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Friday's Progress Report

Fall has come and gone quickly here in Maine, and cold weather is starting to set in. The forecast has lows of 25-35 degrees at night. Which leads to something that may slightly slow my financial progress  for the next 7 months - heating oil!

Our house is over 100 years old and which that charm and character comes some other lovely characteristics. Like drafty. Chilly. A doggish forced hot air heating system that contains too few ducts running to the second floor.

When we moved in, the house had absolutely zero insulation in the attic or the walls. We burned through some oil that first year (we closed on the home in Dec 2014). We've since added insulation to the attic and attempted to add it to the walls, but we were told the siding was so rugged they would be unable to drill the holes needed to blow the insulation in.

However, the added barrier in the attic and sealing the attic stairwell made a big difference. We also only keep our thermostat at 66. We're not breeding wimps in our house. The girls have their winter bedding on. We all have sweats and wool socks. We're ready.

Budgeting continues to go well, but I did have a moment yesterday. With the weight loss and general wear and tear on what I currently have, I needed to buy a few pairs of jeans. Finding a pair of jeans that fit me well is like finding a unicorn prancing through the city of Atlantis. My legs hold a bit of girth to them, and the new slim fit trends and "joggers" don't agree with m physical constitution well. In fact, I make most relaxed fit jeans look like slim fits. Enter the only pair of jeans that seem to work for me - Levi's 569. Loose fit. Room in the seat and thigh. Straight legs to fit my calves in there. They just work. But, they don't give these things away. I've really become someone that doesn't enjoy spending money on material things, especially full ticket price on clothes. The fact the jeans cost $60 retail was pretty hard to swallow - but, they were buy one get one 50% off. So out the door I went with $95 spent, 2 new pairs of jeans in the rotation. Money I needed to spend. 

Minimal fitness went well this week. I decided to enroll at Planet Fitness again for the winter. I want to start increasing my running mileage each week, and I have no confidence that I'll be able to accomplish that at 5am, in Maine, in the dead of winter. I got to the gym each day, ran 10 miles, walked 9, and got two days of weight training in.

Another week of progress that I'm grateful for.


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