Easy Change

So I will admit that over the past several years I have been quite fortunate in the sense that the money was not a huge worry for me; I always knew that I had enough money to buy my next meal. And while I don't think that I am ungrateful for my situation, I definitely think that the availability of food has made me a bit more complacent than I'd like to be. That said, I decided that I could accomplish some real goals with regard to money if I changed my habits toward food: 1. I want to stop eating out of convenience so much. This will require planning. 2. I want to reduce the amount of food that I waste. A recent trip through my canned goods revealed nearly 20 dollars of completely wasted food. The picture here is just a sample! 3. I want to start eating healthier foods. I think that in the end, this will force me to eat more vegetables which should actually reduce the costs of my lunches (see goal 1). My plan is not to commit to any specific goals, but simply to try to chew on...

Recently, I was totally shocked at the fact that the price of milk in my local supermarket went up over 4 dollars per gallon. Granted, it was a brand, not the generic (which still hung dangerously close around 3.80), but still this seemed crazy. And recently, I was calculating my budget and it appears that I was spending on average about 50 dollars per week on food. This seemed a little nuts. And this doesn't really even include the coffees and food that I buy outside of the office or home. This brought me to think about how much (in terms of cost), that I was eating. So, I have recounted all of the food I ate during a day in the not too distant past to give you an idea of what I am dealing with here. And I really have to confess that I don't eat as well as I should, all the time. But frankly, who can afford to eat right if 60 bucks a week barely gets me this...?  .33 corn 1.29 1/2 pesto sauce mix  .60 pasta  .20 olive oil  .50 milk 1.50 cereal  .05 fil...

Well, not long ago, I decided to plant some big pots of vegetables while I did some landscaping in my front area. I had two nice big pots that were already available and so I decided that it would be a good idea to go ahead and plant some vegetables so that I would have some nice eats during the summer. For the vegetables that I picked, I decided on peppers, cucumbers,  string beans, and lettuce. Of course, one of the pots was unfortunately one that had no holes in the bottom and lots of rain threatened to wash out these newly germinated plants. But, after a trip to the store and a quick transplant, they seem to be much better. Now all of the plants are doing well 3 weeks into the planting process. Although some of them are a bit close to one another so I might end up moving them apart to give them more room. But the news so far is encouraging and I am hoping to save some money on groceries in the fall with lots of nice, fresh vegetables. Understanding the up front costs is a majo...

Well, its January 5th, so its about time I stated, for the record, what my goals are for this year. My big focus is to keep working toward being healthier. That is my resolution, if you could call it that. I'd like to eat more and more healthy food, which I have been doing fairly well. I am a total junk food junkie so it is a little difficult for me. My most recent decent into sinful food is my morning splurge on Dunkin Donuts . It is a problem; and one that I didn't have until my company switched the brand of the free coffee that they bought. It is just awful and I can't stand it. So I buy a coffee in the morning which is killing my money supply and also packing on some extra calories since it is more loaded with sugar and cream than what I would normally make for myself. Staying On Track With Exercise has been a big issue as well. I find that I cannot stay on a regimen for a very long time, but perhaps if I do a chart and put it on the fridge or something, that might hel...