Search Results for “budget” – Page 3

5 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Gardening Budget

When you’re following a frugal lifestyle, it’s highly likely that you put together a budget that covers most of the things that you need for your household. As part of that, or as its own separate budget, you may also cover off gardening.

When you love to be out in your garden, it’s important to you that it can look its best at all times. For that to happen, you often have to spend. But gardening on a budget is much easier than you think.

You don’t have to allocate tons of funds to your upkeep or the pieces that you bring into the garden. Instead, you can look to maximize the budget you do have so that you can get the most out of it. Let’s take a look at five ways that you can do exactly that.

1. Find The Best Retailers

As you start to shop for bits and pieces that you want to bring into your garden or the items you need to be able to do your gardening, it’s important that you shop around. It may be convenient to head to the nursery down the street or shop at a major retailer, but you may be spending more this way.

Instead, you’re able to shop around and do your research on the best retailers that sell whatever it is you need, from soil to garden shears, you will be able to make sure that your budget stretches further.

2. Wait For The Sales

At the same time, you should also bide your time when it comes to making bigger purchases. When you want to invest in new pieces of garden furniture or outside living equipment like a grill, you know that you’ll be spending quite a bit in one go. But you can still make the most of your budget here by buying at the right time.

Throughout the year, companies will have sales on their stock. By waiting to buy your new pieces in the sale, you could save up to 50 or 75 percent.

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3. Buy In Bulk

Buying a new plant here and there could be one way to blow your budget. Sometimes, you think it’s best to spend in small doses so that you’re not really making much of a dent in your budget. However, this could mean that you’re not actually maximizing your budget at all.

Take a look at plant companies that give you a discount when you buy a set amount. Then, you’ll be getting everything you need and getting it at a better price, just for buying in bulk.

4. Hire Experts

If you love to spend time out in your garden, but you aren’t having much luck with certain areas, like topiary shaping or lawn care, then bringing in a company to help will be a smart move. Experts that offer comprehensive lawn care or skilled landscapers that can maintain your topiary for you are always worth the investment.

They will get it right and you know that you’re not causing yourself more work or money by doing it wrong.

5. Reuse What You Can

Finally, you’re going to want to make sure that you cut back on the areas of your gardening budget that you can cover off yourself, to make more available for the bigger purchases we’ve talked over. By making your own compost or planting seeds that you already have, you’ll be making sure you get the most out of your gardening budget.

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Easy Ways To Complete Your Bucket List On A Budget

Creating a bucket list is easy, but affording it? Not so much! Your bucket list is usually a list of places you want to visit or things that you want to achieve before you, well, kick the bucket.

Bucket lists aren’t something that should be concerned about your financial situation, especially when not every bucket list item is a grand plan to travel the world. You don’t have to be wealthy to be able to pull off the things that you want to do before you die.

A bucket list is all about adventures and possibilities and is a dream list rather than something you should absolutely do while you’re still kicking. You can create a bucket list on a budget, and we’ve put together some of the best budget ideas out there. We’ve thrown in a couple, though, that do have that little extra expense; life is for a living, after all.

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Learn To Play Music

For most people, the mastery of a musical instrument is a high achievement and one to be very smug about. Whether your favorite instrument is a piano, violin or even a guitar, the chance to learn how to play an instrument doesn’t have to be kept to childhood.

At any age, you can buy an instrument and get learning how to play. Shop in the thrift stores for a preloved guitar or hit Craigslist or even eBay. Then check out some free music lessons online, or simply use videos on YouTube to follow along and learn to play yourself.

Visit Somewhere You’ve Always Wanted To Go

Travelling doesn’t have to be expensive, but there are two ways that you could go about this one. You could choose to take an indulgent weekend in wine country with a loved one, spending time in the tasting room and getting to know new flavors. If your budget deems that to be too expensive, you could use websites like this one to couch surf your way around the world.

This website connects travelers to people in the community that are willing to host visitors from different countries. The adventures that you have with your friends or family or partner are out there for you, you just have to be a little creative with how you travel and give up a few small comforts.

Master Chess

It doesn’t cost much at all for this one, but it’s a goal in life for many to master the game of chess. The skill that chess takes is often mistaken for a little bit of geekiness, but chess is a game of kings! Get someone to learn with you – this is one of those bucket list items that takes two to complete.

The one thing that you should understand is that learning how to play chess strategically is a huge achievement. This is because you’ve learned something starts to finish and have added new skills of thinking and reasoning to your belt!

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Complete Your Book Bucket List

A library is a place to be on a bucket list containing titles of books that you’ve been longing to read. These can range from original Shakespeare plays to the works of chick-lit wonders like these. Your book list is going to transport your mind to a whole other world; more than one if you like!

Heading to the library can mean that this particular bucket list item is totally free for you. Reading a few of the classics can change your thinking and expand your mind. Plus, what is more, relaxing than sinking into a comfy chair with a great book?

Go Get Educated

Did you know that college isn’t just for high school grads? If you put off going to college as a teenager, there is nothing to stop you from going now. There are tons of free college courses that you can start online.

You may not get that coveted diploma, but you will be full of brand-new knowledge that could take you further than anything ever has before. It will take you to new places and could change your career for you. It could even prompt you to save the cash to go back and get that diploma yourself.

Fit In A Foreign Language

As with chess, learning a language is a skill. It takes time to completely master a new language and be able to speak it with clarity and fluency in the same way that you do English or your mother tongue. You can check out this link for free language classes, or you could go the whole hog with a Rosetta Stone set.

There’s nothing to stop you from traveling in the place that holds the language that you want to learn, either, and the best place to learn a new language is where you want to speak it! There is so much material online to be able to cobble together enough information to teach yourself a language if you can’t get to an official class. Bucket list item checked and your wallet happy!

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Do Your Dream Job

Even if it’s just for a day, pick a job you’ve always wanted to do and go and get it – for fun. Have you always wanted to dish out movie theatre snacks? How about learning the ins and outs of behind the counter at Chick-Fil-A?

Either way, choose the job you’ve always wanted to do and go and tell them about your dream to do the job for a day. Keep searching for all the places until you find one that says yes to your dream. Offer your services as a volunteer if you need to – it’s an item to tick off.

Most of these items are totally free. Your dreams can be big and they can be bold but they don’t have to be expensive and crippling on your finances. Bucket lists are there to be a guide, a dream list that you chase. Chase away and grab what you can; we’re not around forever!

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How to Fit More Frugal Fun Into Your Summertime Budget

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser, Walmart Family Mobile. All opinions are mine alone. #SummerIsForSavings #CollectiveBias #WFM2

Each summer my family and I hit the road for an official summertime vacation. Our goal, to pack in as much fun and frugal quality time, history, and education as we can each trip. This past weekend we hit the road to check out several spots along the Mississippi Blues Trail, a trail created by the Mississippi Blues Commission in 2006 to commemorate notable historical sites related to the birth, growth, and influence of the blues music throughout the great state of Mississippi.

While we’ve had several quick weekend getaways in 2017, last weekend was our first actual family vacation this year. As you can imagine, with my husband, myself, and our little one in tow, the bills related to vacation expenses can quickly add up. Which is why I am always on the lookout for savvy saving ways to cut expenses throughout our household each year. Savings which directly fund our summertime trips!

One of my favorite new ways to save for our summertime trips is by cutting our cellular phone overhead costs which allow families to fit more adventure in your summer budget. At Walmart, I found the LG L59 Grace and the Walmart Family Mobile $49.88 PLUS Plan, with nationwide coverage on T-Mobile’s 4G LTE† network, to make my budget stretch further. So with our awesome new phone in-hand we set off on four days of vacation with an anticipated 24 full hours in the car – using our phone to look to create a daily family itinerary, to research the history of each stop on our tour and to listen to blues music, of course!

Would you believe the $49.88 PLUS Plan includes 15GB of 4G LTE† data? Those figures made the savvy saver in me do a double take as I previously paid nearly four times that amount for my previous phone line. That 15GB of data was a lifesaver while on the road every step of the way.

As I mentioned above, the extra room in our budget from our new phone line gave us the funds we needed to have our summertime adventure! As a family, we were able to show our little one the birth place of the Blues throughout our state, and as my husband was on the drum line throughout high school and college and the family aficionado on all things blues, this trip was definitely a source of pride and family bonding.

I was also able to use my new LG L59 Grace to look up affordable mom and pops food stops along the trail, including the Poor Monkey Lounge and coffee shops for my husband and I to get our caffeine on! I was even able to use Google to find three bed and breakfast locations, in adorable antebellum-style homes for our accommodations needs. My new LG Grace phone allowed me to quickly plug-in to all the data I needed, stream media for the kiddo, and just as quickly unplug and get right back to our frugal family fun!

Some of the highlights of last week’s trip included visiting the home of Jimmie Rogers in Meridian, MS, the museum dedicated to B.B. King and birthplace of blues legend Robert Johnson, both from Greenwood, MS, touring the Howling Wolf birthplace monument in Aberdeen, MS, checking out the monument dedicated to Delta blues pioneer Charley Patton in Holly Ridge, MS, and trip culminating our trip with a tour of the birthplace of Rock and Roll legend Elvis Presley in Tupelo, MS. In all, this was a trip to remember!

Now if you’d like to fit more adventure in your summer budget, too, Walmart Family Mobile is a great way to do it. It super simple to start or switch to the $49.88 PLUS Plan, which features an unlimited talk, text, and data plan which includes up to 15 GB of 4G LTE† data, then 2G* after that. PLUS Plan customers will also receive a free VUDU◊ movie rental credit valued at $7.00 each time they renew their service! Plus, there are no activation fees, no contracts, no late fees, and it features Walmart’s best pricing in no-contract wireless plans.

We loved that one of the bed and breakfasts we stayed at offed smart tv’s in each room, so just like when we are at home, we could easily use our plan’s VUDU◊ movie rental credit for our weekly family movie night even on the road!

Friends, I encourage you to check out this plan from Walmart Family Mobile this summer to help you make the most of your summertime vacation season too! Now I have to ask, where will you head for your next summertime trip? I’d love to hear about it below! adventure?

Disclaimer: All prices for phones and plans included in this post are accurate as of the date of posting; however, these prices are subject to change. Please refer to this page or your local Walmart for current pricing.
*Please always refer to the latest terms and conditions at myfamilymobile.com
†To get 4G LTE speed, you must have a 4G LTE capable device and 4G LTE SIM Card. Actual availability, coverage, and speed may vary. LTE is a trademark of ETSI.
◊Limited time offer. Available for lines active with the PLUS $49.88 plan only. VUDU enabled device and account required for digital viewing. Customers must be 18 years or older to open a VUDU account. Movie rental only available in the USA. Free movie rental provided in the form of a movie rental code to the value of a $7.00 VUDU credit. Movie rental code allows for selection from available movies for rent. May not be readily redeemable on all new releases. The code will be delivered within up to 24 hours of the effective account renewal date. Must be used within 30 days of receiving the code. Offer is non-transferable. Limit 1 per customer. Additional terms and conditions on VUDU’s website: http://www.vudu.com/termsofservice.html

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Budget-Friendly Ways to Care For Your Spring Bulbs

Hello again, savvy savers! Here in my neck of the woods, Spring has sprung! Though according to our old friend Punxsutawney Phil, we are still officially six weeks from the start of Spring, my yard is starting to come alive with Spring Bulb plants, or “fall” flower bulbs which are planted in the fall, grow roots into winter, then sprout and bloom in the spring. These include favorites such as tulips, daffodils, hyacinth and others.

So, today I wanted to share some of my favorite tips for Spring Bulb Care this coming season. Here are a few of my favorite Spring bulb growing tips:

Most spring bulbs emerge and bloom in spring — then their foliage starts to fade and they go dormant by midsummer, usually by June 1st.
It’s important to let the foliage naturally go yellow and wither.
Never try to stake or braid foliage to try to make it look tidier.
Try planting Spring Bulbs in flower beds, alongside other perennial foliage, so that when bulbs start to fade, they will naturally be eclipsed by the emergence of other Spring plants, which prevents your beds from losing sparse.
It is helpful to remove the flowers on most spring bulbs as soon as they start to fade; this helps bulbs conserve their energy into producing seed instead of a big crop of blooms the following year.
Don’t fertilize blooming bulbs, but do make sure they are planted in beds will compost, mulch, and nutrient rich soil.
Bulbs should be fertilized in fall, and one month before blooming, in the end of January; for beds covered in snow, simply remove snow, place in-ground fertilizer stakes, and replace snow accordingly.
Many spring-flowering bulbs are native to hot, dry areas — so they prefer dry conditions in summer when they’re dormant.

I hope these tips help you to enjoy your beautiful Spring Bulbs for as long as possible this year.

Here’s to gardening,

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Battle of the Bulge: Budget-Style: DIY Home Gym!

Hello again, savvy savers! It’s time again for another Battle Of The Bulge, Budget-Style post!

As always, this series will focusing on ways to live a healthier, more active lifestyle while be able to afford clean, organic, obtainable foods! I believe this series can be worthwhile for many, who like myself, wish to get more in shape, not through crash-dieting but by small attainable lifestyle changes! With that said, here is where I am currently: I have a family history of high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. I am looking to lose 60lbs., find affordable non-gym membership options for working out, and change the way I consume food; this includes meals, snacks, and splurges!

Here’s where I am today:

I am 32 years young
5’6”,
Weight 191 lbs; I am down two pounds since last week.

Ways I’ve used to workout this past week:

I walk my dogs.
Continued yoga and meditation.
Using a pedometer
Portioning my meals
Measure myself monthly using seamstress tape

So for those who may know know, I used to be in shape. I played tennis, took jazz, ballet lessons, and would walk for miles on end at the beach. That, of course, was then. That was before life piled up. A decade of graduations, working, saving, relocating, marrying, and general laziness began to take its toll, on my health and life.

As the years wore on into my twenties, exercise became less important, less frequent. Injuries began to take their toll, starting with my ankle, then a diabetes diagnosis, and further limiting my activity, working from a home office upwards of twelve hours a day. The predictable result is that today I am but a shadow—a soft, blurry-edged, crusty shadow—of my 120-lb tones, svelte frame of yore.

While I’ve made my peace with my life-work-toil life at home, the overall dénouement of hitting the big 3-0 and beyond, occasionally when Facebook posts photos of “this was your life, many moons ago” wall posts, I can’t help wondering: What went wrong?

So, just this last month, during DH and myself’s weekly to-do chat, we decided to set up a home gym, in what was formerly my home office.

So, the idea of a home gym intrigued me. I know myself, I loath working out in front of others. So if I could in some small way both turn back the clock just a bit on my health, it would be worth it. But what would it take? How much would it cost? And where would I even start?

As a savvy saver I know that it’s universally know that the best time of year to buy workout equipment is in the quarter post-Christmas, when stores are trying to cash in on consumer self-inflicted New Year’s weight lose resolutions, but I needed a home gym today, post-haste! I also didn’t want to re-create my grandmothers, 1990’s fossilized, cliché home gym equipped with a dusty elliptical trainer, sit up machine, and every as-seen-on-tv unit money could afford! So, one thing was for sure, this would be a gym-on-a-dime operation.

So, here are the steps I’ve used to help implement my new home gym:

1) A Room with a View: It’s hard to get a workout in when you’re beset by screaming kids or overflowing laundry hampers. You want a dedicated room with a door that you can close off from the rest of your home, so your workout isn’t interrupted.

2) Accessories: To make my room more inviting I’ve planned to add a full length mirror to a door, to self-monitor my progress, and have wifi speakers put in to focus on my workouts and not the rest of my home.

3) Think small: All you truly need is a smaller room, with adequate lighting, and cleared space. In my workout room, I have nearly floor length windows for lighting, foam gym mat packs ($20.98 from Sam’s Club, which covers 24 square feet, per pack) for flooring, neutral colored walls, mini blinds,and that’s it for space customization’s.

4) Time: Consider the realistic amount of time you will actually use your gym. Are you going to work out for an hour a day, occasional training, or a set regime every few days. I plan to immolate a core training circuit; a 30-Minute daily, morning (between 6-7 am) Research-Based Workout Exercise system.

5) What Are You Training For? Okay, you’ve got your space, with or without mirrors, stereo, and floor mat. What about the actual exercise equipment? What you buy should depends on your objectives—weight loss, cardio fitness, strength training, or some combination thereof—but it’s not quite as simple as that. You will also need pieces to help with weight lose plateaus, such as Pilates, jump ropes, etc. as after three weeks or so your body adjusts and you stop losing weight. A general rule of thumbs is a combination of cardio and resistance training is best for weight loss and overall fitness—even though that message itself is sometimes resisted. Especially for women, the above mentioned extras will help with what we need most, toning.

6) Dumb and Dumber: As my husband, a former US Army Sargent advised me early on, every home gym must be equipped with a full set of dumbbells and kettle-bells. Shop for the three weights you think you’ll use most often, 5, 10 and 15 lb bells for women. What’s nice, is that each piece can be purchased for under $7.00 each at mass retailers. Also, dumbbells store easily, on a small table or bench, and with the right glute and leg exercises, you will not need to purchase expensive rowing or leg machines for your home gym.

7) Second hand first: So, first thing is first, you need a home gym budget. After my husband and I settled on having a $500.00 home gym budget, we planned to purchase mostly, second hand equipment for our home gym. Thus far we have found an elliptical on a local Facebook group for $20.00, a stationary bike for $10.00, and free jump ropes, resistance bands, yoga ball, and dumbbell bench. We still plan to buy a treadmill, weight bench, and finish outfitting out dumbbell and kettle bells. Also consider looking at Freecycle, Craigslist, and Penny Savers for additional sources of gym equipment.

8) Think outside the gym: In order to help me with one of my more pressing issues, poor posture, I plan to invest in a stability ball as a replacement for my home office chair. What’s nice about this option, is that for under $30.00 online, this call will allow you to do abdominal crunches, squats, hamstring curls, body bridges, as well as preform basic office functions, too!

So, there are my plans and tips for starting a home gym at home. If any of my readers have a gym at home already, and have some tips for revamping my above mentioned plans, I’d love to hear about them.

Here’s to your health,

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Gardening on a Budget: How to Buy & Care For Mums!

Hello again, savvy savers! this weekend is a very, very slow weekend in my garden, as the last of my summer plants are now being weeded and tilled under. The humidity of late summer is long since past, and how the time turns to focus on winter preparation.

Beyond this score, my husband and I are spending time this weekend raking leaves, mowing our lawn, and the final weeding session of the year for out Chrysanthemum beds.

However, one area of garden happiness for me this week is that my discounted chrysanthemums, purchased from Walmart last Autumn for $0.50 a plant, have doubled in size and are starting to bloom for the fall, and within the next month will be gorgeous; I planted the bed in rotating patterns of orange, yellow, and white to mimic candy corn!

Here are a few tips for those looking to get started caring for their mums this year:

1) As well, generally speaking, its best to buy mums as soon as night temps drop into the fifties, by mid-September. This is, of course, the rule unless you live below the Mason-Dixon line, in which case Back-to-School sales also signal the time to buy mums!

2) So, you may be thinking, which plants to buy? The answer is simple. Buy the colors and varieties best zoned for your area, with the only overall area of caution is to buy plants only as they start to break bud. You’ll maximize bloom time. Another trick, to make sure you are buying the right color and variety, be sure to match the blooms-to-tags, to find the color and type of flower you’re after. Always check plant tags with their handy cross-referenced blooms to avoid stock and shock error; garden centers usually group like selections together, but errors can happen.

3) You will stretch your saving-saving dollar by choosing darker shades, such as bronze and burgundy as spent, wilted flowers are less noticeable. The same is true for mums with double, as opposed to single, daisy-like blooms, especially for yellow and white varieties.

4) Like hair, lattes, and mums, bigger IS better! Inevitably, what you see in-store, is what you will get for the rest of the growing season. So, to ensure your displays are top notch, buy the bigger plant.

5) Once buds start to open on mums, you’re pretty much-guaranteed flowers―no matter where you display them.

6) Your mum’s soil must stay be moist, but never sopping wet. Check daily while the weather is warm, especially in the deep south, and then every other day when it’s cooler. If plants dry out, submerge in a bucket of water, or jab a sharp pencil into the soil several times and then water.

7) Fertilizing is not necessary for mums; though compost can be applied post-growing season, every other year.

8) Always remove faded mum blooms to encourage even more buds to open, and you’ll have color through October.

9) For those with mums planted in-ground, early August is the time to stop plucking blooms off of plants, start concentrated feedings, add new mulch, and let the growing season commence for your mums.

10) Chrysanthemums grow best and produce the most vibrant array of flowers if they are planted in full sunshine. They respond to plenty of food and moisture.

Be sure to recap:

There are hundreds of varieties of Chrysanthemums, giving you a multitude of options for height, color, flower size and time of bloom.
If you live above the Mason-Dixon line, purchase the earlier bloomers.
Mums can be started as seeds, from cuttings and dividing, or can be purchased at a nursery in sizes from bedding plants up to gallon size and larger plants.
They should be planted into well prepared, fertile, sandy soil.
By Thanksgiving, pluck all of your mum blossoms off of your plants, so that they can start their natural dormancy stage this winter.
Water mums weekly, fertilize monthly with liquid plant food.
At the end of the season, generally, post-Thanksgiving, cut back plants to four inches, and re-mulch your beds a second time, to prevent winter frost.

So, those are my tips for growing mums. If you have any mum care tips, pictures, or advice, shoot me an email or leave me a message and I’d love to feature you next week on my weekly gardening post. If you have tips for caring for your mums at home, please share with me below!

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Battle of the Bulge, Budget-Style: Weekly Seamstress Tape Measurements!

Hello again, savvy savers! Today I am starting another new blog series, Battle Of The Bulge, Budget-Style! I will be focusing on ways to live a healthier, more active lifestyle while be able to afford clean, organic, obtainable foods! I believe this series can be worthwhile for many, who like myself, wish to get more in shape, not through crash-dieting but by small attainable lifestyle changes! All of the changes I propose will be free or affordable, and most meals and plans will contain couponed savings or deals! Fads are fancy, but coupons are a commitment! With that said, here is where I am currently: I have a family history of high blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. I am looking to lose 60 lbs., find affordable non-gym membership options for working out, and change the way I consume food; this includes meals, snacks, and splurges!

Today I am 32 years young, I am 5’6”, and weight 199 lbs; I am down two pounds since last week. I walk my dogs but beyond this am not terribly active. My lifestyle causes sedentary behaviors; I work-from-home, blog, run two internet businesses, and perform advocacy work online as well. I am an internet-based excuser! Today finds my continued yoga, meditation, walking my dogs, using a pedometer, portioning meals, and now I also measure myself monthly!

For this post, I wanted to discuss a new lifestyle strategy I have implemented, monthly measurement logs. Using a seamstress tape, I measure my neck, arms, bust, waist, hips, thighs, and calves, then log my progress each month, good or bad, to see a visible result of my diet strategy. I have found this method daunting at first, but now, in my weight lose, find that seeing my actual results, is amazing and euphoric!

More reasons to measure yourself monthly, as part of a healthy lifestyle plan are:

There are the best ways to track yourself OTHER than a scale! I generally do not weigh myself. I find that in the process of both losing weight and toning up, there will be periods where you will not show progress on a scale, but you will have instant results when using seamstress tape!
A photo is worth a thousand words. Stand in front of a mirror in a bathing suit or your underwear with your cell phone camera and take a picture. Then turn to the side and take another picture of your profile view. Store your photos in an album on your computer, and over time, using a slideshow, you will see results more effectively and concretely than by way of a scale; between each segment of photos show a photo of your seamstress tape measurements for effective record keeping.

When you should measure:

Ideally in the morning, before you eat.

Measure yourself after your periods. It is normal for most women to slightly gain weight before their period. Delay weighing yourself until after the period.

Weighing yourself right after exercise is useless because your weight can fluctuate wildly due to changes in water content. You may weigh heavier or lighter than normal.

If you weigh yourself at night you are also weighing any food you have eaten and any liquids you have drunk during the day.

How often?

Ideally once a week, at the same time of the day. However, if you are tracking your weight loss using a software tool, you should weigh yourself as often as the software requires because the software needs this information to generate recommendations; I use fitbit and also implement a bi-weekly assessment for measurements as well as sleep patterns.

Weight fluctuates during the month; this is particularly true for women. Be patient. Remember that real weight loss – that is, loss of fat rather than water – occurs slowly, if you follow our recommendations for healthy weight loss.

Your average weekly loss rate (1.0-1.5 lb) will be more efficient if you weigh every two weeks.

Don’t get discouraged by short-term fluctuations.

How to measure yourself?

Use the same measuring tape each time you weigh yourself.

What If the Tape Indicates a Weight Gain?

You may be weighing extra water. You could have consumed more salt than usual. Your body will naturally retain some water due to the extra sodium intake. Remember, moderation and time when measuring yourself.

If you have been working out, you may have gained muscle. Bear in mind that muscle is more dense than fat.

Extra muscle is a good thing because it will help burn off the fat in the longer term. If you have been working out then proceed to taking your measurements.

Taking Measurements:

Use a flexible measuring tape as used by dressmakers. It can be as long as you need. If you use a plastic or cloth tape, bear in mind that these materials may stretch over time.
Wear the thinnest clothes possible, or none at all, so as not to add to the measurements you take.
Try to measure yourself in front of a full-length mirror so that you can see if the tape is positioned correctly.
Perhaps you could find another person to help with the measuring. They would be able to read the results more easily.
Keep your muscles relaxed while measuring.
When measuring, pull the tape just tight enough to keep it from sagging.

What Exactly Should You Measure?

The most common measurements include the circumference of your chest, biceps, waist, hips and thighs. Sometimes the neck, forearm and calf are also measured. Here’s what I check for:

Neck: this will help you see immediate water lose weight; measure around the largest part of your neck.
Shoulders: this will help you see toning results further into your weight lose.
Chest: this will help you see toning results further into your weight loss; for women bust reduction is also a great indicator of carb and fat reduction as well; measure around the largest part of your chest.
Biceps: this will help you see toning results further into your weight loss; measure midway between the top of your shoulder and elbow.
Waist: this will help you see immediate results, by way of clothe sizing; measure at the narrowest point, approximately one inch above your belly button. No cheating! Don’t pull in your belly or stick it out.
Hips: this will help you see toning results further into your weight loss; Measure your hips around the largest part of your buttocks with your heels together.
Thighs: this will help you see toning results further into your weight lose; Thighs are measured separately. Stand with your legs slightly apart. Measure your upper leg where the circumference is largest.

All-in-all, you will be surprised at how an inch lose in any of these areas will alter the way your clothes will fit, your attitude will change, and you health will better! Taking your body measurements is an excellent way to keep track of your changing shape as you get fitter. Body weight by itself is not a good indicator of improved fitness. I highly recommend pushing your boundaries to the side, and see how you measure up to your own personal, obtainable healthy lifestyle goals!

Here’s to the Journey!