Pay Yourself First

As I've mentioned before, my company provides courses for personal financial planning. The latest installment that I've taken was on Investment Planning. It talked about different investment products and strategies and what options are best for risk takers or more conservative investors.

It is something that I definitely want to allocate some extra money too when I am able to add it into my monthly budget. To start I want to incorporate one of the most basic investment strategies we talked about, Pay Yourself First.

With this strategy you save the equivalent of one hour's pay (this may take some calculation if you are on a yearly salary), and you put that money aside before you pay your mortgage/rent/bills/groceries/etc. It's up to you whether you want to collect this on a weekly or monthly basis, whatever works for you. Set up an automatic transfer for this before you can even think about spending it on anything else.

Instead of putting this aside into a savings account, where it won't accumulate much interest, put this into an investment account whether it's RSP's, long term investments or short term investments. Go sit down with a financial planner to figure out your options. It will bring you a much bigger pay out in the future. And really, who can argue with turning a little bit into a lot more money down the road?

Recipe: Banana Protein Muffins

As promised, here is the recipe for the banana protein muffins I made to take with me for the weekend. They taste JUST like regular banana muffins and will probably become a new staple snack for me.

1 banana

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup cottage cheese

8 egg whites

5 single serving packs of Stevia (available at Costco)

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp nutmeg

2 tbsp Agave nectar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

Eating Out

I feel like I'm constantly taking two steps forward and one step back with my clean eating. I do so well during the week when I'm at home in my regular routine but the moment I have to eat out or go away for a weekend I fail and I fail horribly.

Five: Things to Show That Special Someone How Much You Care

 I've never been much of a supporter of Valentine’s Day. In fact over the years I've down right hated the holiday, despite being single or taken. These days I’m just becoming indifferent to it. I personally believe that you don’t need one day to show someone you care, you should do it all throughout the year. That being said, here are my ideas for ways to show your special someone just how much you care. There are so many different little things you can aside from the standard flowers, chocolates. While still appreciated and nice gestures, I think I can say that thinking outside the box will score you way more points. 

Recipe: Protein Pancakes

For anyone following my blog that is interested in eating healthier, I wanted to share a recipe passed on to me from my wonderful boyfriend, Adam.

When I first saw this recipe I thought these were going to be disgusting, but they are easily my favorite meal. Not only do they taste great, but they are SO simple to make. Enjoy!

1/3 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup cottage cheese
3 egg whites

Blend together until it resembles a pancake batter. I throw it all in my magic bullet to blend in seconds.

Now here is when you get to be a little creative. You can add some cocoa powder or cinnamon and blend in some fruit for a bit of flavor. Be careful of what fruit you use though. I once tried blending in some frozen blueberries and it came out way too runny and wouldn't cook properly (they were a really pretty purple color though!).

Personally, once my pancakes are cooked I like to spread a tiny bit of natural peanut butter over them and top with a sliced up banana.  Yum!

What is your favorite healthy recipe? I'm always looking for some new ideas, so please share!

Be Accountable

Hello Friends! Can you believe we are already a week into February? Where is time going?!

I wanted to give you a little update on the progress of some of my goals so far.