NST July - Own your choices

mothernerd

Only just logged on to see the challenge but think I am doing okay. Not spent any money. I did go out to look for a shaped notebook to use for invitations but not wildly enthusiastic about anything I saw. Wondering if I might be able to use some star and stained glass window embroideries (originally intended as Christmas cards but not too specific - may be worth looking through the card stock to see if I have anything usable, most of the craft stuff has been given to children in the extended family).

Walked round the charity shops (ie most of the town centre and main shopping street) to check out beds and wardrobes but nothing suitable. Was going to continue to mum's but had to return home as the purse with her keys in had been left behind - it has the bank card and am only using the coin purse atm. Extra walking there and then out again to mum's including the dreaded bridge - tough target is to get fit enough in 7 weeks to get over the bridge pushing the dolly truck with 7 garden chairs (4 metal, 3 plastic) on it.

Ate the 3 bean chilli rm (32p) earlier, took the lamb mince hot pot (30p) with me to mum's and have eaten low fat cheese spread on 2 slices of wholemeal seeded bread with 2 raw carrots and an apple since I got home.

Have booked 5 hours of mum's time on the Sunday (day) before her birthday and told her she cannot arrange to go for lunch or tea with anyone else. Have put it on her calendar. Discussed Power of Attorney and will with her (I can write the will but need to wait to see if my brother wants to be an executor - he probably won't).

Think I managed to persuade her not to have a conservatory, helped by the man measuring up for it. She has a small spare bedroom which has held a single bed and a large clothes airer for most of the time she has been living at the bungalow. She has recently had French windows added so the bed is now blocking the cupboards with her clothes in.

She will not give away the unused bed and has recently acquired a mobility scooter (still on trial). She basically wants to install a cheap conservatory (man said it will be too cold to sit in, in winter and too hot in summer) which will involve digging up a large part of the flags she had put down a few short weeks ago (she would also keep them as she has paid for them). All this is so that there would be enough room for the bed, which will in theory be used for sitting on and the scooter and possibly the airer. Would also need a slope to get the scooter in and out easily. Man suggested getting a small shed to keep the scooter in.

Came home and have tackled the wardrobe. It now has a back, all four of the drawers are mended and have the correct handles on and are in their allotted spaces and the wheels have had longer screws put in where necessary. Any more problems and I will be buying a replacement from the charity shop but for now I have a wardrobe.

Managed to contact the laminate man this morning and he is booked in for Monday. Tomorrow I have to finish the bits of painting in the front room and vestibule (gloss, new plaster paint and ordinary emulsion). If it's a nice day I have a gatepost, some raised bed bits and two old bins to stain/ paint.

Will check the other bits of the challenge (try to actually cook something) again earlier in the day.

Today I am grateful to the workmen who had covered the hole they had made in the pavement with a huge garden parasol, for getting a lift home (I announced my intention to start walking back and the heavens opened) and to DS3 for help with the wardrobe.

Bobarella

Evening All

Today has been a full one. Was out at Costalots by 9.30am after buttering Mr Bob up to look after DD and DS for an hour. I cycled down which is about 10 mins either way. And for 1 precious hour I scribbled away till my pen smoked. Have now got a day book full of action points and plans for the new business. Used my loyalty card for the eventual free coffee.

Went into town on route to sons dance lesson. Stopped in at a jewellers to have an old ring appraised. It wasnt worth anything as the material is silver and the jeweller said gram for gram the entire ring was worth 50p (the metal) It has 2 diamonds and an amethyst but they are too small to be worth selling. However he was highly impressed by the craftsmanship for circa 1940s. The jeweller was very knowledgeable and interesting & even polished the ring up for free. My son was so impressed by the whole thing he has asked if he can have it for when he proposes!:rotfl:

Did a lot of walking about from the bus to the DLR and all around whilst waiting for son to finish. Tried to post off my ebay parcel but had missed the post office. Played for ages on the grass outside dance, including 'cricket' using an empty plastic bottle as the bat and a cherry for a ball.

Got home, we had our first BBQ of the year which was lovely. Used up pork belly YS £1.36 instead of £3.50 & sausages £0.66 instead of £1.60.
Made a pot of chicken stock whilst the BBQ stuff cooked. Made home made colesaw and potato salad plus lots of other salads. Sat in the garden till it got cold.

Put the kids to bed then sat and listed a load more comics on ebay. By the time I had come to sit down I'd sold 7 of them! All Deadpool so quite popular at the moment. Not a huge sum at £8 but as I keep banging on I dont want the darned things and every penny helps. So horray!

So ebay total for the month stands at £23 I think. Will PAD with some of that later.

Hope everyone is enjoying the mini challenge.

Bob

Bobarella

doingitanyway wrote: »

Boring update alert

I was at work today

I posted my food plan yesterday

I did a small planned shop. I’m working on Monday (my usual day off) so will do another small shop tomorrow in Ald*

Too tired to achieve anything else. I will make up for it tomorrow when I have a little more vim and vigour

I’m working on my hall entrance. I cleaned half the paintwork yesterday. I’ll finish off tomorrow. My bike is in the hallway too. It is a cluttered entrance that needs attention. I have a shelf of knick knacks that is pointless. It’s coming down…

Have a good evening turtles

No such thing as a boring update. Good luck finding time tommorow to hit that hallway shelf!

Bobarella

Mothernerd well done on your successful day. Lots of activity by the sounds of it. Your mum sounds like she doesnt need the conservatory, hope you can get her to see that ok.

Florence Good decluttering! & free food finding

XSpender thats a huge saving your husband has made on his hair cuts. £20 extra a month is fab.

Fmess Hope the dog walking has gone well. I have yet to read the Kondo book or thread here. It sounds motivational though.Just read your other post too, wow you did loads today!!

Clippy Body combat sounds a great class. Not too violent I hope?

Apple Your workout always sounds so impressive. Glad to hear you are feeling so much better. Loving the sound of all that home grown fruit too.

Trush No beating yourself up. No point. Now whats this about potatoes going off? Dont you like potatoes either of you ? In which case what makes you buy them may I ask? If it were me I would simply chop and blanche them then freeze them now. Save any waste.

EagerElephant it must be so rewarding working your own land..and own pork sounds Yum!
I hope the Karen Millan jeans sell well.

Eager_Elephant

This weekend our mini challenge is to hit all our challenge goals by 1%, this is an unscientific 1% so dont worry. But by the end of the weekend I would like you to have

- Ticked off a big chunk of activity. I have done 3 hours on our fields today - the hedgerow needed trimming and also some of the stinging nettles were taller than me so with the new brush cutter we got DH has cut a lot back and I have been clearing up (now have very stung arms!!)

- Found at least 3 items in your home that you can sell. Think of every area. Recent ebay sales of mine have included kids toys, graphic novels, kids dress up costumes , adult trainers, & (almost) unwanted expensive commericial items. I have a pair of Karen Millen jeans to ebay - I brought them about 2 years ago from ebay but they are too long in the leg. I have been meaning to ebay them ever since. Will need to find 2 more items.

- Create your weekend menu with what you already have in. Post up what you are having. Any newly purchased food items must be accounted for here and judged by your turtle peers Today was toast and egg for breakfast, cheese and beetroot chutney on toast for lunch (and a bag of crisps). Tea tonight was veggie curry for me and chicken curry for DH and DS (DD still at sleepover).
Tomorrow will be toast and egg for breakfast, leftover curry for lunch and roast pork for tea (own pork, potatoes from the allotment) - not buying any food this weekend, just using what I have in


- Take 1 step towards your perfect home vision. Whether that is taking a bin bag and sweeping all the junk you can see in one area (a hot spot like your coffee table) or taking the cutlery out giving the tray a wipe and throwing out 600 kids medicine spoons, find your mission and do it.
I have been sorting clothes as I wash them and being more thorough so getting rid of things straight away rather than them hanging about. Only problem is I have 2 bags in the bedroom - 1 of good clothes which the charity shop can sell and the other of items which can go to the rag man. I will make an effort to drop these off tomorrow. I have been following KonMari but haven't progressed much past clothes (I did do plates, cups and bowls though)
Also need to sort my garden out especially the paths as they are disgusting so I think this week each evening we can do that.

Eager_Elephant

Checking in to report a NSD - dog has not gone to the vet. Her leg was looking lovely this morning. The skin has closed over and is starting to heal and I thought if we take her to the vet they will either leave it or have to open it up again. Even after a walk it stayed closed so i think it will be fine.


Up to 4 NSD's so far which is terrible considering today is day 9. I need to not spend for the majority of the month to get to 15.


Its lovely to see how everyone is doing with the mini challenge.

clippy_girl

Luckily it is a non contact class Bob!

Going to have a NSD in the house and do more garden stuff. Plan for today-

Paint shed (prob 2 more coats)
Paint fence if it needs it
Pin apple tree back to fence
Pick strawberries and raspberries
Trim rose bushes
Put items on eBay
Quick clean/changeover of guest room and bathroom for new guest arriving today
Wash towels and bedding and put on line outside
Cook Jamie's yellow curry. Will offer some to new guest if she would like as she is staying for 19 nights!
Stitch the elastic in my new wedges to stop them stretching everytime I walk
Put charity shop stuff in boot of car ready to drop off
Order new tires for car (counting as NSD as planned expense and I have saved for them)
Nice long relaxing bath and exfoilate and de fuzz

If I have time I will wax the table and two remaining chairs and start scraping the moss by the back door. I live in a terrace and so have a little stretch along the side of the house that gets no sun so it's always damp and mossy even when it's sunny! It's filthy down there so want to de moss and sweep and borrow a power washer!

Bobarella

EE Glad your dog is looking so much better.

Clippy phew! Have a great day you have a long list there.

Good morning everyone

So far today I have:
- Taken the clutter off the top of my husbands bedroom wardrobe
-Taken 2 pairs of old jeans from there to the fabric recycling point
-Hung the sleeping bag out to air as it was covered in dust
- Will list OHs old hockey goalie helmet on ebay
- Relocated the blow up bed to sons cupboard
- Put the scuba gear in the loft pile in the spare room
- Changed the bin and put the recycling out
- Taken both kids to the park to play
- Drained the chicken stock & frozen 3.5 portions
- Put another charity bag together of old stuffties, have 2 bags to go out Friday now
- Parcelled up my ebay sales
- Thrown away an old handcream that was cluttering my nightstand
- Made a £10 PAD
- Checked my ebay items. The commerical meat slicer now has 2 watchers. Praying it will sell at full price or near as darn it (£250)
- Made the beds
- Packed away my sons art work that came home at the end of term
- Dispatched OH to the shop to take the photos that the location agencies needed to register us.
- Decluttered my sons old sports rucksack as he wont need it anymore (new school for september)

Think thats it. Have walked to the park and back today, for activity.

Bob

juliejim

Afternoon all!

Yesterday was spent at a Community Fun Day run by the Scouts and then I went to a hen night - watched bands at Trentham Gardens and then went on to a pub - got in at 12.45 this morning!

Bobarella wrote: »

Good morning All

This weekend our mini challenge is to hit all our challenge goals by 1%, this is an unscientific 1% so dont worry. But by the end of the weekend I would like you to have

- Ticked off a big chunk of activity. Be it walking a mile, running 5k, spending 2 hours gardening or going for a swim. Make it appropriate to your fitness levels and wellness (Calling,Apple & Mothernerd I am looking at you, be gentle but active.

Yesterday I did over 14000 steps and quite a bit of dancing!

- Found at least 3 items in your home that you can sell. Think of every area. Recent ebay sales of mine have included kids toys, graphic novels, kids dress up costumes , adult trainers, & (almost) unwanted expensive commericial items.

I'll have a look - I have some new wetsuits to sell I think.

- Create your weekend menu with what you already have in. Post up what you are having. Any newly purchased food items must be accounted for here and judged by your turtle peers

Well DH bought the kids a take-away last night as I'd gone out:mad: so that's through the window. Today's meals are from what we have in although I will be going out shortly to get some food shopping - I'm not leaving it to DH, he doesn't get the concept of just buying the few items we need!

- Take 1 step towards your perfect home vision. Whether that is taking a bin bag and sweeping all the junk you can see in one area (a hot spot like your coffee table) or taking the cutlery out giving the tray a wipe and throwing out 600 kids medicine spoons, find your mission and do it

I need to sort out the corner of the LR which has loads of bits in a pile which need sorting out and also put a load of clothes away in my BR. I could also do with doing some Scouting paperwork so I can send DH to the bank next week.

Ok all set! Lets go! Usual check ins apply

Bob

However, so far I've done hardly anything today, I'm shattered after being up from 5am Saturday morning until 1am this morning and this is the first day I've had off Scouting since half-term! I'm out all next weekend too.

Have a good day all

Jue

doingitanyway

Exercised by walking today for 30 minutes

Food prep wise I bounced between R5 live and TV to watch men’s final.

Beetroot homous
Lentil, chorizo, spinach and tomato soup (came out lovely)
Boiled eggs
Grated beetroot
Toasted walnuts
2 burgers (might be beef or pork I can’t tell by looking) played safe by adding grated onion, garlic and herbs only

This is more than enough to be going with for a few days. Not really proper meals but I’m in a grazing mood

Cleared shelf in hallway —moved bike into dining room. (Seriously thinking of selling it and buying a Brompton instead. ) —lighter and easier to store than a Pashley. Water glasses on shelf now in cupboard and little glass bottles packed away for a car boot. Will take shelf away from wall

Cleaned remaining skirting boards in hall

Shoe rack in hall is a dust collector removed to go to CS

Coats and jackets bagged for dry cleaners ready for Autumn

Small, silly coat rack beneath proper one removed and in CS bag.

Wow hallway appears bigger and cleaner and calmer. Result. :D

TIP

Whenever I go to Coffee Ner0 I help myself to paper cups. I keep a few in my bag along with a flask of coffee so when I want to pour a coffee I’m drinking out of a cup not a flask lid. I also nab 2 sugars each time. I don’t buy or take sugar but a sachet is just enough to add a touch of sweetness to a pot of soup.

Happy Sunday turtles (some of you make me feel tired just reading of your activities)