Small Habits

I have been bringing my lunch to work for years.  Each year as my pay increases, my frugal habits mostly stay the same.  These days I'm willing to spend a little more money on convenience items like bagged salad or boneless skinless chicken breasts.  Saving time is important and if spending a bit more to make my lunch adds to the grocery bill, I still feel I come out ahead.

Lately it has been almost impossible to blog.  Work is crazy and I'm in at around 7:30 - 7:45 most days and I work until around 6PM.  It is not uncommon for me to stay until 6:30.  Two nights a week, the company has dinner brought in for anyone who needs to stay.  Last week it was Dinosaur BBQ -- and if I hadn't promised to make TBG dinner, I'd have happily stayed! I left the office just as the food was being brought in.

We are given $7.50 per week for snacks/lunch.  There is a small vending area that has a good selections of both healthy and unhealthy food, two refrigerators with salads, sandwiches, ice cream and beverages.  I've been working in my position for two months and have bought a bag of Sun Chips.  If I need a pick-me-up, coffee is free and I have granola bars at my desk.

Having to work so many hours makes it tough to exercise.  I'm trying to get some elliptical time in two nights a week, then swim on Friday and Sunday.  Given this schedule, it is so tempting to blow off making dinner at home, but we still manage to make it.  Rotisserie chickens help a lot! The state of housekeeping is what suffers most.  The dog gets a little less exercise too.

I've recovered relatively well from my two orthopedic surgeries this year, but both procedures really take about a year to fully heal.  It has turned out that all my years of exercising, some time working construction, and lots of hard labor around the house are starting to exact payment from me.  I'm stuck in a knee brace, park in the handicap lot and have had to say goodbye to long walks with the dog.  Each night before bed, I spend about 30 - 60 minutes doing physical therapy.  It takes time, but it works.

The challenge of working 50+ hours per week plus my limited mobility means I really have less to blog about.  It's a lot of work just to do the minimal stuff that I used to do, so there isn't a lot of time left over to get creative with meals, decorating and the like.  It is a good thing that we've established good habits so at least we're doing reasonably well.  The worst I have to show for it all is a couple of extra pounds around the middle.  I'm hoping to reverse that when the new year comes around and work settles down.  Besides, it would be all that  much worse if we ate out and bought our lunches.

This one small habit of preparing our lunches and making our dinner every night really has a huge impact on our lives.  It's worth a little more time and effort in the long run.