Michelle's Big Push to Christmas Challenge

Hurdler

Hurdler wrote: »

Health Count me in on the inch loss for sure. I have finally managed to get to the end of a 10- session schedule from my Physio only missing out one week and having to redo it. In my defence it was my first week of work that threw me.

After this week - I want to go twice. I am working at home on Mondays once my Journo Diploma starts and will go to the gym on a Monday morning and then have to try and get another session in.

Wealth Next Monday I am going to put the £30K from my Voluntary Redundancy money into my mortgage.

Up The Ante Try to replace my takeaway calls at the end of the week with a supermarket ready meal for one at half the price, which I can often stretch out for a couple of meals.

Frugal Fund I went out to get lunch near my client (based opposite St Pauls Cathedral. Never again. Too touristy and too expensive. The office has a canteen, and seeing as I need to study in my lunch break, I am going to have reasonably priced lunches, away from my desk where I can do 45mins to an hour of study, and then have 5 mins on the terrace for some fresh air before hitting work again.
They have a subsidised restaurant which is ridinkidonkly cheaper than anywhere else in the vicinity... and ties in with my end-of-wek ready meal which I can pick up from M&S on the station concourse on the way home!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Always up for a challenge...

Health. 45 minute walk every day unless it is raining.
Wealth. 2k off mortgage every month, no excuses, it is the priority and other things will have to wait.
Up the ante. Do everything I can to save, again, none of those excuses. For me that really means keeping out of the shops so plan to give cash or online gifts for Xmas presents so I don't buy junk or things for myself just to get it done.
Frugal fun. We enjoy entertaining at home anyway, but apart from our Oct holiday, no eating out until January.

Please remind me about this if you see me sliding in my diary!

Squirre:j

yukkibear

What a great idea Michelle - I'm in.

health - I would like to be comfortable again and would ideally like to get back to 9st 6lb by xmas. I also want to excercise more. I am contemplating buying a pedometer to track the 10000 steps a day

wealth - To stay on track for the bathroom in the spring I need to find £1604.59 by Dec 31st in the ISA which will track the target at £1714.28. I also want to overpay by £80 per month.

up the ante - Alcohol is only allowed 3 nights per week from now on!

frugal fun - I need to meal plan better and stay out of the shops for food when at work. If I can do this between now and xmas I'll have saved a fortune.

Lois_E

I'm in.

Health - My sleep patterns are all over the place and I've been staying up stupidly late into the early hours. I'll start with being in bed with the light off by midnight at least 6 nights a week. If I achieve that, I'll improve it further.

Wealth - OP £500 by Christmas.

Up the Ante - Inspired by puddle96, I'm going to walk up the rather large hill behind my house at least once a week.

Frugal Fun - Reduce family takeaways to one per month (not including the kids' birthdays).

remote_control

I'm in too

Health - Stay at current weight (have recently lost weight and now lost motivation)

Wealth - OP £500 by Christmas.

Up the Ante - Get a good job

Frugal Fun - Start the Christmas shopping now and aim to make Christmas carbon neutral (i.e. harmless) by doing the following things: buying from charity shops (not necessarily second hand stuff), making presents at home, buying presents using survey vouchers. That way any money I do spend will be going to a good cause therefore guilt free spending. Oxfam by us does lots of new stuff and fairtrade food bits too.

misscousinitt

Me too...(But can't believe its still August and we are talking about Christmas!) LOL

health - 1) eat better, no skipping breakfast - include seeds and wholefoods in my diet, cut down on meat - but do it all on a budget. 2) More walking required....

wealth - 1) surpass my MFW target for 2011. 2) start putting a little into my own savings (just paying into joint savings a/c for the last 12 months).

up the ante - 1) cut down and stay cut down on my glasses of wine - been good lately - really need to keep it up. 2) cut eating out back down to once a month (except for holiday).

frugal fun - 1) start planning for christmas presents and the large amount of birthdays we have in November! 2) make a list of what's in the freezer and formulate the rest of the months meal plan from that. 3) desperately try to cut down on vegeatable waste by making HM soups. 4) make the most of my small veggie plot and see what I can get going for winter.

Thanks Michelle.....

shoei

Okay here goes

Health - Lose 19ibs and visit gym at least twice a week to make membership worth while

Wealth - Save £1000 towards holiday

Up the Ante - Household renovations so a little different..... Wetroom - completed. Snug - Bathroom ripped out, plastered,new floor fitted and log burned fitted and painted. Hallway - Skim newly rendered patch, paint and lay new floor. Kitchen - New Electrics, Re tilled, new range replaceing greedy Aga and new kitchen fitted. General - finishing staining upstairs windows, replace kitchen window glass, finnish insulating lost, sand down doors.

Frugal Fun - Stick to food budget of £300 a month. DO NOT go over board with xmas!!

BaconandEggs

Im in too
Health - eat more fruit veg and less of other snacks. Cycle more and go training AT LEAST once a week. Start back going to gym in morning. Cut down on XBox.
Wealth - fill this year's ISA allowance. Increase overpayments.
Up the ante - Get garden sorted before winter/tidied. Get main bedroom decorated. Be more organised with presents and cards this Christmas.
Frugal Challenge - start meal planning.

pavlovs_dog

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).

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

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

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

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

pavlovs_dog

can we agree that first of the month is review day, as I will no doubt need nagging and kicking up the bum to stay on the straight and narrow