NST May 2018: May the odds be ever in your favour!

Very little done (finding the heat oppresive today) but happy with the things I have done.


Mindfulness - I am getting much more aware of picking things up and putting them in my mouth and then realising they have gone and I didn't even taste them. Hoping this will help me stop and think before I eat anything.


Spent today. Needed fizzy water (drinking gallons of water and as I am (mostly) doing cold turkey on the diet coke, fizzy is my alternative to tap water. I had written a short list but when I went out I had decided to get the minimum and put more effort into deep cleaning the kitchen, then go to Tessimos tomorrow (maybe on the way home from mum's when there might be ys bargains (proper bargains after 9pm).


Well the best laid plans of mice and men go oft aglae - spent over £25 but most of it is healthy. Want salad but want to clean the fridge out firat (people put things in the wrong places and I don't want my salad where someone else's raw bacon has been) so did a bit of a cheat and bought commercial dips (will add yoghurt and lemon juice to reduce the fat content) and lots of raw veg.


Really enjoyed one of the dips with chestnut mushrooms, broccoli and carrots. Have a sharp knife and plastic boxes to chop everything and put away safely (and stop the carrots going off). Plan to use the '1000 island' dressing for prawn coleslaw (bag of prawns in freezer), small cabbage and carrots bought today, ancient onions knocking around the kitchen.


I have just put up my wall poster. Took about 15 minutes and it doesn't look straight (but neither the doorframe nor the walls are. Did draw a line on the wall using the spirit level but it isn't easy holding up a 4' level and then mauling with a piece of paper roughly 8'6" long and 4' deep - one foot above your head. It has a slight upward slant from left to right but decided it is being positive - think about a tick.


Had to move some things near the door (nearer the door/ on the bit of landing between my room and the bathroom), large chest of drawers, small bedside drawers, everything under the drawers and bed that hadn't been scraped out yet (and some that has but subsequently went off the side or end of the bed) and demould the wall adjacent to the poster wall. Sweating buckets.


Not put anything back on top of the drawers, bed is heaped with even more stuff and for a while I could not get out of the room. Used to do this when I was younger - barricade myself in my room with all my stuff between me and the door. It is amazing how quickly you can tidy when you need the bathroom. Nowadays I am much slower and my need for the bathroom is much more frequent.


Hoping to do some of the kitchen when it cools down but also need to work on my room as atm I have nowhere to sleep. Swedish death cleaning anyone (as in tomorrow we may die).


Today I am grateful for lovely food from the freezer (Going to fill some 2l bottles with water and add a little lemon juice before freezing them, hoping they don't decide to buy stuff and fill the freezer before I get a chance to clean it properly), for lovely weather, for ice lollies (someone ate all my ice creams), for my lovely 'under the sea' poster, for getting stuff done, for finding lots of odd bits that were missing (as well as more buttons, sequins, pens, bits of paper etc etc), for lovely veg, for having a plan or two (one for clothes) and most of all for feeling peaceful and a bit more in control (much much more to organise but following the lovely blogger who said start with food, clothes and money - we all need to eat, have clothes to wear and pay our bills).


Re-did the poster - much better. Had a visit from DS2 who had been running a 10k in Mcr today.

Motivation: have short/ medium/ long term goals. OH's 0% CC will be closed this month as the statement showing it has been repaid has come through :T Have a bid on 1 item on flebaby (ending tomorrow) so that will go on my CC when paid and listed 3 more things on there today:)
Money: All DDs gone so all money left is ours... and there is basically none left now until the CB arrives
Move: Been pootling around but nothing 'proper'
Activation: What spurs you on? - Not feeling it so much this month - probably a combination of DS3's bug, work and hayfever. Have succumbed to too many takeaways this week - haven't slept properly as DS3 has been in our bed all week. Hoping to re-energise and re-focus over half term break ready for June
Arm yourself : no 'stuff' purchased (except ant powder) but OH did go out for drinks with a friend, we paid bridge toll to collect DD (and bought lunch) and today did food shopping
Appreciate what you have. Be grateful.
* DS3 being well enough to go to school tomorrow :T
* sunny weather - paddling pool out for smalls, water fights in the garden, BBQ for dinner (and lots of leftovers for the next couple of days)
*lots and lots of line dried washing (ironing mountain as a result)
* DD coming back from uni for the summer

Foodbank/ charity donation of £5. - monthly DD to WWT. 2 bags of items donated to shoebox appeal - new bag started Huge bag of stuff donated to CS (some new in packaging). Also donated some random foreign coins (ie: not euros or dollars) to school collection - they raise money from them. Also started a new CS bag.

Pay to your debt/savings FIRST and live off the rest. - done Few small extra payments made since. Also took remaining balance from OH's switching c/ac (unused for several months) and paid to CC (just over £65) OP to mtge of £220.

Plan the month: every single day: what you are doing, what you are eating, - sort of - have written in work days, day when collecting DD from uni, DS3's, my mum's, my sister's, my aunt's and bestie's husband's bdays... Am not going to plan food, though).

Check in every day. oops -am checking in sporadically....

NSDs - 5/19 - don't think we've managed another one since...

DS3 and my mum's bday tomorrow. Will be spendy, as I haven't been able to get last bit of my mum's present what with one thing and another the past week. Have used bags, tags and wrapping & tissue paper for her and DS3's gifts from stash (although the 1 gift bag used on DS3 will end up back in the stash box!:p) Also reused banners and have blown up some balloons which are around 6/7 years old....

Hi all


So behind with my posts. However I am still on budget if only by the skin of my teeth. I have £5.50 in my account. Pay day Friday though. Thank God. & more importantly I only have 2 more months (June / July) of full childcare. (It then goes down from 1200 to 850) & I can start over paying my car



Yesterday I went to m&s armed with vouchers and coupons & I managed to get a birthday present for 10 pounds & 4 bottles of large milk, a bag for life & a jar of tomato chutney for 97p.



Slowly but surely we are getting there with the garden lots of things bursting to life now & it looks as though we will have lots of yummy produce at some point.


Baby group this morning which I'm looking forward to it is completely free & the kids love it & get a decent sized snack.



The two week countdown begins to my holiday we have it all pretty much planned out. I have tried to think if everything I can to save money on the silly things. We are armed with porridge pots (kids fave breakfast anyway , water bottles , snacks, lights that flash & dress up outfits).


I think that's me caught up, I just need to make it to Friday now hoping nothing crops up .


Have s good day all

• 12 NSDs - 10/12
• Budgets - £250 food and £100 social - £185.95 food and £53.93 social
• Continue batch cooking for the little one (remembering to include a larger variety of meals) - 3 portions of veggie omelettes, 3 portions of veggie lasagna, 4 portions of butternut squash soup, 5 portions of vegetable curry, 4 portions of mac and cheese and 3 portions of garden vegetable risotto made. Cottage/shepherds pie and fish cakes next I think!
• Make an extra £93 through surveys - £63.26 made to date
• Continue building the full and final fund - £201.27 added to date
• I'm making up Christmas gift boxes for local disadvantaged children. So far I've done two teenage boys and started on a boy 9-12 months but still more to get for him so I'll continue with that - purchased a lift the flap book for £2.79
• Plans - safari park and dinner/new avengers movie. Will also allow for a visit to soft play and I need to take the little one swimming as we're holidaying in June and he's never been in a pool - safari park cancelled, soft play on the 12th with friend and her daughter turned into a free teddy bear picnic at the park, food and avengers on the 19th done and lunch with work colleagues on 23rd (just remembered!)
• Read as much as possible - 1 book in progress, 4 books finished
• Finish my final OU essay for this module - 6 weeks of reading to catch up with first, 2 weeks completed

Hi all :j

No check in yesterday as was unwell, day more or less a total write off but much brighter today..did read along though..


Motivation: what is your personal motivation for joining in with the turtles? My motivation is to cut down on the unnecessary spending and pay for some renovations to this property. In order to do this I think we need to be saving money by doing any jobs we can realistically (!) do ourselves. Used all Packmate bags to see how much stuff we can get in them (this is winter clothing/bedding etc). Got a good amount in them & freed up a load of heavy duty plastic boxes. Had bought a new hose yesterday fitted it to the tap & was able to water the garden as promised rain did not materialise. Need to order more bags..


Money: know your income and outgoings. All DD bills should have gone out by now and I am going to add up our income, that won't take very long.. so far have done now two grocery shops. Grocery bill so far £57.07. Spent yesterday but not today..


Me time: look after yourself. Get enough sleep; eat well; move; do things you enjoy. Sleep OK, awoke at 5am but then went back to sleep till 8.30..Enjoyed the garden & planted some seeds in greenhouse till it got too hot.. It will be interesting to see if the flowers come on now they've actually had a drink.

Move: being active benefits your body and your mind. You know that. Now do it. Was active in garden then in packing things up. Still to do some ironing & sort out a few things for CS tomorrow before I turn in. Onwards & upwards!

Activation: what spurs you on to keep on the path? Have not done much decluttering but have identified some items to sell to a fellow collector. Just need to find out how to price, which will be tricky as rare items & not available so need to research somehow. Got reply from friend re collectables; need to send her some photos & she has a source that she can consult. Sadly also told me she is very unwell with heart trouble. Photographed stuff to send to friend & actually sent them to her, so process started although I don't expect to hear for a little while. Took more photos, will post to try & get more sales. Lady received DVDs & says that she showed one film at the weekend, which she says will increase my DVD sales. All DVD sales sent off now - by chance I found a few US format ones from the first time we made them....PayPal balance looking very healthy & intend now to try to sell some other stuff over the BH weekend.

Arm yourself : you have chosen to follow a path that many mock and despise - that of ridding yourself of debt and financial constrictions in order to be free; free to choose what to do with your money and time, not enslaved to repaying or to other people. Glad we are not bothered about 'keeping up with the Joneses' - have done that a long time ago but really do not care any more. It's how some people validate themselves & that's fine, but not for me. We are now free from paid work commitments but spent many years getting there, wish it had been sooner. Desperate need of decluttering & getting rid of old lifestyle. Am going to do this so will post progress on here to keep me accountable. Progress in packing up 2 x jumbo bags & 2 x large bags to go into storage with OOS bedding & clothes. DH says he will cull his wardrobe too, no need for all those suits any more.


You. Are you happy in yourself? Know what brings you joy, what cheers your heart, what makes you pause and wonder. Don't just stop and smell the coffee in the morning; practise stopping and looking around throughout the day. Appreciate what you have. Be grateful. Gratitudes Antics of new kitten - he is really settling in now; gorgeous smells of flowers; DH taking all post to post office; easy supper...

NSDs now 11/19

Check ins: 19/31

Finally done charity donation through euro account. Ten euro to the doggies...of West Cork