How I decreased my monthly expenses by $312/month

$40   -   Discontinued my gym membership after creating a workout I could do at home.
$60   -   Ride the bus to work 4 times per week.
$80   -   Have homemade meals with healthy inexpensive ingredients.  Only eat out with friends.
$40  -    Disconnect cable and switch to a less expensive Internet plan
$40  -    Better car insurance
$32  -    Less expensive cellphone plan
$20  -    Other misc savings

$312  -  Total monthly savings

The Extreme Decluttering Makeover is going well.  It's 9:39 p.m. Monday.  I've decided to declutter by category instead of by room, so there were no before & after photos today.  I can report that I took 10 boxes of stuff to Desert Industries (the local second-hand store) and 8 large garbage bags to the dumpster.  So far, I have decluttered my recipe books & recipe magazines, fridge, deep freezer, pantry, dining room, clothing (shoes, pants, shirts, socks, jewelery etc.)  I laughed when I noticed I still had jewelery from the 80's.  I hope some teenager planning a 80's party finds them.

Tomorrow the first items on my list are decluttering the upstairs and downstairs closets.

My upstairs hall closet BEFORE:  (I had two boxes off stuff that weren't even in the closet yet, shown in the foreground.)

AFTER:

What a load lifted.  It's so nice to know exactly where everything is!

Here's the AFTER shot of my downstairs closet. I took a lot of stuff to the local second-hand store (Deseret Industries).  I forgot to take a before shot - but it was even worse than the upstairs closet if you can imagine that!

  

This past week, I've been reading and studying a lot about why a healthy diet is so important.   Then I went to the local grocery store and walked up and down the aisles taking mental notes of all the foods that would be considered healthy.  I came away feeling very grateful for how blessed we are to have easy access to such a large variety of good foods that strengthen our bodies.  

I'm going to start collecting "favorite" healthy recipes that use these whole/unprocessed ingredients.  (I'll be a loyal customer of the farmer's market this summer.)  I want to fill my recipe book with yummy ideas, and my fridge, freezer and pantry with healthy ingredients.   I've set up pages to the right to organize the recipes I find.  Only those recipes that are worth making over and over again will be posted.

Let the culinary adventure begin!

Here is the EXERCISE ROUTINE I've created for myself:

Curves for Women:  Mondays, Wednesdays & Fridays

Brisk walk 45 minutes a day:    15 minutes during my morning, noon, and afternoon breaks Monday- Friday

Walk up Old Main Stairs:         Monday - Friday

Weekend Adventure:      When possible, I'm going to plan recreational adventures such as canoeing, hiking, biking, swimming etc.  There are so many places in Utah I've wanted to explore but have never taken the chance - now I'm going to. (I'll be inviting friends to join me ;-)