Alright let's be honest it's the beginning of the school year and I'm trying to balance being back in the country, working full-time and changing our food routines. So what do we do now? How can I convince my child and myself that adding vegetables into our diet is good? So I just did some research and began using an app that I found early last summer (PepperPlate). I will say I'm a huge fan and totally endorse this!
The first step to trying to figure out the food was deciding what we needed to work towards the "clean" eating that is the ultimate goal. But I'm going to be realistic, we're not perfect and I don't see us ever being perfect when it comes to food and that's ok. Food is just a part of life and one that we must help control and not let it control us.
Once the research on what food to start with was done...it was time to start using recipes. Each recipe is full of the "good stuff". And we've found some we like and some we don't....and my daughter definitely lets me know if she likes it or not! So we keep working and working....
Saturday, September 12, 2015
Wednesday, August 12, 2015
Money, Money, Money
As summer comes to a close...well at least our summer holidays...I realize that this is a good time to take a look at our (read my 5 year old and mine's) finances. To say this is depressing would be the understatement of the 21st century at this point! But alas, I will get a better grip and the goals will be realistic as well as free flowing because let's be honest, I'm a single mom and a shopaholic so I need to be realistic.
The first step is to decide what my financial goals are. And it must be specific. And within a time line. (Are you seeing the background of writing IEP goals over the last decade?) So I know I want to get out of debt. How should I go about it? What needs to happen to make this occur? Well I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey so my plan is to follow his procedures.
Step 1: $1000 emergency fund.
Had it, spent it and don't have all of it left. As of right now I have about $700 left....I think. The problem with living in 2 countries is I split things so my cash emergency fund is at home in the UAE and the rest is in my checking account. So this is my guess.
Step 2: Do a BUDGET
What is this? Only the scariest thing in the world! It means I have to plan out my money and I can't just spend on randomness, this is a work in progress....seriously. I've been doing a budget for a few months but I am pretty consistent at going over. Now the key is getting my daughter on board. Not always the easiest but we've been discussing it and she seems to be on board....here's hoping she and I can figure it out. But I'm using www.everydollar.com by the company Dave Ramsey runs. This program is great and free so it's helping me get organized. Plus there's an app - it just is a bit difficult using the 2 currencies...
Step 3: Start a Debt Snowball
What is this? Dave Ramsey describes this as putting the debts in order from smallest to largest (except the mortgage) and paying them off from there. I can honestly say I have paid off 2 cards at this point...many more to go but I believe this is helpful.
So that's where I'm at. I'm working with the budget and doing what I can with what I have. It's a process but one that will help us accomplish the rest of the goals in our life.
The first step is to decide what my financial goals are. And it must be specific. And within a time line. (Are you seeing the background of writing IEP goals over the last decade?) So I know I want to get out of debt. How should I go about it? What needs to happen to make this occur? Well I'm a fan of Dave Ramsey so my plan is to follow his procedures.
Step 1: $1000 emergency fund.
Had it, spent it and don't have all of it left. As of right now I have about $700 left....I think. The problem with living in 2 countries is I split things so my cash emergency fund is at home in the UAE and the rest is in my checking account. So this is my guess.
Step 2: Do a BUDGET
What is this? Only the scariest thing in the world! It means I have to plan out my money and I can't just spend on randomness, this is a work in progress....seriously. I've been doing a budget for a few months but I am pretty consistent at going over. Now the key is getting my daughter on board. Not always the easiest but we've been discussing it and she seems to be on board....here's hoping she and I can figure it out. But I'm using www.everydollar.com by the company Dave Ramsey runs. This program is great and free so it's helping me get organized. Plus there's an app - it just is a bit difficult using the 2 currencies...
Step 3: Start a Debt Snowball
What is this? Dave Ramsey describes this as putting the debts in order from smallest to largest (except the mortgage) and paying them off from there. I can honestly say I have paid off 2 cards at this point...many more to go but I believe this is helpful.
So that's where I'm at. I'm working with the budget and doing what I can with what I have. It's a process but one that will help us accomplish the rest of the goals in our life.
Thursday, August 6, 2015
4-F Upgrade 2.0
The 4-F's
Family, Finances, Fitness and Food
Every year life changes...with change comes a new outlook and goals. This year the goals include the 4 F's (fitness, food, finances and family). Why choose these? It's time to get a grip! I've been giving advice on all these areas but haven't put my "money where my mouth is" up to this point. So now it's time to put it all out there...well at least in writing at this point.
The joys of living overseas is that the advice that is given (when looking at US websites) are for those that live in the US and are able to obtain those resources. Well, not all of us are able to do that for one reason or another. My case is that I live in the Middle East and no I'm not talking about the Middle of the East Coast in the US, I mean outside of Abu Dhabi/Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This makes my lifestyle a little different but still in need of an upgrade. So upgrade it shall...once I get off of holiday and back home (the joys of living overseas is that I spend 5-6 weeks on holiday in the US every year so right now I'm enjoying my holiday time).
But what is the first step? Each of these areas are HUGE and can and will overwhelm any one person...much less an entire family. So I'm using the rest of my holiday to break each area down into manageable goals. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not necessarily. Will it be worth it? Yes, yes it will. When my daughter goes through life without debt. When I finish my first marathon and triathlon. When I am able to completely vacation without credit cards. When food isn't a constant struggle. This next year will set it all up so that I can accomplish this and change my future as well as my daughter's.
So the next few posts will describe how each of these areas will be accomplished but lets look at what the goals are before we figure out how to get there.
1. Family - this year we'll just plan on having 2 meals a week without electronics. Sounds easy right? Well there are just two of us so it's a bit harder than it looks. And of course I'll add to this especially in the area of chores and consistency of expectations and schedules (yep - I may be a teacher but I truly fail at this in my own house.)
2. Finances - get out of debt and start savings to accomplish my long term goals. (So much to say here but I'll leave that to another post but please know I firmly believe in this and want my daughter to have a different financial future than what I currently live).
3. Fitness - to drop my 5k to under 30 minutes, my 10k under 60 minutes and my Half Marathon (13.1 miles) to 2 hours again. (I was close if not at these goals two years ago but now need a lot of work to get it back.)
4. Food - get off sugar and on to clean eating. (This may sound lofty but I firmly believe I can accomplish this but will need support throughout this - and yes that's part of the plan.)
That's it - that's the whole goals. My goal is to put together an action plan for all of these and document it. It CAN happen and it WILL happen but there are going to be problems and reality says that'll happen and it's ok.
The joys of living overseas is that the advice that is given (when looking at US websites) are for those that live in the US and are able to obtain those resources. Well, not all of us are able to do that for one reason or another. My case is that I live in the Middle East and no I'm not talking about the Middle of the East Coast in the US, I mean outside of Abu Dhabi/Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This makes my lifestyle a little different but still in need of an upgrade. So upgrade it shall...once I get off of holiday and back home (the joys of living overseas is that I spend 5-6 weeks on holiday in the US every year so right now I'm enjoying my holiday time).
But what is the first step? Each of these areas are HUGE and can and will overwhelm any one person...much less an entire family. So I'm using the rest of my holiday to break each area down into manageable goals. Will it be easy? No. Will it be fun? Not necessarily. Will it be worth it? Yes, yes it will. When my daughter goes through life without debt. When I finish my first marathon and triathlon. When I am able to completely vacation without credit cards. When food isn't a constant struggle. This next year will set it all up so that I can accomplish this and change my future as well as my daughter's.
So the next few posts will describe how each of these areas will be accomplished but lets look at what the goals are before we figure out how to get there.
1. Family - this year we'll just plan on having 2 meals a week without electronics. Sounds easy right? Well there are just two of us so it's a bit harder than it looks. And of course I'll add to this especially in the area of chores and consistency of expectations and schedules (yep - I may be a teacher but I truly fail at this in my own house.)
2. Finances - get out of debt and start savings to accomplish my long term goals. (So much to say here but I'll leave that to another post but please know I firmly believe in this and want my daughter to have a different financial future than what I currently live).
3. Fitness - to drop my 5k to under 30 minutes, my 10k under 60 minutes and my Half Marathon (13.1 miles) to 2 hours again. (I was close if not at these goals two years ago but now need a lot of work to get it back.)
4. Food - get off sugar and on to clean eating. (This may sound lofty but I firmly believe I can accomplish this but will need support throughout this - and yes that's part of the plan.)
That's it - that's the whole goals. My goal is to put together an action plan for all of these and document it. It CAN happen and it WILL happen but there are going to be problems and reality says that'll happen and it's ok.
“The voice inside your head that says you can’t do this is a liar.”
— Unknown
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Growing family...
Since B has been asking for a pet as well as a new baby, I took the plunge. We are now the owners of 2 cats - Chip and Yogi. Chip is 2 and from a friend while Yogi is a rescue who was bottle fed from the time he was about 2 weeks, he's now about 4 months. The transition has been good for both of us - it's nice to have critters again but at the the same time it has been challenging as they are DEFINITELY night animals! B has become a good cat "mom" and is learning to feed them and change the litter box! All good things to add to her commission list to help her earn money and get what she really wants. Plus it helps that Yogi is totally fine with B dragging him around and playing with him while Chip prefers me ;-) He's much more relaxed and mellow and not really into B chasing him!
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Taking on food, finances and work all at the same time ;-)
There are some weeks that are better than others...for the first week back to work after the summer holidays. So far this week I've started work, began buying more organic produce, made meals that were more than pizza and macaroni and cheese and starting going through Dave Ramsey's Total Money MakeOver. Overall a successful week I would say!
B has become more and more independent and interested in asking questions that are not only thought provoking but scary. Tonight's questions began with "what is a question" to "what is information". She has begun to question all aspects of life but sadly enough still worries consistently about all types of issues. Her biggest worry is death - how to work through that with a 4 year old? So we have gotten to the point of just not bringing it up at this point. I will always answer her questions but for being 4 she has questions that are well above her chronological age.
We finished going through the "I Quit Sugar" recipe book today so next week we will begin our process of quitting sugar. I wish I could say it would be easy but we all know that's a lie ;-) Yet she is super excited to be involved in the process. And that's a huge goal this year - in order to help her make good food choices when I'm not around she needs to be involved!
When it comes to money she is not being paid on "commission" - a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Junior concept. Another project we did today was to go through and make a commission chart - things she can get paid to do around the house. If she doesn't do the work she doesn't get paid. We shall see how it goes!
B has become more and more independent and interested in asking questions that are not only thought provoking but scary. Tonight's questions began with "what is a question" to "what is information". She has begun to question all aspects of life but sadly enough still worries consistently about all types of issues. Her biggest worry is death - how to work through that with a 4 year old? So we have gotten to the point of just not bringing it up at this point. I will always answer her questions but for being 4 she has questions that are well above her chronological age.
We finished going through the "I Quit Sugar" recipe book today so next week we will begin our process of quitting sugar. I wish I could say it would be easy but we all know that's a lie ;-) Yet she is super excited to be involved in the process. And that's a huge goal this year - in order to help her make good food choices when I'm not around she needs to be involved!
When it comes to money she is not being paid on "commission" - a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Junior concept. Another project we did today was to go through and make a commission chart - things she can get paid to do around the house. If she doesn't do the work she doesn't get paid. We shall see how it goes!
Sunday, August 24, 2014
New Year - New Goals
Today was the first day of the academic year in the UAE. Teachers reported and many walked into new buildings. We arrived Wednesday evening and are still adjusting after a summer of fun in the USA. As I start the new school year I have a variety of goals to reach and am hoping by working through this blog that I'll be able to keep my goals within reach as well as become the parent I wish to be. So here I am listing my goals for the world to see and hoping someone helps keep me accountable for these ;-)
1. Finances - I came to the UAE to help my finances and haven't done a great job as of yet. This year I'll be working through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and B will be starting the Junior version in hopes she will do better with finances when she is older!
2. Running - I like to run but my consistency hasn't been there over the last year. So I'm planning on running the Abu Dhabi Striders Half Marathon on November 14th but that means I need to get motivated and do the work. So here's me saying that I need to do it and I will be finishing it feeling good. Do the work and it should be able to be accomplished.
3. Nutrition - This summer I was really struggling with keeping the positive nutrition habits we had started and that really got shot to heck this summer. So we're starting over and this time we're going to carry it through to the best of our abilities.
I firmly believe that small changes are the best way to go. So each time there is an error then we reset and keep going. It's time to stop quitting and instead move towards the path that makes us better people overall.
1. Finances - I came to the UAE to help my finances and haven't done a great job as of yet. This year I'll be working through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University and B will be starting the Junior version in hopes she will do better with finances when she is older!
2. Running - I like to run but my consistency hasn't been there over the last year. So I'm planning on running the Abu Dhabi Striders Half Marathon on November 14th but that means I need to get motivated and do the work. So here's me saying that I need to do it and I will be finishing it feeling good. Do the work and it should be able to be accomplished.
3. Nutrition - This summer I was really struggling with keeping the positive nutrition habits we had started and that really got shot to heck this summer. So we're starting over and this time we're going to carry it through to the best of our abilities.
I firmly believe that small changes are the best way to go. So each time there is an error then we reset and keep going. It's time to stop quitting and instead move towards the path that makes us better people overall.
Saturday, June 7, 2014
How to be grateful...
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Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.
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