Grocery Roundup and Losing It

Here's how March shook out grocery-wise:

Budget $525 less overage from previous months = $507.60

Actual Spent $512.70 - over a little but reduced previous months overage so a definite win.

I managed to get a free box of lucky charms on St. Patricks Day from a local grocery store but did not use any coupons.  Not my favorite but in a pinch will do for cold cereal.  Right now I am eating fruit with yogurt or smoothies for breakfast so hubby will have to eat these at some point.

I have been doing a serious closet overhaul this week - the first purge was the 30 second kind.  Anything I wasn't in love with or had not obviously been worn in 2 years went. The second purge I went through all my drawers and threw out a few clothes that weren't even worth donating (painting clothes - no more than one set is required).  The final purge was yesterday where I removed every item in my closet and put items back in one by one after trying them on or ironing them (most hated job right next to cleaning the oven).  After all of that 27 items were donated and 3 items thrown out.  I am now happy with the wardrobe situation.  Other than needing to buy some black dye for a bathing suit cover-up that I love but that is a little faded from washing everything in the closet is ready to wear.  I even cleaned all my jewellery as a lot of the silver I have collected over the years had tarnished - now everything is good to wear.

Ever since January 1 hubby and I have been on a bit of a health kick. He has lost about 6 pounds and me 3-5 depending on the day I weigh myself.  My first goal has been achieved - to get to my lowest weight in a year.  The second goal I am a couple more pounds away from which is lower than 140 lbs which I haven't been in over 5 years.  The third and final goal is 135 - my goal weight which just happens to be the weight I was at when I met hubby 13 years ago this month.  I am a curvy woman and anything less than this is not realistic at this point in my life.  We have being eating differently and trying to exercise more although the weather and our heavy work load have not made that easy.

We are eating far less items like bread, pasta, potatoes and rice and more fruit and vegetables.  I will try and maintain this way of eating on our trip although expect it will be more difficult as Greek breakfasts are typically pastries and coffee with a little bit of yogurt with honey.  Fortunately I love Greek salad and chicken/pork souvlaki so can still eat well there as long as I leave off the potatoes.  I am eating less chocolate, very difficult as I am addicted to it.  Seriously, once you get past 40 it takes forever to lose a couple of pounds, especially when you work from home.

A friend from high school keeps posting on Facebook about her 30 lb weight loss, she is at the lowest weight she has ever been.  She looks good but it revolves around taking an expensive supplement that is supposed to give you more energy - she also sells it.  I intend to do it the old fashioned way, eat right and try and move more which means easier to maintain in the long-run.  It is a slow process with only a quarter to half a pound a week coming off.  My aim is to meet my second goal of less than 140 lbs before we go away on holiday.  Hopefully we will be walking off any calories we intake there as tend to walk a ton while on vacation - no beach lounging for us.

When I was purging items in my closet I managed to get back into a pair of pants that I haven't worn in over a year so that was a definite victory.  There are two pair of shorts that are within reach with another pound or two loss.  Then I might have to start purging larger wardrobe items!

I have also continued to sell items on facebook after clearing out unused household items - 12 items so far this year, 3 of which were items bought for resale.

I discovered 96 Euro from past trips in the travel drawer that I had forgotten about, I tend to keep currency rather than exchanging it as you lose money every time you do that.  More into the Greece fund!

Other than that our weather has been cold and windy so the yard work we had planned to do this weekend has been set back to next weekend other than planting some salad greens and cilantro.  Hubby had to do a bunch more work this weekend so both of us are really looking forward to Easter weekend with 3 days off, one of which we likely will have to work.  Instead of our usual turkey with stuffing for Easter we are having chicken souvlaki, tzatziki, and Greek Salad, all homemade for our Easter dinner.  Mom and hubby are both on board with that although hubby will miss my stuffing - he will have to wait until Thanksgiving for it now.  Have a great week everyone and for those who celebrate Happy Easter!