Gallygirl's "A journey of 121,226.67 pounds begins with a single penny" diary

abouttimetoo

Hey there Gally, hope all is well


Had a quick lurk earlier and saw a few posts back (on sure if on yours or Tilly's thread) you might both be meeting up in Seville this year. I'm very envious, visited there last year for the first time and loved it


Regards
ATT

apple_muncher

You are rocking your frivolous spends with those reyes magos... Steady on now...

gallygirl

apple_muncher wrote: »

You are rocking your frivolous spends with those reyes magos... Steady on now...

My little men have made me very happy .

Watched the inauguration earlier. Noted the swearing in speech ends 'so help me God'. More like 'God help us all' .

AlexLK

Come on Gally, I walk A LOT more than you and am in freezing Derbyshire.

gallygirl

AlexLK wrote: »

Come on Gally, I walk A LOT more than you and am in freezing Derbyshire.

Will get back to it when I stop sounding like a 60-a-day smoker :eek:.

Kittenkirst

Ooooh Gally I like your steps target, may have to incorporate that into my years planning I average 10k per day (for the past two years so maybe should up that!)

gallygirl

Update Time:
2017 Goals

Financial

• Keep to our fairly generous household budget. Continue to monitor spending and try to build a small surplus. I've rejigged how I keep track so hopefully it will be easier. CONTINUOUS Monitoring Ongoing Hmmmm, still ongoing ish, large overspend last month as bought a new hot water heater, also new lights (but see below for that)
  
• Don't be afraid to spend some of my own money - I've taken (and spent/reinvested) the 25% lump sum but need to overcome my fear of touching at least some on an annual basis. To stop Mr GG moaning about me buying unnecessary things for the house as much as anything :rotfl:. CONTINUOUS Three Kings arrived and are packed away for next year New lights for living room, hallways, stairs and utility room, lights and fitting paid for by yours truly (as Mr GG didn't think we needed them :rotfl:)
  
• Look at how our cash is invested. At present we have a small amount in P2P, a small amount in 5% accounts, 20k getting 3% and the rest is getting 1.2%. Need to think about what to do. BY END OF FEB 17 Oops, no progress Not done - conscious decision to leave as is for the moment. So that counts as DONE really .
• Tax - we're Spanish residents and I need to find someone who can properly advise us, especially as we became resident in September, the Spanish tax year ends 31st December and the UK tax year ends 5th April. BY END OF FEB 17 Oops, no progress Need to supply some info for advisor.
  

Health

• Research going onto the Spanish NHS and register (we have to pay as we're so young ). BY END OF JAN 17 Oops, no progress Need to chase solicitor who was looking at this for us.
  
• Get a grip of my weight (there's plenty to grip ). Stop acting as if we're on holiday - eat out less and drink a lot less. Lose 2.5 stone. 1 stone by Easter 17 1lb off, it's a start . Not exactly rocking it. Lost 5lbs so far.
  
• Inspired by NG, walk 3,000,000 steps :eek:. This is less than 10,000 a days so perfectly doable. CONTINUOUS, BUT NEED TO GET AHEAD AS WILL DROP OFF IN SUMMER Average is over 10,000, but only just. Combination of bad cold & cough coupled with very cold weather and rain have kept me in. Going out today and will do 10,000 - hopefully Average now around 11,300, just over 5 miles a day :T.
  
• Get Well Woman/Well Man checks done. AT LEAST BOOK BY END OF JAN 17 Oops. No action. Want to sort out health service 1st. As above, waiting on health service.
  

Spanish. We are probably in the top 5% of Spanish speaking ex pats but sadly that's a reflection on the others lack of ability rather than our progress.

• Continue with Spanish lessons and practice when we can CONTINUOUS Not exactly rocking it and missed Spanish lesson as unwell Finally feel we are making progress .
  
• Join the 3rd Age bar (though we're officially too young ) to give us access to more Spanish speakers - that is our biggest problem here really. BY END OF JAN 17 Will aim for Sunday We are too young :rotfl:
  
• Investigate intensive courses (I don't think we're ready but no harm in starting to look) BY END OF JAN 17 Have started to have a look No action yet
  

Culture

• Explore more of Spain, a new town or city each month. So far booked: January - Almeria, February - Antequera and Sevilla Almeria was a write-off - came back early as unwell. Next time we'll sneak up on it without warning - last time we went to explore Mr GG was unwell! Antequera and Sevilla visited, both lovely :T
  
• To visit as a minimum: Granada and Cartagena and at least a three day trip elsewhere. Planning a summer road trip :T Northern Spain guidebook has been ordered so planning will start in earnest .
  
• Find out more about the local area. Start by reading the book I bought Mr GG for Christmas last year, which neither of us have read . BY END OF JAN 17 Oops. I could have read it this week Read, and v interesting :T.
  

House

• Decide what to do with lower terrace - then do it!! END OF SUMMER 17 No action No action
  
• Lighting for roof terrace and main terrace - I have some strong and not so strong solar lights which we will probably move round - but need to put hooks up for them. BY EASTER 17 No action - also need to factor in the lighting for the Three Kings. No action
• Sort out drains - previous owner is paying but need to get it done. BY END OF MARCH 17 (let's be realistic here!!!) Action on this :T - taking signed agreement to solicitors today Waiting on start date, chased today. We have the bulk of the money .
  
• Utility room. DK what, just do something with it!!!!! It's too big and characterless. There is room for a temporary bed so need to make sure I leave room for that but I would like a big armoire for linen. That will probably end up being an upcycled wardrobe . BY END OF SUMMER 17 No action Does changing the light fitting count :rotfl:.
• Get foldaway bed that can be used in house or apartment. BY END OF DEC 16 Achieved
  
• Finish painting and recovering stool (abandoned by someone at the bins ) BY END OF FEB 17 No action Had a 'life's too short' moment and chucked it out , I didn't really have anywhere for it to go anyway.
  

Overall it seems I am too busy to achieve much :rotfl:. In other news, won £3 of points in a Yougov draw so only 50p to go to cash-out

FloppyDisk

Gallygirl, are you a project manager by any chance?!:j

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

I was exhausted just reading your list..... Well done x

gallygirl

FloppyDisk wrote: »

Gallygirl, are you a project manager by any chance?!:j

No but I'm a Virgo :rotfl:.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel wrote: »

I was exhausted just reading your list..... Well done x

Would have been impressive if I'd actually achieved any of it .

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