Follow the Yellow Brick Road 2023

SandyShores

Thanks savingholmes, it felt good to overhaul the passwords and its reduced my feelings of anxiety whenever hacking hits the news.  Keeping on top of it is going to be an ongoing task - I can already see more passwords being flagged as compromised.  I'll be swapping them with more complex ones courtesy of the password manager. 

Work has been incredibly busy lately - but I'm finally turning a corner with it.  Lots more to do though and my exercise and healthy eating has been suffering slightly, so I'll be putting that right over the BH weekend.  I've also been doom scrollng too much, so my sleep hygiene needs repairing with some reading before bed.

I've been looking at making these self watering pots.  It involves drainage pipes, a liner and a tube - looks very effective.  I wish I'd made some before this long hot summer.

In other news I had a great haul at the chazzer yesterday - two dresses and a blouse which would have cost c£200.  Really pleased with my treasures

SandyShores

The end of the month seems to come towards us really quickly, and then the few days before payday go so slowly. 

Then the day or two before PB winners announced goes extra slowly

I've just signed up to a new podcast series which are around 20 mins long each, so perfect for a short walk.  The first one is dated 2015  and there seem to be about 3 a week, so plenty to keep me going - around 6 months according to my not very reliable calculations and of course new ones added every week so we'll see.  Enjoying them so far.

Password Updating:

191 Passwords containing 17 security issues (most are easily guessed or re-used but only one is for an important account and that has additional security measures so I'll change that when I have a calm moment as don't want to accidentally lose access.

I also checked the haveIbeenpwned website to find there were only three data breaches listed for my email address. I had already deleted one connected account and have now updated the other two with super strong passwords.  I'm finding it really helpful to have them all saved securely in one place.

savingholmes

I really need to resolve my passwords too. TBH when I switch between different devices I often end up having to reset anyway so not sure how big a deal it is for me.

SandyShores

Exactly @savingholmes, but if you are happy with yours I wouldn't worry too much.  I had some fairly simple ones I'd re-used and I felt a bit out of control with the many passwords I have.  Then I'd change one and forget what it was so was constantly resetting them with not particularly strong passwords.  There's no forgetting them now as the password manager suggests complex ones, and saves them across all my devices, or I can just log in and look it up. I've updated all of mine to complex passwords and haven't had an issue all week since.  Just got to do Mr Shores.

Payday came slightly early on Friday and the payday shuffle has been done.  Premium Bond results were nil again.  That's two months in a row, we've got to get lucky soon surely.  

Slowly working my way through my ToDo List and getting to more difficult ones now.  I need to push ahead though because there are some things on my list that are kind of on my bucket list.  I really want to get everything done for Spring so that I'm free to do those (and can stop making excuses).  This week I heard about two people who died soon after taking early retirement, it really brings home how transitory life is.  I also need to start to choose my news.

savingholmes

Definitely have to balance savings for tomorrow with enjoying the journey 

SandyShores

I've had a bit of a cold virus and have definitely been a bit low.  The house has felt cluttered and a bit messy, but I've not had much energy.  I did make a bit of progress organising my 'busting to the seams wardrobe' but that seemed to make even more clutter.  Especially when the spare room wardrobe rail fell down - twice.   Managed to order a spare part which arrived yesterday and I added some hot glue to press it firmly into place.  I also hot glued a couple of other things that were in need of attention, so progress has been made.

My wardrobe is feeling pretty tidy now, but the cupboard at the top of the stairs is now jam-packed with clutter to get rid of (at least its all in one place now).  The capsule wardrobe blogger I follow says there is an 80/20 rule - where 80% of your wardrobe should be staples you wear all the time and only 20% is more special occasion stuff.  Doesn't really work when you don't leave the house much

Also had a quick whizz through my Seven Goals - I need to refocus on that clutter, and sort the decorating.  Final push now.

savingholmes

Hi Sandy - I'm with you on the cold. I developed one a couple of weeks ago now and it is still lingering and affecting my breathing and therefore my sleep. 

Perhaps try the 50% declutter rule - which is literally let go of half of what you have to make things easier to manage... I've done that in the past - but need to review as I've bought stuff since and not let enough other stuff go.

SandyShores

Thanks savingholmes, my cold definitely lingered for a while and it made me feel quite low.  I'm getting my energy back now but have put a few pounds on - eating too much and not moving enough - so I need to get out exercising again.  New trainers now bought to encourage me out.

Last weekend I went out and bought a pot of paint and did one wall in the living room.  Its confirmed that I really like the colour - it will stay a 'feature wall' while we decide whether to get another decorator (the last one never turned up to even quote) to finish the job or do it ourselves.  Meanwhile the bathroom needs doing so that will go first on the list.

I went off to Morrisons yesterday to spend the final £60 of the three week challenge - so just a few more points and I'll have £25 in vouchers ready for xmas.  Almost £30 on Asda rewards too, and £13.50 on Boots. 

I managed to do a few jobs I'd been putting off today - descaled the coffee machine, defrosted the fridge-freezer and cleaned the car.   I'm going to do a bedroom reset later - its all built up again but if I can do 10 mins a day it will soon be sorted.