Happy Monday Friends! If you have been following along with the budgeting tips this past week, you will notice that there is a similarity between keeping your finances in check as well as your weight. ⁠

⁠We are in the second week of January and mostly back to routine. No matter how careful you are, the holidays are filled with more cookies, chocolates and cocktails. It is good to celebrate and enjoy all the indulgences as long as it doesn't start in November and follow through past Valentine's day. Just like your finances, your nutrition is what you do consistently over time. If you are always grabbing a couple cookies on your afternoon coffee break, it will add up over time. ⁠

Week 1 check in - how did the first week go? Did you find it challenging? Did you stick to your plan or deviate "just a little"? Take a minute today and reflect on your week. Look at what actually happened vs. what you intended to happen. Maybe you were perfect - stay the course. Maybe, you found it really hard to track or to stay in your budget. It's okay - now that you are aware of where your challenges are, you can focus on them in the coming week to get you closer to your goal. Remember, it is all about learning about yourself and your spending habits and then tweaking them so that they align with your long term goals.

Credit cards can be awesome and can be devastating at the same time. How many credit cards do you have? Every single store seems to offer one and at the time it seems like you'd be crazy not to get it! Here's a tip - pick 1 card and destroy the rest. Credit cards make spending money more abstract, which psychologically encourages you to spend more on impulse purchases - up to 56% more!

Here is another finance tip: make sure that you set money aside every single month for your future. Here is what I have learned over the years: building wealth takes time. You need time to build credit so that you can buy your first house. You need time in that house to build equity. You need time in your job to build up your salary.

Did you have a school uniform? I remember thinking how awful it would be, but now I kind of like the idea of a uniform. Here's another way for you to save some $$$ - create yourself a uniform. Sounds crazy, but hear me out. Fashion is cool and I admire people that have these incredible wardrobes. I am not very fashionable and I also do not have a budget to keep on top of trends or have multiple pairs of shoes.

When it comes to saving money, one of my favorite concepts is barter and trade. I would love to see this be more a part of our society. The truth is, we all have skills and talents to offer. Maybe you are an accountant and can file taxes for your friend who is a carpenter who can build you that murphy bed in the guest room that you have been dying to get. You see, it doesn't come down to a $$ amount, it comes down to trading a need for a need. Both parties find equal value in each other's skills.

I find that we live in such a consumer throw away society. Remember going to your grandparent's house and they had the yellow or green appliances that they have had for the past 30 years and they are still going strong? They weren't constantly trying to change things to match the latest Pinterest craze. Also, the house may have been dated, but they were solid! My house is 6 years old and I have already replaced our hot water heater, dishwasher, toilet flushers (they broke) and I am pretty sure that the stove and fridge will be the next to go. It blows my mind!

So what is a standardized meal plan and should you try it? Well, it's simply the same meal scheduled at the same time on a specific schedule. The benefit to this is that you take some decisions out of your day. The downside, you might get bored or hate the predictability of it.

Let's talk about money. I think most people would wish they had more of it, especially when all the Christmas bills come in. I find that managing spending for a family of 5 can be tricky sometimes. I think that I have it planned and figured out and then someone always needs something or something breaks down. So, I decided to get really strict with spending this month. I think that it is really good to do, so that every purchase that you make is made with intention. It's so easy to just grab a coffee or snack on the go without a second thought. Maybe there were really cool trainers/runners/whatever the kids are calling them these days, that just got released and you just have to have them. You work out, so it's kind of necessary, right?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am completely aware that I am a day late with this post. I tried to write yesterday, but I couldn't put my feelings into words just yet. I think that I just needed a little time to process.

School's out for the holiday!! Do you have some excited kids in the house? Honestly, only my oldest is the only one of mine that goes to a brick and mortar school, but they are all excited for the break. I actually am on holidays from my other job as well. We planned it so that the girls and I can finish getting ready for Christmas together. There was a part that was really easy when they were little. I could Christmas shop with them there and they didn't even know. Now, it's a different kind of easy. I always have a shopping buddy to help me out. I can take Sienna to help me pick out stuff for Sydney and Chloe and then I can take Sydney to help me with Sienna and Chloe to help me with the rest. It's pretty fun and it gives me the opportunity to hang out with each of my girls and share some quality time together.

You know what is cool about this Christmas? There are no rules on how we have to do things. Okay, I guess there are - no more than 5 people, small bubble, masks inside, etc. but I mean for how you decide to celebrate (within those parameters). I mentioned that we didn't have our own tradition for a meal because we are usually at someone else's house. So, this year we got to brainstorm and decide what we want to have for our Christmas Eve dinner.

I am not sure if this is just me, but as a kid, we spent the month before Christmas baking about a million different things and freezing them so we could have enough for the holidays. Plus, the best was sneaking into the deep freeze and getting a frozen jam jam cookie or nanaimo bar.

OK, so first things first - DO ALL THE THINGS! So, you can't have a big family dinner and things are not exactly like they have always been. That, my friends, is OKAY. What do you usually do for the holidays? We always decorate our house and this year, we did it a little early. Each year, we try to add to our décor. The more Christmassy the better. One year, I will get my exterior to be completely lit up;) I love cheesy Christmas movies as well as the classics, so we watch them at night before heading off to bed. We decorated gingerbread houses and I think they weigh about 10 pounds each this year. We never eat them, but they are fun to make.

Christmas is NOT cancelled!! It makes me so sad to hear how some will not be celebrating, because "there's no point". There is a point and this week, we are going to get good and Christmassy and I am going to share what we are doing to have extra spirit during the holidays.

Decisions, Decisions...did you know that the average human makes 35,000 choices every single day? That seems a little crazy, but so many of them require very little thought or the decision that you are making doesn't have a great impact, such as should I make chicken or fish for supper? Or somethings that are so automatic like brushing your teeth. You don't wake up and think, hmmm, I wonder if I should brush my teeth today or leave it? You just brush your teeth (I hope). ⁠

As Jason had mentioned in his post, I love that we still kept up with this tradition of naming our community leader awards. Usually, we get to be all dressed up at our gala and we can present to our recipients in front of our whole community. For obvious reasons, this year looks a little different, but I am so excited to present to you this year's female community leader award to (insert drum roll) Alyssa Weninger!

Covid-19 has caused a lot of disruption to everyone’s lives. This year we could not host the BLB Fitness Festival, the 3 on 3 Throwdown, or our annual Gala. However we adapted and found new ways to create community events with online Zoom classes and switching to an online competition, the Proving Grounds.

Starting today we have decided to bring Zoom back.

Our schedule for our first day (Nov 25th) will be:

Noon, 3:30 and 4:30.
For Thursday and Friday we will announce at the conclusion of today.

Check out our WOD blog for the Zoom link and Zoom WODs.