I have a dream...to be a MFW

ajmoney

Ended up going out for lunch yesterday so with that cost and my train ticket into Edinburgh today I still have £8.30 left to spend today.

The Great Edinburgh Winter Run was a great race and an amazing atmosphere. I ran the 5k in 30.44 which is really good seeing as it goes uphill for the whole of the 1st half and downhill for the 2nd. I am buzzing from it and am already looking forward to my next event which is 7 weeks tomorrow, just need to decide what website to take the next plan from.

Watty1

Impressed with the running.
Lunches: Home made soup in flask, chilli in food flask (that's one of my favs) cold fish with bean and rice salad (another of my favs), salads with lots of veggies and fish (rarely ever do I take this with me as it seems a lot of chopping up!)

ajmoney

Back in the work world now so feeling a bit low tonight. However I have unpacked everything and my room is tidy a lot quicker tha normal. Need to take some stuff over to work then I am going to put my pj's on sit in bed and try get into the happy place I normally have down here.

As I expected I think I am going to find the way I have done money over the last 10 days tough so although I am keeping an eye on how much money I have spent out of the days so far in the month I also have a decresing total of how much I have left to spend. I have food for at least 2 days so shouldn't need to go shopping until Tuesday/Wednesday. I am going to try and keep a tally of what food I am buying, how long it lasts and therefore how much each meal is costing me.

Going along to my beginners triathlon sessions for the first time tomorrow night so it will be interesting to see how they go.

Hope everyone is ok x

HelenDaveKids

Do you have a microwave at work? I always cook extra at teatime for tomorrow's lunch and have a load of lunch dishes in freezer.
I also sometimes take a crackers, cheese and crudities meal, which is nice.
I frequently take soup too.

Was toying with great north too, but the marathon is too close so that's scuppered that.

ajmoney

HelenDaveKids wrote: »

Do you have a microwave at work? I always cook extra at teatime for tomorrow's lunch and have a load of lunch dishes in freezer.
I also sometimes take a crackers, cheese and crudities meal, which is nice.
I frequently take soup too.

Was toying with great north too, but the marathon is too close so that's scuppered that.

I do have a microwave at work but nothing to cook it in beforehand if that makes sense?

I have found a microwave recipe for butternut squash risotto so am giving that a go tonight when I get back from my training session. Today for lunch I had flatbreads with houmous, a seed bar that was hideous and a banana. I had meant to have a cup a soup too but forgot I had it in my bag. I either need more food at lunch or I need to make time to snack mid-morning and definitely need to find time for a snack in the afternoon, I have some recipes for smoothies so am going to give those a go as they are normally quite filling.

First training session for the triathlon beginners group at 6, looking forward to meeting the others and finding out what we will be doing.

If I hadn't been sure that exercise was good for you, the nurse at my check up this morning asked if I exercise as my blood pressure was really good. I have naturally high blood pressure so I definitely need to keep going. She also thought I had lost loads of weight until she realised they haven't been recording my weight since 2013 :eek:

Moneywise, I am in the black but need to go shopping to make sure I am not as hungry as I have been today but should mean I don't need to go shopping tomorrow

ajmoney

Dinner was ok last night but it meant I had a meat free day yesterday which is not me!

I felt that my triathlon session was a bit of a waste of time last night, hopefully the rest of the course will be better.

Money wise I need to tot up the last couple of days of spending but don't think it is too bad, just need to buy milk today and my evening meal.

First day at work was long and I don't think it will be better today but I am going for my run after work so I can clear my brain. It is sad how quickly I have slipped back into the routine here but I am so busy that I don't have time to think about missing Mr AJM and home.

Update- I am still on track with my spending, I am far too happy about this!

edinburgher

I'm also quite a big fan of meat, but have found that a little bit can be quite filling if chosen well. For example, yesterday we had lamb casserole with a bit of finely shredded lamb and some pasta (can't be more than about 1/2 a lamb chop) per portion. Very filling thanks to the lamb fat and just the right sort of umami to make me feel that I was eaing more meat than I was

ajmoney

First night back at cadets last night so that is £50 on its way once I submit my invoice. After totalling all my spends I ended yesterday about £2-3 in the red but overall I am doing OK and should be back in the black at the end of today and for tomorrow too. I am determined to make this work for me.

ajmoney

Well it looks like all my vague plans have been thrown up in the air again as it is likely I will be getting moved back to Scotland by early March. It is my choice whether to go then or wait until September so Mr AJM and I have talked a lot this evening about it and think the best option is to go for the earlier date. Mr AJM sounded quite relieved to hear I will be home more and although it will take some re-adjusting it will be better in the long term. It means it will take a while to settle down financially but the spending limit I have set myself at the moment should help with that and I will have a new budget to work around anyway.

I have decided in the short term to not worry about buying a slow cooker or steamer as I may not need one in the next place I live/work. I am also not going to buy a push bike (was going to look at getting one this weekend) as I will just need to sort out getting it back. Instead I am going to see if I can borrow one when I get home or just wait a couple of months to buy one.

Once I have a start date I am going to cancel my gym membership. It has to run until the end of April anyway but I am hoping they might let me off a month early. I won't need to join the triathlon club down here but have already looked at some near home so may join one eventually.

The best bit is it means Mr AJM will now have time together at Easter and summer, we wouldn't have had this before so we can get excited about holidays again

My daily spending is going quite well, I think I have all the food I need for the weekend so will just need to buy my meals. If I can stick to this spending plan then I will have an extra £150ish to move across to my savings at the end of the month.

ajmoney

Ran at parkrun this morning. Realised early on that my legs weren't very quick so went at a lovely pace and helped someone else along, I love the community feel of parkrun. Will miss the people I have met here but will be able to meet more at the one nearest to my home.

I am starting to look at what I can pack up and send up to Scotland this week as we have a coach going up there. It should mean I can get everything else up in my car when I move.

I am going to have to get into a habit with meal planning and shopping when I go home. I want to run the freezer down and use the stuff up from the cupboards that we don't really use. The plan is to use the slow cooker at the weekend to make things that I can take for my lunches that with fit in my small fridge for while I am working away. I can also make sure Mr AJM has things to eat when he gets in from work as he doesn't eat very well when I am away. We can then have some lovely meals while I am home at the weekend. It will take a while to work out what money we need where and I am hoping this will help.

Spending still going well, I just need to stay away from the shops and make sure I don't get bored today!