Making the future happen - museumworker's MFW diary Pt 2

museumworker

Courgette wrote: »

No recommendations re bike seat I'm afraid other than to get one with leg straps and some sort of wheel guard but I think they all come with this anyway. I assume you're not planning on getting a front seat. I don't have any experience of them cos I'm not tall enough

courgette - I am a shorty too, plus not brave enough to put a baby on handlebars :eek::eek:.

Deleted_User wrote: »

Good luck too on the decluttering- will be off to find the decluttering thread as there are things everywhere I look at the moment that probably have a place somewhere else ( eg. looking at my bedroom drawers at the moment I can see some books/cds for amazon, toiletries that I havent bothered to put in the bathroom, 3 makeup brushes, a camera and 2 photo frames (one of which belongs in another room) and in front of that 2 chairs strewn with various clothes that I either need to 1) mend or 2) put away!)

decluttering could be a HUGE mission - but a worthy 2013 goal - will be really interested to look at the declutter thread and see how you managed to get rid of so much (especially with small people to manage too I dont even have that as an excuse!! )

Your room sounds very familiar to me - sure you don't live here :rotfl:! Definitely a worthy goal, so see you on the declutter thread. My top tip is little and often. Putting 3 things in the charity bag/recycling every day adds up to nearly 100 a month! I then pick an area or collection to tackle when I have a bit more time so can get up to a couple of hundred items a month when I put my mind to it!

Two more sales posted, have practiced my mindfulness today, went for a VERY muddy walk in the woods, and welcomed the MIL. We have the panto tomorrow (oh no we don't!) which we paid for last year, and a surprise :ssh!: party.

museumworker

Hello all, a week has flown by! OH back to work and the rest of us back to the school run routine. We've all had a good week - I think there is a lot of comfort in routines, and as much as I enjoyed the Xmas break, am relieved to get back to normality (whatever that is!)

Have been beavering away at aims:

* Have an organised home
Tackled some of the storage cupboard in DS room, and have a very large bag of things to be chucked or given away. Will count over the weekend. Also wrote a to do list for next week. Reading the toothbrush principle which ordered via the library rather than buying (:money:) and have started working on the bathroom exercise.

* Work with DD on her emotional well-being
Concentrated on settling her in with her new teacher, all ok on that front. Next week I need to get in touch with her school support staff to discuss further.

* Be prepared for secondary school choices for DD
Did 2 x 1 hour sessions on 11+

* Practice mindfulness and relaxation
Yoga session, practiced mindfulness x 1, and meeting with health psychologist. She has recommended a book on ACT, which I bought using a Xmas gift voucher (:money:)

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Have been emailing tutor and will be starting classes next week - at an intermediate level :eek:. Have watched some welsh classes on youtube and practiced my welsh podcasts.

* Make quality time for OH
We've planned a date afternoon tomorrow - me, OH and DS! Lit some candles and gave each other a relaxing massage in the week and tonight opened a nice bottle of wine and caught up on the hour together.

* Overpay £6K
OP of £66.91 made from tcb and ama$on sales :j. Met with line manager today to start discussions on return to work.

* Enjoy ourselves!
Just little things this week - DD wanted to go to the library, and even though I was really tired and wanted to go home I said yes, and we went for a bit. I had a nice afternoon at a friend's house, and OH enjoyed his pilates session this week (have found him a really good one for £2.50!). Tomorrow we have birthday drinks for a friend and are planning coffee and a cake afterwards as a treat for us.

museumworker

Greetings from a snowy London! Starting to feel a bit more like normal is returning the last week. Progress on aims:

* Have an organised home
Been thinking about my second round of Project 333 - wrote a list of what would wear. Went through my binliners of clothes under the loft and got rid of 75 items - 4 binliners to charity! Picked out several items that would work for Project 333, and went shopping with friend on Friday to find the remaining items. Was lovely to buy a few select things new, knowing they would work with everything in my wardrobe. Can I say M&S jeggings rock! And found the perfect stretchy pencil skirt in Mr T. All in all, £52 spent, which I am putting £15 of xmas money towards. So excited about Feb and new wardrobe :rotfl:. Also emptied the basket of doom, and consolidated 2 craft bags into 1. Up to 285 items decluttered this month, so doing well .

* Work with DD on her emotional well-being
All seems good on that front, she has been coping much better with rude kids and the like.

* Be prepared for secondary school choices for DD
Did 2 x 1 hour sessions on 11+, read some forums and found out the format is changing this year :eek:! Going to a CEM format, whatever that means (there are lots of teachers here so thought some might understand better than me!). Glad I found out early in the year though, means can focus preparation properly. Have put together a shopping list of books, and checked which resources are free online or can order from library :money:.

* Practice mindfulness and relaxation
Yoga session, and been reading book on ACT (the Happiness Trap).

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Welsh classes cancelled :mad:, although I suppose it does save me £210 :eek:. Have been doing the free SSiW podcasts (finished another 1), and looking into family learning welsh holiday for the summer.

* Make quality time for OH
Have had a quiet weekend together, doing stuff to sort the house but also went for 2 lovely snowy walks together.

* Overpay £6K
Made standard OP plus small Ama$on sale, so just over £210. Will update signature next time am on. Started a spending diary which have been a bit rubbish about keeping. Meal plan drawn up for next week, we have been keeping our shopping to about £60 which is positive (although January has been a LONG month moneywise!)

* Enjoy ourselves!
OH enjoyed his pilates again this week, and I really enjoyed my shopping trip with a friend (who bought me lunch, what a sweetheart). Was meant to do some boring committee stuff but realised life is too short and glad I did what I wanted to do for once! Also enjoyed exercise class, mum & baby yoga and the baby group I went to this week. The snowy walks have been great, and we also researched camping sites for our summer family holiday. Thinking of norfolk this year as easier to get to than wales or cornwall. Have contacted about 4-5 places and waiting to hear back; hope to have booked that in the next week or so. DD had her first week in Cadets and really enjoyed it - they have a summer camp coming up which she is really excited about going to (and at £160, very good value for an 8 day trip, IMO). Also researched for a trip to Paris, possibly for the whole family in May to celebrate OH's 40th. OH is also planning a mountain biking holiday in April, and we are looking to buy a second hand bike for him, possibly next week (so that'll be £350 spent :eek:!)

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Lovely to hear from you. How busy you were in 2012! Very good wishes for you all in 2013. Re declutter ing, I can't believe that we still end up with things we don't need, we haven't ever been shoppers, even more so in the last couple of mfw years. Where on earth does it all come from? Actually, I think the answer lies in gifts, as most of our surplus wasn't actually bought by us yet we feel obliged to keep it around!

All the best,

Squirrel

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi MuseumWorker, I love reading your posts and the work you are doing to change how you are living your lives is really interesting to read.

Thank you

Tilly

pavlovs_dog

museumworker wrote: »

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Welsh classes cancelled :mad:, although I suppose it does save me £210 :eek:. Have been doing the free SSiW podcasts (finished another 1), and looking into family learning welsh holiday for the summer.

S4C was a very valuable resource to me when I was learning. I watched a few different programmes regularly and you soak up so much. It is a fab feeling to realise that you are becoming less dependent on the subtitles and actually understanding more and more yourself.

If you can't pick up the TV channel you can watch online. They have a service called clic which is a basic iplayer.

Dal ati, a dw i bob amser yn hapus i siarad os hoffet ti ymarfer xx

museumworker

Croseo i bawb! (hope I got that right pavlovs_dog!).

I have been using S4C clic at times, mainly to watch Hwb or Peppa Pinc (now just called Peppa I think!). Diolch a chi for your very kind offer i siarad gyda fi, mae eisiau i fi ymarfer. Can't quite get my head round it yet, but will message you as soon as I do!!

Tilly, love your diary too although I haven't had much time to read diaries of late. The main reason is that I have been doing some work on values as part of my Mindfulness work. Has anyone on here done this before? There is a worksheet on it here http://www.thehappinesstrap.com/upimages/The_Complete_Happiness_Trap_Worksheets.pdf.pdf although I think it helps if you read the book first. Basically it is looking at values, rather than goals, and looking at what you would like people to say about you at your funeral. One of my main areas I would like to focus on is my family, and being more attentive. This means I have cut down my online time to half an hour a day. This isn't a lot when I am also researching 11+ for DD. I am missing the diaries and some of the people here and on other forums but it does mean I am getting more done and am more focused on my key values.

SSS - definitely gifts are a key way of clutter entering the house. Have read enough now though about getting rid of these so am able to part with them a lot better! There is a really good advice on parting with gifts in the No More Clutter book, basically keep the thought but part with the item - nobody should give you a gift and expect for it to be a burden.

Intermittent update 3:
* Have an organised home
Over 330 items gone in January. Setting a target of 300 for February too as lots more to do.

* Work with DD on her emotional well-being
Working with her class teacher, and have decided that I do need to pursue with school further.

* Be prepared for secondary school choices for DD
11+ work continues. DD been a bit reluctant, so spent some time online looking at the school we're aiming for. She is now much more motivated as she loves the look of it :j. Have ordered book on punctuation through library, and purchased 2 books online. Finishing off purchase long list.

* Practice mindfulness and relaxation
Did activities on Values, been practicing mindful feeding and mindful showering (with varying levels of attentiveness!). Had session with psychologist, yoga class, and practiced a dvd on breathing exercises.

* Dsygu cymraeg (learning welsh)
Finished another SSiW podcast, on the last free one now! Also did some Welsh for Families written work and finished off cd 2.

* Make quality time for OH
This hasn't been great, he has been v tired and obsessively online researching his latest hobby - cycling. But think we're coming through that. We've started eating at the table together every night rather than slumping in front the tv, which means we get a bit of talking time. This is possible in part due to decluttering, which means the table is much clearer most of the time.

* Overpay £6K
Don't get me started on money. OH needs root canal work . We have done another £50 food week, so that side going well. Received £50 Mr S vouchers for swapping broadband to BT. ETA: £209.31 OP made from OH's salary, and £10.29 added to LovetoShop card from TCB for opening OH's account .

* Enjoy ourselves!
Have booked a B&B in Bruges for family break for OH's 40th :j. OH enjoyed group cycle last weekend, and has transferred £320 for the bike which he will pick up in a few weeks. I had a free session at the local gym yesterday and used the creche for the first time; really enjoyed it. We plan to visit Darwin's house on the weekend for a family outing, should be free if we take our own packed lunch and we all get in with my work pass. Looking forward to it just being the 4 of us. And have had a couple of mornings just napping with DS on the floor, that's been delicious!

[Deleted User]

Great update mw!
Glad that you are getting into mindfullness - I manage differing degrees of it, but definitly feel better for it when I am practicing!

Sorry to hear money is tough at the mo - think its the time of year as well, but unexpected bills are always a pain!

B&B holiday sounds lovely too!

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Nothing like a lovely nap with a baby!

Courgette

Great updates, mw! You sound so positive at the moment!