All diets suck.

Let me say that again.  All diets suck.

Anyone, and I think I mean everyone, understands that sentiment.  Diets seem like such a great idea. Cut out what you don't need and life will get better.  But the thing is, diets don't work.  You get too caught up in rules and forget to live life.  Three months in and you loose momentum because your goal is so far away and this is just too hard. 

Along the way I've learned that diets are not sustainable (or much fun).  To make real and permanent change in your life you have to change your actions and perspective.  Not easy.  Harder than a diet even, but it lasts longer (a lifetime if you keep at it), feels better and achieves the goals you set out to set.

I learned this same lesson two years ago.  I had done my fair share of attempting to diet, hoping to loose weight.  It never worked, I lost interest months, days, weeks in and I got nowhere.   I was left feeling disheartened and angry with myself.  I quit that viscious cycle in January of 2011 when I started the Weight Watchers Points Plus programs.  Every food is worth a certain number of points.  Fruits and veggies- 0 points.  A piece of bread-2 points.  A glass of red wine-4 points.  These points add up, quickly.  Each day you get an alotment of use 'em or loose 'em points.  Your saving grace in Weight Watchers are your weekly points, bonus points that a good for one whole week.  The beauty of the weekly points (which is ultimately my point here, I swear) is that you can use them throughout the week, to add cushion to each day (one extra glass of wine) OR! you can use them all up at once (big, lavish dinner out with friends).

Well, my point is this: our diet isn't (quite) working.  We're saving money quite well, but we're not having much fun. Granted, we knew we would need to say no more and do way more with lots less.  But saying no to every happy hour, dinner or outing for fear of spending money is depressing.   While hosting dinner parties is lovely and finding free stuff around the city to do an adventurous way to rediscover DC (more on that later...) it still doesn't beat a drink with friends after a long day's work or dancing the night away at a concert.

So, we'll issuing ourselves a monthly allotment of points.  Fifty bucks each.  For whatever we want.  Yarn for a new project, a book that G just absolutely needs, drinks or even one fancy-pants dinner out, just the two of us. We still will have to say no, but we also get to say yes, in moderation. 

Diets don't work.  Life style changes do.  So here's to starting a whole new life!

The take out dilemma

No spending, no take out, right?

First, let's discuss why take out is awesome.  It does not require me to turn on the stove or oven, meaning more time sitting on the couch watching a movie.  You call, you pay and you wait for 40 minutes and at the end-you've got super tasty food in front of you.  AND the food! Thai and Indian are my two favorite take out cuisines.  Why? Well, they're delicious, spicy and two cuisines I have yet to master. 

Take out did not make the cut of necessary spending, however.  Does that mean no Thai or Indian for a whole year? Heck no! It just means that I have to add a few new recipes to my repertoire.  So we started with a well loved basic- Pad Thai.  And?  Tangy, spicy and just peanut-y enough, all the qualities I look for in a good Pad Thai.  The key ingredient? Tamarand paste.  Super stinky on its own, but clutch in making truly delicious Pad Thai.  We're still perfecting the ratios of tamarnd, soy, fish sauce, brown sugar and peanut butter.  Goals are good, right?

And so, while it does require me to turn on the stove, get off the couch and actually cook, it tasted all the better for it.  It took less time than waiting 40 minutes for take out, cost half the price of a noodle dish from our favorite Thai restaurant and forced my hand at trying something new. 

a damn good cup of joe

Sunday morning and all you want is a good cup of coffee and a tasty baked good. At the local coffee shop around the corner two double cappuccini and a couple of pastries will cost $15.  At home, we've got everything we need for the same Sunday morning pick-me-up for less.

What do you  need for a good at home cappuccino?  G and I are quite fond of the Bialetti Moka Express.  So fond, in fact, we've got two.  A small one for just one double and a slightly larger one for two doubles (G's Christmas present from yours truly).  Fine, freshly ground beans turn into the perfect, deep espresso in just minutes with the moka maker.  And the frothy milk?  When we got back from Italy last April we were so desperate for good cappuccini that we invested in the Bodum milk frother.  Perfect frothy milk every time.  We haven't gone out for coffee in months, thanks to these two awesome kitchen tools.

And the pastry?  Well, we've been on a serious pancake binge recently but were in the mood for something different this morning.  So we pulled out a trusty coffee cake recipe from G's mom.  I got inspired by the huge pile of oranges I bought yesterday,  so I threw a little fresh OJ and orange zest in.  DELICIOUS!

So, instead of venturing into the cold and spending $15 on a simple Sunday breakfast, we are cozy in our PJs and enjoying our homemade treats.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

The January Summation

So first, all of you fans out there.

Your continued want to read about our trials and travails during this process, in addition to your ability to talk to us everyday, is simply outstanding and much appreciated.  For that, we both want to thank you.  Greg personally can't believe you all want to read this much about our lives.  But you want more than I assume, you want the updates on how we're doing.

So far we have paid off  $1,521.  That leaves us with ($39,479) left to pay off.  Not a bad start to a completely new way of living.  As always though, there's room for a bit of improvement.

For starters, sickness is not a way to live cheaply.  You stay home from work, take medicine, and use public transportation because peddling your bike makes you feel woozy and cough.  Also, the random trip to the grocery begins to enlarge your grocery budget.  An avocado on the way home from work that you forgot to buy at the grocery when you planned tortilla soup, a six pack of beer to celebrate being off antibiotics, etc.  All legitimate purchases in our eyes, but they begin to add up.  Add maintenance on your primary mode of transportation and you begin to understand that living frugally isn't so much a random act of savings, but a planned, concerted effort.

So where to start?  Well, easily number one is: don't get sick.  Ahhh, but the randomness of the universe simply doesn't let you off on this one.  Unless you go around kissing flu patients.  Then well.....

Second: maintain your transportation.  We can't believe how many rusty bike chains, wobbly wheels, and bikes in disrepair we see everyday.  No wonder BikeShare does so well.  A simple check on your ride would save a bunch of headache and dollars from your pocket. 

We haven't found a third yet, but we're looking into the problem.  We will keep you informed of our discoveries.  For now, onwards to February!