NST March 2020 Merriment

ditty1234

I know I can't do al of the exercise of the week in one day but today I'm counting 19000 steps including a longish doggy walk and a 5 ish miles run walk along river running high. Strava added about an extra mile by zapping between gps points, looking at the route map it looks ridiculous and I always know when the app has done this as it means I have a unrealistically fast pace - I wish. Any ways so now filling in 6 different forms to get a few days work, yay for bureaucracy. 

dolly84

DS's room is all but finished and he and most of his stuff are back in.  I have one shelf to prime and paint this week then we will put that up so he can display his trophies.  Spent in Ikea but that was it today.  Washing has dried beautfully on the line and has all been put away, beds have been stripped and re made and one load is in the washing machine, meters have been read and numbers put onto energy company site, plan for the evening is to clean up the kitchen, do another wash load, make packed lunches, have a shower, collect DD from boyfriends then have a glass of wine. Phew.

f0xh0les

NSD 1 for me.  Stripped beds, remade beds, currently laundering bed sheets.  Soon I will be able to dry them outside, and I cannot wait!  Baked cakes for lunchboxes and after school snacks.  Made a huge vegetable and barley soup that should also do lunch tomorrow.   Packing in those vitamins.

Still no money in my account. It will come in at midnight. Then I will decide what I am up to this month and set some budgets.

My unread book pile is down to  one and a half stacks.

DH is on strike until Friday. his cough seems a little better today - hugs to all those coughing, a timely reminder to do your pelvic floor exercises - use it or lose it!    I feel great but keep having sneak coughing attacks from nowhere. They just jump out at me 3 or 4 times a day, like that chap with Inspector Clouseau. It just seems to be going on and on and on. Enough already!

I just need to check there is enough school uniform laundered to do tomorrow morning,  and then I can relax for the evening, but there is nothing at all on the telly, so I might just slip into another book instead.   Night night Turtles! Happy March.

BadBookkeeper

March forward - every day is a day closer to being debt free.
Armoury - Debts paid added a little extra.  £50 to Christmas savings.
Review - Switched supermarkets saved £15 this week and have more in the cupboards!
Check - checked stocks before did the shopping list
Have - all budgets in place, thought I was £2 short but DS school dinners account had some left over so topped up with less than I thought I needed to so should be neutral by end of month.  Slightly over budgeted on petrol as that’s were it usually goes wrong! 

Mix it up - changed supermarket 
Exercise - we are taking part in the ‘Go the Extra Mile’ for RNLI for March so this should be achieved daily.
Rest & Relaxation - DH and I realised how much we miss watching tv in bed.  We are going to try and do this.  Hoping to find some good box sets as evening tv is rubbish!!
Reduce - DS bedroom needs a massive declutter.  It’s so bad it never gets started!  So I split it into 31 tasks for both of us to tackle.  So by the of the month it will be de cluttered.  This will hopefully be done together so this and our daily mile should reduce all of our screen time.
Ignore - Will tidy up my friends list on fb
Music - isn’t really my thing but will listen to it rather than just have on if that makes sense.
Every day - will check in good or bad!
NSD - 1/15
Three gratitudes - DS having a good group of friends, dry day, ironing done ✅ 
Charity - daily mile but throughout the month will be giving time, I will donate to food bank when I’m in supermarket, also have a few fundraisers in school and will give blood again as soon as I get my registration through the post.

happy with a good start hoping to keep the momentum going!

greent

MARCH forward. The mistakes of the past should be left there. They were a lesson not a life sentence. - This is fab and something I am guilty of - am already trying not to dwell on some things

Pay to DEBT or SAVINGS first, live off what is left. - CCs paid in full. Savings accounts replenished by stos and ddr tomorrow

REVIEW your shopping habits. -Bad habits of buying unnecessary stuff (food) 

CHECK out what you have in your cupboards, fridge and freezer. Had run freezers right down then had massive YS meat haul in Feb. However, it will all get used within March/ April

HAVE all your budgets in place before the start of the month. Food, Travel, Bills, Entertainment, any one off bills or family birthdays. Remember a budget is telling your money where to go rather than wondering where it went. - love this last point. Budgets in place. I have a 'big' birthday this month. And there's Mothering Sunday towards the end. We have some household repairs needed (if we can get someone to do it!) and need to buy a new dw

EXERCISE According to your current state of health and abilities.- I am aiming for 4 sessions/ week

REST AND RELAXATION. Good sleep is priceless. Read, meditate, do yoga. Switch off for ten minutes, especiallly if your life is hectic. Sit and watch the clouds or the trees. - Sleep is up and down but overall ok. Need to read more. 

REDUCE Tread lightly upon the earth. Reduce spending, screen time, clutter, stress, whatever you most need. - am aiming for 2020 items to have gone in 2020 (not inc regular recycling, rubbish etc) WIll be clearing out more in March. Have listed some items on flebay today.

MUSIC Play happy songs. Dance. Sing - Standard behaviour in the greent house  

NO SPEND DAYS (NSDs) 1 today

THREE things each day to be grateful for. Spring flowers in the garden, the wonderful NHS, not being as rainy today as was predicted
THERE is always someone worse off than you so give - time/ money/ goods to your local food bank or charity of your choice. - Lots of things being donated to CS. Will donate to foodbank later in month. Am looking to buy new sports hoody for DS2 from the PTA secondhand 'shop' - funds go to school and an item is reused (and will re-donate his too-small one to them too) PTA fayre next weekend - IF we go I consider spends on stalls to be donations to school  

Day 1

apple_muncher

March has started like a damp squib here! At 9 am I sneezed a humungous sneeze that made me feel rather unwell and wanting a bath. So I bathed! And have vegetated on the sofa for most of the day (washing, washing up, lunch, tea, dd + hwk aside). Tomorrow has  to have more oomph as I have a post-op appt and work to get to...

Today I am grateful for snuggling down on the sofa, for utube and for having plenty of good foods in the house.

mothernerd

Found a £10 outside earlier when I went to the bins. Starting to have a good feeling about this month. Have put the £10 in my penny challenge tin and ticked off appropriate amounts.

Washed my coat this morning, hoping it will be dry by tonight. Very few clothes so looked in washer - 2 dresses put on the radiator (coat is over the walker). Washed sheets, towel and bathmats. Have a clothes load but may take it to mum's tomorrow and do them with the items I have there and dry them on mum's radiator.

Monthly challenge goals

March forward - I also have problems with past mistakes. I deliberately keep parts of my childhood locked away as those memories are too upsetting and debilitating, the grief spills out everywhere and leaves me feeling helpless.

Armoury - a very black sense of humour and reslience.

Review spending habits - multiple appointments made February topsy turvy. Did manage a couple of food deliveries but mostly did shopping on the hoof and struggled to get to the furthest shops. Will be using the community shop and trying to restock my freezer - it's an adventure because what they have varies from week to week so will just pick a few things to make some meals. Will cut back on fresh fruit and veg because I have been running short on time to cook (and then some of my stuff has been consumed when I get back to my house)

Stocks have been checked and have a few recipes in mind using stuff in the freezer.

Budgets £100 for food, £20 for travel (need two all day tickets this week), £20 for diy (need to buy a grate cover for the drain and sand and cement to put the bricks back in place (otherwise bathwater spills across the yard when emptying), provisionally £100 for contingencies (have wanted to buy edible hedging for a while and we are nearing the end of the planting season), wanted to buy some galvanised incinerators all last year and Wilco have them on sale (3 different sizes). My previous fruit trees were grown in old dustbins (the metal ones that wheelie bins replaced). I had to leave them behind when I moved house. have been thinking the incinerators could replace them, if I lined them with weed suppressant material - water could escape through the holes but the fabric would keep the soil in. Will think more about this (and garden wood paint) as offer price is really good. I may break them up into rewards for hitting my savings targets.

Mix it up. Need to try lots of new things and new ways of doing things.

Exercise - have been into town today, walked nearly to the end of the high street and only sat down twice

Rest and relaxation - lots of rest, reading and trying to not fret over 'things not done'.

Reduce - 6 pink things (stationery and two mugs for putting pens in) to be passed on to the two small girls having a room makeover.

Mental Health 1

Need to get back to having a loose plan for the week, think about tomorrow the evening before and a plan for the month. Priorities for today were washing my coat, cleaning my mask, finding some clothes to wear. Big task for the week is to complete two pieces of embroidery and frame them and do any other preparation for next Saturday ( Going to meet my grandpuppy for the first time     

(presents for puppy - bought, DS1's birthday card, 2 t-shirts that arrived for DS1 after our meet up, check bus times, think of anything I might want to check out in Manchester). It will also be International Women's Day next weekend (and Women's World Day of Prayer - focus on Zimbabwe this year I believe). Big effort this month on tidying and cleaning - need to have a rethink on the kitchen and if funds are looking good, call in Mr and Mrs Builder at some point to discuss ideas, work out costs and put some plans in place.

And finally

DS2 has just called. I found his OrangUtan badge, explained that grandma needed to see the district nurses twice a week and I had been staying over quite a lot (he has called to pick up parcels and post and leave me a birthday card but I've never been here). I mentioned my virus - he backed away rapidly. He has finally got a lodger starting from next month (rents a 3 bedroom flat which takes most of his wages). He must have been visiting his father this weekend.

Nearly 30 years ago DS3 and I were involved in an accident. I had PTSD and it took two years out of my life. When I finally got my compensation (very low award), I planned to keep it to oneside for me and the children post-divorce. However in the end I put the money towards paying off my husband's gambling debts (I was keeping myself, three children and a house on not much more than the child benefit). He has made a successful PPI claim on those debts and has sent me £500 out of the compensation.

This is going to be a very good month indeed. Going for that third target NOW - stretch target was this month, steady target was Easter.

Today I am grateful for getting my coat washed, making some progress and prioritising, money from out of the blue.

facethemusic

Sunday - not a NSD, but had a lovely day with DD so it's all good. 
Will have a proper think and post about the other parts of the challenge in the next day or two, tonight I need to go to bed. 
Grateful for- fun with DD, making "extra" for dinner so I have lunch to take to work tomorrow, dog being back to normal after vomiting yesterday. 

mothernerd

Less is more

Unless it's kindness or sleep

Or toilet paper

When life knocks you down, roll over and look at the stars

Mental Wellness Day 2

Create an emergency playlist for times when you need some love or comfort.

apple_muncher

Mothernerd - what lovely extra money!