Trimming the fat

I think I need to go on a "Life Diet," trim the fat from a lot of things. The easiest example is the concept of dieting with regard to what I eat. Adding to this, I want to put myself on a diet with my finances, with my time, etc. (getting in an exercise routine will be part of my 'time diet').  Since finishing grad school, I could have paid off a significant chunk of my debt by now (excluding student loans) and have not even saved any  money, much less paid off any debt. I have about a five-hour gap between the time I get off work and the time I go to bed (and it takes me all of five minutes to get home after work), and yet my personal goals are being achieved at a snail's pace. Sometimes a snail's pace is even an overstatement of the reality. Add to this that I am not married and I have no children, and I work seven hours one Saturday each month, so my free time is fairly open (even when you subtract time spent tutoring). I need to trim the fat off my food intake, off my time wasted, my money wasted, and whatever else I am fortunate enough to have more of than I actually need (and therefore need to better manage).

That said, I plan to copy forms out of Dave Ramsey's book and set up a budget to save and start paying off debt. I plan to structure a shopping list that will accommodate better eating habits rather than tossing into the buggy whatever catches my eye. I plan to better manage my free time (meaning stopping TV almost entirely--save Grey's Anatomy--and spend most free time writing and/or reading) as well as requiring of myself at least 30 minutes of daily exercise at least five days a week.

So I will take this week to get my budget together and determine how quickly I should be able to pay off my debt (excluding the student loans). I will return to a goal of writing at least a page a day (about something...anything), in lieu of mindless TV watching. I will set an overall weight loss goal (pounds lost and target BMI), then set a weekly goal. And at least once a week I will blog about what I've done to contribute to all of these goals (or what I've done to sabotage them) and see how my self-imposed "Life Diet" is coming along.

And, of course, throw in random unrelated opinions and observations about life in general, too.  This is, after all, my own personal soapbox you've stumbled upon.