Baby Steps

Weight: 331.2
Total loss: 18.8 pounds

Man, I am really getting sick of the 330s. I'm still within my goal time limit, but because of an out-of-control "treat day" earlier in the month, things have been going a bit slower than they needed to be. I just have to keep telling myself, "Slow and steady, slow and steady," but it is so easy to get impatient and anxious.

I am down about a pound today, my lowest yet. And while it is such a small amount, I felt like I could really notice a difference when I looked in the mirror. I'll bet every person who loses weight has a particular body part that they watch like a hawk to see progress... my part is the place directly below my boobs. It's where I always first lose weight, and it goes from there down the various rolls of my stomach, like an avalanche. My tummy overall is definitely shrinking, even if only I can notice it. When I bend down, there's so much less resistance which makes a number of tasks easier. I told C. one of the things I am most looking forward to when we both lose our weight is that we'll be able to get closer to each other when we hug. He's lost just about as much as I have already, even though he started a couple weeks later! Men!

Money Update

I guess I haven't written too much about my money situation, probably because it just doesn'tseem as interesting to me, and the results of my efforts aren't as quantitative. I don't think that I have mentioned anything about the online course I signed up for a couple weeks ago. It's called "Where Does All My Money Go?" and it's through the Genesee Community College and Edu2Go, which offers all sorts of interesting classes for just $79 each. You can see a listing of the courses here. So far, the money course is giving a lot of good, practical advice that you probably know already, but the instructor is also having the class do things like figure out your net worth, track all your expenses for a few weeks, write down your wish list of dreams, balance your checkbook... I'll wait for a total judgment of it until the end, but for now it is a good way for me to implement all the things I need to do to get my financial house in order. Speaking of which, I need to get caught up with tallying my daily expenses! I've kept every single receipt for every purchase I've made, but I have yet to log them. My wallet is bulging now with receipts. Unwieldy!

Also, I am happy to say that I made it through to another payday with a little money to carry over. Plus, I have some Paypal funds that I need to figure out what to do with (er, which bills to pay, I mean). I've had some extra funds in the past month because I gave up almost entirely one of my biggest hobbies, collecting Blythe dolls to make some money and to save money in the future. Not only are the dolls themselves expensive, but so are their accoutrements -- the whole shebang. Clothes, shoes, accessories, customizing... it can get really time consuming and expensive, even if you're like me and can make clothes yourself to sell to other collectors! I realized that I was spending way too much time and money on it, leaving me with not enough time for things like my art. One of my weaknesses is having too many interests and things that I enjoy doing/am good at, and it can get overwhelming and cluttered. I still have two dolls and kept some of my very favorite clothing items and things, but I cleared out a lot and made some extra money, which made me feel a lot better.

I have a long ways to go, but I am pretty close to my first money goal: getting totally caught up on bills, and paying them on time every time (this is including finally paying off my car, which should have been done in December, by the way...).

Baby steps all the time. Hey, I am already so much better off now than I was a short month ago... imagine how much better I'll be by April, or June, or November!

I'm excited, are you?

All My Devotion,

radiosilents