Football Epilogue

It's time. The days are short, the weather is getting colder and has been rather damp lately. My outdoor running gave way to hustling around the football field coaching up a savvy crew of 6th graders. With the season heading towards its unavoidable end, I need to find the next thing that will keep me at an adequate, if not improved, level of fitness. My intent this evening was to run up to the local YMCA , roughly five miles away, and restart my membership. The "Y" has had a host of good qualities from a large number of amenities to kid friendly activities such as swimming and a climbing wall. My main gripe with "full service" gyms is the cost. It's typically in excess of $125 for a family membership. I was thinking I would be able to whittle this down to $70ish if I just get an individual membership. Attending 12 times/month whittles that further to ~$50/month. That is a bit more manageable provided I get my 12 "swipes". My kids are now ...

This summer I've been finding myself doing "fast and easy" eating. That means eating out a lot and buying a lot of convenience food (Doritos and Oreos are definite weaknesses). While quick, such choices are not healthy, nor cost effective. For example, a coffee and simple cup of oatmeal at Starbucks runs roughly $5!  A "healthy" lunch option such as Subway can run $8 to $10. Dinner can be $15. That's $30/day!  If I do that for a pay period, that's $300 during the work week! Throw weekend dating, etc. on top of that and that could be $500 JUST FOR FOOD!!!!! Surprisingly it took me a while to come to the conclusion that this wasn't healthy or sustainable. I have since decided that a little meal planning was in order. This allowed me an opportunity to take a critical look at what I've been eating and how I've been spending my money. In reality there are just a few meals that I make on a regular basis. For example, my breakfasts are either oa...