How to fall in love with saving money

cathybird

margaretclare wrote: »

Yes, that happened to our new boiler not long after we had it installed - a drippy hot tap in the bathroom. They are so sensitive - we got it sorted very quickly, though.

I should really have spotted it ... I even went into the bathroom to check the basin tap, but forgot the bath, even though I'd had a bath :rotfl:oh well, lesson learned. I'm really very relieved it didn't need repairs - the plumber had carried out some repairs on it eight weeks earlier and said it was all good for the winter Fortunately so far despite my best efforts he's turned out to be right!

cathybird

Lomcevak wrote: »

I'm dangerously close to 40, so think it's my midlife crisis kicking in - at least it's a cheap crisis to have

I did my first marathon last year so know what to expect, came in just under four hours which I was happy with but training much better this year so as long as I stay healthy hope to do a bit better this time out. The plan kicked off in early december, so long runs every weekend now - fifteen miles out in the wind and rain today... :cool:

I've always wanted to do a marathon but do have dodgy knees It's not a goal I want to give up on though - physiotherapy maybe? ... Well done you for undertaking it though - it is honestly so impressive, Lomcevak - it was horrible weather today too, a good day to stay indoors.

Yeah, think I might give it a go - I like the weight loss, money saving , and waking up with a clear head. I don't drink a lot normally, but still feel effects from just a pint or a glass of wine the next day, and the calories add up over time.

Biggest challenge is just a bad day at work though, I do well with targets (e.g. 'January off') and if I stumble then find it very hard to get back. Somehow '30 of 31 days off' doesn't carry the same motivation, even if physically it's almost exactly the same thing

:beer:

Yeah, know what you mean about the targets - one stumble can be incredibly demotivating. I think the trick with three months is it really is not very long, even though it sounds like a long time, and it helps as well to think of it in terms of "just this day", as in "oh well for tonight I'm not going to, tomorrow, who knows?", and then think the same thing the following night .... and also I know if I have the urge to give in after a bad day but wait for a certain amount of time, say, 15, 20 minutes, the urge will pass ... at least till the next evening. :rotfl:

Lomcevak

I've always wanted to do a marathon but do have dodgy knees It's not a goal I want to give up on though - physiotherapy maybe?

Don't give up on the idea, if you like running then it's a great goal - hard but still achievable

Physio is good, I went once for advice as I suffered with knee problems too, but what worked for me was 'run/walk' training - at first you just run three minutes, walk one, then four/one, then five/one, then eight/two, so all the long runs are interspersed with plenty of walking. Eventually I switched to run 5k, walk 2 minutes, but the marathon itself was the first one I ran the whole way - all the training had walking built in. When you walk you need to consciously change your stride to stretch out your legs and exercise different muscles, and you can completely stop and stretch out if need be. As I understand it (and i'm not a doctor!) knee pain is usually triggered elsewhere first - e.g. muscle tightness, strains, or imbalance - and stretching out during walking in training totally fixed it for me.

Also go to a decent running shop that films you running on a treadmill to work out the correct shoes to wear - more expensive than buying online and good shoes are £50 - £100, but vital.

cathybird

Thanks Lomcevak When you say completely change the stride for the walk, are there any guidelines for that? ... I googled "run/walk" and there seem to be quite a few programmes offering variants of this idea - is there anything you used to help you along the way, if you don't mind teling me? ...

There's a Runner's World near me and I know they film you on the treadmill (oh joy), and in fact my exercise trainers are probably overdue to be replaced so I'll probably try to get there sometime this week, in fact (or next, if this weather holds up).

In fact it's awful weather for running today ... did your 6.30am post mean you were about to go out for a run? ....

7_week_wonder

Evening all,

I hope everyone is surviving being back at work after the holidays. The good news of today was that I managed to track down my pay-slip for December (I work in a location remote from our main offices so my pay-slips always go for a little magic mystery tour on their way to me) and it looks like putting aside £1500 a month should be do-able as long as I don't go splashing out:) Monday night is finance night in this house so I'm going to do some more digging around the different platform sites. I'm pretty sure I'll end up with Cavendish online so I'll have a good look at their site.

Lomcevak: under four hours for your first marathon is amazing:TI'd love to get under two hours for a half but at the moment my speed is going backwards! Cathybird, I'm not sure where you are based, but a couple of good sites for finding running groups are Run England and Women's Running Network, and this time of year they will be starting plenty of new beginners groups which will take you from absolute beginner to whatever distance you chose as your goal. (disclaimer: I am a leader for the Scottish Version of Run England!)

Have a good evening everyone.

Lomcevak

Thanks Lomcevak When you say completely change the stride for the walk, are there any guidelines for that? ... I googled "run/walk" and there seem to be quite a few programmes offering variants of this idea - is there anything you used to help you along the way, if you don't mind teling me? ...

I don't think there's a single right answer, but you're just looking to stretch out and relax any muscles that tense up during running - that means you can build the distance up gradually without straining anything or feeling sore afterwards. I find my calves and hamstrings tighten up, so I go for a long walking stride which helps loosen them, or stop and do some more stretching until they're relaxed again. But although 'listen to your body' is a bit of a cliche it's the right thing to do here, so just work out what's best for you.

If you have had knee soreness in the past it can quite often be the IT (iliotibial) band - there are some very good stretches for that.

Lomcevak: under four hours for your first marathon is amazing:TI'd love to get under two hours for a half but at the moment my speed is going backwards!

Thank you! 18 months ago i'd never run more than an occasional 10k, but did a 'half' a little before Christmas 2012 in just over two hours and that got me hooked to try a marathon, so did Brighton in April and loved it. One of those really satisfying things to do, as i'd always struggled with injury running and thought a marathon was beyond me (with hindsight I just did stupid things like not running regularly, when I did run going too far and too fast with no warm-up, wearing bad shoes, not stretching, etc. - all the wrong things, that just triggered needless problems).

I ran a 1 hour 40 minute half in the same race this year, but although it was nice to improve so much (23 minutes quicker than the previous year) I didn't enjoy it much, especially towards the end when I really struggled to hold sub-8 minute mile pace for the last three or four miles. Although I managed to keep going I have decided from now on i'd rather slow down 30 seconds a mile and enjoy things

cathybird

7_week_wonder wrote: »

Evening all,

I hope everyone is surviving being back at work after the holidays. The good news of today was that I managed to track down my pay-slip for December (I work in a location remote from our main offices so my pay-slips always go for a little magic mystery tour on their way to me) and it looks like putting aside £1500 a month should be do-able as long as I don't go splashing out:) Monday night is finance night in this house so I'm going to do some more digging around the different platform sites. I'm pretty sure I'll end up with Cavendish online so I'll have a good look at their site.

I had a look at Cavendish and they seemed quite good. I must admit it took me a while digging round on the platform sites to come to any conclusion about which one to use and it's now taking me a while longer to work out exact funds, asset allocation, monthly direct debit amounts etc. I hope to have it all sorted out and more or less locked in before too long. Good news that you found your payslip, btw, and on the potential savings, £1,500 is pretty good.

Lomcevak: under four hours for your first marathon is amazing:TI'd love to get under two hours for a half but at the moment my speed is going backwards! Cathybird, I'm not sure where you are based, but a couple of good sites for finding running groups are Run England and Women's Running Network, and this time of year they will be starting plenty of new beginners groups which will take you from absolute beginner to whatever distance you chose as your goal. (disclaimer: I am a leader for the Scottish Version of Run England!)

Have a good evening everyone.

It is amazing. I'm in London. I'll have a look at the sites you mention - many thanks, 7 week wonder.

cathybird

Lomcevak wrote: »

I don't think there's a single right answer, but you're just looking to stretch out and relax any muscles that tense up during running - that means you can build the distance up gradually without straining anything or feeling sore afterwards. I find my calves and hamstrings tighten up, so I go for a long walking stride which helps loosen them, or stop and do some more stretching until they're relaxed again. But although 'listen to your body' is a bit of a cliche it's the right thing to do here, so just work out what's best for you.

My calves and hamstrings tighten up too and I think that's been a good deal of the problem - they "pull" in a painful way if I run too far or hard, and then I can't keep going and am limping for the next few days. It's very frustrating.

Thank you! 18 months ago i'd never run more than an occasional 10k, but did a 'half' a little before Christmas 2012 in just over two hours and that got me hooked to try a marathon, so did Brighton in April and loved it. One of those really satisfying things to do, as i'd always struggled with injury running and thought a marathon was beyond me (with hindsight I just did stupid things like not running regularly, when I did run going too far and too fast with no warm-up, wearing bad shoes, not stretching, etc. - all the wrong things, that just triggered needless problems).

This gives me hope Thanks, Lomcevak - I will look into it as soon as I can get the S&S Isa sorted and out of the way, which will free up a lot of mental energy.

Your running achievements really do sound impressive.

YoungBusinessman

I also fancy signing up for a few runs this year, may leave the marathon till next though. A few 5k/10ks this year will do me fine. My gf wants to do a few together so hopefully we can motivate each other. I also feel my left knee gives in before any other part of me. Reading up online and I came across what's been posted above, usually the knee hurts but it's not actually the knee that is giving in. Unsure of what a decent 5/10k time is for 22 yo male non smoker with a pysical job? Reason I say that as I feel my job can hold back any fitness training I do.

Was back to the graft/grind yesterday, great to get back into routine. Combined with dentist after work and I was in bed sleeping at 8pm. Feel so good for it today though. Had a filling replaced that the dentist struggled to remove. Least it's done now. It was hurting last night but not that bad this morning, just hope iv not spoke too soon! Budget for this year looks ok this month, next month will be a bit of a struggle though!

cathybird

YoungBusinessman wrote: »

I also fancy signing up for a few runs this year, may leave the marathon till next though. A few 5k/10ks this year will do me fine. My gf wants to do a few together so hopefully we can motivate each other. I also feel my left knee gives in before any other part of me. Reading up online and I came across what's been posted above, usually the knee hurts but it's not actually the knee that is giving in. Unsure of what a decent 5/10k time is for 22 yo male non smoker with a pysical job? Reason I say that as I feel my job can hold back any fitness training I do.

Even just a 5k would feel like a huge achievement to me. Maybe we can motivate each other on this thread as well? I've always tried to keep fit and would like to do it this year as cheaply as possible, in line with my savings goals.

Was back to the graft/grind yesterday, great to get back into routine. Combined with dentist after work and I was in bed sleeping at 8pm. Feel so good for it today though. Had a filling replaced that the dentist struggled to remove. Least it's done now. It was hurting last night but not that bad this morning, just hope iv not spoke too soon! Budget for this year looks ok this month, next month will be a bit of a struggle though!

Ouch! Has to be done I suppose. I'm back to the grind too, would rather hibernate for a bit longer myself, especially in this weather :rotfl:But you're right, YoungBusinessman, it's good to be productive.