Bye bye "budgets" and "diets"

Wait, aren't budgets and diets good things!? No, actually. I don't think they are. What do these two words imply? Well, they imply a sense of time. "I'll do this diet for four weeks and try it out" or "I need to budget really carefully to make it to the end of the month". Wouldn't it be nice not to have to worry about these things? It would, wouldn't it! Well, you can do that. It's called making lifestyle changes. "I'm going to start eating healthier and eating less meat so that I can feel good now and improve my future health" and "I'm going to live way below my means so that I can be financially free and enjoy doing more meaningful things with my time" are much better alternatives!

So, when you decide you want to hop on the healthy green fiscal machine bandwagon, don't view it as a new "budget" or a new "diet". These things we are talking about here need to be LIFESTYLE changes, and ones that don't go away! They will make you happy, but they can only do that if you are really committed. Who doesn't want to have a really nice retirement (maybe retire early?) and be healthy in their later years?! I don't know about you, but I don't want to be sitting in a nursing home playing cards or having to use a walker to get around if I can avoid it! I've always been a strong believer that the best things come to those who work the hardest for what they truly want. What I TRULY want is to feel financially secure, have a body that is healthy and functions better than just "well", and I want to enjoy spending time with my family doing meaningful things.

How do we make these lifestyle changes actually happen, though? It's hard, and we all have moments of weakness, but dang it we are adults! We've been taking command of utility bills, car payments, mortgages, school loans, diet, and big decisions for a while now, so it's time to take command of the most important aspects of our lives (health and financial freedom), pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, admit our mistakes, and hop on the bandwagon! Dallin and I have done some pulling up of the bootstraps in the past two years, and we are so glad that we have. This big goal of ours (still keeping it a surprise!) is REALLY starting to look like an actual reality, and I gleefully spin in circles with a big smile on my face when I think about it! We are achieving some major goals, changing our health, and saving way more cash than we thought we could. YOU can do it to. So, read through some of my old posts, find some inspiration, evaluate your own habits, and then make some small goals! Take meat and dairy out of one meal every day this week. Make a commitment not to make any Amazon purchases this week. Don't "treat yourself" by getting that new dress or shirt after you survive finals. Quit going to Starbucks and buy some coffee from the grocery store! Dallin and I started out VERY small in our lifestyle changes, and we have continued to add on small goals, one on top of the other, until we've reached the point we're at now, and we are STILL GOING. We have still had our missteps and made mistakes in the past 4 months, but not nearly as many as we would have had we not really committed to making some legitimate changes in our lives. It's an incredible feeling. Get going! Starting is the hardest part...but I believe in you. Let me know what your goals are!!! I'll help you by telling you mine and we can keep each other honest. :)

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