Novemberlutions, Week 4, Final Wrap-Up

Things I've learned:

1. It's easy to control my weight when I exercise 5x/week and slightly modify my eating habits. My final weight is 132.5- I lost six pounds in 30 days! Holla at your girl! I totally think I would have lost more weight (at least a pound or two), had it not been for Thanksgiving on Thursday, and the subsequent, delicious leftovers. Oh, and J and I had Carvel for dinner on Wednesday. :) I'm going to keep working out. I'd love to lose 3-4 more pounds and be at my happy, goal weight of 129. I think that'll be perfect a la Goldilocks, not too fat, not too thin, but just right.
2. My finances are my finances, and unless we start making more money, we cannot cut anything out of our budget that would make a significant difference. I've thought about cutting the cable and the phone (landline & internet) and maybe getting rid of one car, but that would create more problems than it would solve. If we're poor, how are we going to entertain ourselves? For relatively zero dollars? It's a riddle, my friends. So, I think what I've learned is that I need to accept my current financial situation, which is broke-ass, and plan for my future. It's difficult to save when we are always in the minus. But, I am thinking happy thoughts and praying for a brighter future.
3. I shop when I'm sad. It's then that I am unable to resist the siren song of the mall. But, I have noticed that it's easier to not shop when I don't set foot at the mall. Easy enough, right? Once I'm in the pit, I start thinking I want things I don't need, and I'm in DANGER, DANGER, DANGER. Week three was pretty disastrous. But I have realized that when I do shop, I'm trying to focus more on quality, not quantity. And, based on all the clothes I gave away while cleaning out my closet, if I don't love something, I'm not going to buy it. It's not a good deal if I don't ever wear it. Duh.
4. I did not write the chick lit novel of my dreams. I wrote 1001 words, got stuck, and gave up. I didn't do it this month, but I really think that I can do it. I'm not going to give up on this dream. I promise myself, and you, that one day, you'll log on and the post title will be, I DID IT!

I didn't do much of what I set out to do, but it was definitely a learning experience, and any learning experience is an opportunity for growth. And I've learned my friends. I've learned.