Heidi: Demon Slayer

[Heidi]

Last challenge I realized that while I have made some great strides in Mind and Soul, the overall state of my Body has fallen through the cracks a bit. So this challenge will be focused on nutrition and exercise. And budget. Some big demons need slaying.

 

 

The Nutrition component has to do with keeping bad stuff at bay (no sugar or alcohol) while increasing the good stuff. I am already really good about not eating out and keeping junk out of the house, two of the biggest nutritional demons out there. But for some reason, I am not feeling well anyway. My stomach and guts are painful and bloated; my hands and feet are puffy; my appetite is in the trash, and I have no idea what is going on here.

 

First, I need to get decent sleep. I will track my sleep in the Fitbit app manually. Good sleep really doesn’t need any explanation, but it has been wicked difficult for me to do, and the biggest stumbling block to this has been my children. They seem to tag-team who is up and making a mess, even though the kitchen officially closes at 10 (teenagers wait until I go to sleep to go raiding, and then I wake up in the morning to a mess and no useable food) and that the quiet hours are from 11 pm - 7 am. The kids are quiet, but awake, and this means I am having to pull teeth to get them out of bed -- like, all morning, I am repeating myself, trying to get them up. With school ending, this has to be figured out. Seriously. No sleeping after 7 a.m. They can get up and ride bikes, do their chores (printed on a daily checklist) or play xbox for all I care. But they can’t screw with the house schedule, and I will medicate them into submission if necessary. (Amen; pass the plate.)

 

Secondly, I need to eliminate sugar and alcohol. I probably won’t do this forever or anything, but alcohol is bad and sugar isn’t good. I’m allowing some fresh fruits, but no added sugar in my tea / coffee for this challenge. And since alcohol is just a concentrated, distilled sugar, it needs to go too.

 

Next, I need to track my food. This is boring, but is really helpful in figuring out if there is a relationship between what I am eating and how I feel. I mean, really, I don’t eat badly; in fact, I eat really really well. So what the heck is up with the bloating and pains? I’ll use the food log in Fitbit, and log freaking everything, using the journal function to make note of how I feel physically and emotionally. Boring and tedious, you say? Absolutely. But if I consulted a nutritionist, I would have to do the same thing, in a log of the provider’s choosing, and pay several thousand dollars for the privilege. Bah. I can do this on my own. (The analysis is another matter entirely, so if you know a nutritionist out there who might take a gander at my log, please send me the name.)

 

Lastly, keep on with the water intake. There is something truly purifying about drinking water. Last challenge I was at 2L of water or unsweetened weak tea a day. This challenge I’m upping the goal by 20% to be 2.5L/day. I don’t drink much in the way of coffee, but what I do drink is amazingly wonderful, a blossoming goodness of fair-trade, locally-roasted, fully-caffeinated goodness.  Increasing the water goal will help me remember that I shouldn’t be drinking that after dinner, especially with the sleep goal.

 

The Exercise component is about increasing my baseline health. Period. Simple? Yes. Easy? Not so much. [That’s why they call it a challenge.]

First, increase my walking by 25% to 6250 steps a day. This seems like such a mamby-pamby number when I write it, but last challenge there were several days when I barely made 5,000, so an increase of 25% is the real deal.

Also, getting on the treadmill once a week for 50 minutes makes a big difference in how I feel overall, and especially in how I sleep. The goal here is to create a habit from which I can start covering longer and more difficult distances in the same time frame.

If I can add in arm weights for 15+ minutes while on the treadmill, all the better.

 

 

As always, there will be a life component, because life continues apace no matter what we are focused on otherwise. Specifically this challenge I am focusing on budget, budget, and more budget, and the points will reflect how important this is to me right now.

 

Financially, I have many issues coming together. First, I’m unemployed. Having no income sucks, not to put too fine a point on it. I have a student loan to cover my tuition and books, and I have unemployment (for now; it’s being challenged by my previous employer) that covers the bare necessities of food and fuel (thank goodness I used my tax refund to buy a steer and pay for fresh fruits and vegetables in advance).

Then there is the boys’ father, who pays little if anything in support, and is always trying to weasel out of any penny he can. This is stressful of course, but even when I have managed the personal issue of it, it causes a constant fire on the finance front. And this week I found out that Vivian’s father is now unemployed and in school. On the upside, he has been really responsible on this front at every turn, and we had a conversation on what the overall prospect is for his education and future employment. While that doesn’t pay the rent, it certainly goes a long way in my peace of mind. We will have to go to court to have the state figure out how much is being paid each month, but at least we won’t be arguing about it.

 

The bottom line is that I have very little money coming in, indeed. I will be fine (I think), but I also have some debts running amok out in the wilds of my financial landscape, and they need to be slain before they destroy what I have built. There is a list that I have put together, with payment dates. It’s daunting. I have to stick to it, though, and if I manage to do this it will be a huge success on my part and for the long-term financial health of my family.

 

Stick to the budget.

Obviously, the bills have to be paid in a timely manner. With all the changes facing my income right now, this is a serious consideration.  So that is step one.

 

Cut back. Seriously, this will be very hard for us, since I have pared much out of the basic expenses over the past two challenges and took a big slice out again when I wrote it up for this challenge. The only thing left to cut away was the entertainment factor -- we have a love of books and movies, and amazon makes it oh-so-easy to buy them, but for this summer we will have to live on little-to-none of purchased entertainment. We have netflix and amazon prime, so if you know of something that is amazing that we might have missed, please give us a shout. I am looking forward to Orange is the New Black, Under the Dome, and we have five seasons of House to catch up on. HBO has recently released some stuff to prime, and I have Mildred Pierce  and Luther in the watchlist. This should be ample, but in case we run out, there's a bunch of great shows on Netflix and HBO on prime, and there’s a gob of free classics for our kindles and there’s a great list of rated free books, by category.

 

 

The weekly food purchases have been outlined into a checklist. I’m hoping that the amount that I have budgeted will cover the list, but ultimately the list will have to get pared down if it doesn’t. There are items highlighted for the chopping block if the money doesn’t go as far as we want it to. For this challenge I’m eliminating the dozen fresh bagels we usually get every week. The items from the orchard store are also being limited by going last on the list of weekly shopping chores, and whatever cash is left for the week will be the limiting factor.

 

Slaying the debts will be especially difficult with reduced income, but even more important. While this is intimidating and daunting, the upside is that there will be ever so much more enjoyment of the money that we do have as the debts are reduced. I have made a list and scheduled payments, with a contingency schedule in case the income thing falls to hell through some bizarre confluence of courts and previous employers.

Meanwhile, I really am feeling anxious about not having any savings.  So that's the final piece.

 

Yes, I know I threw all my life points at the budget this time. And yes, I will still be in classes, studying my butt off; I will still need to clean the house and do the dishes and do the laundry; I will still need to send out resumes every week to look for a job. But no matter what else, even if the house has clutter and the grades fall, I have to provide for my family -- I call this the glass floor: nobody talks about the minimum that is required of us, regardless of anything else. When I was single or partnered without children, this was far less stressful -- I could make the decision to live in the National Forest for the summer (and did) and the only difficulty this presented for me was at the DMV -- they were deeply concerned that I had a post office box listed on my license but no physical address (I gave them the address of the greyhound bus station). But now that I have children, it’s a bit more troublesome to be without income; downright impossible to be without an address, as social services will come and take your children away under such circumstances. So full court press at budget it is.

 

Summary of goals: (TL;DR)

Nutrition

1. Sleep 11pm  CON +2

2. Eliminate added sugar and alcohol CON +2

3. Track food CON +.5

4. 2.5 L water day CON +.5

Exercise

1. Walk 6250 steps a day. STA +2

2. Treadmill once a week for 50 minutes STA +2

3. Arm weights for 15+ minutes STR+1

Budget

1. Pay all bills on time WIS +1

2. Little-to-no television purchases. WIS +1

3. Limit weekly food purchases. WIS +1

4. Pay on debts. WIS +1

5. Put money into savings each month and leave it there.  WIS +1

[Heidi]

Today, first week of being able to post in the challenge thread:

 

Week 0 Day 2

Nutrition

1. Sleep pending

2. No added sugar and one glass of wine

3. Tracked food

4. 2.5 L water 

Exercise

1. Walk 16,000+ steps today. (I admit it -- I'm tired.)

2. Treadmill for 50 minutes

3. Arm weights for 15+ minutes 

Budget

1.  

2. no television purchases.

3. Weekly food purchases right at the budgeted $100  

[alienjenn]

oh hai!

[Jittersthe.Clown]

This is quite the challenge, Heidi.  I look forward to reading about you crushing it.

 

If I may be so bold; can you get your older (heck even the younger) children to throw in around the house and set a list of regular chores for them to do?  You can go so far as to lock out the WiFi until they are done with them, as I've seen done in the past.  Just a thought to help ease your stress a little bit.  Good luck out there!

[Heidi]

oh hai!

hai yerseff!

This is quite the challenge, Heidi. I look forward to reading about you crushing it.

If I may be so bold; can you get your older (heck even the younger) children to throw in around the house and set a list of regular chores for them to do? You can go so far as to lock out the WiFi until they are done with them, as I've seen done in the past. Just a thought to help ease your stress a little bit. Good luck out there!

Thanks, Jitters! In fact I do indeed have a list of daily chores that everyone has to do, toddler included. It is written as a checklist, just to make it easier.

I used to change the WiFi password daily, but now they have to turn in their mice & keyboards and I take the remotes. They still stay up, but not online.

[Sandylion]

Hi Heidi,

That is a really robust challenge and looks like you've got a lot going on.  Good luck with everything!  Finances are hard and when they are stressed they add so much stress to everything else in life. Good for you for making a solid plan to tackle it!

[T2sarahconnor]

Great challenge! You will crush it! I think the added exercise will help with the sleep issue.

As far as your diet and the way you feel my suggestion would be cut out gluten for two weeks and see what that does. But I understand with kids and really watching the food budget pasta is a good way to stretch the meat and veggies. Been there did that. Maybe substitute rice once in a while? When I quit gluten ( I still cheat a little) I had never felt better. Bloating and morning sluggishness gone.

I am here to support you through this challenge and can't wait to see your successes. I will probably be silent till Sunday since garage sale is Friday. Can't wait to tell you how I Heidi-fied my life!

[Heidi]

Thank you, T2SC. I hadn't thought about the gluten issue! We do love our long grain brown rice, so I'll make that my go-to staple for this challenge and see if it helps. The boys love breads and pastas, and I can have that stuff around without too much impact on my diet.

[T2sarahconnor]

You should see a difference in about 4-5 days with no gluten. You might have a few headaches ( I got one everyday around 1pm for about 3 days but I was cutting out diet soda and sugar at the same time ) but a couple ibuprofen cured them.

[Heidi]

Yesterday's activities did indeed help with sleep - 10:30-5:30.

This morning I tokk the world's longest shower to help work out stiffness and soreness.

Soon I will hit the books for class tonight, but right now I am taking a resting and reading break. (Max Barry is amazing.)

[Bekah]

Hey hey hey! Great goals! I have a similar strategy with the kids, no electronics after 9pm with quiet and lights out at 10. Eventually they started falling asleep much earlier and now after a few months even JJ is usually asleep by 10pm most nights.

[Heidi]

O ICK!!!

The compost leaked all over -- my brother has been out of town, and I didn't think about what that would mean for the compost that he usually picks up from me for his garden -- and it got all over the canvas totes and bags that we use for groceries. Everything is foul smelling.

 

So, reseting and reading time has been ditched and full court press for cleaning is underway. 

 

On the upside, I hadn't done the weekly cleaning yet, so it needed to be done any old way.

[Heidi]

Also, forgot to mention that the monthly regular bills are paid as of this writing. WOOT.

 

We ordered a bunch of staples online for the month to help avoid the impulse purchase trap, and they should be here today. Good thing we are cleaning up to make room for the mess.

[Heidi]

Because we needed ginger

[Heidi]

Ok, cleaning done, including the bathrooms and a load of laundry.

We are ready to receive this month's dry goods, and possibly now I can go study. 

For some reason, I'm having a major difficulty getting this done ever since the migraine hit last week. I think it's aversion, but a little success will go a long way here. (Could be burn out. I've been doing this without stopping since early September.)

 

Anyway. Going for a short walk before sitting down to focus.

[ShadowLion]

Awesome challenge! I was unemployed for a long stretch and can sympathize with the difficulties of managing everything. You've got a terrific plan and it looks like you are doing great on working it. Best of luck this challenge!

[Heidi]

Shelf hung, boxes of stuff sorted and put away, lunch box items segregated and pre-bagged.

 

Also took Ethan to a friend's and got gas on the way back -- a little over budget, but hopefully it will last all month.

[Heidi]

Awesome challenge! I was unemployed for a long stretch and can sympathize with the difficulties of managing everything. You've got a terrific plan and it looks like you are doing great on working it. Best of luck this challenge!

WOOT. Just got a call for a contract. Need to have the interview etc., but still, it's nice to have some action on the job front, since my unemployment got canceled.

[Heidi]

Who says housework doesn't pay?

I just found $20 while cleaning out my briefcase.

[Chanda]

Wow you sure can write!

 

Great challenge. Interesting thing about cutting back on alcohol, at least for me, was how much I actually saved financially.

 

I look forward to seeing how you go!

[Terinatum]

Hi Heidi,

 

I have learned a lot from you this year and wanted to say thanks. One of my goals comes from the inspiration I get from you (how's the head, is it getting too big?). I am only drinking water (and eating, don't be silly!) during this challenge. Beyond that, not sure. Now, I drink water mostly now anyway, although milk comes into the picture and all hell breaks loose (sucky sugar, make life nuts). Anywho, long way of saying you're pretty awesome in my book.

 

Sorry about losing the unemployment battle. Sucks.

Preaching to the choir commencing...

I don't know what the Roanoke area has to offer, but are there supports that you might be willing and able to use? Food Banks or Credit Consolidation programs, that type of thing? Also, we have a community Time Bank. You do an hour of work for someone that uses the Bank and then you get an hour from someone who uses the bank. The skills are valued differently. So, if there's something you want help with, you can have someone do it with you or for you, and vice versa. A thought.

 

Sleep, the final frontier. The best thing - unsubstantiated at this time (lawyer-talk you know!) - I made the last hour before bed be an easy, but moving type of activity. It is so much harder for me to go from the computer or tv straight to bed. So I started doing a sweep through the house picking up things and double checking things for the next day. I also spend a bit of time in the bathroom. A warm, wet washcloth on my face does wonders for me. I also clean my ears! TMI oops.

 

Love the twenty bucks treasure find! Reminds me of a movie called, 20 Bucks. It follows one twenty dollar bill. It's really awesome and it has Linda Hunt in it so bonus! Have you tried the free version of Hulu.com? They carry some decent TV shows. Or if you buy the subscription, it may work out better in the long run. BUT outdoor TV is awesome as well. Tell the kids they need a certain amount of fresh air per day before they exhale in from of the screen - I think we forget to inhale when we zone in front of the screen, again unsubstantiated.

 

Okay wow, Teri, hush up already. you'd think this was my thread!

 

Big hugs and following all the way!

Cheers,

[Heidi]

Wow you sure can write!

 

Great challenge. Interesting thing about cutting back on alcohol, at least for me, was how much I actually saved financially.

 

I look forward to seeing how you go!

Thanks, Chanda!

[Heidi]

Hi Heidi,

 

I have learned a lot from you this year and wanted to say thanks. One of my goals comes from the inspiration I get from you (how's the head, is it getting too big?). I am only drinking water (and eating, don't be silly!) during this challenge. Beyond that, not sure. Now, I drink water mostly now anyway, although milk comes into the picture and all hell breaks loose (sucky sugar, make life nuts). Anywho, long way of saying you're pretty awesome in my book.

 

Sorry about losing the unemployment battle. Sucks.

Preaching to the choir commencing...

I don't know what the Roanoke area has to offer, but are there supports that you might be willing and able to use? Food Banks or Credit Consolidation programs, that type of thing? Also, we have a community Time Bank. You do an hour of work for someone that uses the Bank and then you get an hour from someone who uses the bank. The skills are valued differently. So, if there's something you want help with, you can have someone do it with you or for you, and vice versa. A thought.

 

Sleep, the final frontier. The best thing - unsubstantiated at this time (lawyer-talk you know!) - I made the last hour before bed be an easy, but moving type of activity. It is so much harder for me to go from the computer or tv straight to bed. So I started doing a sweep through the house picking up things and double checking things for the next day. I also spend a bit of time in the bathroom. A warm, wet washcloth on my face does wonders for me. I also clean my ears! TMI oops.

 

Love the twenty bucks treasure find! Reminds me of a movie called, 20 Bucks. It follows one twenty dollar bill. It's really awesome and it has Linda Hunt in it so bonus! Have you tried the free version of Hulu.com? They carry some decent TV shows. Or if you buy the subscription, it may work out better in the long run. BUT outdoor TV is awesome as well. Tell the kids they need a certain amount of fresh air per day before they exhale in from of the screen - I think we forget to inhale when we zone in front of the screen, again unsubstantiated.

 

Okay wow, Teri, hush up already. you'd think this was my thread!

 

Big hugs and following all the way!

Cheers,

Wow, Teri. Thanks for writing (and no, not TMI or too long!) -- this completely made my night.

It has meant the world to me to have you NF folks along for my struggles and victories and frustrations and confusions. You guys always have great advice and are the supportive best.

 

Wonderful news on the water!!!! Also, I know what you mean about the final walkthrough with the house. I call it my Nesting Time, and it makes a huge difference in my sense of peace at the end of the day. I think I'm infecting the kids with it -- even Vivian does a put-away before bed.

 

Haven't seen 20 Buck, but totally interested in it now. Also, I have amazon prime and netflix, so i'm trying to avoid too many channels because I know how bad I am at resisting temptation. I'll give Hulu a look, though. Thanks for the recommendation!

[MogiShade]

Best of luck with your goals.  I'll be checking in here often, especially to see how the no alcohol goes.  Going to try that myself, but that's one demon that always seems to win with me. 

[Heidi]

Best of luck with your goals. I'll be checking in here often, especially to see how the no alcohol goes. Going to try that myself, but that's one demon that always seems to win with me.

Agreed, M, whuch is why I had to suck it up and make it a written down where everyone can see type of challenge.

Also, we are having gorgeous severe thunderstorms (and a tornado watch, to boot) which always make me want to curl up with a good book, sweatpants and a glass of red. Going to be hot tea, tonight, instead!