Romylou's River of Dreams - Going with the Flow

romylou_2

Well after lurking around on this site since August 2010 I know think that I am confident enough to begin my own Debt Free/Weight Loss Diary.

A bit about me, I'm 32 years old, married to a wonderful bloke (OH) and have a boisterous puppy who will be 2 in February. Those are my boys!

I have a number of things going on in my life that I think would benefit from the shock factor of basically seeing it all in black and white if I'm being honest!!

Ive had my LBM and have decided once and for all to take back control of my life. I think that I have let it spiral away from me a little bit and I feel like I've suffered a little bit because of it (I'm not going to bore you all with the details)

Shock Tactics are needed!!! I don't have a massive amount of debt (and that would be the dreaded CC'c). My major debt is of course the mortgage which I fully intend to tackle once my debt has gone.

I have already prepared my MSE/Food/Spending Diary which I vow to carry around everywhere with me and write it all down so that I can let you all know how I am getting on. Im basically sick of being broke and fat (not a great combination for anyone!!!)

My aim is to get a happy balance between day to day life while managing my finances and maintaining my health/losing weight.

WOW - thats a LOT for one year!! I am going to try and set realistic short term goals, both in relation to my finances and health and fitness and see where I go from there. If I'm successful, please feel free to follow me on my journey, If not, learn from my mistakes as I make them.

So here goes....

romylou_2

:eek: Woke up today and the first thing I did was take a deep breath to prepare myself for getting on the scales!!!!

OMG!!!! Its worse than I thought!

Starting Weight is 13st 12 (194lbs).:( I even got weighed 3 times to make sure the scales were correct( Unfortunately got the same result every time!!)

Well, it WILL only go down from here.

I plodded downstairs and made myself a healthy breakfast of porridge then took my dog for a walk. I must say I felt a little bit better. Must have been the New Year air. I feel invigorated and motivated.

My journey has begun and I will keep you all posted.

tiredofthis

Hi Romy,

I'm just starting too and so far, being able to write down how I'm doing is really helping.

Good luck for 2011.

Tired.

romylou_2

Thanks Tiredofthis, I was beginning to think I was just rambling away to myself:rotfl:.

Writing things down is a bit of a bind initially, but I'm hoping to reap the rewards from it.

Failed miserably yesterday as a NSD. My external HD is now full and I had to order a new one for all of my xmas photo's. I did however, hum and haw about it for a bit, but I do NEED it and its not just a WANT.

I have reluctantly added this as a spend for yesterday:o.

Today has been much better though. I went to work today, with a small snack so I didn't have to buy anything:D

I was super good at work walking past the quality street tin with the remaining chocolates in the bottom. Im determined not to fall at the first hurdle (and passed with flying colours :j

As I write this I also have a chicken in the oven which will feed me and hubby for about 3 days:T (Oh and the dog gets the skin, so he will be happy as well)


Today is a NSD!

determined_new_ms

Hi Romylou (where does this name come from?) good luck with your journey! Liking your lively style of writing

felt a bit weird starting my diary - and its just for a month (never was one for diares ) but then it gathers momentum like a rolling stone...

Good luck with your goals I really wish you every success, if you can resist the quality street you can do anything :rotfl:

romylou_2

My screen name is made up from my dog's name (who is sadly no longer with me but I miss her every day) and my real name.

I got her name from a film called "Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion". It was a comedy and the name suited her perfectly.

I think your diary is really taking off, and I find that posting my diary clears my mind and helps me relax.

Im writing this watching THE UGLY TRUTH on sky, laughing so much, tears were rolling down my face. Gerard Butler is Soooooo Hot!!

(But not a patch on my hubby;))

linz

Hi Romylou, just thought i'd subscribe to your diary as you've written in mine Looking forward to watching you get closer to paying your credit cards off and coming over to the MFW board although I have to say I read a lot of the DFW posts as they are full of good ideas about cutting back. It's where I got a lot of my ideas from

All the best!

[Deleted User]

Hi Romylou
Good luck with your DF and Weight loss journeys.

I am lucky enough to now be debt free and I am only 2lb from the highest of my healthy weight range. I am on Weightwatchers and my start weight was 13st 9.5lb way back in October 2007, I lost 1st 13lb then piled a stone back on before starting again in April 2009, its been hard fluctuating between 12st 9.5lb and 11st 13lb since then until now -The new WW plan was made for me! I should be at goal before February

I am proof it can be done
Good luck again, I will be following with interest
P
X

romylou_2

Thanks Linz and Palema

Im going to be searching high and low through this boards and will hopefully at the end of it all be a Debt Free/ Mortgage Free Moneysaving Megastar:D

But, I have to start at the beginning like everyone else and learn as I go, and hopefully I will be able to pass on my pearls of wisdom to my diary buddies.

Great to see you here.

linz

hmm I don't know if i'd be preaching to the converted on the DFW board but thought i'd share a few small things that I do that I believe save me pennies throughout the month and may help you too. (in no particular order)

- try to walk to work as much as poss, saving petrol.
- When I need petrol I either use Morrisons or Sainsburys and collect Morrisons miles/Nectar points to redeem on shopping.
- Regularly check air in tyres and drive at 65mph on the motorways, I find anything over 70 and my fuel consumption goes up.
- Always prepare a packed lunch for work the night before. Only takes 5 minutes and saves eating in the rip-off canteen.
- Never take purse to work so can't be tempted by shops/vending machine choccies.
- I tend to shop in the evenings at about 7pm when the stuff gets reduced. I pick up great meat/fish/veg/bread offers this way.
- If I'm going out for a meal I look on here for 2for1 vouchers etc.
- Use cashback sites for every online purchase where possible, also look for promotion codes for anything I buy online.
- Look in charity shops for clothes, Wilkos/Savers for toiletries.
- Cook 3 or 4 meal portions and eat one, freeze the rest, (eg chilli, curry, spag bol, shepherds pie). Great for nights when you can't be bothered cooking

Anyway, that's about all I can think of at the mo. Hope you don't mind me posting but thought there may be one or two things you could try too.

romylou_2

Wow thats a great place to start, thanks Linz.

Well im struggling to keep my eyes open so I think its time for me to log off for tonight. I will have a think about my goal list and see how I get on tomorrow.

Night everyone.