Life Begins at ... 35?

Good morning - happy Halloween :eek:

I don't know where the last few days have gone I really don't. I dressed as Professor Umbridge for the Halloween run, and people thought I was everything from Mary Poppins to Miss Marple to Norman Bates's mother

I went to an arboretum on Saturday and it was sooo beautiful and very good for the soul. I highly recommend getting out and crunching through the leaves to clear the cobwebs!

I made the decision to Get A Man In to do my wallpapering as I only have three walls to do and can't see me making a very good job of it. I'm getting him to do the whole living room for me, including all the paintwork, plus the one papered wall in the kitchen and the kitchen skirting boards and door. It'll only take him two days and is costing £275 paint included so I'm happy with that. Just need to paint the kitchen ceiling and walls before next Wednesday when he comes. Ah to think in two weeks' time it'll all be done!

Housey paperwork is all put away. I'm slightly perplexed by my water bill as it doubled from £15 to £30 p/m in August "based on my usage" (I'm on a meter) but I don't really understand how that can have doubled when there's one less person living in the house? Yes I started working from home in that time so have been making hot drinks etc, but Dad was retired and at home all day too. The number of showers has halved... But then I spoke to a friend in a similar situation and she pays about the same so I'm not too worried.

I've done the MSE energy club thing and can save about £400 a year if I switch. But I'm due a smart meter so I was thinking of staying til I get that as I'll be really interested to have one, but then I don't know if the company I switch to will be able to support it. Hm. Anyway one thing I did notice was my gas usage being really high even over the summer with no heating on. Surely the hob can't cost that much (the oven is electric)...? The only other thing I can think of is the pilot light on the fire, which is on all the time - maybe that adds up? I've turned it off anyway. It's funny how looking properly at your bills really makes you think about what you're using.

I've also cancelled the sport channels and changed to online billing for the TV etc, and cancelled my premium Spotify account which I rarely use. (Incidentally it's £9.99 for one person or you can get a 'family package' of up to SIX accounts for £14.99 - it really annoys me how everything is so much more expensive for single people )

I've sorted my home insurance finally so I can relax about the place falling down, and I got meerkat movies as well so that's ace.

So my outgoings are now about £500 per month including piggybanking for car costs, dentist, hairdos, etc. Does that seem about right?! That means I should have a good £700 to play with each month, and even after petrol and food that should be loads ... so where does it go?!

I've been tempted by a fitness programme thing my friend is going to do. It's a six week programme of exercise classes and diet, it costs £200 but if you lose 20lbs you get your money back. But because I'm not overweight per se, just at the high end of healthy, I don't know whether losing 20lbs in six weeks would be doable for me. I'm waiting for my friend to get back to me on dates and times of classes etc because I'm not doing it if they're not convenient, and then I'll decide.

I've also seen that there's a new Fitbit out - one that you can take swimming! I already have two Fitbits though So I've decided to challenge myself to make the money through ebay. I have several bits of clothes and furniture that might be worth a bit, that I was going to give to charity out of altruism and laziness, but I'm going to try them on ebay first.

I feel I did make quite a bit of progress on last week's list Here's what I need to do this week (though I am working Tues evening and Thur and Fri).

- Send engagement card and remaining holiday postcards
- Send death cert to union
- Apply for Santander 123
- Sort through charity bags for ebay fodder
- Ebay listings
- Take charity bags to shop
- Plan Spanish scheme of work
- Email schools about this week
- Sort work resources and data tracking paperwork
- Pick up cat steroids from vets
- Take bikes to bike charity place
- Arrange for bulky waste collection
- Arrange for housing charity to pick up furniture
- Plan running session
- Clear out kitchen
- Paint kitchen window recesses and sills
- Paint kitchen ceiling
- Paint kitchen walls

I'm sure I'll think of more...

Whew, good I've got two days of work confirmed so that's a huge relief. It also means I have just two days to get my painting done before the decorator comes to paper the one wall in the kitchen and do the skirting boards. I have the evenings of course but I feel you can't really see what you're doing in artificial light. Argh.

Hi Huskyrunner - thanks for the advice, I do have that exact foam roller actually and a kind of spiky tennis ball too, I just can't bring myself to do it as it's such hard work and it HURTS! That said, both my achilles and hip have been hurting a lot more since my training session on Wed eve (even though I really didn't do much running), and they're aching even when I'm not moving which is a worry. Must up my stretching and rollering game!