Fresh Start At Fox Towers.

foxandflowers

Hello all.

Mr Fox's birthday was a success. He is very pleased. I am pleased he was pleased.

I have been in a strange headspace - I am due to do my 5k Muddy Run on Saturday and I have been quite lax about my training. I am also gaining weight, and this almost certainly diet related. I keep reaching for carbs, and I'm not supposed to be eating anything with gluten in. Have decided that as much as I love going into Lidl, I am better off doing an online food shop, and sticking to low carb low sugar menus. I'm tempted by keto, but I don't think I'd cope giving up oat milk in my coffees in the morning... according to some reading, keto what I should be eating for my body type (endomorph). I'm holding a lot of weight in my lower stomach and upper thighs.

Mr Fox is keen to eat healthier, but the cost of cooking separately for everyone is prohibitive, so he's agreed to go keto-light with me. I will be doing greek yogurt and berries or almond chia pudding or ham, egg and cheese cups for breakfast. Lunch will be picky deli stuff, cheese slices, meat slices, a boiled egg, celery with cream cheese or peanut butter, and keto blueberry muffin. Dinner is laid out as: chilli con carne bowl, salmon poke bowl, asian beef cabbage wraps, chicken feta and avocado salad, bacon and avocado frittatas with salad, steak with cabbage hash browns and mushrooms, pork belly and cauliflower cheese. I weighed this morning and am officially 11st. I need to get to 9.5 ideally, and I'm hoping changing the diet will change my energy levels. I also hope being stricter about the meal plans will help our budget, as I simply love eating fancy foods and trying new things. I'll allow myself two cheat nights a month - and I can imagine this will be spent eating coop butternut squash & sage ravioli.

Mr Fox and I have also been discussing setting financial challenges. We have agreed that any new-to-us clothes have to follow a 1-in-2-out rule & can only be purchased using funds made on Vinted, and also committed to no takeaways or alcohol purchases. It's nice to feel like he is getting on board too. 

Some returns to send off on lunch today, expecting around £45 back. Need to get sour cream, avocados and cheese for tonight's dinner. FIL is coming to stay Wednesday. My lawnmower is supposed to be arriving today - my one from the last house has stopped working entirely. I am very much enjoying gardening, and looking forward to this weekend when it will be nice and sunny and I can potter to my hearts content. 

Not much money-saving to update, but I am behaving myself. 

Love, Fox. 

Sarahwithlove

I'm pleased to read that Mr F is getting on board with the money saving challenges. It makes such a difference when you're both in the mindset. 

24ta

Hope all is well fox 

Chieveley

Hi Fox, we have normally had your end of month update by now. How is the new puppy?

Humdinger1

Yes, so looking forward to hearing your latest news @foxandflowers.  Please don't be shy! Onwards and upwards love Humdinger xx 

foxandflowers

Hi friends. 

Accidental radio silence for a month - oops. We've had a very hectic month. Puppy is settling in well, he is the most vocal dog I have ever had and barks at you if he wants anything which is very funny but also very annoying when you're trying to have a conversation. He is settling in well though, and I have loved taking him for walks. 

I completed the Pretty Muddy 5k (I walked most of it) and via doing that have accidentally on purpose joined a gym. I now go to classes once a week, and the gym girls have decided we are going to do another 5k run in October. I have plenty of time to train for this one - so I'm hoping I can actually run it. I've been a bit naughty and got some lovely things from the charity shop recently, but to make up for it I am listing things on Vinted every week, so more is leaving than coming in still, and it's paying for itself.

I've been rubbish at dieting, but continue to be good at using up food that we've bought. I made a batch of banana bread last night, and took it to work with me for lunch today. We are having bacon fried with cabbage and onions, roast potatoes and gravy tonight. If I have the energy I will whip up an apple crumble too. Yum. 

Mr Fox has had rather an adventure. He went to Liverpool for the parade at the end of May... and it ended up costing nearly £700 as he got stuck up there with the kids after the car drove into those poor people. Thankfully he and the boys were okay, but they needed last minute accommodation etc. Extra glad we had an emergency fund, but it has definitely taken a hammering. I think it really shocked him - the chaos of it all. They were in the rain all day, and in the end they didn't see the bus because so many flares etc were let off. He's definitely become more of a homebody since it happened - he said to me that he had never experienced homesickness before this. The upside is we have been enjoying lots of time together walking the puppy, or on the sofa playing Switch together, or working on little projects around the house....

Which leads me to the news everyone was dying to hear - THE SHED IS UP. We had a skip delivered today, and I've got Thursday and Friday off so we are going to do a huge push to empty the storage unit over the next 5 days. It's currently absolutely horrendous. Some of the cardboard boxes have split, and I've got piles and piles of things to list on Marketplace/Vinted. At this point I'm not even too bothered about making loads of money from it all, I just want the monthly money that's going on the unit back, and I want the space back.  Once the unit is dealt with and emergency fund is replenished, I'll get some gravel and we will make the end of the garden into a bin storage/parking for the van. I also need to buy and install a bigger kitchen sink.

I've negotiated our Water bill down to £39 a month from £56. We've also done a subscription audit, and got rid of a further £43 a month worth of subscriptions. There is probably a bit more I could trim from there, but I've got £76 of wiggle room a month currently, so I'll see how we go. 

Here's hoping for a busy, low spend month ahead. 

Love, 

Fox

kayannie

What a positive post! You are acknowledging where you have slipped up but have made inroads into saving on bills & subscriptions. 
Your puppy sounds lovely, are you going to let us have a photo of him?
The incident in Liverpool was horrendous & must have been awful for Mr Fox & the boys to have been involved in. 
Keep up the good work! 
KA x

weenancyinAmerica

I was 3000 miles away from home when 9/11/2001 happened here in the US. I spent a lot of time hugging the teddy bear I had bought the day before it happened. It really does make you want to stay home for a time. I was homesick too. Fortunately we had driven there (California to Iowa) and were able to drive home. Some of my friends were stuck there at the convention we had been attending for a week or so - it is really unnerving to be away from home when major events happen. So glad your family was safe and able to get home safely. It may take time to totally recover. I sometimes have flashbacks to watching what happened and have trouble sleeping - and it has been 24 years now.

foxandflowers

@kayannie Here he is

@weenancyinAmerica I am not surprised you still have flashbacks. Truly a tragedy. Luckily in Liverpool nobody died. 

kayannie

foxandflowers said:

@kayannie Here he is

@weenancyinAmerica I am not surprised you still have flashbacks. Truly a tragedy. Luckily in Liverpool nobody died. 

He is absolutely gorgeous! It looks as if you have a big beach for him to run around on. What have you called him? 
KA x