Fresh Start At Fox Towers.

Valli

re the discussions on mending.

Here in ValliTown we have Transition group, does lots of things which are ‘green’ and one of the things it does is run a monthly repair cafe where, for a donation if you are able to, they try to repair goods.  There are sewers, electrical people and people sharing their skills and tools to minimise waste going to landfill.  Worth a look if you’ve anything that needs fixing.  They were able to repair my hairdryer.  

There”s also a Timebank, where you swap skills for time and you can buy people’s skills with your banked hours. 

Take_a_hike_Elon_and_Jeff

Fingers crossed for you Mrs F I hope there is some positive news soon re the house move and reset 

foxandflowers

Hi everyone, 

Assume this will be my last post before Christmas, as it is my last day in work, and then I have a whole week off... I can't wait to not have to set my alarm for 6am.

Van-gate rumbles on in the background - we still don't have it back and annoyingly will have to be hiring a car over Christmas in order to get the house emptied into the storage unit & get the kids back and forth. I think it's about £200 for a week. 

We now ought to be moving in mid-January, and Mr Fox and I have sat down this morning to plan out 2025's family adventures - where we want to go camping, what educational fun places we can take the kids, places we want to go hiking etc. That was fun, and gave me something to look forward to, which honestly I think is so important, especially as we have both been v down in the dumps and the move being delayed has not helped. I'll be using a lot of the time off to finish up the packing so that we are down to bare bones, so in the week up to moving we can get rid of everything else, and on moving day we can just load everything left into rucksacks and walk the three streets over haha. Obviously the kettle and mugs and teabags won't be packed until last - those are essential. 

I get paid on Monday, so last minute Christmas shopping looms on the horizon. I don't like it at the best of times, but it's going to be absolutely heaving and I am dreading it. Mini Fox has asked for oil pastels and sketchbooks, and she desperately needs new clothes, so I will get a couple of tracksuits to wrap and put under the tree and a new game for her Switch.

It's my birthday Sunday, and I'm looking forward to putting this whole sorry year behind me. I am ready for 2025, and embracing the Fresh Start. 

I wish you and yours a peaceful festive period, and a prosperous new year. 

Lots of love, 

Fox.  

Kantankrus_Mare

Hope you have a lovely birthday on Sunday and enjoy your week off!  I dont post often on MSE but have been following your thread for a while with all its ups and downs. 

Merry Christmas to you and your family. Lets hope next year is a better one for you. Sounds like you could be getting a cleanish slate with the house move........just dont take your eye off the ball! So easy to end up back to square one!!

Mare
XX

Elisheba

Hope Christmas went well, Fox 😁

foxandflowers

I just was looking at the resolutions and organised stuff I tried to start last January, and I totally gave up on it two weeks in which is a real shame because I had some good ideas. 

2025 goals then.
- create a life I no longer want to escape from
- pay off all debt by 35th birthday
- save a healthy emergency fund
- do not borrow a penny more
- have at least one adventure a month
- read 100 books again
- 100 no spend days
- spend way less time on my phone
- 10,000 steps a day
- daily targets: get dressed properly, do skincare, clean teeth, journal.

I would love to hear what your goals are. 

Happy New Year fox friends.

stymied

Happy New Year Fox!

My New Year’s Resolution is to make at least one small improvement every day. I’m hoping that way I won’t get overwhelmed and can stick to it. Today will be getting some items listed on eBay that I’ve been meaning to do for a while and decluttering a few things x

Debsnewbudget

Happy New Year Fox
i hope the move goes ahead soon and you can finally reach the place you want to be.
good luck 

Cherryfudge

Happy New Year to you and yours, Fox! 

That's a lovely set of goals for the year. I like the fact there are a mixture of 'achievable now, for today' and long term things. In fact, I'd put the last item to the top of the list and do those things whether they are at the right time of day or not. It will give you an awareness of being in control.

Do you have a stack of books waiting to be read or are you going to borrow/buy more? I confess to far too many that I've started but not finished as I need to be able to concentrate, and I daren't aim for 100 as my focus won't cope (I have AHDH) but I think I am going to journal what I've read or am reading and hope the reflective element will help me make progress.

Do you have a plan for those longer term things? Even a step on the way to a plan makes them more likely to happen. So for instance the emergency fund could be a payment a day, or the less time on your phone could combine with the 10,000 steps - you will walk 100 steps every time you catch yourself scrolling (okay, maybe not in the middle of the night).

I have a similar sort of thing in my resolutions: I work fewer hours than I used to and sometimes that means I'm in the house alone and it gets too quiet. I need a certain amount of quiet but I've learned to 'listen for the silence', by which I mean when it gets too quiet and inertia sets in. So when I 'hear the silence', I'm making it my practice to get up and do a bit of housework or gardening or something else productive. I don't expect you get much silence but you might be able to find an alternative for your circumstances and chip away at your list.

Best of luck with it all - your cheerleaders are here to provide moral support!

foxandflowers

Strange news from Fox Towers... 
I have received a letter from Switzerland regarding my aunt passing away in November. They are requesting a copy of my mum's death certificate as it was not registered with the Swiss Embassy when she passed away in 2012. They are compiling a list of her legal heirs. I would assume this was because she didn't have a will? And I also assume nothing will come of it. But still, it threw me for a bit of a loop, because I've had other relatives die on mum's side, and never had anything like this happen. Although, they all had spouses or children. Hmm. 

Weighed myself yesterday and clocked in at +5lbs after December... Ergh. I am now 10st 10lbs, and ideally I want to be closer to 9st. I am not tall enough to be carrying an extra stone of weight around with me, and it can't be doing my already fragile knees much good. I brought lunch to work with me this morning. I am going to try really hard to be good about bringing food from home, and not going to B&M on my lunch break for noodles and sweets. Hopefully I can lose a stone this year, through being a bit more active and eating fewer carbs/mint crumbles.

Yesterday I also managed to walk 9200 steps (beach walk with Mini Fox - I am not going to beat myself up for being 800 steps short as honestly, it was 6000 steps more than I have been doing), do some cross-stitching, finish a book, finally tackle the laundry basket full of unpaired socks, and do my skincare. It was a rather nice start to the year. 

I don't know how many of you track what you read but I found a really cute app called Fable and you can track what you've watched and read. It's very cute, and if you want to follow me on there I am using the same username. 

Unfortunately I managed to pack my laptop charger and it is now in a box somewhere in the storage unit... so I haven't been able to do my 2024 financial wrap up yet. But that is coming! Hopefully! Soon!

Anyway, I've seen the term TwentyTwentyThrive doing the rounds, and I am embracing it. I hope this year sees all of you thriving.