G’afternoon! 
I spent the morning working on some stuff for my internship and then broke to do some yoga. If you don’t see me doing yoga at least once a week, give me a kick in the pants! It was soooo nice to do today and I really enjoyed it. I did one of Dave Farmar’s 60 minute podcasts. They are much less formal than YogaDownload and you have to know your poses since there’s no visual, but I do like his tough-love style. I left feeling a bit Gumbyish and my legs were shaking as I got dressed!
I really think there is something magical about yoga. Mind-body connection aside, I think the movements and the breathing transcend the classic calories-burned-per-heart rate model and something else happens. Just don’t ask me what! Maybe the whole concept that you create space inside your body is behind it.
After yoga + a shower I came down to make a Huge Jass salad 
The Mix:
- Base of wilted (as in almost bad!) spinach tossed in Fig balsamic vinegar and lemon olive oil with a pinch of kosher salt
- Leftover grilled zucchini + squash
- 1 carrot
- 1/2 a red bell pepper
- 1 big pickle, diced
- ~1/2 an avocado
- ~2-3 tbsp goat cheese
- Sprinkle slivered almonds
- Few tbsp Agaveplus granola, which I couldn’t taste as much as I had hoped
This baby sure filled me up!
Minty dessert for the palate
Write.
Check out two of my latest writings:
- On post-vacation vibes: Weight It Out
- On catch-22 decisions: Choose Neither
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Zesty POM
Win some juicy POM from Zesty
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Save First, Spend Second
I have become addicted to SELF’s new Save Like Me blog. Without getting too personal here, our household is really watching our spending these days, and MP Dunleavey’s tips are great, especially because her posts are short and to the point each day. But I am really excited about a new saving technique she’s been blogging about: Easy-Does-It Budget. [Go read about the method before you continue reading]
It really differentiates between what you NEED and what would be really nice to have. In our household, we’re pretty conservative about purchases. I always tell myself I don’t need a new pair of running shoes (sure I want them) or another jar of almond butter at Costco. But there are a handful of purchases that aren’t really needs but they aren’t really wants either. They’re sort of in-between. The Swiffer Vac, for example. I “needed” it but it wasn’t really a necessity.
So the Easy-Does-It method really lays down the law of what you have to spend. Rather then totally up your spending at the end of the month and seeing how you did, you start the month knowing how much you have to spend each day or week (we’re going to do a weekly method for a squiggly line effect ) You can choose to spend your weekly allowance on a night on the town, a movie, gardening supplies, a new shirt, or something you want to replace in your house but that isn’t necessity. Matt can use his on a haircut OR beer supplies – and only both if he can “afford” both - even though both are kind of “needs.” I’m going to try this method out for a bit and see how we do.
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As for now, I’m off to do more typing before I head uptown later this afternoon for ZUMBA!
{ 56 comments… read them below or add one }
I love big salads, and I’m also taking your yoga approach to heart.
I need to get back in the habit; maybe I should try one of Dave’s podcasts, too, since I never have. Let us know how Zumba goes!
HelpMeghanRun.com
I LOVE ZUMBA! My class doesn’t feel like it’s THAT hard of a workout (not as hard as spinning or step or whatever) but man is it fun! I also love how there are women of all ages, sizes and abilities – and even a few men!!
Have fun, Kath and let us know what you think!
Kath, I read the “SaveLikeMe” blog daily too. She is very practical and isn’t advocating not spending at all like other sites do.
haha! i like how the haircut is only a “kind of” need.
YAY for big salads!! And I completely agree about the yoga…when you really block everything else out and do it, you can really feel that mind/body connection.
I LOVE ZUMBA! Let us know how you like it!
I only use the DVDs though. I have never attended a class. I have trouble following dance moves – so I rather do it in the privacy of my own home. It’s a great cardio workout – I am dripping in sweat when I’m done.
i feel the same way about yoga – there’s just something that happens that doesn’t happen in any other activity.
enjoy your afternoon!
Mmm, big salads. Love ‘em. I’m actually writing up a post about my salad eating habit as we speak! Enjoy the rest of your day!
“Huge Jass” – Hilarious! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and love it. Thanks for your posts. It must be so much work! Anyway, if you ever have C’ville questions, please let me know. I’ve lived here for 4 years and went to college here before that.
The Easy-Does-It approach is so smart! My husband and I tried to save like that for a while and just fell out of the habit. Thanks for the kick to get started again.
Glad you enjoyed yoga today!
Thanks for publicly acknowledging my Hugh Jass
I too am looking for ways to save a buck. If you know what shoes you like, you might check eBay. Personally, I’m eating a Hugh Jass bowl of juicer pulp for lunch.
thanks for the link! I’ve seen her blog before but never went back!! Everyone can use all the saving advice they can get these days! thanks!
Your salad looks so refreshing!!!
Have fun at Zumba!! I have recently become addicted to it! I have some friends going now, too! I have no rhythm… but it’s so much fun! And a great calorie burn!
I really liked the “Choose Neither” piece. Didn’t realize you were such a philosopher. That same line of thinking applies to a gazillion things in life.
I save by automatically putting ten percent of my earnings into an account that I just forget about. savings/cd. we saved a ton to pay expenses of international adoption. Just got matched with a cutie pie baby boy!
Haha I totally thought you wrote “asparagus granola” at first. That would be interesting!
have fun at zumba- it’s my favorite
have a great day <3
I finally became a certified yoga teacher in Feb, after practicing yoga for the past five years. I started blogging as a way to share my writings about yoga. I laughed out loud when I saw the Gumby photo on this post today b/c I wrote about Gumby in February.
See blog here: http://www.frontporchyoga.com/2009/02/09/gumby/
Thanks for all the helpful hints and tips about food and life. I really enjoy your spirit, Kath!
Zumba is absolutely my favorite thing ever. I hope you love it!
I’m hoping to start a beginners yoga program in the Fall. I want to learn how to do the poses properly before I start downloading and trying it on my own.
My husband and I budget using that approach.
We actually go one step further and (while it is a TOTAL pain) have three different bank accounts. We each have a personal account and then one joint account. The joint account pays for all of our “bills” this includes things like, food, fuel, shampoo etc.
We figure out how much we need each month, and then figure out how much each of us will contribute to the joint budget. Whatever each person has left over, after paying the joint account is theirs to spend as they please.
This works for us, because neither of us like to have to “ask” the other about discretionary spending.
We each have our own methods for budgeting our discretionary spending monies.
Not that you asked.
Oh zumba?! I hope you like it!! Yoga is such a relaxing form of working out that it doesn’t even feel like ‘exercise’
As I am about to take off for my vacation tomorrow, your article on vacation weight has come at a great time for me. Thank you for being such an inspiration.
Barney Butter or fancy glass of wine? Can’t always have both!
That’s exactly how my husband and I do our finances. We both get a set cash “allowance” that gets re-filled every two weeks which we can use on whatever we want individually. It’s HARD, because when you use cash you can see how big of an impact that $4 latte makes on your little fund – but it’s effective too! We are saving more than ever!
Love this saving article, Kath! I am just about finished up with my first year at my first job out of college, and after reading that article I followed the suggested steps to re-evaluate my budget. I really like the idea of having a certain amount per week that I have to spend as I please (after allocating my goal amount to savings). Are you and Matt planning on having the cash so that you know, or are you disciplined enough to just trust yourselves?
Yep, starting with a “bottom” line in terms of allowed spending per month is so much better for the bank account! We’ve been doing this for 2 years. GL!
Thanks for the tip, Kath about the savings blog!! As someone who is starting pastry school in one month and greatly needs to save I really appreciate it!!
Yummy lunch — thanks for the savings blog, too!
Have fun at Zumba!
I’m so bad about spending! I always need more food, which I don’t because it seems to go bad before I can eat it. I think I have a major problem! If I eat one piece of bread I’ll need to go get a whole loaf because I think I’ll run out, yeah I’m kinda OCD about having food in the house!
You’re a celebrity! Exercising for hours a day-yoga/bike riding to Zumba/Zumba/biking back
i’m addicted to the save like me blog as well! one of the reasons i enjoy reading YOUR blog is that you are very “thoughtful” about your spending and budgeting when it comes to food and you show that healthy food can be affordable!
Oooh, Zumba! You’re so lucky! That’s one class I really want to try, but I can’t find a class offered anywhere!
In the words of zumba instructor, Finessista, “hope you have a blasty!”
I’m going to check out that blog. It sounds right up my alley. My husband and I really watch our spending, also. He’s kind of ‘in to’ that stuff ~ which has rubbed off on me. I now see it as a challenge each month to see how ‘low I can go’.
I have a goal amount to get me through the month and I keep a little sprial notebook in my car and write down each itemized spending immediately (ie, when I get in the car from the grocery store, Target, etc). Since I’ve started my spiral, my spending has gone down dramatically!!
Anyway, good for you on being responsible about spending. One time when I was getting all caught up in comparing what others had and what I felt like I didn’t have (REALLY don’t recommend doing this!!), my wise husband said to me, “Just because they have all that STUFF doesn’t mean they have a lot of money, it just means they *spend* a lot of money.”
I really liked your “Choose Neither” article. I appreciate the thoughtful items you’ve been blogging about lately: comparing milk, detox diets and careful spending. Thanks !
I agree with you about yoga — it’s more than just exercise or stretching!
Your lunch looks great
I’m definitely gonna check out the Save Like Me blog! I need all the help I can get!
I’ve never read that blog but read EatLikeMe all the time. It would probably be wise to check it out! I could certainly stand to save money where it’s possible. Thanks for the tip!
Thanks for the budget info – I’m taking a massive paycut in the next 2 weeks and am really stressed about it!
I have been dying to take a zumba class! Can’t wait to hear about how u like it!
I’m so glad that you got in some yoga this today! I LOVE those Dave Farmar podcasts, but sometimes I think he must bump his microphone or something halfway through the class because it will suddenly go quiet or full of static. That’s definitely frustrating when that happens in the middle of a yoga session (trust me, I’ve had personal experience
). But otherwise, I love the podcasts. I actually like not having a pose guide to follow since I tend to focus less on the length of the session and more on each specific pose.
LOVELY salad Kath! Another awesome mixture!
Have a lovely afternoon!
Kath,
I love Dave Farmar’s yoga, but he gets me laughing (so I lose concentration). I am the same way about yoga, I strayed from it last year and found more aches and pains than I would like to admit to. Mostly running related. But no pains if I do yoga 2x per week. Btw, loved the post on your green drink from yesterday. You are such a good cook and it is nice to see you mess up once in awhile.
Lynda
I’ve been meaning to try Zumba for awhile now. I hear great things, but I always feel like I don’t get that good of a workout in group-exercise classes, plus I have NO groove when it comes to dancing, LOL.
I have come to terms with the fact that I need to come up with a budgeting system. It’s so hard though because it seems like so many things “come up” and they aren’t “fun” things like eating out, more like the dog needs to go to the vet or something breaks and needs to be replaced. How do you account for stuff like that? Just take it out of the “fun” fund?
Weird, I just saw the word Gumby before I read this post
I haven’t seen or heard of him in years lol.
Jenn
Thanks for the post. I will certainly start reading this blog for sure. I spend a lot, and sometimes on unecessarity things. And today after seeing what I have spent my money on in June (a lot of nothing I needed really), I decided to give myself an “allowance” each week that I can spend it on without going overboard on my budget.
Thank you again for posting that blog.
unecessarity = unnecessary
Zumba sounds really fun. I really like that idea you got from Save Like Me. This household is watching its spending too. Any tips are helpful! Thanks!
He was once a little green slab of clay…
GUMBY!
That song is stuck in my head, I thought I would share
Interesting thoughts in the “Choose Neither” article. Some times neither is the best choice. Will definitely check out the Save Like Me Blog. Being presently between jobs I’m being very frugal in my spending. Ideas to help that are always welcome.
Something Matt might want to think about is I’ve stopped going to salons for haircuts and now use the same old fashioned barbershop that my 81 year old father goes to. They give the basic cut that I like for under $10.
Hey Gumby, Thanks for the tip about that $$$ saving site. We all could be saving some dough, non?
Kath, that info on saving money is like the CliffsNotes for the book I read, All Your Worth: The Ultimate Lifetime Money Plan. I highly recommend it. It’s very similar to the Easydoesit Budget, but it goes into much more detail.
i really agree about the magic of yoga. it has never reaped anything but benefits for me, and i’d be hard-pressed to find someone who has negative associations with it.
really interesting thoughts on budgeting. i do something somewhat similar – limit myself to the needs, and keep a small amount for “flex” spending. that way i don’t feel obsessive and deprived of everything all the time, but i also don’t see my money disappear too quickly. budgeting is definitely one of those practicalities that is no fun at all!
I think a huge jass salad could keep me full for hours and hours. I love eating them everyday at work to keep me entirely satisfied for the rest of the day.
Great outlook on conserving. I know how hard it can be, but you have such a great prespective on wants vs. needs. Thanks for the great advice.
Kath I have to thank you for the financial blog. I got into mint earlier this year thanks to your reccomendation, and now I have added the self.com financial blog to my blogroll. Not only are you a nutrition expert, you are also a finace one!
Ok, I need to get on the yoga bandwagon. Somewhat like running, I can’t seem to find anyone who has given it a chance and not loved it! Hmm…
kraileen ,
We’re coming to visit this weekend if you’re around! Email me if so.
capedaisy ,
Congrats!!!
Allison K,
We have two personal and one joint too, but we’ve migrated to using the joint for everything, which I prefer because i think it’s easier to see a snapshot. But the two personal might come back in handy if we ever have enough overflow money to make it in there
Amanda ,
I actually prefer using a debit card so I can track it in Mint.com. When I use cash it just disappears with no record (receipts are a pain). I like the idea of a journal though – thanks mary-jo.
Hallie (Healthy Twists),
I think that’s the point of this system – you have to use the fun money for the un-fun stuff sometimes in order to not over-spend. We are definitely guilty of needing something and over-spending because we don’t lighten up on the fun to compensate (“needing” to go to the wedding last weekend, for example).
Morgan ,
Aw thanks
K
Hey Kath,
Good for you trying out new budgeting tools. The one in the Self article you linked to is just like what my husband and I have done for a few years now, and it has pretty much eliminated marital squabbling about what we should spend our money on and how much we “can” spend. All our income goes into the pot to cover expenses and savings just like the article described, then we’re each left with what we call our personal fun money. He can spend his on whatever suits his fancy or save it up for a bigger purchase and I can do likewise. Sometimes we’ll choose to pool some fun money for a night out, but if we don’t have any left, then there’s no dining out until we get paid again. Some friedns tease us because we might each pay for our portion of a dinner out from our own fun money… but it works for us, and that way no one gets left burning all of his/her fun money on a meal we both enjoyed, and if he wants to buy a bottle of wine with dinner it’s his choice and I’m not worrying over whether I can still afford my new yoga pants, it’s coming out of his fun money, so no worries. It’s like we’re working together as a financial unit, but we still both have the freedom to make completely independent financial choices too… we love it! I’ve noticed it also seems to have resulted in changes in my hubby’s spending habits. He used to spend a lot, very freely, almost like there was no bottom to our bank account (which there definitely is!), but now that he knows he’s only got a certain amount of fun money to last him until his next pay check he thinks about his purchases, and sometimes chooses to postpone or skip buying things altogether because he decides he doesn’t really need them or can wait until he’s saved up the cash. We both feel like we still do plenty of fun stuff, but now those “want” type purchases aren’t interfering with our larger financial goals and life plans.
Hope you find something that works well for you. I know money can really be a struggle until you get a good system that works for everyone involved.
Take care.
thanks for the savings info, very helpful