5 months to emerge as a butterfly

Blackcats

I'm another who recommends get fit with Rick.  Sun addict mentioned him on her diary a while ago.  He is great fun and uses great music for his walks.  

Drawingaline

I may look up this get fit with Rick, sounds promising. I also want to start doing some yoga again. Need to get a new TV for hubby to use as a work monitor and then we can take the bigger one upstairs so I can run YouTube through it. 

benbenandme

I'm off to search Rick too

I've carried on being productive so far today, the bathroom is now cleaned, and the kitchen. I randomly sorted the bottom of my wardrobe and rather than pile stuff up I immediately took stuff to the tip - an old printer that barely works and costs a fortune in ink, a bin bag of general junk (bin is almost full and not being collected until Thursday), an old Soap and Glory box that one of their Christmas gift kits came in (one of those things that 'might be useful storage' but ultimately ended up just taking up space), and a bag of the hitters soundproofing stuff for his car. Apparently it was expensive, he used to go on about it a lot, not sure why it ended up in my wardrobe but its gone. I could have stuck it on marketplace but I wanted rid of it as it made me think about him and I don't want to do that. So now I'm feeling very virtuous for getting shot of it all, maybe I'll try and do a weekly trip and do a general clutter of different areas as the big planned clear out hasn't happened. I may even think about a skip for the summer, bite the bullet once and for all and clear all the junk from the garage. I have so much stuff that I moved from my flat that has just at out there for 5 years and may as well just go. Some of it could be sold - for example I have a set of drain rods that have been used once. My Dad bought them. Dad died 8 years ago. I wouldn't have a clue what to do with them even if I did need to use them ... Anyway, I digress ... when I got back from the tip I cleared stuff out the car, half a carrier bag full of receipts, disposable face masks etc. some random bits of clothing, and then put the shopping bags back in.

I've also gone through the banking stuff carefully and am very happy with it all. The plans for 2021 were to pay for the new boiler (£2856). My brother lent me £30k when I bought my house 5 years ago, I've saved up £20k of the repayments but used some of that for the boiler. I have now replaced that so my brothers fund is back at £20k and my own savings are at £5k. I basically forget these exist, they are for absolute emergency situations and hopefully won't ever get touched. 

Do you remember around Black Friday I signed up to a matched betting service? Its usually £25 a month but he deal was £120 for the year. Anyway, I paid for that from that months money (didn't go out much) since then (mid November) I have made £218.73 from offers on there I am keeping that money in another separate pot (one of my savings accounts has various pots in it - car insurance, xmas, etc). I'm not sure what that will go towards yet, maybe another cruise one day if things ever return to normal. I'm hoping to make roughly £100 a month, so by the end of 2022 hopefully it will be closer to £1500 in there.

I've also realised I haven't touched my Nectar points this year, normally I cash them in when they do their double up offer. They didn't run it this year so I have left them there, hoping they bring it back next year. Currently I have £85 in there Even if they don't bring it back it will hopefully be very useful on something else next year instead. 

Right, that's a bit of a mammoth post for now .. I much prefer this to Christmas, I don't go wild on New Years Eve but I like the new beginnings aspect of it. I'm sure I'll be back on here later this evening so will wait to wish you all a Happy New Year

pixiechick99

Happy New Year lovely😍
(I much prefer it to Christmas too!)

Four_Seasons

Thanx so much for all the inspiration, sorting, cleaning, walking etc., love your posts.  
Very best wishes for 2022 x

pennywisepoundstupid

Happy New Year benben xx

benbenandme

So I moved my money to its rightful places, and as I rounded the leftovers up I moved £150 into my savings to get that back to £5k which left £21. I decided I could fritter that tonight on some casino / slot games as a treat. I used £10 earlier then had my bath. Just went to use the rest, did 2 x 20p spins on a slot and won £55  So, combined with the £11 I hadn't used I now have £66 extra, probably to start off the new savings pot

Blackcats

Happy new year.  

Buffythedebtslayer

Happy New Year Benben XXXXXXX 

benbenandme

Happy New Year one and all !! 

This morning I had a bit of a lie-in, (8ish), then went down the beach. A nice long walk blew the cobwebs away, its incredibly mild out there today and the beach was busy with lots of New Years Day swimmers. 10 miles done and home for egg on toast and coffee. A nice hot shower and then I've been having a football and laptop kind afternoon  

Feeling nicely chilled, so far 2022 is doing okay