Yoga Pants Life

I guess this means my mini-blogging streak is over. Though, I’m putting words to a keyboard now, so who knows. I guess I’ll just go with it.

I don’t have anything new to report on the running/marathon/working out front. I ran Monday and swam Tuesday. I was going to run Tuesday evening, but between dealing with cramps/shark-week issues (yeah, TMI, but whatever. I’m normally pretty modest about this stuff, but it’s affecting my training, so it seems only fitting that I mention it.) I knew that bouncing around for 35 minutes wasn’t going to do me any favors. I’m feeling much better today (though, not 100%) and know I should run, but the lazies have set in and I’m just not feeling it (it’s amazing how missing even one scheduled run can set me back into lazy territory.)  I may skip running for the elliptical today – I’m not sure yet. I have a swim and run scheduled for tomorrow and I know I’ll be feeling more normal by then.

In non-workout news, I just did a mini-money summary (I don’t actually budget because my Pisces ass is way too free-spirited for that) for the rest of the year and, well, UGH! I mean, I’m so lucky (and privileged) that I can pay my bills, put 20-30% of my net income into retirement savings and have some left over for food, gas and short-term savings (AKA, the emergency/happiness fund) but things are feeling much, MUCH tighter than I would prefer right now. Also, while I love getting paid bi-weekly (because let’s face it – being ‘broke’ for two weeks instead of four is so much better) I have a few pay periods left this year where a ton of bills hit all at once and I’m in the red. Of course, there are a few where I have over $500 left. I guess I just need to be an adult and figure it out.

More than likely, I’ll designate a savings account specifically to cover the tight pay periods and I know that everything will work out – it always does. I also realize that my personal choices got me here (taking out student loans and taking on a car payment.) So really, I have nothing to complain about. I think it was just seeing the numbers on a spreadsheet that gave me a tiny reality check.

I also need to work on my food/grocery spending, as it’s way too high and I end up wasting so much food. Totally unacceptable. I have other areas I can cut back on as well, but sometimes I feel like I don’t do well when I make too many changes all at once. I tend to have much more success when I don’t overwhelm myself. This is difficult for me to write, but since I’ve been dealing with depression and have dealt with some major losses in my life, I’ve noticed that too many changes/decisions, no matter how insignificant, can be difficult for me and I ‘shut down’ all together. Like, sometimes just figuring out what’s for lunch is super-stressful. I’m fine though and I’m working through all of it.

I’m also re-reading the Frugalwoods blog and it’s giving me inspiration and confidence to work through the financial stuff in my life.  I highly recommend this blog to any and everyone, even if early retirement isn’t your goal.  I also reevaluated my ’emergency/happiness’ fund goal and think I can be up to 3 months of expenses saved by the end of the year. Heck, maybe I’ll even report back on my progress.

In the meantime, I’ve got a lot of thinking to do. And running…though, I’m not sure I’m up for either of those things today.