The End May Actually Be in Sight...

Goldiegirl

Well done on the weight loss - don't want to depress you, but it will get even more difficult to lose weight!

I have been a size 12 for my whole adult life, and managed to stay that way until I hit 50. In the last few years I've gone up to a size 14 and I'm about a stone over my optimum weight.

I've tried to lose it, but it's too much effort! All I can do is eat sensibly and try not to go up another dress size!

RoaringTwenties

Oh Gg, I suspected as much! As my mother says, it's not called middle aged spread for nothing . My friend who is early sixties says she thinks if she had stopped eating altogether after the menopause she wouldn't have lost a pound to this day - argh! :mad:

Crumpets

Hiya, I feel your pain, despite me exercising more and saying no to more treats my scales say that I haven't lost a pound :mad: It's all the little things that I pop into my mouth as I'm doing stuff around the house I think

I bet your M&S book will be quite interesting, I remember watching some of their history on a tv programme recently, it was good :T

Good luck with teaching Ds about finance, my dd has become much more savvy recently about what to buy with her money. She's not so good at saving but she won't waste her money, she likes to get the most she can for her £2

RoaringTwenties

Hi Crumpets, glad your DD is learning about money, I like her attitude too, I wonder where she gets that from? I didn't see the prog on M&S, might have to look it up on iPlayer etc, was it The Beeb?

Been away for a few busy days babygrouping, shopping & clearing the lofting! I think if we put so much as a drinking straw into our loft it would be the drinking straw that broke the camels back , the whole house would just concertina down on us. I can't believe how [STRIKE] much crap [/STRIKE] many toys we've had over the years. Have got half the ELC down for the NCT, & also found the door bouncer, Bumbo, sensor monitor & bottle warmer so hoping to flog those too. I spent two whole days pricing & labelling clothes (with DD 'helping' ) & have decided to sell everything in bundles for the minimum price of £1. That way if it doesn't go I'll know I couldn't have done anything more [STRIKE] & that the people of my locality are barmy & can't see a bargerama when it's under their nose [/STRIKE] And whatever's left is going to charity

It's been a spendy week - took both kids to buy new shoes & wellies in Clarks & it came to £104 :eek:. DS' were £42 - I nearly fainted, that's an adult price. Except their adult shoes are now even more expensive - £90 for ankle boots & £150 for knee highs Trip to the cobblers with my old pairs this week I think!

I did get some bargeramas on my travels though, inc one of those wooden dress up puzzles for DD in Sainsys, it said 70% off so £1.50 & when I got it to the till it asked for 50p :money:. Also picked up some more bits for present box inc a Peppa rucksack in the Aldi sale for £2.99 & a Grandpa in my Pocket DVD for £1 in the Works.

OH & I went barmy yesterday afternoon & spent £250 on a sideboard/drawer unit thing! I was looking on Asda direct for a wooden kitchen for DD for Xmas (they had one for £40, it's been all over their promos & has instantly sold out, grrr) & for some reason was linked to a half moon Art Deco style drawer unit. It looked *fab*, so different to anything you normally see, & would fit a space in our den* perfectly, where we have next to no storage. I found a free delivery code so saved £8.95 there, & it was reduced from £300. Eventually we'd love a Deco house, I adore that style, all my jewellery is vintage Deco.

However to counter-balance all this wanton spending I can confirm <drumroll> that my saved coppers have reached £1!

Weight-wise I've been doing really well, the scales are saving their own (low fat ) bacon every day, I wasn't keeping such close track at the start but it seems I've lost around 10lb since I started :T. Two friends have joined me this week, we are being miserable & whingy together

More NCTing today...

* can't think what else to call our converted garage, answers on a postcard please :rotfl:

RoaringTwenties

It's over a week since I posted, it's been a busy one! Lots to report...

We've spent a bit of money on the house, the new chest of drawers is lovely in style & although not perfectly made (which is a gripe of mine, nothing is finished properly these days :mad:) it is a keeper. My fabulous odd job man came round on Sat & put up a curtain pole in DDs room & a total of 8 shelves around the place! OH used to do all that but its not sensible since her back problem developed, & a feminist I may be but I draw the line at DIY, as Tom Good in The Good Life once said, the problem with Do It Yourself is that it often does it back . I seem to be in a major sorting/organising/clearing phase as I ordered a storage unit for DD over the weekend, £35 Asda.

I seem to be spending my life & income in Asda at the mo - I got a wooden toy kitchen there on Fri eve. I'd seen it on their website & in some promo literature I was sent, it looked lovely & astonishingly only £40. It immediately went out of stock (it would at that price) & I had two phone conversations with Asda CS & Direct on Fri morning during which they gave me directly contradictory info - one said it was coming back into stock, the other said it wasn't. I decided to ring my store & spoke to the fabulous Gary who pretty much said no-one has a clue about anything at Asda HQ but that he'd had three delivered into store that morning & he'd put one aside for me :T. So that's DD's main Xmas pressie sorted. Then DS asked for an Ultimate Tree Fu Tom for Xmas, I priced up across the usual suspects & everyone had it for £25 except, you've guessed it, Asda! It's £18 there so I've Click n Collected it :money:

We got £183 back from OH's CCP claim :money: :j. I can't believe it, I was sure it didn't pertain to her as we'd cancelled it before the timeframe started, but apparently not. That was useful in part payment for OH's trip to Plymouth this weekend for her late Gdad's naval reunion. There are only 3 survivors from his ship now, out of thousands, & they're all into their nineties. The train alone was £168 (we live a loooong way from Plymouth!) & the hotel £104 but worth every penny for OH to connect with her Gdad's past & show the old boys that plenty of us haven't forgotten their sacrifices long ago :beer:

I've been thinking of getting rid of Sky for ages, we no longer watch TV (other than Who Do You Think You Are which I love!) & the kids watch CBeebies which is free anyway. This morning I contacted a chap recommended to me to upgrade our aerial as it is literally hanging by a thread off the chimney stack :rotfl:. We've never used it as had the basic Sky package for 11 years. He told me that as my Sky box is so ancient it actually works as a Freeview box without the viewing card. I pulled it out as per his advice & all the free channels are still there :T. I cancelled Sky approximately 4 mins later (the time it took me to get to their first call centre representative ). So I am :j about saving £25 a month going forward & :eek: :mad: at the fact that I've been paying £300 a year for the last few years for absolutely nothing :mad: :eek:

Still packing up stuff for the NCT & eBay. DS was quite resistant at first until like a terrible mother I told him that if we didn't get rid of a stack of stuff there would be no room for Xmas pressies, at which point he instructed me to: "sell everything Mummy" . Yesterday DD was looking for her In The Night Garden book & without looking up from his colouring DS said "Mummy's probably sold it" :rotfl:

Diet is going well I suppose, I'm losing weight though I'm well fed up now having had nothing nice down my neck in weeks . Total loss since 2nd Sept is 15lb, so over a stone now. Another 9lb to go, but I'm pausing on Weds cos it's my birthday & I fully intend to pig out. DD's birthday on Sun too so that may be another day off.

Better head off & start wrapping DD's pressies while she naps! Hope everyone has a good week

Beckyy

Well done on cancelling the Sky! Each to their own but I can't believe how much some people spend on it, especially for the rubbish that's on now a days :P

RoaringTwenties

Beckyy wrote: »

Well done on cancelling the Sky! Each to their own but I can't believe how much some people spend on it, especially for the rubbish that's on now a days :P

Thanks Beckyy, kicking myself for not looking into it ages ago, just one of those things that continually got put to the bottom of the to-do list! I agree 99% + is absolute rubbish, it's quite frightening really!

Thanks for dropping by :beer:

Crumpets

Hi RT,

Funny how we both posted on the same day after having a few days off

Well done on cancelling the Sky! We have only had free view for a couple of years now and it is plenty for us. We only really watch BBC and films so it's fine for us. We've never had the kids channels so they know no different and the great plus is no commercials!:T we have BT vision with broadband and phone package but the price has been creeping up for that so it might be time to reassess.

Sounds like you are getting great bargains at Asd@, I may have to venture back into supermarkets as I feel like I'm missing out :rotfl:

Great news about the CCP claim, we still haven't heard anything so I'm not getting my hopes up well done on the diet too, I'm going the opposite way. I need a big kick up the backside to get me going :rotfl: I'm definitely going to do some exercise tomorrow...I've said it now so I'll have to do it

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Morning Roaring Twenties, loved reading about your OHs grandad and the trip to support him. That's definitely worth the money

Completely agree about Sky - I am so tempted but not sure about my teenage son :eek: I tend to use iplayer mor than anything now. Although DH and DS are having a film fest at the moment. Die Hard movies :rotfl: I was supposed to call a chum last night and my two boys said it was 'family movie night' instead. I must admit it was fun watching all together.

Have a good day and your Xmas shopping is going well.

Tilly x

RoaringTwenties

Argh I just typed out a long post & the site ate it :mad:

I think I saw on your thread you got a cheque from CPP Crumpets? How did the exercise go [STRIKE]or shouldn't I ask?[/STRIKE]

Hi Tilly, thanks for dropping by, I had a lovely birthday, although am slightly perturbed by facing the big 4-0 next year :eek: My mother says I have nothing to complain about until I have a daughter that's 40 though, I can see her point . The naval reunion was v important to my OH, she's not sure it might be the last, though something tells me these sea dogs go on forever :beer:. Glad you had a nice film night with the family, I nearly wrote "video night" - now that does age me!

Not much to report from here, got a couple more Xmas pressies inc a Bigjigs cake stand & cakes for DD BNWT but a little bit cheaper on eBay. I'm blaming said purchase on the lack of actual cake . We got £96 back for OH's stay in the Prem Inn as a few thoughtless [STRIKE]drunk[/STRIKE] guests woke the whole hotel apparently so their Good Night Guarantee came into play :money:

Spending this week sorting the NCT stuff, hoping for a good result on Sat :T