Hurdler's Race to be Mortgage-Free

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

gallygirl wrote: »

I have used veg oil before for this .

Lead pencil works too (and on sticky zips!)

Hurdler

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice wrote: »

Lead pencil works too (and on sticky zips!)

Oh really??? that's a new one on me.... will remember that one

Sepa74

Oh dear, bummer about the client not wanting anything for November

But really glad the networking is starting to pay off... fingers crossed you'll be able to get bits and bobs of consultancy, which will leave you lots of time to write!

Hurdler

Sepa74 wrote: »

Oh dear, bummer about the client not wanting anything for November

But really glad the networking is starting to pay off... fingers crossed you'll be able to get bits and bobs of consultancy, which will leave you lots of time to write!

Yeah - and... study! I printed off module 2 of my course - all 67 pages of it! I think the lesson I need to have learned from my diploma is.... WRITE UP REVISION NOTES AS YOU GO!!!!!

Hurdler

Ok - those 67 pages of Change Management Module are looking at me. And I am looking at them. There's a whole looking stand-off thing going on!

No sports writing opps opening up, so I am going to start nagging my journo-course bestie to really commit to his idea of running a Sporting Brit-watch site, as the Editor of the Sports Agency attached to my school said they were retiring their site (they saw it more as a PR thing anyway).
I am just going to keep hassling the other editor who acts as a journalism mentor to ex students...

Some good news maybe coming from consulting client - I did my first pass of material for a presentation, and they raised the prospect of doing half a day of workshop facilitation for them, so they can get a feel for working with me for more consultative pieces of work (so that really should motivate me to tackle this stupid module)!
They liked what I had done, and they're ok if this creeps over into more than a day of work - which is good... (as it probably will be!).

Waiting to hear if my 2nd piece for sportsister.com is ok...

And... I managed to nobble my knee yesterday... so taking things easy today - I don't need to go get new milk until tomorrow so this is a no-spend day after splurging £3 on parking (but a lovely lovely former colleague paid for lunch yesterday when I met up with her and her daughter in town).

Going for a bit of a nap as I didn't sleep well for a lot of the night as turning tweaked my knee sharply enough for me to wake up yelping.

Then ... study. Honest!
(but I did send the training company my 2nd blog... so not a complete deadloss of a day!)

Hurdler

Well fired up by my freezer sorting, I just came back from Mr T and decided to sort out my pull out larder.

I now have jars galore, and frozen food galore, so with the exception of fridge perishables and things like cereal and the household stuff (bog roll, kitchen towl etc)... I am REALLY hoping that I can keep my shopping down and manageable within my £75 a month going to the Clubcard PLus savings.

I have to go to the physio today - my knee flared up and I haven't been able to train since Monday morning... I am praying it's not going to be bad news, and that I can keep training through November.

Having used MyFitnessPal and training and eating more healthily and reducing portions slightly has seen me lose half a stone, so will see if I can still cycle, maybe use the cross trainer and swim until I can run on my knee again. That and make sure I get my money's worth from the gym!

Sepa74

Ouch! Sorry to hear about the knee. Keeping fingers crossed for you. Good news on the consulting front, though, and good luck with the study

Vala-Mal-Doran

Hurdler wrote: »

Ok - those 67 pages of Change Management Module are looking at me. And I am looking at them. There's a whole looking stand-off thing going on!

:rotfl:

Oh how I can relate to that, 2 assignments to be uploaded tonight and one still only half done whilst im whiling away time on MFW diaries..If it helps any, reading yours has inspired me to get on with it as I am so impressed by how motivated you are (I can see in your situation you need to be!) and as my assignments are for work I feel I should attack them with the same enthusiasm that you do. :T

Also I want to quiz you on paid blogging etc but I told myself I cant until I have finally got these darn things submitted!!

V

Hurdler

OK a bit later than planned...

Housey Housey for first month of new year:



Vernon has a bit of money in his tum - enough to pay another half amount later this month ...



Will be billing for a couple of days of Writing/Consultancy at the end of this week, and have got a single assignment fee for a piece of writing due for the end of the month.

Met briefly with main client and it looks as though he has secured some kind of preview work, and there seems to be some interest with the next load of reviews, so hopefully... once he has launched his new "label" then that work will pick up.
But the consultancy work might also pick up as the firm want me to do some sporadic days of workshops with them...

Still going to give it to April to see if I can make it work.
If not... proper job and writing as a hobby

Hurdler

Well I really don't know why I never really properly read the labels of chili or spag Bol sauce jars before - in the past I have lobbed a 500kg pack of mince in a pan, browned it, chucked sauce in - and hurrah!!! I did find I would not be able to finish the defrosted leftovers when I had them because they were huge ladles of the stuff!!!

I took out a half kilo of mince today to clear out some space in the freezer as per my plan and noticed that the jars asked for approx 300g. Approx means 250g is plenty good enough for a jar of sauce in my book!!:rotfl:

So plan is to batch cook both jars tomorrow use the Lakeland Soup and Store bags to flat pack and give myself a lot more choice for quick food before having to buy more mince.

Hopefully it will aid the weight loss as the portions will not be anywhere near as bulky and I won't end up throwing stuff I can't finish away. Now maybe they will be a bit closer to a realistic calorie count and I get a bit of variety in the freezer which will make sticking to my plan to scoff from the fridge/larder and freezer and not giving in to takeaways.

In fact because I have had to do rehab sessions in the gym this month I am not burning anywhere nearly as many calories as I was before I hurt my knee so I have had to really plan carefully to stay at around 1200 net (so typically around 1400 cals a day with whatever exercise calories I have earned for the day! :j

This week has been the first where I have had soup pretty much every lunch time (homemade) and I have ingredients for tomato soup which I will make on Sunday to start the new week.

I will have to invest in the Lakeland green bags after a glowing recommendation from a friend who's a veggie - I was saying that things like my asparagus tips just disintegrate and go all mushy about half way through the 2nd week before I go buy my groceries.
And the best thing is the bags can be re-used ...:cool:

I am out for a friend's birthday on Sat but not going out to a club later with them - knee too painful for it, and can't afford it. I had the discipline to not go out when I was in debt and it is time to tap into that.
I will walk back into town with them and then get a train back to Kingston so that the cab home is cheaper than one from Wimbledon.:beer:

By Sunday my mortgage payment will have gone through and I have enough to pretty much cover December's outgoings and can afford to pay another half of my payment towards the mortgage so will update November's house-bricks and Vernon at the weekend! :A