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

LavenderBee wrote: »

NSD 5/19 for me.


For those looking to cut out caffeine, unless you're doing it as part of a wider programme where you have to go cold turkey, and you're happy to have decaf rather than cut out all coffee; I recommend going 'half caff' first, and swapping out half caff for decaf gradually. That way you can lessen the headaches (I've tried cold turkey a few times but couldn't work with the headaches so would end up giving in!). Sainsbury's make a half-caff ground coffee for caffetieres and coffee makers - or you could make your own by mixing two together of course.

Thanks. I will have a look for the half-caff coffee in Sainsburys and give it a go.

thriftylass wrote: »

Hallo,

been absent for a while again (usual weekend absence and a bit of overwhelmed-ness). Just can't do it all, work, house, kids, craft, garden, finance, checking in on here etc etc. while still having huge to do lists that don't shrink or get transferred day after day. Someone called it a amorphous mess of undoablility. Well, yesterday me and my colleague went to this course (organised from work) to help with project management/time management/procrastination etc . Was meant for work but helped me refocus in my personal life. Simple things: I've been writing my to do lists wrong. Rather than just achievable simple tasks I had whole projects on there like clean and tidy conservatory. No wonder it never got started and got pushed along as it is a big multi-task project. Anyway, rambling over but hopefully this course helps me manage better, be more organised, realistic and relaxed about my to do list and will enable me to stay on here. Not sure what my numbers are (haven't had time yet) but will look into it.

EDIT: numbers done and don't look to bad yet. On track with spending and SFDs.

Yes, don't mix your elephants in with your frogs. Elephants need to be broken down into bite size pieces and then schedule a piece in whenever you have time.

I wrote down an organising idea into my new notebook. It's basically
1 Write a master to do list (think this is the same as the 'brain dump' I did a fw weeks ago - write everything down then you don't have random to dos floating or buzzing round your head).

2 Prioritise the list
One woman advocated putting them all on post its and deviding them in four by how annoying they were and by length/ ease of doing. So then you tackle anything that's easy but saves lots of hassle, first. Anything time consuming that you can live with (little niggles) goes at the bottom. The others go in between.

The second advocate advised prioritising by one of several categories - easy to do, quick, most difficult first, one that's costing money or will make money, one that you have the time or energy to do - like this because you could use a different priority according to how you feel on a particular day. On a really bad day, when you're feeling worn out, tackling a couple of easy wins would make you feel you had done something with your day.

3 Pick a task. Put the list away until that task is done.

Can you tell I've been reading a lot of these things rcently. If I'm going to be under par most of the time, I need as many tools as possible to cut tasks down to size (or cut them out altogether) and get them done as effortlessly as possible.

Today I went to buy mum's jigsaws. Some had gone but found four that were suitable. Took me an hour and twenty minutes to visit 3 shops and had to sit down in between (did someone say the heat doesn't suit them?). Bought wash tablets for me and some dinosaur bits to cheer someone up - knew it was a spendy day and could not find the wash tablets in the shops I tried on Monday.

Had a taxi to crafts, only took 2 bags, all my suggestions were well recieved and will do a swap round in the next few weeks so that everyone gets a chance to do the things they have missed. Made a button picture with our blind member. Used a textured background and bright pink flowery paper for the butterfly, so she could feel the edges because of the contrast.

I have a box or two for others to do similar - one will be an owl one - but thought the blind girl would not have need of a box to put things in. She agreed but then I suggested that we could make her a savings box (at a later date) to save for the things her guide dog will need (collar, basket, toys etc) when s/he arrives (postponed until she has had all the operations she needs). She loved that idea.

We have also been asked to make some hug boxes. These are little decorated boxes with wording that says to hold them when you feel lonely (in need of a hug) and know that someone is thinking of you. I said we had some small box type things in our basket (think they were envelopes for cards with raised embellishments). Needed about 12, we had 13 (sticky strips are no longer sticky but I have double sided tape). Have left word that we only need the wording to go on the boxes, we have paper, ribbons and can make anything else we may need.

I have returned four library books and brought more back. All the videos I was interested in have gone so saved myself some money by waiting. Need to do homework for tomorrow's therapy appointment and find things to send to someone who is ill, to cheer her up.

Today I am grateful for finding good books easily, for enjoying crafts, for finding the things we need to complete mum's garden (think I will have them delivered), for lovely weather, for not feeling as dizzy as this morning, for the bin men coming.

LavenderBee wrote: »

Sorry puddleglum, I can't quote on my phone but I buy the water-decaffeinated teas and coffees as a general rule. With your chemistry hat on; are they better than the others? I don't know what they do to normal decaf but if a product can't say it's "gently decaffeinated using only water" I'm guessing it uses something else?!

Planning to spend £1 on hospital parking from personal budget today. Umming and ahhing about getting a small basket of shopping whilst out so I don't have to go at the weekend (and would give me another nsd to bank!)

I was a bit sceptical as I remember using a fairly harsh solvent to get the caffeine out of tea as it was easier to extract from that than coffee. This is something from the Internet which suggests that, yes they do use water to get the caffeine out into solution but then go on to dissolve it in chloroform in order to separate it from the tea.

http://www.upb.pitt.edu/uploadedfiles/about/sponsored_programs/science_in_motion/chemistry_labs/chem023_caffeine%20extraction%20from%20tea(1).doc

It may be perfectly safe, I'm not saying that it isn't, but just prefer to drink things that don't have caffeine in them to start with. Or better still a nice cup of strong black coffee!

NSD: 7/19 NSD achieved today.
Motivation: To be more mindful regarding spending. This is going to be ongoing. So far doing ok with not doing emotional spending and not spending without thinking.
Money: The budget for each category is done.
Me time: Just read 2 of my books, wordsearch and mindfulness colouring.
Move: Walked from bus stop to and from work today.
Activation: To get my spending down to a reasonable amount.
Arm yourself: Will have to stand strong in my quest against consumerism and acquiring more. Still doing this. Not being tempted by emails regarding discounts.
Donation to charity: Done for the month. Bag of items put aside for charity shop.
You.
Grateful for:
Very good night's sleep.
Windows opened this evening.
Lavender oil in burner this evening.

• 12 NSDs - 6/12
• Budgets - £250 food and £100 social - £89.74 food and £7.60 social
• Continue batch cooking for the little one (remembering to include a larger variety of meals) - 3 portions of veggie omelettes and 3 portions of veggie lasagna made. Rooted around the freezer and we're running low on soup and risotto so I'll make some more of that next weekend
• Make an extra £93 through surveys - £48.69 made to date
• Continue building the full and final fund - £47.93 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
• 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, lunch with work colleagues on 23rd (just remembered!)
• Read as much as possible - 1 book in progress, 2 books finished
• Finish my final OU essay for this module