Keeping up appearances.......

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

*hands in tardy slip and takes seat at back of class*

Monday:
1 No money wasted, but not a NSD. It's not my fault the window cleaners chose to turn up yesterday but *sigh* just the same. We can't get a window cleaner because we're too rural. I just have Mr Happy up a ladder every few months, dabbing at the glass with one shaky hand because he's scared of heights and daren't let go. Broke or not - he would pay LOTS to have someone else do it for him!
2 Spreadsheet up to date. Yay!
3 All okay on the alcohol front. The good folk on the Giving up/cutting down alcohol thread have found that stopping drinking increases sugar cravings quite dramatically. That's my excuse, anyway. Maybe that's what's going on with me then. Although I always find that alcohol takes away my self-restraint and I eat more rubbish after a glass or two.
4 Managed peas onions, courgettes and more peas. *must try harder* That's not bad
5 Managed three mugs of blackcurrent tea. *must try harder* I suppose it depends on the mug size
6 Flying: Defo did 15 minutes and then some! My side of the bedroom is sparkly having been spring-cleaned and a cupboard turfed out. Well done - this is definitely turning out to be my problem area!
7 11.05pm. Oops. *another tardy slip* Well, it's 11pm as I'm typing this and I will be up at 5:50, so I have failed by more than 5 mins. Never mind!
8 The spider session lasted considerably longer than it should but technically I achieved that goal! Ha ha. With Candy Crush, you get five 'lives' and then it times out for half an hour. My challenge is to NOT re-visit it after the first time out.


I used to think that if I didn't do absolutely everything on my list that I had failed. I've come to realise that whatever gets me motivated enough to make any kind of progress is brilliant, and any progress at all is a huge improvement on the status quo. *pats self on back* Absolutely. ! I was aiming for 100% on everything, but realistically that was never gonna happen

Well done Honey B!


Day 10 for me:

• No money wasted - complete no spend day
• YNAB fully updated. Looking forward to Friday when I can do the month's budget. How sad that I look forward to that so much
• No alcohol consumed. I couldn't if I wanted to - there is nothing in the house apart from an opened bottle of ancient whisky, which I hate, and an inch of tequila that Mr H was given for Christmas 2013. He barely drinks.
• More than five - tinned peaches, home made vegetable casserole, an orange, glass of fresh juice, raisins, peas.
• FIVE glasses of water today. I'm getting to like it.
• Ahem, not wishing to talk about the Flyladying.......
• Managed 7 hours in bed last night, but it will only be 6 tonight. Less if I don't get off here.......!
• Given Candy Crush a miss today. Haven't missed it.

HappyNow

Aaleigha wrote: »

I have just read this diary from the beginning and want to say how well you have done

I am now debt free after a struggle but due to a huge family upset things are now very tight and I have to say I have learnt so much from you and I can see just how important a diary is = but need to have a look around to see if there is somewhere for me to put one - I need a category that says something like - was debt free but teetering on the edge - thanks to you I am determined not to go there again - not because I see your struggles but I am motivated by such sucesses. If you can live frugally why cant I - I am so determined now NOT to allow DH to get that credit card he has found.

Hx

Thank you so much for those lovely comments Aaleigha .

I really hope you can talk DH out of a credit card after you have struggled so hard to get debt free. There have been times over the last three years when I have had no choice but to use mine, just to keep afloat. But I will never, ever, ever use one again unless there is absolutely no alternative. Frugal all the way!

I agree that a diary is the best way to keep motivated. There are several people on this Debt Free Wannabe board who no longer have debts and use their diary just to make sure it stays that way! Start one on here - I will watch out for it.

Honey_Bear

How did you do today, Happy Now?

1 No money spent! Woo hoo!
2 The spreadsheet is up to date.
3 Now on my third bottle of B3cks B1u3 (ie alcohol free beer) to celebrate reaching my Dry Day 200. I may even have a couple more - Go Me!
4 Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, sandwhich for supper. And only three mini Twinks Hobnobs, so not too bad for me.
5 Onion, cauliflower, beetroot juice, prunes and spiced plums.
6 Four blackcurrent teas. Yay!
7 Another box of gibble to the charity shop and bedroom curtains rehung, along with tidying, tidying, tidying.
8 The intention was to go to bed by 10.30 last night and then I remembered someone wanted to come and run something by me this afternoon which meant tidying my office, so I stayed up an extra half hour making it presentable. *curses*
9 Total failure on the Spider front, but I'm not going to be too cross with myself for that today because I came up with an idea while playing spider and it may be a fun little income generator. We'll see.

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

How did you do today, Happy Now?

1 No money spent! Woo hoo!
2 The spreadsheet is up to date.
3 Now on my third bottle of B3cks B1u3 (ie alcohol free beer) to celebrate reaching my Dry Day 200. I may even have a couple more - Go Me! Might give this a go for a Saturday night treat
4 Porridge for breakfast, soup for lunch, sandwhich for supper. And only three mini Twinks Hobnobs, so not too bad for me.
5 Onion, cauliflower, beetroot juice, prunes and spiced plums.
6 Four blackcurrent teas. Yay!
7 Another box of gibble to the charity shop and bedroom curtains rehung, along with tidying, tidying, tidying.
8 The intention was to go to bed by 10.30 last night and then I remembered someone wanted to come and run something by me this afternoon which meant tidying my office, so I stayed up an extra half hour making it presentable. *curses*
9 Total failure on the Spider front, but I'm not going to be too cross with myself for that today because I came up with an idea while playing spider and it may be a fun little income generator. We'll see.

Well done! Full house for me too yesterday. I had to eat an emergency late-night orange to bring me up to five F & V, but I did it. The Flying was a bit of a struggle and I didn't do anything out of the ordinary, but the general tidying/laundry/dishwater-emptying took more than twenty minutes so I am claiming that as a victory.


I googled spider to see how it could possibly lead to an income generator but nothing jumped out at me! Is it something you can talk about or are you drawing up the copyright first ?

HappyNow

Fab Feb Day 12 (today) update:

• A no waste day. Spent £12 at Tessies but all on healthy essentials
• YNAB up-to-date.
• No alcohol again. This is easier than expected!
• Breakfast - porridge, snack - greek yogurt and tinned apricots, lunch - tuna sandwich and seven plum tomatoes, snack - apple, fresh orange juice, two biscuits, tea - vegetable curry and rice, mini box of smarties
• Four buckets of water drunk (well it felt like it)
• . . . . . . . . . .<-- big gap where cleaning should be!
• Off to bed now so will juuussst make seven hours (that's if I can resist getting up in the middle of the night to fill in the month's YNAB when the wages go in at midnight.
• Not touched Candy Crush.

I'm on fire!

Honey_Bear

How did you do today, Happy Now?

1 Money spent! Boo! But it wasn't wasted, although some of it was 'shouldn't have' expenditure. I'm going to think that through tomorrow.
2 The spreadsheet is not yet up to date but will be tomorrow morning while I think about where the money went.
3 If I had been a beer drinker in the alcohol days I strongly suspect BB wouldn't cut the mustard but I really enjoy it!
4 Porridge for breakfast, speedy snack lunch pre-dentist, soup for tea on return, pasta for supper. And [STRIKE]only three[/STRIKE] rather more than three mini Twinks Hobnobs, [STRIKE]so not too bad for me[/STRIKE]. Dentist terrors require sugar intake.
5 Beetroot juice, prune, apricots, courgette and brocolli.
6 Three and a half blackcurrent teas - I hadn't noticed the pot needed refilling.
7 Another box of gibble to the charity shop and more tidying, tidying, tidying. (Tidying counts as flying.)
8 Made it to bed fantastically early for me only to end up watching the final two episodes of the allotment challenge until ... much later. Epic fail.
9 Success on the Spider front, in that each session only lasted two or three games.

It wasn't the Spider that gave me the idea - it's my 'brain in free-fall skydive time' when any idea that wants space to happen - does. I found myself thinking about dejunking some attic carp I wanted to let go out of the house, and an idea for using it came to me.

One of my unplanned spends today was a glue gun - the lady in the hardware shop said, 'Oh, they're marvellous. Once you've got it warmed up you walk around the house looking for things to glue.' Who could resist that?

Bedtime.

Honey_Bear

Morning Happy Now!

Having thought about the glue gun with a side order of guilt at parting with unplanned spendy money, the following convo took place last night:

Me: Would you be willing to give me a glue gun for my birthday?
Him: Can you wait until then?
Me: Yes.
Him: Can I use it? Will you show me how?
Me: Yeeeeessssssss ....
Him: Okay then.

About the Flying thing, honestly, speaking as a Flylady, if you can spend 15 or 20 minutes a day during the working week just tidying up, by the time you get around to kick-starting the vacuum cleaner it's straightforward. What most of us normally do is tidy, declutter and clean at the same time which makes it a dreaded marathon. Little and often is the mantra. I rarely leave a room or go up or downstairs without carrying something, a habit I made myself develop by not allowing myself to leave a room, for one day only, without taking something that would be better placed somewhere else in the house. After just that one day the habit became so embedded most of the detritus that clutters up the house is at least in the right area, if not put away.

I hope you're okay. If my posts are too long let me know and I'll edit chunks out of them. This is your thread.

Dolphin1

Honey_Bear wrote: »

One of my unplanned spends today was a glue gun - the lady in the hardware shop said, 'Oh, they're marvellous. Once you've got it warmed up you walk around the house looking for things to glue.' Who could resist that?

Whatever turns you on! :rotfl:

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

How did you do today, Happy Now?

1 Money spent! Boo! But it wasn't wasted, although some of it was 'shouldn't have' expenditure. I'm going to think that through tomorrow.
2 The spreadsheet is not yet up to date but will be tomorrow morning while I think about where the money went.
3 If I had been a beer drinker in the alcohol days I strongly suspect BB wouldn't cut the mustard but I really enjoy it! It's on my shopping list for tomorrow
4 Porridge for breakfast, speedy snack lunch pre-dentist, soup for tea on return, pasta for supper. And [STRIKE]only three[/STRIKE] rather more than three mini Twinks Hobnobs, [STRIKE]so not too bad for me[/STRIKE]. Dentist terrors require sugar intake. Best not tell the dentist :rotfl:
5 Beetroot juice, prune, apricots, courgette and brocolli.
6 Three and a half blackcurrent teas - I hadn't noticed the pot needed refilling.
7 Another box of gibble to the charity shop and more tidying, tidying, tidying. (Tidying counts as flying.)
8 Made it to bed fantastically early for me only to end up watching the final two episodes of the allotment challenge until ... much later. Epic fail. Ah well, you were in bed resting
9 Success on the Spider front, in that each session only lasted two or three games.

It wasn't the Spider that gave me the idea - it's my 'brain in free-fall skydive time' when any idea that wants space to happen - does. I found myself thinking about dejunking some attic carp I wanted to let go out of the house, and an idea for using it came to me. OOh, intriguing!

One of my unplanned spends today was a glue gun - the lady in the hardware shop said, 'Oh, they're marvellous. Once you've got it warmed up you walk around the house looking for things to glue.' Who could resist that? Yes, that's good sales patter :eek:

.

Well you hit most of them, and the dentist is enough to put anyone off their stride

HappyNow

Honey_Bear wrote: »

Morning Happy Now!

Having thought about the glue gun with a side order of guilt at parting with unplanned spendy money, the following convo took place last night:

Me: Would you be willing to give me a glue gun for my birthday?
Him: Can you wait until then?
Me: Yes.
Him: Can I use it? Will you show me how?
Me: Yeeeeessssssss ....
Him: Okay then.

About the Flying thing, honestly, speaking as a Flylady, if you can spend 15 or 20 minutes a day during the working week just tidying up, by the time you get around to kick-starting the vacuum cleaner it's straightforward. What most of us normally do is tidy, declutter and clean at the same time which makes it a dreaded marathon. Little and often is the mantra. I rarely leave a room or go up or downstairs without carrying something, a habit I made myself develop by not allowing myself to leave a room, for one day only, without taking something that would be better placed somewhere else in the house. After just that one day the habit became so embedded most of the detritus that clutters up the house is at least in the right area, if not put away.

I hope you're okay. If my posts are too long let me know and I'll edit chunks out of them. This is your thread.

Excellent choice of birthday present. Beats the cr*p out of a bunch of flowers! Hope your birthday is coming up really soon so you can quickly get on with walking round the house looking for things to glue!!

Little and often is definitely the best Flying mantra, but at the moment I'm doing far too little, nowhere near often enough. I'm hoping to have an energy spurt tomorrow. Should do with all these vitamins I'm getting :rotfl:

Your posts are definitely not too long and do not DARE edit chunks out of them!! It's great to have the company, thank you for joining in.