The Longshot route to a new life!

Itsa_Longshot

Well I've been very slack with my activities of late! Not been out on my bike for a couple of weeks, nor I have done any de-cluttering at home either - must put both right this weekend!

I did join the NSD challenge though, which is going well, and I've also started looking to do some proper meal planning. I still want to cut down my weekly food shop and not waste as much fresh food, so hopefully that will help.

Have a great weekend everyone!:j

belleandthebudget

I just joined the NSD challenge too - had my first one today! I think the meal planning will definitely help with the NSD as I usually end up buying food at work. I do want to find a nice template though so I can stay organised with the plan.

Good luck on the decluttering, it's so satisfying once you get it done!!

Itsa_Longshot

Thanks Belle, the weekend de-cluttering was more of an organising session though, including a trip to the shops to get some hanging wardrobe shelves, a CD tower (others were full, oops ) and a few smaller tidying-up things, and I ended up getting some much needed new bedding too. I feel it was £50 well spent though. I'd been skimming the KonMarie topic and took some inspiration from there about new ways to organise.

I'm generally a tidy person though I probably hang on to things for too long, so thinking about this earlier today (might as well do something useful while I'm at work, right?! ), I came up with a plan. 8.30 to 9.30 tonight I have designated as The Ruthless Hour. It really is time for some of this stuff to go. I'll put on some lively music and have at it. 1 hour of full on no holding back de-cluttering. I will be a force unleashed. I will not stop. I will not rest. If I see it and don't need it, it goes. 1 hour to create a mountain of junk. :eek:

I generally know what I've got and know what I'm going to target, so quite optimistic about making a big impact. Bin collection tomorrow too, which is handy for the non-recyclables. 45 minutes then I'll be off like a big whirly rushing thing! :rotfl:

In other news, my car insurance renewal came through today and it's gone up £40. Boooooooo.

belleandthebudget

You'll have to let us know how The Ruthless Hour went!! Good luck!

I think I could do with one of those for my paperwork. Holding on to SO MUCH I don't need. Bought some shredding scissors though so I think it's about time for a Netflix marathon with added chop-chopping!

Itsa_Longshot

It was good! Foo Fighters was the music of choice, and I ended up putting three bags of tat in the bin, and an armful in the recycling. I even disconnected and set aside my video recorder that's not been used for about ten years! :rotfl: Very successful, so I'll have another go at the weekend, will target my clothes this time.

I've not touched my documents yet, that'll need far more than an hour! :eek:

Itsa_Longshot

Ah, hello weekend, my good friend. How I've been longing to see you again!

Lots to get done this weekend, but I shan't list my tasks here, as I expect you'll all be jealous of all the cleaning and sorting I'll be doing.

Very spendy day to get through today.

ani*fan

Hi there Itsa Longshot :wave:

I've just read through your diary, thanks for the motivation, you're doing really well getting everything in hand. Well done.

I have a similar amount of income to you and my debt's a fair bit bigger, so I know your struggle...not easy eh?

I just wanted to say, as a fellow music lover who used to stockpile cds, have you heard of spotify? It's a website where you can download all the albums you want and then access them on your laptop, mobile, any device really that can get online. Your albums never break or get scratched, never need replaced, they all exist out there in internet-land (it's the future, I don't need to understand these things do I?!) and basically you have everything you could want. It costs a tenner a month and it sounds to me like you spend more than that on cds, I certainly did. Not only that, you can flog your old cds to musicmagpie and also your cd rack on gumtree or something, your cds do not take up loads of space in your house and essentially you can have them all with you anywhere you go with a mobile phone and a set of earphones.

Sorry if I sound like an advert for spotify but it's such a good thing and has changed my music listening world! And all for a tenner, so worth it.

Anyway, good luck with the declutter, I think you may have motivated me to do some more.

Have a great weekend.

ThatKiss

Hello!

Just had a skim through your diary and thought I'd pop in a comment since the CD/music thing grabbed me. I was going to say about Spotify too, but ani*fan has beaten me to it. athe only thing I would say is that since I've subscribed, I've discovered so much new (to me) music that my cd/vinyl wishlist has grown substantially. D'oh!!!

Anyways, good luck with the journey, it sounds like you've made a positive start!

Itsa_Longshot

Thanks ani*fan and ThatKiss, welcome aboard my train to Debtfreeville! :j

I have considered Spotify and the like before (just how much did you get paid for that ad, ani*fan ), but I guess I'm a bit old fashioned and still like to own a physical product. My CD spending so far this year is a fairly restrained £55, but there is a lot I'd like to get. I have moved away from discs with games though, and will quite happily download those instead, and it's been a while since I've bought any DVD's since I watch so much on Amazon now. With music though there's a bit of paranoia that the service would close down and I'd lose the lot. :eek:

I do enjoy having a CD collection on show rather than just MP3 files, and they still get plenty of use on my stereo. I do have an MP3 player which I use on the go though.

Music aside, a nice relaxing day on my own at home today. My new fangled meal plan tells me it's steak pie today, so that's in the oven right now with some roast veg and smells wonderful! :beer:

belleandthebudget

I have been seriously tempted by Apple Music since starting their free trial - I knew there had to be a reason they give 3 months free... to sucker me in!

I'm exactly the same way you are with CDs, Itsa. Except it's DVDs for me. I don't mind my music being digital but I can't bear not having my favourites on DVD as licenses on streaming services are so hit and miss and movies/shows get removed.

One day maybe I'll go fully digital but my inner control freak says NEVER!