Pay Off Before Lay Off!

Habibiboo

:wave:

Well what a lovely day that turned out to be! No Sahara sand here, just Sahara sunshine!

Things I did:

* Work, not quite as productively as yesterday but still got lots done!
* Got dogs out again for mid-morning break, had a lovely walk in sunshine.
* Over 7,000 steps today
* Storecupboard dinner: bean and veg chilli casserole and jacket spuds

Things I didn't:
* Yes, you guessed it ... weed lettuce bed!
* Sort out next part of Mr. Hbbb's present, will have to try to take couple of hours out to do this tomorrow as it involves a walk across town!

MFW actions: NSD, half an hour spent organising new bank account ready for switch over and new focus on finances, to include emergency fund as well as MOPs.

Grey Clouds: have lost confidence in my 5lb weight loss as I've realised that simply by moving the scales around the bathroom I can vary my weight by 12lb in one go! So not sure if I did actually lose much. Have relocated scales to the bedroom and got same reading in three places so will stick with that as being "true" for the moment. I know my start weight is "true" because that was from the hospital scales, so it seems I've only lost about 3lb, not the 5 I thought

Silver linings: Door man came for measure up, we chose door furniture and should hear from him within 3 weeks for fitting! More cash to find, but will be great not to have to worry about warping or being locked out any more!

Daily Declutter: Horrible half-used candle gift thing consigned to bin. Usually I'll just burn and use these regardless (a candle's a candle right) but this one was just horrible and leaky waxy all over the window sill, so it's outta here! Total = 108 / 365

Simple pleasures:
* Organising my goals for month, will post shortly when I have finished next little bit of work (treat to self will be concentrating on goals).
* Nice chat with Mr. T delivery man who carried in all of my shopping because he thought I looked pale!
* All clients from March have now paid up - no hassles at all!

Hope everyone is OK today!

Habibiboo

:wave:

So, goals for April, to keep me more accountable in all aspects really:

MFW goals:

* Get the beast to under £109k by end of April.

* Finish redecorating small bedroom on tight budget as part of students (and thus upping income and MOP) plan

* 20 no spend days

* Organise new savings account and £150 to start off emergency fund [£150 to come from extra earned sources, such as Fleabay, MusicM*Pie etc]

Personal:
* Lose 10lb. I do need to lose more but I figure if I can lose 10 and keep them off, it's better than pushing to lose 15 or 20 and then getting them back in May. Baby steps.

* Get up to date with present making. Am very behind with my plan - I feel a chart coming on!

* Tilly-Stridey: Walk 32km over the month. this is about 20 miles, which is an OK starting point for me, but I have to use km as this is what my pedometer shows. I wont count my around the house pottering, this is actual walking for the purpose of walking (with and without dogs) only. I will count walking to clients though as this is all exercise!

* Tilly-Tidy: deal with 3 pieces of paper each day - file, action or dump.

Home:
* Get declutter total up to 150 items by end of month.

* Empty big, inefficient, dying freezer in garage and swap (for as MSE a cost as possible, hopefully using local cheap and cheerful appliance refurbisher / recycler) for smaller undercounter freezer to go in utility area. More efficient, less electricity, less waste.

There. Let's see shall we?

apple_muncher

Great plans Hbbb! 20 NSD is a challenge...

Has Mr Hbbb been to the doc yet?

Habibiboo

apple_muncher wrote: »

Great plans Hbbb! 20 NSD is a challenge...

Has Mr Hbbb been to the doc yet?

:wave:

Yes, I'm pleased with laying out the goals this way. I have an app for that stuff but it's so convoluted I just get bored ... a list (or chart) works fine instead!
Tis true that the NSDs will be a challenge A*M especially as Mr. Hbbb's birthday is on Friday, but I hope to rein in spending after that!

His doc appointment is tomorrow ... he's just been reminded, in the nicest possible way, not to come home from work tomorrow but to pass by surgery on the way!

Hope you're good X

Habibiboo

:wave:

Hope everyone's Ok ... can't believe it's Wednesday already!

What I did:
* Work
* Lots of walking today, over 12,000 steps according to pedometer, 6km of which was exercise walking.
* Took cheeky hour off work to sort the birthday!
* 7 a day (mostly veg)

What I didn't:
* Weed lettuces. That raised bed is my absolute priority for Saturday (weather permitting of course).
* Spend money on clothes, despite passing charity shop with sale, despite Joe Brown catalogue arriving, despite Sports Direct selling lots of cheap fleeces (fighting urge to stock for winter). This has to be a frugal month ... please keep me reminded about needs, not wants!

MFW actions: had to spend today (Mr. Hbbb's birthday prep), but have made moves to open savings account for emergency fund. £5 voucher earned from RM survey (have decided to put these into Xmas pot as can be used to buy gifts or given as vouchers) then will use £5 cash from Xmas pot to put into MOP or emergency fund: whichever is needing it the most! For April this could go either way as I want to meet mini mortgage goal but will also have a new door to pay for towards end of month. Hmmm, tough call!

Grey Clouds: none really, all good.

Silver linings: last part of Mr. Hbbb's present sorted today and dinner out booked (budgeted for and homely rather than major cuisine-expensive restaurant) so should all come in within budget.

Daily Declutter: Condensed all chicken feed into big plastic containers and emptied all half open / used sacks of coal into scuttles in house - so 4 big plastic sacks now emptied and into recycling = 112 / 365.

Simple pleasures:
* Walk in different park this eve: dogs allowed off lead after 6pm there and now that we have the lighter evenings it's possible to get down there whilst dinner's in oven and give the dogs their romp. So I was able to do my running about for Mr. Hbbb's birthday preps during mid-morning dog walk slot and then take them this eve ... all worked out well and has made a good inroad into Tilly Stridey walking goal.
* Blackbirds are no longer eating the mealworms but stuffing their beaks and flying off ... I think they must have a littl'un already!
* Mr. Hbbb has ceremonially planted a weeping cherry in the spot where the mimosa used to be.

Enjoy your evening, all! X

Habibiboo

:wave:
Happy Friday everyone!

Busy couple of days here, workwise and today being Mr. Hbbb's birthday, but all going well:

What I did:
* Lots of work
* Confirmed start date of Monday with uni & confirmed meeting with the proposed alternative education provider on Tues so the new role is finally in hand! :T
* Planned birthday surprises for Mr H went well!

What I didn't:
* Weed my raised bed and plant up my squash seed - this is my main to-do for the weekend.
* Carry through with my plan to cut down on work at weekends - didn't turn down any work due for Monday so will now have to spend Sunday working. Will hope to be better at this for next weekend, now that regular wage for uni job will be coming in (although prefer to think of this as the door money and MOP money)!

MFW actions:
* NSD yesterday; spendy day today but within budget as all planned spends for Mr. Hbbb's birthday meal etc.
*Confirmed bank account switch for my domestic day-to-day account so hopefully benefits from that will come through soon.

Grey clouds: Mr. Hbbb's GP visit was a mixed bag. Looks like an on-going health issue which means that this whole pay off mortgage malarkey might need to be sooner rather than later.

Silver linings: A happy birthday for Mr. Hbbb! He likes his presents!

Daily declutter: Have let this slip over the last couple of days as so much else going on, but three parcels ready to go to PO from Fleabay sales, will count these in tomorrow, once they're out!

Simple pleasures:
* Silly dogs
* Sunshine
* New opportunities
* Making other people smile (not out of pity, I hasten to add, but it's not like that doesn't happen with worrying frequency)!

Happy holidays to all you teaching colleagues out there and happy weekend to everyone else out there X

elantan

Wow it's all been happening here ... Glad Mr HBBB is better, and that his birthday went well ...glad the dr is being proactive regarding pneumonia resistance etc and jealous of the garden time ... Sigh ... Stuff of dreams that is

Habibiboo

elantan wrote: »

Wow it's all been happening here ... Glad Mr HBBB is better, and that his birthday went well ...glad the dr is being proactive regarding pneumonia resistance etc and jealous of the garden time ... Sigh ... Stuff of dreams that is

:wave:

Thanks El ... will try to catch up with your thread again this weekend.

Garden is main plan for today as tomorrow will be a work day. Suspect Mr. Hbbb will have a few birthday visitors today though so will do henhouse in a mo as I don't really want to get caught in my chic scrubbing out the henhouse outfit. Can then switch to slightly more glam gardening garb and finally sort my lettuces and get squashes started :T

Can't help but notice the time of your post, hope you're OK. X

Alchemilla

Wishing MrHBB good health and rest.

Hurdler

Habibiboo wrote: »

:wave:

It's called Happy Scales, Alchemilla and it's free, gives you little milestone goals and everything! X

Well the scales at my gym make me happyish but whenever I come home and use mine they (and subsequently I) am downright grumpy!

Never know which ones to use for my monthly weigh in!

And don't get me started on the Wii Fit that whimpers when I stand on the balance board!