Friday, December 16, 2011

7 Quick Takes



This is a savings themed quick takes to go along with my recent (and upcoming) posts. Or in other words, the things I forgot to include in the posts.

--- 1 ---
We don't drink anything but water in the house. It started for me as a cost saving measure a long time ago, then I got back into it when I met my previously-soda-addicted-fiance. When I gave it up again, it was for health, as people with PCOS are supposed to limit both sugar and artificial sweeteners. It was also to set a good example for Steven because he drank sooo much of it. After a come to Jesus moment with the dentist, he gave it up too. I'm sort of ambivalent about it. I don't really miss it that much, but I'm not singing the praises of giving it up. Steven on the other hand is the #1 promoter of giving up soda. He noticed a lot of physical differences for the better after giving it up. Oh but back to the point. Water is super cheap. We have sodas only at restaurants as a treat (and always diet). Not purchasing soda, juice, etc. gives us a bit more money to buy the stuff that we can't use coupons on.

--- 2 ---

Who doesn't love holiday decorations? I grew up in a house that looked like each holiday threw up in it and I. LOVED. IT. Still do. But I learned quickly that making your house look festive for each holiday gets pricey very fast. So now I buy one or two decorations following various holidays on major discount or clearance. This way I can buy quality things that won't fall apart (like one of the nutcrackers in my collection whose facial hair is falling off and hot glue is showing everywhere) and be excited each year to add another new thing. I have a pretty good collection of Christmas decor so I need to work on the other holidays. Thrift stores are a great way to get decor for cheap, too and usually you can find it all year round as people donate random stuff throughout the year.

--- 3 ---

Make your household cleaners. Did I already mention this one? I haven't tried it yet because, oh for shame, I had such a stock of cleaners that I haven't had to buy anything in forever. Most of them are made with natural products, but a homemade recipe put into one of those bottles is just as good, if not better, AND is so cheap! AND if you have a sensitive nose like me, you can add whatever essential oil scent you want to it and enjoy not having the typical cleaner smells. I can't wait to try it!

--- 4 ---
Eat by candlelight! Advent is a great excuse to do it, if you need one. The other excuse is that you can have all the lights off in your house to save a bit of electricity. It actually felt so nice to have candelight versus bright light bulbs during dinner. And it's romantic (well, if romance isn't thrown off by Hulk and Spiderman drinking glasses which I wouldn't allow in the picture). Side note: I broke my rule of colorful meals. Paprika chicken, red skinned mashed potatoes and applesauce with nutmeg are pretty much all the same color.



--- 5 ---
Eat the serving size. I know, sounds obvious, right? But many people, myself included, struggle with portion control. Even people who don't actually struggle with it often times just pour/eat an amount of something without even looking to see what the serving size is. Since we have been eating the serving size for health reasons, we've realized how cost efficient that is, too. It's really exciting when a box of cereal lasts you twice as long as it normally does.

--- 6 ---

Give up that gym membership and get outside. Studies (which I'm entirely too lazy to look up and link to here) have shown that walking outside is much better for you psychologically. I believe it. When I go to the apartment gym, which I rarely do, I can't stand being there and the minutes drag by. I've had plenty of 10 minute 'work outs' because I despise it that much. When I go walking, especially when I vary my routes, the time goes a lot faster because there are always things to look at. I am a creeper and love looking in people's windows so I wait for it to be just a little dark when I know their lights are on and I can see in. I promise I just looove seeing the inside of houses; I'm not actually looking at the people. Rainy or too cold? Go to a mall and walk around there. We have found that "too cold" doesn't matter after about 5 minutes. It was in the low 40's one day recently and we actually got warm in our layers and had to carry our jackets on the way back. After about 3 minutes of shocking cold, you'll feel pretty good (gloves and a hat are important since ears and fingers stay cold!). Free exercise beats paying for exercise any day!

--- 7 ---
Because I'm out of things to say about saving, I thought I'd give an NFP update. For those of you who use Creighton, I had 7 white baby days, followed by (what we lovingly call) 3 alien baby days, and now today I'm back to a white baby day. Boo. Not what I was hoping to see. For non Creighton users, after alien baby days, you should have 9-17 green days and then get your period. Since I had another white baby day, it might mean that I didn't actually ovulate (common for PCOS) and that my body is trying again. Poor little body. I'm holding out shreds of hope that this is pill related since I'm only a month out from being off of it, but I have a feeling PCOS is rearing it's ugly head. I'm going to be proactive when I go back to my NFP practitioner on Saturday and see if I can get an appt with the NaPro doctor in our area since my annual appt is coming up in Feb/March, just in case.

For more Quick Takes, visit Conversion Diary!

9 comments:

  1. Hello Stacy! Thanks for sharing your quick takes. I love your idea of eating by candlelight/Advent wreath! I also only drink water (most of the time) and drink pop/soda very rarely as a treat. You're right that it saves money! Thanks for updating us on your NFP/PCOS news. God bless you...

    ReplyDelete
  2. I feel you on #7. That is so frustrating!

    Jeanne G.

    ReplyDelete
  3. 2- I do the same thing. In fact I've made a list of the things I've seen this year that I'm going to by after Christmas. :)
    3- I make a lot of my cleaners (Laundry detergent, febreeze, dishwasher detergent, etc) and it is SOO cheap. Plus they work just as well.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you Ellen!
    Jeanne, I can't wait to check out your blog this weekend!
    Katie, care to share your favorite recipes?

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm really bad about actually LIGHTING the advent wreath. We're so scatterred we never actually eat together and I'm always eating at my desk. My mom and sister are ADDICTED to diet coke but I only drink soda with meals mostly.

    yeah Katie share your secrets! I've heard about people doing this but have been to scared to try it. Although I have enough laundry soap to last me a year!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love all of this! You sound so much more motivated than me :-)

    I cut out all sugared pop, and juice for the most part. I drink milk, diet caffeine free pop, coffee (decaf at the moment), or water. It's definitely helped....although I need to up the proportion of drinks that are water.

    I have never tried making my own cleaners, but I've read so many people have tried and succeeded. One of these days I might try.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Kendra, I 'splurge' and let myself have 1-2 cups of coffee a week. I'm a morning person so I can function fine without it, luckily, but some mornings I want the warmth or a treat. If I could drink it black or with just a splash of milk I'd have it more often, but I can't drink it without ruining the health benefits by adding a splenda and flavored creamer lol.

    I find it's much easier to drink water now that Steven is as well. When I went to water and he still drank soda, I more often than not would be like "I want one too!" and give in.

    ReplyDelete
  8. "Cold" here can be 12 degrees some days...and very often in the 20s. 40 is definitely doable, but won't last much longer for us!

    My other struggle is it's dark here by 4:30 because we're so far east, and I get home after 7...I don't always feel safe walking around. The good thing, though, is that I'm forced to be more active than average because of public transportation. I get at least 10 minutes just going to the subway, and 10 back...and that's not including walking from train to train during the commute.

    ReplyDelete
  9. "Cold" here can be 12 degrees some days...and very often in the 20s. 40 is definitely doable, but won't last much longer for us!

    My other struggle is it's dark here by 4:30 because we're so far east, and I get home after 7...I don't always feel safe walking around. The good thing, though, is that I'm forced to be more active than average because of public transportation. I get at least 10 minutes just going to the subway, and 10 back...and that's not including walking from train to train during the commute.

    ReplyDelete