5 years MFW - Lets get cracking...

HelenDaveKids

Ski-ing was ace, had an hour lesson, followed by 2 toboggan rides, was a 30 minute gap, so went inside, 5 mins later, heavens opened, torrential rain for 20 minutes, stopped completely less than 5 minutes before needed to go back outside (can you believe our luck!!!) then 30 minutes sno-tubing, with then 3 viper slides. Utterly brilliant afternoon for a bartered £20 each.
Then back to ours for tea (with friend / family).

Christmas went well, everyone delighted with presents, esp dd1 with saxophone , already able to play a small piece. Parents, brother, niece, FIL MIL round and have just sat down..

Work tomoz, should be an early but could be a long day as was short.

Merry Christmas everyone x

Calfuray

Merry Christmas HDK! x

HelenDaveKids

Thanks Calfuray, same to you xx

HelenDaveKids

Girls want to spend some Christmas money in the sales so may have to brave soon. Took today off so can cover Sunday shift, makes no difference as kids and Dave off anyway.

Starting to think about my NY resolutions.

HelenDaveKids

HelenDaveKids wrote: »

Have my new year resolutions; (1/1/13)
* Reduce my morgage by at least £25K
*Reduce my body by 2 dress sizes
*To complete my OU Module by committing a minimum of 7 hours a wk with no excuses allowed.
*To ebay list at least 50 items a month or cummulative of 600 throughout the year. (relisting allowed).
*To sell at least 100 items in year.
*To Max ad points each week
*To save paypal, TCB and nectar points towards Christmas 2013 and for it to be a significant percentage of what is spent
*To save sealed pot towards Christmas 2013
*To save £2k for EF
*To ensure every opportunity to save is utilised in terms of insurance, utilities etc
*To ensure once a month we do something special as a family, whether its a day out or friends for tea.
*£500 a month Grocery allowance

Last Years resolutions update
Well definitely achieved on the mortgage reduction, I think I was 85k and now 48.5 so 36.5k (but did include cashing in endowments):j
Failed miserably on the weight front, suspect a bit heavier:o
:j:T:j for Masters though :j:T:j
Did sell an awful lot in first 6 months before it began to feel a waste of time so :j
Have consistently maxed on adpoints, visiting the site at least 3x a week :j
I don't think my agc paid for Christmas but the made a huge dint in both birthdays and Christmas, earning pence over £500:j
Sealed pot, well its still sealed but have been poor at putting change in tbh:(
Booked Florida and have under 1k in savings:(
Saving's from insurance / haggling over contracts etc £497:j
Think its a :T for days out with family.
for £500 grocery spend, perhaps a bit harsh on my criteria..;)

Overall pretty pleased but think its pretty easy to identify my new year ones. Biggest success was studying and biggest oopps was weight. So next years will be a very slimline; (Using SMART)
Reduce dress size by 2
Reduce morgage from 48.5 to 26k

To achieve both I need to;
To reduce alcohol consumption
To forward plan meals and batch cook, making better use of grocery shop
To up my effort in the gym and add another class into my current week, varying depending on when day off is.

Work related
To be very proactive in managing personal stress levels;

edinburgher

I think going for SMART resolutions is a great idea HDK. Also, identifying goals/milestones will probably make all the difference (as we all see on here with our financial plans).

Your eBay goal seemed a bit nuts - do you actually own 600 items to sell? :rotfl:

A belated merry Christmas to you and the family

HelenDaveKids

Thanks Ed, you too.
You'd be surprised how much carp we have Ed, the garage / loft was full of stuff left by previous (deceased) owner, plus having 3 kids.. although your probably right, no. Gave up anyway as by the time I had finished, the amount actually gained was ridiculously small.

Going for a more focused approach. Hope that will accomplish what I intend to. Especially keen to ditch some excess weight. Now I'm not studying I have absolutely no excuse

Just been sales shopping, kids mostly with Christmas money. I did buy 2x 6 rolls of W paper, 4 small card packs (of 20 each - for kids) 2 normal sized card packets, then husband and 2 x parents individual cards for princely sum of £7.11 which I think is good (card factory)

Also bought a few half price gifts from wilkos, including a babyliss hairdryer for dd1. Plus a range of bits from Matalan, such as half price handbag for friend.

edinburgher

Also bought a few half price gifts from wilkos, including a babyliss hairdryer for dd1

I just discovered Wilkos, their homebrew stuff (and oldstyle stuff) is fantastic. It's like a combination of Woolworths and B&M.

HelenDaveKids

Was toying with buying Dave some home brew equipment for his birthday in April. Did buy last year for dad and he is really pleased with his beer.

Yes wilkos is a gr8 shop. Bought quite a few toiletries as well (not sale) and are good value and quality. Bought 100 tealights for £2.

HelenDaveKids

Ready for 2014, new signature to show money shuffled and in place to land in those accounts come Jan.