Friday, January 8, 2010

Week One Down

The first official week of the new year is done. I only really started concentrating on my resolutions on Monday, so it hasn't even actually been a week. Of course, one of my unofficial resolutions was to lighten up about things like that, so we won't pay it any mind.

First, the losing weight resolution. As of December 31, I was officially 22 lbs over my pre-pregnancy weight. I only gained 35 through out the whole thing, and lost almost all of it within months of the birth. So in the 3 years since my son was born, I put on over 20 lbs. Yuck. And, I really was still about 10 lbs overweight before the pregnancy, so... I decided to set a very reasonable goal of .5 - 2 lbs of weight loss per week. We'll see how the weekend plays out, but I'm already down 3. Hopefully I'll be able to get exercise into my routine and keep a steady loss going.

Second, and the direct cause of the above, after tonight I will have successfully cooked 6 nights in a row. We'll probably do takeout tomorrow, but then it's back to cooking. I'm not looking to never have a pizza again, but we need to cut back and this is a good start.

Third, the good mom thing. Well, that's a little harder to quantify and a little harder to stick to. I've been more mindful, so I suppose that's half the battle. I've started logging what Nathan and I do throughout the day. I'm trying to find what's just filler and what's meaningful. This is a goal I'm not going to be able to nail down this month, but hopefully flesh out over the winter and into spring.

Fourth, the good homemaker thing. Triumph today!! I had a very successful grocery shopping trip and have another planned for Sunday. This should really stock the freezer and pantry well and I really saved a lot. I've been visiting websites loaded with coupons, printing and clipping and sorting. Then when the weekly circulars came, I was ready. I bought almost nothing that wasn't on sale or that I didn't have a coupon for. I only bought one thing off the list (raisins).

Rather than bore you with the whole list of what I bought, I'll give you the highlights:

Total spent: $143.02. Total saved: $105.19.

Paper towels, 6-pack, Orig. $8.29, I paid $4.49
4 cases of soda (this is for a party, wouldn't normally buy this), Orig. $21.56, I paid $14.68
Tissues, 7 boxes, Orig $13.93, I paid $4.75
Muffin mix, 6 boxes, Orig $20.10, I paid $11 (this is for those days when Nathan wants to bake and I don't want to drag everything out).
Healthy Choice Frozen Meals (8), Orig. $22.61, I paid $8.16
Instant potatoes (for a quick side!), Orig. $1.35, I paid $.55
Meat Analogs, Orig. $9.18, I paid $4.67
Frozen veggies, Orig. $3.98, I paid $1.50
Progresso Soup (6 cans), Orig. $13.74, I paid $3.00
Select Harvest Soup (3 cans), Orig. $7.35, I paid $2.50
Total and Cornflakes (1 box ea.), Orig. $6.76, I paid $3.38
Apples and pears (4 each), Orig. $8.68, I paid $3.01
Approx 6lbs of boneless chicken breast, Orig. $34.39, I paid $20.61

All in all, very successful. I'm very pleased with my progress so far and especially for making such an effort to change things for good, not to go head first into craziness only to drop it 3 days in. Maybe 2010 WILL be my year after all.