Life is short make it count. #1

It's 2017, time for me to do the things I said I was going to do in 2014, 2015, and 2016, right?! ;-) Weekly updates are something that I used to do when I also had my personal blog (under whitneycarlson.com), which is now re-directed to this one. It was too overwhelming to keep up with both but over the last few years I've kind of missed the updates. They allowed me to share what we've been up to but also document it for us.

Lately, we've had numerous people tell us we should share more about our life (specifically minimalism, how we save money, etc.) and while I knew for years that we should, I just never did it. I've been a lot more open and sort of "behind the scenes" on Snapchat (hesheeatclean) and Instagram stories but I'm excited to put it all in one place on the blog every single week.

We actually do have a LOT to share and I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing this sooner. I just thought that it had to be perfect and that I needed to have it all separated into "real" posts like, how to save money when eating healthy, weekly food prep, etc. I'm taking my own advice though and just sharing our story without it being in "perfect" posts.

Each week I'm going to share our grocery shopping, food prep, workouts, minimalism journey, etc. This will also give me a place to dump all of the food pics that I take and never post anywhere else. ;-) This week you'll see our grocery shopping, food prep, and learn how I made over $415 selling things we no longer use!

I almost didn't even share this because I told myself I should really finish our trip recap from Jackson Hole and the last 3-4 hiking trips we've taken (yes, I'm that far behind haha) but I'm starting NOW. I'm not sure which day of the week I'll consistently share these on but my goal is to post them weekly.

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Now onto the good stuff...

We have A LOT going on right now. We are working hard to not only get our house ready to sell but not pack things we don't need or use anymore. For the last few months (and I could really even say years) I've been going through our house room by room and either selling or donating things we don't need. It's so freeing to do this and almost becomes an addiction. Our goal is to rent the smallest moving truck they have! I'm not sure where we are going yet, it just depends on how quickly our house sells. We have family we could shack up with temporarily but we will probably move into a small apartment instead and try to get a short term lease. Once we find land to buy we plan on building our own home. The house we currently have is around 2,400 sq ft and we are going to build one around 800 sq ft after we fight the local government and their minimum square footage requirement...

The first week of January was pretty crazy, I feel like we haven't been in a routine since early September when we went on our trip to Montana and Canada. This past week was no exception. Scott had three weeks off over the holidays and didn't go back until Tuesday (01/03). Personally, I've been so slammed with everything: the website and trying to get the house ready that this was actually one of the most inactive weeks I've had in a long time. It's a good thing that my new years resolutions involve working out less and eating more (no joke). I tend to over-exercise and not eat enough so I'm really going to focus on not doing that. I felt my energy starting to crash towards the end of last year because of these reasons plus just a lot going on with losing my aunt. Thankfully, I can already feel an energy difference just by cutting back on my workouts and eating the right amount.

We released our Winter Workout Challenge last week and Pam also came over so we could record a few new podcast episodes (listen to those here).

Over the weekend we were supposed to get 4-6" of snow and ended up with NOTHING. Many people were upset but I wasn't really expecting anything. The weather forecast in Georgia always changes and those few degrees really make a difference. It was (and is) still very cold but, never fear, we will be back up to 70 degrees by Friday.

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Grocery Shopping:

• Costco: $122 (view our Costco shopping list here)
  • Quinoa ($11.49)
  • Organic kale (2 bags - $4.49/bag)
  • Asparagus ($8.49)
  • Organic frozen blueberries ($11.89)
  • Lemons ($6.99)
  • Juice ($8.99)
  • Egg whites ($8.99)
  • Avocados ($6.49)
  • Ground bison ($19.99)
  • Beets ($7.99)
  • Whole wheat tortillas ($5.59)
  • 5 dozen cage-free eggs ($8.59)
  • Cottage cheese ($4.99)
• Publix: $10
  • Sweet potatoes
  • Cucumber
  • Organic lettuce

Dining Out:

• Diablos: $19
  • 2 burritos bowls with chicken, Scott's with extra meat
  • no drinks ;-)

Food Prep (I will also try to share our meals each week but I haven't had time to put them together for this update):

• Bison burgers (ingredients from Costco)
• Zesty grilled chicken (chicken from Publix, ACV from Costco)
• Juice (mine and Scott's - ingredients from Costco)
• Protein bars (mine and Scott's - ingredients from Publix)
• Ground turkey (just seasons with sea salt and pepper)
• Sweet-sweet potato cubes

Workouts:

Our workouts were kind of all over the place but I pulled workouts from the She Sweats 12-Week Transformation. I plan on starting the transformation completely this week or maybe the run builder. I haven't decided yet. ;-) Disclaimer: I normally never stay on a piece of cardio equipment for longer than 30 minutes MAX but for some reason had a lot of energy, was climbing a mountain, and was watching Netflix. The mile walks you see are me walking around my neighborhood just as a way to break up my day. Since I work at home, I try to get out and stretch my legs literally by walking and listening to podcasts. If you are interested in the same, you should do our 30-Day Walking Challenge!

• Monday: Boot camp class at the gym (first time taking this particular class)
• Tuesday: 1 mile walk around neighborhood + Leg day + 10 minutes on the stair climber
• Wednesday: 1 mile walk around neighborhood + Arm day + 20 minutes treadmill incline
• Thursday: OFF (2 mile walk around neighborhood)
• Friday: Cardio class at studio + Back day + 1 hour treadmill incline (while watching Lost)
• Saturday: 30 min full body workout + 45 minutes treadmill incline (while watching Lost)
• Sunday: OFF

What I Sold (Total: $415):

• Clothes (eBay): $90
• Clothes (Plato's Closet): $170
• Shoes (eBay): $57
• Board Games (Facebook Yard Sale Group): $30
• Christmas Ornament (eBay): $68 - This was an expensive crystal ornament given to us as a wedding gift from one of Scott's co-workers at the time. We had no attachment to it.

What I Donated:

• Christmas storage items (boxes, wreath holders, tree bags, etc.)
• Laundry baskets
• Glassware
• Clothes
• Shoes

What We Watched:

• Keanu
• Everest

Related: How we ditched cable TV but still watch our favorite shows and sports!

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P.S. It took me wayyyyyy to long to come up with a name for these weekly updates. Naming it "weekly updates" was just not good enough. I'm not 100% excited about the name but I think it makes sense and it's what I'm going with for now. :-)

How We Ditched Cable TV

Cable sucks…seriously!  Or should I say “cable companies suck!”  Cable providers force you to pay for more content than you will ever watch, so why are you still paying nearly $1,500 annually when you could be spending less than 20% of that?  Recent research shows that cable subscribers are paying an average of just under $105 per month and this doesn’t include real and faux taxes, cable box fees and other additional costs (source).  

We cut the cord a few years ago and we’re glad we did.  I guess I should point out that we don’t watch much TV, so it’s probably easier for us than most people to give up the channels that air the programs that you’ve become die-hard fans of over the years but it can be done!

There are several different options on the market nowadays and this article does a great job explaining many of the alternatives, but I’m going to focus on the few measures we’ve taken to cut the cord.

>>>>> The Ultimate List of Ways to Save: 18 Ways to Save $15,000 in 2018!

>>>> Ever feel like you need to detox your money?

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Check our disclosure policy for more details.

How we ditched cable TV but still watch our favorite shows AND sports!

• Mohu Leaf
  
  The cheapest and easiest way to tap into primetime content is to use an antenna to pick up the digital signal of your local networks such as ABC, Fox, NBC, and CBS.  The only catch is that you have to live close to (or in) a major metro area in order to pick up a station’s signal, but the good news is that you can find out your signal strength based on your address by using this link.  
  • You can find the Mohu Leaf on Amazon for $30 or $70 (just depending on the range that you need).  This is a great option if you just want to watch the local news, prime-time television, and/or programs that air on the major networks.  After all, it pays for itself after just one month.  

Annual savings = $1,370

• Netflix
  
  The advantages and interest in Netflix are well-documented nowadays…unlimited subscriptions are $7.99 for the digital (unless you want to run the service on more than one screen at a time) and some of the Netflix original series are great (like Stranger Things, Narcos, and Longmire).
  • You need to have a Smart TV or some other extension like a Roku, XBOX, PlayStation 4, or Apple TV in order to run Netflix, but most people already have access to at least one of these devices.  We use the Roku stick which is very convenient and can be found on Amazon for $50.

Annual savings = $1,350

Amazon Instant Video

Amazon Prime

The Amazon Prime service is $99 annually (or $49 for students and teachers), but comes with more than just streaming video services.  They also offer a 30-Day Free Trial (see link below). Amazon Prime includes so many benefits, so the cost of instant video is actually nominal when you take those benefits into account.  You can find many of the same TV programs and movies that Netflix offers (minus the Netflix Originals), so this may be a good option if you just want to watch TV occasionally and don’t care to get deep into a certain series.  

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

Annual savings = $1,440 (because we’d spend the $99 on Prime anyway)

• SlingTV
  
  Sling is a great replacement to cable if you want to do some surfing and have access to a large variety of content and watch your favorite shows live.  There are three different packages from Sling – Orange, Blue or Orange and Blue combined.  You can see which channels are included in each package by visiting Sling’s website.  
  • We subscribe to the Orange package because I mostly watch ESPN, but it includes access to other great channels like AMC, Comedy Central, HGTV and the History channel. Sling is ideal for those that spend about 5-10 hours a week watching TV.  

Annual savings = $1,200

With our setup – the Roku Stick, Sling TV and Netflix – we saved about $1,000 per year by cutting the cord (enough to pay for most of our annual ski trip to Jackson Hole!).  So, what are you waiting for?  Free yourself of the cords and start saving some big money!