The '101 days to change our lives' challenge

Callisto

Yippee, will shortly have achieved my first task:

Move out of OH's Mum's house and into our own flat.

I'm so excited, me and OH have been approved to move into a flat by lettings agency. Just got to pay the deposit and we can have the keys on Saturday! :j We won't be moving straight in mainly because we don't have any furniture yet, but we also need to get on with decluttering and then only take the stuff we actually want with us and not the junk. Going to list a load of stuff on Ebay, so we can put the money towards wedding and kitting out the flat.

OH's Mum is buying us a new bed and the rest of the furniture we will get second hand. Although as soon as we've got the bed delivered, we'll be moving in - bed and TV, what more could we possibly need to start with?

I fear my other tasks may fall by the wayside until we get the flat sorted out, but will still try!

Karmacat

Karmacat wrote: »

1. Finances. Finance practice and matched betting study.
So, for this week, the plan is to get completely ready on both these things: my finance work and the matched betting: the first full week in June sounds good for these. If we're genuinely talking about changing our lives, this section is the one that will do it. If I'm out of debt, this money will go back to what it used to be used for, savings and holidays (and trainers that don't leak).

2. House and Garden. Weeding, and planting of the little ones I've already bought. I'm finalising the spec for the renovation I'm planning in autumn, which is quite fun, actually.
I finished the renovation spec, but haven't managed to get it to a builder yet. I think the most I can do isn't new work, but keeping it all under control, not letting it get any worse.

3. Me. Continuing the eating plan and exercising.

4. Work. More background admin -couple of phone calls, writing a questionnaire. I'd *like* to start on updating the website, but I have my doubts. Its definitely next in the queue, put it that way.
Background admin accomplished. The website is essential, I notice that my business partner and I are starting to mock it when we talk, but I just don't have time this week.

Okay. So, here's the achievements and updated plan:
1.Finances. Nope. Its like I want to fail.
Plan: get ready. Don't know what else to do.
2. House and garden. Renovation spec submitted to a local builder I know of. He's coming round tomorrow to discuss it! Hurray! I've managed to plant two little lavenders I bought for the front, done some weeding at the top, and cutting back of overgrown bushes at the front, plus assorted watering.
Plan: to submit to 2 other builders. Carry on watering, planting and weeding of areas I've already started on. Keep areas I haven't touched under minimal control, ready for when my nephew comes down to help me later this month.
3. Me. Well, 3 hours gardening over the last few days has helped the exercise plan! Not eating fantastically well, especially since I rediscovered cornflakes, but not too bad.
Plan: continue.
4. Work. Achieved! Spent 3 hours and have done 60% of a first draft of our new website (tho none of the coding, hi ho). Sending it to my business partner currently with relatives in Switzerland - if he's bored while his niece is at work, he can look at the damn thing! I've also written the first draft of the questionnaire (tho the meeting it was due for has now been cancelled), and done the phone calls, but now there are more to be made.
Plan: more phone calls. Continue drafts I've started. Sorting my accounts on the "incoming" side by the end of June, which should be achievable.

Today is my day 38. I can't do this lot by my usual Monday update day, so these are goals for completion by my day 45, next Wednesday.

Happy Changing Lives, everyone!:T

oops_a_daisy

OOPS I forgot about this challenge not sure how far in we are but I have copied and pasted my goals below and done an update next to them

1. get a job - I have a list of about 20 recruitment agencies for my industry to contact and make appointments for interviews with but must get my CV sorted first have started interviews so fingers crossed something comes up soon ( I hate interviews though but it is a means to an end I suppose )
2. Lose 5 lbs and generally get a bit fitter - As I am not rusing off to work every day I am going to try to go to the gym for an hour every morning after I drop DD off at school. This challenge ends just after the start of my summer holiday so this is also a goal to look better in a bikini I have managed to get to the gym much more however because of goal number five I have put weight on :eek:
3. Eat more healthily - Again as I will have more time I will be able to plan meals more and have already started off my vegetable garden so will be able to look after that a bit more too. still a few relapses on this one but due to losing my job we are trying to stick to meal planning much more so this has got a lot better already apart for my craving for magnums
4. DD wants to go to stage school which is now dependant on me getting a job first and also getting some financial assistance by way of a grant. I have been trying for a while to get a grant but keep hitting brick walls so I am keeping going with this but as I have lost my job it is not looking good. DD got offered a scholarship so she is going to be starting the school in September. I am still going to try to get more financial assistance though but because of the scholarship I could just about do it when I get another job......which I am sure I will before Setember
5. Pack in smoking - have managed over 4 weeks but could kill for one today

How is everybody else doing ???

All the best - OOPS

andan

Hi all figured i would post an update, am not too pleased with myself though and feel I've been lapsing, think its time to increase my input.

Day 25 for me.

1) Finally pass my driving test (Been learning for almost two years and still rubbish) Only one lesson for me this week and have not been out in my car yet. Have bought another driving book but need to actually read it to make the most of it! Am going out on three drives tomorrow so will be making up for it.

2) Make some new friends (am new to the area and don't really know anyone) Still getting on really well with two girls ive been chatting to on the internet and am meeting one next week and hopefully will be meeting up with the other one soon. Feel i am beginning to establish a bit of a social life for myself now, so this one seems to be going quite well.

3) Tone up this wobbly body of mine. Have been a bit lazy with this one and purposely indulging in my fave choc, not good.

4)Learn to swim. Started my first swimming class on Tuesday and managed eight lengths, was really pleased with myself as i didn't think i could swim. Still frightened of drowning but knowing the pool is shallow makes me feel happier and hopefully i can keep building it up. Everyone there is really lovely and I've surprised myself by looking forward to the next one.

5) De-clutter my house. Not done any of this, need to get back to it but am working extra this weekend so wont have the time.

6) Get my finances in shape. One or two bills in need of paying but they are looking healthier especially as i have finally begun to get my head round matched betting and placed a few bets.

7) Read a book a month ( have been reading the same book for almost two years now!) Not much progress here but plodding through book number three for this month so i can't argue with that.

Hoep everyone else is doing ok, look forward to reading everyones updates.

elantan

a wee update from me well my first couple of days have been ok actually i have stuck to my healthy eating and been keeping a rigid food diary every day (but as yet no meal planing i'm tending to go more for what i am in the mood for) although i am a bit worried about portion sizes (i seem to be having too much i think) and i have been excercising alot much more than the 3000 steps i had planned on doing so might just need to review my challenge a bit ..i have used my fire chains four times since the challenge began and am really enjoying it..i have looked into getting rock climbing lessons but the problem is they only do lessons when i'm at work or on a sunday so i might just book i dont know the other problem is the lessons are expensive something i cant afford just now ...but all in all i'm doing good and enjoying myself ....

callisto really pleased you have got your own flat hope you have many happy memories in it ..

wow sea 2lbs well done only 12 left to go(wish i only had the 12) and you've found the library book now that is a bonus i hunted for mine finally found it handed it back and had a fine ooops ...and glad your gettting on with the garden as well i'm sure the kids will really enjoy sunday.. i love gardening i realy wanted to get to grips with mine this year but that has went pear shaped one day however i will

andan well done on the swimming 8 lenghts is a fantastic start you'll be building it up in no time


opps the weight will fall off you no probs... i dont know anyone who has given up smoking and not put on weight i think the giving up smoking is much more beneficial for you and your going to the gym so your heading in the right direction at least (wanna take me with you)

karma another person enjoying the energy of the garden now you two are getting me feeling guilty might slip it in somehwere


well good luck in the following week everyone and i might not be on as i'm working 5pm till 8 am five days so i'll probably be working or sleeping but looking forward to hearing how everyone is doing ...

take care and good luck

nickelodeon

Hey everyone, haven't posted on here for a while as I haven't had much to report, is everyone else the same? or just really busy!

Hope everyone is still working towards there targets, i had quite a bit of motivation at the start, but seem to be losing it a bit now as i like to see instant results, but the idea of this challenge is of course to make bigger changes over a longer period of time!

Oops a daisy - well done on not smoking, keep with it, you're doing really well!

Anyway, these were my targets:

1. Lose 1 stone - I have lost 1/2 stone so far so am really pleased, I'm still eating healthily and although I am eating a lot less I'm not feeling hungry all the time. All my clothes are starting to fit a lot better aswell!

2. Exercise - Went for a run last night, haven't done as much exercise as I'd like as I haven't been well, but have found a Street Dance class that I am going to try out on Friday with my sister, hopefully that will be a fun way of keeping fit.

3. Organise flat - We've got rid of most of the junk now and had a big tidy up at the weekend as we had some friends over so the flat is looking a lot better now.

4. Decorate bedroom and build wardrobe - not got any further with this.

Hope everyone is well and making some headway with their targets!

notanothergreyhair

Hi everyone,

Many apologies for not having posted in the past two weeks; I had some bad news on the bank holiday weekend which shook me quite a lot.

It has been nice to see that people have been carrying on and now that things have settled I am throwing myself back into the challenge. We will all get to the end of the challenge and look back at our achievements.

Give me a little while and I will post an update of my own challenges in the next few hours.

Callisto

Notanothergreyhair - hope you're doing ok!

This is only a quick update, I'm not keeping track of the tasks at the moment as currently in the midst of house move chaos. Me and OH are moving in properly this weekend as we've had the furniture delivered today (our new bed is gorgeous :heart2:), so just need to take TV, food and clothes to start with. We still have everything else at OH's Mum's house for the time being and will sort it out over the next few weeks as not taking the clutter with us - it's only a 1 bed flat! I've already thrown out a black bag of rubbish, have got a bag full to donate to charity and given away a few items of clothing to my Mum, I feel a whole lot better now I've managed to make a start on decluttering!

Did put aside some money for furniture/house stuff, but it's disappearing at an alarming rate... will definitely have to do a budget for next month to include car MOT and any housey stuff we still need to buy...

Karmacat

Well, here I am again. Not been posting, but *have* been thinking about it.

Karmacat wrote: »

1.Finances. Nope. Its like I want to fail.
Plan: get ready. Don't know what else to do.This is a repeat of my previous post. Had a meeting with my finance company in London on Monday, bit of help but not much. I'm off to find a cognitive behavioural therapist, fed up with this.

2. House and garden. Plan: to submit renovation plan to 2 other builders. Carry on watering, planting and weeding of areas I've already started on. Keep areas I haven't touched under minimal control, ready for when my nephew comes down to help me later this month. Hmm. No other builders contacted. Have carried on maintaining areas I've started, and last Sunday I started to attack the worst bits of the part thats totally out of control ready for my nephew (out of control = a layer of soil has accumulated on top of the old carpet I laid down as mulch 5 years ago...)

3. Me. Plan: continue.Also hmmm. I'm sure I'm putting on weight - need to go back to being more disciplined about how late I eat, that would be enough. Be more disciplined about how late I eat.
4. Work. Website draft completed, sent to colleague, he hasn't looked at it :mad: Plan: more phone calls. Continue drafts I've started. Sorting my accounts on the "incoming" side by the end of June, which should be achievable. Yet more hmmm. Not touched my accounts for ages, I won't the rest of this week because my nephew's down. Might take hard copy of the website draft to London with me to work on in spare time.

Today is my day 52!!!! Omigod just over half way through!!!

For the rest of this week in general: get ready for my nephew coming down here to help me (find him a place to sleep, moneysaving meal ready for him, jobs available that "use" him to best advantage, that kind of thing). Check out a CB therapist.
Next week (my days 57 - 62 Monday to Saturday). I'm on 2 weeks holiday after that, so its just 6 days, and thats the end of June, so pretty good. So: 1. Finish "incoming" accounts.
2. Finish draft of a questionnaire for work that I *offered* to do (:mad: ).
3. Use greasypalm to book a few days away somewhere (I've got to get away, no matter how bad the financial situation is, haven't been on holiday for 3 years, I need 3 days away to be a tourist, got my eye on Poole at the moment - I'm a history buff, there's loads down there).
4. Continue on the garden - plant a few things, weed a few things, hack a few things back.

andan

Hiya everyone. Figured i would post a quick up date as haven't doe so for a while.

Day 38 for me.

1) Finally pass my driving test (Been learning for almost two years and still rubbish) Plodding along, but can't do much as my driving instructor is still on holiday, been out a few times in my car though and working on a few areas so feel i'm getting there slow but steady.

2) Make some new friends (am new to the area and don't really know anyone) Have made a really good friend through this and am meeting up with another new one tomorrow and another one on Sunday, am amazed by how much my social life has increased. Before this challenge i didn't really have one. i've found gumtree great for finding new friends who are in a similar boat to me and have developed some good friendships.

3) Tone up this wobbly body of mine. Still pursuing with the swimming but thats about it. the jogging and exercise dvd have gone out the window.

4)Learn to swim. Am still going to this and am teaching myself how to do it and i feel i am doing well. I'm actually enjoying it so much i am looking at joining another class specifically for beginner so that i can learn all the techniques and be a good swimmer.

5) De-clutter my house. Not done any of this, been busy with other things though.

6) Get my finances in shape. Finances in good order and am doing well with the matched betting and making a tidy profit, however funding it has meant have money in so many places its confusing!

7) Read a book a month ( have been reading the same book for almost two years now!) First book of the month but am now on page 180 so still plodding onwards and nice to know i will finally read the mountain of books i have rather than just letting them catch dust!

Everyone else sounds like their doing well and i know the motivation starts to wane but its worth it in the end when you look back and see what you've achieved within the 101 days. I have done so many things already that i wouldn't have done if it wasn't for this challenge.

Best of luck.