NST May 2018: May the odds be ever in your favour!

crazy_cat_lady

Quick check in from me tonight as I have been playing with my new present. My mam has very kindly bought me a new tv :j It's huge and smart and clear and it took me 4 hours to put the stand together to rest it on, but it is amazing!

Chemistry exam was challenging. Not feeling too good about it but it's over and done with now.

mothernerd

Only had a couple of hours sleep, think I missed my 'window' for getting to sleep - was ready to drop off, then something disturbed me and then I was unable to get to sleep.

Had the brilliant idea of going for a walk at 6am as it was light but still cool and shady. I am out of condition - took me nearly twice as long as it should and then had to sit down twice. One of the local drunks sat down beside me and started a conversation. He's a drunk but also a gentleman - he usually wears a hat (a proper one not a beanie or a cap) and he always takes his hat off and greets me politely (does the full Walter Raleigh flourish sometimes). He also berates the other drunks if they are blocking the pathway and tells them to stand aside to 'let the lady pass'.

Had my bath, did some sorting (buttons again, amongst other things), took a taxi to therapy but walked back, had pulled hm chilli from the freezer yesterday. More work on the kitchen this afternoon, clean pots away, scrubbed the pans that had burnt on stuff, took down the Christmas tree (yes you read that right) and brought all the decorations upstairs (yet another thing that has to fit in my room somewhere). Swept most of the floor (still some stuff to move) and contemplated the diy bits I want to do in the kitchen (made a start in January and then got sick and ran ot of steam). Also considering what needs doing in the yard to return it to order.

Bought a few healthy food bits and went back out just before closing time to buy ibruprofen and antiseptic cream.

Today I am grateful for starting to feel better and rgain a bit of control over my life. Feeling good, peaceful and tiny tendrils of hope are emerging. Will soon be bouncing.

Debtfreewannabme

Helloo, checking in after a rough few weeks. Things are finally picking up. Things are on track with our finances. We are still debt free, emergency fund still on situ and this month marks the 1st month we are officially boosting the house fund. We have the fun task of finding time and energy to open a life time isa! Not looking forward to that. Really hope you are all well and that the month has been going to plan xx

sashanut

Hi all :j


Motivation: what is your personal motivation for joining in with the turtles? My motivation is to cut down on the unnecessary spending and pay for some renovations to this property. In order to do this I think we need to be saving money by doing any jobs we can realistically (!) do ourselves. I found the key to the padlock - yaay! What I should say is that I was not sleeping well, then suddenly thought where it *might* be. Cue for me to get up in the pitch dark & fiddle about in the bathroom till I found my painting trousers, sure enough the key was in the pocket...could have left it but knew I wouldn't sleep unless I had checked. And then, mobile rang at 4.50 am.. DD an emergency services worker on night shift...yes it was a mistake, received a text just after saying sorry....but I was awake again...Ah well it wasn't bad news but felt a bit tired today. Did an hour in the garden because I knew we were off out, more progress which is good.

Money: know your income and outgoings. All DD bills should have gone out by now and I am going to add up our income, that won't take very long.. so far have done now two grocery shops. Grocery bill so far £57.07. More grocery shopping yesterday, Lidl, CS, & then M&S so spendy day. Need to add up receipts. Big spendy day as bought a gift for DH birthday/Christmas which obvs is later in the year, but I will have it tomorrow. Then YS shopping in a couple of MnS all good, lots of nice foods very cheap., although very pricy to start with of course.

Me time: look after yourself. Get enough sleep; eat well; move; do things you enjoy. Sleep not great, eating - is Nandos classed as eating well?....thought not. Could be better. Enjoy being outside this morning so that's a bonus.

Move: being active benefits your body and your mind. You know that. Now do it. Got out into garden for an hour, then time spent walking round the shops - that's exercise right? Although did take the lift in Lakeland after having been up to the second floor, first floor, ground floor - only to discover the item I wanted was on the second floor of course.....




Activation: what spurs you on to keep on the path? Have not done much decluttering but have identified some items to sell to a fellow collector. Just need to find out how to price, which will be tricky as rare items & not available so need to research somehow. Got reply from friend re collectables; need to send her some photos & she has a source that she can consult. Sadly also told me she is very unwell with heart trouble. Photographed stuff to send to friend & actually sent them to her, so process started although I don't expect to hear for a little while. Took more photos, will post to try & get more sales. Lady received DVDs & says that she showed one film at the weekend, which she says will increase my DVD sales. Well she was true to her word, I got back tonight to an order for 4 DVDs to Germany - not sure I even have 4 of the right format etc left. DH currently downstairs fiddling with his equipment :eek: trying to copy/make more of them.... Good man.


Arm yourself : you have chosen to follow a path that many mock and despise - that of ridding yourself of debt and financial constrictions in order to be free; free to choose what to do with your money and time, not enslaved to repaying or to other people. Glad we are not bothered about 'keeping up with the Joneses' - have done that a long time ago but really do not care any more. It's how some people validate themselves & that's fine, but not for me. We are now free from paid work commitments but spent many years getting there, wish it had been sooner. Desperate need of decluttering & getting rid of old lifestyle. Am going to do this so will post progress on here to keep me accountable. Only progress on this today is that I bought some jumbo storage bags to get the bedding into, let's see if they work now.


You. Are you happy in yourself? Know what brings you joy, what cheers your heart, what makes you pause and wonder. Don't just stop and smell the coffee in the morning; practise stopping and looking around throughout the day. Appreciate what you have. Be grateful. Gratitudes For a nice day & meal out & fine but not hot weather, for getting some good food YS, for a DH who will try & do the technical stuff, as he is hopelessly impractical, for Betty's fondant fancies, for putting gorgeous vintage embroidered sheets on the bed - we rag all this kind of stuff at the CS -:eek:

NSD still 8/19

Check ins: 15/31

Finally done charity donation through euro account. Ten euro to the doggies...of West Cork

f0xh0les

NSD 9 achieved.

Today is.. (wait for it!.....) more wallpaper stripping. Same room, different wall, and hamster cage cleaning (whoop!!).

Was listening to car radio taking kids to school and Chris E was giving his usual trite nonsense ' inspirational thought of the day' stuff with some American bloke, when they said - make one room in your house beautiful - and I thought yes, that is what I am doingr. and then reminded myself I have only been living here for 24 months. only 2 years. When I think what I have actually achieved in that time I am impressed. I know lots of people who have been in their house for over 10 years and it is still a mess. I am getting somewhere (honest!)
Just need to keep the impetus up, and remember next week is the last week of school before half term ( 3 day weekend next weekend Turtles!!)

Not that it makes any difference to me.
I have just not really enjoyed May very much this year.
I am putting it down to woodchip poisoning

indigowarrior

Good Morning everyone,
Today is going to be an NSD. It helps I have no money to spend now until Monday. lol

LavenderBee

I'm still on NSD 10/19...


This week I went out for a planned lunch with work, ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and tap water whilst everyone else had drinks and main meals; bill comes "let's just split it evenly" everyone says. Great. I spent half my personal budget for the whole month on a bowl of chips and tap water. I have got a baby to save for...


Yesterday, 50p in a card for someone at work, it was all I had left.


Today, food shop, and the fuel light has just come on in my car. a) I've got no diesel budget left and b) I'm feeling too exhausted to go out for fuel after work, but don't want to spend 4 days in a row.


Budgets:
Groceries - 197.46/200 - will go over this
Personal - 11.50/23.45
Diesel - 30/30 - this will probably change later, money allocated to personal savings will have to be used
NSDs - 10/19


Picking up a bag of second hand baby clothes tomorrow, hoping there is sufficient newborn stuff in there as there isn't going to be anything leftover from usual spends for any; and I got in trouble with midwife for being almost-at-term without suitable clothing.


Between circumstances conspiring against me and having awful back pains, Braxton hicks and painful baby movements - I am in a real grump!

f0xh0les

LavenderBee wrote: »

Picking up a bag of second hand baby clothes tomorrow, hoping there is sufficient newborn stuff in there as there isn't going to be anything leftover from usual spends for any; and I got in trouble with midwife for being almost-at-term without suitable clothing.

????????:eek:

She did what???? The cheeky mare!

The last time I looked, most major supermarkets had a baby section and were open every day. And new dads are so proud to go out and hunt their new baby an outfit that they chose for themselves, and basically apart from the odd baby snuggle there is !!!!!! all for them to do anyway (if you were planning to b/f) apart from make the tea.
You will be drowning in baby stuff, it appears from nowhere!
Or put out a call on freecycle - no need for it to cost you anything. Pass it on when you are done, they grow out of stuff in 4 weeks anyway.

DS2 who the midwive swore blind was only going to be 6lb odd made an appearance at 10lb 1 and went straight into 3-6 months clothes. He was practically an elephant. So when they get better at guessing at what size your baby is, then you go to them for fashion advice. - Sorry, after having to deal with midwives 4 times, I learnt to nod and smile.........

At nearly full term, in this heat, you should be lying in a paddling pool in the garden with people waving osterich feather fans over you and passing you mocktails whilst giving you a foot rub.

You are doing great. Growing humans is not for the faint hearted.
Go You!

Rotten about the bill splitting - make sure you email work to let them know the sex of the new arrival when they arrive - you might make the money back when you return their gifts. :rotfl:

thriftylass

LavenderBee wrote: »

This week I went out for a planned lunch with work, ordered the cheapest thing on the menu and tap water whilst everyone else had drinks and main meals; bill comes "let's just split it evenly" everyone says. Great. I spent half my personal budget for the whole month on a bowl of chips and tap water. I have got a baby to save for...

..... and I got in trouble with midwife for being almost-at-term without suitable clothing.

Firstly, you're lunch friends/colleagues should've maybe noticed and not put you under that pressure. Plus, I now just say, no, I pay for my own because.....Thank you very much. Done it with friends and work a like.

re: the clothes. I almost thought she meant you and thought what's the problem I never wore maternity clothes :rotfl:. But in regards to the baby clothes I agree with f0xh0les, you can't be sure what size it'll be. We just had one or two suits for taking the baby home. Just as well as both of ours were meant to be small too and were huge in the end. All you need is a pack of plain romper suits for a fiver from Tesco if you can't get second hand.

Kerry_Woman

NSD: 13/19 Was a NSD today.
Motivation: To be more mindful regarding spending. This is going to be ongoing. So far doing ok.
Money: The budget for each category is done.
Me time: Did wordsearch and mindfulness colouring. Lavender oil in the burner. Watched 2 episodes of Murder She Wrote. Had a relaxing bath.
Move: Walked from school to bus stop after work and around the school doing errands.
Activation: To get my spending down to a reasonable amount.
Arm yourself: Will have to stand strong in my quest against consumerism and acquiring more. Still doing this.
Donation to charity: Done for the month.
Grateful for:
It being Friday.
Dealing with quite a bit in work.
Having a chilled evening.