to my list.  I check it off my Wegmans list right away in the store so I do not forget.  If I wait to do it at home I know the first chance I will have is after the groceries are put away and dinner is cleaned up.  By then I either will have forgotten what I got or I will just plain old forget to update the list. This shopping trip that I do is where I really think my "power" over my grocery budget comes into play.  I take the time to go to more than one store.  I believe it is more than worth it to have an extra $50 in the end.

Friday - Family Grocery Shopping Day!  My kids borderline dread this day, but my husband and I try to make it less of a drag by buying them each smoothies as we begin the trip. It also assures us a good 10 minutes of silence while we find, bag and weigh our produce.   Each time we start shopping we grab one cart and each time we have needed to get a second.  We just get that much stuff.  It is a whole months worth of food.  A months worth of cereal, tortilla chips, juice boxes, eggs, coffee, produce, meat, chicken stock, yogurts, bread...  you get the picture.  For this trip I actually print out the Wegmans shopping list.  I do this because it organizes everything by store sections and aisle with pictures.  Yes, pictures of the items!  This helps when you need Kid A to go grab something from the previous aisle and you don't want to take your two-cart parade back for it.  If given a picture, Kid A is more likely to bring back the correct item.  Or something very close to it.  Usually.

For our family I have found that planning and shopping the way I do saves us a lot of money and a lot of stress throughout the month.  Our grocery budget for the entire month for food, toiletries, household items and everything is $500.  I remember weeks in the past where I spend $300 in one week on food items that I thought we needed but never used.  Cash was flowing out, I was buying heaps of food and at the end of the month I couldn't recall what I actually spend it on.  I shop once a month, which means less trips out and less temptation to buy stuff we don't need.

 


Saturday, February 7, 2015

How I worked out today: Insanity Max 30: Cardio Challenge

Yikes!

So, I must state first that I did this workout for the first time just hours after teaching my Body Combat class.  I was wiped, but I so wanted to see what Shaun T had up his sleeveless T-shirt for me today.  Mike was home and ready to workout out, so I was game.

Here are the highlights: I sweated like a freaking maniac, and also, uber calorie were burned.

Some things to note: There will be cursing.  Like the loud, vulgar, your-mom-don't-want-to-know-about-it kind of swearing.  Rest assured though, Shaun T actually swears in the video because it is so effing hard for him. Slightly reassuring, but barely enough to calm the waves of vomit erupting from within…..   but it is only 30 minutes.  So whatever.

Right?!

Overall, I find Insanity Max 30: Cardio Challege to be extremely awesome and super challenging.  It is no joke.  I both fear and look forward to the next time I face it.

I give it 4 out of 5 water bottles.  I liked it a lot, and perhaps it was the fact that this was my second intense workout of the day, but I found it hard.  Like harrrrrrd, hard.  I like a challenge though, for the most part.  

To find out more about Shaun T, Insanity Max 30 and other Beachbody programs, click HERE