Weight Loss

I've probably lost and gained a gazillion pounds in my life. Every time I lose weight I think that it will finally be for good--that this time my new eating habits will stick. But, they never do and the weight creeps back on until I decide to lose weight again. This time around I'd like to have a different outcome--I'd like to lose weight and not gain it back.

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Albert Einstin is credited with saying that the hallmark of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. So, I guess I need to change my behavior to get a different result.

With this in mind, I thought I'd take some time to identify what I've done in the past that might have contributed to regaining weight. If I can pinpoint what I do that leads me to regain weight, I can work to change them, right?

So far, I've come up with three big ones, but I'm sure there are more.

I stop weighing myself. When I am losing weight I weigh myself everyday. It helps me stay motivated and regulate my eating. If I haven't lost any weight, then I know that I'm eating too much and/or not burning enough calories. But, when I'm not actively trying to lose weight I stop weighing myself regularly. This means that I might not even realize if I've gained five to seven pounds. Then, once I've realized I've gained weight, I still avoid the scale because it is the bearer of bad news.

Ideally, I think it would be best if I continued to weigh myself everyday or every other day. I don't want to obsess about every miniscule fluctuation, but I do want to be able to catch myself regaining before the amount I have to lose gets overwhelming. It is much easier to lose three pounds than it is to lose twenty pounds. Even if I allow myself to overindulge too much, if I can recognize weight gain and use it as a signal to return to "diet mode" I shouldn't regain all of the weight I lost.

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I rationalize anything and everything.

"Peanut butter has lots of protein"

"Nuts are the good kind of fat." 

"A small dessert every night is part of eating in moderation. It isn't good to deny yourself"
"Cheese is good for you in small quantities."

"I have to eat to stay awake in class."

"It is okay to have a huge portion of x, it is homemade and healthy."

"It is okay to indulge, its a celebration."

"It is okay to indulge, I had a hard day."

"It is okay to indulge, we are at a new/special/delicious restaurant."

"It is okay to indulge, I'm going to eat really healthy tomorrow."

"It is okay to indulge, I've been so good all day/all week."

"It's just 250 calories. No big deal."

"A five pound increase is no big deal. Weight naturally fluctuates."

I think it can be tricky to find a balance here. Because its not like it is never okay to indulge in some comfort food after a long day, but rationalizing everything all the time is problematic. I think the first step is to work on recognizing when I am doing this in the moment because if I have to rationalize it to myself, I probably shouldn't be eating it!

I "forget" that its about calories in versus calories out. This is something I did when I first made my new years resolution to lose weight. Instead of focusing on calories in versus calories out, I started focusing on cutting out preservatives, avoiding prepackaged foods, drinking more water and less soda, etc. Eating whole foods is certainly healthier, but eating these sorts of food will not automatically result in weight loss. Pizza is not all of a sudden diet friendly just because it is homemade (unfortunately). Ideally, I think healthy eating is a mixture of being mindful of calorie intake and what the food is made from. I'm pretty good at thinking about what I put into my body, but I need to remember that for losing weight the final number is what counts.

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oh avocados, you are delicious and healthy. 

but, you are more than 300 hundred calories

Can you help me think of any other ways that I might sabotage my weight loss? How do you keep yourself from gaining weight? I'm not too far away from reaching my weight-loss goal and I really want to have a solid plan for how I will keep the weight off.

xoxoxox
Alisha

June: A Month in Review

So . . . hi. My name is Alisha and I used to blog here. And then I stopped and didn’t come back for a long time. 


And, actually I’m not really sure that I’m back. 


But, I promised myself that I would check in about my new years resolutions each month to keep myself accountable. So, here I am. I hope some of you are still out there, reading. 

Source: lightsandsparkles.tumblr.com via Alisha on Pinterest

+My first resolution is to get healthy. For the first five months of 2011 I didn’t make any headway, but I had a turning point towards the end of May. I joined a gym, started working out, and sticking to a diet. I hoped that in June I would continue to work out four times a week and lose 10 pounds. I am quite excited to say that I met this goal! Its been pretty easy to get back into the routine of going to the gym and I like the way exercise makes me feel. Dieting has been hard and I certainly haven’t been perfect (whatever that is), but having Neill’s support has made it do-able. Not keeping junk food in the house and giving up take-out has made a huge difference. My goals for July are to continue going to the gym four times a week and to continue to watch my calorie intake. Next month, I want to be able to report back that I’ve lost another seven pounds. 


+My second resolution is to finish my master’s degree. And guess what? I can officially cross this goal off the list because I am DONE baby. Done Done Done. On June 14th I gave my committee members my thesis paper, on June 21st I defended and PASSED, between June 22nd-June 29th I made the requested edits, and on June 30th I officially turned in my thesis to the graduate school. Now, all I have to do is sit back and wait for my degree to come! 


+Another goal is to make more time for my VIPs. I think the month of June was a big failure in this realm. Between my two summer classes, rushing to finish my thesis, making time for the gym, and avoiding restaurant food I barely saw anyone this month. While there is a part of me that feels guilty about this, another part of me is happy that I took the time I needed. I don’t want to apologize for putting myself first. That being said, I would like to make more time for my family this month. I miss my mom :( 


+ My final goal is to be financially responsible. I don’t really have much to report on this. Money is always tight for me in the summer since I only get paid during the school year so I’ve been feeling extra thrifty. I guess this is the perfect time to give up eating at restaurants then, huh? I did do some online research and found a financial planner to meet with, but than I never actually called him to make an appointment. I guess my goal for July is to finally call this guy and set up a meeting. 


And that’s all folks! Thanks for sticking with me through my new years resolutions updates. Writing these posts really help me stay committed. 

I hope everyone is enjoying the holiday weekend!

xoxox
Alisha

May: Month in Review

At the start of 2011, I challenged myself to develop meaningful New Years Resolutions in many areas of my life. To hold myself accountable and maximize my chances of being successful, I review my successes and failures at the end of every month.

Our trip to Jamaica was the highlight of May

+As I admitted last month, getting healthy had really taken the back burner this year. Even though I said it was one of my resolutions, in reality I wasn't making it a priority. But, realizing this made me motivated to make some changes. I am so ecstatic to say that I have followed through! I joined a gym on May 15th (the day after we returned from Jamaica) and I've been consistently working out since then. It took me five full months to go back to the gym and I'm so proud of myself! With exercise and dieting I've also lost five pounds! I know the key is to continue on this path and so my goal for June is to continue to work out four  times a week and lose ten pounds.

+My next resolution is to finish my master's degree. May was quite a productive month for me and I think I accomplished everything on my to-do list. I reviewed my results to make sure I completed the analyses correctly, met with my advisor about my discussion section, finished a second draft of my discussion section, and finished my methods section. I also submitted my thesis for a format check and I have started to schedule my defense with my committee. Right now, it looks like I might be defending June 21st. Crazy soon! My goals this month are to do a final draft of my discussion section, edit the entire document as needed, schedule my defense, distribute my final copy to my readers, make my power point slides, pass my defense, and make any necessary changes my committee requests. The final final final version is due to the graduate school on July 1st and so a lot of work needs to get done between now and then. I have faith in myself that I will be able to pull this off, but I am a little nervous about managing all of this and continuing to work-out. The challenge for me will me to do both. 

+My third goal for 2011 is to make time for my VIPs. In some ways I've succeeded at this and in other ways I failed. Neill and I got to spend time with lots of his family when we were in Jamaica and we also obviously spent lots of time together. Win, win.

family

But, since we've gotten back I don't think I've done such a good job. I've made time for some of my friends, but I've also declined invitations and not been as proactive about organizing things as I had hoped to be. Working out, being on a diet, and working like mad on my thesis make it hard to be a social butterfly. I just don't have the energy or the time. Since my thesis has such a hard deadline and I also really need to focus on losing weight, I'm giving myself permission to let this goal take the back seat. My goals for June are to have a wonderful one-year anniversary celebration with Neill and to plan a nice birthday celebration for my mom.

+Lastly, my fourth resolution is to be financially responsible. I don't have much to report on this. It's been hard for us to give up credit cards completely, but we've made a concerted effort to pay them off in full. In June, I'd like to look into finding a financial adviser.

How is everyone else doing with their resolutions? Any awesome successes you'd like to share? What are some things you are looking forward to accomplishing in June? Do you have any advice on how to juggle dieting with spending time with loved ones?

April: A Month in Review

My oh my, I can't believe how quickly April came and went. I feel like the months are just speeding by. Does time seem to be moving at lightening speed for anyone else?

I'm sure most of you remember when I set my New Years Resolutions, but I've noticed so many wonderful new faces around here that I thought I'd re-introduce this series. At the start of 2011, I challenged myself to develop meaningful New Years Resolutions in many areas of my life. To maximize my chances of being successful, I review my successes and failures at the end of every month.

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+My first resolution is to finish up my masters degree. To do this, I need to prioritize my thesis and just get it done. March wasn't a very productive month for me with this so I am happy to report that I've finally made some progress on this front! I completed a rough draft of my discussion section (which is the final section of the paper) and turned it in to my advisor for review. Unfortunately, my advisor has been so busy so we haven't had time to meet about it. But, we have something scheduled for the week of the 16th. The first draft is always the hardest part for me, so I am hoping the subsequent drafts will go more quickly. I've also set up a meeting with the statistics wiz in our department, who also happens to be on my committee. I'm going to go over the analyses I did with him just to make sure everything is legit. So, in May I'd like to: meet with my advisor about my discussion section, finish a second draft of my discussion section, review my results to make sure I completed the analyses correctly, and finish the methods section. I also need to check with the graduate school to determine when I need to submit my thesis for format checking in lieu of my August degree conferral date (yay!!!!). And that just reminded me, I need to check with my committee members about their availability this summer so I can adjust my time-line as necessary. Ideally, I'd like to defend in the beginning of August. That gives me three months. If I am dedicated to working on my thesis I think this goal is achievable.

+My second goal for 2011 is to make time for my VIPs. I want to increase the effort I put into my relationships with family and friends in order to combat the nasty habit I have of putting school first. These last few weeks I've been holed up working on my finals, so I have priortized school over seeing my friends and family. I even had to miss a trip back to West Virginia, where my in-laws live, so that I could stay and get work done. Boo to that. Unfortunately, sometimes actually doing work is a necessary evil of graduate school. But, I did celebrate birthdays with two friends and Passover with my mom. Neill and I have also made sure to spend at least one or two nights a week together, where we both put our work aside and just enjoy the evening. This month coming up, I want to invite friends to get together and do some of the fun things on my summer in the city challenge.

 Yes, in April we still had to wear winter coats and scarves in Chicago.
  

 

Me and my mama on Passover

+My third goal is to work towards financial security. Overall, we've shown awesome improvement in this area! We used our tax return to get ourselves out of credit card debt and it feels great! Now we are planning to put the money that was going to our monthly credit card bills to savings. As I mentioned last month, we are having a bit of a competition to see who can save the most money the fastest. The friendly competition has motivated both of us to shore up our finances.

+My last goal is to focus on being healthy. This has been the one where I've failed miserably this whole year and April is no different. It just struck me that I keep calling it my "last goal" month after month and I think that is telling of where it falls on my priorities. My thesis, my loved ones, and saving money have all come before being healthy (okay - and my love for food). The only positive thing I can say about this month is that I think I'm very close to hitting rock bottom. Every month I've been setting the goal to get back to the gym and eat more healthfully, but I haven't really wanted to. Now, however, I'm actually getting to the point where I want to exercise. So, my goal for May is to actually go workout when I feel the urge. I think I also might be interested in meeting with a nutritionist so I will also set the goal for myself to call my insurance and investigate my coverage. Next month, I'm going to switch up the order and report on this goal FIRST.

Reporting on my healthy goal has left me feeling down on myself. ::sigh:: But, I have to remind myself that everything on this list is in my control. I can make the month of May whatever I want it to be.

How was your April? Are you struggling with  any of your resolutions? Any awesome successes you'd like to share? What are some things you are looking forward to accomplishing in May? 

March: A Month in Review

I can't believe March has flown by so quickly and we're already a few days into April! That means its once again time for me to report back on how I've been doing upholding my New Years Resolutions.

Source: flickr.com via Alisha on Pinterest

1. My first resolution for 2011 was to prioritize my thesis and just get.it.done. My specific goal for March was to have my results section set, have my sample fully written up, and at least the start of an outline done for my discussion. Looking at these goals I can only laugh. Let's just say those goals were VERY optomistic. Unfortunately, I haven't made much progress from last month. I did meet with my advisor to get feedback on my results section, but I haven't finished with the edits she suggested let alone work on the other things I listed. Ooops! Looks like I'll be carrying over my March goals into April.

2. My second goal was to make time for my VIPs. I wanted to increase the effort I put into my relationships with family and friends in order to combat the nasty habit I have of putting school first. I've got to say, I think I knocked this goal out of the park. I traveled to NYC to visit my Aunt and Grandfather, I spent a weekend with my in-laws in Ohio and got to see my beautiful niece, and I had a big birthday dinner with friends another weekend. Even though I think all of this fun-time might have been why I didn't do so well with Goal #1, it was totally worth it! But, I'm expecting to spend more time on school and less time with my VIPs in April so that I can concentrate on my finals.

my beautiful niece

3. My third goal was to work towards financial security. I didn't think February was such a good month for this, but Neill and I made good headway with this goal in March! We did our taxes (ugh) and as I've already detailed we've had some big discussions on saving. We even each developed a savings goal and are competing to see who can reach their goal first. We both hate to lose so this is the perfect way for us to get motivated!

Source: inspiredbythisfeeling.tumblr.com via Alisha on Pinterest

[for the record, this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek] 

4. I don't even want to talk about goal number four, getting healthy, because I have nothing good to say about this area. Nothing. I tried signing up for and using My Fitness Pal in order to better keep track of the calories I consume versus burn, but even though the program is relatively easy to use I haven't been able to stick with it. The week or two I did use it was pretty interesting though. For example, I learned that I *really* underestimate the number of calories I consume. And all those things I snack on and then forget about it? Yeah, they add up. A lot. I wanted to try and get back into exercising this month and that also didn't happen at all. Like not once. This is the first month I haven't exercised at all since 2007. Yikes. Rationally, I know that if I can just go back to the gym once--even if I only stay for twenty minutes--that it will be easier to go back the next time. But, I'm just feeling very avoidant right now. Do you have any good tips for how to get back into exercising? I need some help!

Even though I'm not doing so well in some areas, I'm proud of how much time I dedicated to seeing friends and family this month and the steps Neill and I have taken to reorganize our finances. How are you doing with your new years resolutions? Are you keeping tabs? If you've written any posts lately about this feel free to link up! 

Money and Marriage: Part III

Alright ladies and gents, this is my last post about how Neill and I handle finances. I've dished on the money situation when we dated and then when we moved in together. In this post, I want to share how we are handling things now that we are married.

For Neill and I, being open and honest with each other about our finances and our financial goals is VERY important. So, we've been having lots and lots of frank conversations about spending, saving, and goal setting. We try to be 100% transparent with one another and we've decided to take a big step that will help us with this. 

In my last post, I mentioned that we opened up a joint saving account a while ago that we've used in addition to each of our personal saving accounts. Now, however, having our individual accounts just doesn't seem to feel right anymore. Even though both of us have said that whatever we save individually is really for us, we want to make that thought a reality.  So, just last week we totally revamped our organization. With this new set-up neither one of us will keep a personal savings account. We'll only put money into our joint savings. This certainly wasn't something I would have wanted to do when I first moved in or even when we first got married, but right now it makes the most sense for us.

We decided to keep a total of two joint savings accounts so that we can save money for different purposes. One is a Save for a Rainy Day Account. This is our six month emergency fund that is not to be touched unless we have . . . an emergency. The second is a Save to Spend Account. This is where we can save for vacations or a new piece of furniture. The only catch? Our numbers aren't quite where we would like them to be. So, we've started a competition to get into savings gear. We each have a savings goal (different, to accommodate our salary difference) and the first person to reach their goal wins 500 dollars out of the Save to Spend account.

A bonus of merging our savings is that it motivated us to finally set up an emergency fund. We've always known where we might pull money from if we found ourselves in a dire situation, but this is the first time actually setting that money aside and working to see the number go up. I'm really excited about our new plan because I feel like we are a bajiliion steps closer to following through on our new years resolution to be financially secure.

I don't have any secrets to successfully negotiating finances in a relationship, but communicating and being flexible seem to really help. Since we both keep an eye on our finances and discuss them pretty regularly we are able to realize when something just isn't working. And, we aren't afraid to switch things up a bit. Who knows? Maybe in another year we'll decide to merge our checking accounts, although I must admit that idea doesn't appeal to either Neill or I right now. 

Finances can be a touchy subject to talk about and I think the uneasiness surrounding money-talk makes it extra difficult for couples. So, I thought I'd quiet that little voice in my head that says discussing money isn't appropriate and lay it all out there for everyone. I hope you've enjoyed reading about how Neill and I handle finances and I'd love to hear more from you  about how you handle money in your relationships! What are your thoughts on merging finances completely? Do you keep a private saving account? What motivates you to save money?

February: A Month in Review

Well, its about that time again. Time to see how I did in keeping up with my New Year's Resolutions. I'm feeling a little nervous because I know I have I let some things slip, but I'm hoping that holding myself accountable will pay off in the end.

Snapshot of February

Train coming into the station

1. My first resolution was to prioritize my thesis and get it done. At the end of January, I set a goal to have my results section completed by the end of February. I would say that I met this goal about 90% of the way. Things are pretty much set, but I still have a few more hours of work to do before I can call it done. Once the results section is done, I have four more steps to complete: write up a description of the sample I used for the methods section, write my discussion section, format my thesis/submit for a format check, and complete an oral defense. By the end of March I want to have my sample fully written up and at least the start of an outline done for my discussion.

2. My second goal was to make time for my VIPs. I wanted to increase the effort I put into my relationships with family and friends in order to combat the nasty habit I have of putting school first. This month Neill and I celebrated Valentine's day to together, I got together with my aunt and uncle who were in from out of town, and I've made an effort to call my MIL more (I heart her). But, I'm not so sure I've been the best friend and I think my mother is feeling a little out of touch. In March, I want to make sure to focus on being the sort of friend I would like to have.

3. Last month, I thought Neill and I were doing great with our goal of being more financially secure. And then this month happened and we hit a few (expensive) stumbling blocks. First, Neill and I decided to treat ourselves to a wonderfully romantic, but costly Valentine's day dinner at Graham Elliot. In and of itself this wouldn't have been too bad, but then I discovered that I couldn't register for summer classes until I paid the university 800 dollars. Apparently, I never paid my 400 dollar activity fee for the fall semester and then I also owed them for spring semester. Ugh. And then on top of this, at the end of the month I had a lapse of self-control and went shoe shopping.  

Also, Neill and I decided to splurge and take a week long trip to Jamaica this May. Pretty much the antithesis of my "save save save" mantra, right? But, it is his cousin's wedding and it was important to both of us to go. And then we figured that since we're paying for the flight down there we might as well stay a while and enjoy ourselves. So, we've committed ourselves to spending about two thousand dollars from our savings on a vacation. If that's not a good reason to get back on track with saving, I don't know what is.

4. Lastly, I wanted to focus on being healthy. Again, I'm not sure how much progress I've made in this area. On the good side, I've started taking a multivitamin, drinking more water, eating more salads, and trying to snack on things like cucumbers and peppers instead of chips. We've also cut out almost all prepackaged (and preservative laden) bread from our diet and have replaced it with homemade bread. Yum! But, on the not so healthy side? I still have a sweets problem and I'm working out even less than I was last month.  It would be a big improvement if I could make it to the gym at least twice a week in March and keep a better eye on my calories.  

How are your resolutions going? Do you have any suggestions on how to keep my motivation up?

New Years Resolutions: January Status Update

With the month of January behind us, I thought it would be helpful for me to check in with myself on how I have been doing in keeping up with my New Year's Resolutions.

1. My first resolution was to work on my thesis. I gave myself the goal of working on it at least an hour a week, which is really the bare minimum, and to put my research first. So far, I think I've done okay on this. I'm not sure if I have really worked on it exactly an hour a week, but I have made headway. I have a rough draft of my results done and I have been doing some research on the best way to do some follow-up analyses.  I want to have these analyses done by the end of February and the results incorporated into my write up.

2. Goal number two was to make more time for my VIPs. I think this has been going okay too. We had my parents over for dinner once in January (one of my goals) and I'm sure I did stuff with my mother on a few other occasions. Yesterday, I also spoke with my aunt and my grandfather - so it just squeaked in for January. Hmm what else? I reconnected with an old friend this month and Neill and I had a special date night. As the semester starts to get busier, I need to stay on top of this and make sure I don't let schoolwork take precedence over spending time with friends and family.

I was actually just reading some research yesterday that suggests that people's general life satisfaction is decreased by feelings of work conflicting with family, while the impact of feelings of family conflicting with work on life satisfaction was quite small. This suggests that while feeling conflicted is in general not too good for you, letting work keep you from your social life is likely to negatively impact general life satisfaction whereas letting your social life keep you from work responsibilities won't have much of an impact. This is good evidence that putting my VIPs first is the right choice - putting work a head of family might lead me to be less satisfied with life! 

3. My third goal was all about being financially secure. I'm going to go ahead and give myself a big pat on the back because I think Neill and I have been doing great on this one. I'm not carrying a balance on any of my credit cards (yay) and we got our emergency fund organized. Also, I started reading The Two Income Trap in an effort to learn more about finances and so far the book has made me think a lot about the downfall of creating a lifestyle that relies on two-incomes. My goal for February is to get my taxes done and make sure to save save save.

4. Another goal I had this year was to focus on being healthy. Before the holidays, I really let my eating habits fall. I was relying on frozen pizza and pre-made chicken nuggets for dinner more than I'd like to admit. Since the new year, I have definitely made an effort to eat healthier. I've upped my vegetable intake and both of us have rededicated ourselves to cooking dinner (not just defrosting it). This makes it easier for me to bring healthy food for lunch. Also, Neill's mom just gave us a bread maker! Now, we can easily make whole wheat bread and avoid all of the chemicals that go into most prepackaged bread. I've also been trying to recommit myself to the gym, but I will admit that this is still a work in progress. Also, I'm still working on only eating when I'm actually hungry/stopping when I'm full and battling an intense love for dessert. (Mmmm dessert) I'd be totaly psyched if I could make some headway on lowering my sugar cravings in February.

So there you have it - my end of month report card and some goals for this month. How are your new years resolutions going?

My Reading List: The Two Income Trap

One of my new year's resolutions was to read more about finances. I'm happy to report that I'm getting a jump-start on this one - I've just started reading The Two Income Trap.

I'm not even a quarter of the way through so I won't even try to summarize the book's main points, but if you are interested you can read an interview with one of the authors here. So far, I can't say I agree with every point the authors make, but it certainly has made me think. When I'm finished with the book I will try to write a post summarizing some of the take home messages.

Getting a deal at T-Mobile

Remember when I mentioned that Neill and I want to save save save this year? Well, that means that we've got to spend smarter. This means evaluating where our dollars are going and figuring out how to get more bang for our buck. The first stop on this train? Our cell phone bill.

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Neither Neill nor I have ever been into having the latest and greatest cell-phone, but lately we've noticed that we're paying T-Mobile a hefty chunk of change for not so great service. What with my busted black berry that can't even ring and Neill's old side-kick, we started feeling like we were paying top dollar for second shelf products.

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So, we started wondering whether we could find a better deal somewhere else. After doing some research on-line, we came up with a game plan. Visit Spring and Verizon to see what they could offer and then see if T-Mobile would be able to beat their deals in order to keep our business. Great idea, right?

However, this plan was prematurely halted when I realized I was still under contract. Ooops! This means I couldn't switch carriers without paying a 200 dollar fine. We wanted to avoid this - unless we were able to switch to a service that could lower our cell-phone bill by about 20 bucks a month without cutting out any of our services. (In a situation like that, forking over the 200 dollars up front would actually in the long-term save us a bit of money.) Unfortunately, it didn't seem like we could get what we wanted for a significantly lower price than what we pay now at other cell phone companies. So, we resigned ourselves to stick with T-Mobile.

Just as we were feeling defeated, however, we noticed that T-Mobile was currently having a buy one get one free promotion on their new 4G Google android phone. Could this possibly be our saving grace?

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Are things ever that easy? No. The customer service lady sweetly informed us that I was not eligible for the promotion because I was still under contract. For me, the phone would cost almost 320 dollars.

And that is when I got a little annoyed. Angry even. I realized that it would be less expensive to cancel my service than to buy the phone. So, when we got home I called the customer care line and firmly let them know that I was unhappy. This got me transferred to a retention specialist who after some cajoling offered to sell me the phone for 199.99--one penny less than it would cost to cancel my service with them. I countered by reminding him that Neill and I pay T-Mobile more then 3,500 thousand dollars every two years and questioned why he was arguing with me about 200 dollars. He said it was the best he could do, so I asked to speak to the manager.

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This is where things started to turn around. After some negotiating, he started to offer things that made staying with T-Mobile worth our money. Firstly, he offered Neill and I two myTouch phones for about 150 each. When I still hesitated, he offered to lower the cost of our monthly data package plan from 60 dollars to 40 dollars for the two of us. That's 20 dollars a month! Over the course of our two year contract, that is 480 dollars that can stay in our savings account instead of going to T-Mobile! The icing on the cake? When all is said in done, after a few more tweaks our monthly cell phone bill is actually going to be close to 10 dollars less per month than we have been paying. Getting more phone for less money? That's what I'm talking about!

But wait, the deals don't end there! One thing that is great about the myTouch is that you can use it as a wireless hotspot. Because of this feature, we'll no longer have to pay for the USB broadband modem that would purchase to use on our netbook whenever Neill has to work on the road. At 50 bucks a month, that cost adds up quickly! While this isn't something we buy every month, we estimate nixing this from our expenses will save us about 600 big ones over the course of our two year contract.

Here is a breakdown:
Saving 10 dollars a month on our cell phone bill for 12 months = $120
Saving 50 dollars by not having to buy usb internet access for 12 months =  $300
Total savings: 420

After subtracting the price of the phones, we still end up 120 dollars ahead. Plus, this doesn't reflect the big savings we got in terms of what we are getting for the price. Normally, to upgrade to the myTouch our cell phone bill would have gone up about 30 dollars. So, we're happy to basically break even. It is like we are still paying for our old phones, but getting brand new super powered phones!

While it was a huge pain in the arse to spend over an hour on the phone negotiating with different customer care representatives and being placed on hold (a lot), in the end I'd say it was worth the effort. Thankfully, we won't have to go through all of this again for another two years. Maybe then we can get our cell phone bill lowered even more?

Do you have any tips or tricks for getting a good deal on cell phone service?

New Years Resolutions

A  few days ago I shared that I created my new years resolutions based on where I want to be a year from now. Come 2012, I'd like:

+ to have my master's degree
+ to have strong relationships with friends, family, and Neill
+ to be financially secure
+ to be healthy
+ to be happy

I want my resolutions to go farther than just simply stating my intentions though. I want my resolutions to be a plan for how to get there. For example, it is easy to say that I'm determined to be financially secure in 2011. But, this doesn't speak to what this means or my plans for achieving this goal. So, I've created a few action steps to help me reach each goal.

In order to have my master's degree I will stay committed to my research. This means that I will work on it at least once every week, even if this means not getting my classwork done. It is more important to me to finish my thesis than to get straight As (although those are pretty fun too), so when necessary I will put my own research first.

In order to have strong relationships with friends, family, and Neill I will work on creating more time for my VIPs.  I'm pretty good at giving Neill lots of face time, but I need to work on staying connected to my friends and family. This year, I plan to renew my efforts to keep in touch with my friends and family. For example, I'd like to invite my father over for dinner once a month. Besides making more time to see people, I want to work on being a better friend. This means showing up for the important events and returning phone calls-something I'm terrible at! 

In order to be financially secure we will pay my credit cards off in full every month and save a minimum of 10% of all of our income. Because we are supported by Neill's income, I want to make sure we maintain an 8 month emergency fund. Plus, it is my personal goal to make the maximum contribution to my Roth IRA ($5,000). Furthermore, I want to learn more about finances. In 2010 I read two of Suze Orman's books (I love her) and this year I plan to read more on the topic. These are some lofty goals, but Neill and I take our financial security very seriously.

In order to be healthy I am going to focus on health--not just weight. I mentioned a few weeks ago that I want to drop the weight I gained after Neill and I tied the knot. But, being healthy is so much more than losing the poundage. I want to be healthy not just to see the size on my jeans drop; I want to be healthy so that I can enjoy the rest of my life. To do this I want to focus on healthy eating, physical activity, and educating myself on these things.

In order to be happy I'm going to follow through on my plans! And when I stumble, I will be kind to myself :)  Hot cocoa and marshmallows are surely the first steps to the road of happiness, right?

Happy New Year!

In just a few more hours 2010 will be officially over and a brand new year will have begun. I'm looking forward to ringing in the new year with my husband's family and my adorable niece.

For me, the start of a new calender year is a reminder to make purposeful decisions about how I want to live my life. I like the idea of a fresh start, new beginnings. A clean slate.

I was skimming through The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People the other day and I was struck by the second habit - Begin With the End in Mind. The basic suggestion is that we should figure out where we want to be and then work backwards to develop a plan of how to get there. For me, developing a plan on how to get to where I want to be in the end is daunting, but it seems easier to create a specific plan when thinking just a year from now. This year, I want my new year's resolutions to reflect my end-goal. By beginning with the end in mind, I'm hoping that I will be able to stay focused on my intentions.

So, what is my end goal? In a year from now I want . . .
+ to have my master's degree
+ to have strong relationships with friends, family, and Neill
+ to be financially secure
+ to be healthy 
+ to be happy

In a few days, I'll share what my resolutions are and how they will get me to my end goal. Until then,  I hope you have a happy and safe NYE!