Nice surprise in the mail today

I went to check the mail today and was very happy to see a piece of mail from Angus Reid.  I joined the Angus Reid Forum in January 2011 and completed a total of 28 surveys where I earned "Survey Dollars".  Back in December, I finally accumulated $50 Survey Dollars and was able to redeem them.  So today in the mail, I received my $50 cheque!  I know it sounds like a lot of surveys for $50, but the way I see it, the surveys are fairly simple and quick and it's $50 more dollars than I had yesterday.

Also, I am close to redeeming $10 in Amazon.ca gift cards from Swagbucks.  That will bring my total Swagbuck redemptions to $90 in Amazon.ca gift cards.  Again, it takes awhile to earn the Swagbucks and I think it takes me approx 3 weeks to accumulate enough Swagbucks to redeem a $5 Amazon.ca gift card.  The Swagbucks I earn are usually through web searches, so it's something that I have to do anyway.  Then I answer the Daily Poll and occasionally complete a survey.  My goal this year is to save all Amazon.ca gift cards that I redeem and use that towards Christmas gifts.

Love finding other ways, and to me simple ways to earn a little extra $$.

Health & Fitness goals - first weigh-in

It’s been a week since I started eating healthier and exercising.

Here’s a summary of how the week went:

- no hashbrowns, muffins or donuts

- no coffee shop purchases

- worked out 5 times

- 2 insanity workouts completed

- increased daily water intake (up to 3 glasses a day)

So I stepped on the scale this morning and NOTHING!  It looked to me that I didn’t lose any weight.  I don’t have a digital scale though, so I can’t tell if I lost 0.4lbs or 0.6lbs.  I must admit, I’m a little frustrated as I was really hoping for some type of progress.  At first a part of me was thinking I could have eaten hashbrowns for breakfast every single morning and I’d see the same results.  But then I realized that was completely untrue.  And even though the scale didn’t show a change, DH reminded me that the change may not be in the numbers but in my body shape overall.

I’m a little bummed about the results, but still pushing forward.  Still focused on my goals and hoping that with the increased exercise/cardio, next week’s weigh in will show some progress or clothes start fitting better.

No-Spend 2012 Challenge - Week 1 Recap

I must say that this week went very well.  Not only for financial goals but for health/fitness goals as well.
Here's the recap:

Current 2-week budget (til January 15th):

Food: $180.00
Used so far:  $129.49 (I do feel bad as I tried making baked spring rolls - spent $10 on ingredients and it didn't turn out very well)

Transportation: $120.00
Used so far: $0

Coffee Shop: $0
Used so far: $0 (although I've only been back to work for 2 days, but so far so good)

Lunch: I didn't put a $$ budget on this but allowed myself lunch out per week.
Used so far:  $25 (this was for a coworkers birthday)

Other:  Again I didn't put a $$ budget on this, but I'll most likely try to put a number for next week.
Used so far:  $50 (this was for eating at the mall with DH and kids last night, as well as purchasing screen protectors and cases for the kids Nintendo DS')

Health/Fitness wise:

Huge accomplishment for me, I had no hashbrowns, muffins, donuts or anything deep fried!  I used to have hashbrowns almost every morning for breakfast from the cafeteria.  Then I'd sometimes follow up with a muffin or a donut.  This entire week (with the exception of the birthday lunch) I've packed food to bring with me to work and have managed to eat what I've brought.  No running to the coffee shop!

I also worked out 3 times since Tuesday.  I'm still fighting a cold, so my energy levels haven't been at their highest but I'm trying my best.  Hoping that next week gets better.

Today we have a birthday dinner to go to.  It's at a Chinese food restaurant.  I'm allowed to have a "cheat meal" once a week, so this will be it.  I will just make sure I don't go overboard on the fried rice and noodles.

Hope everyone's first week of 2012 is going well!