What small DFW things will you do this week? W/c 27th March

MrsLWW

Hi everyone,

Happy Friday! I have a luxurious day off as I am picking my nephew up from school today, Sat and Sun are my days off this week and I took Monday off too as looking after my nephew also. Was so exhausted and fed up yesterday at work all I could think about was having a lovely vodka, diet irn bru with ice and a straw - but no vodka in the house. This left me with the dilemma of how to buy alcohol whilst still in uniform :undecided . Also DH had picked up nephew after work so called ahead to see if he had dinner arranged which he didn't. So ended up taking shirt off (all badges and lettering on the shirt) and going into shop with a vest top only for my vodka, running back out to the car with the bottle hidden as best I could, throwing my shirt back on as by this point I was freezing and doubling back for a chinese.

We've came in on budget this month - very happy as until recently we weren't. We've both been paid but as we jam jar all of the money won't be transferred into each of our accounts until tomorrow - DH infuriated by this lol.

DF efforts this week - have opened another 3 bank accounts with DH - much to his annoyance but he admits it's the best way, so we have the following accounts and spend categories:

1 My solo current account - IN: wages OUT: standing orders and mobile phone (although mobile phones going to be moved into santander 123 as didn't realise you got 3% for mobiles too!
2. DH solo current account - IN: wages OUTL standing orders, mobile phone (will move this this weekend) and his DD pocket money.

3. Joint Bills: Santander 123 (does exactly what is says on the tin) (cards remain locked away in the safe)
4a. MY Individual spend/fritter/fun money account
4b. DH Individual spend/fritter/fun money account
5. Joint grocery account (card locked in the safe until need to shop)
6. Joint fuel card (one for each card) this is new as used to be in the grocery account
7. Joint birthday/christmas (cards locked in safe) Again, this is new and was supposed to be in the grocery account but there was never anything at the end of the month and christmas came out of my credit union account
8. Socialising fund Also new, again was lumped in with the grocery account and never had money for socialising, just spent (over spent) from other accounts

9. Also have an account solely dedicated to funds ingoing and outgoing for a flat I own which I rent out.

Probably take a hit in the credit rating for a couple of months, but not needing credit for anything and mortgage not up till August, so should be fine by then.

Hoping I will now know EXACTLY where our money is going so I can take better control of it.

Also going to sit down with DH this weekend and plan proper lunches. There's really no excuse for me not to. Also DH (who doesn't like packed lunches) is just going to have to knuckle down with me and get it done.

Still haven't ate our the kitchen cupboards and freezer, but on Tuesday I sorted out the cupboards, so no reason for me not to take stock and get organised.

Getting very excited about new accounts, have one set of cards through and impatient for the rest to arrive!

Today, aiming for a NSD (wishful thinking as will have nephew lol), going to tidy up kitchen and clean bathrooms before going to get him.

Re the mental health discussion. :T I empathise, sympathise and congratulate you. I have suffered with major depressive disorder, anxiety and (unbeknownst until recently) bipolar type 2 most of my adult life. My rules are simple and I explain it to my patient's like this:

If you are overweight and unfit you do the following:

1. exercise
2. diet
3. look after yourself

Dealing with mental health disorders is no different:

1. Take the medication and stick to it - like dieting you will not see an immediate improvement, it takes time to adjust the chemical imbalance and yes, at times you will feel worse than better but stick with it.
2. Talk - friends, family who understand or peers who have gone through or are going through similar. If you can get counselling through your GP or are lucky enough to get it through work or can afford it yourself then get it! I personally went to 3/4 different counselling sessions before I felt much of an improvement, but when it started working, my outlook on everything changed.
3. Look after yourself - this includes celebrating the little things, such as getting out of bed, having a bath/shower, tidying the house if you manage.
Don't overload yourself with a long to do list - because not accomplishing it all makes you feel like a failure. By all means, make that list, but limit yourself to ticking off one thing on it a day, if you get more than one thing on, woohoo, if not, woohoo you got one thing done!

Mental health is the same as physical health, no one is going to do it for you BUT much like loosing weight and getting fit, it's difficult, but achievable.

Well done to you all, I just want to celebrate the fact that you are talking about it, taking AD's and persevering.

OK, that's me done :rotfl: , just wanted to egg on anyone feeling down/stressed/anxious - it does get better, you will find your way through it and everyday is a school day!

angelpye

Morning all,

Mrs LWW your post really resonated with me, thank you.

Feeling much more alive today and quite positive. I have however just been chilling out so making a list is necessary to get me into gear.

*Kitchen - didn't wash up last night although did manage recycling and to empty bin so will put the radio on and get cracking.
*Washing mountain
*YNAB and budget. End of month review to be done.
*Work

I have some clean clothes to put away and a few misc tidying but will see how the day goes.

Hope you all have a great day

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

Rock bottom and struggling so today's little list

Packed lunch for DH - Done
Check Bank - Done
Craft -
Continue purge on emails -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check: Lucky Phone, Ashleigh, Numberplatelotto, FPL -
Read - In progress

Have a great day all!

C x

foxgloves

Angelpye - It is difficult, I know. I know I probably sound very 'together', organised & sorted on here, but there was a year a while back when I found it extremely difficult to leave the house on my own due to anxiety. It is possible to work on improving symptoms, I found, by breaking small targets down into small steps & practising them over & over again. Overall, I used to ask myself 'What's the worst thing that can happen?' Then I made sure I always had whatever I needed with me to mitigate that worst case scenario if it happened. Of course it hardly ever did, because anxiety boils down to fear of fear itself. I am still a bit claustrophobic.....I need to sit where I can see the door, sit on the end of aisles in the cinema/theatre, etc, & am not good in huge queues of stationary traffic, but apart from that, I have got on top of my symptoms. I can tell when my anxiety is 'starting to get out of its box' though & I always treat myself very kindly then, (nutritious food, rest, keep occupied, trying not to overthink things, fresh air, etc) so as to make sure I keep it where I want it. I hated the year of full-blown anxiety when I was going through it, but it has taught me a lot about recognising symptoms of stress in myself & I am far better at managing it these days. I have also found it very helpful to keep my blood sugar levels as balanced as possible, as the 'wobbles' I feel when my blood sugar gets low is very similar to the start of a panic/anxiety attack. I always carry a little pack of oatcakes or some raisins or dried apricots in my handbag for this purpose. I wish I'd sussed this back when I was suffering big time from the anxiety. I often wouldn't have breakfast back then, & with what I know now, that would have made those feelings seem much worse.Thinking of you, anyway.
F x

foxgloves

Fairy of Purplesness - Hey! Get yourself onto Onepoll double-quick, lol! I was stuck at £39.95 same as you & I logged on this morning & found a whole lot of surveys waiting for me, so have cashed in for my £40.
F x

foxgloves

Morning everyone else!
Not much of a list as I'm going out early afternoon. For what it's worth, here it is:
*Cleaned whole house using minimal products & washable cloths.
*Checked baby veggie plants that are still in the conservatory because of cold greenhouse nights.
*Decided to make quick lunch before heading into city centre, rather than buy one. We are eating out tonight, but have chosen somewhere inexpensive that will also allow a bit of calorie control. Have taken £20 from our Leisure/Entertainment savings piggy to cover this. If the bill is a little higher, the excess will be met by our personal spends, so no hit on bank account.
*Vouchers ready in bag from Ipsos surveys as mr f is wanting to replace his knackered hair clippers & this seemed the best money saving option for doing it. Vouchers also in bag for a free JOhn Lewis coffee & cakeypoo if I do feel like squandering some calorie allowance.
*Did a few surveys, caught up with a longer survey project forum I'm on at the moment & cashed in my Onepoll points for £40.
*Saved a bit of hot water by not washing my hair. It looks ok, just needs the quickest touch of the straighteners to get rid of a weird kink & I shall feel good to go!
*Achieved my March weight-loss target of 5lbs off. Really noticeable how much longer food is lasting with us both dieting.
*Mr f got the main grocery shop in from Aldi first thing. £29 spend. A few things left to get from local market, butcher & a box of cat food from Wilko's or Waitrose depending what's on offer, so hoping we will be within our £50 budget for this week.
OK, must get a wriggle on as need to be leaving the house soon if we are to have any hope of a decent parking space (NOT money saving!)
Cheers,
F x

MrsLWW

Angel, sometimes you just need to allow yourself a day of chilling and doing nothing, when you are struggling to get started that day and everything feels like a mountain to climb, unless is ABSOLUTELY needs to be done that day, I sometimes just take a day to myself to do absolutely nothing. Because I have decided that this day is a day to myself and I have "booked" this time off I can sit and enjoy it, not feel guilty about it and genuinely relax and enjoy it - which does absolute wonders as I don't feel the weight/pressure on me because I have scheduled that day off. Often, the following day I feel a little more relaxed and charged up that getting tasks done is a breeze.

I also have a diary and a notepad - my new years resolution this year was to be more organised, but by sheer accident, I have discovered that writing things down actually lightens the load.

In my notepad - which I have with me at all times - including and especially at bed time (this is very important as those things you are repeating to yourself in bed as you want to remember them the next morning go into the notepad).
Next to every task/event I write how long in minutes I estimate the task will take.
On a non-chill day, I pick one simple short-timed task and go for it. It might not be the most important task of the day, but the satisfaction of crossing something out in my notepad usually bolsters me on to do another task.

We are all so guilty of overloading ourselves, but when we feel we have to climb 400 steps it's exhausting, but climbing 1-2 steps at a time without thinking about the rest of the steps that are waiting is a breeze.

Be kind to yourselves - I struggled with this, and still do, but sometimes you need to imagine someone you love in the same situation as you and ask yourself, how would you treat them?

Ziggy, hope you keep your chin up and celebrate the small wins, doing even half of your list would be amazing.

Foxglove well done on coming through it and keeping on top of it.

L Xx

allydowd

MSE-Style Cookathon

Lunch: Cheese omelette with side-serving of discounted asparagus. Mature cheese was bought on Arran last week for £1 a 300g truckle because it was out of date. Direct from the factory.

Cooked Lentil and Beef Stew for tomorrow night using left over beef from last week's roast and an unopened pouch of sweet chestnuts from Decemberfest.

Made chicken curry using sad-looking vegetables.

Made bolognese to go with the tonnes of linguine we've been hoarding.

Made Fake KFC for dinner tonight.

Still cooking...will add to the list.

determined_new_ms

ooooo good mental health, this is my wheelhouse I would say about being kind - try to tune into your internal dialogue. anglepye I know you have had a similar upbringing to me, which was less than nurturing shall we say? I have had to spend a lot of time tuning into this internal monologue that basically was me telling myself I wasn't good enough, I've let people down, if only I'd tried harder, what a useless piece of wotsit I am etc etc etc. Once I tuned into it I started to be able to reprogramme it. You know you call yourself a "stupid ****" every time I made a mistake, things didn't turn out how I planned, someone treated me poorly. Once I could hear it, when I heard myself I would challenge it, respond and say "no that's not true/fair/accurate"

I honestly now just go around saying nice things to myself "you worked hard/that was kind/you've done a good job/aw well things don't always turn out like you hope" etc etc I look in the mirror and think "you look good/nice/you've still got it!"

There's a trick to help us look at the positives as loads of studies show if we feel grateful we are happier. So each night think of a minimum of 3 things you are grateful for - they can't be the same every day, they must be different! But once you start opening your eyes to all the wonder in your life you start to feel better. Sometimes when I'm overwhelmed I'll literally "count my blessings" and it's pretty easy to real off 10-15 things that I am lucky to have in my life THAT DAY x

Ok guys "working from home" :rotfl:

Lottebear

Lottebear wrote: »

Hi Everyone.

I am planning a quiet week.

Taken lunch to work today - Soup and I have enough leftover for tomorrow, aiming to take lunch for the rest of the week.

I need to have a spring clean as the clocks changing have highlighted loads of cob webs and dust :-)

I have set up auto transfer for Childcare and Auto payment against CC.

- DD is ill so I has been a quiet day although I managed to go out for shopping and medication.

- Check budget for the month and all payments are due to go out and payment against CC

- Read Gas and Electric meters to ensure accurate billing.