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NST September 2023: Turtle Tightwaddery with a sprinkle of Alchemy
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Well done on the weight loss beanielou.
Seaweedx
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Whoop whoop beanie 🎉🎉🎉🎉. Well done!
NST March lion #8; NSD ; MFW9/3/23 Whoop Whoop!!!6 -
Excellent result beanie now I need to emulate you8
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Didn't move things forward much yesterday but I know why I'm overwhelmed. I have far too much to do and it's all elephants. I started trying to write a list and nearly filled it and most aren't actual tasks but a whole host of tasks (elephants). The heat didn't help. I was too hot before I put clothes on and overheated rapidly. Slothed on the bed and ate badly - just the things that were close to hand.
1 I need to prioritise by difficulty, time needed and how urgent tasks are
2 I have to let go of fantasy me. I had an idea about taking darling d-i-l's birthday presents and the anniversary gifts. That's 2 one hour bus rides and I'd like to do a short visit (rest before the return journey) but don't want to interrupt wfh and don't want to set off a panic manic cleaning effort (as someone currently living in a house that's one step above hoarder level, I have a very low bar - I'm ashamed to let my children see it, let alone anyone else). In my head I saw this happening early (I'm allowed on the buses for free after 9'30 am) and getting off the bus on the return journey close to Affleck's and also picking up the satsuma mist and visiting the Manchester Oxfam store. It's more expensive than normal Oxfam shops as it's geared towards the huge student population and is very 'vintage'.
For many years my 'best blazer' was a men's dinner jacket (I even once bought the full suit, intending to turn the trousers into a skirt). I think I had 3 - when one wore out I'd go and check out the current selection. The last was given to DS3's friend about 12 years ago - he'd asked to borrow it when meeting his gf's dad and I gave it to him later as it no longer fit me. Our Oxfam no longer has dinner jackets (the online site has 2 men's short black overcoats that I'm considering). So in my head I'm pottering round Manchester (a very small bit - Afflecks, b0dy sh0p and m'n's and a stretch to Oxfam on, I think Oldham St facing what was DS2's favourite skateboard shop).
2a It's a fantasy. I struggled with one bus each way last weekend (3 buses on my trip last week but didn't go outside the bus station on the link). 4 Journeys and a 'potter' is way beyond my capabilities. It's another bit of 'who I used to be' an dI need to let it go.
2b The 'grand clothes hunt' is a displacement activity so I don't have to think about my herd of elephants. I think I have 'enough' for now and need to think about my new/ s/h pieces and how they fit with what I already have (and which items are falling to pieces). I will still do the trawl of local cs (+ I have things to donate) so I have some idea where I might go to get certain items.
2c One of the elephants is troubling me - it's the thing I did last Friday (unsuccessfully) and I need to make another attempt at sorting it. It's about selling my grandmother's home and I'm still uneasy about the whole thing (and I feel trapped because I can't help my son, my brother and mum's lodger - at least one of them will be disappointed). And there's a further complication/ option on the table and my head's reeling and I just want it to go away. It won't (so I'm hiding under the bedclothes).
3 I'm struggling to do the basics (or my version of the basics, many housework tasks have been beyond me for several (many) years. I've altered the way I do things and dropped my standards (which were already 'just above dysentery level'). Now we're in the slow slide into winter and I need to establish systems that are going to work to get through the weeks when the cold/ cough/ sore throat/ run down (have stopped the multivitamins as they contained an ingredient I shouldn't have, the cod liver oil went a while ago) takes over. I have bookmarked this week's (and last week's) flylady thread and I do have the actual original flylady steps somewhere.
Okay I'm clearer in my head now. immediate priorities are:
rubbish and recycling,
floors (especially the kitchen),
donations to food bank, red cross and book cs
'5 minute tasks' (3 things before I leave a room, quick wipe every time I go in the bathroom, jot things down - shower curtain)
mask hygiene (monthly tasks, possibly need to contact Salford)
Visit Life Centre (in the library) for help/ clarification on rented house and next door
Grateful for options, a bit of clarity, recognising the need to treat myself gently and kindly.
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@grandmanerd, forgive me for randomly popping up but Elephant 2c has been around a while has it not?That’s probably why it is bothering you and because there is ‘no right answer’ (from what you are sharing here).This might sound very mechanical, but as it is a complex problem, would it be worth doing a brain dump of every possible factor or option onto Postits (or similar) and then scoring them?
This could be instinctive - if it really matters to *you* it goes at the top of the table furthest away from you, if it matters less to *you* it is closer to you (or vice versa).Or you make a matrix on a big sheet of paper of two axis’s (that’s not the right plural but I hope you get what I am trying to say!) with scores from low = unimportant to high = critical and low = easy, to high = needs phd and jcb!Sometimes just structuring a problem like this helps me to see what the solution is that I want, even if strictly speaking it’s a heart answer rather than a coldly logical one.Sending hugs xAs at 15.05.24:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 <gulp>, now £252,383, end date brought closer by 2 months
- OPs to mortgage = £6,480, Interest saved £2,415, to date
- LTV 51% @ccord, 51% Yopa
Fixed rate 2.17% ends October 2024
Read 22 books of target 52 in 2024 (as @ 2nd June)
Produce tracker: £36.46 of £300
Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your reality.6 -
KajiKita said:@grandmanerd, forgive me for randomly popping up but Elephant 2c has been around a while has it not?That’s probably why it is bothering you and because there is ‘no right answer’ (from what you are sharing here).This might sound very mechanical, but as it is a complex problem, would it be worth doing a brain dump of every possible factor or option onto Postits (or similar) and then scoring them?
This could be instinctive - if it really matters to *you* it goes at the top of the table furthest away from you, if it matters less to *you* it is closer to you (or vice versa).Or you make a matrix on a big sheet of paper of two axis’s (that’s not the right plural but I hope you get what I am trying to say!) with scores from low = unimportant to high = critical and low = easy, to high = needs phd and jcb!Sometimes just structuring a problem like this helps me to see what the solution is that I want, even if strictly speaking it’s a heart answer rather than a coldly logical one.Sending hugs x
Well round one of nibbling the elephants has been completed. 6 bags and sacks of mainly recycling have gone out to the bins (small amounts collected for the next round). I've been to the library, put biscuits in the food bank collection, spoke to the nice man about the house next door (I want the trees dealt with) and he's tracked down the people who are listed as the owners and found me a phone number. He couldn't help with evicting a tenant (I knew more than he did - only since last Friday) but suggested my best bet is to consult Citizen's Advice who have open surgery every morning and he's told me where they've moved to.
I then delivered 2 new items to the cs and then went in the £ emporium (they had wool in a variety of pink shades for pompoms - if I can't make pompoms my crafting days are well and truly over). Spent rather a lot in there. Got the wool, bought a meal deal (not thrilling but okay and much cheaper and less calories than the pudding and chips I was craving) and bought all the blackcurrant bushes and raspberry canes they had, reduced to £1 each and couldn't resist some packs of mixed seeds. Came home with lots of rest stops, DS3 vacated the couch so I stretched out (limped home and my ankle was really nagging when I got in), ate my meal deal, started a book that's been on the shelf for a while. Did another little trip to the bins and added scraps to a nearly full bin bag and brought some clothes in from the line.
Going to have a rest (must do my mask and hose) and will venture downstairs again when the sun is over the front of the house (it's a bit too hot out there atm).
Grateful for helpful advice, the prospect of easy crafting (also looked through the library notices and found a couple more I might be interested in - the hoarders one has gone), nibbling the elephants.5 -
Very effective elephant nibbling there @grandmanerd. 😊 I can see that you are circling up to them, blocking their avenues of escape and driving them down the path you want them to go on! 👏
Glad to hear you have a way forward about the house next door.KKAs at 15.05.24:
- When bought house £315,995 mortgage debt and end date at start = October 2039 <gulp>, now £252,383, end date brought closer by 2 months
- OPs to mortgage = £6,480, Interest saved £2,415, to date
- LTV 51% @ccord, 51% Yopa
Fixed rate 2.17% ends October 2024
Read 22 books of target 52 in 2024 (as @ 2nd June)
Produce tracker: £36.46 of £300
Watch your thoughts, they become your words. Watch your words, they become your actions. Watch your actions, they become your reality.6 -
Woke with a migraine at about 5, I did log in to an important meeting that was scheduled to be an hour... 2 hours of going in circles later I felt no clearer and felt decidedly unwell so logged off work. So today I have achieved precisely nothing! But that's okay, hopefully back to normal tomorrow.Save £3,000 emergency fund #79 - £2,073.28 as of 05/24
Pay off credit card by December 2024 - £392/£2,0007 -
Good progress @grandmanerdI am a Forum Ambassador and I support the Forum Team on Mortgage Free Wannabe & Local Money Saving Scotland & Disability Money Matters. If you need any help on those boards, do let me know.Please note that Ambassadors are not moderators. Any post you spot in breach of the Forum Rules should be reported via the report button , or by emailing forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com. All views are my own & not the official line of Money Saving Expert.
Lou~ Debt free Wanabe No 55 DF 03/14.**Credit card debt free 30/06/10~** MFW. Finally mortgage free O2/ 2021****
"A large income is the best recipe for happiness I ever heard of" Jane Austen in Mansfield Park.
***Fall down seven times,stand up eight*** ~~Japanese proverb. ***Keep plodding*** Out of debt, out of danger. ***Be the difference.***
One debt remaining. Home improvement loan.7 -
Good Evening 🌞
Congratulations beanielou 🥂 on the weight loss. 2.5 stone is amazing! What was your secret? My weight yo-yo's not helped by my bouts of comfort eating of course lol. I bought a loaf of bread in on... Sunday... and I have 4 slices left. If it's there I'll just graze on it. I am a nightmare. Ditto with crisps or sweets.
I really empathised with you grandmanerd about needing to let go things your old self can do. I don't have the same energy, lust for life and partying or waistline lol - yet I think I still should. The trouble is I haven't really found what I want to change into as I age non-gracefully! Answers on a postcard please.
Today I am grateful for:
1) A few cheeky malibus this evening!!!
2) My electric fan - yes you get a second day of thanks!!!
3) Supernatural - gotta love those Winchesters!
Today = NSD number 3
Enjoy the sunshine 🌞 folks x
DFD = August 2027 @ £250/month
Follow your heart & be true to yourself always
My life is full of abundance and prosperity
NST Feb: Food & Spends = £216.51 / £290.00 NSD = 1 /15
Be kind - Eat well - Exercise - Be mindful7
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