Resolution Renewal

January has come to a close and I feel like although I’ve made progress, I’ve made my way back to the start as well. Like a big friggin circle that accomplished nothing and would ultimately be a waste of my time…that is, if I give up. Almost no headway has been made as yet on any of my goals but my passion remains. I think that’s enough to reassess, revamp and renew my priorities for the coming month. They fall into 3 main categories. 1.) Money 2.) Health 3.) Nevaeh.

I have a financial plan (thanks to my dad and Dave Ramsey) that I’m implementing but it’s moving slowly right now. I’m trying not to get discouraged. Let me lay it on you.
-Baby step 1.) Save $500-$1000 fast
-Baby step 2.) The debt snowball
-Baby step 3.) Establish saving in excess of 3-6 months worth of living expenses
-Baby step 4.) Begin investing 12-15% of income towards building wealth (401K, mutual funds)
-Baby step 5.) Begin investing in my children and/or grandchildren’s educational future.
-Baby step 6.) Does not apply to me but may one day – pay off my house

I am devoted to this program, however I’m having trouble jump starting this the way I hoped. I’ve been working to make it to the $500 mark for saving (working towards $1000), and I’m almost there, but I’m already getting frustrated with the fact that I haven’t paid off or began actively trying to pay off my first debt. I know my tax return will help jump start the process and I still have my ‘gazelle like’ intensity to win, so I know its just a matter of patience before things start to happen. I haven’t been spending money on non-necessities and we’ve been eating all of our meals in. I’ve written out a budget and will implement it for the month of February

My second obsession for 2010 is my health. There are so many factors in this category for me. I realize that although I may be young now, time tends to start flying by once you’ve hit my age and have kids. I’m entering my ‘mid-twenties’ and Nevaeh will be 4 this year! Where did the time go? Even though my main goal right now is to lose weight and get myself into a comfortable two piece again, I know that I can’t neglect my health. Ridding myself of bad habits and adopting good ones now will make it so much easier for me once I’m older.
I started keeping a food journal at the beginning of December and wrote down everything I ate and calculated all the calories I consumed as well as keeping a food/calorie log in the back for a reference. This helped me to really get in touch with the feeling of hunger as well as the feeling of being full. It helped me to get a feel for portion control as well as the importance of eating slowly and thinking openly about how you feel when you eat. Assessing when you hit that point of ‘satisfaction’ during a meal and then ceasing to eat another bite. This was a really hard concept for me because I was raise to always finish my plate. ALWAYS! It’s ingrained in my brain and was extremely difficult to break that habit and put the damn fork down when the feeling of hunger died.
Exercise was the next step and I did really well for a couple weeks. I got up early in the morning and exercised and ate a bowl of Special K and got ready for my day in a leisurely fashion. It was really nice. This last week has been a total bust. I haven’t been keeping track of my caloric intake and I haven’t exercised once. I don’t want my failure this week to discourage me. I know I can do this. It’s a matter of forcing myself to get up and do it enough to make it a habit.
I looked into ‘how much sleep do I need?’ via a google search to find out what the balance is. Exercise isn’t as good for you if you’re depriving yourself of sleep to do it. Basically I learned that there is not a set number of hours of sleep (most people believe its 8 hours…not true) that people in certain age groups need as previously believed. It’s based on an individual basis. Hours of sleep needed can range from 3 hours to 12 hours a night depending on the person. Just like getting to little sleep, too much sleep can also be bad for you and leave you feeling drowsy and lackluster all day.
I found an easy answer to my ‘how much sleep do I need?’ question in the form of an experiment. I am designating a ‘wake up’ time and will commit to waking up at this time every morning (even the weekends!) for two weeks. My time is 5am because this is the time I need to get out of bed, wake up, exercise, eat breakfast, watch the news for a bit and finally start getting ready for my day in a leisurely manner. At night I will put myself in a position where I can go to sleep at any point that I start feeling tired enough to lay down and actually fall asleep. (this will require me to establish a much stricter bed time for Nevaeh but that will play perfectly into my next obsession). Whatever the time is that I’m generally getting tired at night at the end of the two weeks will give me a rough idea of how many hours my body at my age require of sleep a night.
I was given an exercise routine that I will start to follow religiously starting on Monday morning. It consists of 20 minutes of cardio, followed by a schedule of weight training 6 days a week. I’m going to start out with the weights I have and slowly build myself up. The routine is compiled of 9 weight exercises. You do the first three exercises on Monday, the next three on Tuesday and the last three on Wednesday repeating for the following three days. I know that if I stay disciplined and always strive to do more weight/reps I will get where I want to be in a hurry!
Combining all the knowledge and first hand experience I’ve gained about food and eating habits, coupled with this new work-out regimen I know I’m going to win! I will be strutting my stuff in a two piece by summer!

Regarding Nevaeh there is a lot of things I need to work with. Reading back on my blog post I realize that this seems like a lot, but it’s really not a lot! It’s all a matter of using the brain God gave me and disciplining myself! It’s a matter of self-motivation and constantly reminding myself that all good things require work and sacrifice. I’m not trying to build a time machine or become a rock star. I’m just trying to get my money my health and my relationship with my daughter into tiptop shape.
Number one thing I want to work on with her is my patience. I need to really bring myself to her level sometimes and realize that she’s a little person. She’s not a dog that needs to bend to my will at every beckon call or obey her master without question (okay, well maybe in some respect she needs to do those things). She’s a human life eager to learn and find her place in the world, and I am her guiding light. It is my words, actions and reactions that teach her. It is the things that I’m not trying to teach her that makes the biggest impression. The things she observes that helps to form her opinions and perspective of the world around her. I need to take my job as a mother more seriously and put a lot more thought into the things that I say to Nevaeh as well as the things I say and do around her.
I want to establish a routine and make sure that her and I get to do lots of activities together. I remember being a little kid and it was always the simplest moments that stuck out the most in my head. I don’t have to spend a lot of money or play elaborate activities to spend quality time with her and create moments that will make for lasting and positive childhood memories. I need to realize that even though I’m single and our life isn’t the ‘norm’ family life she still needs structure. She needs to have rules and a schedule. I do have these things but it’s not consistent. It’s always based on how I feel that day. This ties into the good habit lecture I made above. None of these things are difficult or ‘too much’. It’s all just a matter of training new good habits and a little discipline.
We’ll see how I do on these goals!
(February starts on a Monday and is 4 even weeks, I don’t know why that motivates me more to get ‘er done).
I will post a follow up post towards the end of the next 4 weeks to see how much progress I’ve made both in this category as well as the ‘healthy and money’ categories.

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