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Plans for using my raise; small weight gain

October 17th, 2011 at 05:07 am

I saw my paycheck and confirmed that I got a 10% raise -- the lower end of what I asked for, but still a satisfying amount of money. Big Grin It seems to net me about $280 more per month (I don't have my exact normal paycheck numbers yet because my bus pass payments have been stopped for a few paychecks to fix my being too far ahead on them).

For now, the $280 can just be extra money, along with NT's raise. We can use it to fix up the house, or put toward debt, or whatever we need it for most. It's really going to help cover the shortfall when AS and NT (and who knows, possibly even me) take unpaid parental leave next year.

Then, looking ahead to post-birth, post-parental leave, back to full-time work for all of us and full-time daycare for two kids, I've projected my budget as best I can. NT's raise, and our daycare lady's cheap rates, meant that we could basically go back to our current budget ($10 short; not bad) even with full-time daycare. So $10 of my raise will cover the shortfall, leaving $270. If we set aside $90 per month for car-share service, that will leave $180. I figure I can put this monthly surplus toward our Roth IRAs.

Ideally, we'd put $600 more toward retirement each month. But, to get to 10% of gross income going to retirement, we only need $300 more per month. So this $180 will get us very close, only $120 short of 10% and $420 short of our ideal.

Yay! Now for some bad news; I gained one pound last week and half a pound this week. Since I round up my weight, that takes me to 144 lbs. Got to lose 5 lbs. to meet my 2011 goal. And I better not gain again, because I'm riding the line between "normal" and "overweight" in terms of BMI! So the theme of this week must be moderation, and hopefully some exercise after several weeks off.

2 Responses to “Plans for using my raise; small weight gain”

  1. skydivingchic Says:
    1318864401

    In case you are interested, I lost my excess weight (15 pounds of fat) with running. I used the couch to 5k program (google it) with a few minor modifications. It is designed for 3 days/wk, I did 5 days/wk. Also, I have a convienent route leaving from my house and going around a 1.5 mile circular street, and back to the house. It is about 3 miles all said and done. In the early portions of the program, you would probably only cover ~1,5 - 2 miles, but I would cover that entire route each day, even if I wasn't doing the run/walk intervals the whole way.

    The weight came of SLOW - only about 0.75 lb/wk, but it came off steadily and all of it was fat (as indicated by our bathroom scale/fat monitor). I had never been a runner and still don't know if I consider myself one even while I'm preparing for my first half marathon. But I keep doing it because the results are hard to argue with. Good luck in your continued weight loss journey!

  2. ceejay74 Says:
    1318868741

    What a coincidence! First time I heard of "couch to 5K" was yesterday, when I was talking with a friend about my weight loss efforts. I'll take it as a sign and definitely check it out. Smile Thanks!

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