The '101 days to change our lives' challenge

azjh77

Can I join please? I was looking at DD's Mortgage free in 3 post, but think what I want to do is cheating somewhat.

1) we want to sell our house - want it on the market BEFORE 1 June to avoid HIP, but the place is, well, ummm....messy... Let's put it this way, my Mother hasn't been in here for 4 years because she refuses to look at the mess. Not something we're proud of, but we need to get it sorted. So this week we cleared the living room, kitchen and bathroom, next week we start on upstairs (argggh!!)

2) once our house is sold, and we buy one we like in Wales, we can pay off ALL OUR DEBTS !!! We will be completely debt & mortgage free !!!!!

3) never run up debts again (long term one that...)

So, in the next 101 days, we hope to tidy, market & hopefully receive an offer on our house....

Good luck to you all !!!!

auntie_brenda

As I go on holiday (:j :j :j :j :j ) 10th Aug the 101 days to 8th Aug is great for me....

So - 1. lose 2 stone you fat slob.
2. exercise (was going to say more, but an extra turning over in bed would constitiute more for me at the moment )
3. pay 1k off my debts

To do this - 1. stop over eating you fat slob.
2. Walk and exercise bike. Swim if I can stop being a girlie and keep head out of water - otherwise it makes my neck worse.
3. Hmmmmm....... need to maximise every opportunity for extra income, as 1k = £9.90 a day :eek: . So, clicks, ebay, paid surveys, quidco (:lovethoug), mystery shopping (loads about but generally just paying for your meal. As most are [STRIKE]crap[/STRIKE] wonderfully nutritious but not necessarily low calorie outlets there is a balance to strike here......)

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE :hello:

mystery07

What a fantastic idea for a post!

I will join you all if thats ok. I dont post here that often, as seem so strapped for time. Well, Ive already started making a few changes this last few months, but had decided in the last couple of weeks that I needed to kick myself up the bum...so this should help.

My goals for the next 101 days are:

1) Stick to a spending diary (I keep forgetting to do this)
2) Eat healthier & eat more in general
3) Reduce grocery spend. Budget is £150 a month & Im still (somehow ) spending more than this!
4) Try to pay off Next account which is £1300 (tbh even paying half of this would be good!)
5) Try again to switch credit cards/change ISA
6) Ebay, Ebay, Ebay (got loads to sell, just getting the hang of it now!)
7) Re-start matched betting, (made a small profit a month or so ago, but not done anything more with that!)
8) work towards being in a financial position to change jobs in order to reduce working hours (I know this is a bit vague, but reducing my debts, will be a step towards being able to do this)
9) Get prepared for OU course starting sept (this year, has been REALLY hard going)
10) Go to see GP & do something about my health issues
11)spend more quality time with my son
12) stop being so disorganised in general
13) Become nicotine patch free! And smoke free! (Im on patches now, need to keep that up without re-starting smoking!)
14) Realise that I do not have time for a man & except it!
15) Stick to my budget

Think thats most of my plans. It would be good to achieve some of them within 101 days. Even if I cant manage every single one.

To achieve goals, I will:
Keep spending diary with me at all times & include budget within that to help me not overspend. Sell some stuff on ebay & get matched betting to pay off next account. Im going to speak to my bank next week to see if they will give me a credit card to switch my existing debts too (as no one will lend to me - for some obscure reason!).

Will think through everything else I want to do & come up with a more specific plan to the "101 days" & update this post.

Good luck to everyone else wanting to change their lives too!

Mystery xxx

nevadagirl

I'd like to be in on this one, too! My sister gets married on 8 August and I would like to get a few things sorted before I leave for Cyprus to see her get hitched.

Goals:

1) Lose a stone by my sister's wedding (then keep it off but that's another challenge )

2) Raise the cash for the cattery fees (£144)

3) Declutter my flat

4) Have everything ready (finance-wise) for my fiance to move in before we go on our hols


How I'm going to do it:

1) Walk either to or from work once a day from now until then. No alcohol during the week (including Fridays), no junk food. Not even when I'm in the States in July :eek: A food diary alongside my spending diary would be good here.

2) AQA in May

3) eBay, eBay, eBay, freecycle, car boot with a friend who is also trying to declutter, local recycling centre

4) Sit down together and work out what we are going to do about the bills and who is going to pay for what etc. Try to encourage OH to be a bit more moneysaving. While I'm financially focused, check out I'm on the best deal for everything, too as it's been a while since I did that.

All these things had been swimming around in the back of my head and now they're on 'paper' I feel a lot more able to manage them. Good luck to everyone else with your goals :T

looby-loo_2

What a great idea

I'm going to list all the things I'd like to do to improve my life then I'll just aim to do three properly. More than that and I wont do any!

1. Need to loose 3 1/2 stone. Several people have set 2 stone as a goal so that is my goal too
2. Extend the vegetable area of my allotment, cut down on soft fruit (I really don't need 8 long rows of raspberries and 16 blackcurrent bushes, most of which I give away having spen ages picking)
3. Declutter! When MIL died most of her furniture came here until we decided what o do with it - and it's still here 3 years later.
4. Carboot all the smaller stuff
5. Learn how to use Ebay - it's the pictures I cant do
6. Take something to eat to work and remember to eat it. Usually eat it on the way home in the car
7. Open this years ISA before April 3rd as usually happens
8. Make curtains for window in new lounge extension (built in 1993:o )
9. Go swimming on Sunday am
10. Contact people I'm in danger of loosing touch with.

Now I have to choose three

1. Loose weight - by just eating properly
6. Follows on but this might make me do it
3. Declutter - by doing 4 & 5

Looking forward to this

ps First challenge is to do what it says in my sig:rolleyes:

*zippy*

I'm in too

My Goals

1. Lose a stone in weight
2. Pay £2000 off debt
3. Work my way right through the house cleaning and de-cluttering
4. Make at least one new friend
5. Spend more time together as a family
6. Get new website up and running

How I am going to do it

1. stick to my diet and make gradual changes to a healthier diet, walk more and also when I feel confident enough go to aqua aerobics.
2. Stop the unecessary spending and stick to budget especially when it comes to food shopping.
3. Do a little bit at a time to work my way through the house and try to get a cleaning routine.
4. Changed jobs recently and now work on my own and really missing having some company. I want to make some really nice close friends locally. Have a few things lined up to meet new people just have to be brave and forget my shyness.
5. Organise my working hours so i'm not working all weekend.
6. Just got to sit down and get on with this.

Good luck everyone :beer:

notanothergreyhair

Ok, here are mine;

1. Brush my teeth 3 times a day, I need to get my oral health up to a high standard. (they are not minging by the way!)

2. Lose 2 stones of fat.

3. Keep an accurate spending diary for the full 101 days.

4. Make £100 extra money through ebay/amazon/quidco.

5. Stick to my established budget religiously.

6. Work every day towards my exams.

7. Pay off £1500 of my debt.

8. Smile at one different stranger every day (it is good for you).

There may be more as time goes on but the above changes will leave me feeling very happy when I have fulfilled them.

Good luck everyone.

x

Karmacat

This is brilliant. I'm working via a book called Seven Strategies for Wealth and Happiness, by Jim Rohn (off ebay!) there's a lovely vibe to it, so here are my short term goals as per the exercises I did for that book, adapted to moneysaving and kind of targetted into areas:

1. Finances
- get the spread betting going, target 20 points a day.
- get the matched betting going, target £20 a week.
- investigate reclaiming my remortgage costs from 2 years ago.
- finalise my current remortgage (already a long way on with this one, which is why "finalise").

2. The house and garden.
- finish off spring clean this week.
- continue digging in the garden, as well as weeding what I've already dug - this is fantastic exercise, as well as improving my property and my standard of living.
- get the plants I've already bought into the ground, plus plant a few salad veg (my mother wants to help me when she comes down this week, so her job will be to weed and prepare for planting a window box I've got - she won't have to bend or do anything strenuous, but it will be a real help).
- prepare a jobs list of how I want the house renovated (from rewiring and replumbing upwards) so that builders can give me comparable quotes.
- then get the builders in to give me quotes, lol.
- explore green input into the house redesign for this purpose - passive solar heating, photovoltaics, more insulation, types of boiler, etc.

3. Me.
- cut down on the level of refined sugar I eat, which has crept up again a *lot*.
- stomach exercises - its the one part of the body that digging doesn't work, lol.
- join a local group, I'm thinking of the Tibet Support Group at the moment, I'm already a member but don't go to meetings.

4. Work.
- renovate my work website.
- get my accounts done (this would be massive, usually its a struggle to get them in for the end of the calendar year, by which time my accountant is threatening that they won't be ready in time for the end-January deadline). A lot of stress saved.

Yep, I'm pleased with that list. Its a lot, but its doable. I'm going to print it out, I think, to make it more visible.

lessonlearned

This is just what I need - have been feeling a bit low just lately. Husband long term sick, debt up to our eyes, house on market 2 weeks and only two viewers, no offers, hate my job, feeling fat and frumpy....


1. Need more money - struggling to stay afloat on my salary and OH's benefits
2. Need to lose at least 2 to 3 stones but will settle for 1 in 101 days.
3. Desperately need to sell house to settle debts and make fresh start.


I will do this

1. Look for a better job. (Wednesday is job day in local press). Recruitment agencies (although never had much luck with these.

For a second stream of income, get OH to try matched betting or similar. Copntinue with car boots and E-bays - doing quite well with these at the moment.

2. Start food diary, healthy eating & exercise. (It's not rocket science so why don't I just do it).

3. Doing all I can to sell house. Beyond my control this one. Just have to be patient. In the meantime, just keep everywhere spotless for viewings. (And keep gently nudging the estate agents!!)

I must try harder.

Two9A

Count me in. I've got a coupla things I want to get done in the next 101 days:

• Lose weight: The spare tyre is starting to affect my wardrobe, so it needs to go (or be cut down, at least). Should be quite easy to do, because:
  - I won't be driving 240 miles a day any more,
  - Won't be getting (over)fed by the parents, because:
  - I'm living away from home for the next 3 months!
• Walk more, and sit on the computer less: Being in another city should help immensely with this.
• Keep costs down: I'm hoping to spend less than a hundred quid a week in total, and with rent at £60/wk, it'll be a bit tight. Time to budget, perhaps

Nothing too ambitious, and no specific targets, but definitely an action plan.