2016 - A year of 16 Challenges

takingcontrolatlast

I'm following the thread and i'm really tempted to join !

I'll work on a list over the weekend

Keep up the good work :j

Philliper

Great to see the band of 16ners is growing

Here's my progress this week (it's a short post then ):

1. Read 16 books this year
Still reading book No. 2

2. Save £1 a day in the Xmas challenge

On target

3. Declutter 2016 items from my home

Done no decluttering this week so far, but will have a look today and tomorrow with a view to putting more on Ebay.

4. Have 16 no spend days a month

This has been a disaster of a week - one day only.

5. Keep up with the Fly Lady challenge

Bit of a disaster here too

6. Have a handmade Christmas (we did this a couple of years ago and it was well-received)

No progress

7. Save in the 365 Xmas accumulator (not sure what to call it - 1p on 1 Jan, 2p on 2 Jan, etc throughout year)

Yes! Keeping up with this

8. Make at least £16 extra per month (Ebay, writing sites etc)

Hmm - not sure I'll make this - last round of Ebay items were received less than enthusiastically

9. Make a meal from store cupboard/freezer etc once per month

Already done

10 Try a new recipe once a month

Done

11 Create 16 items (knitting, sewing, artwork)

Still wrestling with the jumper - might be ready for summer Also sketched out design for husband's birthday card. Not that he'll be able to see it, what with being so aged now

12 Lose 2 lb a month Jan - Jun (I don't have a lot to lose, but need to drop a dress size)

Oh yes! Thanks to lots of Yoga with Adriene (she's on Youtube - love her!) and a lot of walking the dog, plus to and from work, I've dropped my 2lb this month. :j

13 Pay off £1600 of debt

Ongoing

14 Write 16 blog posts this year (my blog has been neglected to the extent that I've unpublished it for a while)

Nope

15 Write 500 words on book at least 16 times per month

Nope

16 Eat at least 5 fruit/veg each day

Yes, this is going well.

Thanks for the motivation everyone - it's good to see how others are getting on too.

Tjh1412

Checking in with my progress so far now I have time, it being the weekend.

1. List 16 things to sell each month,I've a huge box of stuff been meaning to ebay
Have selected and boxed 16 textbooks to trade in with amazon, just need to get them in post on Monday 0/16

2. Decluttering 2016 things from my house this year
Chucked out 2 big bags of rubbish, a plethora of odd socks and all of last years old catalogues today 103/2016

3. 16 nsd's per month
Only had 4 spend days this month so far, may beat this target 19/16 so far

4. Read 16 books per month
11/16 so far, read all the harry potter set was given for xmas, both kondo books (also xmas gifts), Torn by Rosie Lewis and Mrs Moneypennys guide to financial advice so far


5. Learn 16 new things that'll help me be more frugal eg baking own bread sewing on buttons etc
No progress on this so far, have just inherited a free sewing machine however so going to ask my grandmother for a few basic lessons next weekend 0/16

6. 16 minutes each day on chores
Sticking to this so far, ironing pile has been conquered today and have also changed sheets on bed 23/365

7. Sign up to 16 extra money making methods; survey sites etc
Signed up for 3 survey sites and downloaded 2 apps 5/16

8. Spend 16 minutes a week on filing etc to keep on top of paperwork
Not done this weeks yet, on my to-do list for tomorrow 3/52 so far

9. Put £16 a week into my pension scheme
Paid in £75 to date, 4/52 also set up direct debit so this will be automatic


10. Pay off/save £16 a week
£12 on asda card for xmas, £25 Tesco xmas saver top up and I'll be paying an extra £200 off my debt this month 4/52

11. Make 16 new recipes this year
No progress yet, just got free breadmaker from freegle so going to try that as my first recipe next weekend 0/16

12. Cut down spending by £16 a month
after a quick haggle with sky they've agreed to reduce my bill by £16.21 a month 1/12

13. Craft 16 gifts for Christmas
Started a cross stitch cushion and a crochet blanket, no completed projects yet though 0/16

14. Do 16 random acts of kindness that cost nothing
Been to visit a colleague in hospital, and also did some shopping for our neighbours when their car broke down; this ones proving quite the mood booster so at this rate should smash my target 2/16

15. 16 store cupboard/no cost meals a month
9/16 so far, will be another one tonight with spaghetti al forno but am definitely going to have to crack out my cooking skills to hit this one

16. Savings challenge sealed pot for xmas,minimum 16p per day to be put in
Not missed a single day so far, £2.51 for me today 23/365

emg

Here's my catch-up for days five and six

1. Take a packed lunch to work at least 16 days a month - (12/16)
Yes for friday but not at work today. On track to meet monthly target.

2. Do at least 15mins Flylady-ing a day - not yesterday but 30mins today

3. Reach my step target on Fitbit 25 days a month (7/31) - doing a bit rubbish with this

4. Use the 'seven' fitness app at least 25 days a month - doing a bit rubbish with this one too

5. Achieve 10 No-Spend-Days a month (3/10)
Spent money yesterday on groceries and £1.65 today. Everything still within my allocated budgets though.

6. Keep YNAB up to date daily - yes

7. Overpay mortgage by £3600 (£425.62/£3600) :T

8. Complete at least 30 surveys per month on survey sites (11/30)
one done

9. Claim work expenses on time every month (due by 4/2)
no progress

10. Meal plan for all week day meals
Done

11. Declutter 2016 items in 2016 - 15/2016
no new things decluttered yesterday or today

12. Unsubscribe from at least one spam email everyday - yep!

13. No buying books or magazines in 2016 yep!

14. Read 16 books in 2016 0/16
did a bit of reading in the bath this morning, totally in awe of you Tjh!

15. Make one new recipe a month - not yet

16. Batch cook two things for the freezer each month - done for Jan

Great to see all the joiners, funny how similar are aims are. I'm also owning up to being another from team1974 :rotfl:

takingcontrolatlast

Well here's my list - i have copied some of your ideas as i think they are inspiring as well:-

1. Make £1600
2. Pay off £1600 of debt
3. Save £1 a day for Xmas 2016
4. 16 NSDs a month
5. 16 craft items in a year
6. Take packed lunch to work for 16 days at least
7. Read 16 books
8. Complete 16 projects on the house.
9. Complete 16 "fun" things with family/friends
10. Improve 16 things about me
11. Visit 16 new places
12. Learn 16 new receipes
13. Go to the gym 16 times
14. Lose 16lbs of weight the 1st half of the year
15. Lose 16lbs of weight the 2nd half of the year
16. Do 16 things for charity

January2015

I’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s ‘16’ challenges. Can I join in ?

My list is going to be:

1. Lose 16lb (I need to lose lots more, but if I achieve this it will be a first )

2. Exercise everyday for at least 16 minutes (might help with No. 1 )

3. De-clutter 16 things from the house each month (this can be through chucking out, free-cycling, eBaying etc)

4. 16 NSDs each month

5. Plan meals each week in advance (which will hopefully help with No. 4)

6. Plan 16 fun weekends in 2016 with the grandchildren

7. Handmade birthdays/Christmas - make at least 16 gifts in 2016

8. Saving £1 per day for Christmas 2016 (£54 in the pot already)

9. Reduce our debt by £16,000 in 2016

10. 16 minutes each day of chores I wouldn’t usually do (so tidying the kitchen after dinner doesn’t count )

11. Read 16 books in 2016 (sorry I can’t aim for 16 per month)

12. Learn 16 new things in 2016 that'll help me be more frugal eg baking own bread sewing on buttons etc (this idea has been shamelessly stolen from Tjh1412)

13. 16 days each month where I don’t watch TV (catching up on the news when I get in from work doesn’t count – I need to see what’s happening in the world). I should add TV may go on because DH will watch it, but I aim to not in the room or doing something towards achieving Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12).

14. Phone and/or visit mum and elderly relatives at least once each week

15. Project Life – for me this is as much about scrapbooking old photos as it is taking new photos and scrapbooking those. So my goal is to create 16 scrapbook pages every 2 months – total of 96 pages for the year. My scrapbooking is the digital kind so it’s cheap because I already have loads of digital scrapbook stash I can use.

16. Have 16 days with all my family in 2016 (that’s my children, their partners and their children, i.e. my grandchildren). As this is more than one per month it might be difficult to get them altogether 16 times in one year…but I aim to try.

I'm looking forward to a year of challenges and following everyone elses progress :beer:

takingcontrolatlast

can I ask is there a copy and paste facility or do you all type out your list again?

January2015

takingcontrolatlast wrote: »

can I ask is there a copy and paste facility or do you all type out your list again?

I am going to keep my list in a word document and copy/paste it from there and add my updates underneath each item in the list when I post each time.

There may be easier ways - so if there are I'd be glad to learn;)

January2015

1. Lose 16lb (I need to lose lots more, but if I achieve this it will be a first
I’ve weighed myself – not a good moment.15st 12 1/2lb :eek:
2. Exercise everyday for at least 16 minutes (might help with No. 1 )
Went for a walk today. Took 35 minutes (does that mean tomorrow’s exercise is already done….not sure I have the hang on this ‘exercise every day’ thing yet)

3. De-clutter 16 things from the house each month (this can be through chucking out, free-cycling, eBaying etc)
2 things listed on the local Facebook for sale page

4. 16 NSDs each month
Because I am starting this during the last week of January I am aiming for 4 NSDs this week. Today wasn’t one of them:o

5. Plan meals each week in advance (which will hopefully help with No. 4)
Meal plan done
· Sunday (today) Roast Lamb
· Monday –Steak and stir fry for DH and Chicken breast and stir fry for me
· Tuesday – Pork chops, new pots, cauliflower, carrots
· Wednesday – Bolognaise
· Thursday – Boiled Gammon, new pots, peas and sweetcorn
· Friday – Plaice and chips (home cooked so as healthy as I can get it with baked potato wedges rather than chips, and breadcrumbed fish)
· Saturday – Jacket potatoes with tuna mayo/sweetcorn filling
I have everything I need in the freezer/store cupboard except for the new potatoes so if I buy those tomorrow I should be able to stick to NSDs the rest of the week.

6. Plan 16 fun weekends in 2016 with the grandchildren
I’ve booked for 3 of our grandchildren to stay next weekend and have a craft day with me (making minions out of loo rolls - which is a cheap day for me) and then a movie night with home-cooked popcorn)

7. Handmade birthdays/Christmas - make at least 16 gifts in 2016
See No. 12 below….this is one that is going to take some time to achieve each gift – watch this space!

8. Saving £1 per day for Christmas 2016 (£54 in the pot already)
I’ve opened a savings account online this morning and I am going to take my £1 coins to the bank tomorrow and deposit them in the new account. I will save my £1 coins but bank them in savings at the end of each month. £55/£365


9. Reduce our debt by £16,000 in 2016
This is going to be a bit slow for Feb and March as we are on token payments for 2 months, but this is a definite goal which should be achievable with a bit of work.

10. 16 minutes each day of chores I wouldn’t usually do (so tidying the kitchen after dinner doesn’t count )
I cleaned out the meter cupboard today. OMG do we stash total rubbish in there. However I did find a brand new set of brake discs for a car we no longer have so they will be going on the for sale site later today. My question is….why did we buy them and never use them in the first place ?????

11. Read 16 books in 2016 (sorry I can’t aim for 16 per month)
I’ve just started The Runaway Jury by John Grisham

12. Learn 16 new things in 2016 that'll help me be more frugal eg baking own bread sewing on buttons etc (this idea has been shamelessly stolen from Tjh1412)
I have been given a sewing machine so I am going to find some youtube videos to give me some ideas. I’m hoping this will help with No.7

13. 16 days each month where I don’t watch TV (catching up on the news when I get in from work doesn’t count – I need to see what’s happening in the world). I should add TV may go on because DH will watch it, but I aim to not in the room or doing something towards achieving Nos. 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, and 12).
Today will not be one of those days – I am eagerly awaiting the David Attenborough dinosaur program tonight.

14. Phone and/or visit mum and elderly relatives at least once each week
Phoned my mum this afternoon:D

15. Project Life – for me this is as much about scrapbooking old photos as it is taking new photos and scrapbooking those. So my goal is to create 16 scrapbook pages every 2 months – total of 96 pages for the year. My scrapbooking is the digital kind so it’s cheap because I already have loads of digital scrapbook stash I can use.
I’ve sorted out ten photos today and made use 5 of them to make one scrapbook page. 1/96 completed then

16. Have 16 days with all my family in 2016 (that’s my children, their partners and their children, i.e. my grandchildren). As this is more than one per month it might be difficult to get them altogether 16 times in one year…but I aim to try.
We had a whole family day on 3rd January, so I am going to count that as my 1/16. I need to start planning and organising day 2.

1974nicola

Afternoon 16ners,

Keep up the good work! Overall I've done well I think! I'll update later. Got to are dinner but instead am lurking on here so......