Hi there, Mrs. 1500 today, on this next-to-last day of the year. Many people are getting ready for their New Year’s Resolutions, which are almost always unsuccessful. We have a slightly different twist this year, and hope you will play along. But first, let’s recap the responses from our last question, Are you a do-it-yourselfer?
I heard from a lot of you on this one. Savvy Financial Latina and her husband just bought a fixer-upper, so they are going to become do-it-yourselfers. Good luck, feel free to ask any questions because Mr. 1500 has most likely done it and can give some advice, and remember, YouTube is a great resource!
FI Pilgrim has done almost everything at least once, and learned from his dad, who was also a DIY-er. His latest project is to repaint his kitchen cabinets. I hope he writes a post on this so I can learn. I have some pretty ugly kitchen cabinets…
Steven over at Finance and Fitness Dreams knows his limitations, which can be solid financial advice right there. Better to pay someone a fairly nominal fee right off the bat, than to ruin it yourself and then pay someone to do it. Although most things can be tried inexpensively. Like painting. Painting is very easy to do, and if you are careful, looks just like it would if you paid someone to do it. Mr. 1500 has no qualms about doing electricity and plumbing, but if I wasn’t married to him, I would be paying a professional to do those repairs to my house every single time.
Kali from Common Sense Millennial says that she is a DIY-er, but hates doing it and wants to like it. Keep repeating how much money you are saving by doing it yourself, and you will start to like it more and more.
And now on to this week’s question, Are you ready for a challenge?
We used to belong to a gym that tried to inspire their members by issuing challenges. If you completed the challenge, you got a t-shirt. In February, they challenged you to work out 24 hours in 28 days. In September, they challenged you to a triathlon, which coincided with the Madison running of the Iron Man competition. (Proud side note, I completed the September 2009 triathlon challenge even though I was enormously pregnant with baby #2, who was born the beginning of November that year. She weighed in at 9 pounds, so you can imagine how big my stomach was, doing my swimming, biking and running with a giant baby belly sticking out in front…)
So Mr. 1500 and I were kicking around monthly challenge ideas, and came up with these so far:
January – No alcohol. That’s right, give up alcohol for an entire month. Save money, lose weight, feel better.
February – Work out for 24 hours in 28 days. This is an excellent challenge, because if you work out for an hour at a time, you can only take 4 days off the entire month. Yikes!
March – Eat vegetarian for a month. This one we are telling you about now, so you can start finding vegetarian meals you like. Beans and rice is a great one, check out Rick Bayless’ black bean recipe and just use a rice you like. Honestly, I make instant rice right now, because I know the kids will eat it. I will try to find some really tasty vegetarian recipes, and many Indian and Mexican recipes are either vegetarian or easily vegetarian. Check out your local library for vegetarian cookbooks. Start now, some of those recipes sound good but turn out to be really horrible. (I once made a pumpkin risotto for a teacher’s lunch that was so awful I ended up tossing out the entire batch.) Do you already have a great vegetarian recipe? Please share with the class!
April – Make a budget. This is also a plan-ahead challenge. Start now by keeping track of all your spending for the first three months of the year. When we did it, we kept track of dollar amount, general category, date, and a brief description of what we purchased. By April, you should have a food feel for how much you are spending in which categories. Now the challenge is to stay within the budget for each category. Once you stay within budget, try to cut here and there. Don’t forget to leave a little wiggle room. As soon as you plan for X amount of spending, BLAM, you blow a tire!
May – Plan your menus for an entire month. Leave no meal unplanned. This reduces the amount of last-minute whatever meals. Saves you money, and way less stress.
June – Spend no money this month. Of course, you can make exceptions for things like milk, but try to keep the exceptions down to almost nothing. Make meals out of your pantry – chances are good that you have more than you need sitting in there anyway. Find ways to entertain yourself that are free. Borrow movies from the library, go for a walk or bike ride, play board games. Don’t buy clothes this month. You don’t really need those new shoes, do you?
This requires a bit of planning. If you use more than one tank of gas in a month, that falls into your exceptions category. But try to consolidate trips or take your bike instead of the car.
There are the challenges for the first 6 months of 2014. We will give you the other 6 challenges well in advance so you can plan for them as well.
So, are you ready for a challenge? No-alcohol-January begins January 1…
Join the 10s who have signed up already!
Subscribing will improve your life in incredible ways*.
*Only if your life is pretty bad to begin with.
January would actually be pretty tough for me! I love these goals though and I love how aggressive they are!
Dave @ The New York Budget recently posted…Making Any Amount of Charitable Giving Go Further
All the more reason to try to give it up. It isn’t good for the pocket book or the waist line… Plus, it is only for one month.
Thanks for the advice on learning to love DIY.. that is probably the only thing that will keep me motivated for those projects! 🙂 And I LOVE your healthy challenges for 2014. These are really great and they are all completely doable – I think I’d have to change up March a bit though, as I’m already vegetarian! For me, I’d make it a “go vegan” month, seeing as I love me some eggs and cheese. It’d certainly be a challenge to give those things up for a month! (But probably well worth the health benefits.)
Happy New Year to the whole 1500 Family!
Kali @ CommonSenseMillennial recently posted…My Goals for 2014: Big Plans for a Big Year!
Good point. If you are already vegetarian, try to go vegan for the month. If you are already vegan, try to make a different change that will affect both your waist line and pocket book.
I like this challenge idea! Looking forward especially to the Feb. one, which will be really hard because I hardly ever exercise right now…
Also, I am a pescetarian (veg + seafood), and I’d be happy to share some good recipes!
Balsalmic Veggies and Quinoa is one of my favorites. Spinach Lasagna Rolls are good too. And this veggie “meatball” recipe is super yummy (but look in the comments to reduce the amount of breadcrumbs).
Allie recently posted…Owning My Own Business, Year 2
Well January will be really easy for me – I don’t really drink 🙂 I have a few vegetarian meals that don’t really seem that veggie (sweet potatoes for heartier substance, etc) – I will email them when I find them all.
Good Luck 1500’s!
Hmmm, if you want to play along, you can choose to give up something else. Alcohol is fairly easy to give up for me, but I do like a drink. How are you about sugar? Also something you do not need to live, and isn’t all that good for you… Would love to see those veggie recipes.
How about giving up caffeine Alicia if you wanted to join in?
I’m joining you on the no alcohol challenge but also throwing in no caffeine and roughly 30 minutes of excercise per day on top. Yikes!
Loving the June challenge, I might well join in on that one as well.
theFIREstarter recently posted…Mega-Detox Challenge
Freaky: I was planning on a no spending month…in June! I think this could be a huge thing among PF bloggers (and maybe everyone, if it catches on via twitter/facebook). No Spending Month could catch on, I think. I’m imagining huge drops in consumer spending, maybe some organized boycotts of particular companies, advocating for changes in business practices by threats of future organized boycotts, and a general rethinking of consumer culture.
Okay, maybe thinking too big here…
Done by Forty recently posted…Just Five Goals
Ooo Ooo Ooo! I have a large company in mind to boycott… Think largest retailer in the world… I admit, I didn’t come up with this one, I read about it somewhere. It takes some planning, which is why it isn’t the first or second challenge…
Great challenges! I especially like the January challenge, since it’s right after the holidays when most of us have enjoyed a few drinks (or more?). It’s easy to overlook how many calories we consume from alcohol. February’s work out challenge is very timely since we tend to pack on a few pounds during the middle of winter. Happy New Year 1500’s!
Richie @ Practical Cents recently posted…Lessons Learned in 2013
Hey Richie. You read my mind. Were you a fly on our wall? No alcohol should be fairly easy, and watch that scale drop a few pounds! The workout challenge in February is much more difficult, because it is so easy to skip a workout (or three) and find yourself trying to catch up all month long. Our first year was a leap year, so we had one extra day… Still not easy. Good luck!
There’s a radio DJ in Houston named Rod Ryan who always issues a challenge for September 🙂
I also don’t drink alcohol, so your Jan Challenge should be a breeze for me. Go ahead and send me my t-shirt 🙂
Elory recently posted…My Definition of Retirement
The t-shirt is in the mail…
This is my wife’s vegetarian chili recipe. While I am not a vegetarian, I must say this is way better that chili with meat!
1-14 oz can of diced tomatoes (unsalted)
1 can black beans
1 can kernel corn (not creamed)
1 package Mexican ground round (Yves Brand) (looks like ground beef but isn’t)
Diced red, green and yellow peppers
Jalapenos and black olives (optional if you don’t care for them)
Chili powder to taste
Simmer on stove or in slow cooker
Simple & tasty
Enjoy!
Have to post my TVP chili recipe (I’m making it tomorrow, actually…)
http://www.plantingourpennies.com/tvp-chili-a-recipe-for-your-health-and-wealth/
I actually have a ton of vegetarian recipes, so don’t hesitate to give me a shout if you need ideas when the time comes.
January – easy for me… not sure Mr PoP would be willing to participate as he enjoys his fancy beers
February – totally doable. Between biking to work and a marathon mid-month I’ve got that covered!
March – This is my every month! At least since I was 16 years old
April – Doable. We usually have a rough budget but don’t stress if we mess it a bit. It could stand to be revisited.
May – This is going to be so difficult for me! Seriously! But I can try…
June – This will take some serious negotiations with the Mr to even try… =)
So it looks like some will be a breeze, but others brutal! A fair mix, I think!
Mrs. Pop @ Planting Our Pennies recently posted…He Said She Said – 2014 Goals
I will be trying this out. And Mrs. PoP, I just bought some TVP. Looking forward to tasting it!
Sounds like an awesome challenge, but June would probably kill me. (I may be a little dramatic.) But my birthday month and the first month of summer? Spending is a must.
I’m planning on cutting back alcohol in the new year. The recommended moderate amount for women is one drink per day (men get two, because life isn’t fair), so I’m going to try to adhere to that most days 🙂 I just realized that makes me sound like a lush — I usually split a six pack or bottle of wine with Steve, so 3 drinks is my norm. That’s not bad, right?
Erin @ Red Debted Stepchild recently posted…2014 Goals
Hubby and I share a bottle of wine almost every night – that’s 2.5 drinks for me, and 2.5 drinks for him. I just make sure I’ve accounted for the calories and count it good 🙂
Mom @ Three is Plenty recently posted…Debt Paydown Milestone – No More Credit Card Debt!
I could easily drink 2 rather large margaritas every night. I think we are all fine!
Thanks for the shoutout! Doing it yourself, trying to find deals on Craiglist, is an entire job onto itself. My dad came and did the electrical work. And we did have to hire a garage door man to realign our garage door because we had no idea how to do it. The rest we will be doing it ourselves though with some help from parentals here and there. So, my blog has not been getting as much attention as it usually does because I have been too busy with house and work and life.
Savvy Financial Latina recently posted…Leaning In At the Start of Your Career
Yes, those garage doors are not easy. Plus they weigh about 1,000 pounds! Mr. 1500 is far more adventurous that I am. I commend you for trying all that you do!
I gave up alcohol for a few months once and realized how dull my friends were. Too lazy to make new friends so I started drinking again.
charles@gettingarichlife recently posted…2013 Net Worth Review-A Look At My Investments
HA! That is a good one!
Does drinking champagne after the ball drops at midnight count as “January”? 🙂 We just bought almost 2 cases of wine for the next few months, so I’m definitely not participating in January’s, or March’s (my idea of vegetarian = pasta, so I’d just gain weight all month). But we’re up for the other months!
Mom @ Three is Plenty recently posted…Debt Paydown Milestone – No More Credit Card Debt!
Take the challenges month by month, or tackle them all at once. And no, January doesn’t start until you go to sleep and wake up again. If you are already awake at midnight, it is just part of that night…
The monthly challenges look good. The February challenge looks pretty difficult but it’s a good challenge to keep you on track. That’s only one off day a week.
JC @ Passive-Income-Pursuit recently posted…Weekly Roundup – December 28, 2013
The February challenge is one of the hardest of the year. It is difficult to make yourself go to the gym on any given day, but when you have just been there yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that… You feel really good at the end of it, though. I always took off March 1…
Always great to have a game plan for the new year. Switch it up make it different. I am starting 2014 with the Paleo Challenge(much better than a diet right). While I do have a general projection or plan looking ahead, I am a sprint and relax type of person, so if I start thinking about my February plan in the end of January, I’ll be eating cookies and cake trying to figure out why I gained a couple lbs.
Thanks for the mention, always cool to see your name or blog mentioned. Have a great new years!
Steven recently posted…Why this is a Retire Extremely Early and Paleo Lifestyle Blog
A great add-on to the Paleo January is the 24-hours in 28 days February. Skip those cookies!
WOW, you did a tri whilst pregnant?! Much props to you, Mrs. 1500!! I’m up for the January Challenge (and most likely February). What a cool idea!! Happy New Year to the 1500 Family!! 🙂
anna recently posted…Being Kinder Than Necessary (and Happy New Year!)
These are great challenges. I love the idea of eating vegetarian for a month. I could do it, but my husband would definitely boycott – maybe I can work on him. As for the January challenge, I already blew that tonight with my glass of red. 🙂
Kay @ Green Money Stream recently posted…2014 Financial Goals
Ha, I’ll give you a pass on that glass of wine!
I’ve been a meat eater my whole life, but I’ve been lucky enough to be exposed to some vegetarian dishes that blow away most of the animal stuff I eat. I never thought I’d say it, but it’s true.
I love a good challenge. But no money for a month? I don’t even know if that’s possible. I’ve done a week, but then I need food or my rent check is due or I have to go to the doctor… Definitely support the veggie challenge, I’ve been at it for 2 years, not hard at all!
Stefanie @ The Broke and Beautiful Life recently posted…Out Of My Rut
I admit that this will be really, really hard. Zero is impossible. We’ll have to allot some for stuff like milk and vegetables.