My Busy Life

sidneysmum

Gosh the days are speeding past. It will soon be 2013. I have spent the last few days pretty quietly really - just dog walking, lots of quilt making and a bit of tv (not really my thing). Went to visit some relatives this afternoon and i plan to spend the evening with my feet up and a couple of glasses of white wine. Come the 1st Jan, the wine will be taking a back seat for a while. I have decided to pretty much follow slimming world but with a bit of portion control as well. I am going to keep an eye on my calorie intake as well just until i see if i am loosing any weight. I haven't had a weigh in since the start of December but i think i am aiming for about a stone off ! That's dooable i think. I just hope the weather in the north west bucks up a bit so i can get some more dog walking done without getting soaked.

Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

What a miserable day weather wise it is today. However i have been brave and did a quick scoot up to town this morning to visit the £shop. Stocked up on a few things - light bulbs, secateurs, invisible mending tape, toast toppers !! I did want to have a bit of a browse but decided to wait till the weather is better. Just been out for a couple of hours walking the dog whilst there was a break in the rain. Glad i have got home because its teeming down again now. Nothing much to report from Sidney Towers really. I have been making my £5 overpayments daily to my mortgage, using up stuff and only buying what i need. I will be glad when 2013 is here so i can really get myself into gear regarding my resolutions. I plan to start the healthy eating tomorrow so today's it the last of the wine and the chocolate. I am going to carry on with my long walks with Sid and also my zumba and belly dancing. I am going to weigh myself in the morning and then every sunday morning after that. I have decided to crack on doing more work on my family tree and am chewing over going to the library on Friday morning to make a start of that. In my area you can use the "ancestry" website free at the library so that's a great bonus !!

I hope everyone i having a great moneysaving day x

Jazee

Happy New Year to you Sidneysmum.

sidneysmum

Happy 2013 to you too Jazee :beer:

vasseur

It's teeming with rain here too

Here's to a great 2013 Sidneysmum :beer: (and better weather)

sidneysmum

Happy 2013 everyone.

Today has been Ok really. Weigh in first thing was not pretty but I have done great food /exercise wise today. I made a huge effort to go for a long walk this morning because i am am back at work tomorrow although thats not much of a hardship as i think i am only working one day this week. I walked for about 2.5 hours which was great especially as the weather was dry. This afternoon i went to see "The impossible" at the cinema and it was excellent, although it was very sad. Also it kept me thinking about food. All the goodies from Christmas have gone and i wont be buying any more till i am at my ideal weight... and i think that might be taking a while!! I am also trying to use up a lot of food that is in the freezer / cupboard rather than buy any more. I have got my food sorted out for work tomorrow so hopefully I wont be hungry when i am there and resort to eating rubbish. Whilst I am writing this, I have got a huge pan on the cooker making parsnip soup with yellow stickered parsnips. With a bit of luck it will taste ok and i can freeze some to last over the next few weeks. Benn a NSD today which was great. Off to overpay my mortage by £5 on the strength of my NSD.

Hoe everyone is having a great moneysaving New Years Day x

sidneysmum

I was just so busy yesterday, i didn't get time to post. It was my first day back at work and i went in armed with all my food for my shift so i wouldn't be tempted to buy anything to eat. The last couple of days have gone very well food wise and i have lost the wine and chocolate without any problems so far !! Work was very busy and afterwards i went out for an hour with the dog. It couldn't be any longer than an hour because it was my WI night. Only spent £1 there and that was my subs !!. Had a productive day all in all yesterday - paid £5 extra of my mortgage, ordered a mortgage statement, bought LPG for my car and booked my car in for some jobs to be done at the garage.

Today I have been out on a massive 3 hour walk this morning. I am aching and tired but feel great. Hopefully i am going to do a bit of cleaning and tidying this afternoon before i head off to the teatime performance of "Quartet" at the cinema. I hope its good. I am just trying to keep busy and focussed food wise. Not overeaten today at all and feeling really positive. Just paid another fiver off the mortgage !!!

Anyway i hope everyone else is doing OK with their New Year plans and having great moneysaving days x

sidneysmum

Enjoying my life at the moment just doing quite simple things. Yesterday had another very long dog walk and had the company of my friend for a few hours in the afternoon. We just chatted and put the world to rights !! Hardly spent any money since the start of the year other than a bottle of milk and some fresh chillies. I went to my local Asian shop and paid 27p for 6 large green chillies. No way am i paying supermarket prices !! I have hardly used up any food whilst i have been dieting. I feel really well and focused and am just using up what food is in the freezer and cupboard. Other than fruit, milk and bread, I think i could last till the end of February with most things. This slimming lark is definitely going to help me in several ways. Tomorrow is weigh in day. I am going to weigh in every Sunday as its the day i take my gas/elec readings so might as well do everything on the one morning. One of the presents I got for Christmas was an electric meat slicer. I did request this !! Anyway yesterday I took use it to slice a joint of cooked gammon and it was fabulous. The slicer can be altered to suit so you can cut very thin or quite thick. I cut the meat thinly so it can be used for sandwiches. It made me think that i should look out for bread maker on my travels as the electric slicer would be perfect for slicing an uncut loaf.

This morning i have been out with the dog for an hours walk delivering a card to a friend who has just had her 6th baby!!! God it was hard enough bringing up 4 children ! The plan for this afternoon is to visit my aunt and instead of going in the car I am going to walk instead. I really see this as the way forward for me. I hope to go most places on foot, either with / without the dog. This in turn should keep me fit and help with the weight loss...and hopefully keep my fuel costs down for the car. I called at the charity shop on the way back from dropping the car off at my friends and picked up a book for 50p. Normally i would use the library but I saw it and decided to give some money to the dogs charity !

Anyway went to see "Quartet" on Thursday teatime. It was ok but i wouldn't kill myself to see it again !!

I hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day ! x

sidneysmum

Well the last couple of days have been full of activity. Sunday saw me at the first exercise class of the year - zumba / belly dancing which was rather good. I went out with the dog for an hour which was enough ! My sons visited for tea which was great. I still haven't bought any food yet this year apart from bread / milk. I am really hoping to keep my spends to a minimum for food as i have other more costly things to pay for at the moment. The car has been in the garage today having a few jobs done - brake pads, brake fluid, link bars - whatever they might be. I can only think about mars bars at the moment now that i am back on the slimming bandwagon ! Unfortunately it has to go back later in the week for another job but hey ho !
Today has been much of the same. An hours zumba this morning followed by a 2 hour dog walk. Had my first use up of 2013 - a can of deodorant finished ! Still following my diet and when i got on the scales yesterday morning, i had lost 3lb......great stuff. What i am doing is obviously working. I am not going to weigh myself until next Sunday morning so I am hoping for another loss this week.
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x

sidneysmum

All this exercise, dog walking and dieting must be doing me some good because i am managing to stay very positive despite a very unexpected bill turning up on my doorstep for £1600. I almost needed smelling salts !! However its got to be paid....but i feel quite good about it.......I am so pleased that i have started an emergency fund and have been stashing money away for a couple of months....so even though i dont want to pay the bill, I know i can do, which is a great feeling. I have been given till the end of March to pay this amount so i intend to knuckle down and continue saving in between now and then. Hopefully if i carry on saving, i will have some funds in my emergency fund again. The bill has really renewed my New Year plans to be careful with what i have coming in. The only downside is that i will have to take a short break from overpaying my mortgage till after the end of March but i feel fairly confident i can make some bigger overpayments in April.
I know its only a week into the new year but thankfully i have hardly spent any money. Everything i have paid for has been a need, not a want. My car will be going back to the garage later this week to have one remaining job done but that has already been budgeted for. I just hope i can stay focussed and not feel tempted to spend cash wastefully. I spoke to my friend who i normally go out for meals with (carvery and curries !!) I had already told her that i wouldn't be eating out until i had lost some weight and she was fine with that. The good thing is that I will certainly save myself some cash by doing something different to scoffing !! Food wise i should only need to buy items of fresh stuff so that's good. I put fuel in my car every week (lpg) and monthly (petrol). Thankfully i only use the car to go to work so fuel costs are as low as they can be. If i could do without a car i would do but its unavoidable as i work very strange hours and there is no public transport at that time. All my local journeys are made on foot with the hound in tow. The only exception is when i am "going out" and want to look decent when i get where i am going instead of like i have been in a tornado !
Its been work today which was fine and afterwards I braved the rain and took Sidney out for an hour. Tea will be vegetable curry and rice - very nice.
Hope everyone is having a great moneysaving day x