A lot of you are in on a weight loss challenge. I'm not sure about the details, but I've done a lot of fitness challenges and lost 18 pounds in the last two years. I wanted to share some of my weight loss motivators.

For me, it was a question of really really wanting it. As in, wanting it more than I wanted to eat that piece of cake or that second portion of dinner. But more than that, I finally found a system that worked for me.

It can be overwhelming to say, oh, I need to lose 10 pounds, or 15 pounds. It seems like so much, and you can give up because it seems impossible.

Now, I break it down into 2 pound goals. Then every day I ask myself, when it comes time to eat or to make decisions about time and exercise: Will this help me lose 2 pounds?

i.e. will eating this snack late at night help me lose that 2 pounds? No? Then no, I don't do it. Will another 5 minutes on the exercise bike, or walking to pick DS1 up from school instead of driving help me lose that 2 pounds? Yes. Decision made.

It's a simple yes or no question, but it really does makes sticking to a plan much easier. I found that diet plans and rigid exercise schedules were too overwhelming with two kids under 5 and work. This made it much easier and simpler for me.

What are your tricks?

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Onto the money goals. I'm trying to devise a new system to motivate me to stay on track financially.

This year, I've set an ideal budget for groceries and all expenses other than bills of $400 a week. If we stick to that spending amount, extra money will build up in the bank that could then be used for savings or other things. If we stick to that, we should easily be able to stash more money in savings and fully fund my IRA, and maybe have money to spare. Plain and simple, we'd be in very good shape financially.

Last year, I got into trouble by not tracking the daily drips of money leaving the account, and we repeatedly ended up with too-large credit card bills, not enough in the bank, covering expenses with freelance checks instead of funding my IRA, etc.

With two little kids and work, life overwhelmed me. I was just getting by. But now that we're at year end, having not much to show for a whole year makes me pretty sad. I know we can do better.

Anyway, I'm tinkering with a system to keep me accountable. It does involve a piggy bank!

I plan to use cash for most of the $400/ week expenses. My plan is to put whatever cash is leftover out of that $400 at the end of each week into my piggy bank.

At the end of the year, if I'm extra thrifty, I should have a pretty decent chunk of change. This is where the motivation comes in. First, I really want to have a big chunk of 'bonus' money in the piggy bank at the end of the year, and to get it, I'm going to have to challenge myself to be thrifty every single week and to stick to my budget even when I'm tempted to let it slide.

Second, I want to stay on track with the other goals, such as the mortgage pay off and funding my IRA out of cash flow and not savings.

So, at the end of the year, I'll crack open the piggy bank. If I haven't been good at budgeting and staying on top of things, I'll have to use that chunk of money to shore up my IRA.

If I have been good, I will either
A. Use it for Xmas
B. Put it toward the mortgage- as in an extra lump sum to pay down the balance.

And if I'm feeling really smug and have had a banner year, I'll splurge on one of the three things that are on the wish list for our house.

-A set of two leather Barcelona chairs.(we need living room chairs)
-An oval, marble-topped Saarinen tulip table (we have a round one, but it isn't big enough for holiday dinners or dinner guests)
-A gallia pom pom rug for the living room. We splurged a while back on the orange and red version of this same rug for our dining room, and it is far and away the most awesome rug we own.

Here are some pics!