Shortie's DFW Diary

elantan

Shortie wrote: »

Oh and I love jam making - I haven't made it for a few years either but the smell is lovely and there is nothing quite like hm jam I tried hm marmalade earlier this year but it went just like previous attempts and never set! It's all buried in a box since we moved but when it resurfaces it might be quite nice orange conserve, lol

I found the secret with jam was place a side plate in the fridge and when I think it's ready put a wee dollop in the plate ... Run your finger through it and if it kinda curls up at the sides then it's ready ( well that works for me Good luck

elantan

Hey shortie .. Looks like you've had a rough time lately ... I think this time of year can be so hard to stick to a budget ( even if you budget for an overspend ) well done for staying on top of it though and not just saying ahh to heck with it all

That's a bit of a bloody cheek taking their stuff home with them after enjoying all your hospitality can you return the favour ?

Stick with it honey ... I've recently came to more understand we have these dips in our resolve and they are natural and will pass ... Keep posting if we don't catch up starlight away we will arrive at some point

Chin up hon ... Your doing great and staying on top of things ... By February things will have settled down again for you xxc

elantan

Shortie wrote: »

I don't usually like making these, as I believe I'm setting myself up for a fall. I tend to think more about 'things I'd like to achieve'

So, my non official New Years Resolutions for 2013 are:

- to lose some, if not all of the weight I've regained in 2012. I've never been skinny but between 2010-2011 I managed to lose a nice amount of weight and I was happy with how I looked for the first time in over 10 years. I was then made redundant and though I was lucky and found a job really quicky, I'd been at the last place since I'd left Uni and suddenly I was totally lacking confidence in my abilities, and had a shock to find that friends you make in work are mostly actually just aquaintences that don't want to know you when you've gone. I really struggled last year and it shows in the weight gain. I really want to lose it again

- debt bust. Mine is a long haul before I can even think about my mortgage (actually, most likely clearing it down to get a new one for building works on the house) so this isn't a case if 'clear my debt by the end of 2013' however I will be making overpayments this year which I've never done before in order to clear them quicker. I'm sure i won't always overpay by the max but even if I overpay by something most months, I will still be in a better position by the end of 2013 than if I hadn't overpaid anything so that will still be a positive thing.. :cool:

Loving these unofficial challenges ... I will join you in the weight loss if you want ? I am after health but I know that for me part of that health gain is weight loss

And as long as you are travelling in the right direction most of the time were winners ... Any overpayment is a step closer

Shortie

Thanks El x. Not so much a rough time, more just 'too much of famiky and now I have the grumps' whoops! No chance really to repay the foodie favour either as they currently live with family so we don't get invites to theirs. That said, before they moved and lived in their own place we didn't get invited over... Thinking about it, it's mostly been a one way thing

Ooh if you fancy a weight loss challenge? Is there an officisl one somewhere? I need to get organised really - like this morning - I forgot to mix up and roast any granola or even simple porridge with bits to go with natural yoghurt. So my breakfast was some biscuits. Whoops

elantan

Everyone is entitled to the grumps ... Shame you can't repay the favour

So are we gonna loose weight together ?

When will we do the dreaded weigh in ? Are you doing measurements ? ... Let's get started

lurvlyloz

hi shortie. just caughtup on your diary.

i agree with you bil & wife being rude taking the biscuits away. thats just mean!

good luck on your unofficial resolutions heres to 2013

Shortie

Oh my - I never thoguht I'd publish my weight but I'm game if you are?

I have a tape measure somewhere and will need to charge batteries for the Wii Fit board - are we weighing in on the same day? If so, weekday evenings, or anytime over the weekend is good for me

Shortie

So we got the rental income in today and I've created a spreadsheet that I hope will give me a guide of how much we need in the account minimum, so I know what we have as excess to make overpayments on debts. It ensures I have one-off lump sums in the account for missed rent and to account for repairs (but anything that eats into this will need to be replaced and will affect any possible overpayments)

I've been able to now transfer £300 out of there to help overpay the debts this month by the max I had hoped for (ie £200 off the extension loan and a total of £500 to my parents). I feel a bit irked about letting go of the money at the mo as I have run my own account pretty close to the bone plus I potentially have an exhaust and definately a car battery to replace this month. Sooo... I will hold onto this money until just before payday, just so that I don't stress myself out too much, and hopefully I won't need to have dipped into it at all but it's there incase I do

I'm now sure I can't manage this every month as I have run accounts so tight this month to make this payment (I really want to make the first payments as the maximum ones this month for some reason) but I'm hoping this will kick off some disciplin so that I can do as much as possible in the future month :beer:

Blimey, that really was a whole pile of waffle!

Shortie

Today was a good day for organising money between Mr shortie and I

Mr Shortie sorted out
- The quote to get my car exhaust (£34.40) and his car battery (£51.60)
- Someone to come round on Monday to check out what we need to do to get our fireplace working well again - £60 (but that comes off any work we get done)
- Sorted the final bill for having the LPG fitted - £180 - I have the money aside and budgetted for this (coming out of the kitchen fixing fund)

I managed to sort out
- Checked my tax code - it's been updated and I should get the increase in my next pay packet. They think I'll get my rebate in this month or next month too which will be handy
- Spoke to my rental house mortgage account - it's an offset mortgage and in the only paymentI make to them every month is the interest. I want to be able to 'safe guard pots of money for a month's rent and repairs, as well as built up money each month to pay the tax bill. After calling them today I now know how to set up virtual 'pots' so I'll take a look at that after my shower in a mo

OOoh I'm starting to feel pretty organised for a change!

Shortie

Lol, all the best laid plans eh? I had my shower, and am sat in bed with laptop on to do Internet Banking but it's offline - even the bank is telling me to go to bed and catch up on my sleep :rotfl:

And the best thing about it being just me in bed is that the dogs aren't up here snoring (a habit I'm not pleased about being started but hey ho) and the cat's not flopped on my pillow with his whiskers poking me up the nose. Bliss...