Happy Christmas Eve everyone.

DH is at work today and DS & DD are off to their dad's for a few hours so that gives me an opportunity to whizz through the house, get the ironing done, and prep as much of the next few days' worth of food as I can - red cabbage to get simmering, dauphinois potatoes to do, and a gammon to roast etc.

I'm fairly close to requesting another £5 from sb so hoping I can fit in that today as well, but won't stress about it if I can't - it will happen over the next day or so, I'm sure.

But first - off to the gym - I'm feeling in need of getting back into my routine. My broken hip is now repaired enough to make a real start - until now I have not had the confidence to do so (I broke it by over training, so it has messed with my head a bit as well as with my body) but I now feel too fluffy and squidgy for my liking, and so am taking control. I don't do new year's resolutions as I believe we can take control and make changes any day of the year - and today is that day for me. OK, so it will be offset by the mahoosive amount of food we have over the next couple of days, but hey ho - I am not prepared to wait any longer.....although I will be taking it very carefully and not being silly - I don't want to be back at square one, and I hope I have learned to listen to my body and accept that I am not 27 any more.....

Have a good one, whatever you do - happy festivities, quiet times, or whatever you plan on doing. xx

And that's it - been and gone. Back in the office today and trying to get back to some sort of "normal".....I hope everyone had a good Christmas. Ours was quite quiet, really. Still, I have spent too much, eaten too much, moved too little, and generally done all the things we usually do over Christmas, and now I want to regain some sort of control. I did go to the gym on Christmas eve, and have my gym bag packed and in the car ready to go after work today, so I'm on my way.


Financially, we always spend more at Christmas than we plan to - not so much on presents this year, but on food, much of which was unnecessary and, quite frankly by some, unappreciated, so I have learned that for next year. Still, we have plenty to see us through the next few days without needing to do any shopping, and I will be meal planning with a vengeance over the next day or so - using what I have to make lunches for the freezer and trying not to scoff all the yummy goodies stuff in one sitting....


I'm therefore working on NSD's from hereon.....


I requested £5 from SB on Christmas eve - as you'd expect I've not done much of that sort of thing over the last couple of days, so will get back onto that too.....half way to the next one, and also half way to one on Instagc too, so they should be doable by the weekend.


Happy "neither here nor there" time!

You're on your way again, betterthan and now that my nephew has faffed about with my phone, so am I

Interesting about the food - we don't generally meal plan at Christmas, wanting to be generous and have plenty, but maybe a *little* bit wouldn't be amiss?

Enjoy the gym!

I definitely need to learn foodwise too - I think I've got the main meal sorted, just a bit of turkey spare (which I wanted for sandwiches) and some veg, but that was dead cheap anyway. The problem is I always cater for loads of buffet food for the evening, and we literally just have a mince pie and a cup of tea. I have homemade coleslaw, a whole gammon, loads of salad, bags and bags of kettle chips, pretzels, tonnes of fizzy drinks, boxes of biscuits, crackers for cheese etc. Lots of it will keep and will be eaten up during January, but there are definitely lessons to be learned for next year

It's great that you managed to go to the gym right up until Christmas. Much easier to get back into it if the break wasn't so small.

I used to be a 5 times a week gym rat until May when I fractured my hip, so this really is a slow and sensible (ish) move back into it! DD's bf was in the gym on Christmas Day - even if my gym was open, I don't think I would be heading there!

Gyms are scary!! I just hate exercise...doesn't matter what it is, I just hate it! Used to love it when I was younger but that was some time ago impressed by those who can motivate themselves to do it though and I'm glad that you can manage it now...broken hip is deeply unpleasant

Good luck with theverything meal planning...I've done my first week based on the fresh stuff being used up first - thankfully I did incredibly well on quantities this year (which is an absolute first!!) so minimum amount to recycle

hope work is okay!!

Work's ok - quite quiet really.


And the weather is very good for the NSD mission - I certainly do not want to set foot outside if I don't need to, so no sales shopping temptation. I shall do a couple of surveys whilst eating my leftovers lunch.....and will start on that meal plan for the next few days! It will be jacket potatoes this evening - easy, filling and cheap!


I love exercise - or is it that I love the effects of it? Either way, I have missed it and am looking forward to getting back into it properly. I won't be able to run for a while, and certainly not the distances I would like, but hey ho.....

And we are almost at the end of the year.....I expect, like me, you have all been reviewing your goals, achievements and "could do betters" of 2017 and looking to see what you can do in 2018!

I've been trying to work some goals out but they need to be fairly fluid in order that they fit in with all the changes that are going to be happening next year, which cannot yet be fully quantifiable in terms of timescale (new house) and finances (new job and new mortgage). So, at this stage it is more of a rambling list.....here goes:

Finances
- Be careful with money for the first 3 months of 2018, aim for NSDs where possible, meal plan and use up storecupboard supplies (also helps with "organisation and decluttering" goals)
- Join the "Make £2018 in 2018" challenge on the "boost your income" board
- Re-visit matched betting (never got round to it before)
- Make more use of cashback and coupon sites
- Save and overpay where sensible, given changes in job/house (original plans to overpay as much as possible may need to be split between overpay and savings towards costs)
- Make more of survey sites and decide which are not worth keeping.
- Keep budgets adjusted as changes become known in income and outgoings.
- don't fret. Things are never going to be as bad as they used to be.

Health
- Keep up recovery from fracture. Exercise with caution, building up steadily.
- walk more at lunchtime again - good for physical health and headclearing
- make more of fitbit challenges
- Keep eating properly (this is relatively new for me, only since I met DH), enjoy food and mealtimes without going off the rails. Maintain my current healthy weight and outlook.

Organisation and decluttering
- clear out email inbox regularly - at least twice a week
- continue working through supplies of toiletries etc
- Clear out "tired" work clothes before starting amazing new job in amazing new clothes.
- be more ruthless.....no need to move anything to the new house that hasn't been used in the last year or so,
- make use of ebay/ziffit etc where appropriate
- keep financial diary up to date
- keep dates and tasks diary up to date
- deep clean once a month
- keep up to date with ironing (those who followed my diary in years gone by will know that this has been a big turnaround for me!!).
-get house and garden ready for sale and ultimate move

Living
- keep enjoying life
- Smile, giggle and laugh, love
- appreciate what I have and who I have
- visit one new place or do one new thing each month

That's about it for now - I am sure there will be more I think of but, of course, I'll just update on my diary as I go along!

Happy new year, and may 2018 be good for all of you in as many ways as are possible!

Lovely!

Especially the decluttering, weirdly - the more I do, the more the house becomes *mine*, instead of "what I have around me". And so, the better it feels to be here

All the very best to you and yours for 2018, betterthanever

Fell across your thread by accident & within a few posts realised who you are

Have read all the way through over the last week or so & you are as focussed, and ingenious, as ever. Good to see the lovely changes in your personal life have continued too

Now, will part of the decluttering include a certain tinned vegetable from the store cupboard

Had forgotten about that certain tin
Not sure how though

Hi Matymoo!! I shall confess that said tin was ceremoniously disposed of when DH moved in....end of an era and all that (plus, at that stage he didn't know the extent of my previous debt and I thought the tin would have scared him off!!!)

It is still spoken of fondly by me and Pania when we catch up.....it will always have a special place in my heart haha!!

In non-sprout news......

finances
- have had a nsd.

health
- went spinning for the first time since I broke my hip. Was very careful and very happy to have done the full class (with modification when needed)

organisation etc
- ironing is up to date
- Tupperware and casserole cupboard has been decluttered. All odd lids disposed of etc and order gained. This was escalated in priority as I had an avalanche and broke two serving dishes....only old odd ones but even so, I didn't mean to declutter in that manner!
-meal plan for next week has been done

How could you

I think that was a perfect time to get rid.........to me, it always stayed as a sign of desperate times & they were no more Besides, they must have been way past their sell by date

They were certainly "symbolic", that much is certain!

I have just read the whole of this thread!! You are amazing and have achieved so much in such a short space of time. It seems like swagbucks is one of your main sources of income - i joined in Nov and was fairly happy with cashing out £5 each week, but you are managing to do this every couple of days! I had no idea you could do the videos twice a day - just thought it was once! But my gosh those 40 second ads theyve introduced have slowed thing right down... it really has put me off at the moment. So ive just been trying to get as many surveys as possible to substitute the videos.
What is instagc??? Ive not of that one? infact ive just been through and installed so many apps, Shopmium, Shopalong, attapoll, Qmee & shoppix to name a few. Are they all worth it? If you had to name your top 5 apps which would you choose?
will be suscribing so i can follow your progress!

Hello MissV! The swagbucks videos are indeed frustrating, but they will hopefully diminish again soon and we can get a decent pocket of earning potential again! I persevere and am probably getting £10 -£15 a week from it at the moment. Instagc is similar to swagbucks - offers and surveys and videos but more surveys than just the gold and peanut labs - you do have to grit your teeth while you earn the first 500 points, but once you have done that, it unlocks a whole load of extra earning bits that help the points rack up much quicker - I almost gave up on it when I first started, but persevered, and in December I have withdrawn £25 from it without really doing too much - I certainly haven't used it to its full potential.

Qmee and Attapoll are on my list - along with shoppix and receipt hog, plus Prolific....with swagbucks and instagc, they make up the main ones for me really. I've also used jobspotter, if you happen to be out and about a fair bit.

Forgot to say, if you are on facebook, there is a really good group on there which I get loads of ideas from. It is called **uk swagbucks, instagc (and some other stuff)** or something along those lines and is brilliant - do join up!

Other people get good results from VYPR but it doesn't work on my phone, sadly. Worth a try if you do have it as people report good payouts for little effort.