Doing up the House (and me) while doing away with the Debt

supersaver1000

I was just thinking about my to do list, which has stalled a bit this week as life often gets in the way.  So I thought I would take a look back at my NYD list and see how I had fared:

Money:
Find 5 things to sell on eBay (and list them!) - Achieved this and more.  In fact one last item to post and one being listed for final time.  Most items left are going to CS and some are being put back in my wardrobe - ready for the next 'Capsule Wardrobe' review.  My new routine now is to ebay for about 3 weeks then send them to the CS.

Meal plan for the week each Saturday - Achieved - this is now part of my routine.  

Budget max £25 pw for any groceries - Not sure what this was about, but I am sticking to around £60 and would love to reduce it to less.  However, spend includes all loo rolls, kitchen towel, cat food etc.

Health:
Start running club again (and later parkrun) -  sadly the rest of life has taken first place to this but its still a goal
Aim to run, cycle or walk at least 10 mins daily at a good pace - see above
Cycle rather than take the car (if not a run club day) - Achieved mostly
Walk at lunchtime (and definitely if not cycled and run on same day) - need to step this up
Start weighted exercises, 2-3 times a week - this is definitely on my to do list as soon as get over this grotty cold, no excuses

Decluttering:
Complete 'clothing' declutter - first step definitely achieved
Read house purchase paperwork - haven't done this and need to store them somewhere accessible
Sort old papers out - this is ongoing, I definitely need to do this soon

Fabbing:  -  these are all ongoing, but are in the background of the above
Keep up moisturising etc. - purchased a self-tan facial moisturiser to use every other evening and have been keeping this up
Lose weight - been pretty steady over xmas just a few xmas pudding pounds.
Sort my wardrobe out

I feel pretty positive as I have achieved loads on my list, so my NYD list is much smaller now:

Start weights routine as soon as feel 100%
Join run club, lose weight, walk at lunchtimes.
Re-do capsule wardrobe review monthly and ebay/CS items.
Sort paperwork ready for move.
Keep fabbing
Review my 'goals' work and personal - regularly

And my current 'to do list', which I plan for completion by Sunday is:

• Start Job Applications
• Have another facemask (and combine with a soak in the tub regularly - very important and free!)
• Gather up books for another Ziffit parcel
• Create a moving checklist/schedule

 

in_need_of_direction

Definitely lots of progress there

supersaver1000

Thank you INOD.  And, guess what.  I have just checked my student loan account and its showing a credit which means I am all paid off.  Now I can call the student loan people and ask them to get a shifty on with cancelling my payments.  Woohoo!!!

supersaver1000

Couldn't resist a peek in the wardrobe earlier as I had a bit of spare time between paid stuff.  Turned into me trying on the trousers and skirts I altered - bit of a fashion show going on there  .  I'm just so pleased that I have a wardrobe full of stuff that I can wear now - no more wardrobe of doom for me!  I've about double the recommended number of items for a capsule wardrobe, but I think that will come with time when I've figured out what I will wear.  Tbh most of my jackets are on the small side, but I've two wearable ones, and I am planning to keep losing a few pounds, so would be nice to be able to wear them again (and they don't take up much room).  

One last item posted and one last item for sale on the bay of flea.  There's one bid on the one item left, so I've been super-organised and packaged it up all ready to post off when paid.  It says that in the last 90 days I've sold over £200 worth of stuff, so it has been worth it.  But I am ready for a rest from packing and posting for a bit - plus I have virtually run out of stuff anyway.  

It will soon be mothers day, so I need to have a look around town this weekend for some nice things suitable for posting - oh here we go to the the post office again lol.  I'm going to take DH for a look around this weekend as we need to buy something for the house and I may treat him as he has been very MSE lately, so it will be nice for him to see the benefit.

Right, better get on.  Looking forward to a productive weekend.

supersaver1000

Okay, part 1 of the shopping completed this morning.  I now need to get on with the Job App and when (and only when) I have done this I will treat myself with a visit to town and to the CS/s.  Hope that will give me the incentive to complete.  I've my top to pick up in M&S as well as to try and get some cat food for the fussy one.  Then tomorrow will be part 2 of the weekly shopping to complete plus looking at things for the new house.  Exciting.  Right, better get on (I think I said that yesterday!).  

supersaver1000

Made good headway with the job app, so off I went to town.  Sadly the M&S top is too small.  I thought I had ordered a 14, but it is a 12-14, and it feels more like a 12.  Oh well that will need to go back.  Had a real good visit to the CS - only went into one and ending up spending £20.  Bought two very large colourful scarves, two blouses (Monsoon and M&S) and a Coast cardi.  All look almost new and coupon-zero.  They are now on a light wash - hopefully they will all survive as the cardi was handwash only - but they have to be able to survive the machine in my house

supersaver1000

All the CS clothes survived the wash and I'm really pleased with them.  But.... the wardrobe is definitely getting a bit full now.  Time for another review in the next week or two.  Talked DH into clearing out his wardrobe too, so now have a pile for the CS and several items hanging up ready to be sold.  Will leave that until next week as I am keen to have a couple of weekends off traipsing to the PO.  Popped into the shops and have picked out some new appliances, hopefully they will be in stock when we need to order.  Then popped into a clothes shop and tried on a new jacket.  It was really nice but quite pricey so thought I would have a look on the web first, and found that the shop we were in will price match and reduce by 10% if you can find a better price - challenge on!

supersaver1000

Returned the top to M&S and exchanged it for the 14. Much better fit.  Have been wearing my 'new to me' clothes for work but we may have to start to work from home soon so will be back to more comfy clothes.  New clothes are still lovely though and I tend to wear a lot of my clothes for both work and personal stuff so its not like they will never be worn again.  It might be a good time to sort through the wardrobe and remove things that I can't wear for both.  I've already got a carrier bag of stuff for the CS and plan to take it in soon.  The CS where we live is generally staffed by older volunteers, so not sure what is going to happen in these coming weeks.  The new boots and coat I've had my eye on suddenly seem a lot less important now.  Found another job application to do, there seem to be quite a few around at the moment, but again, who knows what is going to happen now.  I think it must be time for another face mask and a soak soon, small pleasures to keep the spirits up I think.

supersaver1000

What a difference a couple of weeks makes.  I'm lucky that all family have made it 'home' and elderly relatives have people living close by to help out.  Very scary times though but we are trying to just get on with it whilst taking as many measures as possible.  We are working from home mostly but DH still has to go out but only in emergencies.  It was good to hear the news that mortgage offers are being extended by most lenders - hopefully our prospective lender will confirm that soon as our completion date/end of offer date is imminent - but we are just glad to be healthy and relatively safe.  Going to take the opportunity to get on with my to do list - no excuses now.  

supersaver1000

We are kind of getting used to social isolation now.  Have settled into some form of routine and we are managing food and shopping-wise.  Touch wood, there haven't been many arguments from being cooped up and we are all doing our exercise and giving each other some space.  In some ways its nice the we aren't all rushing out of the house in the morning then coming back exhausted at night, although we are all still working so that helps.  I'm doing the grocery challenge and that is focussing me on healthy but inexpensive meals and I'm saving for Xmas so have been making the most of every penny, every voucher etc. to keep on target.  I'm still way ahead for that which is great.  And I've decided to start boosting the Starter Emergency Fund.  We have a biggish pot saved for moving but my plan was to Ebay lots of the stuff we aren't taking with us to boost the emergency fund so that we start off in the new house with the full £1k.  Ebaying doesn't seem a good thing to do at the moment, but I know (hopefully) that the items are saleable, so in the meantime I've moved a couple of hundred from our savings into the emergency fund and will replace with ebay funds as soon as I can get selling again