NST August - AB's Amazingly Aware August Challenge

misstara

Sorry haven't checked in for a couple of days. Yesterday was a really spendy day but mostly essentials (rent, council tax and electricity bill). I also put £25 into savings towards Christmas and had lunch out with a friend. Today has been a NSD 2/20 and also kettlebells class so gym 1/12.

My £5 bank reward went into my account today so I have paid that to the debt . Tried to be mindful on the walk home from work - instead of listening to music and faffing about on my phone, I listened to all the sounds walking home. I don't think it was particularly successful as I kept thinking about other stuff but will try again.

Am baking some gf goodies tonight and then an early night - only 2 more days to go at work then I have a week off :j

mothernerd

A SFD. Went downstairs at 1am this morning and moved the fridge-freezer. It's now in the kitchen rather than under the stairs so I can get at all the things behind it - decorating tools, sewing machine, two boxes of fabric and various other things. makes me tired just thinking about sorting it out. I pegged the washing out after moving the ff and put another load in.

Was woken up by the food delivery so all frozen and chilled stuff put away.

Practiced mindfulness in the bath and also a mini pamper, rubbed/massaged my feet and smothered myself in suncream after I was dry. Had another glass of the lemonade and took my glasses off to avoid the temptation to pick up my book or puzzle book. Bubbles are very interesting, you can feel them on all the different parts of your mouth and going down your throat. Spent some time feeling the shape of the plastic goblet and watching the droplets elongate and start to slowly slide back to the rest of the liquid.

Feeling mellow but could do with a bit more action in the next few days. The house is a bit chaotic, especially my bedroom. I have knocked a couple of things off (maybe because I am stressed, not usually clumsy) in recent days. Not simple to pick them up, they have spread out and the whole room has reached the sort through and tidy away stage. Possibly because I needed so many things to be close to hand when I was 'bed- bound'. Now they need to be relocated but don't have homes atm.

Still have most of the tools and fixings (nails/screws/ bits for kitchen assembly) in my room. I remember at one point last year getting worked up because I was sharing a bed with a crowbar. The room I was in also had the dismantled stair parts for the attic stairs and the handrail which decided to slide down the wall in the middle of the night and it was safer to have the crowbar in the bed rather than on the floor where it might trip me up in the middle of the night.

Both crowbars are still with me but at least they (+ 2 sledgehammers, 2 wicker garden obelisks and a set of stepladders) are tucked away in a corner at the side of a wardrobe. Need to got to the other house as I need the cleaning supplies here, now.

WelshKitty85

Hi everyone!

Happy to declare my first SFD of the month today. Have been at work, so not actually had much opportunity to spend any money!

Have just been looking through my budget planner and realised I have made my final payment to the sofa finance, which means I have met the target of paying off £5105.43 worth of debts before Xmas 2015!! To say I am thrilled is an understatement! Am now just waiting for the paperwork to confirm it is all cleared.

Looking forward to our trip away from Thursday, but am determined to keep it as low cost as possible so I can start throwing everything I have at the spending credit card when I get home. Feeling determined now!

Fmess

shyspender wrote: »

Hiya Turtles,

I have a random question and the answer is probably really obvious.

I have a built in fridge freezer. The freezer is frosted up. The only controls I can see are in the fridge, dial with 1-6.

Can I, and if so, how do I turn off just the freezer to defrost it? Anyone know? I'm not sure I have the manual for it.

I have a similar sounding fridge freezer and have found no way to switch off one without the other. I just keep the fridge door closed then switch off the whole thing off and open the freezer door. To speed it up, you can put pans of boiling water on each shelf and keep changing them every 10 minutes. Remember to put a tray underneath and lots of towels. Good luck.


SFD today Got the walls finished in the lounge Also heard from ex that he wants some more of his items out of the house, so I need to buy replacement items this week. At least it makes the place feel more mine.

Also still on my phone as VM upgrades my broadband but it's now not compatible with my router! So until a new router arrives, I have no broadband They did say that they would not charge me for any of my services until it was all sorted, which is a positive.

Night all

stewby

Good evening... Last day of my holiday, boo hiss.

Spendy day today... grand total of £20.48 however, this should feed me for a while.
OH goes away to another music festival on Thursday so I need some food, just for me.


Gettin quite antsy as I really want to get rid of my credit card debt... however, also want to do something fun in my life (I love travelling and am now desperate to go to New York, however, funding it is a different matter).


Allotment is awesome. A lot of hard work and bugs (I really don't like bugs)... oh, and a wasp nest.


The plan is to grow heaps... OH eats a lot of expensive fruit (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, etc). I am getting my own little section which will have all these plus some blackcurrants.
I was wanting to grow blackberries but Dad made the very valid point that we have heaps of them out in the wild.
OH and Dad are doing the main part of the allotment and are planning on growing potatoes, brassicas (cabbage-y stuff), onions (including other members of the onion family) and veggies like carrots, beetroot, turnips, radishes, etc.
We are also considering peas and things like that.
The allotment is huuuuuuuuuuuuuge.


Will cost a lot of money this year but will hopefully save us money in the long run and give us a much needed hobby for the three of us.
The allotment will be a long-term hobby in my challenge of finding a nice work/play balance.


Hugs to everyone.

abundant1972

Hi everyone

Quick check in tonight as kanckered and off to bed...

Today = SFD number 4, although think I will need to break my run tomorrow with a shop for salad.

Work outs going well... and going to do my mindfulness exercise in a bit. Well done NanngG for the bathtime relaxation, Misstara for you walk home, and Bob for the trees... I'm with you - Autumn is amazing!!!

Hugs Thriftylass - keep popping in and if you need a virtual hug you know where we are! Hugs to Fmess for the cat recue too x

Sleep well all x

apple_muncher

G'morning turtles! Email day today - always excites me!

Fmess - you are being sooo patient with VM. At least it is happening during the hols when you have time to be in contact with them.

Welshkitty - awesome work! Well done on paying that off!

Stewby - looks like you found a fantastic work/life balancing activity. I have a teeny tiny garden, but my 2 blackcurrant bushes and the rasps provide lots of fruit and I freeze it to use in the winter months. I have the rasps that are ones you raze to the ground every year and then they come up again the next, as if by magic!

mothernerd - your pampering sounds lovely. Sleeping with a crowbar is certainly original!

abundant - 4nsd in a row is awesome - well done!

shy - I do the same as fmess when defrosting our 'frost free' freezer. Pans, towels, butter knife to 'help' the ice come off. Hmmm. Maybe I shouldn't leave it quite so long between defrosts...


Off to read the email...!

wishus

Hello everyone - I'd love to join in this month if I'm able.

I went missing halfway through last month. I had 2 books to edit for second job and a lot going on. But I found being away from the thread made me a lot less mindful, and I overspent big time. A lot of it on cider. _pale_

This month things are still very busy - I have another huge work project for my second job, as well as a few things I have promised myself. I did manage to fit in some writing over the last few days - go me - but a thing I planned to write lots for will be somewhat impeded by that big second-job-project-type thing.

In the day job, I have a new boss, and a new set of people coming in to look after, so I also need to make sure I'm alert for that.

And OH is back at work after so many months off - not full time yet, and he is still very anxious. Small steps.

This does mean we don't have a full wage coming in, hence I need to be extra mindful about money. But I have crossed another month off, I'm 11.6% through my debt, and things should start looking up.

Also OH made some chocolate beer while he was off and it is lush! He definitely has a talent as well as a passion for this, so I hope to keep encouraging him to pursue his dreams of a change of career in this direction. :beer:
My triathlon is this Saturday... :undecided and apart from that I shall just try my best to be super mindful and focused so I can everything done that I need to. :A

dolly84

Bob - I do normally take snacks to the cinema but as this was a holiday treat and the kids snack trays at Vue are good value I was happy to pay this time. I didn't have anything so that was a saving there.

I'm another who loves Autumn, I love the smell of the air, the occasional nip in the air to remind us about Winter, bonfires, blackberries, damsons on the trees in our garden - everything really.

DS is going to visit his friend for the day and me and DD have to stay in until 11 for our new awning delivery, that's OK though as I have to work this morning. We will do something this afternoon but nothing spendy I hope.

Stewby - your allotment sounds great.

misstara - I got my £5 reward yesterday too, mine gets transferred to my Christmas/Birthday fund - £60 worth of free presents each year, Barclays never gave me that after 20 years of banking with them.

thriftylass

Bobarella wrote: »

Thrifty - Hello, hoping new CC debt is related to a car purchase or mortgage from what you were saying last time?

Just popping in quickly, will read and cheer on later.

Yes, put 3,700 on the CC (0%) and got 1,300 trade in for the dead car (surprised we even got that as it needs about 1k work on the engine). In the end we only went for a 5k car and left the mortgage alone, just got a new fixed deal. Plus £300 on the CC is from two tight months as nursery costs were so high over the summer and another £170 coming off in September for a B&B for two night around the triathlon.

Till later