301k in debt and morbidly obese - things aren't great!

MrBloater

Done 68.5km of running this month so far and provided I don't miss a day I should just about get to the 100km target I set myself. Will double that target for January.

Have shifted £500 to a savings account (only another £4500 to go) - I know it would be better being taken off a credit card but this way we have instant access if we need it, but also will have to question ourselves as to why we are taking money out of the holiday pot. I'm aiming to get £1000 in there for February as there won't be council tax or any Christmas spending.

Have also decided that once the summer is over the next big saving thing is going to be next Christmas. I intend to pay for everything Yule-related in cash upfront. It's either going to be a very modest Christmas or we are going to have to keep our moneysaving hats on very tight all year.

All the decorations are safely put away in the loft and the only other challenge left for me today is to start gathering together the 100 items I will be listing over the weekend. Might also chuck another 100 on at 99p starting price as well. Cos of our proximity to the M25 I'm going to dabble with 'collection only' to get over the general heinousness of Royal Mail / Ebay postal charges.

Buffythedebtslayer

have you considered Preloved or Gum tree to sell stuff? if you are prepared to do collection only
x

beanielou

Or in our area we have a local FB buying & selling page for parents.

MrBloater

3km wobble last night has been swiftly followed up with an 8km stride this morning. It's going to mean a lot to me psychologically to hit a self-imposed target by month end. Am not concerned about the weight loss at the moment, just getting the 100km done will do for now - can't juggle too many things at the same time.

There's definitely a "Squash and a Squeeze" vibe in our house just now - it seems absolutely giant now that Christmas has been taken down - so any dreams of halfmillion palaces are being put on the backburner for now.

Time for an infernal list.
1) Mend fence
2) Put more bells and whistles on the family spreadsheet
3) Gather together more sellable material for a proper massive listing session tomorrow night

MrBloater

Grrr. A frustrating day for many reasons.
1) Making the list. When I make a list and then achieve precisely sod all of it then I get more aggrieved than if I hadn't.

2) Self Assessment. It seems I might be on the cusp of having to pay back some Child Benefit but (in my new positive manner) I was happy to finally get the activation code in the post this morning so I could log on - unfortunately I did not screenprint the Gateway ID and so have had to go through a convoluted process which could take 3 days to reissue me my Gateway ID - was hoping to get the form done by the 30th so it will be tight.

3) I'm actually scaring myself at how miserly I can be. I'm sticking to lists, using vouchers, keeping receipts and going for the cheapest brands in everything, ignoring all the BOGOF or 3 for 2 malarky unless it involves staples of the Bloater household like Bacon and er, Bacon. Am aiming to get our weekly shop down to something like £70 - that's a lot more than some folk on here but a lot less than we are used to.

4) Set up another savings account today - for Christmas 2014. It only has a quid in it but that's more savings than I've had in a number of years.

5) The late night / early morning run combinations are not good for me. Has to be mornings only from now on - it is screwing with my sleep patterns bigtime. Getting up at 4.30am and doing a trundle is great, but not if I've been doing the same at 11pm the previous night.

amber03

Mr B everything you are doing is a step in the right direction, keep up the good work, I am being more scrooge like and lovin it.xx

chevalier

I think there is a challenge on here somewhere, about saving a pound a day for xmas. That way by the time you get to xmas you have 365 pounds, which would pay for most of the presents...

Also you can start now on planning christmas! ie get crackers, wrapping paper and cards and stupidly cheap prices, and that will save you a lot. It also can mean that you can get better quality stuff (eg posher crackers than you would usually afford) for bargain prices.

Likewise, if you generally know what your little ones are going to want for xmas (or birthdays), then keep an eye on things like the grabbit board and freebies board on here, and on hotdealsuk, for those item. I tend to spend about 20 pounds on each person. But often that has bought me 80 to 100 pounds worth of presents because of bargain hunting.

Good luck
chev

MrBloater

It all goes round in circles. Was looking back at my festive posts last year and among my concerns were fitting into my suit on the first day back at work and fixing the fence. However this year's Mr Bloater has a few more tricks up his sleeve.
1) Sorted out the spreadsheet for both money and exercise, basically I can't update one without the other one being in my face which should help - forensically went through all the weight trackers and exercise logs we have done over the years and have found the unsurprising fact that we lose the most weight when we are measuring ourselves daily. Also found I have a weight where I always boomerang back from so will be keeping an eye on that. Both Mrs B and myself are going to be keeping our routines simpler from now on - we are both doing the 30 day Ab challenge and the Squats challenge, and she's also doing Yogalates and I'm sticking with the running.

2) The errant fence is 50% fixed - because it's an old style sturdy beast I'm loath to chuck it despite its preference for lounging around on the grass rather than fulfilling its fencely duties, but I used all my engineering skills today in reconfiguring it - spending a happy two hours outside with hacksaw, crowbar, hammer, screws, nails, metal clamps and cable ties. Took the whole section of fence apart and rebuilt it (I could go into further details but will spare you) and am hoping the predicted storms tonight don't spoil things.

Cup of tea and early night methinks. Although the bottle of white which has been in the fridge since before Christmas is creeping into my thoughts.

MrBloater

7.5km run done - provided I get at least 5.5km done tomorrow I will have met my target of 100km for the month. This will be a big win for me. I love making the lists and setting the targets but rarely if ever reach the goal. Also managed day 1 of the Ab Challenge and Squat Challenge. Not sure how I got through either, and the amount of creaking was quite frankly alarming. Will definitely need to stock up on cod liver oil.

Kinda scared to peek outside the window in case my precision engineered fence fell down. Have to also remind myself that it does not reflect upon my status as a husband and father if said fence is down, it does not equate to me being a failure, if anyone helpfully suggests that we need to get a professional in I promise not to sulk and I can't let it trash my day or give me an excuse to get a bottle of red tonight. Cos that's what the old Bloater would have done.

Of course nothing is ever simple. The torch lives on a window sill currently inaccessible due to the washing racks laden with laundry. I tried to deftly manoeuvre around them to not wake anyone up and got a bit stuck - like Father Christmas in the Raymond Briggs book when he gets caught up in a TV aerial. Thankfully the racks didn't fall down (surprising really seeing as they have also been fixed with my precision engineering skills - ie, cable ties) and torch was retrieved. And was delighted to learn that fence has lasted the night. I felt like giving it a hug but as I was barefoot and clad only in boxer shorts I thought it best to get back inside.

gallygirl

MrBloater wrote: »

And was delighted to learn that fence has lasted the night. I felt like giving it a hug but as I was barefoot and clad only in boxer shorts I thought it best to get back inside.

Best not to Mr B - that might have been the final straw .

100km is not to be sniffed at :T. If you had done a Forrest Gump on day 1 and kept on running, where would that 100km have taken you?