Romylou lightens up in 2012!

romylou_2

Hello fellow MSE'ers

Welcome to my new Diary for 2012 (the least said about 2011, the better).

As you can see I have put my outstanding mortgage from Sept 2011 on my signature. I am currently with NRAM and in all of their wisdom, they have decided to stop issuing quarterly statements (swines!!!) They will now only send out statements once a year. I am going to give them a phone to find out if mortgage balances can be checked over the phone. I like to see my balances going down, and it does give the incentive to pay off a little bit more where possible.

Ive managed to work out my daily interest:

Outstanding mortgage £98,794.09/100 = £987.94
multiply by interest rate (4.79%) = £4732.24 (yearly interest)
divide by 365 days = £12.97 per day:eek:

OMG!! Thats just the interest! Better get my finger out;)

I will continue to update my signature if I can obtain current balances from NRAM.

I plan on having a lot of No Spend Days this year (NSD) which I will also keep track of on my signature.

I also want to undertake a lot of the fabulous challenges that have been created on the various threads to keep people like me on track.

I have already created a spending and food diary on my iphone so that I can update it at every opportunity (since my iphone is glued to my hands!!:rotfl:)

I also plan to tackle my weight problem once and for all!! (YES IT IS A PROBLEM!)

I will also post my weight in my signature, firstly to shame myself into doing something about it and secondly so I can see myself shrinking away (hopefully). Just so you all know I'm not a petite thing, I'm 5ft 8 and quite athletically built, so I have never been, nor will I ever be a Skinny Girl:D I just want to get myself fit and healthy again with a target weight of 12st. (I need to do this, my wardrobe will thank me for it!!!:)) At the moment I'm living in my fat jeans and a tracksuit (otherwise known as my Fat Suit!!:rotfl:) I refuse to buy any more clothes (I have a full wardrobe consisting of my smaller weight clothes) and if I can slim back into them, it will save me an absolute fortune!! Win Win !!

I will post my starting weight on 1/1/12.

So, everyone is more than welcome to follow me as I continue my journey into 2012 and beyond!

Good Luck to everyone.

Romylou xx

romylou_2

Well, took a deep breath this morning and got on the scales..

Its safe to say that they were NOT kind to me!

Signature has been updated to show the colossal amount of work that I need to do to give my body a total overhaul. I need to lose 50lbs!!!!

That is such a big target to reach and I ve never had to do that before. Feel a bit sick that I have let myself get so out of control.:(

Well today is day one.......

Just have to keep taking steps in the right direction. Its all down from here!!!:)

happihorse

Hi Romylou,

Sounds like you have made a very organised start to 2012!

I also need to shift quite a few pounds (I am a similar height and build to you so not aiming for skinnyminny but I would like to loose the flab and get more toned). How are you going to achieve this goal?

And how much are you aiming to clear off the mortgage this year?

Looking forward to reading more - I've subscribed.

Good luck for 2012!

happihorse

romylou_2

Hi Happihorse

Welcome to my ramblings. In answer to your question about achieving a healthy weight loss I plan to:

1. Stop eating junk food (high fat rubbish)
2. Start a new exercise regime (not done any for a while so starting slowly and then build up over time)
3. Will try to reduce mortgage by £2,000 this year.

I realise that this may not sound like a big reduction in the mortgage, however, I am a great believer in enjoying life as well. I don't want to restrict myself too much and if I fancy treating myself - I will.

I do all of the grocery shopping in my house and if I can reduce the food bills by batch cooking and freezing healthy foods, that will help a great deal in all areas.

I'm lucky that my OH is into bodybuilding, so does regular weight training. We are going to encourage each other to workout :T
I'll keep you posted on my progress.

It all started today with a long brisk walk with the dog this morning:A. Ive also been eating healthy today - no slip ups.

Writing everything down - actually seeing it in black and white also helps, especially on the forums, its like confessing all to stay on track. Also, lurkers offering support also helps to spur on the good work.

Good luck on your journey.

romylou_2

Well I'm back.

I got on the scales this morning and lost a huge 6lbs!!!:T

Totally over the moon with that. I always find that week one is a bit of a struggle to altering eating habits (the bad ones anyway) that i've been doing for so long.

Ive started a Money Journal to find out where all my hard earned cash is disappearing to. So far this month I have only spent £40.19 and thats on groceries.

Ive managed 7 NSD so far which isn't too bad I suppose. I will need to go out in a couple of days to do the weekly shop again. I batch cooked some spaghetti bolognaise today which me and OH had for lunch. I have split the rest into tubs and frozen for a quick tea one night next week.

Ive been catching up on the housework as well (burning a couple of extra calories:D)

My signature has been updated to reflect my achievements so far for 2012. Good luck to everyone else on their journey.

[Deleted User]

Woo hoo go you!!!!!!! 6lbs is amazing!!!!!!!

Dxxx

romylou_2

Thanks D,

But I have a long way to go. You appear to be doing well yourself - 3lbs is great. Well done on getting below £8,000 debt!

DaisyMeRollin

Hey, I'm also with NRAM but I didn't realise that they'd stopped quarterly statements :-/. The good news is that I've called them plenty of times to get a balance and once you've passed security it's no problem, although the last time they did ask my why I wanted the information but it's the only time they ever have. I just told them we were trying to pay down the mortgage bit I'm sure if we'd said it was personal that would've been the end of it.

Hopefully if more people are ringing to ask for balances now they'll realise how much of their staff's time we're taking up and reinstate online balances!

romylou_2

[QUOTE=
Hopefully if more people are ringing to ask for balances now they'll realise how much of their staff's time we're taking up and reinstate online balances![/QUOTE]

I agree, it seems like they are taking a bit of a backwards step. Its good to know that I can get regular updates over the phone, thank you for that.

I am a bit of a control freak and love to actually see the progress that I am making in reducing my mortgage.

romylou_2

Well, its been a few days since I've been on this site, so I thought I had better just give a quick update.

So far I have lost a whopping 12lbs on my healthy eating plan. I'm not craving any bad stuff either, this can only be a good thing.;)

If i hit another 2 lbs next week that will be whole stone in a month - I've never managed that before in my life!!!!

I've also managed to put £60 away so far towards my £6,000 target for 2012 - need to try harder here I think.:o

I seem to be doing ok on the spending front as well. Keeping track with my money journal on my iphone and so far have only spent £167.95.:T This has been for groceries, window cleaner and hairdresser for me:D

I usually find that I am really good in January, but then I start slipping in February. This year I'm going to do better!!! I should be alright - OH is away on a residential course for the next 4 weeks and will only be home on weekends. This means electricity costs should be down and heating reduced because I'm working quite a bit and when I get home I curl up in my fleecy blanket and have plenty of early nights!!

I'm not boiling the kettle as much (I've seen how much the electricity meter shoots up when I boil the kettle:eek:!!) so less cups of tea for me.

Will definitely carry on with the frugal living habits for as long as I can.:A

romylou_2

Oh how many things can change in the space of 4 months!!

I was just having a quick read of my journey so far and to be completely honest, I'm no further forward.

Stalled on the diet - I'm still the same though as my last weight so thats not too bad, but I really need to do better.;)

Finance wise - bit of a disaster there as well. We were doing ok for a bit, however, the boiler needs replacing and I'm getting that done at the end of this month. Thats going to hit the pocket really hard.......
All that Ive saved so far (which isnt a lot) will have to go towards this.

On the plus side, Ive managed to book hols for the end of the year (Oct) for me and hubby. It will be needed by then, trust me:cool:

Although our pay has been "frozen" it is actually a drop as the cost of living keeps going up and up and up....

I will have to get back to my moneysaving ways folks, its the only way.....

Romylou