Life on a sticky wicket in 5XL underpants

fatrab · 27 March 2018 at 9:37PM

I forgot to ask, any news on the ppi yet? That's something I really need to look into.

LegBeforeWicket · 3 April 2018 at 10:15AM

Morning diary.

I'm feeling much happier today, in fact I've felt much happier since I got the last post off of my chest. Being able to unload my thoughts on here snapped me out of that period of rumination and that's great, but I agree with fatrab that at some point I should probably seek out someone completely neutral to talk to. Like I mentioned before, I'm not depressed but having an outlet will probably be a positive thing.

Anyway, I've been away for a few days visiting my girlfriend. We always have a lovely time together and it's always beneficial for my wallet and my weight. I don't mean that she pays for everything - I'd never let that happen -just that we can happily spend time together without any thought of spending. An extra to that is that she's never been one who snacks, so that rubs off on me when we're together.

What about the finances? Well, my ebay items have sold and I should be approximately £65 up in total once postage has been accounted for, I will update with exact figures once I know. I've also received the £125 for the bank switch. Lovely!
I'm now into the new food budget and plan, so my big current aim is to stick to that. Usually if I make extra money or have a saving somewhere I would deduct that from the next month's earnings target, but my aim with the food budget is to pay off any remaining towards a CC on the last day of the month instead. I know this is really a bit of a mind trick but I might appreciate it more if I see the fruits of my labour do something rather than it go 'unnoticed' by reducing an earnings target on a spreadsheet. Does that make sense?

What about my weight? Well, yesterday I stepped on the scale for what might be described as an offical weigh-in. I'm not going to embarrass myself by listing the weight, instead I will say that I'm 114.2lbs above creeping into the healthy BMI range. I know the failings of BMI but it's a good point to aim for, not least because I remember when I was just 4lbs over it and I looked, and felt, pretty good

I'll step on the scale each Monday.

LegBeforeWicket · 3 April 2018 at 10:17AM

fatrab wrote: »

I forgot to ask, any news on the ppi yet? That's something I really need to look into.

Sorry, I posted then instantly remembered that I didn't answer this. No, I haven't heard anything yet. Mind you, when I enquired as to whether I had PPI in the first place (I was sure I had, I just needed the account details) it took weeks and weeks for them to respond. I'll be sure to update the diary when I hear anything.

fatrab · 3 April 2018 at 1:10PM

LegBeforeWicket wrote: »

I'm now into the new food budget and plan, so my big current aim is to stick to that. Usually if I make extra money or have a saving somewhere I would deduct that from the next month's earnings target, but my aim with the food budget is to pay off any remaining towards a CC on the last day of the month instead. I know this is really a bit of a mind trick but I might appreciate it more if I see the fruits of my labour do something rather than it go 'unnoticed' by reducing an earnings target on a spreadsheet. Does that make sense?

Definitely. Juggling numbers doesn't give you anywhere near the satisfaction of making an additional payment. Sure, you can compare last month's spreadsheet to this months and see a difference, but actually physically making an extra payment will give you a boost. It does for me.

LegBeforeWicket wrote: »

What about my weight? Well, yesterday I stepped on the scale for what might be described as an offical weigh-in. I'm not going to embarrass myself by listing the weight, instead I will say that I'm 114.2lbs above creeping into the healthy BMI range. I know the failings of BMI but it's a good point to aim for, not least because I remember when I was just 4lbs over it and I looked, and felt, pretty good I'll step on the scale each Monday.

I'm not a fan of BMI either, it doesn't compensate for natural body size. When I get down to my target weight of 14st I'll still be classed as overweight (BMI 27). Looking forward to seeing your progress on this

LegBeforeWicket · 4 April 2018 at 5:00PM

Afternoon everyone,

What a strange day it's been weather wise. It seems to have have done almost everything the weather can do.

First of all, I've paid the minimum on CC5 today meaning that my new outstanding debt total is £8855.92 and I've already paid off 6.27% of my debt. What's nice is that it actually feels like I'm making progress. I know it's early days and I'm never, ever going to let myself think that I've got this thing beat, but I don't feel like spending and I don't feel like I'm in danger of adding to that debt.

Also, CC1 sent me a letter today saying that they are planning on increasing the limit on it by £1000. This is the card I'm going to save in case I need to do a BT in the future, plus it will be the one I plan to use when I'm debt free for credit history purposes (using it then paying off immediately). Should I decline this increase or let them do it for now, then reassess when I'm debt free?

Finally, today's been a fairly quiet MB day and apart from a bit of tiredness, I have felt reasonably well. This has got me thinking about the future and whether/how I should be adding to my skills so that I look/am more employable when I'm ready to get back to work. Further to that, I really need to start thinking about the longer term and having some sort of career. My primary aim is of course to get working again, but 40 will be here in no time at all and I also need to think longer term and what is the best route for my life. I just don't know what to think.

fatrab · 4 April 2018 at 5:23PM

When I was at school I wanted to be a hydrographic surveyor. I left school and did car mechanics for 2 years but the £29.50 on YTS wasn't enough so I went into a construction related support service career at 18 and I'm still doing it. I'm a manager now but this isn't where I wanted to be. And it isn't where I'm staying either.

Part of my "plan" is to semi retire by 50. I don't mean give up work and spend all day pruning the roses, I mean go and do something that I enjoy. Hopefully for a living wage! But somewhere I can walk to work, not have to drive or sit on a bus/train for hours. Something local. Something fun. Something rewarding.

I'll let you know if I ever find out exactly what that is!

Let them increase it. when the time comes to balance transfer you can decide if you're going to use it or not. If not, lower your credit limit to an acceptable level and tell them not to increase it again. You can opt out of future increases at any time.

My last card kept going up and up. I eventually dropped it to £3k (from £10k) then cancelled it altogether.

You've knocked nearly £600 off your debt in less than 3 weeks. You're doing just fine

LegBeforeWicket · 10 April 2018 at 12:01PM

Morning diary.

I hope everyone reading this had a lovely weekend. I didn't do too much except read and watch a little bit of sport, but it was a good weekend.

Thanks for the helpful and positive words Rab, I really appreciate it. I know I'm not going to have anything like the career I hoped to have when I went to university (I didn't complete my degree because of ill health) and I am absolutely fine with that. Being happy is of course important and we should all strive for that, but I know that I've lost a lot of time and I'll need to work as hard and as smart as I can if I'm going to have a future and a retirement. I also know that I can't expect to walk into any job, and certainly not expect anything other than to start at the bottom, and these are things I acknowledge. I'm just a little overwhelmed with which directions to look, that's all.

So what about debt news? Well, minimums have gone out and my debt is now down to £8728.72 which means I've now paid off 7.61% which I'm very happy about. My ebay sales made £68.21 and that's now been knocked off my earnings target, which is coming along reasonably well this month.

I've also decided to attack CC3 rather than CC2. CC3's 0% expiry date does end after CC2 but it's the smallest debt and it would feel positive (to me) to see one less debt and have one less direct debit to keep an eye on. I know it makes sense to pay in order of 0% expiry dates but I've contacted CC2 to double check the dates (there are three BT balances on there, all on 0%) and one of them expires much later than the other two, and with the same level of total payments made as planned before then it will still clear before their expiry. It just feels better that CC3 could be gone in August or September rather than sometime next year after CC2 has gone - it's another mind trick, I know.

Finally, my weight. I'm 2.4lbs down on the week. I know this is partly a water weight thing, but I'm still happy.

fatrab · 10 April 2018 at 2:41PM

Not be long til you hit 10% off the debt, that'll be a good milestone. And each 10% thereafter will be too!

As long as you have a plan in place for CC2 then the mental boost from clearing CC3 might not be a bad thing.

Have you had a look for any careers advice on line? There's aptitude tests that you could fill out that would throw up some career ideas. Like you say, there's no point being unhappy in what you do. Best find something you're suited to and enjoy doing.

Regarding the diet, I'm really struggling to shift any more weight. What are you changing in your lifestyle? I think my next move is to have a clear out of the cupboards, re-stock with some healthier options and try to get the portion sizes down a bit.

fatrab · 16 April 2018 at 10:05AM

Hi, just realised that we'd not heard form you in a few days so thought I'd pop by and see how things are going?

Hope all is well!

Cheers, Rab

LegBeforeWicket · 16 April 2018 at 11:28AM

Morning all!

Thankyou Rab for popping in and checking I'm ok. I'm fine but I've not been around much for a few days because of a neurological issue - absolutely nothing to worry about at all, but it made me not want to spend anything than the bare minimum in front of a screen. Thankfully I'm in reasonable health this morning.

About my weight and lifestyle. First of all, I'm down 2lbs this week and I'm very happy with that

As for what's changed...I think I mentioned before that I've lost weight once before; I have in fact lost a little twice, then put lots more on. The first time - almost 20 years ago - I followed a commercial plan (Slimming World) at home, using a relative's materials and it worked well, until I stopped caring and ate what I wanted whenever I wanted.
The second time was a couple of years ago when I lost about 25 lbs over a three month period. This was much easier for me because I'd read up on the basics of nutrition and learned about calculating how many calories I used a day/week and creating a deficit from there so that I lost at a steady, manageable rate. Yes I put it all back on, but only because I chose to be a careless glutton again. I logged everything I ate in MFP (which was weighed) and all of my exercise efforts (I had a fitbit but it isn't necessary at all). I tried to eat more protein because it helped to make me feel full for longer, had a decent amount of good fats because the body needs them and they taste good, and I still ate carbs, just not fizzy drinks and donuts all the time, just occasionally.

I created a calorie deficit every day I could, but still had a couple of indulgent days which was fine because the overall trend was a deficit. I could whatever I wanted, just not as much of it.

So what am I doing now? Well, I'm still creating a deficit, still logging my food, and still logging exercise; the numbers don't lie and you have to trust them. The difference now is that food affects me in various ways (migraines, IBS etc) and I'm tackling this too because I really have to. Therefore, I have a 7 day food plan which provides me with the number of calories I want and should have the least amount of negative impact on my health issues while remaining varied enough and tasty. Breakfast is porridge or a cereal, lunch varies but might be scrambled eggs on toast or lean meats with salad and cous cous etc, and dinner is usually fish or chicken with veg and potatoes or rice, but I also make bunless burgers on a saturday. I have snacks inbetween too. There will come a point where I'm bored and want to change it, by which time I hope my stomach can tolerate more foods.

What about my debts?

I'm having a decent month of earnings again - it really is a case of trying to keep the previous month's momentum going - and I'm at my target already. Therefore, I've made all my debt payments for the month and my debts are now as follows:

CC1 [STRIKE]£452.79[/STRIKE] £0
CC2 [STRIKE]£2256.41[/STRIKE] £2189.53
CC3 [STRIKE]£756.13[/STRIKE] £681.13
CC4 [STRIKE]£2034.18[/STRIKE] £2009.18
CC5 [STRIKE]£2040.91[/STRIKE] £2015.91
CC6 [STRIKE]£1908.29[/STRIKE] £1763.09

Total is now £8658.84 which means I've paid 8.35% so far. Hoping to have CC3 gone and closed by September, but we will see.

Life on a sticky wicket in 5XL underpants

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