It is the 53rd day of the year. Most people don't know the date, let alone the how may days have pasted in a year. But I do! Mainly because it directly correlates to one of my 2011 Challenges. How have a done so far?
So everyone always makes New Year's resolutions ... so what's mine you ask? Well these year I decided to call them Challenges because I am more likely to try and keep them, and succeed and overcome a challenge. So.. hear goes...
Challenge 1: The Push Up Challenge. Its easy as pie (I think). You start out with one push-up on Jan. 1st, and add one each day of the year. So I am currently on 2, tomorrow will be 3 and so on. Any style push counts, and any way you do them. Sets of 5,10, 100 ... it doesn't matter as long as you get the correct number in 24 hours. So far there are 3 of us on board for this. Let's see who makes it! Well its day 53, which means I have done a ton of pushups! They are getting easier, and I personally think my form is looking better. Along with pushups, a friend and I have been training for a 5k! Today we timed our first full 5k so give us an idea of where we are. The treadmill was dreadful, but it was dark and neither of us have those stylish blinky things to run outside at night. I think we both did awesome - I ran around 34 minutes, and she ran around 37 minutes. We both want to improve our times - so we will be at the gym tomorrow!
Challenge 2: Menu Planning. I am not just planning one menu, but one for each night of the week. The theory is cut back on my trips to the grocery store, eating out, and wasting time after work and eating late at night. With my crazy work schedule this will hopefully work out and be less stressful. So far so YUMMY! Menu planning has been pretty easy, and way helpful. I been trying new recipes and found a few keepers. Knowing what I am cooking for dinner has helped out a lot when I get home from work. I honestly think there has only been one impulse eat out day, and I really just wanted some of the best pizza in town!
Challenge 3: Savings. While I am always saving and have monthly savings set up, I am going to try and focus on where the money is going that I do spend and ways to spend less. Challenge 2 is going to play a big role in this, especially if I can cut back on the eating out!! I also have roommates currently so I am hoping to bump up the monthly savings since I get to split bills by 3 still! YAY! Right now the current inspiration for Challenge 3 is:: Extreme Couponing. Its a show on TLC. Its crazy, you need to check it out. Savings! Savings! Savings! I have been able to increase my monthly savings and lower some other expenses just by being more aware of where and what I was spending money on. The menu planning has been really helpful as well. Less eating out, and cooking at home has been huge and so have the coupons! People who say they don't have time to coupon - check out this site - these ladies do ALL the work for you! Souther Savers It is really fun to see the savings at the end of the grocery receipt!! Some of the girls I work will have also started couponing, so we always compare savings and let each other know B1G1 sales!
I'll keep everyone posted on my Challenges!
3 comments:
Yay! Here's to sticking to resolutions! Now that you're cooking on a regular basis you should definitely pick up the following:
I highly recommend getting a copy of The Silver Spoon as it's the authority on classic Italian cooking. Added bonus: the recipes are arranged by food group and by main ingredient, so if you see something that catches your eye you're all but certain to find something to do with it in its section. It's over 1000 pages long so it's well worth the money as on Amazon it usually runs for less than $35.
Another really useful book to have is Alton Brown's "I'm Just Here for the Food" as it's chock full of information like temperatures to cook various meats and when to use various kinds of pots and pans. It's less cookbook and more reference book, but it's accessible and goofy but still very helpful to have on hand.
Also, if you don't have one already, get yourself a digital probe thermometer. It takes all the guesswork out of cooking meat and you can even program it to tell you when the meat in question has reached a specific internal temperature. They aren't expensive (the one we have was $20), they last for a while and make for excellent timers so even when the probe itself goes (which they do) you have an extra timer on-hand and that can be very useful if you're making several things at once.
I wish I had done the sit up challenge....
Sounds like you're doing better with Challenge #3 than the federal government. Maybe you should go to DC and help Congress out!
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