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So! We are back from our honeymoon (in New Zealand, the most amazing, beautiful place I've ever been - the mountains! the lakes! The lil birbs! the general environmental awareness!) and it's time to come back to real-life, back to work on Monday etc. This challenge will be focused on four main things (TLDR- Money, Adulting, Food, Self-improvement. Large preamble/explanation initially then with short goals at the end): 1. Moneeeeeeeey. We took a loan to go on the amazing adventure and we want to knock it over as quickly as possible. Minimum repayments are 140/ftn, whenever possible I want to bulk that up a bit to knock it over quickly. First though, I want to pay back my Dad - when we arrived on shore (after being cheated out of $600 at the money-changers at the airport) we found there was a $400 fee for extra insurance on the hire car- long story short my Dad transferred us $500 to get us on the road as quickly as possible and I want to pay him back ASAP. I've banked the $300 check from the wedding bond refund so planning to send that as soon as it clears, plus $50-100 from my next couple paychecks. Mr also traded all his September shifts with a workmate to go and have time on return to job hunt for something better, so at the moment we're a single-income household, meaning we have $500/ftn to cover all food and incidentals (paying Dad back, medications, pet needs, household thingys, gifts, unexpected costs etc) which sounds like a lot, and yet we historically go over all the time. To ensure that we don't go over I will write down all spendings in a little notebook and check in at the end of the day with a running total for the fourtnight, any 'spare' dosh will be used to either knock over a debt or on small loot items. TLDR GOALS: Track all spending. Pay back Dad $500. Minimum repayment or higher on loan. Fortnightly spending less than $500. 2. I'm an aduuuuuuuult! So I need to take care of myself and act like one. I need good sleep and hydration, to keep my toothy-pegs and to not live in squalor. While we were traveling I loved the hotel-feeling of a neat and tidy living space every time we arrived, so I need to make an effort to keep our house somewhat tidier so I can have that at home. Bonus if I can declutter any crap, as more than once we tossed around the idea of moving over there permanently (yes, it was that amazing) and I wouldn't want to move junk. TLDR GOALS: Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. Brush teeth daily. No electronics from 10pm. Chamomile tea in bed from 10.30 (concessions on game nights, but phone away). 3. Om-nom-nom-nom! While we were over there we hit the bottom of the savings (hello surprise $600 money-changing charge) and for the final few days we were surviving on cup-o-noodles and instant soup, with the occasional fast-food thrown in for variety) this was not good and I believe the cold I am currently suffering is partly due to the lack of nutrients in those 'meals'. I am also wanting to bring in some more meatless meals, as I saw just a tiny clip about how much of an environmental toll eating meat has, but I'm not keen to go fully vegetarian/vegan and Mr isn't keen to give up meat at all - meatless meal can be either dinner or lunch as breakfast for us rarely has meat. Due to the money goal above I will also be making a conscious effort not to spend money at work, but to instead bring my lunch/snacks from home, and drink only tea/instant coffee instead of drinks bought on campus. Budget goals mean we will also be reducing our eating out, likely to once/fortnight with the exception of this first fortnight as it is best-lady's birthday and we will eat out with her as well as visiting our favourite Mexican restaurant where we haven't been in ages. TLDR: Homemade lunches/no spending at work. Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week. Eat out 1x ftn (+1 variance). 4. Do better, be better. Self-improvement, and not in the wishy-washy-fru-fru way I saw in the bookshelf labled such at the library. I took a leave of absence from both my Masters in Business, and from my Mandarin while on honeymoon as I knew I wouldn't want to be studying when I was in a new country experiencing all the things, I don't want to lose the Mandarin skills I had gained, so I want to practice-the teacher said 1hr/day was required to really become proficient but I can't commit to that right off the bat - as such I'm committing to half of that- ie: 3.5hrs/week or half an hour a day. I will also check to see if there are any Summer session subjects either towards my Masters or the language, although neither will start within the timeframe of this challenge. Also in this focus is the fitness bit - I will do PT 1xweek, plus one class and at least one solo-sesh (gym 3xweek). TLDR GOALS: Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. TLDR- TLDR GOALS: ~Track all spending. ~Pay back Dad $500. ~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. ~Fortnightly spending less than $500, updated daily. ~Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. ~Brush teeth daily. ~No electronics from 10pm. ~Chamomile tea in bed from 10.30 (concessions on game nights, but no phone). ~Homemade lunches/no spending at work. ~Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week. ~Eat out 1x ftn (+1 variance). ~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. ~PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. Let's do dis!