1. I hope to have the blog caught up by next year. (HAHA!) I am so incredibly behind, it’s unreal.
2. I have to decide on a diet for 2010. I have about 100 pounds (ouch!) to lose. Anyone have any suggestions?
3. My friend and I are going to be creating a weight loss blog to track our progress and interact with others that want to lose weight in 2010 as well.
4. I have got to get my house back together after Christmas. It looks like Hurricane Christmas hit it.
5. I have quite a few coupons expiring on 12/31 that I have to use. I wish coupons never expired. It would make my life easier.
6. I have to finish organizing my coupons and stay organized. I’ve been working on them for 3 days! I have so many coupons. At least 20-30 inserts from every week, tons of clipped coupons. It’s a mess. But I am starting to see the finish line.
7. We are celebrating my husband’s birthday tomorrow by going to see The Princess and The Frog and eating at Outback. YUM!
So what are your goals/plans for the week? Feel like you have a lot to do?
{ 40 comments… read them below or add one }
2. As I mentioned before sparkpeople since it is free and helped me so much!
3. definitely ineterested
5. Tell me about it! I usually shop on Fridays and now I will be rushed to get it all done by Thursday and this is a heavy shopping week for me.
6. Ditto for me I vacilate between a file folder and a binder, I quickly put them in the file folder first then slowly get them in the binder and it has been a long time since I’ve done that. I must be up to date this week.
I am so glad to have Thursday off and I will try to catch up on things that day.
My blog is still not back either! :(
Oh no Staying Lean! I can’t believe they got your blog too! I hope it comes back!
I LOVE the new site! Congratulations!
I love 40+ pounds using Weight Watchers online. It was like a math game to me…how much food can I get in per day for my points.
I could echo most of your goals. My current goal is re-organizing our school room, which is almost halfway done.
Outback…I highly recommend the roasted filet wedge salad…heaven!!!
Janna,
My mouth is watering over the filet wedge salad. We didn’t make it to Outback yet. We need to tomorrow. Yum!
You want to lose weight use herbalife or weight watchers. I lost over 95 pounds on herbalife when i gained weight with my first daughter. Herbalife is for people who don’t like to weight their food. otherwise the principal is the same for both. It’s a great program and I’ve seen 100′s lose on it. My parents have been distributors for 12 years. I’m a big fan!
hi there ~ I love your site!! Question for you ~ where do you get 20-30 inserts every week? thanks!
I have used Calorie Count (free on about.com) for the last year and lost the rest of my baby pounds (my daughter was born in 2007). My fitness goal in 2009 was to lose the rest of my baby fat (yeah! I did it!); my new fitness goal for 2010 is to learn how to maintain (I don’t want to gain it all back) and how to become more fit overall. Our family goal is to lower our debt this year and go to DisneyWorld in 2010 (my husband wants to go at Christmas next year, after watching all the Disney Christmas shows this year – thanks to your blog).
Congrats on your new site! I just wanted to let you know that you have inspired me to coupon and survey my way to Disney as well. We haven’t been there since Christmas of 2005. It has been too hard money-wise but i really feel your plan will work for us too. I have about 45 lbs i could lose so i will be looking forward to your blog about that too. On the coupon mess, mine too. I was just looking through yesterday and could not find half of what i was looking for because i have such a mess. I have just been too busy. Maybe i will figure out a way to keep organized. So much to do, so little time.
I loved weight watchers!! i have went to the meetings and done it online myself. some insurances give discounts for WW too…so check that out.
My goals for 2010. well I am having my second child so i will have 2 under 2, so i want to get more organized. pay off more bills and lose this baby weight!! HOPEFULLY that happens sooner rather then later!
I think that we need to become partners for loosing weight. I too have about 100 pounds to loose. I was sucessful when I did weight watchers. I had lost about 50 but quit going and now I need to get back on track.
Hi Kristen, love your new site.
Like many of you my goals are pretty much the same. Need to get my house organized, have a ton of coupons that are expiring the 31st as well. Would love to lose some of my baby fat, after having 2 kids in 2 years. We want to also plan a trip to Disney but our kids are a bit too young still ( 28 months and 91/2 months) maybe in a few years.
i also vote for weight watchers. it seems overwhelming at first but it really is easy to follow after you get the hang of it. I’ve been every weight type there is and WW is the only healthy program that has worked for me. good luck with whatever you choose and I love your blog!
Hi Kristen,
I lost 40 lbs on Nutrisystem. It’s sort of expensive, but it really does work. Might be difficult with kiddos in the house to feed though, since you wouldn’t be eating what they’re eating. But it works, even without a lot of exercising.
Hi Kristen,
Congrats on the new site! Thanks for all you do! For the weight issue, my friend and I decided over Mexican (ha) last night to have a race to see who could get to 135 the fastest (long way to go). We have not come up with our strategy yet. I did Atkins hard core before I had kids and dropped about 65 pounds. I dont think that plan will work now with kids. My coupons are in such disarray that I thought about trying a different system but just cant make up my mind. We’ll be debt free by end of January and looking forward to hopefully getting in to a new house in 2010!
Hey Kristen,
The new site looks great! I’m new at blogging and my site is with Blogger. I’m a little scared now about it being blocked but have no idea where to start to move it else where….much less for free.
Do you have access to a gym that offers Spinning Classes? I started Spinning about 7 months ago and I am hooked!! It’s fun, fast paced and a great workout.
Thanks for all you do!
Becky
Kristen, the new site is great!
I look forward to saving even more in 2010. Thank you so much for the time and effort that you put in!
Love the new site hun!
Ugh… weight loss… Boo…
Well I need to too… i have gained like 25lbs since I started my new job in june… now none of my clothes fit… none! I have A PAIR of pants… oh and they were so tight this morning! I will NOT be buying new pants in a larger size, i refuse… I am going to get a gym membership this week (a local place, it is realllllllly great) and probably will do low carb… I did Atkins and it was great… very little thinking involved… just lots of protein and veto the carbs! easy enough for me….
I hate this time of year @ the gym though… Everyone goes for the first month so the place is packed! But eventually it settles down…. if I had more pairs of pants I might wait until Feb, butttt nope…
get excited!
I lost 75 pounds in college and have kept it off (most of the time!) over 15 years (and 3 babies!) Weight Watchers is great, but I think any way you get accountability will work. I think I remember seeing you were from Alabama, and I would HIGHLY recommend Scale Back Alabama – I’ve done it the last few years to make sure to drop any Christmas weight, and it’s been great to have the accountability and support of a few girl friends. Go here – http://scalebackalabama.com/ to see information. Your new website looks fabulous!
Weight watchers is great in my opinion. Good luck and I love your blog!
Want a cheap way? Go to your library and borrow the diet book that Oprah wrote with Bob Greene. It helped me lose 30lbs that I had put on due to marriage! I have kept it off for several years due to what I learned.
I agree with “Staying Lean”s comment about Sparkpeople.com It’s free and it’s a great community of people trying to lose weight/get healthy. It took me 11 months, but I lost 80 pounds and I’ve kept it off for almost 2 years now with no pills, packaged foods or hours in the gym. My motto was “change 1 thing”. All you have to do is find one thing to do differently, master that and move on. Losing 1 pound a week is realistic and achievable by cutting just 250 calories a day and do an extra physical activity for 30 minutes a day even in just 10 min. increments. You can do it!
I love your blog and it’s inspired me to change my spending habits and I have gone from spending $200 a week for groceries for a family of 4 to $75 in just 4 months. I’m hoping to get down to $50. Everything I save is going into a vacation fund and we’re hoping to head out west this summer. Thank you so much for doing what you do!
Ruth – That is absolutely amazing! That is so fabulous! I hope your vacation is wonderful!
How do you end up with 20-30 inserts for every week?
I have a lot of friends and family that save their inserts for me, so it usually equals out to about 20-30 a week. :)
SparkPeople is great! And the best part is it’s free. I am trying Weight Watchers now and hope it works. I need to get all the Christmas goodies out of the house first :) Good Luck and love the new look!
I would love to find out where you get all those inserts. I used to get them from someone but she stopped doing it so I am looking for another resource.
The diet thing…. I would definitely recommend Special K! After my daughter was born, I used it and lost all the baby weight plus some… about 45 pounds total. Plus you don’t have to pay for the service, just for the food. You can go to SpecialK.com to customize and print out a meal plan as well.
Go to http://www.MoneySavingKate.com to find out how to get 10 boxes of Kellogg’s cereal (including Special K) for $0.40 a box!
With sparkpeople you can do whatever type of diet you want. You can choose low carb, or find groups that do Weight Watchers on there. I really like it because it is sooo practical. I track my own food and stay within calorie ranges and I can use the food I want. That way if Weight Watchers cheese or Yogurt is on sale I buy it if not I get what is on sale. Jenny Craig and Weight Watchers do teach you good habits but they lean you towards buying their products.
We are starting Power 90 this week, a lot of my family members swear (ha – I typed sweat on accident) by it. And it’s on ebates…
I wanted to weigh in (funny I know) on the dieting for 2010. My husband tried Nutrisystem earlier this year, his mom paid for the first 2 months as we couldn’t afford it. He did great, lost almost 40 pounds in the first 2 months, he wanted to lose 100. Anyway, we couldn’t afford to continue the NS diet and didn’t want his mom continuing to pay for it so we went back on a modified South Beach Diet. A friend of mine that was on the NS diet as well was told by his doctor that it is much cheaper to get Healthy Choice, Smart Ones or Lean Cuisine Entrees especially on sale are much cheaper if you need help portioning (which is really all NS is). You could probably find a blog someone has done with all the “rules and menus” of NS diet. My husband ate breakfast: a yogurt and whole wheat English muffin. Snack: carrots and a cheese stick. Lunch: Salad with fat free dressing, an NS entrée and 1 carb (crackers or a small ww roll). Snack: Yogurt and Fruit or raisins. Dinner: Salad with FF dressing, NS entrée, 2 sides of veggies (usually broccoli or bleack beans) and 1 carb (roll or crackers). Dessert: NS Brownie (basically a regular brownie just portioned). Really the key is portioning. His calorie intact never hit 2000 a day and he was suppose to have 2,300. He plans to start our own NS diet in 2010 and we are already making our menu and collecting our coupons for frozen entrees, all his snacks, and the Pillsbury Splenda Chocolate cake mix to make our own brownies with egg beaters. We also use southbeachcenturyclub.com for free south beach diet recipes which we sometimes modify to fit in with the NS diet format. Good luck!
Weight Watchers is the BEST!!! Their online support is great as well. There are challenges you can join and make friends. In fact that’s where I met my BFF who lives in FL and I’m in IL. We are planning a trip in 2010. We text everyday and it’s great
I can’t wait for you to start your weight loss on here, I’m for sure joining!
Hi there! Just read your list and wanted to chime in on the weight loss goal. I highly recommend Lindora Comprehensive Weight Loss program. (Lindora.com) Their clinics are in Southern California, but they also have an online program. I lost 50 pounds this year (went from 190 to 140) using the program and have maintained the weight loss. My husband is currently doing the program and lost 30 pounds in 6 weeks. They are using me in a commercial that airs on Monday, January 4th. It is a high protein, low fat, low carb diet and you eat every two hours. Very healthy and something that you can maintain for your lifetime. The book is excellent and really gets into the behavioral side of weight loss. If you (or anyone reading this post) has any questions, please contact me at stacysolorio@aol.com or facebook “Stacy Vance Solorio”. Best wishes!
Great goals list! After reading your list, I was wondering how you organize your coupons? Do you clip, save inserts, use a filing system, binder, etc?
I really enjoy reading your blog! Thanks for all your hard work.
I found your post on organizing coupons! My apologizes for asking and not looking harder! Thanks again!
Leatha,
No worries! I am glad you found it! I tried to make things as easy as possible to find. :)
Kristin
Kristin,
I recently started reading your blog and I’m addicted! I love all the ways you have taught me to save.
Thank you for all your hard work!
Also, I wanted to ask you..Say if there is a product on sale and like a rock bottom price, Do you go to the store multiple times or just do it in different transactions?
I wasn’t sure if I’m buying a product if there is a certain limit and also certain limits of coupons I can use at once?
Ashley,
I will usually go to a few stores and get 6-10 at each store. :)
Kristin
I really like the concept of your website, but how on earth do you find time to get everything done? I work full time and have two kids under 2.5 years. I feel like all I do is straighten the house and do dishes and laundry and try to recuperate on the weekends. I hate the idea of paying full price for things, but I feel like I don’t have it in me to try to look up the sales, clip the coupons and drive to the different stores. If you have any suggestions for time management, I would greatly appreciate it!
For weight loss, I suggest the free indicator (feeling hunger) to tell you when to eat….if the indicator dosen’t come on, don’t eat. If it does, eat! I am trying this and find it very helpful to get around emotional/bored/mindless snacking/eating! (which has been my issue) So many diets tell you “never be hungry”….if you’re not hungry, how do you know when to eat? Try it for a day and see how you feel! Good luck! I love your blog – you are super crafty and creative about saving money. I reference your blog in my recent posts about your ’5 a day’ section. Thank you!!! – Stephanie
Well as you can see there have been many votes for the Weight Watchers program and I am going to chime in and say that has been the most successful for me. I have thus far lost 120 lbs. and have set a goal for 10 to 20 this year. I first used the at homekit that you can order and you get the grocery book of points and the dining out book of points as well as some other tools. Then you can call the phone counselor if need be. It really is helpful in the fact that you don’t feel deprived of anything or have to have diet products for the rest of your life. You learn if you want bacon maybe turkey bacon would be best or just have one slice of the other and pile on the veggies to fill you up etc. Don’t look at the large number 100 instead look at the 5 lb. and let yourself know that that is 5 lbs. off your back, knees etc. then move on the the next 5 lb. and tell yourself I will never see that 5lbs again. Another cheap way of doing W.W. is the online program which is a sign up fee which might still be free for their new year promo but it is about 45 for three months and you can blog in chat rooms get recipes, emails and so forth. I hope I have been a help and encouragement.