You know what completely sucks about saving to buy a new home? The whole pesky saving=not spending money thing. We keep a very tight budget to begin with and have always had a house fund that we put a little money into each month, but since we have aspirations for a much bigger home than what we're currently living in, we decided to dip into other areas of our budget.
Namely, our personal spending allowances. We have enjoyed a very plush monthly allowance (which Jon never spends all of and I always spend over!) that allows us to buy ourselves frivulous things like shoes and clothes and handbags and whatever it is that boys buy for themselves. Probably video games. Anyhow, starting this month, our monthly allowances have been cut back by 60% each! That's a whole lotta money and a lot less clothes for Katie!
One visit to Urban Outfitters (where I got a steal on a super cute denim safari dress) and a visit to Barnes and Nobles (to get a novel for the cruise and to jump on the 30 Day Shred bandwagon) later and I only have $30 left of my budget! And it's only January 14th! And we're going on a cruise at the end of the month! EEK. This is going to take some getting used to.
Speaking of the 30 Day Shred, I decided to give it a shot because the other area that we cut in our monthly budget is our expensive gym membership. $120 a month for a gym that we rarely go to is not money well spent. That could add up to valuable down payment money! I tried the Shred for the first time on Sunday night and I actually really enjoyed it. It's tough, yes, but by the time you're at the point where you think you can't go on, it's over! I guess that's the beauty of a 20 minute workout. I felt good enough to do 30 minutes on the Wii Fit right after. I was a little sore on Monday but not nearly as sore as I thought I would be based on feedback from other bloggers who "Shred". I think the push-ups killed me more than anything. I was using 5 pound dumbbells in each hand for the other moves which I think that was a little aggressive for my first try so I'm going to switch to my 3 pound dumbbells the next time.
Overheard in our bathroom a few nights ago:
Me (flexing my abs in the mirror): "This 30 Day Shred is going to get me in great shape for the cruise!
Jon: "You don't need to do anything, you're solid."
Me: "Solid? Honey, the last thing a woman wants to hear is that she's solid. That means thick!
Jon: "Well, what should I say?"
Me: "Toned, baby. TONED."
P.S. Sending a special birthday shout-out to two of my favorite gals:
My big sis, Kacey...
and my lovely friend, Jess...
