See, they have this juice that has red peppers and cilantro and jalapeno with cucumber and celery, and I am in love.

(There would be a picture of a green juice here if I were less selfish with my juice guzzling.)

Practical me says, “$4.75 can’ t possibly be a reasonable price for a juice. I should buy a juicer and save money!”

But practical me watched as the juicer swallowed up two cucumbers, two stalks of celery, a whole red pepper, half a jalapeno, and handfuls of cilantro.

And practical me did what practical me does and ran the numbers.

The Numbers

(a tiny, blog-friendly cost benefit analysis)

The Whole Foods juice costs a whopping 0.45 more than my homemade juice would. (Must be nice to buy organic produce without the huge markup – I am sure their costs are way lower than my retail costs, but alas I am not a grocery store.)

The juicer costs $220.  I could definitely buy a cheaper juicer, but I want a masticating juicer.   I have owned several varieties of cheaper juicers, including the popular:

• Leaky McLeakerson
• Cleaning this juicer basket proves that Satan exists
• Seriously, an apple only produces a teaspoon of juice?
• Why don’t you come over here and crank the wheatgrass through for an hour??

So anyhow, any future juicers will be of the nutrition-preserving, thoroughly-extracting, non-wall-staining, masticating variety.

After one more calculation (cost of the juicer ÷ the difference in cost-per-juice, for those playing along at home), I saw that it would take me 488.89 juices until the difference in cost-per-juice paid for the price of the juicer.  After 489 juices, my juicer would be “paid for” and I’d finally be seeing the cost savings from having purchased my own juicer!

In other words, if I were to juice 3 times a week without fail, I would break even in 3.13 years.  If the juicer lasts that long.

Let alone my juice motivation.

The Non-Numbers

Pros of the juice bar:

• I don’t have to wash any produce (or a juicer
• The industrial juicer is way more powerful than the $220 home model I’ve scoped out
• I can change my mind about my juice and not have to go buy ingredients

And the cons:

• I don’t have total control over what goes in my juice
• It’s not actually in my house (though it is within a 2 minute drive or a 10 minute walk)

The Final-ish Outcome

There is no way I will juice three times a week for the next 3 years.  I’d like to think that will happen, but I look back at the past few months of working late late late when I haven’t even been making time for 20 minute workouts and know that life will still get in the way for me for a long while.

When this project that has been keeping me chained to my desk is done (in two weeks, PRAISE BE) there will be another project, and in a few months there will be the whirlwind of fall and winter holidays (not to mention a dearth of fresh, local produce – those cucumbers will rocket up in price, for example).

Bottom line: there’s no significant cost savings, and the opportunity cost of taking so much freaking time to juice, wash a juicer, etc. might cost me my job, because it’s hard enough to be on time when I’ve been up working past the first round of House Hunters International reruns.  No juicer for me unless I move away from convenient juice bar access!

But I want more cost benefit analyses!

I might not think a $220 juicer is a good value, but I might soon drop $$$ on a personal trainer for the next few months.

I’m not crazy; $1200 of personal training is just more worth it than the $220 juicer because….

There are certain fitness goals that I have been trying to achieve, with varying degrees of effort and consistency, for the past 10 years.  10 years.  More than 1/3 of my life.

Clearly, I am not going to get there – and stay there – on my own.  I have accepted that, superhuman as I am, I have a finite amount of discipline.  I can’t be:

• awesome at work with extended hours AND
• awesome at eating superhealthy foods even when 2.5 meals have to be packed for work AND
• awesome at keeping on top of financial goals AND
• awesome at being a girlfriend and friend (maybe semi-awesome at being a friend, sorry y’all) AND
• awesome at keeping the house clean AND
• still have the motivation and energy to get myself into the gym the way I need to right now.

I know it will be up to me to maintain any results I achieve with a trainer, but I also know that once I’m over the hump with some of the goals that I have it will be nearly impossible to backslide since my previous health issues are done and gone.

So, if I meet with the trainer weekly for a $75 session for 4 months, I’ll be paying $1200 for:

• His expertise – I have done my research and tried on my own, but I’m just not getting there, and I don’t know what to correct
• His motivation – I am much more likely to burn myself out at this point (I’m really good at that!)
• Accountability – I am so low on discipline that, in a very uncharacteristic scenario, I have only made it to one of my “SERIOUSLY I am working out every day this week” workouts…out of the four I should have completed so far.  25% success.

The actual CBA here is a bit trickier than the one for the juicer; I’m not a business, and results like my happiness are difficult to quantify in the same way that the juice prices can be delineated. Get ready for crazy overanalysis….

Quantifications of my happiness:

• Happier = less stress, which means improved health, which means lower healthcare costs (hard to say by how much since it’s an assumption and I’m still young…)
• Happier = less stress and more confidence, which means not doing things like impulse-buying dresses, shoes, etc. to cheer myself up (let’s put that down at about $1,000 per year, and we’ll pretend like that’s not grossly below the actual number)
• Happier = less stress, which means that my relationships will be stronger (and that we won’t end up spending $30 over our takeout budget every week because who would want to cook for you anyway?!, a yearly savings of $1562)
• Happier = more confidence, which means that new doors might be open to me (potential future career moves, friendships that lead to more happiness, etc.)
• Happier = more confidence, which means living my best, most authentic life

Now, it’s not like I’m a teeth-gnashing, miserable stressball; my life is pretty great as far as I’m concerned.  I am, however, focusing on improving my happiness and confidence because are the weakest, highest-risk areas of my life right now, they are completely my responsibility, and they are what will shape so much of my future.

Also, I doubt that I’m going to find a magic bullet for my specific fitness/health goals that I haven’t been able to reach for 10 years on my own.

Zo, ze numbers:

For one year…

And for 10 years?  I am not going to write the gigantic numbers down, but…you get the idea. I could capture more of the intangibles with quality scores, but the basic finance is compelling on its own.

It’s not foolproof, but with a potential savings of 1362 this year and the full 2500 in upcoming years, it’s a no-brainer financially.  Personally, it’s been a no-brainer for a long time, but I had to come to terms with the fact that I can’t be perfect at everything all the time.  (Only most things most of the time.) (Kidding.)

So, that’s my fun with cost benefit analyses for the day. Maybe I’ll post the one that explains why I don’t own a car next!

It was lovely to practice yoga with such a great teacher and such a warm, friendly class.  I enjoyed the challenge of Bikram yoga when I could afford it (and schedule my hydration, eating, and laundry around the class), but I see now that I found Bikram yoga too cold and regimented.  I really needed a good, fun night of limbering up and stretching out after all my pilates and running – I can’t wait to go back next week.

Or maybe Thursday.

Dinner was just as special – I made red quinoa cakes with scrambled eggs, micro-greens, manchego, and a tomato foam/coulis.  WB got home a bit too late for me to eat with him before yoga, but I was glad to see my plate when I got home.  I used some of the sautéed peppers from yesterday in the eggs for a nice kick.

Quinoa Cakes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 2 T flax
• 2 T water
• 1/4-1/3 c flour (I used buckwheat flour)
• Salt, pepper, and herbs/spices to taste

Procedure:

1. Microwave the flax and water for 1 minute to create a gooey mass, perfect as a binder.
2. Stir in 2 T flour and the salt, pepper, and herbs/spices.
3. Stir in the quinoa; add additional flour as needed to reach a semi-firm texture (the mixture should hold its shape when formed into a ball, but doesn’t need to withstand great force)
4. Form into patties and pan-fry or brush with oil and bake until lightly crispy

Tomato foam/coulis (or any other veggie for that matter)

1. Whip 5-7 cherry tomatoes in the blender.  Add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Let stand before serving (this ultra-simple “sauce” is best after it stands for about 10 minutes – it needs to settle).  Denser veggies may need to be steamed before whipping, or they may need to be puréed with a bit of water, olive oil, or wine.

(Yeah, that’s not a recipe.)  (And yes, there are lots of things you can add to keep this foamy and increase the foaminess if you really want to get into molecular gastronomy.  This was just a quick plate sauce to dress up a dinner that otherwise might have been a bit dry.)

I’m off to hit the hay as soon as I watch this! I’ve got more big plans for tomorrow – including another run (and maybe more speedwork)!

(P.S. – I ended up spending almost $200 at Lululemon – I got a pair of yoga crops, the towel I wanted, and an impulse pair of my favorite running shorts that were on sale.  I was hesitant about the crops, but I was really, really glad to have the right clothes tonight – I didn’t have to worry about anything riding up or sliding down, so I could focus on my practice 100%.)

• Less is More pilates
• Leg toner and slimmer (pilates)
• Standing abs

They all brought back memories from earlier this year when I was really, really focused on getting ready for our beach vacation (the first time I had worn a bikini in years).  I’m in a similarly shallow mode now, to be honest, since WB and I are going to an important event in a week and a half.  One of the reasons I like pilates so much is that it addresses both the shallow reasons I work out and the health-related reasons – it makes you tight and toned, but also superstrong. I wish people didn’t judge so much on appearances, but if they’re going to judge…I want the cover to match the book

All the reminiscing about the beach sent me straight to the pool!  Our complex has a wonderful, wonderful pool – I can’t get enough of it!

I used my poolside time to read a few healthy articles:

• A lightweight summary of the Women’s Health Initiative study that suggests that positive thinkers are less likely to have heart disease and live longer.
• The August Edenews newsletter (from Eden Foods) about good soy vs. bad soy – follow the link to see the organic soy scorecard and find out what you’re really eating in your soy products.  I was really disappointed to see that the Hain Celestial group refused to participate in the study – makes me question what they said and displayed during the Celestial Seasonings factory tour we just took!  I have a feeling I will be sending them some email this week….
• This article on not forgetting things from Unclutterer – I do something similar when I’m going to and from the gym (iPod, keys, towel) (I can be really scatterbrained when I leave the gym)

I haven’t had much of an appetite this week…I didn’t eat breakfast until almost noon today, when I had:

Wallaby blackberry yogurt with flax, and maple buckwheat flakes with a few Leapin’ Lemurs (chocolate and peanut butter puffs), with almond milk.

I also had another big mug of coffee

Show me the $$$$

I’ve been feeling indecisive about money today…even though I’ve been out of school for a few years now, I still feel driven to save, save, save all the time!  I have been working for the past year to find a good balance between spending and saving; I want to be able to spend on what I need and what I really want, and save the rest for vacations, a new car, any wedding-type activities that may be in my future, and a house downpayment.

I know that I am more likely to take the saving part too far and make things far too complicated for myself.  For instance, one of the biggest hindrances to my running was not wanting to buy real running clothes because they’re expensive.  Well, running in non-running shorts is not the most comfortable or sustainable activity, and without the right shoes (or new enough shoes) my joints were feeling the burn long before my muscles.  Now that I have those things, it’s hard to imagine living without them…or that it took me two years to convince myself to shell out.

I started saving (“for real”, as opposed to saving just to spend) in May 2007 with $300, and I have come a long, long, long way since then.  As with the rest of my life, I set lofty goals and somehow exceed most of them.  I read a lot of personal finance blogs (fewer than I used to – I’ve whittled down to the “sensible” ones that aren’t all about mortgages, stock chasing, and fad funds), and I spend some quality time with Suze Orman on my iPod when I can. I’m definitely at a point where advice to personal finance newbies does me more harm than good – I don’t think we need to cancel our cable, stop eating organics, or stop eating out (or buying our precious lattes). And yet, I’m not the pearl-sporting benefactor at the gallery opening.  I’m done climbing the side of the bell curve, and now I’m in the big hump where the decisions aren’t as clear-cut and the timeline is a lot longer

As with everything else in life, there’s always something more or different that I could be doing.  But, as with everything else in life, I get to make my own yardstick for success. Liberating and scary.

All of this because I wanted to spend $100 at lululemon on a yoga towel and a new outfit so that I’m not showing things that shouldn’t be shown in a yoga class or ruining our bath towels with icky hot-yoga-ness.

I’m happy to be at this point – it’s complicated, and clearly I am likely to keep overthinking things, but it’s definitely a welcome flavor of success that I never planned for.

And now I’m going to lulu.