TSL WINNERS!!!

Today is a big day for the TSL participants, I have the winner of the challenge and a second winner I chose at random from random.org. First let me do a small recap to remind everyone what the challenge was all about.

The SIMPLE LIFE challenge was designed to help people save money and eat healthier!

So did it?

For me the answer is a yes and no. Hubby and I sat down and did our budget and we actually spent as much on groceries as we doing eating out, but that’s because we normally don’t eat out a lot and this month we had 5 birthdays, 5 BBQ’s and three dinner parties!!!! The reason I say yes, is because if we would have done all this plus eat out our budget would have exploded! The eating healthy part wasn’t that much different either, except I didn’t have any dessert or Starbucks, so that cut out some major calories.

The challenge also came in three parts!

First part give up eating out for the entire month of MAY!!!

I ate out only once up until I left for San Diego, and I had no other choice!

Second part, Health Commute Challenge!! Ride your bike at least three times a week(or more) to work or to the store, or taking public transportation, walking, shoot even running!

I rode my bike at least 3-5 days to work every week, walked to grocery store, and took the bus everywhere!!! I loved this part!

Third part, Being Simple & Green.

We started a compost and a garden, learned to turn off every light possible when needed, cut coupons, carpooled, walked to dinner, and got rid of a lot of junk I had laying around.

I still need to do one last Spring Clean and then I will be set! I also learned the simple pleasures of life like giving myself my own pedicure, checking out books from the Library, making more homemade gifts and giving myself at home spa treatments. I am still learning ways that I can cut things out of my life to leave less of a carbon foot print, I hope to only get better at it.

My Overall Thoughts

I think the best part of this challenge for me was my mind set, I didn’t buy things sporadically and I planned trips ahead of time. I think becoming more efficient with your time and resources makes you live a more simple and green life. You don’t need to make 10 trips to the grocery store in a week, you don’t need to throw all your trash away, and you definitely don’t need to drive EVERYWHERE!!! It’s all about making time!

So without further ado!

The winners of this years TSL Challenge is (drum roll please)

Kelly with a whopping 250 points!!!!!

“ Bobbie – this was a great challenge. I’m going to carry it over to the rest of my life and only improve from here. Thanks for the challenge.”

Congrats KELLY, you did amazing and I am blown away at how much you worked at this!!!!

Everyone else did awesome as well, they were all so very close!!!!

I also decided to pick one random winner from all of the participants and the winner is….

Melissa!!! She had a grand total of 191!!!

I loved reading about how inspiring this challenge was for the participants!!! Here is a wonderful comment I received from one of the TSL participants!

The MAIN lesson I learned from the TSL is that is it SO easy to prepare every meal at home, whether to pack and take to work, or to eat in the comfort of the kitchen. As a bonus, I got my boyfriend completely on board by involving him with some grilling. Also, he quickly saw just how much money he was saving, and he lost a few pounds in the process by not eating restaurant prices and portion sizes. I think I slept better this month by not going to bed at night with a huge restaurant meal in my belly!

We have agreed to carry this component of the challenge into June but allow ourselves one meal out per week. But we started saving the coupons from our local paper to get 2 entrees for the price of one at our favorite Indian and Mexican restaurants. See? We will still be going it in the frugal spirit of TSL!

-Carrie

I loved this challenge, and I plan on sticking to it, through June! This month I am going to try to spend less on groceries and gas.

What’s your next challenge???

Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday afternoon, I am looking forward to a very veggie filled lunch, and Taco Tuesday!!!

CHECK OUT MY WORKOUT SCHEDULE FOR THE WEEK-------------------->

Today I am in active recovery mode, lot’s of REST!!!!