Yasha's back in Oz

[Yasha92]

 

 

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!

 

[Emerald Eagle]

Welcome back from your honeymoon, so glad you had a great time  

 

Looks like you've got some solid goals. Here's to hitting the ground running!

 

[Elastigirl]

Glad you had an awesome honeymoon (except for the money changers) Great challenge.

[jonfirestar]

Happy to hear you had such an amazing Honeymoon! And following

[Yasha92]

Welcome back from your honeymoon, so glad you had a great time [emoji4] 
 
Looks like you've got some solid goals. Here's to hitting the ground running!
 

Thank you! Here's to an excellent challenge!

Glad you had an awesome honeymoon (except for the money changers) Great challenge.

Thanks! It was most excellent good to be back on the forums, feels like I've been away much longer xp

Happy to hear you had such an amazing Honeymoon! And following [emoji4]

Welcome welcome!

It was amazing- Mr took most of the photos because I did most of the driving, but I got a couple to show the amazingly dramatic landscapes...



















its hard to see but this is a glacier

[Yasha92]

Okie dokie. First day back of the challenge and it was neither here nor there, a bit of both, but as I'm working on getting better from a cold I'm counting it as a good day
~Track all spending. *$95 spent- $15 on gift for best lady, $10 train tickets, $70 dinner out.
~Pay back Dad $500. *No update
~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. *Pay cleared so this (minimum) cleared.
~Fortnightly spending less than $500, updated daily. *Total remaining this fortnight= $405.
~Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. *yep, did lots of bits and pieces throughout the day, plus a special 5mins unstacking and restacking the dishwasher.
~Brush teeth daily.*oops
~No electronics from 10pm. *I had set this up, phone away and tea brewing but then I realised I needed to post- will immediately put the phone away after posting without checking any other social medias.
~Chamomile tea in bed from 10.30 *currently in bed with tea at 10.39
~Homemade lunches/no spending at work. *N/A.
~Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week.* had mexi-beans and pumpkin soup for lunch. (Brace yourself for food porn, forgot to take one of the soup...)
not pictured is the spoonful of sour cream and sprinkle of cheese added.
~Eat out 1x ftn (+1 variance). *ate out tonight- 1st eat out of the fortnight.
~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. *nil
~PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. *nil

[Wild Wolf]

First off, YAY FOR HONEYMOON! Second off, BOOOO for overcharges but YAY for Dad-to-the-Rescue!. Third off, HOLY SMOKES THOSE PICTURES ARE GORGEOUS!!! Such beautiful scenery. I want to run/hike at least 100% of those spots

 

I'm glad you're back safe and sound. We've miss you! And....

 

16 hours ago, Yasha92 said:

 

I've particularly missed your sense of humor  

 

Wolf

[Tanktimus the Encourager]

Welcome back!

[Yasha92]

First off, YAY FOR HONEYMOON! Second off, BOOOO for overcharges but YAY for Dad-to-the-Rescue!. Third off, HOLY SMOKES THOSE PICTURES ARE GORGEOUS!!! Such beautiful scenery. I want to run/hike at least 100% of those spots [emoji4]

 

I'm glad you're back safe and sound. We've miss you! And....

 

 

I've particularly missed your sense of humor [emoji4] 

 

Wolf

 

I've missed you guys tooooooo!!! You guys get me lol.

 

I always do better when I'm checking in here regularly, more than once it came up on the honeymoon that I do better when I'm posting with my 'accountabilibuddies'.

 

Welcome back!

 

Tank you! (heh) It's good to be back!

 

---

 

Friday and today I had a revelation, which was a bit of a shock, but made a lot of things suddenly make sense. I, in my wishy-washy imaginary budget that I've been trying and failing at over and over had been guesstimating a lot of things I shouldn't have been guesstimating. Specifically - the actual amount I get paid.

 

Yeha. I'm a nutcase.

 

I knew I wasn't putting as much into savings as imaginary budget said I should have been but I always wrote it off mentally as being 'bad' at budgeting (hmmm, sounds a lot like being 'bad' at cooking and eating healthy aka- 'bad'='not actually giving it a proper go'). So today I put on my big girl pants, went through my bank account and discovered that I'm getting paid almost $300/fortnight less than I thought I was. Promptly crapped aforementioned pants as that means for this period where Mr is off work we have $250/ftn to eat, medicines, pay Dad back etc etc... All the bills will get paid before we end up at that total but boy is that some belt tightening, especially when I just spent $95 yesterday, leaving us with $155 to get us through 14days of meals plus any surprises that come up. Good grief. I immediately cancelled Audible and thus gained back $7/ftn. Also on the chopping block are Netflix and the TV service we used to watch Game of Thrones (both $7 each, Netflix is a maybe, I'll need to chat with Mr, but the TV one for sure, we won't need that until GoT is back). I rang the gym to ask them to put a hold on our memberships while we figure this out but I had to leave a message on the answering machine, I will try to remember to call them again tomorrow. I'm ok, but it was quite an eye opener. Other than that a fairly uneventful day, did a little cooking, a little cleaning, a lot of reading on the interwebs, a lot of making pots of tea (Mr caught my cold and now I'm thankfully almost better, but we're drinking a looooot of warm beverages). For all that it's early Spring here, it already feels like Summer, I'm thinking I might plant some corn in a pot so we get some shade in the balcony because the tiles are hot to the touch of an afternoon and that really heats the apartment up.

 

~Track all spending. *$45 spent today, all at the grocery store trying to get some bulk eats. $14 on cat food, the rest on people food. I went through all the change containers etc and all of this was paid in loose change or the dregs of gift cards/store points, so I should wind up $45 ahead at the end of the fortnight, but I'm paranoid now that I overlooked something else in my calculations...

~Pay back Dad $500. *This may take a little longer now with my corrected Math, but it is still a priority because I spoke to my Mum today and they had three car insurances come due at the same time, so they're pretty skint at the moment too.

~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. *Pay cleared so this (minimum) cleared. Possibly not going to be able to add any extra to this until Mr is back at work.

~Fortnightly spending less than $500 $250, updated daily. *Total remaining this fortnight= $405. $109.95. Ouch.

~Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. *Again lots of bits and pieces throughout the day, plus a dedicated 5mins unpacking my suitcase/ tidying the living room.

~Brush teeth daily.*yis

~No electronics from 10pm. *TBA, on track for yes

~Chamomile tea in bed from 10.30 *TBA, on track for yes

~Homemade lunches/no spending at work. *N/A.

~Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week.* same lunch as yesterday, today I remembered to take a photo of my soup. Had similar dinner with the addition of baby spinach and 2 snausages, so dinner was not exactly meatless, but they were leftovers, which is good for staying on budgetary track.

~Eat out 1x ftn (+1 variance). *bye bye variance lol. 1xftn spent for this ftn.

~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. *nil - will have to do a hefty chunk over the weekend.

~PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. *nil - likely to remain as nil until I speak to the gym and find out if I can pause our memberships. If I can then I may readjust goal to be walking/swimming/something else free.

 

 

[Yasha92]

Saturday, a pretty good day- lots of cooking and cleaning and then cooking again and then cleaning again... did a little Mandarin practice after dinner then hopped into bed super early (still going to Internet from bed which I know isn't ideal but it's 8.30, I'm not going to sleep just yet!). I rang the gym and organised for our PT charges to be put on hold for now, which is a large chunk of money freed up while still giving us access to the gym for self-directed stuff, we won't have access to any of the classes but we haven't really been going to heaps of those lately. I looked into the swimming option and the pool I like swimming in closes at 2pm at the moment because we're in the off season for a little longer. I don't see myself getting up to go at 6am, so I am thinking I'll utilise the Academy workouts seeing as I've already paid for those part of the cooking I did today was a bit of a meal-prep, made up a big batch of "chilli", with heeeeeaps of added veggies (a zucchini, 3carrots, a capscicum, an extra onion, a cup or so of mushrooms, an extra tin of tomato) so it ended up stretching out to 11servings (from predicted 8). Im planning to serve it over different carbs (potato, rice, couscous, pasta) to keep it interesting as I always tend to get 'bored' with meal prepped meals and leave them to go mouldy no budget for throwing away food at the moment (within reason). I'm finally starting to feel well again, definitely not bouncing off the walls or anything, but I was able to go to the shops, shop and come home without taking a rest break... all those veggies are doing their job getting me back to fighting fit!

~Track all spending. *$55.37 today, this should be the last of the big spends as now I've prepped several days worth of food and got ingredients for other meals (protein shakes, eggs etc), still more than I probably would have liked to have spent... did a lot of reading and YouTube watching of balcony gardens today and I think if we could get some freggies growing on our balcony would really offset some of our food costs... as such I planted the avocado seeds, the pumpkin seeds and the capsicum seeds I had from the meal prepping, not sure if they'll sprout or not because they weren't organic, but you never know unless you give it a go!
~Pay Dad back $500. Moved $200 to a buffer account with the intention to transfer it to him once the next pay clears juuuust in case something goes belly-up.
~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. * minimum payment made, will wait until end of fortnight to see if any spare to add
~Fortnightly spending less than $250, updated daily. *total remaining $54.58
~5mins dedicated cleaning. *yes. Lots of clean as I was going, plus at least 5mins (probably a bit more) doing a clean up in the kitchen once I was done all the cooking.
~Brush teeth daily. *TBA
~No electronics from 10pm. *TBA expected to be yes, yesterday was yes.
~in be from 10.30pm. *TBA, on track for yes, yesterday was yes.
~Homemade lunches at work. *N/A.
~Meatless main. *had a protein smoothie and a slice of toast with cheese and tomato for lunch, no meat meal, exceeded my expectations on this one, we'll see if it continues once I'm back at work...
~Eat out 1xftn. *spent for this ftn.
~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. *studied for half an hour tonight, revising stuff I've already learned.
~PT plus gym. -goal under construction while PT sessions are on hold-

Meal prep photo!

[Yasha92]

Sunday. So. Much. Folding. If you know me at all you know folding is my nemesis (actually, all the stages of laundry pretty much, but especially folding)... but I put on the new Lone Ranger movie (quite terrible, but it was good enough to mindlessly watch and fold at the same time) and folded throughout the whole thing- like 3+ baskets of folding! I have yet to put away the piles, as I am only human, but still counting it as a win. Also did a dedicated 11mins in the kitchen, in addition to my standard half-assed clean on the going. Otherwise not much done today, did see the PTrainer at the grocery store (happened to have tomatoes in my hand and not snickers, so that was a win!) and told him that we're putting PT payments on hold for a bit while we pay off the wedding stuff, but that we got charged while we were overseas- he said he'll either organise a refund or we can get the next two sessions 'free' (ie, already paid for). Probably going to go for already paid for, since I'd already written that money off and that should mean we get back to PT faster (or at least have 2 sessions before we go on break for a while). Back to work tomorrow, and while I'm not crazy keen I'm ok about going back- being overseas in such a wild landscape really made me want to do more meaningful stuff for the environment... just need to tell myself I'm enabling dozens of environmental biologists, engineers and the like to get through their courses so they can go save the world

~Track spending- a little under $20 today (Mr has the receipt, I will need to check it for accuracy).
~Pay Dad back- no update
~Loan repayment- no update
~Fornightly spend less than $250- approx $30 left
~5mins dedicated cleaning- 11mins timed cleaning in the kitchen, plus two hours of folding
~Brush teeth- yup
~No electronics from 10pm. Easily going to be yes, yesterday also yes.
~In bed by 10.30, yes and yes for yesterday too.
~Homemade lunches at work- N/A, but will come into play tomorrow
~Meatless main- soup and toast for lunch plus 2 boiled eggs
~Eat out 1xftn- spent for this ftn
~Practice Mandarin- forgot about this one, starting new week tomorrow with hopefully better results
~PT plus gym- looks like PT is back on the menu boys! (For a fortnight anyway). I want to also look into the Krav Magar class that runs on campus (hello, Rangerbrain) but will keep an eye on it for a free trial type thing due to bugetary constraints.


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[RES]

YAY, you're we're back!  I've missed your pictures....love the ones you took on honeymoon  

Budgeting is something I'm really good with...considering my field I would hope so LOL. I've had to put my wife on a 'budget' limit since she started getting a bit too free with the credit card. She finds it easier if I give her a set amount she is able to spend each pay period in cash and when it's gone it's gone...she's a visual person

[Yasha92]

YAY, you're we're back!  I've missed your pictures....love the ones you took on honeymoon [emoji3] 
Budgeting is something I'm really good with...considering my field I would hope so LOL. I've had to put my wife on a 'budget' limit since she started getting a bit too free with the credit card. She finds it easier if I give her a set amount she is able to spend each pay period in cash and when it's gone it's gone...she's a visual person

Yep! Mr got mugged a couple years back so we hardly ever carry cash, but I had considered taking it out and leaving it at home so it doesn't get spent.

...

1min to electronics off, so will update in the morning

[Yasha92]

YAY, you're we're back!  I've missed your pictures....love the ones you took on honeymoon [emoji3] 
Budgeting is something I'm really good with...considering my field I would hope so LOL. I've had to put my wife on a 'budget' limit since she started getting a bit too free with the credit card. She finds it easier if I give her a set amount she is able to spend each pay period in cash and when it's gone it's gone...she's a visual person

It's good to be back!

Yeah I'm thinking the cash will be the next step if a daily check in isn't working. Mr got mugged a few years back and we haven't really done cash since, but I'm sure we could just take a minor amount on persons and leave the rest at home.

[Yasha92]

Monday. Updating on Tuesday morning so I could meet my 10pm electronics cut-off. Back to work and a pretty good day, I walked part way then waited for the bus. It took so long I should have just walked the whole way (which is what I'm currently doing), had a couple meetings, then most of the day was spent catching up on all the emails that came through while I was away (it wasn't as bad as I expected, only 167). The mood at work seems a bit off, going to have one-on-one catch ups with as many staff as possible to try and figure out what's going on. Otherwise nothing work related to report. Came home and played DnD for a bit, though I was struggling to get back into it. I ended up tapping out at 10.30 so I could go to bed, just a bit too tired I think.

~Track spending- not sure if I count it as spending or not, I found $10 in my desk at work and I used it to buy dessert for DnD... it is spending, but it didn't come out of the budget... I'm going to track it as spending for now and hopefully still scrape in under budget.
~Pay Dad back- no update
~Loan repayment- no update
~Fornightly spend less than $250- approx $20 left
~5mins dedicated cleaning- 11mins again, in the morning. Mr cleaned a bit before people came over for DnD too.
~Brush teeth- yup
~No electronics from 10pm. Just made it, saw the number change to 10 as I put the phone away.
~In bed by 10.30, counting it as yes because it was game night and I went at 10.35
~Homemade lunches at work- Yep! Bought nothing at work (though I did dip into my work almonds)
~Meatless main- not today, eating meal prep chilli
~Eat out 1xftn- spent for this ftn
~Practice Mandarin- nothing today
~PT plus gym- nothing today


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[Sloth the Enduring]

Wow. Beautiful pictures.

[Yasha92]

Whoopsie, missed some updates! Stay tuned!


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[Yasha92]

Double update for Tuesday and Wednesday because they blur in my brain...

Tuesday I walked to and from work to get some steps up and because the weather is so nice at the moment... I realised I need to wear better walking shoes because my work flats are ok but they get suuuuuuper stinky if they get even a little steamy (sorry, gross). I've established the reason (or one of the reasons) for the weirdness at work and it is being addressed, so hopefully things will settle a bit. As team leader I look after 2 (and a half) specializations within the team and one (and a half) is super quiet this week due to student break and the other is starting to get really busy, so I'm trying to get people from the up-to-date specialization to take on some of the easy emails from the others to keep things rolling along, seems to be working so far. Other than that nothing special, watched the Netflix version of Deathnote which I had heard terrible, terrible things about and it wasn't as bad as I expected, it wasn't particularly good, but not awful. Due to watching that I was technically using electronics (the TV) after 10pm, but I didn't use my phone or the computer (the main culprits) after 10 and I was still in bed by 10.30, so counting it as a win.

Wednesday I caught the bus to work but went for a walk in the botanic gardens in my lunch break to get some steps, I also caught the bus to the gym, from there I walked home, a nice tidy 11,400 steps logged on the phone, I need to charge up my fitbit again so I can get better step data. Work was fine, a morning tea fundraiser and because it was so quiet this week everyone was able to participate for a good chunk of time which is really good for morale. I spent the afternoon in the other office to reconnect with that space and the staff up there, I know they can feel a bit forgotten (that's the +half). In the afternoon I did a PT gym sesh and it was pretty excellent (details in the goals section below). Mr was really struggling with mental health when I got home (I think a combination of hunger on top of not being at work and dreading going back, coupled with not feeling that he is going to get a better job coupled with guilt for not writing a cover letter for me to send around to my contacts here to try and get him a better job plus feeling the strain of the budget restrictions plus not having food or alcohol easily accessible as a coping mechanism due to aforementioned budget). I spent some time walking with him to go get a burrito, then ended up going to bed really early because it was a pretty overwhelming evening (feeling OK this morning, all is well, depression's just a bitch that bites people other than the carrier as well).  

 

~Track all spending. Tuesday $20 (I think), Wednesday $6 getting carrots and hummus plus a gold coin for the fundraiser. In the evening I thought the fridge was making an ominous noise and I was really concerned that it was going to die right when we can't afford to replace it, but thankfully it was a weird sound/vibration coming up through the elevator shaft and rattling the plates in the cupboard which backs onto that wall. Still highlighted how important it is to get a buffer up and happening.

~Pay back Dad $500. T/W No update

~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. T/W No update.

~Fortnightly spending less than $250, updated daily. Total remaining??? It should be around $20-30, but I still have $400 in my bank account???... something isn't adding up and I am very suspicious... It is possible that something/s that I've factored for in the budget hasn't been withdrawn yet, I will need to sit down with the bank account details to try and figure it out.

~Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. Definitely on Tuesday, not so confident about Wednesday, I've been trying to remember to water my plants as well as part of this and so far so good.

~Brush teeth daily. Tuesday yes, Wednesday I fell asleep super early by accident so no.

~No electronics from 10pm. T - technically no due to TV, but still counting as yes. W - Yurp, asleep at like 9pm

~In bed from 10.30 (concessions on game nights, but no phone). T/W - yes to both

~Homemade lunches/no spending at work. T yes, W there was a fundraiser so I spent $2 at work to partake in the morning tea.

~Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week. T/W no new meatless meals due to mealprep.

~Eat out 1x ftn (+1 variance). Spent for this fornight. Wednesday Mr was really having a horrible depression day, so I used my discretion and took him out for a burrito, I had a loyalty reward for a free burrito which I used, I didn't eat anything there so technically no, but sort of yes?

~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. No update, Mr will be at boys DnD game tonight, so I will try to prioritise this.

~PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. T no. W yes, first PT session since the wedding and it was squats AND deadlifts, relatively light on both. I was initially concerned that I would have lost a lot of fitness/conditioning but that didn't seem to be the case XD did touch-and-go squats (kind of like a box squat, except instead of putting weight on the box when your butt brushes the top of the box you push your hips through and pop back up to upright, treating the box like an egg you can't smoosh) 3x5@35kg then switched to deads, working set was at 70kg, we did 2x3 and 1x5 because 3 didn't seem to be a struggle. We were really working on coming up to lockout fast because pretty much once I've got it off the ground it's going up, I just need to work a bit on speed. It wasn't that long ago (May!) that 70kg was my 1rep max, so to be using it as a working set felt good, real good. We finished with an AMRAP at 40kg to see how many I could smash out with good form, in my head I wanted to hit 10, I smashed out 20! even then I only had to stop because I breathe in and out with each lift and that many deep breaths in a row was making me feel light headed. I felt like an absolute machine. It was good to be back. PT said Mr and I have both got a month of PT sessions 'in the bank', not sure how much of that is true and how much is him being nice because he knows we can't afford it right now but still wants our conditioning to stay up to scratch so I can compete in another comp and Mr can compete in his first (if he sticks with his training).

 

All in all pretty happy with my goal progress so far (except Mandarin!) and I've really been blown away by the effect going to bed/not going on electronics has had, last night I didn't set my alarm because I fell asleep so early and I still woke up almost on time (15mins over), I haven't been using snooze except as a safety net, I've been setting it and spending the 9mins either laying in bed thinking or already getting up and catching up on peoples threads.

[Elastigirl]

You are doing awesome at your goals! 

[Salinger]

Hey, your photos are beautiful, especially the waterfalls

 

Hope you hit all your goals, i will keep checking in x

[Yasha92]

You are doing awesome at your goals! 

Thank you! I love how even just having a challenge up keeps me way more on track!

Hey, your photos are beautiful, especially the waterfalls [emoji4]
 
Hope you hit all your goals, i will keep checking in x

Thank you, it was an amazing place to visit.

Thanks! That's the plan! I will swing by your challenge too!

[Yasha92]

Thursday, a good day.

Walked to work in the morning. Went to a seminar about superannuation (40k I think it's called in some places) and closing the gender gap between males and females where males tend to retire with much larger super funds than females since the females tend to stay home to look after families etc, some of it was useful some of it was not. The rest of work went by fine and in the afternoon I went and watched the Krav Maga class to see if it's something I would be interested in. It definitely was. There was one moment as a spectator where I felt really overwhelmed and teared up (didn't actually cry, but felt it coming on), just something about the way the instructor said so casually "if they are attacking you like this it's likely their intention is to kill you", shook me a little. The rest of the class was really interesting and they have an intro offer where you get three classes for $20 plus a tshirt, I really want to allocate some of the cashflow saved from PT to this activity, but will wait until week after next to make sure we can afford it. Got a lift home because by then it was quite dark out and not so warm as I had dressed for.
 
~Track all spending. Today $20, rotisserie chicken plus a bag of salad and wraps to put it on which was dinner tonight and will be lunch and possibly dinner tomorrow too. Also some muffin mix which I didn't /need/, but it gets some snacks in the house for DnD that Mr won't just eat out of the cupboard, I have to make them first.
~Pay back Dad $500. No update
~Minimum repayment or higher on loan. No update.
~Fortnightly spending less than $250, updated daily. Total spent today, $20. Total remaining??? It should be around $10
~Dedicated cleaning 5mins/day minimum. Yes, didn't really feel like it, but it was over quickly (that's why I only committed to doing 5mins).
~Brush teeth daily. I will get up and do this as soon as I've posted this
~No electronics from 10pm. On track for this
~In bed from 10.30. Yep
~Homemade lunches/no spending at work. I ate a mini pack of salt and vinegar chips from my locker which I had previously bought at work, but no new spending on lunch. Bought groceries from the store on campus and ate my dinner on campus before going to the Krav Maga class, but that money would have been spent regardless.
~Meatless main (lunch/dinner) 1+ times a week. Yep. Meatless lunch, pumpkin soup plus boiled eggs and steamed broccoli and asparagus.
~Eat out 1x ftn. Spent for this fornight.
~Practice Mandarin 3.5hrs/week. Half hour doneskis, more revision
~PT once a week plus other gym to a total of 3xweek. I went and watched 2 hours of people doing Krav Maga to check if it might be for me... it totally is. Gunna carve out $20/week from the savings from not paying for PT for two months and commit to that at least for a bit, it looked intense, but really good plus the instructor was super nice (though a terrible handshaker... such a crappy thing to judge someone on, but still), technically not a gym sesh (until I get up there and practice with the others).

I also made a spontaneous friend on campus! His name was Phoenix and he was very cool.

[Yasha92]

That's a yes for teeth and a no for electronics by 10, got distracted watching a YouTube video. Got 4mins to be in bed trying to be asleep


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[Yasha92]

So as I lay awake and it ticked over to midnight I realised I'd had a can of lemonade as I left work (leftovers from a function and free-for-all)... I'm guessing that's why I couldn't get to sleep easily. I got up and made a chamomile tea and went back to bed and set my alarm a little later to compensate. It was still tricky to get up this morning but now I have (yet another) reason why I shouldn't drink lemonade. Even when it's free. Dangnabbit nemesis, so tricksy.


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[Yasha92]

Adulting paid off! I submitted my Tax return a little while ago and the rebate I received paid off the debt I had from last year which I'd been incrementally repaying, freeing up $94 a fortnight, huzzah!