I didn’t know about pinterest until I found people pinning my food. While I don’t tweet, and I am just starting to figure out facebook, pinterest seemed a bit daunting to me, but I know a lot of you use it.
Want the breakdown? Janetha from Meals & Moves has a pinterest 101 – I could easily find myself pinning a million recipes! You can check it out here – thanks Janetha!
With the beginning of a new year, I always try to figure out how to reduce our budget. I think I do pretty good on food – $100 a week. Our average gas bill so far this winter has only been $70 a month, due in part because we set the thermostat to 64 during the night and use a small space heater in our room.
I called our phone company (AT&T) and told them I didn’t want to change anything that we have (i.e. hd reception, premium movie channels, phone and internet) but I wanted a better bundle. You see all these commercials offering specials to new customers, why not show a little love to your existing customers?
A 15 minute phone call later, she reduced my monthly bill by $25.95 a month, which doesn’t seem like much, but that’s $311.40 a year! I’ll take it. š I should take out $26 in cash every time I pay my bill and stash it away for next Christmas.
Breakfast was another egg sammie, this time on Healthy Life bread, which I love – 2 slices are only 2 points and 5 grams of fiber! This time with egg white, baby spinach and 1/2 ounce of cheese, with a sliced fuji apple on the side. Best part? Breakfast is only 6 WW points. š
I couldn’t wait for lunch to get outside – temps almost to the 50’s! I drove to the trail by my office – literally a 3 minute car ride. I ended up doing a walk for 3 minutes, jog for 1 minute, and then sprint for 1 minute – did that for 40 minutes – nice. š I think it matters that the run isn’t at a steady pace. Thoughts?
My face and neck always get so splotchy when I run – sexy, no? š
It’s still weird that its January and there is no snow on the ground.
Lunch was a messy taco salad – 4 ounces (raw before cooking) ground sirloin, baby spinach, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, 1/2 ounce shredded cheese, and a 100 calorie guacamole pack on top. I can’t remember who told me (let me know!) but these 100 calorie Wholly Guacamole packs freeze perfectly – I threw it in my lunch bag and it was defrosted by lunch time.
My dressing: 1/3 cup of my baja fresh salsa, 1 tablespoon of light ranch dressing and 1 teaspoon hot sauce. All tossed together – lunch comes in at 9 WW points.
I was planning on having cube steak, but Tony wasn’t in the mood – he just wanted a plain hamburger, no bun. So it was another Biz meal for one – I had 4 ounces of cube steak, a cup of mashed potatoes with gravy, a whole zucchini that I sauteed in a teaspoon of olive oil and Greek seasoning – comfort food at its best, and this whole plate is 10 WW points.
In other news, I am slowly building my recipage:
http://www.recipage.com/mybizzykitchen/
Once I have input all my recipes, you will be able to search by course, ingredient, etc. and also make print friendly versions. This will be an ongoing project – I think over the course of 1750 posts I probably have about 1000 recipes to add to it. š I’ll probably finish by December 31, 2012. š
You can create your own too – just go here: http://www.recipage.com/ – its free! I don’t self host, so you may get more features if you do – again, not that technical. š
Happy Friday!
ohhh, Pinterest is awesome!
I need to work on lowering our bills too. Our groceries are pretty decent but we go out to eat way too often. Luckily the South Beach Diet is helping with that.
I need to try making cube steak, I love comfort food. The zucchini looks so good, my favorite veggie next to b. sprouts.
Oh, Pinterest is so addicting. I repinned so much for the holidays, but avoided going back to do anything because I can easily get sucked into that site for hours.
So glad AT&T was willing to work with you. Our provider – Cablevision is the pits. They won’t work with us at all. Fios is available in our area, but only for phone & internet & Cablevision knows that so they won’t budge because they know it’s cheaper for the bundle. Ugh!
One of our BIG 2012 “resolutions” is to get better control of our spending/debt. I may be hitting you up for some grocery tips!
Your taco salad looks great! YUM!
And Pinterest is addicting….I’m in love with it!
You’re amazing! I’m totally going to steal your idea of trying to lower our bundle payment. About running–I think changing up is exactly how good runners train. Also, I love the picture of you–who cares about some splotches, you look cute.
A blog friend tried to lure me into pinterest but I resisted. Just one more online thing I don’t need! I saw you comment about google reader on Leslie’s blog. I just explained it via email to someone recently so will send you one as well, in case you are still wondering.
Thanks – that would be great! š
I love Pinterest. To me it is a visual bookmark site for recipes I want to follow up on, save, or get others to try. I also love it for saving hints, tips, wish lists etc. Awesome site. I just wish I could have more control over how my boards looks.
Cutting costs? We did away with CATV, long distance and a host other luxuries in favor of saving money. With heating propane @3+ per gallon we have shut our furnace off. Space heaters for us, and a chilly 62-64 degree home. Sweaters and leggings cost less than propane.
Since we are Amazon Prime members our “tv and movie” comes from them. If you watch you can get new releases for .99-1.99. Even if we do not have time to watch we can hold the movie in “queue” for 30 days.
Long Distance? That is what skype, google voice and cell phones are for.
Frugality has become my middle name. š
the weather is crazy isn’t it!? it’s been in the sixties here for the past week, whereas last year it was in the 20-30’s! I won’t incomplete…until this summer when it’s in the 100’s and I want to die! haha!
Biz, my whole body gets splotchy when I workout! It’s quite sexy. š
That is awesome about your AT&T bill! Mark called to do the same thing (about 6 months ago) and they refused. So, he canceled our service! Needless to say, they called back THAT DAY and gave us the “new customer” prices guaranteed for 2 years.
Nice job on the run! And I get all splotchy too…who knows!
I’m sure this is not a new one for you, but every time I read your name I say “Bizzy-Bee” in my head. I love it. š
Actually, that’s a first – love it! š
I feel so behind the times, I have never checked out Pinterest. I see postings on facebook all the time about it, but have yet to go look. I will have to do that.
Your food always looks so delicious. I need to make a breakfast sandwich this weekend instead of drooling over yours. I look forward to checking out your recipage. I’m so happy you share!
Wow, impressed with your money saving. I’ve been wondering if we could save money on our internet. We get lots of offers in the mail for cheaper internet. I really should call our company. I do a little on Pinterest, but not a whole lot. I do have a Facebook Page and twitter but need to get better about updating it. I loved the Pinterest tutorial you linked to. I never knew you could see what got pinned from your website. I found out a few people pinned from my blog – who knew!