Challenges

Hello muffins, 

As promised I am keeping you to date on all of my challenges. Last time we talked I said that I would post once a week to keep you updated. I know that I am a few days behind from the last I blogged about my two 30 day challenges that I am taking. 

The first challenge is the 30 day spending freeze. Last week I  (my hubby) spent 15$ on chips and I haven't spent any money that hasn't been needed to spent. I managed to save about 50-100$ on my grocery bill last week ( I shop every second week) by following a grocery list. I was amazed at how much money I could save by having a list and sticking to it.  I used to have a list, follow it and then buy whatever else I wanted and my groceries would cost me anywhere from 200-300$ and up on some occasions. I am very proud of myself to sticking to the list which is one of the tips on my this post which is about saving money on groceries.  I also picked up about another 4 hours of work which will help the pay. Daycare is closed tomorrow so I am also saving another 28$ dollars there which is great. 

Since I am not spending all that extra money and trying to save it I have also joined the 52 week money challenge that they have at the bank. I know that there is many versions online of this in fact check out Pinterest you will find many versions on this. The bank that I deal with ( RBC) is using this to get people to open a TFSA ( tax free savings account). I already had one so I told myself "Hey, why not try it?" it falls right into my 30 days of no spending. The challenge that the bank gives you is to pay 2$ a week in your TFSA. I on the other hand am doing it my way. Instead of putting a certain amount every week in the bank I am trying to put what I can and at the end of the month if I can put more into the account I will. A lot of people try to follow the 52 week money challenge either the right way where you start with 1$ or the reverse way ( which is not wrong) starting at 52$, but I am not following the chart for one reason. What if I don't have 50$ to save I will feel like a failure so instead I put aside what I know I can comfortable go without. I know how much money I have to put on my phone, credit card and  loan will be but I also have many expenses that change. Such as, my grocery bills and daycare.  If you are interested in this challenge it isn't too late to start. You can follow along with the plans that people have, or do it like me and just put what you can aside and at the end of the month put whatever you have left in your account away into your savings account.  

On other news in the money department I had put some money aside ( in cash) at home that I needed to deposit with that and the amount I have to pay on my loan and on my credit I will have paid off 690$ in debt this month. That might not seem much to some but considering my the amount of money I make this is a lot for me. If I can continue along this line of saving money at the end of the year I should have enough to completely pay off all debt by the end of this year and still have money left over. 

The other Challenge I took was the 30 days of yoga which I am really enjoying. I am taking a picture of a pose from the sequence that is posted every day. I find that my mood has been improving greatly and so are my eating habits. I did miss yesterdays practice but I made up fpr it today by doing today's video and last night's video.  I am also starting to become less sore again which is definitely a plus.

Each day we are to pick a word. I am trying to pick a word every day of something that I want to work on to make myself better.  Here are the words so far. 

1. Calm

2. Patience

3.Happiness

4.Duty

5.Strength

6.Quiet

7. Healing

8. Love

9. Breathe

10. Laugh

11.Mindful

12.Playful

13. Determination

14. Perseverance 

Those are all the words I have been breathing into my practice and trying to work on in my daily life. I also put the pictures of the week I am writing on my blog about or you can follow blog on bloglovin  or daily on  Instagram.