1. Finances. Good - I was good at saving and not spending beyond my means. I always put the max. away for retirement and wasn't too decedent in my spending.
2. Food. Good - I always cooked my meals and brought my lunch. I didn't eat out too often and I mostly bought unprocessed food and ate a lot of veggies.
3. Exercise. Not great - ok, I knew I could be doing more even though I'd go hiking and canoeing and other fun things on some weekends. I knew I wasn't in the best shape cardio-wise.
But all in all I thought I was on top of my money and food. How far I have come! For the food, I didn't really know what processed food means and now, although I still eat everything - I didn't eliminate any food from my diet, I crave healthy meals and snacks. Sometimes it's hard when I go to an event - like a breakfast work thing and they only had not so great pastries and bagels. I love my pastries and bagels, but now if I'm going to eat them, I want to eat good quality ones.
And on the money side, by figuring out so much through decluttering, I'm much more focused on the bigger picture. I've been sticking with my previous routine - I get $300 out of the bank at the beginning of the month and that's my spending money for everything other than the house bills (mortgage and utilities and Internet/phone). Most of my spending goes towards groceries, gas and cats with a few miscellaneous things each month.
The other weekend I swung by my local, really nice, consignment store where I had some credit. After working for almost two months, I was finally going through and decluttering my work clothes (I had held off before because I didn't know what environment I'd be in). And I've been slowly putting together my "brand" for my work look. This has really helped me as I work through what to keep and what to buy. Although I like a lot of things, if it's not on point, I pass on it. It feels so good getting dressed every morning, having outfits I feel great in.
One challenge I've had is that my body weight has shifted on me again. Interestingly, it's been going down. Lower than what I was when I left the work force. I think it's because I have a good foundation of diet and constant movement (I clock over 10,000 steps each day). And my theory is, because I had a good metabolism to begin with, although aging and the associated hormones, made it harder for my metabolism to absorb whatever my lifestyle is, as long as I recenter my food and exercise, because of the good metabolism, I see the rewards. This isn't the case for everyone, depending on what metabolism they inherited. I do find the intense cardio probably helps with the weight but more so the mental health.
All this to share my latest bonuses in life. Last weekend, I was at my local clothing used shop, trying to find a few pieces to fill my holes in my wardrobe. Especially pants that fit. I found a ton of great pieces but really deliberated about what to buy. I even ran home and changed into some clothes/shoes I wanted to see if the pieces would go well with and came back to make a final selection. As the clerk was ringing me up and I was paying, she noticed she had forgotten to include some pink espidrilles and ended up just adding them to the bag for free! I was so happy to find the shoes in the first place as pink espidrilles have been on my list since last summer but I didn't want to spend more than $20 and then to not only find them but get them for free. I saw it as a reward for being really good and asking myself my list of questions I've developed when trying something on. I look at the cut, drape, color, pattern, material, length (long torso). And I ask myself what I'll wear this with and plan several outfits before I consider buying it. I also ask myself where I picture myself wearing this and if it's a "what if" like I'm out on a friend's sail boat or something equally uncommon, I double check I see myself wearing it next week and decide if the piece is more for me or my fantasy self.
I did allow myself to buy one experiment piece. A skirt in a style I'd don't usually wear but want to try with tights in the fall. I had another piece I was on the fence with and realized it was an experiment pice too because it was a color I wasn't sure of. But I said, no, only one experiment piece per month or quarter. Anyways, I felt good about my purchases and have worn everything except the skirt so far and am loving it. Oh wait, there was a dress I got too but haven't worn yet because of my shoe situation. I dropped my vacuum on my big toe while I was cleaning it and it's slowly healing but that means no heals or wedges which knocks out most of my shoes for work. So I'm planning on wearing the dress soon, and still think it was a good purchase. Actually, the sales clerk mentioned she used to work at Nordstroms and thought she remembered the dress selling for almost $2,000 (it's Armani). I got it for a steel it turns out. And it fits divinely.
Well today, I feel like I was rewarded again for following my good purchasing habits. I was out running errands. Trying to find fancy flat sandels I could wear for work while my toe gets better (it doesn't like being confined in shoes). As I was running errands, I realized I needed a pair of new jeans too since the ones I had on felt like they were falling down - a bit too big, and I had just the one pair. At Nordstrom rack, I went through so many sandels and found some that could work, but they weren't my brand so I passed. And I also found a few other things, like face lotion on sale, but I still have several I need to finish first even though I need something more moisturizing for my skin, and a top I liked but didn't love the color - again, not my brand. Old me would have had about four items in the check out line. New me, had two, and as I waited, I realized I should wait on the moisturizer and do my homework and formulate a plan. I didn't need to buy it now. It also helped that I had limited cash on hand and had to still run to the grocery store. I went to the clerk and she rang up my one item - my pair of jeans I found after going though dozens and finding some that were good but not great. I persevered until I found something I felt great in and wasn't too expensive. Some of the jeans were $70+ on sale which I would have considered earlier in my life, but with my new financial goals, I kept digging until I found a pair that worked and were only $30. She rang up these jeans and said "one cent". I was a bit confused and after she repeated herself a few times, I dug out a penny from my pocket and handed it over figuring it was a donation thing or something. Nope, the jeans rang up for $0.01. I don't get it since that's not the price listed, but I didn't want to ask too many questions and the sku numbers matched. The clerk didn't bat an eye so I guess that it's not unusual. And I figured I was being rewarded for staying centered with my purchasing habits. It felt good and I'm still a bit shocked. Which makes the jeans feel even better when I wear them although it's just nice to have pants that fit well.
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