Reader Tips: Saving Money!

I really loved reading the responses to last week's "Reader Tips" about cleaning and organizing, so I'm excited to share this one today about saving money. I asked on Facebook for your best money-saving tips and the responses were fun to read through!

I spent way too much time last week putting each tip in its own colorful box; it made the post pretty, but rather than spend an entire day doing that again, I'm going to just share the responses here like my usual typing. (This actually gave me an idea for next week's reader tips--time savers!)

I've always been a frugal person for the most part. There are some things that I don't mind splurging on, but some things don't matter to me and I look for ways to save.

My mom has always been big on garage sales and I grew up looking for thrifty finds like that. Garage sales are the best! I know that a lot of people don't like to wear used clothing, which is totally fine; however, I'm cool with it and I've saved a FORTUNE that way. When I was losing weight, I was going down a size about every 10 pounds--so going from a size 24 to a 4 meant dropping 10 sizes, and therefore, 10 different wardrobes over the course of a year. Who can afford that?!

I got a lot of items from garage sales, but also from thrift stores. I don't typically spend more than about $5 on an item. At garage sales, I'll spend about $1-2 per item. I've gotten tons of brand name items, some with the tags still attached. I have a pair of 7 For All Mankind jeans that I bought for less than $3, and still had the tags on them!

I've even bought things just to sell them again; my best clothing find to resell was a vintage Kurt Cobain shirt that I bought for less than a dollar (I want to say it was 80 cents?) and then sold it on Ebay for about $100 (I can't remember the exact amount, but I know it was about that).

Because who doesn't want a vintage Surf Style jacket? (Can you believe it's been 30 years since these were super popular?)

Anyway, thrift stores are awesome for saving money and super fun to go to because you never know what you might find. So, that's my money-saving tip: If you're cool with it, used items are a LOT cheaper--whether it's from garage sales or thrift stores.

Okay, here are some great tips that readers/followers suggested. Enjoy!

ALWAYS have a frozen pizza on hand, so you have a quick and easy dinner everyone likes without resorting to dining out.
-Amy Wilson

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"Convenience meal” in our house. Nuggets and tots are frequent favorites- and when it gets used it gets replaced the next shopping trip.
-Cindy Smerdon

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Find out what foods have good store brand dupes. I’ve learned that I like Kroger Oreos, Rice Krispies, and other things my kids want without having to pay for the name brand. Also making potatoes or rice the basis of the meal saves a lot because those are pretty inexpensive.
-Kimberly Hermansen Thomas

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Never leave the house without a water bottle!
-Tara Quesnel Trudo

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Saving tip: When/if you get a raise, if you are not currently strapped for cash, increase your 401(k) or savings amount by half of that raise. Example: 4% raise, increase 401(k) by 2%.
-Jessica Kurts Lockwood

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1. Walmart (or whatever store is available) grocery pickup. I’m a terrible impulse grocery buyer even when I have a list.

2. Meal planning. I’m not strict on the schedule but when I do my weekly shopping I plan out at least five dinners to make sure I have everything I need. Additional trips to the store inevitably increase grocery costs.

3. Keep leftover or soon to expire food front and center in the refrigerator. Wasted food is wasted $$$.
-Jen Mitchell

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I started the grocery pick up during the height of Covid and continue to use it. I am also a huge impulse shopper (mostly of crap food) so this saves me money and calories.
-Melissa Connole Kelly

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Instead of takeout when I’m too tired to cook, run into the grocery store and grab a rotisserie chicken, bag of 90 second rice, and microwaveable frozen veggies like petite peas or sweet corn.
-Theresa Marie

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Meal Planning! If I don't we end up shopping every day, having food in the house that doesn't get eaten, or having a lot of take away.
-Aimee McKean

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Utilize Amazon's "subscribe & save" feature. We have set up toilet paper, paper towels, dog food, zip-loc bags, toothpaste, etc. on automatic delivery and we end up saving quite a bit on staples.
-Krista Howell

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Use cash for groceries, pet products, eating out, etc. When your cash is gone, you are done until next payday.
-Nancy Rice

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Borrow books [including ebooks and audiobooks] from the library instead of purchasing.
-Natalie Tremblay

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1. When you find jeans, pants or shoes that you love and fit exactly right, buy two of them. I’m picky so this prevents me from buying four or five other pairs that I don’t really love and therefore won’t wear.

2. We splurge once a year on house cleaning usually right before the holidays. It’s well worth the money to have that checked off the list when the holidays have so many other priorities.

3. Always go to the grocery store with a list and stick to it.
-Colleen Wheat Reprogel

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Sometimes buying good quality clothes may cost more at first but it beats buying a dozen other items that you aren’t happy with, don’t fit well, or are poor quality.
-Jen Mitchell

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For groceries I love Aldi, I can get a lot more for my money there. Also, shop around for deals. If there are 4 grocery stores close together see whom has the best deals and buy it there. You can also shop around for LP. I live in the country and I call around every year to see whom has the best deals. People don’t realize you can switch providers every year and you’re not stuck with the first one you went with.
-Michelle Wachholz

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Honestly... just don't shop, especially recreationally. If I don't go to Target or wherever, I don't spend money there. Evaluate every purchase as: do I need it, do I want it, and is there a cheaper alternative that will serve the purpose as good. 

Also... don't buy things just because they are on sale. You aren't saving money unless you would have bought it regardless of the price. That said, stock up on staples when they are on sale. Our Kroger has a few times a year the pasta we eat is like 49 cents a bag with coupon. I buy a few of each shape and am good for a while.

Hubs found out one local grocery grinds up steaks that are nearing sell by dates and puts it out for like 3 bucks a pound. Better quality ground beef for less so he always grabs what he can when he catches the deal.

If I'm on the ball, I meal prep my lunches to keep from eating out. Pay off debt, evaluate your insurance regularly, pack a cooler when you travel, etc.--so many things hubs and I have done over the years. Have a good savings (though market is tough right now) and should be able to retire in about ten or so years.
-Christina Luebbert

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Get familiar with the best products for regularly used products. I started a notebook awhile ago, and kept a list to compare. I know Big Lots has the best price on cat litter and napkins; Walmart best prices on body wash, shampoo etc; Aldi pan spray, Stevia and other favorites. Publix always has BOGOs, so I stock up, and if I have coupons for the items, even better.

I also check the clearance sections at the back of the grocery stores, and at Walmart for clothes. I know the prices for the produce guy down the street and he has great prices on in season stuff. I’m also not product loyal - a lot of the time the generic or store brands are just as good. Also - I do as much as possible in one trip to save gas - I put a cooler in the car and it keeps everything cold or frozen!
-Ellen Mocarski Bedford

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Another money-saving tip: Buy a dependable vehicle, maintain it well and drive it until there is no more life remaining. My 2013 Honda CRV has 160k miles and runs great! I will likely have it another 5 years at least. My last car was a 2001 Toyota Corolla we drove 17.5 years and then sold it for $2k! It’s a poor man’s mentality to always need the newest vehicles. Invest instead!
-Melinda Wolf Miller

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Use the library! -Elizabeth Dehling

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1) I used an app and tracked every cent of my spending for a month to find out where I was spending my money… turns out I buy a lot of coffee out so I bought a coffee machine and saved lots by making it at home.

2) Snowball your payments, make all of your minimum payments but any extra money, pay off your smallest bill first and when that is paid off put that money into your next bill.

3) Don’t buy on credit if you can’t pay that credit card off monthly. Delayed gratification leads to financial freedom!
-Amanda Hood

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My mother always said to never buy something you already have that works.
-Olga Carr

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BUDGET! Three years ago I went through all my accounts, credit cards, etc. and figured out where my money was going. I cancelled the subscriptions I didn’t use and listed my debts in order from smallest to largest and also what the interest rates were. I started by paying off the smaller debts which allowed me to put bigger amounts on the larger debts and it snowballed. I’ve paid off over $90,000 this way (including my student loans which were $40k). Only a little bit more to go!
-Taryn Blair

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Best money-saving tip: Cook and eat at home. Make coffee at home instead of $8/drink at Starbucks. Shop for as much as I can at Aldi and then supplement from other stores. Dining out/Food is by far the biggest over-spend in most households!
-Melinda Wolf Miller

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Costco!! Totally worth the subscription fees. The savings in my contacts alone was worth it, on top of paper products and bulk essentials.
-Emily Marshall

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The public library is a huge money saver! I have to have saved hundreds by “shopping” there for reading material. If your library isn’t near by, you can access lots of titles through ebooks with your library card.

Give your kids their own clothing budget and let them decide how to spend. The money goes further and they learn some great lessons in the process.

I’ve discovered Sally Beauty toner instead of boxed color or salon color for my blond hair. It is easy and doesn’t damage my hair as much either.

This is a little against natural instinct, but spending more of great quality or exactly the item you want is usually cheaper in the long run. I’ve wasted lots of money over the year trying to make do and then replace multiple times. It ended up being much for expensive and wasteful.
-April Edwards Bright

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This is a tip I aspire toward but haven't fully done, just rudimentarily. It's called reverse budgeting. You take all the money that's allocated for bills, savings, groceries, etc. and use it accordingly. Whatever you have left you are free to spend as you wish. It feels so much more free than a rigid budget.

-Jill Marie

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If you you watch Netflix and channels like Hulu, do not get tricked into a “free 30 day” offer. You will be charged the monthly fee if you forget to cancel. I did for many months! Never again and I canceled Netflix too. “Freevee” has ads but it is FREE!
-Caroline Triplett

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Join your local "buy nothing" Facebook group to get stuff for free and give away items you want to donate.
-Natalie Tremblay

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...and there you have it! Lots of great advice on simple ways to save money. Thank you thank you thank you to all of you that commented with a tip!

For next week, I'd love to share tips about ways that you save TIME--whether it's multitasking certain things, meal prepping for a week at a time, or even putting away dishes while your coffee brews--every minute that we have counts! Since we all have the same amount of time in a day:

What is your best TIME SAVING tip?

You can comment here, email me, or comment on the Facebook post that you can find here. I'd love to share the compilation next week! (If you don't want me to use your name, no problem--just let me know). If you don't want to (or aren't able to) comment, feel free to email me at: katie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. I look forward to seeing what you come up with! I'm great at saving money, but time? Not so much ;)

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Daily Routine, Finances, and Long Term Goals

I don't have a photo for this post, so here is one of Chick and Duck sharing the top of this little bed thing. I think the way Duck is lying on it is hilarious! They are clearly too big to share it now.

Lately, I have been feeling like I'm Bill Murray in the movie Groundhog Day. With the COVID quarantine, all of the days started blending together a few months ago. I literally couldn't tell if it was Wednesday or Sunday!

In a way, it was nice--the kids and I didn't have to be anywhere and we could all just spend our days doing projects and hobbies that we normally wouldn't have time for. (Even Jerry had a few weeks off because he had been exposed at work to someone who tested positive with COVID.) Things have been opening up a bit, but it's still recommended to practice social distancing and masks are mandatory in public areas.

I haven't been going to the grocery store more than once every two weeks or so, but our stock in the pantry is down to slim pickin's. For the most part, our days are the same--except I do take Eli to his fishing spots and Noah to see his small group of friends (a few of them went bike riding today).

For me, especially this past week, each day feels the same. And it's not a bad thing! I really love the routine. I feel comfortable when I have a routine rather than chaos (even if it's controlled chaos).

Since I started 75 Hard, my day typically looks like this:

• Wake up.
• Sit in bed and journal, read my non-fiction book for 75 Hard, and drink a quart of water.
• Ideally, I would write a blog in this time frame, but it depends on what time I wake up.
• Get out of bed, brush my teeth, etc., and dress for my walk.
• Take a progress photo in the mirror for 75 Hard.
• Go for a 45-minute walk with Joey (he's gotten used to my taking him, and I feel guilty if I try to leave him at home).
• Come home and drink another quart of water.
• Change into "work" clothes for the garage (my paint-spattered ones). 
• Go out to the garage and work on whatever I'm doing out there. Today, I finished up one section of it and started moving things back to where they should be. Drink another quart of water.
• If I don't work on the garage, then I do errands, chores around the house, etc.
• I also blog at some point.
• Come inside and change back into my workout clothes (yes, the same ones). Go for a 45-minute walk or bike ride. Drink a fourth quart of water.
• Take a shower and start getting dinner ready.
• Eat dinner with the family, maybe watch a show or something together.
• "Me time"... play Best Fiends or read a book, usually.
• Bed time.
• Repeat.

I had planned on blogging earlier today, but I realized I needed to get our monthly finances done. That just means paying bills, transferring money around, etc. Today took extra long because I had to deal with two credit card companies.

We have a negative balance on the Discover card because Eli's trip to Washington D.C. was canceled, and I'd already paid for it in full. The refund went back to the Discover, which was already paid in full. So I requested a check for the balance, which will be about $1200--nice! (I let him buy a fishing rod and reel with some of the money because of his canceled trip.)

We also have a negative balance on the Delta American Express because I bought our plane tickets to San Francisco on that card (to get Delta points). Since we had to cancel that trip, I hoped to get a refund. Oddly, they refunded two of our tickets, but gave us airline vouchers for the other two. I asked to open a dispute to try to get a refund for the other two. I feel like it should be a refund for all four tickets or none at all. Anyway, I requested a check for our negative balance on that card, which is roughly $1000.

One of the nice things about the quarantine is that we've been able to save up a decent little nest egg in our savings account. It's so strange that a few years ago, we were $14,000 in debt and had NO savings. Then I started the zero sum budgeting and we managed to pay all of that off in 14 months. I never would have thought we could do that!

I've been continuing with the budget, doing it every single month, and it hasn't failed us yet. I love that we have some money in savings in case we need it. If Jerry was to lose his job for whatever reason, we have enough for cover us for a couple of months. Again, I never thought I'd be able to say that!

Noah took his driving test today to get his driver's license, and he passed (I knew he would--he's super responsible and a great driver). He also bought a car from Adam. It's an old car, but it only has 50,000 miles on it. Noah has been saving money here and there for the last year or so, but I had no expectations that he'd get a car this soon. However, Adam gave him a great deal on it and Noah was thrilled.

Speaking of Adam, we got notice from the Detroit Free Press Marathon that they aren't going to be doing the race this year (not a shocker). We were offered the option to defer it to 2021 or to get a 50% refund. Adam, Jerry, and I were planning to run it together (Adam's first ever race); but since I haven't been training, I'm kind of relieved. I chose to get the refund--it really sucks that we only get 50% of it back (the race was $100 per person) but I don't know where I'm going to be in a year as far as fitness goes, so I don't want to commit right now.

My main goal for the remainder of this year is to get my head back in the game to be my best self--mentally and physically. This 75 Hard challenge is getting me there, and I hope that I'll be able to continue to work on myself in these ways (and more) when the 75 days are over.

In a perfect world, I'd be back at my goal weight by the end of the year and feel confident in a plan to keep it off. I would also be working on adding running to my routine--even if it's just a little here and there. I find that sometimes when I'm walking, I have the urge to run.

Yesterday, I tried running from the end of my street to my driveway, and it felt SO hard. My legs felt extremely heavy. I think if I can get some weight off and get in somewhat decent shape with the walking and bike riding, the running may feel easier. And if it feels easier, I'd be much more likely to do it again.

I think that stepping down from coaching cross country was the right decision for me. The season consumes my life each year, and even though I loved it, I wasn't able to focus on anything else. I'd really like to take the time to focus on getting the best ME back. I miss the confidence I felt and the control I had over my choices. I will miss cross country, but I won't miss the stress or the toll it takes on me mentally and physically.

Even if I don't get back to running, I think I can stick with walking for 45 minutes a day. It goes by surprisingly fast and I love listening to audiobooks and podcasts. (Bike riding seems to take forever; probably because I don't use headphones to distract me.) Even when the kids go back to school, I can easily make the time to walk for 45 minutes.

Well, it's already past my bed time (today was a super busy day, otherwise I would have posted this morning). So I'm going to read my book for a few minutes and then try to get to bed!

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A Blog Series of Favorite Posts #5: Budgeting/Debt

For the next week or so, I'm going to do a series of posts--I will share my favorite "oldies but goodies" from the past.

As you know, I LOVE writing lists. This is one I've been wanting to write for a long time, but it requires so much thought that I just have such a hard time deciding what to include on it! I have a lot of favorite posts over the years (as well as very cringey ones--maybe I'll do a list of those soon). I'd have to wear a paper bag over my head out of embarrassment ;)

As of the last few years, there have been lots of different categories on my blog: weight loss/gain/loss/gain; running; DIY/home improvement; mental health/illness; crafts; and just daily life in general. So, I think I'll separate these into categories to avoid having too many "favorite" posts in just one category.

I'll post just a few per day, so if you choose, you'll have time to read the posts. If I post them all at once, it would be way too overwhelming!

At the end, I will also include my most popular posts (which will likely be entirely different from my favorite posts) in case anyone is curious about those. First, though, my favorites...


Budgeting/Debt


How My Family Paid Off $14,000 of Credit Debt in 14 Months on a Varied Income

Jerry and I don't make a predictable income; his income is based on how much overtime he picks up and mine is based on all sorts of things (like how much advertisers are paying at certain times of the year). We were $14,000 in credit debt in 2017, and once I felt stable on my bipolar meds, I decided to write a budget and stick to it.

I was very strict in sticking to it (and it was unlike any other budget I'd done before, but it worked! We paid off our debt and we are still following the budget. It takes off a TON of stress from worrying about money. This post explains ALL the details of how we did it, including our own budget.

Why I Became A Stay-At-Home Mom

This subject is, by far, the one I get the most flack about from "haters". I can't count the number of times I've read, "Why don't you get a real job?" Well, this post explains it all (not that I feel I owe an explanation). I'm very happy with being a stay-at-home mom and it works well for our family. Before asking that question, I'd suggest reading this post.

Salvation Army Finds

I happen to LOVE secondhand stores like the Salvation Army (although, they are very expensive now compared to what they used to be!). But you can still snag lots of good deals if you take the time to look through the bazillion clothing items that aren't in any particular size order. On this post, I reveal some clothes that I picked up at Salvation Army that day... spending about the same on ALL of them as I would on a new pair of jeans from Kohl's.

I hope that you are enjoying this series and it's not too redundant! It's been fun going through old posts :)

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Adjusting to a New Fall Schedule (and a Cool New Planner)

Well, so much for blogging every day in September! But, I'm not giving up. I missed three days, so I'm going to try to do an additional three posts at some point (probably something simple like recipes or a short list or a running report or something).

I found that once I skipped one day, it was so easy to skip again and again. The first day was simply because I was completely exhausted after a long day. All I wanted to do was get in my pajamas and watch a show with Jerry.

This school year is the most difficult/stressful for me so far. Jerry's been working a straight day shift--he pushed for years for the plant that he works at to stop doing swing shift and to switch to straight shifts. They FINALLY agreed to do it on a trial basis this year. Unfortunately, Jerry wound up with a straight day shift. Since the shifts are 12 hours long, he leaves for work before any of us are awake and then he doesn't get home until 6:30 pm.

This is stressful for me now that Noah is going to school at the community college. There is no busing which means I have to drive him there/back. I do carpool with another mom, which is helpful, but regardless of who is driving, I still have to drive him to the spot where we meet in the mornings.

After school, I either pick him and his friend up and drive them home or his friend's mom does if it's her turn. Three days a week, I coach cross country practice (and now it'll be four days most weeks because we have races starting Tuesday). I hold practices from 6-7 pm so that I'm home right after Jerry gets home and showered and we can at least spend a little time together.

Eli is playing fall baseball, so I have to drive him to practice. He has double header games on Sundays (and tomorrow, he may be playing three games!). Since Jerry is working, I'll be there an hour before the games start until the last game ends. Thankfully, I love watching baseball!

On the days that I drive Noah to school, I usually get home at about 8:15 AM and then I have to leave to pick him up at 1:45 PM. So, despite what it may sound like, I really don't have as much time to myself during the day as one would think.

I spend that time blogging (if I'm going to--sometimes I'll begin to write a post and then work on it a little each day because I don't have enough time to finish it), cleaning the house, meal planning and/or grocery shopping, running errands (which reminds me, my car needs an oil change), and if I have time, I like to do something I enjoy (lately, this has been working on home projects).

Sometime during the day, I cook dinner. It could be at 3:30 pm or 7:30 pm or anywhere in between. Just whenever it fits in.

In the evenings, I like to chill with Jerry, even if we're just sitting and talking (or feeding the squirrels, which has become a favorite pastime in our house, haha). So, anything that I need to get done will wait until the next day.

Things were much smoother when Jerry worked swing shift (and if he was to have a straight night shift, it would be even better); every four weeks, he switched from days to nights and vice versa. (There is a chance he could switch over in the future, but as of right now, he needs to stay on his shift)

Being on night shift is much more convenient for family life. He gets home in the morning with enough time to hang out with the kids before school (and drive them to school sometimes). Then he sleeps during the day and wakes up just as they are getting done with school (so he could pick up Noah sometimes, too).

Then he could spend time with us before going to work. Usually, the time when the kids and I are all here at the same time is between 3:30 and 5:00, so I would cook dinner at 4:00 and we could all eat together. Then it's baseball, cross country, work, and whatever else.

Jerry says that he got more sleep when he was on nights and he misses the nights when he had a day off work. He stayed on his same sleep schedule, so even though he wasn't working that day, he would say up all night at home. He used that time as fun time to himself--playing video games, watching movies, etc.--while the rest of us slept.

Anyway, I've had a really tough time adjusting to this school year. Consequently, I stopped my 3-3-3 running schedule after only three weeks--I was so sure I was going to stick with it. I'm not giving up, though! I bought a planner (not like a bullet journal--I needed something easy and fast so that it would keep my schedule organized but not take much time to work on).

I absolutely LOVE the one I ended up buying on Amazon. It's everything that I need it to be without taking much time to plan things. On Sunday nights, I can spent about 20 minutes filling in the schedule for the entire week. It literally only took me about 15 minutes to fill this weekly page in:

Here are some other pages. At the beginning of the book, there are some goal prompts, so I filled out what I wanted to. I still want to do the vision board pages, but I need to set aside some time for that. I've tried to make a vision board so many times but I get overwhelmed!

And there is a monthly spread (the one I made for September is a mess, so I'm not even going to share it, haha. I was a little too ambitious! I like on the far left, how it gives you a prompt for Habits to Adopt, Skills to Learn, Things to Avoid, Places to Go, and People to See.


I love that you fill in the month and year yourself rather than having it all filled in for you.

In the back, there are some regular dotted pages for notes or whatever. I listed the cleaning list I made (and haven't been following very well) and a page for blog post ideas.

This particular planner is the Clever Fox Planner, which I bought on Amazon (affiliate link). There are lots of different colors, but of course I chose orange--my favorite.

Anyway, this is MUCH easier for me to use than a blank bullet journal. While I love how a bullet journal looks, it takes up so much time in itself to use as a planner; I like that this is basically a fill-in-the-blank planner and that it focuses on goals (something I love to list out anyways).

I'm going to schedule my runs into my week just like I would any other appointment, and make it a non-negotiable part of my day. By the end of 2019, I should be back to running three days a week as a habit. And then maybe I can start to think about some goals to try next year (as far as running goes, I mean).

I also need to do better meal planning. I got really good at this when I first started our budget to get out of debt in 2017. It felt like it took forever, but I'd spend once a week planning out our meals and then I'd grocery shop on Friday for just that week. We saved a ton of money doing it that way. Somewhere along the way, I started rushing the planning part and then my grocery list wasn't accurate and I'd wind up having to go to the store a couple of times a week to get things I'd forgotten.

Now, again, I need to schedule in my meal planning and my grocery shopping. I'd also like to spend a couple of hours after grocery shopping to prep as much of the food as possible to make it easy to throw together when it's time. I used to love cooking, but now it's definitely a chore--so the more I can prep ahead of time, the better.

I also need to reconfigure our budget to continue to stay out of debt. Eli just got braces ($1,000 down payment and $200 per month for a really long time--grand total of about $5,500). The orthodontist said Noah can choose to get them now or wait a little while (a year or so) to see what happens as he grows. He doesn't have structural problems with his jaw like Eli does, so it's not urgent. Regardless, we will probably be getting his braces on next year ($5,500). Isn't it insane how much braces cost?!

Also, Eli is taking a class trip to Washington D.C. and Jerry is chaperoning. Those payments are $100 a month for Eli and $140 for Jerry until March.

Finally, with Noah driving, we are going to incur some big costs. Thankfully, we don't have to add him to our car insurance now (only when he gets his license next July) but to add a teenager to car insurance is insanely expensive.

So, all of this is to say that we need to re-budget everything to fit in the extra expenses (the amount of excess nearly adds up to a house payment!)

The positive in all of it is that we finished paying off our credit card debt ($14,000!) a year ago. I can't imagine trying to pay off debt AND come up with money for these extra expenses! I'm so grateful for my bipolar diagnosis which led me to the correct medication which helped me to become mentally stable enough to focus on and finish the important things.

Well, today is Jerry's birthday (he's at work now) so I'd like to figure out what to make for dinner tonight. See? Meal planning ahead of time would have been very handy today ;)

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By the way, the winners of the mug giveaway are:

Laura W ("you say crazy cat lady like it's a bad thing" mug); and
Denise E ("dress for the job you want" mug)

I've sent each of you an email, so please respond with your shipping address.

I like doing giveaways--I'll have to think of some more fun things to give away!

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My Big Focus for the Summer and the Plans to Make It Happen

Happy Summer! (I double checked my calendar, and I have it right this time, haha)

As the first official day of summer, the Runs for Cookies Summer Run/Walk Challenge has begun. It's not too late to join in--here is the post that explains it all and here is a link to join the private Facebook group to share all about your runs or walks throughout the challenge.

Over the past several months, I've been thinking a lot about my physical goals as well as my mental goals. In 2017, I had such a great year (after my breakthrough in therapy, my bipolar diagnosis, and being put on the correct meds). I spent the rest of the year finding true happiness and doing whatever I could that made me feel genuinely peaceful with my life. It was fantastic.

In 2018, I started losing sight of that focus. I began to worry about gaining weight and I started to be more careful of my diet (which, consequently, caused me to gain more and more). I started worrying about what people would think (whereas before, in 2017, I didn't give a shit what anyone thought of me at all). I started to lose that peace that I'd worked so hard for in 2017.

My medication right now has my mental health in a very stable place. In fact, it feels "boring"--which, from what my psychiatrist has said, means the medication is working. I'm not feeling the high of hypomania or the low of depression (thank God). Hypomania has its perks, but the negatives outweigh the positives. So, stability is the aim of my meds and it's working.

Now that I am feeling stable, I've decided to make this summer of 2019 a time to really work on one main focus: HEALTH. This includes physical health, but also mental health, and even relationship, finance, and job health. In a nutshell, this is what I'd like:

Physical Health

To be at peace with my body exactly the way it looks (whether that's at this weight or if I should gain or lose weight).

Diet* (I will write more about diet later in the post).

Taking vitamins.

Exercising** (which I'll also write more about later in the post).

Wearing sunscreen, always.

Flossing my teeth daily (I have no problems with brushing, but flossing is something that I have always had a hard time making a daily habit).

Living a more active lifestyle in general the way that I used to.

Continuing to stay sober of alcohol (almost six months now!).

Get a check-up with my doctor and have bloodwork to see my health numbers, including vitamins.

Mental Health

Taking my meds on a regular schedule (I'm very good about this already).

Cutting out caffeine, with the exception of a modest amount of tea.

Writing in a journal daily, even if it's just one or two sentences. I have a "One Line A Day" journal that will be perfect for this.

Do a few brain puzzles each week. I love the Lumosity app, so I'll use that as well as the old-fashioned logic puzzles in a book.

Read more books (I'm not going to set a number goal for this, but I'd like to aim for at least 15+ minutes per day).

Do some crafts that make me happy (crochet or knit, wood work, bullet journal, sew).

Live my life the way that makes me happy, and screw what anyone else thinks.

Read a chapter a day from my Bible (I used to this daily, but after getting through Leviticus, I started losing the faith that I'd been hoping to gain, hahaha).

Continue to feed the birds and squirrels (I look forward to feeding them every day and it makes me feel happy).

Find new ways to relieve anxiety. I have a no-fail relief of a specific game on Lumosity--it's super fast-paced and it's impossible to think about anything other than the game, so I forget my anxiety while playing.

Relationship Health

Spend more quality time with Jerry and my kids--family game night, family movie night, walks in the evenings, etc.

Get in touch with a few old friends and make plans to get together and catch up.

Work on being more affectionate with Jerry (hugs, kisses, cuddles, etc). His "love language" is Physical Touch, which was last on my own list of The 5 Love Languages, so it's hard for me. It's not that I'm repulsed by affection, it's just that it never occurs to me to give him random hugs and kisses. We each took the Love Languages test and read the book, and you can read about our results here.

Write a letter to each of the kids and share how proud I am of them.

Use the phone more and texting a little less. Talking on the phone is hard for me for some reason, so I'd like to call up my friend Sarah in Arizona to chat, or some other friends that live around the country.

Make it a point to spend more time with my parents, siblings, in-laws, and especially my niece and nephew.

Take Eli fishing in a new place, and take Noah somewhere pretty where he can take photos.

Financial Health

Continue to live on our budget that got us out of debt.

Build our savings account (I'm aiming to add another $1,500 to it during the summer).

Plan our meals and grocery shop accordingly to stay under our grocery budget.

Dine out very rarely (maybe once a month).

Cut out unnecessary costs again (I did this when we first started our budget, but I'd like to take another look).

Save up for a new front porch.

Job Health

(Note: I get a some flack here for not having a "real" job, but to me, my job is very real. I am a stay-at-home mom and wife--unpaid, of course--and I earn money from blogging. I am also a volunteer cross country coach for 3rd through 5th graders. I'm very happy with this lifestyle. Well, other than the 2-1/2 to 3 hours of driving per day during the school year!)

Create a regular "chore chart" rather than just winging it. I'd like to make a weekly list of things that need to be done regularly and assign the tasks for particular days.

Write more frequently on my blog, and try to start a schedule to post on particular days.

Reply to emails more frequently. Right now, my inbox dates back to April (!) and I feel bad about it. Seeing emails that I haven't replied to yet causes me anxiety, and that can be solved very easily by taking time to reply to a few each day. For now, my plan is to reply to 2+ per day.

Write out a schedule for ALL of these plans I've written about above so that I don't get overwhelmed. Take it one day at a time.

If I have some free time, I'd like to go back and optimize photos on past posts.

Find a new place to host photos for my blog where I can edit them without deleting them and re-uploading them.

Create a plan for the cross country kids this year. Renee is not going to be coaching with me (she took a job as the middle school cross country coach) so I want to be as organized and prepared as possible to do it on my own.

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So, those are plans I have for working on my health this summer. Diet and exercise seem to be in a bigger category of their own, so I'll write more about them as I get things figured out. I'm torn between wanting structure and wanting freedom.

*For right now, I think I'd like to have more freedom about my diet (which is what I've been doing for the last several months). I basically don't have any "rules" and I've been doing good with it. Yes, my weight is up, but I'm okay with that. I haven't gained any weight in a long time--I've been staying between 160 and 165 without trying make any changes.

That said, I would like to aim to drink more water (3+ quarts per day), to eat according to my body's cues, and pay attention to the foods that make me feel good versus the foods that make me feel bad. Then, obviously, avoid the foods that make my body feel bad.

**When it comes to exercise, I'm going to attempt to do my summer checklist for the Summer Run/Walk Challenge. I will follow the walking plan, but if I feel inclined to run now and then, I'll do that. I would like the structure of a plan for exercise so that I can make sure that I follow through, but I don't want to be so rigid that I resent it. I think walking is a good choice for right now.

Today, I started by walking from spring into summer at the State Park with Joey. It's a three mile loop, and I walked the first two loops, and then something possessed me to run the third mile. It was hot and very hard to run with Joey pulling on the leash, but I managed to do it. I loved the spontaneity of it.

This was my best attempt at getting a selfie with Joey. He was just way too excited to look at the camera.

I would also like to do nightly walks with the family (including Joey) all summer. The kids love doing this, especially when it's dark outside. We don't go far (just around the neighborhood, anywhere from 1/2 mile to a mile) but it's nice to get outside and chat with the family without distractions.

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I think with these plans, I'm going to have a busy summer--in a good way! And I think that focusing on my health will automatically help with my anxiety which lies dormant, waiting to jump out when I least expect it.

By the end of the summer, I hope to be feeling my healthiest and happiest :)

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Another Fainting Scare

I don't have any photos for this post, so here is a photo of Estelle and Tuck, the squirrel who comes to the back door for nuts every day. I'm not sure which of them is teasing the other, but I'm pretty sure Tuck knows he has the upper hand ;)

I have been wanting to write a more personal post lately, but I just haven't really had much to write about. There hasn't been anything going on lately, other than my continuing to feel like a chauffeur. I had never hated driving until this year. I spend SO much time in the car now!

A typical school day:
Drive Eli to school
Drive Noah to school
Drive home
(If I have errands or appointments, I do them here)
Pick up Noah and friend, drive his friend home
Drive Noah home
Pick up Eli from baseball practice
Bring Eli home
Take Noah to drivers training, drive home
Go pick Noah up, drive home

Overall, that adds up to about 3-1/2 hours in the car. It wouldn't be that bad if it was all at once, but because it's spread out throughout the whole day it feels like driving is my whole life.

Thankfully, Noah's last drivers training class is today, and school baseball is over (the kids start summer baseball now, but they are on the same team and they don't have practice every day like Eli did. Tomorrow, Noah's driving instructor is actually picking him up from school, and Noah will make the 30-minute drive home. I cannot believe this is happening! haha

Speaking of Noah, he fainted again. On Monday morning, Jerry, the kids, and I were watching a movie and Noah stood up to go to his bedroom. A few seconds later, I heard a loud thud and Jerry jumped up. I looked over and saw Noah on the floor, so I ran over to him. He was really confused and disoriented for a few seconds, and he said he remembers standing up and then the next thing he knew he was waking up on the floor.

When this happened a couple of months ago, I took him to our general practitioner, and his blood work was all normal. The doctor said it's not that uncommon and without other symptoms, the fainting is probably nothing to worry about. Telling a mom not to worry is like telling the grass not to grow.

On Monday, Jerry said that when he got to Noah on the floor, Noah was shaking. I couldn't see over Jerry very well, but when he said that, I wondered if Noah had had a seizure. To be safe, we took him to the emergency room. They did an EKG and ran a bunch of blood work. Everything was normal. After describing the shaking, they were confident it wasn't a seizure--it was Noah trembling when he came to (I remember this happening to me when I fainted, too).

I asked about a CT scan (my biggest worry is that it's his brain; I've mentioned that my childhood friend Spencer has stage IV brain cancer, and his tumors were discovered in the emergency room after he'd had a seizure). The doctor explained the radiation risks of the CT scan and we decided to hold off on that (I had no idea it involved so much radiation exposure and I'm so glad he told us--I've researched it a bit more since we've been home.)

If Noah has any neurological symptoms, then it would be something we'd want to consider, but the doctor explained how dehydration can cause fainting. I am sure Noah doesn't drink enough water, and that made sense to me. (And later, I remembered that my friend Spencer did have a symptom for a few weeks prior to his seizure--he had phantom smells. He would smell something that wasn't really there or that others could not.)

They gave him IV fluids and then we decided to really push him to stay hydrated from now on and hopefully this won't happen again. He's been taking it pretty seriously, too--bringing a water bottle with him to school and making sure to refill it at least a couple of times throughout the day. I never would have thought that having kids would be so worrisome!

I made a goal for June--to eliminate eating out, getting take-out, or ordering pizza. Because I feel like I am constantly in the car, cooking has felt impossible much of the time. I know that I probably just need to plan better (and utilize my slow cooker more often). The amount of money wasted on food this past month has been insane.

Yesterday, I wrote out a menu and grocery list for the first week of June. I'm going to grocery shop just once a week--no more--and cook dinner every day. If it's a busy day, I will use the slow cooker or make a super quick and easy meal; definitely no more take-out. This is what we did when we first started our budgeting plan to pay off debt. I grocery shopped on Fridays and I planned everything out really well so that nothing was wasted and we used a lot of what we already had.

Aside from the money, I just don't feel good when I eat restaurant food. I feel tired and lethargic, even when I don't overeat. I've been feeling very drained of energy and motivation lately, so I am hoping that eating better will make me feel better!

(I didn't post a Transformation Tuesday this week because I only had a couple of people submit photos--so I'll wait until I get a couple more. Please send in something! It can be something that seems ridiculously insignificant to you, but I assure you, it will be fun for others--including me--to see. The link above explains what/how to send.)

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Living Room Makeover: Before and After Photos!

If you missed it, I shared photos recently of our completed dining room transformation. You can find the makeover pictures on this post. Moving on to the living room...

I'm doing the home makeover in three different parts, one for each room, because I have SO many pictures. So, I broke it up into each room. I'm saving the kitchen for last, because it was definitely the most work.

Unfortunately, I don't have any great photos of our living room "before". I searched and searched through my photos, trying to find any at all where you could see much of the room. I'll share the ones that you can see it the best, but I apologize that it's not great.

A description of "before":
Rectangular shaped living room
One white exterior door and one brown door that leads to the master bedroom
One of the long walls is almost completely open between the living room, dining room, and kitchen
"Stomped" ceilings (a textured ceiling like popcorn)
Crown molding (that we discovered was to hide the gap between the wall and the ceiling)
Deep green walls
Two large windows
All oak-colored trim, crown molding, and baseboard molding, window sills, doors, EVERYTHING
Light multicolored Berber carpet
Large brown ceiling fan

Furnishings "before":
HUGE brown leather sectional sofa (we loved it, but it definitely needed to be replaced)
Yellow-ish accent chair
Electric fireplace/entertainment console
Three dark brown end tables
One large square coffee table
Joey's dog bed

We wanted to do everything the same order with all three rooms at the same time, for simplicity. For the living room, here is what we did:

1) Scrape off popcorn ceiling (I wrote a tutorial for How to Remove a Popcorn Ceiling here)

2) Use drywall compound to fill in the visible seams on the sealing after scraping the texture off

3) As I was doing that, I decided to remove the crown molding

4) To my surprise, I discovered WHY the crown molding was there--it covered a large gap between the wall and the ceiling. I had to "tape and mud" all along the ceiling in order to get nice sharp edges. I had never done this before, and it was a big learning experience. It's this part that I think I am most proud of from the entire project.

5) Fill in any holes in the walls, cracks, etc.

6) Remove the baseboards around the floor

7) The mess: Sand the entire ceiling. Apply more drywall compound as a "skim coat". Sand, sand, sand. There was drywall dust EVERYWHERE.

8) Clean the dust really well to avoid getting it on paint.

9) Wipe off the ceilings to remove dust.

10) Apply caulk to any gaps or cracks in the trim/molding (this made SUCH a huge difference in the final look! I wish I'd known this trick years ago)

11) Prime ceiling x2 coats

12) Paint ceiling x3 coats (I do not recommend Sherwin Williams' ceiling paint--we used so much of it, and I still am not totally happy with it)

13) Prime the walls (I used Kilz stain blocker latex primer)

14) Paint the walls with two coats of Sherwin Williams' Cashmere Finish latex in the color "Cityscape" (dark gray). Because we no longer had crown molding, I had to learn to "cut in" the paint at the ceiling. This was really fun to learn and practice! It's not perfect, but I am pretty impressed with how well it turned out.

15) Tape off the paint around the window and door casings and jambs

16) Prime the wood for the casings with Kilz oil-based primer

17) Paint two coats of Sherwin Williams' oil-based paint in "Spare White" color on the door jambs, and the window/door casings. All trim, basically.

18) Remove the standard "trailer" door from the master bedroom and replace just the door slab, and paint it "spare white".

19) Remove carpet and replace with luxury vinyl planking (we bought this one from Home Depot)

20) Replace furniture--I sold some things on Facebook Marketplace, and I found a few treasures on there to replace what we needed. I bought a very cool mid-century modern sofa and a chair that looks like it should be part of a set, but they were totally separate!

I bought a very nice quality and comfortable Sherrill sofa for $50. I bought a wool Pottery Barn rug to match the sofa and chair for $50 as well. I was going to replace the dark wood with lighter colors, like we did with the rest of the house, but I rather like it. So, we decided to go with the dark stained wood in the living room only.

I also found a Pottery Barn bench/console--I was going to use it for our shoes, but it was WAY too nice to do that--the original price on it was $599, and I paid $60 on Facebook Marketplace!

21) I hung a couple of my dad's paintings on the walls.

22) We arranged the furniture in a new way that was able to get the treadmill out of the way. The treadmill is an eyesore, and we always used to keep it in the dining room (and the dining room table was in the kitchen).

Since we got rid of the huge sectional, we cozied up the living room by pulling the far side coach inward, and then putting the treadmill behind it. You can still see the treadmill, but it's not nearly as noticeable, and it's in a great spot. We kept the three end tables and got rid of the coffee table. Joey got to keep his dog bed ;)

23) Replaced our old ceiling fan

I think that about covers it! This was the easiest room to do, believe it or not. Just wait until you see the kitchen.

Here are the "after" photos I took of the living room (it is nearly impossible to keep a husband, two kids, two cats, and a dog from messing things up! My house is never this clean.) My brother, Brian, let me borrow his "fancy" camera to use a wide-angle lens so that you can see more. So, if anything looks slightly warped, it's because of my non-existent photography skills.

I can't even describe how much I love it! It's still taking some getting used to. But the kitchen is the biggest change of all, and I'm super excited to share those pics!

Here are some photos of the process of making over the living room...

And for the grand finale... Jerry finished the floors! After that, I just had to cut, attach, and paint the baseboards along the floor. 

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LIVING ROOM BEFORE (Jerry was about to do a cartwheel here, haha):

LIVING ROOM AFTER

I did start keeping a list of all of the projects and the whole process from start to finish... you can find that page here: DIY Home Makeover

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My Weight Loss: Wednesday Weigh In and Current Photo (Starting Over)

The internet is loaded with before and after photos of weight loss. My blog is full of them. It's natural--when we work so hard to lose weight, we love to have a visual result. And for those of us with distorted body images, it helps to see how far we've come.

Or, in my case, how far I've gone.

As you all know, this past year has been a huge struggle for me with my weight. Each time I think I figure out the answer, I wind up at square one again.

I spend a lot of time thinking about how I felt during certain periods of my life. Recently, I keep thinking about how great I felt in 2017. I was 100% committed to the pursuit of happiness, and I felt amazing. I only did what I wanted to do, I said things that were on my mind, I ate what made me happy... it was fantastic.

Then I had some personal stuff going on, and long story short, I stopped living for happiness but started striving for what USED to be my happiness. I was searching and searching and just couldn't find it, and then I felt like a failure, and then I just beat myself up over it all.

I've been feeling really depressed and anxious lately, and I really don't want this to turn into another year where I spend the year trying to get back to how I was before. I may or may not ever get to that point again.

I want to work on being happy NOW.

What this means, I'm not really sure yet. But I do know that I am not happy at my current weight, and I'd like a fresh start. Begin where I am today. Not like before, though--not with the hope of getting where I used to be, but where I can go from here.

I want to stop feeling ashamed of my weight gain and guilty for not running. I want to stop hating how I look in the mirror due to the fact that I've gained weight. I want to start being in photographs again instead of hiding from the camera. I want to stop avoiding seeing people I know when I'm in public because they will notice.

I want to stop avoiding posting weigh-ins on my blog simply because my weight is the highest it's been in about nine years. I want to stop worrying about what other people will think of my body and the changes it's been through.

So, I'm starting over. I'm not trying to get to where I was before. I'd still like to try to lose weight, but I'm going to set a different goal weight--one that is more attainable and flexible. After thinking about it, I'd like my new goal to be between 135 and 145. That's a big 10-pound swing, and I like that. I feel like I won't be upset for gaining a few pounds here and there.

Here is my first Wednesday Weigh-In in a very long time. I'm not going to feel ashamed or feel the need to explain anything. I'm not going to talk about how much I've gained or how my clothes don't fit. This is simply what my scale says when I step on it:

(I actually did this weigh-in on Monday).

I'm even going to post a "fresh start" selfie. A full body selfie.

(See how Estelle manages to place herself in every single picture?!)

My first instinct is to point out all my flaws, all the spots where you can see I've gained weight, etc. But I'm not going to do that. I'm going to show you what I look like right at this moment (literally, I took this photo about five minutes ago).

I practically live in yoga pants lately (these ones are Lululemon pants that I got at Salvation Army for $1.99!) because I haven't wanted to buy jeans. When I get some extra cash, I will go buy some jeans that fit me--no matter what size they are. The shirt I'm wearing in this photo is too big, but it's so comfy that I am happy wearing it. I don't feel like I'm trying to hide my body--I'm just wearing what makes me happy.

And the slippers are MukLuks that Jerry gave me as a gift yesterday, because he knows I've been feeling down lately. I love love love them! Becky gave me a pair a couple of years ago for Christmas, and I've worn them right out. It's nice that Jerry noticed I needed a new pair.

I realize I've written a lot about this kind of stuff lately (not clothing, but weight gain/loss/plans to lose/etc), so I'll keep it short. But I basically wanted to write this as a "coming out" post--I weigh 165.8 pounds and I'm not ashamed to post it. Hell, I don't even feel anxious about what people will say! I wanted to post a current full body photo, too, because I never do anymore.

You can expect to see weigh-ins every Wednesday, because I still want to lose weight and I'm not ashamed to post it anymore. My main plan right now is to do what I can that will make me happier. Because I am not in a very happy place right now (fucking bipolar disorder!), I would like to do what feels best for ME.

I'm hoping to write more on my blog (I know I'm always saying that) but I do have some posts in the works. A chalkboard clock tutorial, for one, and my kitchen and living room makeover reveals. More about how sobriety is affecting me (it's been 58 days). I've been posting a lot of recipes lately--I'm working on getting all of them moved over from my previous blog to here, so you can expect to see more of those.

I was going to apologize for that, but I realize I have no reason to apologize--it's my blog! Haha.

I will definitely post more about mental health--my struggle has been really bad lately. However, my brother-in-law, Shawn, called me a few days ago and we talked about our anxiety issues (he's really the only one in my life truly just "gets it"). It was really helpful to talk to him, and I hope to see him in person sometime soon. Maybe I'll road trip to Chicago when the weather is clear!

And there I go, on a tangent again ;)  Be well, Friends. And may we all find happiness and peace with ourselves together!

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Dining Room Makeover: Before and After Photos (Finally!)

I FINALLY have photos of the dining room makeover to show you! I'm going to give the whole rundown of what went into this before I post the before and afters.

If you haven't already read it, I suggest reading "The Story of Our Home" before you go through this post. We have a manufactured home (a.k.a. trailer, double wide, whatever you want to call it).

First, I REALLY wish that I had good "before" photos. I didn't think this project was going to turn out to be anything big, so I didn't think to take any pictures beforehand. Instead, I had to go through the photos on my computer and find pictures that showed the dining room before we did anything to it. So, the before photos kind of suck.

Also, I'm going to show the rooms we made over one at a time, because they aren't all done yet. We are almost done with the living room and kitchen, but I ran into a small issue with the molding and I want to fix that first. So, I will show these rooms in stages, starting with the dining room (which we basically used as an extension of the living room).

First, to go over everything that I did in the dining room:

Remove small wall attached to bar top

Obviously, we removed the cupboards that were being held up by the wall

Removed the textured/popcorn ceiling (here is a tutorial/post all about that)

Removed the crown molding

Taped/mudded the ceiling joint that the crown molding was hiding

Patched and repaired holes/nicks/etc in the walls

Sanded and painted the ceiling

Prepped, caulked, and painted the molding around the window

Built a new counter for the bar top

Replaced window blinds 

Replaced light fixture

Primed and painted table and chairs

Replaced flooring (Jerry did this--doesn't it look amazing?!)

Replaced heat vent registers

Bought secondhand barstools

Installed and painted floorboard trim

Painted a huge chalkboard wall clock (I'm working on a DIY tutorial for this now--it's a lot more work than I thought it would be to explain!)

Built a couple of shelves for the cats to sit on in front of the window ;) 

Here are some photos of the progress and the big reveal!

Here are some progress photos from along the way...

To see all of the posts so far about the renovation, you can scroll through them here. This has been a huge project, and I can't wait to reveal the rest!!

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