NST June 2026: Onwards and Upwards

beanielou

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82021997#Comment_82021997

So true. 🥲

grandmanerd

Rowan - so sorry for your loss.

I've had a busy few days. Just tidying up after the freezer/ fridge-freezer swap around. Lots of bags went to various bins. I put the shelf that DS3 had removed back under the stairs but further in - the support brackets go nearly to the end of the under stairs. All the paint cans that were in the kitchen and under the stairs are back under there - I didn't jot down what colours and how many of each which I may regret later but can't cope with any more lists which I can't find when I want them.

I've done washing up and a lot more 'rinsing' of recyclable items before they went in bins. I put the brown bin out or collection on Tuesday night. I ate their leftovers for 2 meals and the things I bought ffor the weekend have filled in the rest (small quantities of packaged ruit, a bunch of bananas and lots of sweet potato falafels).

Some days I had to hold onto the clothesline to get up and down the yard and I haven't been as far as the library yet. There have also been many deliveries including 2 huge boxes from approved foods for them. I've worked hard but taken frquent rest breaks and my body tells me when to stop. On Tuesday I stood up at around 4 pm to answer a knock on the door and my knees locked. My upper body swayed but then my knees started to co-operate.

Yesterday I think I fell asleep watching Taskmaster - only caught glimpses of 2 tasks. I moved a 3 drawer filing cabinet to a new place at the start of the stairs (direct swap with the FF which is where it used to be). Filled the shelf I'd put back under the stairs and have a couple of trays set up to hold more.

I've been scrubbing the floor mess (multiple passes) and keep working on getting litter out of the chinchilla cage without disturbing the chinchillas. It's not my job but the poor things are in a mess and I don't think it's helping my hay fever.

Vague plans for the month. I'm working on things that will help with hay fever and improving my mask hygiene. I need a lot more organisation and routine in my life and am tacking extra tasks on to the existing skeleton framew ork bearing in mind my morning routine can take up to 3 hours and I might go back to sleep at any stage after loo, water, pills, food. Tuesday I was awake at 4 am and decided to stay awake until I could take my pills. I ended up going through until 4 pm but that was definitely it.

I've been thinking about things I can do by myself to cover the non-availability of the mindfulness/ chair based activities and am going to use the labelling of activities under the routine/ necessary/ pleasurable headings (Pacing). You try each activity until the point where you have to stop, clasiy each according to the energy required (some could only be done on a green high energy day. on a red day you congratulate yourself on getting in the shower and managing to eat a sandwich). You also rate each activity according to how it makes you feel - from blah to whoop whoop (some things have to be done but they drain you). The baseline for any activity is halfway to your exhaustion point. On a hard day (low energy and/ or mood) you concentrate on the pleasurable activities that replenish you.

I am going to start a running task list. I looked round the other day and the whole house was jobs I'd started but not finished. A lot of things have a 5 minute limit (standing, bending down, washing up - one bowlful at a time and put the next lot in to soak, anything that makes me breathe heavily) so I need to keep going back to do the next stage (or a bit more) but there were things that I hadn't gone back to for 2 or 3 days (partly because moving furniture was blocking access to parts of the kitchen). I need a list of 'ongoing' things to see where I start the next morning or until the task is 'complete' (some jobs are a never ending cycle).

I'm jotting down a list of exercises I can do, concentrating on balance and circulation and will tether them to particular times/ places (I used to run up and down the stairs in the advert breaks from programmes I watched). I had one programme a day that was unmissable because when I was doing multiple jobs I needed an hour a day where I sat down.

I need to incorporate all existing task lists into a new one and subdivide it - first by urgency and importance (cannot go through the back door unless I have something clean and dry to wear v sometime never tasks) and I also need to filter them through Clutter Clarity's 5 'Ds' - discard anything thats been on there so long it's irrelevant, anything I can delegate to someone else etc.

Yesterday started with a couple of crises (enough to cause panic and alarm) - no money to pay my cleaner and an appointment that I couldn't ind written down, both down to lack of organisation/ follow through. I did resolve both within an hour (with a back up option n each case). I also spent some time (in between panic mode) debating the subtext of ordering toilet rolls. This was due to the high volume of deliveries (mine and theirs) and the pile of items to deal with (limited carrying capacity, weight of items, lack of a place to work in the garden).

I'm wondering if I'm actually a spendthrift but I won't let myself buy anything fun so bulk buy toilet rolls etc. I have to talk myself into buying clothes (until I can't get through 3 days unless I buy extra clothes) or fun (plants - half the ones I wanted have gone, they were on sale at the irst BH but I'm still not really ready for them due to rain/ oppressive heat. I have bought toilet rolls. I was due to buy toilet rolls but my favourite isn't available, nor my second favourite. I have some toilet rolls hidden in multiple place (DS3 takes them if he finds them, without telling me). So I've bought some 'make do' toilet rolls (have to be camping/ septic tank ones after several blocked drain situations) but will order the proper ones as soon as they are back in stock.

Enough rambling. I am grateful for food deliveries, books (still great although there are problems with reading and concentration), folic acid pills (rethinking the brain fog etc symptoms and hoping it might ust be down to B12 deiciency especially as further reading tells me the body struggles with production as we age and also one o my long-term medications depletes it)

Rowan9

@grandmanerd i like the idea of pacing. I think that’s such a good idea. Do pace yourself with all things maybe.

@beanie yes a fellow Scot! An East Coaster. What gave it away?

Today I am grateful for

An easy tea (seems to follow a pattern) from freezer of a chicken and veg stew I batch cook. Having it with loads more veg including more of the lovely potatoes

Kind supportive words

Lovely time with DD this morning which was so good for my soul.

Turtle values will continue. I can’t count NSDays at the moment as going out for coffee is so helpful this week. However I have been planning meals from the freezer so we are doing ok.
Take care all x

beanielou

@Rowan9. The bus pass at 60!

Rowan9

@beanie of course! It’s a very handy thing.

I have been out for coffee again today to get out and act normal. It’s all good for me. Also bought two books at charity shop, one about Russian history over past 200 years, and one about emigration from Ireland to US. Both are about their local culture. Something to get involved with and occupy my mind.
Did some food shopping, just a bit as we are sorted from last week’s shop.
DH has planned a day out for us tomorrow, on the train over to the west coast. Will be good.

Gratitudes today

Very kind girl in coffee shop, really made my day

Toast and pate and cheese for lunch which was easy and filling

Sunshine when rain was forecast. It helped my walk round the park early this morning

Take care all x

weenancyinAmerica

If you had only 5 pounds for personal spends this month, how would you spend it? That's all I usually have left after paying the bills, but I want to spend it on things for me this month - instead of for the cats. I can get four items at my local Dollar Store (where things are $1.25 now). It is similar to Poundland or stores like that. I thought about 1 Sudoku book, 2 100g balls of yarn, and a pack of crochet hooks - to help me keep busy this month while I'm waiting at doctor's offices. What would you look for?

grandmanerd

Making progress, one small step at a time. I've added a teaspoon of local honey to my morning routine (helps with the hayfever and the sore throat, pollen grains are scratchy). I washed my hair on Thursday, left it wrapped in the towel too long so very fluffy. Getting a haircut is in with the list of appointments. I'm using the hot water spray at the end of my shower for longer, easing my back, shoulders, neck etc. I used sun cream all over yesterday. I thought if I got into the habit, I won't need to think about it when I step out of the door.

I did more box opening and collapsing (some are just a box within a box). Top up toothpaste and antiseptic cream into the bathroom. Mra Builder came on Thursday, postponed from Wednesday. She landed at the airport at 5 am Saturday, waited an hour for baggage and was in work for 2.30 pm. She worked Sunday and Monday and covered a shift on Tuesday for a colleague who was ill. On Wednesday morning she woke up and her body revolted. She messaged me and went back to bed for the day. I've already told her that it's okay if she has to postpone or cancel. I know all about working multiple jobs and how some days it catches up with you. I didn't get sick leave in the first few years and I've worked with flu (help from colleagues and crawling into bed any time I wasn't actually working) and with a sprained arm in a sling.

Mrs Builder restored the kitchen and bathroom to order, moved a tent, garden parasol and other items under the stairs and cleared the remaining food. I asked where she'd found the shelf and she'd moved down the top one which was near to the ceiling and hadn't been in use since she put it up (I was planning to alter the spacing as part of this move round. She took multiple bags to the bins, I filled them. By late Wednesday the volume of parcels and deliveries had got to me - I even had 3 for the Centre across the road. DS£ and Beloved had many parcels including the approved food ones, several takeaway deliveries and one 'ingredients' delivery. My parcels included chinchilla hay (I bought treats last week), garden gauntlets (could only find one of the old ones and I have patches of nettles and blackberry thorns), drinks boxes in boxes (I was using my body to hold up the tower when I was opening them and they still tried to fall on me) and finally my plants.

I don't have the space I need to do the plants properly yet but I unpacked them all and put them in a bowl full of water to soak. On Thursday I was trying to get a sheet off the bed to add to the washing pile. I ended up wresttling with 3 sheets so gave up and added the bath mat to the wash. Mrs Builder hung that load out for me, I brought it in yesterday and I've added the sheet and yesterday's dress to the pile of cleaning rags in the washer. I had cleared the top of the bureau (the pile had the parcels for across the road) and found the note for the ground rent. Thursday I found my little change jar and rooted in my handbag for £1 coins, looked for the note again (I was sitting on it) and yesterday put it in an envelope and took it to No 10 (the designated house). My library books are all in a bag to go back. I have bags with a pair of trainers, some candles and some books to go to various charity drop off points.

I've done the weekly pill top up (all my pills for the week in a little clear plastic pouch) so more rubbish and small boxes for recycling. Sunday will be the weekly CPAP hose cleaning but may do it today and set up the new mask. I will also add the pollen filter to the machine (the main filter can be washed and reused the pollen filter is discarded but I couldn't find the tiny bag with the tiny filters when I did the changeover - the extra pots on the trolley for small items has solved this.

It was overcast or most of yesterday so I was hoping to get out and do weeding but my body had had enough. Today is dull with rain clouds looming but otherwise hopeul. Grateful for Taskmaster, for DS3 eating a pizza and 2 curries from the freezer and good solid chunks of sleep.

beanielou

@grandmanerd. Could maybe stretch to Mrs B twice a week?

Rowan9

@wee Nancy whatever helps you is a wise spend of the money. It’s a hard one.

gratifitufes today that’s not even a word but sums things up

Bus when train broke down.
Had to laugh as conductress said to train driver I smelt shi£e but now I think it’s something else. Couldn’t make it up. Had to hot foot it to a bus stop at back of beyond and then get another train. Stopped, changed stations but had a drink in between and now on train home.

So the 2nd gratitude is the restorative glass of wine between trains

Final one is beautiful scenery and a lovely ferry trip

Will enjoy getting into bed tonight. Probably cereal for tea when I get home in an hour

Take care all x

grandmanerd

beanie - I'm not sure she'd be available. I have thought about asking for an additional full day now and then to work on a specific task.