A 30-Day Cleanse
Roody and I are going on a 30-day cleanse--a physical, spiritual and financial cleanse. Here's how we're going to do it.
Physical
For the entire month of August, we will not order fast food. We're going to prep our meals at home and eat them. I had a physical trainer last year who came up with a meal plan for me. I'm going to use that same plan and stick to it. He also gave me home exercises to do, and I'm going to do them joints. Roody and I are going to compete with each other. If I do 100 crunches, he has to do 100 crunches. And squats, and push ups and crunches, too.
I watched a Buzzfeed video about drinking 8 glasses of water everyday and how it affects you. I really liked the results, so we're going to attempt to drink 3-4 bottles of water everyday. That will curb your appetite, give you more energy, clear up your skin and put you in a better mood. I don't know about you, but I need all of that.
Finally, I've partnered with Teami Blends to do a natural detox. I really like tea, so I feel like this part will be pretty easy. The last time I did a tea cleanse, I felt sooooo much better about myself because I was getting rid of so many toxins. So this part is totally optional for you, but if you'd like to try Teami Blends, be sure to use Discount Code LR15 for 15% off your order.
Spiritual
I used to read the Bible everyday. Before going to bed, Roody and I would pray together every night. Since having children, we started falling asleep at random times, not going to bed together waking up super tired, we got more busy during the day... all the excuses. Well, we're going to attempt to read God's Word everyday. Even if it's just one verse. When it's time for bed, we're going to make sure we pray together. Out loud. Just like the old days.
I love the fact that Youversion introduced the streak feature, so you can see how many days in a row you've read the scriptures. If my streak isn't at 30 by the end of this challenge, I did it wrong.
Financial
We have 4 savings accounts. I'll try to sum them all up real quick:
- 10% of Roody's paycheck goes into our joint savings account. Simple.
- Digit* is an app that uses algorithms to figure out when you can afford to save money. Sometimes they take out $1.50, sometimes they take out $10. Sometimes they don't take anything out for a whole week. They text me every morning to let me know what my balance is. I can withdraw my savings any time and it hits my account in 1 business day.
Personal rating: 10/10 - Acorns* looks at our purchases and rounds them up to the nearest dollar. They take the spare change and invest them into stocks. So if I spent $2.67, $0.33 will go into savings. We've saved about $1500 in a little over a year. I consider this account to my vacation account, and that's how we paid for our trip to Georgia this past March.
Personal rating: 9/10 - Betterment* is an investment app for the lazy. I invest $25 into stocks & bonds every other Tuesday. Random. I only take a peek at how the market is doing maybe a few times for the month. I haven't lost any money, and I've been using Betterment since September 2011. Every time I withdraw my money, I leave my accumulated earnings. It's only a little over $100, but I think that's waaaay better than the interest that comes with a standard savings account, amirite?
Personal rating: 7/10
*referral links
This month, we plan to stick to our savings plans and add extra savings wherever we're able to. We'll also keep track of our budget using Mint.com to make sure I don't spend more than $20 on Starbucks for the month, we don't go over whatever grocery budget we come up, and that we reeeeeally focus on not over-spending, which we've been doing for years.
More importantly, we should be exercising daily and not putting garbage into our bodies. When was the last time you did a cleanse?
