Amanda Takes Off...

Here's how I'm doing on my resolutions so far.

1) To walk/hike 1,000 miles.
I am behind where I need to be on this one due to a flare up of PF. However, while I'm only walking 8-10 miles a week, I'm getting in Callanetics or bowling on my non-walking days. So all is not lost.

2) To sew up more fabric than I buy.
In January I bought 22 5/8 yards of fabric. I sewed down zero yards. Long story short, I had a First World Problem made up of $200 in expiring Living Social deals. Moving on...

3) To menu plan every single week.
I am rocking this one. Before I made this resolution, Good Man and I were eating out too much, depending on too much on convenience foods, and spending too much money.

In January we both ate out twice at work (excluding the time Good Man was out of town—he gets reimbursed by work, so I don't count those times). Once, my meal from the freezer wasn't defrosted and I fell back on an Amy's frozen meal. One night, we ate out together after a very nice date night that started off with massages at our favorite place.

I calculated our average grocery and dining bills for the last three months of 2012. In January our grocery bill went up 14%. Our dining bill fell 71%. Yes, 71%. That's almost embarrassing to type. Our total food bill decreased by 25%.

During the last week, I actually didn't plan much, and we ate up most of the food I'd stockpiled in the freezer during the month. (For example, when I made shepherd's pie with my roasted chicken, I made a second pan and froze it.) That was a good way to make sure the freezer was turning over and to take a mini-break from planning.