Vala's frugal journey to be MF!!

Vala-Mal-Doran

Hello All!

Been away from here too long, iv had such a busy time with work and doing (or not doing, just staring at) assignments for my work course that iv had just about enough energy to lurk on the old style thread and thats it!!

Thankfully they are submitted now after reading Hurdlers inspiring diary. The next one is 'released' online tomoro so Iv promised myself a head start on this one, I cant end up like this time spending days on it during the last week!! Honestly its like I havent learnt since I was at school and had dreaded coursework!!...actually I dont think I have

Im annoyed with myself for being a piggy for the last couple of weeks too, eating chocolate and sweets like my life depended on it!! :eek: Its annoyed me as I was literally 1 lb away from my 'happy weight' (about 7lbs off my 'ideal weight') a couple of weeks ago, in a proper routine with my exercise and I felt great, then I went to edinburgh...and we took a pack of chocolate digestives...which only I ate and since then its all gone to pot! Eating whatever OH eats which is a LOT but he can take it -annoyingly!! SO the result is 6lbs back on in a few weeks!! It wouldnt stress me out but I have found my wedding dress and need to measure myself when i order it ....SO ....to cut down on possible alteration costs I was planning to be at my 'Happy Weight' when I order it and then would be able to maintain that until it arrived! SO me = :mad:

On the plus side, everything starts anew tomorrow - signing up to a 10k in December and the local Half Marathon next March to make sure i keep on with running, and i need to get back into my circuit training as that compliments my running AND most importantly back to logging my food on my calorie counter app - I dont want to sound like an obsessive weirdo but logging my food helped me shift my last stone in a couple of months!! :T So hopefully should get me back on track as I really wanted to order my dress soon.

On the MF side of thing, made our overpayment of £156.30 today, £132 is the difference between our original fixed payment and the drop, £22 is the drop in payments to EDF as we overpaid last year and the £2.30 is because I like a nice round number on the mortgage! :rotfl: Waiting for next week when OH sees how much has gone out and wants to know where its gone (memory of a fish!) He will grumble at the state of our joint account for a few mins but then that will be it until the next month

This is the first month we are going to try not doing ourr weekly shop at the same place each week and im having the 'food purse' to get things as and when we need it - it gives me a reason to get my walking in at lunchtime if I walk to the different shops to get the best price! (we have 4 supermarkets within 10 mins walking from my work I reckon I could get round all in an hour - and then find out the best price was in the first one!!! :rotfl:)

Looking forward to a fresh re-start tomoro and a happy Vala!

Smaller posts from now on - sorry iv rambled a bit!

gallygirl

Good luck with losing weight but don't send any my way please .

Have you looked at the savvy buys on mysupermarket? They are under the £ menu and show items at 30% lower than their average over a year, and also still compare to other stores. Ideal if you're planning on going to different shops

Vala-Mal-Doran

Soooo...the less said about my fresh start and the giant tub of celebrations and meeting biscuits at work the better me thinks!!

Have put in my expenses form for petrol to a work course today so will get some extra pennies from that which will be split between the joint ac and an OP. also claimed the cash back for for insurance from TCB, £28 OP when it clears :T

Busy night tonight, my Guide group are having a 'bring a brownie' night and it turns out we have twice as many brownies coming as we have guides! It's going to be a little bit mental!

Fresh start tomoro!

megela

Really admire you for your Guide work - I used to be a Guider until I had the girls - I help out now as a parent helper. I also seem to have been volunteered as a more permanent helper while present Guider on maternity leave.

Any ideas really welcome as I find entertaining that age group really hard - give me Brownies anyday.

Vala-Mal-Doran

Aww thanks Megala

Iv run all age groups and find guides the easiest (odd I know!)
Rainbows - cry at anything and / or cling to your leg which is slightly annoying
Brownies-EVIL THINGS - they made ME cry!!
Guides - yes they have RAGING hormones and sulk but you can have a laugh with them and do more things like outdoor stuff with them

Better day health wise - ran 6 miles for the first time ever in 64mins OH came with me which probably made me run faster (he does it in 45 mins:eek: ) it's hard going in the dark nights but cheaper than gym fees! A circuit session tomoro (in the conservatory to a 30 day shred DVD-if you ever want your !!! kicked, that's the DVD to have JM's a genius)

Talked to OH tonight about swapping to a 'food budget purse' instead of just splitting the food bill each week and he's happy to do that, so pretty pleased il be able to monitor it now. Thing is I haven't got my receipts from the last month so not sure how much we actually spend normally. Iv set it at £140 between the two of us for a month ... Please don't shout at me if that sounds too much? I think we do pretty well out of it. Iv limited OH to getting his favourite cereal once a month (sorry but it's £2.68 a box!) my favourite is £1.78 and I only have it at weekends so that lasts a month too - I'm on porridge oats everyday otherwise, sounds boring but I love them tho-so versatile!

Settling down to read my Nigel slater book for inspiration, I'm sure Gallygirl will appreciate that!

Hope everyone's well!! X

Vala-Mal-Doran

Had a cheapy Wednesdays night at the cinema, watched Argo -very good film, amazing true story.

Tried lidls 47p bread on OH today, it looks pretty good-better even than the k1ngsmill one we usually have and for half the price! Also priced up the fruit and veg pretty cheap too. Meat-not so much-will have to stick to mr a for that.

No op today...considering a chocolate tax tho - penny per cal to the op fund-it will stop me seeing those work Chocs as 'free food' so technically good to eat !

V

muddywhitechicken

A chocolate tax - what an excellent idea!

cotswoldaccountant

Love your diary! I have subscribed. I laughed at your comments about Brownies - I'm a Brownie leader and could never contemplate Guides as I couldn't cope with the hormones. I find Brownies cute when they are 7, but starting to become a bit cocky by the time they are ready to move on to Guides.

Good luck with all the wedding planning - I've been married several years now but absolutely loved planning my wedding - thought for a while I might become a wedding planner as I couldn't imagine life without a wedding to plan - although once our big day was over, I realised that I didn't want to do wedding planning ever again! I had five bridesmaids and a flower girl - some of the bridesmaids insisted on contributing to their dresses and others didn't, which was fine. I bought fabric and a local dressmaker, who was very reasonably priced, made up the dresses. We did lots of other DIY bits as well, which was great fun. Look forward to hearing more about your wedding preparations!

CA

Vala-Mal-Doran

Oh gosh,subscribing-im honoured

Ah yes I agree but then once they get into Guides they are no longer cocky as they are then a 'little fish in a big sea' again and there are much bigger kids that sit on them a bit.

The chocolate tax is pinched from one of the old style boards, i think thats how it works anyways - im guessing 40 cals a celebration choc = 40p off the mortgage, we shall see which wins out-my waistline or the OPs!!

Nothing much to report today, got my hair cut which was a bit of a luxury, I usually do it myself as its very long and can easily hide mistakes but I figured I need to get into a bit of a better routine with it all to get it in better condition for big day! Went to a training academy so that it was only £19 for a wash, head massage (nearly fell asleep!!), blow dry, trim and I had it curled and some fancy stuff put on it to get my moneys worth

Went for a 4 mile run tonight, almost done when a $%&£ leant out the window of the passenger side of a car and screamed at me at the top of his voice, iv never jumped so much in my life!! It really freaked me out I go on a well lit route and stuff but it put me off a bit.

A TV night in with OH watching young apprentice and Hatfield and McCoy.

x

SmileyG_2

I also have just subscribed to your thread. I have just had my second lightbulb moment. Need to get fit and healthy again!

I have a 10K target in mind, but you're well ahead of me, but I'll follow you as an inspiration. First target is a 5K in January 2013, but I'm starting again from scratch after a 25 year break

Good luck with everything!!

SmileyG