Oprah had an interesting show on today that caught my attention. She had various women in their 30s talking about their life experiences.

That of course got me thinking about my own experiences and how I approach my life now. I think the first thing I notice is that I’m more laid back. I think back to my 20s and can’t even believe how I acted. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming that I’m never impatient, but it’s definitely better.

I love being a mom. Having two boys is even better than I could’ve imagined. It’s hard work, but it’s worth every minute of it. They keep me on my toes and keep me honest. I really feel like I now get that family is first and everything else is second. If staying late at work is going to affect my boys, I’m more able to let it go for the next day.

Being married in my 30s is fabulous. It’s probably got more to do with the fact that I’ve been married for 10 years, instead of my age. Not letting little things get to me and knowing that we’re here to support each other is great. I like the feeling that I want to talk to my husband about everything and we don’t keep secrets from each other.

Finally, I am excited that I’m thinking about the bigger picture. I’m conscious of the decisions I make and how they impact others. My new thing is thinking about how our family can help the environment. We’ve started with little things, but I’m glad we’re doing something.

All in all, I feel more grounded and reflective in my 30s.

My husband has always been averse to dining out on the simple fact that it costs money. Growing up, I went out to eat quite a bit, so it didn’t seem like a big deal to me. However, when I started looking at it in Quicken, I was amazed at how much we were spending. One month I recall our amount to be close to $400.

So about 4 months ago, we decided to give ourself a budget of $50 a week on dining out expenses. We used cash at the time and when we were out money, we were done for the week. This gave us the flexibility to spend on one good meal or fast food on the days we didn’t want to cook. When the week ended, we started back at $50 and did not roll over any money that was not previously spent.

We’ve continued to stick to the plan (vacations excluded though) with only a few changes. We felt like we were comfortable in using our banking card again, so we could verify and track the expenses. Before, we would just spend and spend and not really keep track of it.

We’ve also just started putting any money left over for the week into our savings. It seemed silly at first to transfer $12 bucks out of one account to another, but it’s free, so there’s really no reason we shouldn’t. By doing this, I’ve found myself saying, “If we don’t use all the money for the week it can go into savings,” a comment I wouldn’t really be known for before starting this.

So we’re still spending $200 a month. That looks like a lot, but it’s a reasonable and manageable way for us to start curbing our eating out expenses.

Our house has been trying to implement some simple, yet effective ways to help the environment. Here are 10 that we are currently trying in our house.

1. Using the grocery bags for trash bags. We began putting these in our smaller trash cans around the house, rather than purchasing additional bags for this purpose. We take the extra ones we have to our kids’ daycare or recycle them at the store on our next visit.
2. Filling our recycle bin full every week. Our recycling service is included in our weekly pickup at no extra cost. Often times, we could go 2-3 weeks before filling it up and putting it at the curb. Now, I make a concerted effort to recycle anything that has a symbol on it.
3. Sign up for paperless bills. Some companies are really great about this, but others do not offer this as a service. Others, like T-Mobile, don’t make it that easy to sign up for it. I’ve been in the process of getting that bill set up for months. I think at this point, rather than trying to take care of it online, I’ll have to contact customer service. I estimate at this point we have 10 bills with this setup.
4. Switch out regular light bulbs for more energy efficient bulbs. According to the package, it looks like I’m going to save money too, so that’s always a bonus.
5. Use the schedule feature on the A/C. We keep the house at 78° F during the day and turn it down to 76° F at night.
6. Wash full loads of laundry. This one is not hard in our family, since there are four people in the house. I can usually get all of the stuff done in 4 full loads for a week. Along those same lines, we only run the dishwasher when it’s full.
7. Shower during commercials. I’m the only one in the house trying this one out right now. I like to have the TV on when I’m getting ready and such. It’s very easy to get in the shower and use too much water, so I limit my shower to the commercial time. I don’t miss any of my show and I’m keeping myself to a specific time of water use.
8. No bottled water. I’ve never been one to drink bottled water because it’s supposedly better than tap. It was more for convenience. Anyway, in my effort to reduce our contributions to landfills, we’ve started using reusable plastic bottles. The kids got to pick out one they liked and all that goes in them is water. (This helps with the stickiness factor if I let them put juice in them.)
9. Purchase products with less packaging. I recently began purchasing a new organic cereal that advertises using 10% less packaging. It may not be much, but I like that they’re making the effort.
10. Wood blinds throughout the house. This one goes along with using as little A/C as possible for us. We’ve got the room darkening shades and it makes a huge difference. Our front room gets afternoon sun and it used to get so hot in there. The shades are a tremendous help.

It’s a start for a family not used to thinking about these things. Mainly, they’re easy things that just required a change of mindset. It’s really not a lot of extra work. Things that are easy to change, seem to stick better in our house.

In my Day 25 post, I mentioned some of the food changes we’ve made in our house.

Here are just a few others that I’d like to share:

• Mootopia Skim Milk: This is HEB’s brand, but I’m sure there are others out there too. I like this because it’s only got 4g of sugar per serving. I was buying skim milk for the family and didn’t really think about looking at the label. When I looked at the sugar content, I was so surprised how much sugar was in it. This was a very easy way to reduce our sugar intake in something we drink on a regular basis.
• Nature’s Path Organic Corn Flakes: I’m a cereal eater and did not want to give that up, so I started looking for better alternatives. Then I remembered that one of the coaches when I was training for a triathlon suggested these. They do not have enriched bleach flour, in fact they only have 3 ingredients. Dr. Oz mentioned on Oprah the less ingredients listed, the better, that way they don’t “hide” ingredients. Anyway, they’re good, but an added bonus is the packaging. They’ve reduced their package size by 10% helping to save water, energy and paperboard.
• Smucker’s Low Sugar Jelly: In addition to my diet, I’m trying to slowly change products that the boys in my house eat too. This jelly has 5g of sugar per serving, a reasonable decrease and one they’ve yet to notice. It’s got 25 calories per serving and no sodium. I checked the label on the regular jelly and was shocked to see that the same serving size had 13g of sugar and double the calories.

As I continue to change more foods, I’ll make sure to post them.

Total loss so far, 5 1/2 pounds. Now I realize that it’s not really that much for 25 days, but there are so many things I am doing better this time, I know I will stick with it.

First off, no gains in twenty-five days. I believe that’s a great step, because I’m not depriving myself of food, I’m just making better choices. For example, no more Blue Bell. Instead, we’ve stocked the freezer with Weight Watcher treats and Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches. Check out my other entry for more food recommendations.

I’m keeping up with my daily exercise. Having the elliptical in my room has been a great motivator. Yes, it’s ugly, but I think the out of sight out of mind does a disservice to an exercise program. I really can’t lay in bed watching TV if I know I’ve haven’t been on the elliptical for the day.

I’m sure it’s no surprise, but it’s really easy to give up sodas if you don’t keep them in your house. We’re not ones to stop at the convenience store to pick up a soda, so thats good. We’ve also not been getting sodas when dining out, mostly to save on the money we budget for dining out each week, but it helps too.

At this point, slow and steady is working for me. I’m trying very hard to not be discouraged with the slow pace of my weight loss. One thing that’s got me excited is that if I keep up with this pace, I could have 60 lbs. off in about 10 months. When I look at it that way, I can see the goal. Not to mention my loss per month could be more. I could be to my goal by my next birthday. That would totally rock.

As previously mentioned in 5 Ingredients to Avoid, one of the no-nos in your diet is enriched flour. This weekend I purchased Bob’s Red Mill Buttermilk Waffle & Pancake mix to give it a try.

One thing I noticed is that its first ingredient was whole wheat flour, a good thing for sure. When I began to compare it to the mix we typically get, it really didn’t look all that much better. However, I forgot to check the serving size. Once adjusted to look at the same serving sizes, that really made a big difference. The total fat was considerably lower, carbs were 13g less and protein was higher.

That being said, it seems the sodium content is somewhat high at 620mg per serving (1/2 cup). Overall though, I believe this is a better choice than what we were normally purchasing. I was sure that the family would notice the difference, but everyone cleaned their plate as normal. I’m starting to realize that you have to look at labels carefully and if there’s a healthier substitution, I’m just going to get it and not tell the family.

I’m excited that so many people are giving positive feedback and support concerning my diet. A great friend of mine told me about CalorieKing.

On this site, you can look up foods in their databases and if you want to pay for more service that’s an option too. They’ve also got articles similar to the ones I’ve been reading on RealAge. I guess it should come to no surprise that I would find similar suggestions from many different places.

One suggestion that I’m going to work on is adding more fruit and vegetables to my diet. Way back when I did Weight Watchers, it was suggested that you eat 5 a day, so I’m going to start with that. I’m not so keen on the vegetable part, so I’ve begun taking a multivitamin. I’m also putting flaxseed in my smoothies, since I miss Omega-3 because I don’t eat fish.

Now that I’m going back to work, it will be very important for me to pack these snacks with me. As I’m sure others can attest to, the biggest challenge is not having these types of food available. It will take an extra effort on my part, but also has budget benefits as well since I won’t be tempted to purchase something frivolously.

Well it’s not much, but I do believe it means I’m staying on track. I’d also like to think that some of the fat may be starting to change to muscle. It’s hard to see the scale not move because of that, but I am going to stick with it.

I’m keeping up with no sodas and the exercise. I’m excited that in just this short time, I’ve already felt my stamina getting better. The first week for sure, I struggled through 20 minutes on the elliptical. Now though, I am able to get through the minimum of 30 minutes that the RealAge site suggested for me 5 days a week.

My goal for the upcoming week will be to put the strength and flexibility work into my exercise time. We’ll see how that goes.

One of the suggestions from RealAge is to try to get in the habit of eating a similar breakfast and lunch each day. Of course, I eat breakfast each day for the simple fact that research says thinner people eat breakfast.

Currently, I am eating a strawberry banana smoothie. Here’s the recipe if you’re interested in trying it:

• 1 banana (90 calories)
• 4 strawberries (50 calories)
• 1 cup of skim milk (90 calories)
• 1 cup Danon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt (80 calories)
• 2 Tbsp of ground flaxseed (80 calories)
• 3 ice cubes

Put all that in a blender and mix until smooth. I like mine really cold, so I normally go with a couple of extra ice cubes. The strawberries I use are frozen too and that helps as well.

Now, the total calories for this is 390. At first, that really sounded like too much to me. Then I compared it to a meal you could pick up at McDonald’s on the way to work. (I’ve been notorious for this.) The one I looked up was 735 calories with 44 grams of fat and 75 grams of carbs. Of course that had no fruit nor flaxseed, basically useless food.

The smoothie is a really filling and at the start of the day, I get two of my five servings of fruit or vegetables out of the way. A hidden benefit is the flaxseed. It does not impact the taste at all and provides me with Omega-3. I seriously lacked that before since I don’t eat fish, and I am happy to put it in my diet this way.

Let me know if you try it!

Who knew that the dog would be the one who couldn’t hold his bladder on our trip yesterday? Anyway, I own a Kirby and it really a great job with cleanup, but it is sometimes really cumbersome. While at Home Depot for our weekly visit (only kidding), I went to look at spot cleaners. They had the Bissell Spot Bot, which looked very cool, but it was listed at $70. No way could I come home with a purchase like that. Apparently though it was my day to find a bargain. I picked up a Dirt Devil Spot Scrubber SE2800 on sale for $20 (regularly $30 and at some places online up to $35).

I’ve read other reviews that didn’t have a lot of good stuff to say, but my experience was great. Cleaning it afterward was not bad at all. The clean water and dirty water stay separate. That’s nice, especially since the water coming out was a nasty shady of yuck. I used it in my car and then tried a spot in my room that’s been there for a while and it worked. I’m sure there are better products out there (that Spot Bot looked sooooo cool), but for the price, I’ll take it.