I want to break free........

BADPENNY_2

Just on my lunch break i am allowing myself untill 230pm on here and then i have to finish my jobs list, so far today i have.......
washed last nights tea dishes
stripped and washed bedding
washed darks , all on the line blowing
posted oh's job application
wrapped 3 parcels for ebay and walked to post office.
prepared a tuna/pasta saled for tommorrows lunch

its such a lovely day today and it has set me thinking about a holiday... this will be our 3rd year of not having one and i know we can't afford it but i want one and this is how we have ended up indebt in the first place. but i think we need one, we never go out, we now don't smoke, we will of paid of the car loan very soon sooo i want a holiday! I have made a little deal with myself, My annual leave is booked for August so if we can save the money by then we can have a holiday if we havnt then we cant but we must continue to pay off our credit cards ect as usuall. We usually book last minute anyway as there is just the 2 off us we can get some good deals. Also a holiday will really get me motivated to lose some weight and get back into exercisng.

right of to catch up on some threads... back later

Sun_Addict

Hi BP

Glad to see you're still on the straight and narrow. Hope you get your holiday. On The Beach do some really cheap deals if you haven't tried them before. You can't beat a holiday for giving you the motivation to get in shape.

BADPENNY_2

Hi sunaddict thanks for stopping by. Been thinking about a holiday all afternoon and think i will broach the subject with oh this evening. we both need something to look forward to and i think i will check out on the beach later this evening to try and get some insperation although i'm not fussy, anywhere hot with a beach is right up our street!

Have got all my tasks achived today and as its been such a nice day decided to go for a long walk. was out for i hour and felt so energised when i got back i managed to do 100 squats. see, just thinking about a holiday has got me moving. I've put on about 1 stone since packing in the fags so i want to start shifting it now. i've devised an exercise plan that starts on Sunday, the aim is to fit exercise into every day and be as active as I possibly can be every day. See what you think.

Sunday - 1 hour power walk (going to try and get o/h to come with me so its more like quality time for us rather than 'exercise')
Monday - 1 hour total body tone class.
Tuesday - Day off work - 1 hour power walk and 45minutes legs,bums and tums class.
Wednesday - 1 hour power walk (again hopefully with oh)
Thursday - 1 hour total body tone class.
Friday - Day off - 1 hour power walk. 1 hour cardio in gym
Saturday - 1 hour total body tone, 1 hour pilates.

I know it sounds like a lot to begin with but I need to exercise daily otherwise I tend to loose focus. I'm not going to diet but i'm going to focus more on eating healthy and making sure I'm getting my 5 a day, cut back on the crisps and choc and drink more water. I'm also gonna try and be more active in work, my job is part office based part manual work if that makes sense so if i'm having a day where i'm not moving as much i'm going to try and get out for a bit at lunch time, take the stairs ect.
Sorry for the long post but just wanted to get it down on paper so I feel a bit more commited. Actually think i will start tommorrow and go to the gym after work for 1 hour. Right have to start thinking about tea now, back later.

gilligansyle

Hi, well done for posting again, and still being non smokers. You are still focussed, that's what matters.

I lost my focus with the weight, because of not working. The gym was on my way home from work. Now it takes a special effort as its in entirely the wrong direction.

BADPENNY_2

:hello::hello::hello: Hello, cant belive I havn't been on here for 4 months. So much has happend since my last entry, I decided to take the holiday, we went to kos for a week in May, which unfortunatly ended up on the credit card so I am a little bit more in debt now but am determined to pay it off. Had a great time though so don't regret it. we are still both non-smokers:j which is great and we honestly don't even think about cigs anymore which we both still can't quite belive, don't think i'll ever go back to them now. I have been going to the gym religiously 3-4 times a week and I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!. I do a mixture of classes and having an instuctor standing over me has really help push me and keep me focused and best of all I have lost 15lbs without dieting and my body feels transformed, I have dropped a dress size and have what is begining to look like the start of a six pack. (this is not a wind up honestly)

Anyway I have not been as focused on clearing my debts of late so my new resolve is to keep my diary on the straight and narrow with regular updates as when I don't make regular entrys I loose focus. I need to get my finances in order once and for all, so from now on i'll be updating daily!

BADPENNY_2

morning,

weather is nice and dry today so I'm going to get started on my tasks for today,

weed front garden path
trim hedge
weed back garden
washing on line.

I'm going to use this gardening time to think about some challenges i have picked up on memory girls thread, make £100 last for as long as possible for food/grocerys freeing up potentially £100 that i can use to make some overpayments on our debts which I am going to break down into smaller managable chunks and 'chart' so i have something visual to inspire me!!!!!!!!

Need to update signature as debt is slightly higher now due to holiday.
eat sensibly today
legs/bums/tums tonight
A definate nsd.

more later.

BADPENNY_2

Money needed to pay remaining direct debits this month £982
Money in bank to pay remaining direct debits £987
Money left for grocerys £25
money left in purse 2.50
days until pay day 17......................

have just done a quick stocktake and have enough for 16 evening meals so the £25 should be enough for topping up milk,bread ect. I am also off work the week before payday so no travel expenses there. I am covered this week for travel with the exception of Thursday which will use up my £2.50, soooooooo this means I'm gonna have to have the remainder of my month as nsd's... can it be done, damn right it can and it will cause i'm not using my card, i mean it!

had a very productive day with mse time built in as little rewards a long the way, have actioned all my jobs on my list and i'm now having a little chill out time. One thing I do need to do is re-calculate my debts which i'm not looking forward to doing and then i'm going to come up with a proper plan of attack.

later...........

gilligansyle

:wave:Welcome back to diary land. Well done on the non smoking and the weight loss, you must be so pleased.

BADPENNY_2

I am gs I am and so determined now not to fall back into my old ways. Now I just need the same determination to clear my debts.

I have done the sums and I am in for just under 13k:eek:. Now I have a plan thanks to a fab tip on memory girls make do and mend thread. I have a piece of paper onto which i have drawn a grid that contains 209 boxs, each box represents £62 and the 209 little box's of £62 add up to the £13k that i owe. SOOOOOOOO in addition to my minimum repayments which is all I am paying at the moment I have to make 209 overpayments of £62! simple. Then I can coulour in one of my little box's. I thinking the visual reminder of how much I have paid will help motivate me. So thats the easy bit the hard bit is how do I find 209 x £62?? Of the top of my head I have managed to come up with the following.........

Sell all old/unwanted cd's on music magpie
sell all old books to amazon
Dig out any old gold I have lying around (not much)
copper/silver jar
car boot sales (i am also trying to declutter the house)
ebay, ebay,ebay
reduce food budget to £150 for next couple of months and then try and reduce further.
investigate any savings that could be made on utilities.


Can't think of anything else at the moment but i'm sure there are other ways that I havn't thought about. Any ideas anybody.....
I need to keep it quite simple, I really don't want to take on a second job ect as my full time job requires me to be flexible with my
hours and I don't really have time tbh so I am looking for things that I can do as and when I have the time.

Right first task to be actioned by end of week is to list as many of my cd's as possible, I want to make my first £62 fast.

Another thing happend today as I had been thinking about how I was going to struggle to make my £2.50 last 17 days i found a pound coin, couple of minutes later i looked down and found another pound coin:j. Then I remebered i have got 25euro in my holiday purse that i never got around to changing when i got home! so not quite as skint as I thought, ha!

Sun_Addict

Hi BP - great to see you back. You sound like a different person! Is this the same BP we used to know who hated the gym and had no motivation? Wow! Love the boxes idea! Well done!