Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Smart_Mart

Another day with little or nothing to report really. I must have readers deserting in droves by now...:rolleyes:

Boys were here until 5pm. They both woke up this morning and sneaked into my bed at 5.30am and as a result, were tired all day. Stayed in although it was tempting to go for a walk.

Quiz night at the pub but came well down the field. Only cost a pound as we still had drinks vouchers from previous successes but did a mini-shop for milk etc (£4.87) and £7.00 of petrol which means I'm broke.... but only for another half an hour or so till my money goes in.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Smart

Thanks for your suggestion on my diary. Well done with getting some goals in place. Its been good to read your updates, have been feeling a bit out of it all today and worried about things. Have lots I can do at home, nothing though that will generate money TODAY with the weather as it is. Am therefore focusing on doing what I can. I will read with interest how you get on over the next 50 days. Take care. PandF

Smart_Mart

Struggling a bit at the moment as can't see anyway out of this. Creditors circling, health is suffering a bit now and I'm just so knackered all the time....

Yesterday was good though. Did the courier jobs in the morning and evening then in between went down to a seminar in Bristol on video editing of football highlights. Great meeting and had time for a game of darts with a couple of friends down there too.

Today is still snowy and should really get on and deliver papers but my feet are killing me. Don't laugh but they have ben hurting for a week now since I did the papers last week. I did them a bit flat-footed so I didn't slip over but now I'm paying for it now.

Day in today although did go out earlier looking for a 2010 diary. Need to give myself a kick up the a**e really and stop feeling sorry for myself.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Smart

We are all entitled to feel sorry for ourselves from time to time. If your feet are hurting, and your work can wait another couple of days then leave it till then. Feet are v important! and by doing more on hurting feet it will only make you more tired and so the vicious circle will go on. I say this from personal experience! Take care Smart and have a good rest of a day!

Smart_Mart

Thanks PAF....:T

Listened to a life coach on the radio last night and a lot of what he said resonated with how I feel and treat life. He was talking about people who start New Year's resolutions but don't keep them going - it's a huge percentage not surprisingly.

The main reason why people fail, apparently, is that they try to do too much at once. Some people might have only one resolution, i.e. giving up smoking but instead of easing down on their cigarette consumption, they cut them out altogether and can't handle it. They give in, have one and bang goes another resolution. If they cut from 20 a day to fifteen a day, still around one an hour, they would be more likely to succeed. Then cut from 15 to 10, 10 to 5 and so on.

All this waffle has led me to make a decision. My eating habits fluctuate with my moods; the more down I am, the more I eat. I get angry with myself for failing and end up eating more, hence I now stand (and sit) at my heaviest weight ever. What I need to do is to sort things out holistically, the root cause of my eating, which is basically my disorganisation, my money troubles and my life in general. Once that is sorted out, the healthy eating will follow.

Therefore, and some will see this as an excuse, I'm not bothered about the healthy eating right now. Sure I'll look at what I'm eating and no, I won't go silly having c**p every day to eat but it's not going to be the be all and end all of my life. Better I get things sorted in my life and feel happy within myself then I'm more likely to be successful in my weight loss.

The jobs I listed at the weekend will help me to achieve this so it's full steam ahead now. I've started to take more responsibility re the money troubles. Today I negotiated an easy payment plan with British Gas for my electric bill (£160, half of which has gone to a final notice threatening a warrant of right of entry). They are going to calm things down and accept £32 a month from me which will cover the arrears, my last bill and my future bills too. Last week I rang and the guy (from India btw) said the arrears had to be cleared before I could enter a payment plan; today the guy couldn't be more helpful and did all he could to keep things on an even keel. Funny how one organisation can have two employees with such differing attitudes.

Spending has stopped for today. Bought a diary off E-Bay today as I desperately need one (only cost £4.74, might only be £2.99 if he lets me collect it - he's local). Shamed to say I had a McDonalds last night (don't ask), put £15 on the gas card, £25.00 in petrol and did a spot of shopping (£6.42) though had to be careful as paid first of three payments this month in rent (£280).

Sorry for the long post but felt it necessary to get things off my chest.

Smart_Mart

All that great big string of waffle and I forgot to post that I bought a cheap, new toaster yesterday in Asda for £4.47....:D

Snow came down in a fair quantity last night so will be hopeful that the newspapers can be delivered again with no deadline this week again. Until the, am burying myself in paperwork and getting the house a little straighter.

Smart_Mart

Managed to dig a deep hole in my paperwork today and desk looks a lot tidier.

Had the boys around this afternoon / evening so popped into Tesco to do a half-shop (£7.47) which is all I spent today.

Most of the papers came today but I'm in the football club all day tomorrow so can't deliver them until Friday which will hopefully mean the great thaw will have started by then.

Budgeting hard again this week. I have £58 to last until next Wednesday. Out of that, I am on emergency on the gas, need another half a week's shopping and will need petrol in the car tomorrow lunchtime.

benbenandme

Mart, having read your last few posts I'm going to give you my outlook on it - you may not want my opinion or agree with it but hey here it is anyway

1. I agree with what you've said about the healthy eating, best to focus on other stuff right now and deal with that one in due course
2. It seems that you spend an awful lot of money on gas card and small top-up shops. Now I'm no psychologist but I wonder if part of the reason for the daily top-ups are loneliness / to see people? I don't mean that to be offensive, but maybe as you miss having the twins around all the time you are seeking contact with other people?
3. Your list of jobs is a very positive step :T
4. However, on your list there are several items to be bought / sourced, yet you have bought a toaster which wasn't on the list? maybe it was missed off the list or maybe you just fancied a new one, but these regular small additions can scupper your plans
5. I have 2 bits of advice, not saying you should do it but its what I would do in your situation; (a) measure all the windows, write it on a bit of paper or save it on your phone, and then when you're out and about if you see any curtains / blinds in a sale / charity shop you will know straight away if they'll fit, and (b) get yourself over to the freebie board and start claiming some free bits and pieces. I had a freediary sent to me this week, thats £4 odd you could have saved. Some of the freebies you may not want to keep but could be used for the twins, for gifts or ebay'ed

Hope you don't feel I'm lecturing you, I'm just trying to tell you how it looks from reasing your posts Good luck

Smart_Mart

benbenandme wrote: »

Mart, having read your last few posts I'm going to give you my outlook on it - you may not want my opinion or agree with it but hey here it is anyway

1. I agree with what you've said about the healthy eating, best to focus on other stuff right now and deal with that one in due course
2. It seems that you spend an awful lot of money on gas card and small top-up shops. Now I'm no psychologist but I wonder if part of the reason for the daily top-ups are loneliness / to see people? I don't mean that to be offensive, but maybe as you miss having the twins around all the time you are seeking contact with other people?
3. Your list of jobs is a very positive step :T
4. However, on your list there are several items to be bought / sourced, yet you have bought a toaster which wasn't on the list? maybe it was missed off the list or maybe you just fancied a new one, but these regular small additions can scupper your plans
5. I have 2 bits of advice, not saying you should do it but its what I would do in your situation; (a) measure all the windows, write it on a bit of paper or save it on your phone, and then when you're out and about if you see any curtains / blinds in a sale / charity shop you will know straight away if they'll fit, and (b) get yourself over to the freebie board and start claiming some free bits and pieces. I had a freediary sent to me this week, thats £4 odd you could have saved. Some of the freebies you may not want to keep but could be used for the twins, for gifts or ebay'ed

Hope you don't feel I'm lecturing you, I'm just trying to tell you how it looks from reasing your posts Good luck

Hi BB, thanks for taking the time and trouble to post. As I said before, your opinions are always welcome as you're always constructive, never belittling and damn good at this sort of stuff yourself.

Best way (seeing as I can't figure that split quoting stuff out) is to take it point by point.

1. I'm genuinely pleased you agree with that. I know that life coaches can appear a bit "preachy" for some people but it sounded like he was talking to me when he was on the radio that night. Before, when I've lost a good amount of weight, I've been much happier in life generally so if I get myself organised, sort my money out and start building up savings maybe, my weight might come off.

2. I don't see your opinion as offensive, in fact I've never seen any of your posts even border on offensive. I'll try to explain the frequent top-ups and shops as I see them. Often in the past, I've had situations where I have a set amount of money, say £50, and I've spent a fair proportion of that on petrol, or gas, or food, or anything really. This has left me short when it has come to other things that I've needed whereas if I buy in short bursts, so to speak, I've always got money. Does that make sense? Maybe I would be better sticking £30 - £40 on the card at once but if I did that, I'd be short in other areas. I guess that with arrears in various areas, I've never got a big surplus to allocate like most people. You might be correct regarding the loneliness bit - I don't particularly feel that lonely but maybe subliminally I do feel like that without knowing.

3. Thank you!

4. The toaster was a replacement for my one that packed in. I'm not sure whether I forgot the toaster off the list or if it had even broken but I take the point about it scuppering my plans. You can probably add several other things over the past few months that have occurred in similar circumstances to the toaster.

5. I've started to look around the board more recently but I still could do better, I think. I've actually got the curtain sizes written down and I scour gumtree.com and Trade-It several times a day in their freebie / cheap home and garden sections to look for stuff. Last month, I picked up a set of 7' x 7' lined curtains for a fiver from gumtree and they've often got good deals on stuff.

Finally, please don't worry about posting whatever you like on my thread. Your opinion is valued ( I know that sounds naff, so sorry about that) but you have a good way of dealing with stuff and although our circumstances are miles apart, I can learn stuff from you and from everyone else who does a diary on the board. Maybe people can learn stuff from me too even if it is only how not to do it!!

benbenandme

cool, glad you weren't offended okay, some more thoughts ... carrying on the freebie challenge, how about one evning when you're bored, google energy saving tips and see how many you can do ... of course theres the obvious like turning lights off, not using tumble dryer etc etc ... but there are loads and loads of others that may make a big difference to your bills; try and implement as many as poss ... make a sausage dog for draught excluder etc, doesnt need to cost anything,just get an old shirt or something and stuff with carrier bags if nothing else, all helps ... see it as a new hobby, get creative, find ways of doing stuff without spending ... eg, the desk tidy ...DONT BUY ONE!!! ...next time the twins are round get them to make one from junk modelling stuff (old jars / tins etc), paint it or decorate it and then it will remind you of them each time you use it and it will give them something to do when they are round that doesn't cost ny money