My 5 year plan

EssexHebridean

Once the debt thing is sorted or you reach the point where you want to relax things a little on the takeaway front, something we've done for a while is budget a specific amount £20 a month) in our case for a takeaway. So if we have chinese, or fish & Chips, it will cover it with some change, but that change could then be added to the following months money for a higher value meal like an Indian. Make sense? In theory at least it pegs us down to one a month - although last month's £20 is still sitting on the side and this months will shortly be joining it!

It's funny, once you spot a silly destructive habit it strikes you as the craziest thing in the world that you didn't realise about it sooner!

fatrab

Someone said to me a few years ago, if you have just 1 pint of beer every day it works out at a £100 per month! 30 days at £3.50 per pint. Scary!

We must have actually been spending around £125 most weekends, because I only took note one weekend randomly after a, shall we call it, "discussion" about our weight and spending. I think that was back in October/November.

I feel exactly the same JoJoC, I can see my oldest son (who's 22) having some of the traits I had, bad eating habits, take-aways and not thinking about debt or his financial future. I'm trying to get through to him but the damage has been done. I don't want the little one growing up and seeing the same bad habits.

I know we'll start having take away's or going for meals again eventually but I'm not struggling to stay on the straight and narrow at all so far. I'm enjoying eating real food again and I used to love cooking, I'm getting back to feeling that way again too.

Storm89

We've not had a takeaway since the beginning of January . We were given a voucher for Christmas for a local indian takeaway and that's when I realised what pigs we were if people were gifting us that haha. We had one last hurrah and then decided they were no more. Will be special occasions only now. Everyone seems so empowered and ready for February- I love it !

JoJoC

That's a scary figure Rab! Amazing how it all adds up.

It's a shame that your son struggles to see the benefits of good eating and money habits but sometimes people need to learn I'm their own or through learning their own lessons. It's not nice for you to see but he'll get there. Who knows? Maybe he'll see the progress you're making and be inspired like us?

It's funny that you say you're enjoying eating good food again and cooking, I feel much the same. I have cooked more from scratch in the last for weeks than i did over the last 6 months of 2017. Shameful! It's amazing the difference in my energy levels.

fatrab

JoJoC wrote: »

It's amazing the difference in my energy levels.

I thought I'd feel like that by now but I don't. Hopefully by the end of Feb if I can stay off the junk food and alcohol I'll feel the benefits.

I've always been quite active even though I'm a bit fat, it's never stopped me going out walking or doing the physical aspects of my job. I've always been quite well built, I'm 6ft and broad shouldered, but since I was railroaded into a supervisory role I do far less physical work now.

I used to do 100 sit ups and press ups every night. I'm actually quite ashamed of how fat I am now. I had joined a gym towards the end of last year and within a few weeks I could feel the old muscles coming back to life but I parked that to focus all available monies on debt repayment. There's nothing to stop me doing the sit ups and press ups though, so perhaps that's another goal for the coming months?

I'm driving home today, back to Glasgow. 170 mile trip and another chance to try to beat my previous miles per gallon. I'm averaging 2mpg more than usual at the moment but I hope to do better. 10% better economy would be £30-£40 saved per month, that's a lot of kebabs!! (kidding!)

Should be NSD number 2 today, but tomorrow will be a spend day. Lets see if I can get through the weekend alcohol and take-away free too.

I'm having a de-clutter this weekend, not that I have much clutter. Just need to streamline and make space for the baby's things. Anything of value will be eB@y'd and the rest will go to the council yard. I also want to finish flooring the loft this month, it only needs 3 more panels so that'll be £30 and if I can make that from anything I sell then its a bit of free home improvement!

It's Friday! Woohoo!

JoJoC

With the energy thing, it's not like I've just had a shot of adrenaline, i just feel that the better I eat, the better I feel about exercise and the more I exercise, the more get-up-and-go I have. More drive to get things done and more brain power to think about things. I'm not going to lie, it might be a mindset thing too...

Another thing that the husband and I have started doing is putting videos by The Body Coach on YouTube on the TV once the kids go to bed so it's only 20 minutes of HIIT and we're doing that most days at the moment. It definitely makes you feel like you've done something! I work better under guidance rather than just doing 100 sit ups on my own for example.

I find for weight loss, cardio is better to get things moving combined with a bit of muscle work like sit ups, press ups and plank for strengthening and toning. So i still do 15 minutes running on the treadmill to start off my workout (or 20 minutes of The Body Coach) to make sure the cardio does its job. You probably know all this, but thought I'd say so anyway.

Hope you manage a safe and fuel efficient trip back to Glasgow - it's blue skies here so hopefully it stays that way for your trip

Good luck in getting rid of your stuff - remember local Facebook selling groups and Gumtree can be just as effective, if not more effective than ebay so some things might do better on there?

fatrab

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind regarding facebook. I'm not really into selling on ebay either and I'm not sure I'm going to find much to sell tbh.

Just checked the traffic cameras and the weather looks ok but there's a lot of snow at one part of the A9. Will be setting off soon so hopefully be in Glasgow early afternoon.

Hopefully the lighter nights will give me the incentive to take advantage of my surroundings up here and I can get out for a beach run and do some training after work. The way I used to do my sit ups and press ups was I'd watch a TV show for an hour and every time the adverts came on I'd do 25 of each. It was simple!

fatrab

Morning!

Just had my weigh in for this week...
Starting weight just over a month ago was 17st 8lbs

Drumroll please ....................

Today's weight:

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16st 7lbs!!!!

[Deleted User]

Well done Rab :T

Enjoy Glasgow, hope the weather stays good xx

Storm89

That's brilliant well done you