Michelle's Big Push to Christmas Challenge

findingmyfeet

morning everyone, just read through the thread and could do with a bit of motivation to get a few things sorted before christmas, its usually ' blow it i will wait til january and start the diet/exercise/budget blah blah blah' and well it never happens or does but lasts just a week or two. so im changing my tactics and trying to creep up and suprise myself by starting now and then by christmas i should be well ahead (thats if you all kick my butt and keep me moving along nicely!!!:rotfl:).
so here goes:

HEALTH:
lose weight: 7 lb by christmas then another 7lb after-setting it low as im not perfect and know i will cheat at some point, 7lb will have me fitting my clothes comfortably again.
exercise: 0 to 5 times a week by christmas! see how we do, can manage walking 40minutes a day no problem but finding the time is.
walking/dvd/wii as its all for free.

WEALTH :
saving: need to cover xmas and stash some savings as all this harder recession stuff makes me nervous.
mortgage: start over paying , can easily manage £100 amonth without suffering so thats my staring point.

UP THE ANTE :
no alcohol: thats easy cos i dont drink anyway:rotfl:sounds boring doesnt it? but i have yet to find something i like-still doesnt stop me having a good time.
saturday night treat-whilst dieting me and oh will have a treat a week choc/pringles(my true down fall in life along with anything covered in pastry!)
clean/declutter room by room-need to go through the house as its getting far too untidy and possibly paint a few areas too.

FRUGAL:
menu plan and budget: try to get back to menu planning and stick to £50 a week for food and only buy what i actually need
christmas: make a budget and STICK TO IT!!!! make gifts and save money.have all gifts sorted by mid december and paid for NO CREDIT CARDS.

phew all done .....

OCTOBER : mini goals
lose 2 lbs
exercise twice a week minimum
fix xmas budget and sort 2 nieces and 2 nephews gifts
knit 10 squares for my dd's knitted throw/blanket
start decluttering a room

there thats me started .............and just realised its your thread cha97michele....you are going to think im stalking you if i join anymore of yours;)

wuvvies

im very late to jump in now but will do if you dont mind as this is exactly what i have been aiming for:
loose 7 pounds before christmas - three will make my clothes fit better. 7 is what would be more comfy
get some money in my sealed tin for christmas
save some stamps saved for my car tax which is due at christmas.
doesnt sound much but this is big enough for me!!

[Deleted User]

Evenin all
need to scroll back and see what I posted as my goals!!

wealth - By the end of the year Id like my mortgage balance at £119 xxx (this is mortgage only not incl savings) and ideally be MF because my flat has sold!! :rotfl:Made an OP on payday , to get it into the 119's it would take 2K + in 3 paydays .... quite a push but will see where I get! on the flat-sold-MF plan 3 more viewings this week so keeping fingers and toes crossed! suddenly feeling much more "In recession" lately , not sure why

health - Id like to fit comfortably into my size 10/12 clothes by xmas...this may involve losing about a stone, but more importantly Id like to up the exercise to 3 times per week and make sure Im eating much more healthily...healthy eating going well and a few lbs lighter and clothes fitting better (not size 10 tho!) big push now needs to be exercise and will report back on this- goal initially 2 x per week of run/dvd/bike

up the ante - I am a bit of a nightmare anyway for energy useage and will stick with this as we go into winter! Id like to say no chocolate or alcohol till xmas but its unlikeley so I will instead aim to be good-ish on that front and am going to aim to make £60 through selling/vouchers which I may then spend on a xmas-reward-treat for all of my hard work at all of the above! hmmmm....£8.98 in tcb account which should have all tracked by xmas, expenses due from work (about £20ish will double check!) a few things to list on amazon which I will try and do in the next few weeks! may set limit at £50 for xmas account!

frugal fun - Try to get back to £110 -£120 ish p/m food shopping (added £10 for rising food costs!), this will involve more meal planning, whoopsies and also using up whats in the cupboards rather than buying more. Id ideally like to get down to this figure for food shops every month till xmas if poss! Also could keep a spending diary for the next few months to see where my "fun" money dissapears to every month satisfied urge to spend at lunchtime by buying a "diary" to record spends! will start this tomorrow , food shopping/using up going well - just restocked the freezer with some money off vouchers and freebies (pizzas) and am gonna be creative with my cupboard stores!

SlopingBird

ChaMichelle

What a brilliant thread! You never fail to impress me with your enthusiasm and inventiveness. I know I'm a bit late but I'd really like to join the thread as, like many others, the onset of dark nights and cold weather sends me into pampering (i.e. spending money) mode!

I've had a good think and I've decided my goals for the next three months will be:

Wealth - I'm back at work next week after four months of unemployment (hence very few mortgage OPs) so I'm aiming to OP by at least £100 a month from now on and get mortgage under £85k for the New Year.

Fortunately no other loans or overdraft but must keep control of spending. In November, I'll get annual cashback from my electric/gas provider which should cover November's bill plus half of December's. My AMEX cashback will also paid in December - currently stands at just over £104 (balance paid off every month so free cash there!). That will go towards Christmas fund - though my family has agreed to concentrate on little ones this year and just buy token gifts for adults. Definitely, definitely no gift sets as we all hate them. Unfortunately, OH's family will not take this approach so we have to buy proper presents for them.

Health - had a bit of a mad moment two weeks ago and signed myself up for a half marathon at the beginning of March. As the farthest I've ever run to date is 11.8 miles, once and sometimes I struggle to do a 5k, I've got a few miles training to put in over the next 16 weeks. Winter is a hard time for running and my new job means there'll be no more morning runs but I have to aim to do three runs a week or I'll never put in the miles.

Avoid drinking cider Monday - Friday. I'm not a big drinker (don't touch shorts, rarely drink wine) but OH and me usually have a large wine glass or two of cider with our evening meal and all those liquid calories add up.

Would also like to drop back to size 12 (size 14 at the moment) so there's not so much to bounce when I am running. Bad habits developed while off work include eating lots of chocolate, cake, bread, etc - it's all got to go again! Wastes money and makes me fat.

Up the ante - oh dear, being off work for so long has encouraged me to shop more and bake far more (not good for purse or belly). Try to get back down to £50-60 per week to feed three of us (it's do-able but takes a bit more planning/thrifty shopping). Will also try to write some short stories to submit to Take a Break Fiction Feast (one per month) as they pay really well if the story is accepted - potentially much better return than surveys.

No new clothes until January sales - if I lost half a stone no need for new clothes anyway as lots of clothes (some brand new), just don't fit into most of them. Charity shop buys are allowed (just remembered, spotted brilliant hardback book for dad in local charity shop window when out running on Friday - must go back and buy it for his token Christmas present).

Frugal fun - this one should be easy as my fave activities are hiking, running and writing (all free!). Trouble is we spend a lot on petrol (for hiking trips, visiting elderly dad 60 miles away and running teenager around) so need to think long and hard before using car for short trips. DIY evening course will enable me to mend skirting board in bathroom and finish renovating furniture. Plan to practice new skills at DD1's house, which needs more TLC than ours at the moment.

Feeling very mean as my lovely Avon lady just called and for the second campaign running I didn't place an order. Just can't justify buying make-up and toiletries I don't need at the moment but feel bad 'cause she's only trying to earn a living like everyone else.

Now must go and clean lovely old banger - have talked about potentially needing a new car for at least a year but while this one (X-reg) keeps running, what's the point?

Good luck everyone. x

Sepa74

Hi all,

I was just focusing on my weight, which is good, because I've been blah about money this week!

However, have continued being good with the my fitness freak app, which I find really helpful. My weight is still up and down like a yo yo, but I was 58.3 on Friday, so that's brilliant. Whether I'll be that tomorrow is anybody's guess!

I just went for a walk around my local wilderness area... really wasn't motivated to, but dread of my phone telling me I'm not eating enough calories if I don't eat over 1200 calories to make up for that fact I'd taken no exercise today spurred me on... the human mind works in strange ways!

Radish72

I have done nothing apart from gain 5lbs and had a fab holiday, need to re-focus and get stuck in

Brodiebobs

Well i've been missing in action for a while but been busy lately.Lost a couple lbs but really need to try harder i think.

Wealth is coming a long nicely i'm at this moment working 3 jobs and last week did 65 hrs, be nice when i get paid at end of this month, think i'll need to set new targets in this area as i think i'll smash the one i set this month, yay!!! but thankfully after next sat it cuts back down to 2 jobs and 30 hrs.... my house will thank me.

In other areas because of all the hours its been hard managing the house and kids but we have had a quality day today, and i've condensed my hours to have a bit off time of during half term in a couple of weeks. Also managed to sort out DS clothes today so two bags for ebay (when i have time!) and 1 bag for charity shop so bit of decluttering done too.

B-J-D

wealth-have £2155 saved in isa against stooze credit card to be paid off in march have managed to put £850 away
-not put any of christmas on the credit card, need to start saving now have got £50 in an envelope under the bed!!!

health-go for a run with the dog every week morning when ds sons back at school
-get to my goal weight at slimming world to go for free
-conceive baby no 2 in wich case #1 will be a walk not run!! (thank god!!) and #2 can go straight out of the window!!! yippee! (i joined the slimming group because we have been trying for a long time and i needed to keep my mind busy with other things!) 12 weeks pergnant!!!! yippee!!!!!

up the ante-make £80 on surveys got £32 om one poll, £4 VO, £6 on my servey so half way there! all doin ok at min so must make the most of it
-make lots more effort to meet up with friends for a cuppa have seen all my friends within the past few weeks, makin a real effort (plus with the exciting news to deliver its been lots of fun!)
-be extra organised for christmas, thortfull gifts not just bought at last minute, make very special for family esp ds started puttin a list together of what we think pepole might want

frugal fun-stick to my weekly budget has nearly evened out over the last few weeks
-monitor electric (try use more over night when its cheaper)
-have 14 NSD every month 14 done in sept, only 2 done so far this month must try harder
-cook from scratch, healthy, cheap, filling meals. plan, use up and bulk cook to keep spends down gone a bit to pot with bad morning sickness but will do when im feeling better

pleased iv updated this, it will help me keep on track this next month

themadvix

Well I was a bit MIA last week as I was snowed under with work, but here's a quick update...

Health: ahem.... last week involved two meals out plus brunch and a bbq at a friends (we were making the most of the weather!) and so much work that I didn't physically have time for exercise. Fewer meals out this week but still no exercise means I am pretty much still where I started (but that's still better than I was a couple of months ago).

Wealth: the work has been flying in, so haven't done much on the surveys front. Did some waitressing too, so another £75 there Fiance and I have just worked out that with another £500 from me we should have more than enough for wedding fund, so it's back to topping up the house deposit fund now.:j

Up the ante: Invoicing has been going pretty well.... haven't done accounts or tax return yet I keep waiting for work to get a bit quieter.... (can't complain though!)

Frugal fun: So, the aforementioned two meals out with fiance (one was half price!) and bbq are quality time... not sure about the frugal bit. Reinstalling Windows on my work laptop mid-week and then fiance replacing brake pads only to discover they weren't the problem with my car probably don't count either.

So, this week I'm really going to focus on getting a balance between work, exercise and fun and I'll try to be healthy too!

Have a good week everyone!

greent

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH - HUGE congrats B-J-D!!!:j:j