90 days of chewing frogs!

[Deleted User]

Hi everyone, I’m a lapsed MSEr and longtime lurker…welcome to my new diary. I have a couple of loans (family & cc) built up during a uni course and house purchase last year, and need to tackle these a lot more proactively. I also have a stonking great mortgage, and would dearly love to be posting this in the mfw section instead…but first things first!

I’ve been dipping into the threads recently, and loved the Matrix mantras, especially chewing frogs. Having recently found a list that had been buried nearly a year, I have to accept that the most important/scary things often roll over for me, and I’m determined this will end. So, I’d like to chew a frog a day for the next 90 days, and see what happens!

This timeframe seems long enough to break old & make new habits, but also takes me through some personal challenges. Like many, I’m having a very tough time at work. A few years ago, I would have willingly paid to do my job and I’m still passionate about the role…but it’s become a very hostile place to be, so I find myself sitting in the car park in the morning, plucking up the strength to go in. This can’t really go on, so I actively need to exploit some opportunities that I’ve heard are in the pipeline, and create some others if they don’t come through.

At home, too, there are some changes coming up which before might have sent me into ostrich mode, with a side effect of lethargy, excess spending, chocolate consumption, and general sorry for myself…so if this can be minimised by refocusing, that’s good too.

Finally, after some hard work last year, I’m fitter than I ever have been JJJ and have just car booted the bigger sized clothes, so it has to stay this way… To help with this, and to keep me exercising despite all of the above, I’ve just secured a place in my first marathon, which is about 20 miles further than I’ve ever run to date. It’s just over 90 days away, so there are some training frogs to chew too.
Commitment made – diary started. I’m off to work out the figures.
..

sunshinesquirrel

Good evening crazy_lady


Looking forward to reading your diary so I shall subscribe. I'm in awe of anyone who can do a marathon so good luck with the training and, of course, the money saving/lifestyle changing!

xx

[Deleted User]

Thanks Sunshine J I too am in awe, and frankly a bit petrified. I heard a lady on the radio last year who had cycled a massive distance, I think maybe across Africa. The presenter asked her how she got fit enough to take the challenge on, and she said of course she wasn’t fit enough when she started, but she sure was by the end! That’s spurred me on, that and the Runners World ‘just get round it’ training schedule!
Late nights escaping in novels J or online browsing (including MSE - send me to bed if you see me here after 2230!) are making daytimes a bit harder. I’m going to try to curb them, starting tonight, in the hope of creating a little more alert time in the morning for pre-work frog chewing J Night x

[Deleted User]

So, if not Frogs, then some tadpoles got a chewing today. The plan for an early night and early rise didn’t really work out. I did manage to log off early, but then had an upsetting call from a colleague at a charity I volunteer with – some tricky times ahead for us I think. I buried myself in a book and fell asleep with the light on, hardly very MS!! Woke up crotchety in the middle of the night, and was still groggy come morning, just in time to face a stressed out team at work, and even more stressed out family (relatives have house moves going on, or not going on, it now seems).

Tadpoles chewed out today:

• Postage – much deferred task
• Networked at leaving do for a friend…got a meeting next week with someone who may be recruiting in my area soon J
• Made cake as leaving gift for said friend for tomorrow…mmm… its just cooling now, smells scrummy
• Press Release completed but not sent out
• Stuff to charity shop, recycling
• Booked a couple of social runs with friends
• Finished a report that’s been hanging around ages at work
• Worked 3 hours overtime J
• Sent letter to passport office confirming ex can have pp to take DD away for a month L This is a huge emotional bullfrog really!

Frogs on the menu for this week:

• Budget / SOA / spending diary
• Sort out how to do various payment methods
• Change addresses / update records where they are needed
• Chase phone / broadband provider and cancel mobile bb contract
• Pay for marathon place – start telling people (in the real world), organise fundraising page
• Publicity for charity event – I hate this bit!
• Book solicitors – will making
• Run x 2 more

Woah….better leave it there, or I’ll break my new curfew tonight too! I’m very glad to get rid of the tasks completed, many of which have hung around (on my mind) for a while. But very conscious most of these were tadpoles rather than the big frogs that have made it back to the pond for another night.

[Deleted User]

Hmmm...bedtime isnt working, is it?

Tadpoles today –
· Hosted another leaving do for the same friend – a surprise get together of a gang of us who worked and played together a decade ago. I think I may even have arranged a date out of it… She loved the cake, and there’s just enough left over for my lunch tomorrow.
· Got Press Release approved, and sent for distribution.
· Arranged coaching sessions at work. I get a lot from my mentor, so this seems the next step, and will hopefully help with my career direction dilemmas! First appt is early next week – very exciting.
· Started my spending diary. £11 for coffees (at the leaving dos). Somehow I think the little things will scare me.
· Chased up my broadband service – it is live, but the router hasn’t yet arrived. Hopefully tomorrow as the mobile dongle is expensive, and sooo slow!
· Dealt with several enquiries tonight re the charity event. Thank goodness, I think someone will be coming. All enquiries up to date now…
· At home, DD had a friend back after school. Was smug that I had enough tasty food in the freezer to entertain at last minute!
I'm finding the frog chewing motivation good for spurring me into action, and am getting a lot more 'extra' stuff done...but am still not really focusing it enough towards the big scary jobs which will have the most impact longer term. For the next few days, the aims got to be sort out work tasks, sort out money tasks, get running!

[Deleted User]

Beautiful sunshine…I managed not one, but two training runs today! Just 3.5m at lunchtime with some mates from the beginners running course I did at work last year, great to catch up – must do that more often. Then tonight went for an hour very hilly run just as it was getting dark, head torches and quiet country tracks – the dusk (and later dark) made it quite exciting. Even better, it was with a good friend whose DH made dinner not just for DD, who was playing with their kids, but also for me when we got back. How lucky am I?
Tadpoles swallowed today:
· Went for info session about some secondments that are coming up. Good news, they are based in my town (I thought they’d be about an hours drive away) and sound fantastic – stuff I loved doing earlier in my career, but with a more challenging subject matter. Also great that there are some people I’ve really enjoyed working with before. After having such a negative time at work over the last year or so, to the point where it is barely tolerable, this all sounds great. But – they are a pay drop, I think of about 5 grand in take home salary (although some compensation of lots of overtime opportunities) and would be considered by some in my profession a step sideways-and-back if not completely backwards. Plus, only guaranteed for 3-5 years (although this is a lifetime in public sector posts!). So a lot to mull over in the next couple of weeks before the selection process starts.
· Met with two possible new volunteers for the charity I volunteer with. They were lovely and had lots of skills we could use. I think they’re in…will have to give them a call in a few days and invite to our event later in the month.
· Finally got the press release out. Phone, don’t stop ringing tomorrow, please J
· Did some weary accountancy stuff at work I have been putting off!
· Went through the family loan I have from my folks with them. Some weird credits had gone into the payback account I feed for them, but sadly it was a banking error! So I now have a total for that, plus it was also good to chat to them and find out they aren’t desperate for it back, just felt it was too much to give. This releases me from some internal pressure to pay it back quicker than we’d agreed (although I still feel more awkward about this one than the cc, it makes no sense not to hammer the more expensive debts).
· Got my bb router from the parcel collection place, it should all be working…2mrw my transmission may be from a cheaper source! But cant face putting it together now!
Off for a bath and a early night J tomorrow (Friday) night is my war on numbers, to get the account statement up here. That and some appointments that need to be made (solicitors, drs) have got to be the priority frogs!

[Deleted User]

My priority frogs still didn’t make it to the top of the pile – how did that happen? By Sunday then, definitely – debt totals, budget and payment info resolved J I’ve nibbled away at it a little more today, but I’m just rubbish at all of these different login details. I keep freezing stuff out, and haven’t got the router up and running yet.

The tadpoles were ok tho –

• Negotiated some overtime (a rarity now) – 20 hours over next two weeks J I don’t mind being at work when there is no one else there!
• Made it to Morrisons with voucher to shop...am truly stocked up on household stuff and staples for a while I think
• Broached wills and stuff with ex, we are due to meet next week then see solicitor together. I just need to do some research before this so we make sure we cover everything that we need to.
• Did a radio interview about the charity day J Glad now that I got the press release out!

Looking back I got a lot done I’ve been avoiding for a while, just need to translate that to my finances and we’ll be steaming! Off to register DD for our local parkrun tomorrow…she’s decided she would like to run alongside mum! J

[Deleted User]

Here goes Scary bit (aside from the mortgage) almost done. Just one more banking process to master!

ani*fan

Hi there crazy_lady! :wave:

Just thought I'd delurk and say well done on getting your debts under control and starting a diary.

I too am a wannabe runner and am inspired by your stories of training.

I look forward to following your progress.

AFx