A New Day - A New Start

This weekend has been a new start and new time of transition for our family.... no we didn't change jobs or get a new house, but instead we started a new journey...okay we started two new journeys... a debt reduction journey and a healthy lifestyle journey.  As we begin this journey we want to share some of struggles and victories along the way.  We are going to be transparent... which is challenging and humbling but we feel that it will give us accountability as well as invite others to be encouraged and start their own journeys.

Though most people begin changes like this at the new year mark we just didn't have the time to sit down and really work through what this would look like.  After our Frugal Vacation to Florida and back we had lots of time in the car to discuss, to set boundaries, and to read up on some of the beginning baby steps from Dave Ramsey.  Though we won't be following him exactly I am sure you will see many similarities.

The other journey is healthy eating and healthy choices for our bodies.... if you know my husband and I - you know that we love food - I mean really who doesn't.  And we have put our physical health second to just about everything in our lives and it shows.  I can make all the excuses I want and many of them are valid - having a baby, a autoimmune disease that doesn't allow me to exercise like I used to, a restaurant that sells fried food (which is so yummy) - the list could go on.  All that to say - when I step on the scale I cringe but more importantly when I look at my eating and exercise habits I know that I need to change.

So this weekend we made a few changes... budget for the month is ready and underway.... I am excited and already feel freedom - which seems a little weird because one of the reasons we didn't have a budget before was because we thought it would take our freedom away.  We know it is going to be tight and we know that 140,000 of student load and house debt isn't going to go away overnight but we need to start to make a dent in it.  For Joel the challenge will be not eating out - for me the challenge will be not wanting to stock up every time I see a sale and have a coupon.

As far as the healthy living part - today I exercised - volleyball - though I am rusty it felt so good to do something.  Also added more water to the list of things to drink, and the other change of the week - use smaller dinner plates and leave the food at the stove and not on the dinner table.  Small but mighty changes.

If you think of us - please pray that we would be faithful to reducing not only our debt but our unhealthy eating and exercising habits as well as our weight!