Time to shed some libbys!

Being depressed has given me the opposite of motivation to get to the gym or do any type of work out. Since starting my meds, I’ve actually had the will power and desire to get back into some sort of a routine. Gaining 40+ pounds in a few months is also a demotivater, even though you might think it would be MORE motivation. I have been so ashamed and embarrassed of my body; where I used to think I was fat, I now have actual fat. I freaking have stretch marks, people. STRETCH MARKS.

Anyways, now that I have a bit more energy and am feeling better, I asked Drummer Boy if I could join the gym. He of course supports me in working out, so he was happy to jump on board. So on July 9th I drove my big booty down to the gym and signed up. One hundred and sixty dollars later, I was a new member. Time to get to work! I went the following Monday, and…. one other time. And…. I have not been back since. Not because I don’t want to work out – I am still committed to that. More, I just felt so uncomfortable at the gym. I have no idea what I’m doing, everyone seems like they have it down (I’m sure they don’t, but…), and I feel like I stick out like a sore thumb. I would literally run on the treadmill for 15 or so minutes and then leave.

Through some stroke of coincidence, I learned about Tone It Up (TIU). I had heard of it before, but never looked into it. A friend of mine had created an Instagram account specifically for her TIU adventure, and I couldn’t believe her progress. She’s always some I considered fit, but she went from looking normal-good to looking amazing. I immediately went to the website and clicked around. Let me tell you – I was confused. I did not understand the program at all, and I couldn’t find anything that explained it. So, if you are wondering what the program is like, here is the best I can guess:

When you sign up (for free), you receive a Weekly Workout Schedule in your email every Sunday. It lists out the Daily Workout for each day (this can also be found on the website under Daily Workout) with 3 clickable tiles that break up that day’s workout.

Everyday, you start with a Booty Call, which I think is supposed to be done in the morning (???). It consists of 5 Daily Moves, each done for 1 minute, and repeated for a total of 10 moves. Each day tells you how long the workout is expected to be, and which part of your body you are working out. It’s really nice to have this info available to plan your workout into your day. I usually do it all at night, but I do like the idea of doing a short workout in the morning (I have a really hard time waking up) and another workout at night. I’m sure there are benefits of doing the whole workout at once, but it’s nice to know you can still get a good workout in and it won’t take too long. I am already late enough to work everyday! Each of the 5 daily Moves has a gif (is that was it’s called??) showing how to do the move. Super helpful. Then, you move on to the next workout portion.

TIU also has Bikini Series, but I’m pretty sure you have to pay for it. I haven’t made that commitment yet (remember the $160 I already spent?!). There is also a nutrition plan, that I definitely want to try out. They have vegetarian, vegan, gluten free, and gluten free vegetarian options! Wooo! Many people have found a lot of success with the nutrition plan, so it’s def on my list of things to purchase one day.

Another thing about this plan is the community of women who come together on social media. It’s like a secret society was opened up to me – I am practically obsessed with scoping out other TIU instagram profiles. It’s amazing to see the transformations. It’s so fun to know there are so many other women out there doing the same exact workout as you that day. You aren’t alone in the struggles, and you have so many people who will cheer you on and celebrate with you. It adds another aspect of the plan that is super fun and helpful.

Have you ever tried Tone It Up? What is your favorite workout plan??

I’ve Never Been Good With Money and Other Debt-Free Journey Stuff.

My parents divorced when I was 6, and I don’t remember a time after that my mom didn’t struggle financially. Honestly, I think she just didn’t manage her money well, which led to this. But anyways. My whole life, I remember her stressing the importance of having good credit, since she was having such a hard time with her poor credit. So at 18, I opened my first credit card. Mind you, I had never, ever, ever had anyone teach me any real money handling lessons. But, here I was with a new credit card in hand. FREE MONEY!

I did pretty well with my credit card. So well, in fact, that I qualified for MORE credit cards! YAYYYY. Still, I was able to pay them all each month, and I was still doing well. But then! I had a financial crisis, and I got so deep into debt and made so little money that I started missing payments. And then the debt collectors started calling. I lived in this cycle for a couple more years. At some points, I was so broke that I would go to specific gas stations that accepted debit cards, and would overdraw my account in order to fill up my tank. As long as I could make it to work, I would be fine.

This went on and on and on, until one day, a tow truck showed up at my house to tow my car. I was 4 months behind on my payments, and honestly only owed a couple thousand on it. Luckily, I wasn’t home, so they had no car to tow. This was one of my worst days. I had to call my dad for money to bring my account current.

My credit cards were either closed by me, or by the creditor for failure to pay on time. It was a mess.

Fast forward another couple of years, and after paying off some old collections debt, my credit score started to rise. And, soon enough, more credit card offers came in the mail. In case you are wondering what I did next, I’ll tell you. I OPENED MORE CREDIT CARDS. After alllll that time and stress and tears and fear and bad choices, I jumped right back in. I felt like I was doing something right – they wanted to give me more money! Yippee!! This time would be different though. I had a good job, I didn’t need much – I just wanted to raise my credit score. Also, my boyfriend (now my hunky hubby) was SO GOOD with money and had SUCH A HIGH credit score. Inside, I wanted to be responsible like him. I wanted to walk into a store and be approved on the spot – not have my decision mailed to me (which was usually a decline, lets be honest). These things were important to me. Remember, my mom instilled in me the importance of a good credit score!

In a matter of months, I had THREE credit cards. I was so proud everytime I was approved for a credit increase. I was finally making it!

In February 2014, my car was backed into in a parking lot (the same near-repo car!) and I had it – I NEEDED a new car. My boyfriend/hunky hubby wanted me to keep my car (“Why have a car payment?” blah blah blah) but eventually agreed to cosign. In March 2014, I walked in and leased a BRAND NEW CAR!

Guys. I. HAD. MADE IT. Right?! Right?? Right….?

Fast forward to January 2015. We were finally settled back in after being married and being away on our honeymoon, and finally realizing the amount of debt we were in. One month, I calculated our income, and realized that we had NOTHING to show for it. We made almost $10,000 that month. I knew we had to do something.

I started listening to the Dave Ramsey podcast, and was hooked. For once in my life, I started seeing truth – debt is not a tool. Debt is a money stealer. I have spent incredible amounts of money on late fees, interest, and more, all because I was trying to… what?? Impress people? Look like I had it all together? I failed at that big time. BIG TIME. And I paid for it. BIG TIME.

I convinced (using that word lightly – more like mentioned) Trent that we needed to start a budget. I created an EveryDollar account, and off we went.

Around June 2015, we sat down and calculated the entirety of our debt. We owed over $60,000!!!! We didn’t gain too much traction for the rest of the year; we were still learning, and slowly cutting back our lifestyle. Drummer Boy was also adding on more overtime at work. Things were looking good.

In January 2016, we went to file our taxes and were hit with a $5,000+ tax bill. Due April. Uh. wut.

Because we were following Dave Ramsey’s baby steps (more about those later) we already had $1,000 in savings. If, in a few months, we could save the extra $4,000, we knew we would be okay. And we did it.

April rolled around, and with it came our ginormous tax bill (well, it felt ginormous to us anyway!), plus a few other expenses.

Both mine and Drummer Boy’s car registrations were due, he was going out of town for a guy’s weekend, I had to pay to have my wedding ring fixed, we had to pay for school, and more. On top of all that, I we decided to start tithing again, which we hadn’t done for awhile. So ya, April was an expensive month.

While paying for all of that was challenging, it had one amazing side effect we weren’t expecting: we got hardcore about paying off our debt. So far, we have paid off the following debts:

2 iPhones
1 School Debt
2 Capital One credit cards
1 Banana Republic credit card
1 Discover credit card
1 Credit Union credit card
1 massive tax bill
1 Chase credit card (holy moly, we had so many credit cards)

In 2016 alone, we have paid off over $23,000!!! For the rest of the year, our goal is to pay $2,000/month towards debt. First will be Drummer Boy’s car, and then we are on to my car. Our goal is to be completely debt free by May 2017, but I think we’ll hit it sooner than we think.

Stay tuned for updates on our debt free journey! We will definitely be debt free by 30! (well, my 30th anyways.)