March Wrap Up
April 1, 2010 6 Comments
Spring is in the air!
This time last month I was scraping ice from the windshield of my car in the morning. We have made it past the sloppy part of Spring and this week you would think I was living in Cancun with all the shorts, tank tops and flip flops on campus. The weather hasn’t been this nice in six months. I love it!
Three months ago I made some resolutions. After 90 days of 2010, just how well am I doing?
New Years Resolutions
Diet: “I will no longer treat my mouth like a garbage can and junk food will find its way to the trash where it belongs. I will learn about healthy eating, teach myself how to prepare healthy meals and reduce the number of times I visit restaurants significantly.”
In February, I began tracking how much money we spent during the month in an effort to quantify our food expenses. By the end of the month we had spent almost $600 on food ($400 on restaurants and $175 on groceries). I decided that my goal for March would be to reduce the amount of money spent on restaurants by 50%.
I also pledged to begin monitoring my soda consumption in the same way as I had with my food expenses.
Here are our March food expenses:
Restaurants: $380.40
Groceries: $296.88
It is obvious that we did not even come close to meeting our goal of reducing the amount of money we spent in restaurants. Why? As the month went by, I felt great about how little I thought I was spending in restaurants. I had no idea that nothing was changing, at least financially. Each Friday, I treat myself to dinner at Chipotle but aside from that, I really thought I was doing great at staying out of restaurants. Wrong.
This month we are going to try again to reduce our restaurant spending by 50%.
My battle with soda has taken an unexpected turn and I have stumbled yet again at kicking the habit. At the beginning of March I was doing better than I had expected but ever since my trip to Germany I have drinking soda like it is going out of style. I am at the point again where I am not ready to stop. There is just something rewarding and enjoyable about drinking an ice cold Pepsi on a warm day.
Fitness: “In order to refocus my attention on physical fitness, I have purchased a gym membership and have been exercising on a daily basis for the past couple of weeks.”
At the beginning of March I made a commitment to spend an hour in the gym 3-4 days a week. Aside from the week I spent in Germany (where I spent hours walking around), I have been able to meet this goal and exceed it. I have been able to do this because I just quit making excuses. I’ve often said that there are always excuses not to do something and until you quit making excuses, nothing can change.
In April, I want to continue this routine. It works well with my schedule and allows flexibility if I need it. April is the first month of the Hundred Goals’ Hundred Dollar Challenge and I hope this will be the motivation others need to begin to improve their health and fitness. The deadline to enter for a chance to win $100 has passed but that does not mean you can’t participate in the Challenge. If you are interested in becoming a part of the Challenge, upload a “Before” photo and post a link on the Hundred Dollar Challenge Discussion Forum.
Personal Resolutions
Travel: My goal is to travel 50,000 miles in 2010. In March I traveled to Germany which added ~9,300 miles for a total of ~14,300 miles. Only 35,700 miles to go!
Education: I want to maintain a 3.5 GPA and at the beginning of March I was concerned about my grade in Chemistry. I failed my first exam, which dropped my overall grade to a C. My second exam proved to be better, 96%. I completely redeemed myself and in the process, I began to feel much better about myself and my ability to succeed in Chemistry. In all of my other classes I am earning A’s and I hope I will be able to push through the end of the semester with the same. Statistics is my newest concern. Mathematics is my weak point and it will only get more difficult from here on out.
There you have it! March was a challenge and I hope April will prove to be more of a success. Only time will tell…stay tuned!
About Steven
Looks like you’re doing great! About traveling 50,000 miles, are you counting all the walking you do on a daily bases or just miles traveled via plane? Btw, I finally listed my goals & have that page posted up.
For now I am only counting miles via plane, though any major trips made by car or other mode of transportation will be factored in, such as my train ride to and from Luxembourg (which wasn’t included in my Germany mileage). I also reset the odometer in my car at the beginning of January, though I haven’t totally convinced myself that daily driving should be considered “travel”.
I am on my way to check out your list! Congrats on finishing!!!
Here’s an idea for you to help reduce your restaurant spending:
Post a large-ish sheet of paper on the refrigerator (or if you have a whiteboard handy, use that).
Every time you spend money on food in restaurants, even if it’s just a coffee, write down the date, name of the establishment, and the amount. NO CHEATING!
Use a large black marker, and keep a running total.
Things add up on you while you aren’t looking. Make it a habit to look, every day. Good luck!
I agree that having a constant visual reminder is powerful. It keeps your goals or progress in sight, literally. The problem I have with this sort of thing is that after a day or two, I just quit keeping track. There are so many things in our lives that we could track (and so many people telling us what we SHOULD be tracking) that at times it just feels overwhelming. My approach is simply to be mindful of what I am trying to accomplish. If I know I want to cut my expenses by half, I make the conscious decision to make daily adjustments to my previous habits. Obviously, last month this approach failed but seeing that failure also made me realize that even though I THOUGHT I was doing well, I wasn’t and I need to be even more mindful of where my money is being spent. I narrowed down my major spending category, which is when I am on campus, and have been making a daily decision of whether or not I should eat on campus and how that will affect my goal of cutting my food expenses. We will see how this approach is working for me at the end of April when I total my spending again. I know that my food budget for groceries will be much higher, and that is okay, because I have started a new eating program, which I will share my thoughts about soon as well.
Hey Steve,
Thank for the great article. It’s awesome that you post both success and failure. It’s good for everyone. It makes you accountable and reminds others not to give up just because they screwed up. Thanks, It reminds me to keep going… to keep pushing.
I think it is just as important to acknowledge “failure” as much as we acknowledge our successes. I use quotations because I believe the only time we can ever fail is if we give up. For me, seeing where I am not meeting my expectations gives me the boost of motivation I need to persevere and be persistent.