Get a grip woman!

DiscountDuck

Leicester has been in lockdown since March so it wasn’t very different from before here! I’ve also stocked up ready for brexit in case of supply issues, but I’m not sure it’d qualify as ‘siege’ worthy! It’s very sensible of you.

trix-a-belle

succeeding in anything however small this year is a win in my book so be proud of the huge number of ticks on that list!
(only just getting on here for the first time since the 23rd as I was suddenly paddling if I stepped outside my front door & my def con 4 freezer was paddling but has pulled through)

shangaijimmy

A challenge is only a challenge if its challenging! Although for us your clean the bathroom challenge would have an impossibility! Onwards and upwards for 2021...I'm sure you'll be even more successful.

shangaijimmy

enthusiasticsaver said:

Glad you had a nice Christmas Suffolk and I think you have done very well over 2020 in spite of the situation.  I never make New Years resolutions although I do set personal goals and financial goals which is I suppose similar to the challenges you set yourself too. I struggle getting my DH to eat veggie but I have been eating less meat over 2020.  

I only ever have 1 New Years Resolution which is to snooze more! I think we should all set this resolution 

greent

I think youdsid really well with your list - at least 9 successes, some others were almost/ partly met and others weren't achieved due to matters totally beyond anyone's control- don't knock your efforts and achievements!  - definitely not an epic fail!

Suffolk_lass

Aw thanks everyone. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, moderately prosperous and safe 2021!

Jimmy, you might just have something there!

rtandon27

Happy New Year SL!

Suffolk_lass

Don't you just hate it when your post disappears?!

Suffolk_lass

Long post warning!!

Sorry about the long post but here are my aims for 2021

Projects

1. Replace one of the outbuildings - it is on the deeds so a permanent building and like for like does not need planning consent. The existing one is uninsulated, a bit dark, with a cracked floor and rotten door frame. It is two rooms long and everything comes out of the single door making access a pain in the proverbial.

Our plan is to have three rooms and three doors, divided as a storage space for garden furniture, one for equipment and a third as my project space. Currently thinking a mono-pitch roof from 3m down to about 2.4m with some solar panels. I hope to have a small wood-burner in there and plan to redeploy kitchen cabinets and wall cupboards as storage, and have my Great Grandfather’s work bench as my work-table. I am hoping FB marketplace will supply double glazing, doors and maybe other building materials.

2. Finish the kitchen - lots more painting of doors and drawer fronts

3. Paint the ceiling in the shower that is threatening to flake - using paint we opened to paint the ceiling and walls in the kitchen - in best MSE style - why would we buy any more?

4. Also repaint the downstairs loo with the same paint - it resembles an outdoor lav at the moment, very tired and not a little grubby. Ugh!

5. Use the rest of the white eggshell I used in the kitchen to paint the pine window-sills downstairs to try and lift the light a little. It’s an old house and needs white really

6. Replace the upstairs hallway lights with ones that can accommodate LED bulbs

7. Paint the door step that was replaced when the new front door was done (we are not great at completer finishing!)

Money things

• Spend less on stuff we don’t need - I can sense a build-up of “stuff” by both of us but me in particular
• Keep our grocery budget the same for 2021 as it has been the last two years so £3000 divided into £200 per month, £400 for store cupboard (brands when on offer) [note to self, not Colgate though - got far too much!] - and £400 for December to allow for premium products, meat and treats
• Save £7,500 2 regular savers from my occupational pension and the rest from bits and pieces (odds and sods, to quote @BusyMee) and Tilly Tidies, sale of stuff (if we can get our rears in gear).
• Withdraw £15k from DH’s DC pension to fund the out-building and other bits and pieces - this is part of our planned draw-down to fund our lives between stopping work and getting our state pensions

Lifestyle and Life

• Allocate an hour a day to chores which could be vacuum and dust, tidy up, clean, garden maintenance - each, every weekday!
• I am aiming to do the 8-week low blood sugar diet from scratch and then maintain it (I am approx 2.5 stones less than I started but four years on, around 6-10lbs comes and goes and it and some more needs to go). DH will eat more carbs than me but if he cuts out snacks he will lose weight too
• Improve our fitness by way of walking, cycling, swimming and maybe a class to improve core strength - we have not swum all year but we used to and it is good for us, and a new pool is being constructed. We already walk but need to do more, and we have our e-bikes so more use of these is planned
• Improve our posture by Pilates or Yoga
• Continue to grow most of our fruit and veg, have our eggs and milk delivered, and make shopping a less frequent thing, as we have done in lockdowns, now only once a fortnight. The market for F&V might be a regular thing for us

Holidays and trips

We hope to go walking in Scotland just after Easter

Have 3-4 bike (motorbike) things for DH - one with me and the van in support, and DH going to Belgium in early summer assuming a degree of normality resumes.

Our friend whose villa we use has confirmed we can go back, probably late summer

We would like to plan a really big trip, late this year for travel over 22-23

enthusiasticsaver

Sounds like a busy year planned SL.  I have just filled out my year planner for 2021 but how many of our holidays will go ahead I am not sure.  We have a big holiday overseas planned for September (month in Canada delayed from 2020) so not sure if that will  go ahead.  Others are UK based. 

Hopefully at least all your house projects will go ahead even if the travel plans don't come off.