NST January: Health, Wealth and a Life Well Lived

laurenh1

[BMummyLewis][/B] if you find any great lunch ideas do share. I take same things alllll the time.

furrybeastoz me too! Lots pf YS buys

applemuncher my kids

Got through my NSD on technicality. Put in a Sainsbury order for sun night (using a voucher) to drop off all the things were taking with us but money wont go out til then so I will class it then.

Went to Tesco and got LOADS for 9quid- 4 lots of 2x chicken breast, a pie, sasauges, a big casserole, loads of mash potatoes pre made (about 6 portions) 6 loafs of bread, fruit, milk (about 6 2 pinters) yoghurts , fruit loafs, hot cross buns, 2 lots of pastry and 2 drinking beakers for the kids. So pleased. Only have 80 left in my budget now :eek:
But I won't need to go again now til 15th and I get paid the week after. I also have 140 for c parcs which if were taking our own drinks snacks & food might even be over kill.

Walked home with it all, almost crying as it was sooo heavy but feeling pretty chuffed.

Dottydaisy

Please can I be included, just back from my visit for my grandson New Years Day birthday, had a lovely weekend. Now have to set budgets, resolutions and must do's for 2018. Will post tomorrow.

Nicky_Noo_Na

First NSD achieved yesterday!

Had to pay for the bus to work today as OH needed the car so bought a couple of bits in M&S sale too for my gift box. Took lunch and snacks to work today and over 8000 steps done.

sashanut

Hi all turtles :j

Did want to have done much more today on goals but somehow managed to rick my back this morning, just after shopping & before starting work at the CS. Have tablets which would help, but of course didn't have them on me...so did shift without, which wasn't very nice although I avoided the heavy lifting. Couldn't down tools as only 3 of us, then down to 2...but was very glad to get home. Still sore now but much better, but it makes me angry when I can't do what I'd planned :mad:

Janus So this is a time to look forwards - where do you want to be in 12 months from now? I would like to have the house much clearer. 5 years? House completely clear & clutter free, DD settled in her own home. 10 years? Spending half the year in Ireland, half here


No progress on clearing having been out all morning then out again in the pm to get a few more things - on a spend day!

Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. Have lapsed crochet in favour of knitting, will resurrect. Also, only currently do TV knitting (no need to concentrate). Will make time to do more complex things when not watching the box. Still just doing the TV knitting & tbh not much of that
ALSO, be active. Keep moving. I will make an effort to keep moving, tried to get family interest in a walk today but no go...will work on this. Was as active as I could be at CS but no other walking..


Non-negotiables:
-18 NSDs (if not, why not?) 1/18 today. Shopping today so still the same..
#
-your budgets are set by the start of the month and are fixed. Nearly - think I will say £250 for us & all animals, should not need near this amount so all saved will go to another project. Got the shopping today & tried to stick to the list. Failed but not spectacularly; got some bits off list that didn't really need & could have done without. But it did make me think & I will get better!

-£5 to foodbank / charity Will do this week. Tried to purchase something from charity, held up by website, will investigate.

-pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget Do not have debt but have a cc paid off in full each month, which gives vouchers I use at Christmas. Has been a v spendy month, will cut down as much as possible. Still a WIP

-meal plan Did well today, family wanted to go out to get food 'for buffet'. Persuaded them we had more than enough here, which proved to be the case. Eked out the last of the milk so no shopping needed..Didn't feel much like cooking but HM soup did us another lunch, plus left over pork pie for DH. Then made Ham turkey, leek pie (for DH) & pasty (for me), served with YS croquettes & BS chips, plus beans. Was nice & 1 pie 2 pasties left for another day,


Unabashed, unambiguous, unconditional, undaunted, undivided, unerring, unshakeable devotion to your goal(s). [more on this later]


Always plan your meals; always take a shopping list; always take your lunch to work and drink + snacks when out and about; avoid all coffee shops, vending machines, work canteens... Making shopping list for tomorrow now, don't work outside the home but do a bit of voluntary work. Deviated a bit from shopping list, but not much, took fruit to work & get free brews..Don't drink coffee & never go in coffee shops..will try & take snacks, drink when out & about..


Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read. Fully intend to do this as have plenty books from CS which I purchase & take back once read. Donated DHs shirt still in packet , tons of stuff coming through the doors all morning..

You are the key to reducing your debt, living modestly, keeping as fit and well as you can. So look after yourself - physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Determined to look after myself & pamper a little each week, have already had a face pack yesterday, need to do things for myself instead of being a in constant rush doing stuff for family.. Got weighed this morning, put on of course over Christmas etc. Started back on healthy eating, already feel better ignoring the heaps of temptation still left. Also have kept to my goal of taking some time in the garden most days, in the greenhouse atm due to the weather...getting it cleared albeit slowly, still had last years tomato plants at the beginning of the week :eek:




I want to re-introduce Bob's s t r e t c h challenge for January: how much extra can you earn / save off your food shop / move / remove. Plan to eBay lots of stuff, watch this space Nothing done yet


Would joining the 1% thread help you? Or the MFW for 2018? Or the pay off all your debts by xmas18? Does reading mrmoneymustache or frugalwoods inspire you? Have joined Frugalwoods challenge already & will be interested to see how it pans out. Have been on MMM & introduced his philosophy to DH, applied the principles so we are now MF - wish we had done it years ago, wasted so much time/money etc. in the past..

mothernerd

Having a slightly strange year so far. Left DS3 and Beloved to their own devices and decided to walk to mum's even though I was under par. Declined an opportunity to make extra money - a rather pathetic man followed me most of the way and when I confronted him he offered me £50 if I would let him touch my bosom. I told him where to go (had taken me a while to psych myself up) and as I marched away he offered £100 and made comments about various parts of my anatomy but gave over following me.

Good food to eat and lots of tv films (mostly children's - I think in 2016 Gangsta Granny and Esio Trot were the best things on). I even saw a bit of WSM but turned over to MASH - Alan Alda is more my type. When mum went to bed she told me to wake her at 7am if she was not awake. Between watching Taggart (forgot how long the old episodes could be) and worry about oversleeping I only had about 3 hours + some lying down trying to sleep.

Things went well at the hospital. our schools haven't gone back yet so roads were easy, found a convenient parking spot (we were dropped by the door first), were seen early. Mum's results are mostly good but there is one anomalous result which has been going up steadily for the past 3 years. The neurologist is going to write to a blood specialist to see if there is a simple cause for it, other than the ones he has checked (ruled out be other tests mum has had). He has increased one of her medications (we can only get it from the hospital) and I have said I will copy the speech therapists report and send it to him as neither of us likes the 'mashed food diet' recommendation.

The driver and her toddler waited with mum for her prescription, whilst I tried the M n S for bread and flowers for the cemetary and for a neighbour. Flowers were £6 a bunch for some that would have lost their petals if exposed to the wind and rain at the cemetery and the bread wasn't great (for mum's needs).

Decided to buy both from the little shops facing the cemetery. Mum was saying how I was going to get wet (I was the only one getting out of the car again) but the shops were closed so we sailed past and carried on to the garden centre. Mum was being treated to lunch (Christmas present). She had said I would be with her and offered to pay for me but was told it was okay.

Spent nearly an hour wandering round a large barn full of all manner of lovely things and did not buy any. Went to the cafe. I ended up paying for my own (mum will probably refund me) as I felt guilty about letting the girl pay for me (she's about to start divorce proceedings). All the food was lovely and plentiful, so a real treat. Suggested a small shop on the way home to buy bread and then was driven to my door.

Not at mum's now until Friday but have another longish shopping list (in addition to all the January and part of February birthday cards), papers to copy and a covering letter to send to mum's neurologist and need to fit a visit to the cemetery in this week or next (if I include the postponed crematorium trip so I can use one all day anybus ticket those two will take the best part of a day).

Needless to say I fell asleep when I got home so still have a mountain of things to do even if I ignore the washing up. I have done a rubbish purge, next is to bag up all the charity shop stuff I have identified and get things ready for crafts (card making and colouring for the first 2 - 3 weeks and then possibly making paper flowers).

Today I am grateful for mum's continued good health, for lovely food and an enjoyable day.

laurenh1

mothernerd I am sorry about that man, must have made you feel very uncomfortable. Xx

DancingDragons

NSD 2/18
I hope everyone making the most of YS bargains, is safe, and not too battered by Eleanor.
I think me and the rest of the street took down the tree yesterday, everything looks so bare. Reading MMM gave me a bit of an idea for possible extra income. To do it I’d need to work on Time-management, but it shouldn’t take long once in place. Will come back to this.

Mothernerd - sorry to hear about the man. Hope it didn't trouble you too much. Such things have a way of messing with your head for days after.

Fmess/Apple – Thank you for mentioning how stress in your work affecting you. I am considering returning to Full Time work and re-training as a teacher. I’ve volunteered, and see the workload and worried that it would tip the balance/quality of life at home. Most teachers I know are very creative, I know I would struggle with the whole “conforming to tick boxes” side. I don’t want to start down this path then drop out. I do have an appointment with a back to work guru later this month so we shall see. Too many options and I need to decide on a direction.
Based on the jury’s decision, I can keep the planned NSD. Apple, I had to take mum to the shop, so was making use of the used petrol to return the item in the same trip as I don’t normally go there. I bagged everything I needed on YS so double wins!
Unabashed devotion to your goal - question 1 : Rejected my first see-saw answer, but when I came back to it, it was still the same. So a life of juggling for me ;D

Today is supposed to be a NSD. I’m running mum about again, so I’ll be leaving my cards at home & packing lunches to take kids to see Turner Prize before it disappears at the weekend. DD1 has been asked to rediscover her bedroom floor, money doesn’t motivate her as she gets a bucket load from her dad side for Christmas and she makes it last all year. So I’ll be turning off the net if it doesn’t get done. Writing it here to make sure I stick to the threat

laurenh1

Dancing dragons I got caught in it a little bit. I got too much and then had to walk home and it was hammering it down, oops. I was very grumpy when I finally got in, but pretty chuffed once I had calmed down and looked at my buys

Janus- still looking forward, have my goals in sight and I am chipping away at them daily.
Activity- went YS shopping last night and will be doing so again tonight. This saves us a lot of money and although its a chew on, (as above, haha) it is my only hope to keeping to budget, I also walked down to get my excersize in.
Non Negotiable- today is NSD #3 , hoping to get to 6 by Mon. Meal plan done and budgets set.
savings- the same
general-
C parcs 140
groceries 80 :eek:
fuel 130

Unbashed devotion, walked down to Tesco and back in the rain :cool:
always plan- lunch is packed, of course, and tea is a 25p casserole kit I got from Tesco that is now in the slow cooker. which has loads of fresh veg in it and chicken and just needs some mash putting with it tonight
Reduce, reuse, repair- quick teas planned for tomorrow and another day this week to reduce what we eat and to keep costs down. picking out clothes this week I have forgotten about on a mission to reuse stuff and get my monies worth.
You- lots of excersize and healthy eating, not doing anything insane, just watching what I eat and trying to get moving.

Stretch- Need to be making the most of what we have it. Ox Xmas day I divided up a huge pack of uncooked cocktail sausages and froze 2 portions, used them last night for sausage casserole.

I hope everyone is having a positive week.

thriftylass

Hello, Happy New Year to you all.

Bit late to the party but could I please still join? First day back at work and got a plan. Will update goals etc later when I have a minute.

Spends already look quite big, but stocked up on groceries, this includes New Years eve drinks etc, kids needed winter boots (sale) and school clothes (sale). Hubby will be away for a week soon and I'm planning on 8 SFDs in a row.

dolly84

mothernerd - how awful.

I forgot to say I took £3 of coppers to the bank yesterday, paid them in and then transferred it to our holiday fund, the kids laughed at this but it all adds up.

Very windy here and supposed to rain so it will be a mainly indoor day for me and the kids.

Need to do a grocery shop tonight and am going to attempt a short run later in the day.