Hell's bells, Trudy!

[summerfire]

Ugh, I'm so sick of those horrid Evony ads. Those, and the "1 Rule to Obey for a Flat Stomach!" or whatever. Come on! The girls in the before and afters aren't even the same! And as for the Evony ones, aren't they going for a medieval thing? Why do all the skanky chicks in the ads just look like trashy 90s girls? Whoever came up with those ads

Comments

[nzlife]

i've been meaning to mention all of those ridiculous flat stomach and white teeth ads that are popping up all over livejournal. they drive me absolutely nuts. they are definitely putting the idea in young people's minds that you need to have the flattest stomach possible and glaringly white teeth. ugh

[summerfire]

Those are good tips for saving money, but sadly I already make my own coffee and pack lunches every day as well. :( It's the nights when I don't feel like cooking, and weekends are especially bad because I'll think, "Oh, sushi sounds good! Oh, an iced capp sounds good!" That kind of stuff. I've noticed that all the little things have been adding up, and the summer had made me really comfortable with reaching for the Visa whenever I didn't have enough cash on hand. Bad times!!! But yeah, I'll get out of it. Eventually. :P A new car is another thing on my to-buy list, so I REALLY need to be good!

Oh lord, I'm SO GLAD I've done the whole training thing before. It's the only thing helping me to keep going, knowing that I HAVE run long distances and I CAN do it. It's definitely humbling only being able to go so far right now, though! I would imagine you've probably felt the same, though at least you have a good reason for having to start back at the beginning, unlike me and my lazy ass. :P

Yay, updates! Wheee!

[hotclementine]

How do you like 30 Day Shred? I have a copy of the DVD but I haven't tried it yet, mostly because I've heard it's really difficult and I don't want to feel bad about myself when I find out I'm not as fit as I think I am!

Debt DOES suck - I have quite a bit of student loan debt and am still working on paying off a couple credit cards, but it's impossible for me not to waste money occasionally. Okay, more than occasionally. I feel like if I'm making 80% better choices with my money, why can't I have 20% of the time to have my eating out and Starbucks-type purchases? It's like a diet - if you cut out everything you want, you fail miserably by splurging somewhere down the road. Although that kind of thinking will probably make me stay in debt 20% longer. ;)

[summerfire]

I love the Shred, but hate it at the same time. It took me a long time to actually try it too, for the same reason you said! It's definitely humbling (that's my word of the night) having a mere 20-minute workout whup my ass, but I always feel good after doing it. I've only made it up to Level 2, so I don't know how bad it gets... though I've heard Level 2 is actually harder than 3. Weird!

I'm with you on the moderation thing when it comes to diets AND saving money/paying off debt. I think my problem is that I was starting to make bad choices 50% of the time, or more! Haha. Ugh, boo debt, and boo having to a responsible adult!

[morganini]

There are so many parts of this post that I feel I should comment on... for one thing, I'm in big-time money trouble right now! I know exactly what you mean about feeling the urge to put your whole paycheque towards paying off debts, leaving no money to live off of. In addition to my student loans and car loan, I'll still be paying for my Europe trip for the rest of this year. I went overbudget... oops! And I'm probably even worse than you are at saving money on the "little things" like starbucks and lunches. It feels like every day I come up with an excuse not to make a lunch in the morning.

So, while I can't offer you any advise because I'm absolutely brutal myself, at least I can say this: there is no way that you hate your job more than I hate mine!!!

[summerfire]

I know exactly how hard it is to pay off a big vacation where you went overbudget! It took me MONTHS to pay off my New Zealand trip a couple of years ago. In fact, I'm not even sure how I did it, since I wasn't working at the time. That must be why my credit line got maxed out! But yes, money is stressful, especially when you don't enjoy cooking or preparing food.

Ugh, poor you. :( I can at least tolerate my job these days. We need money and good jobs to grow on trees!!

[d_n_m]

ugh money woes are my life story!! i hate stressing about it. and it seems that no matter where i skimp in some areas, i end up spending more in others. :( it sounds like you have the right mindset with money issues though and are on a path to change!

i won't touch on the work subject since it obviously stresses you out...but i'm pleased it's going smoother than this time last year!

good on you for getting back out and pounding the pavement. it is VERY hard to get back into running after awhile out, but you're on your way to building back to where you used to be. you can do it!! :D

[summerfire]

I really think living on cash is going to help me, and having a budget will give me a bit of a plan. For the last year or so I've just been trying to keep track in my head, and after screwing it up this month, I realize it's not an efficient system if I want to see any real change. Fiscal responsibility, here I come, yaaay. :S

It's SO hard. :( I'm really glad I've done it before, otherwise I probably would have given up by now. I just have to keep telling myself that even though it's just 3 and 4k here and there, eventually it'll help me build back up. I CAN do hill repeats and long distances, I just have to help my body remember how to! Your marathon is part of the reason I've gotten back into it, because I keep thinking, "If Megan can run 32k, I can do 3." :P And if I ever want to be cool like you, I can't keep sitting on the couch!! Gotta get a few more halfs under my belt so I can do a REAL race. ;) (Maybe when I'm 30, hahaha.)

[ms_firecracker]

I'm glad work isn't as bad as last year! That's something at least!

And good luck with the debt thing, I actually know about the sheet you're talking about, I downloaded it when I was realizing how poor I was in Victoria! It helped a bit, and I actually might try sticking to it once I actually have an income again. :P