Michelle's Big Push to Christmas Challenge

newgirly

Hello fellow challengees

this month I have :

• lost 5lb in weight
• exercised once a week, sometimes twice(could do a lot better!)
• have started a live off £10 per day for food/petrol/clothes etc.and stuck to it.
• tried a couple of new receipes in the slow cooker and cooked from scratch most of the time.
• bought a few more xmas presents and the kids stocking fillers, with help from ebay and the grabbit board.

this month I haven't:

• Cut out alcohol mon-fri but have cut down massively in the last week or so as not well!
• exercised enough
• made any homemade sockmonkeys for xmas
• used the sewing machine dh bought me in August, oops.
• gone out with dh on a date , or cooked a romantic meal

Will hopefully do better next month.

Hurdler

Health After miserably putting on a pound and a half over the two pounds I have been trying to lose to get below 11st... I am BACK to 11st 2lb... however - I have 2 weeks for work in Cape Town, so will TRY to eat a bit more healthily - but I am with a bunch of workaholics who will probably want to work day and night. So heaven only knows what I'll come back as. Oh and note to self - no swimming in open water when Shark warnings abound! Luckily there is a fitness suite and a pool in the hotel so that's good!

Wealth Salary in and it's about what I thought it would be. I do owe a fair bit of tax for the next year so I expect it to drop a bit but still some good potential to overpay. Also I got my Halifax Clarity card so I will have commission free spending for this business trip on it. The saga of expenses continueth - still no expenses so I am waiting for about £60 or so of Oyster Travel and... more crucially... £1260 for a course which is a PERFECT candidate for Vernon the Virtual Mortgage pig!
My manager advised me and a colleague to raise a request for an advance (which typically arrives AFTER you need it!) so the Halifax Clarity card should be covered.
I need to do my finances today because I reckon the Mortgage recalc will be waiting for me when I get back... so I want the first thing I do (apart from re-stocking the fridge) is make my first official MFW overpayment!

Up the ante I will be making sure the heating is turned too low to trigger, and will turn off all appliances while I am away. I think the only thing left On/Standby will be the Sky Plus boxes and the Fridge/Freezer!!!

Frugal Fund I will be £70 up on my weekly cash allowance as I am away for at least one full week - so that can be earmarked towards the Christmas fund which is a nice boost and should take care of at least two or three presents for close friends and family.

viola_brandywine

Well it's been a while since my last post but I'm back from holiday and ready to focus properly on my challenged. Here goes:

health - Lose 10lb by xmas and 3x exercise per week
Started properly with this diet and going very well since monday. I have done 2 lots of exercise so far this week and have taken the stairs up 4 stories every day at work. Would probably like to increase the target to 1 stone though as put another couple of pounds on on holiday

wealth - Offset the rest of my mortgage by xmas ready for home improvements and a new car next year (and another MF challenge to pay for it all!).
This has been going well - now less than £2k to find,

up the ante - No alcohol on a work night and put all the money I have saved towards xmas pressies.
Failed miserably before my holiday No alcohol so far this week.

frugal fun - Aim for 2 NSD per week and cut my food budget by making more of my own bread and jam. I am good at the bread but not so much with the preserving. I will also go foraging and make sloe gin this year for xmas
Went well before holiday but no NSD yet this week. Have managed to bring my own lunch 4 times this week though so that is a step in the right direction

greent

Just jumping in with my Sept update

Just about managed to stick to my grocery budget (in signature) Haven't listed items on ebay - it's a FL weekend tomorrow/ Sunday - so I shall get at least 10 items on then instead

Freezer has been inventoried and we have lots of meat in. Am going to try and buy as little as possible this month as we're away in Disneyland Paris for half term, so want to run supplies down before then. I shall, however, buy and good whoopsies or special offers if I see any, so I won;t reduce my budget much.

OCT Targets:
1 takeaway & 1 meal out (DH's birthday) (Obv not including DLAnd Paris!)
List 25 things on ebay
Stick to grocery budget £400. No food waste (plate scrapings not included - I mean things mouldering in fridge etc)
Lose 2lb
Pay an extra £100 OP off mtge
Ensure at least 2 rooms sorted/ decluttered before Xmas
Label at least 80 things for sale at NCT NNS
Go through presents under bed and see who can have what for Xmas/ pre Xmas bdays
Check HM presents (chutnies and jams) and make more (soaps and bath salts and body butters)

gratefulforhelp_2

Update time

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

Doing great if you don't count Boden:o

health - lose 2 stone 2/28, walk 40 min min weekd.

Exercise going well, but stuck at 2lb lost

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

This is going really well if you don't count Thursdays and Sundays.

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

Um.

Must do better.

Sepa74

My only goal was to lose weight - I wanted to get down to 56.5kg before Christmas.

My weight has been up and down like a yo yo this month, but from starting out at nearly 60kg :eek: I am now in the low 59kg and am hitting the 58kgs regularly. I don't know if I will reach my formal goal at the rate I'm going (and which will only get harder as pre-Christmas festivities kick-in) but I'm pretty happy with myself, especially considering how often I've eaten out this month.

The 'fitness freak' app I downloaded for my phone is brilliant. I can really see that I need to walk more, and also that alcohol, butter and oil eat up my calorie allowance in a jiffy!

The most hilarious thing, though, the app says I need to eat 1200 calories a day, but I sometimes don't manage it, so I get this message:

Based on your total calories consumed for today, you are eating too few calories. Not only is it difficult to receive adequate nutrition at these calorie levels, but you could also be putting your body into starvation mode. Starvation mode lowers your metabolism and makes weight loss more difficult. We suggest increasing your calorie consumption to 1,200 calories per day minimum.

Me? Not eating enough? I can't believe it! I'm only 19 calories short today, but I don't know what else I want to eat!

After note: I decided I was peckish, so I am having a ryv1ta with almond butter (a lot less calories than p'nut butter, but a LOT more expensive too!)

pavlovs_dog

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Health
1. Maintain my new sleep routine (bed by 10, lights out by 10.30) at least 5 nights a week.
2. Get weight back down to 9 and a half stone
3. Eat better (more water, fruit and veg, less junk, take aways, meals out etc).

sleep routine has been blown out the water since going back to school and I miss it. Need to get this back up and running ASAP. Weight has been pretty stable where I lost the 3lb at the start of the challenge. Need to up my game to shift the next few lbs. Apart from a birthday-induced crap eating phase, I have generally been eating better than I was. More aware of how much water i'm drinking too.

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Wealth
1. Beat 2011 MFW target by £300
2. Earn £20 in vouchers (I'm very illdisciplined about doing them)

£65 from hitting 2011 MFW target. Less said about the surveys the better :cool:

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Up the ante
1. Better work life balance -
A) Master tuning uke in 5 mins or less
Master 7 basic uke chords
C) Master at least one song on uke
D) make more of an effort to see friends and loved ones.
E) something to look forward to: arrange mini breaks to Liverpool and Amsterdam

I've barely looked at the uke since school started but have made and kept several dates with friends, so progress is being made here. Mini break to Liverpool booked for Oct half term.

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

2) Organised head, organised home, organised life
A) Re-join Flylady and complete at least level 1s weekly.
Use my beautiful new moleskine diary and 'to do' list book to keep on top of things

flylady who? But my diary is getting some use at least!

pavlovs_dog wrote: »

Frugal Challenge
1) Lunch for work at least 4 days out of every 5
2) Grocery budget from now - december 31st £650 or less (get a firm grip on it, with a view to reducing it from January).
3) Work out a budget for Christmas presents and stick to it

managed to take a pack up for 16/19 working days in September, so I can't really grumble too much about that. Grocery speeds are pretty reasonable things to the big monthly shop at the start of september.. it was so big we're not yet ready to do a big Oct shop.

I think we can conclude I'm a work in progress!

Ruthy1604

Hi all,

Here goes anothe update - I can't believe how fast the week has gone.

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. I've now paid 2 small payments - just rounding up our monthly payment to the nearest £100. I keep checking my halifax balance but it appears to be going up not down. Things are still a bit tight money wise so I'm not sure I will achieve my goal.

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. Didn't get to SW this week due to school open evenings. No running at all this week - I cannot see me going back to this until spring now. Another big fat fail I did do the Wii fit 5 days for 15-20 mins instead though.

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 and Sat only. Still no Yougov surveys but I've done a couple for IPSOS this week and I have enough points for a £10 voucher :T

I am also going to clear our the kids clothes and sell them at our local NCT sale this month. Done this & cheque banked for £38! Sold another £25 worth on ebay tonight - only 2 have paid though :mad:
DH threw away a couple of shirts too so we are decluttering - slowly:D

frugal fun - I am gonna try to spend more quality time with DH, without going out and spending money. Had friends round last night & had a laugh so that was good. I have a bad head today though...

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. Done 2, & the final bits should arrive tomorrow so I can finish the third one!!


Keep the updates coming!


Ruth

Little*Miss

Quick update on how things are going.:)

Money
• Save or OP £1,000 by the end of December 2011. Although I haven't paid anything off the mortgage just yet, I have been working overtime so hoping to put this money away when I get paid. Also waiting for Quidco to pay out £85. I think I should be able to reach target as long as I don't go mad at xmas and I'm not planning too!

Health:
• Getting off the Mac by 9pm every night! This is going quite well not managing this every night but most.
• Get into bed by 11pm every night. Again most of the time I can do this need to be in bed on a work night by 11pm!
• Book an hour out for me each day.This is going ok even if it's just making sure I get a proper lunch break!
• Get back to my goal weight of 8 stone and get toned. I need to get on this! I aim to at least weigh myself this week!!!

Up the ante:
• Have 3 NSD’s a week. Completing this.:T
• Complete all surveys sent. Yea I need to work on this although I do check OP and always complete my you gov surveys.
• Continue working at my second job till Dec if I can. Still doing this although I'm getting so tired, but I'm going to stick it out! Won a bottle of wine last week for completing a staff quiz too!:D
• Household- Decorate and furnish the lounge, study, bedroom and bathroom all by xmas.This is going ok, almost ready to start paining these rooms.

Frugal Fun:
• Stick to a £50 food budget a week.Completing this so far!
• Set a budget for Christmas and stick to it (try and get as many gifts for charity shops car boot etc.)Need to start going round the charity shops I never seem to have the time though! Will try and start looking for xmas pressies soon!

Emsky123

health - i could really do with loosing a stone by Christmas, Thats less than a pound per week so a manageable target. -
Started this week with a proper Calorie controlled diet, will report progress next Wed when i have my weigh in

wealth - I want to get the Mortgage down below £65K - On track, now below £70K, will make final OP in 2 weeks time

up the ante - Dare i say it - No Chocolate 6 days per week - Could not face cutting it out completely. - 3 Days so far this week without chocolate, according to those in the office i am worse than someone giving up smoking.

frugal fun - Need to save for the Christmas fund so will aim to cut back so i can save around £30 per week - £50 saved in the fund and also bought £30 worths of presents which are now in loft.