Michelle's Big Push to Christmas Challenge

gratefulforhelp_2

wealth -buy nothing unless we really need it until Jan sales.

A jersey, and some Christmas presents bought.

health - lose 2 stone, walk 40 min minimum weekdays.

One pound lost, but not really trying. Must do better

up the ante-alcohol fridays and saturdays only, no excuses.

Blew this with a couple of crafty Gs n Ts Thurs and Sun

frugal fun - shave £100 off food budget each month.

Hopeless DH going off piste. Will take his card off him!!

Have made sloe gin, though.

themadvix

Health: weight - may have put on a lb but haven't really been trying this week - we didn't play badminton and I didn't go for a walk at all. On the upside I spent Saturday waitressing a wedding so definitely exceeded my 10k steps there. Have also started working and using laptop at ironing board as received shocking information about the increased chance of early death from sitting more than 6 hours a day: http://www.yourhealthyhomebiz.com/ Not affiliated but there are some good ideas there if any of you spend too much time sat down.

Wealth: been a very busy work week again this week so that's good, plus waitressing at weekend. Have only bought essentials too, so low spend week. (Technically that's not true as fiance booked honeymoon :j, but, also technically, that's his money!!:rotfl:)

Up the ante: Have had a really productive this morning getting invoicing up to date - does that count?!:o

Frugal fun: Spent yesterday afternoon "putting beer on" i.e. setting homebrew off, with fiance which is always fun. Also went to a party on Saturday night so that was quality time away from money/work stress. It was fiance's first weekend off in 3 weeks so he was also much more relaxed!

Everyone seems to be doing well - I think having to report in is such a good idea, it certainly makes me more accountable! Have a good week everyone!

Vicky

ajmoney

I went for a run today instead of walking but in a bit of pain now. I hope it will clear quickly. Not doing so well on the rest but I am aiming to get better.

Little*Miss

Can I join? Thanks for the thread cha97michelle!

I really need some small goals to keep me motivated till Jan when hopefully things at house and work have calmed down a bit. I think they are all reasonable and doable.

Money
• Save or OP £1,000 by the end of December 2011.

Health:
• Getting off the Mac by 9pm every night!
• Get into bed by 11pm every night.
• Book an hour out for me each day.
• Get back to my goal weight of 8 stone and get toned.

Up the ante:
• Have 3 NSD’s a week.
• Complete all surveys sent.
• Continue working at my second job till Dec if I can.
• Household- Decorate and furnish the lounge, study, bedroom and bathroom all by xmas.

Frugal Fun:
• Stick to a £50 food budget a week.
• Set a budget for Christmas and stick to it (try and get as many gifts for charity shops car boot etc.)

gratefulforhelp_2

Lost another pound. carting this great big baby around.

Hurdler

Mehhh....
Health I need to lose 2lbs a week for the next few weeks as someone tried to harpoon me to put me out of my misery ... made it damned difficult to get through the door at the lockerroom and getting that spear out was... tough!
I am going to try and cut down on my carbs and as I am away this weekend, and potentially out in south Africa for work the weekend after - I am focussing on veg and using up chicken/fish in the house until I am back and able to blitz the freezer with new provisions.
Low carbs and fat-burning foods for a while...

Wealth my new company's expense system is teeth-achingly slow. BUT it does look like a course that I booked on my own credit card (and got play.com points for) has now been approved for payment - so that should be an extra £1200 into Vernon after pay day.

Up the ante Been reading Butterfly Bee's thread and tried to work out how I could get below the £100K barrier in the next 12 month period. That is a massive... £2500 AT LEAST a month. So there's a challenge, if ever I saw one!

Frugal FundI am doing my finances and filing now - and will be sticking to my plan of actually cutting back on the credit card cashback and loyalty schemes and in light of my ante-upping I think it's the right thing to do. Piggy Banking and Cash Allowances come first.

themadvix

It's Monday, so a quick update...

Health: Been a pretty good week. Played badminton, done two out of my three walks, also waitressed and have stood whilst working a fair bit. This may have been countered by eating rather too much cake this weekend (cousin had made trial wedding cake which I had to test, obviously!).

Wealth: Still very busy with work. Spoke to a relatively new client who has just given me a very large project to do, so pretty happy about that.:beer: Savings-wise, I'll have to wait till I get paid to see where I'm at. While I have proper work other things have slipped, but that's only to be expected.

Up the ante: Invoicing is all up to date :j

Frugal fun: hmm.... could do better - it's so hard balancing money-making (especially self-employed) and having time away from it.

Hope you don't all mind me waffling on.... The challenge is really helping to focus me!

Vicky

Ruthy1604

Hi all,

Thought I'd do my weekly update , even though not much has changed.

wealth - Start OP mortgage in September & get the balance in the £88Ks by Jan 2012 (currently £89K+) Previousy, I have been disheartened by the tiny effect that the OP's I can afford will make, but I am determined to start. Still only made the one tiny OP. Things are a bit tight this month & we HAD to buy DS an x-box for his birthday

health - lose 5lbs before my hols in October. I go to SW & have just got back within my target range after a blip, but I want to lose more so that I can eat what I want on hols. I also want to continue to run 3 times a week and not find excuses. The kids go back to school next week & that will mean I'll have to get up earlier I recently completed the Couch to 5K programme (took me a lot longer than 9 weeks tho), so I really want to keep it up. Stayed the same this week, but TBH I didn't really try very hard. No running at all this week - DH has been working most of the weekend AGAIN :mad:so I had the kids to look after. I did do the Wii fit 5 days for 15-20 mins instead though. Must try harder.

up the ante - I am going to try for no takeaways or meals out until our hol, then maybe once per month in Nov & Dec. I am going to get back to doing surveys to get vouchers for Xmas - I have recently got sidetracked by Farmville :eek: I am also going to stop drinking wine except for Thursdays & Saturdays (we take turns with our friends to host an open house on Thursdays so no wine isn't an option unless i'm driving). But I will open no more than 1 bottle of my own wine per week. I have been good this week No meals out & wine on Thursday only. No more Yougov surveys & I've done a couple for IPSOS this week.

I am also going to clear our the kids clothes and sell them at our local NCT sale this month. Done this but still waiting for the cheque. Listed 20 items on ebay too. (3 bids so far £2.98 ) Also sorted out DD's wardrobe & put aside a load to give to my sister & more to ebay/NCT next year.

frugal fun - I am gonna try to spend more quality time with DH, without going out and spending money. No done much of this cos he is never here. :mad:

Work - I have a full time job, but I also do some accounts at home. MY september challenge is to do the 2 sets of accounts sitting on my home office floor, and also do last years tax return. I know I will feel better for doing then, but I am findng any excuse at the moment. No further progress this week, tax returns done, waiting for stuff from clients on other 2 so all up to date.

I also started my Xmas shopping by ordering some supercheap lego from America. We will be there in 3 weeks so I have had it delivered to our hotel - I just hope its there waiting for me!

Keep the updates coming!


Ruth

greent

Count me in! Am only on page 2 so haven't read all the ideas so far, but think I want mine to be:

Health - lose 7lbs (need lots more, but am bring realistic!)

Wealth - pay an extra (on top of regular) £485 in OPs - to bring year end mtge to just under £76k.

Up the ante - list min 20 things on ebay each month
- takeaways to 1/ month (almost weekly at the mo)
- eating out 1/ month (that's cos we have birthdays coming up)
- go through the whole house before Xmas (eek!) to ensure everywherre has been cleaned, tidied, decluttered (it'll all come back again, but at least I'll keep some of it at bay!!)

Frugal fun - stick to GC budget of £450/ month (includes all nappies, toiletries, cleaning stuff, pet stuff and newspapers as well as food and drink for 6 of us, so I don't think I can cut this much more)
- Xmas - how low can I reasonably go? What presents have I already got that I can give to people? What can I make for people? Any unusual things from places like ebay for people?


SEPT Targets:
List 5 things on ebay
Stick within GC budget


Off to read some more of what others have been posting!

puddle96

Missed my weekly updates due to being run ragged at work so a quick catch up since last time.

Wealth - not too bad. My share of holiday accommodation paid in cash. Money in savings account to pay cash for repairs to front garden (burning a hole- want to OP it) and a little left in the bank/purse pre payday

Health - think that was the wine and sadly no improvement there
Up the ante - have walked daily and made it up the big hill twice, it should have been more but its either been lashing it down or way too hot on my other days off.

NSD - i've managed two which is a novelty. I could call it three as my shopping trip yesterday was spending birthday money/vouchers I'd been given (yes I was the mad woman stocking up on thermal socks on the hottest day for a long time). Today won't be a NSD as i need petrol, a haircut and have to stock the cat supplies up

Off on a week away tomorrow - there will be no NSD's, plenty of wine and lots of walking but its all planned not to damage the wealth too much. Will start again properly when I return