Filling My Plate
I started my day off on Thursday hoping that Chris and I would do a circuit workout together in the living room. When I pulled the weights out of the dusty “workout box” I found an old familiar enemy . . . the measuring tape. For some reason I had this radical idea to do my body measurements. I had found my stats from a year ago, and people have been saying I look like I lost weight so why not?
I was devastated to find out that absolutely nothing had changed. I immediately regretted my stupid decision. I mean, I haven’t weighed myself in a year, why would I go measure myself?! In hindsight its actually pretty impressive that things didn’t change seeing as how its almost been one year since I stopped dieting and unintentionally stopped exercising so much.
I then went on to get my first haircut of 2011. I’m trying to grow out a ridiculous wedge from last year and its been a rough awkward ride. Thankfully, it grew enough to the point where it was able to be evened out a bit. Don’t mind the glassy eyes, the picture was taken post breakdown.
When I got home, I decided to take a nap before heading to dinner with Chris. The nap was fantastic! I haven’t slept that hard in ages since being involved with some apartment issues that I cant discuss right now. When I woke up there were words exchanged between Chris and I that ended up having me feel guilty for taking some time out for myself to nap and get my hair cut whether it was the intention or not (apparently, it wasn’t).
In an effort to ignore the situation and cool off, I sat in the kitchen to open some mail, specifically our joint account statement. I found that we still had an abnormal amount of money in there and then it hit me . . .
I forgot to pay the rent!
Immediately, my shoulders and neck got so tense and heavy and this rush of emotion filled me to the point where I exploded in tears. I was ashamed and embarrassed. It wasn’t just about the rent, it hit me that I have been forgetting so many other things lately big and small. The most important on my list . . . . self-care, spending time with friends & family, relaxing and having fun.
I put a lot on my plate and now I am starting to realize why. I feel the need to have an arsenal of things to have with me at all times. I need a grenade to throw at the unknown because I fear what is going to happen in a year, a month, a week even. So I pile up so many projects and invisible deadlines so that if something goes wrong, there is something to blame.
“I failed because X wasn’t done”
The more I work on my future, the more Ill be prepared for this war that might not even exist!
Funny thing is I am losing the war in the process. I’m losing my connection to what I love and what makes me happy and ironically its that connection and passion is the actual key to the future!
I have got to let go of a lot of things. My fear of money, my invisible deadlines, my strict work ethic on my time off and my summer goals and having fun. Letting this time in my life pass me by is worse then not knowing what the future holds because all I really have is that life right now in the present moment. Contrary to what my mind is making me feel, I don’t need to have it all figured out just yet.
For the record, we did end up going out to dinner at an Indian restaurant and it helped . . .
A lot.
Balancing Money: Traveling Budget Tips
At the beginning of the month, Chris and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary in the Poconos. Before our trip, I wrote a post about our traveling budget for that trip where I came up with a plan of how much money we needed and where it likely would be spent.
I also promised an update to see if we met our goal and the answer . . .
We were both under budget by $97!
Here’s some tips about how we ended up that way.
1.) Make a plan. Click HERE to read the post detailing how I came up with how much we needed. Doing this helps us think about how many meals we will be eating, how many activities we will be doing and a rough idea of what they will cost.
2.) Research the area. Having an iPad made this super easy but you can also do it before you leave. We were able to find places to eat and things to do as well as the prices of each. We used the Yelp App quite a bit which did end up helping us choose places to go based on customer reviews.
3.) Go off season/peak. We are famous for doing things when big crowds of people are not. This way we were able to get a great room cheap and also get off season prices on things like golf.
4.) Pack Yo’ Snack. This Balancing Money rule applies to your trips too! Before we left, I hit up Trader Joes for a plethora of drinks and snacks to keep in the room. This helped us when we weren’t hungry for a meal but could go for something light that we didn’t have to go out and buy. Which leads me to my next tip . . .
5.) Consult your hunger. Intuitive Eating played a big role in saving money this trip. Because we knew we were saving, we checked in with our hunger and figured out what we REALLY wanted. Often when we are in a new place, we like going to restaurants for the hell of it. We had 2 instances where we wanted to go out but settled for hotel snacks (or Indian food leftovers) because we werent truly hungry.
6.)Take advantage of amenities. Our hotel offered a mini fridge and a continental breakfast.
We were able to bring our leftovers back to the room for later eats and not have to worry about going out for breakfast. Also, we were each given $20 in free slot money at the casino which ended up turning into ~$300! That was a very lucky night and please not that I didn’t include those winnings into the budget.
The important thing is that we never felt deprived of doing anything we wanted to do! In fact, it worked out so well for us that we are very excited to plan out our budget for our next trip. This ones got our work cut out for us. A good challenge but completely possible!
What are your best travel tips?
