Lizzie's Life: June 2010

Monday, 28 June 2010

Treats for Lizzie

I sort of promised myself a new top/t-shirt this month. I am not desperate and going into work naked (although this might cure the office overcrowding as they all ran out screaming, horror movie stylee)but I wanted something new for my holiday. I know this is another two months away but I can wring maximum pleasure out of the wait this way.

The T shirt I liked was £29.50. I just couldn't bring myself to hand over that much money for a top. It stayed in the shop.

I replaced it with 4 books for holiday and I am still over £15 ahead. So now feeling pleasantly spoilt without actually spending much at all.

Friday, 25 June 2010

Self indulgence and visualisation

It is home alone Friday. Both kids are out at parties and the old fella is at his monthly poker session. That means I can do what I want for the whole evening. I chose to get a head start at the laundry and clear a few work surfacing, do some wiping down etc. My life is sooo exciting.

After all that fun I settled down to watch 4 old episodes of classic Jonathan Creek, followed by the Hairy Bikers in Mexico. Classic TV!

Now I am in my bed and after this I going to search through my Hairy Bikers cookbook for some inspiration for the coming week.

I thought some more about visualisation and wondered if it will work on more low level desires. I am visualising a clean tidy house, laundry clean dry and returned to originator and a freeze full of nutritious but not overly expensive food for the weeks ahead I can do it!

Saturday, 19 June 2010

My garden

Camera and laptop are friends and talking to each other. I thik I might be more creative and artistic than horticulturally sound.

Friday, 18 June 2010

Weekend

All of the things I wasn't looking forward to (audit, board meeting, not being made redundant etc.)have all come to pass and so I should be relaxed and looking to the future. At the back of mind though something is playing tricks. Like I have been worrying for so long that now I cant actually stop. Tomorrow is Saturday. Should be the best day of the week. I need to use and enjoy it and stop worry about.....well whatever it is that I am worrying about.

So, a chore list to keep me focussed.

Fill up with gas and petrol,both cars - may need to sell the house to pay for this one.
Asian supermarket to buy chillies and olives.
Make nice lunch for Fahed - something with tiger prawns and jalapenos that he saw Delia making on TV. Hopefully they have the recipe in Waitrose as she is now Waitrose woman.
Cleaning - place is a tip
Laundry - never ending
Mending - never ending but mostly because I never seem to start it. Must do it this weekend as I have the sewing machine from mum so no excuses.
Clean bathroom - again major grubbiness.
Pay Ahdels cheque into the bank.
Feed plants.

Sounds like a fun day ahead!

Tuesday, 15 June 2010

Visualising

I have been reading old posts from Get Stuff Done

I am going to try her idea of visualising what you want as if you already have it. That's not easy for someone like me. It means I have to admit to myself what I want. My fear of commitment comes into play. How can I pin myself down. I get resentful when I tell myself what to do (I do know this is weird). I apparently don't like rules & commitment but I suppose if I admit that to myself then I might be able to to pin myself down in other areas.

Sunday, 13 June 2010

Autofrugal

I notice that most of my posts lately are about simplify, organising myself, work/life balance and far less about being frugal. I haven't abandoned the frugal path at all, it is just that being frugal has become some an intrinsic part of life that it isn't much effort. I don't waste (food, time, water, space, money). I don't buy things unless I really need or want them. There are certainly people that spend less and waste less than I do but I am where I want to be. I have actually increased my food budget recently because I prefer to buy slightly better base ingredients than I did when we were especially hard up. I prefer to make things myself and to re-use.

I have £50 of love2shop vouchers. I told my husband he can spend all the money on himself in Matalan(the only place he ever sops for clothes anyway) because he didn't have new clothes for sooo long. We spent an hour in the shop and ended up with 2 pairs of shorts. Total cost £12. He had the pleasure of knowing he could have whatever he wanted, just this once, but because we have got out of the habit of waste then he found he really wasn't interested. I find that to be very good news as he has had spendaholic tendencies in the past! Now he thinks of any money he wants to spend in terms of how many hours he spends waste deep in cold water.

I have some plans for today and they are all what you would expect for a woman on autofrugal mode. Sewing - make shorts smaller, mend skirt. Design and sew 6 cushion covers. Dry the washing on the line. Cheap and nutritious, and tasty lunch. Some garden time.

Have a happy Sunday

Message for Daizy - I cant access you site since Friday. Have you done something different?

Friday, 11 June 2010

Hellloooo

So how has it been going? All the things I was worrying about and planning?

Busy week but things are improving. Next week is the second to last board meeting i have to attend and a 300 mile drive to a meeting but otherwise work is starting to be enjoyable and not quite so mad. That's good for me. I love my job but sometimes not enough!

My job is safe so nothing much to worry about (but I did anyway), Old job is redundant on 30th June, new job starts 1st July, hopefully at the same salary.

I had my hair cut but I don't think it looks any better. I need a new idea or to try a new stylist.

New knickers! Done but as expected don't feel any better. As always material possessions are no cure for anything.

New glasses - yes and bloody expensive. However they are brill and its like having new eyes, so all good.

New laptop. Yes, I gad a cute little Dell mini for my birthday. He is called Rupert and is adorable. Came from Dell outlet and was a bargain at £140. Hmmm, so maybe a material possession can make you feel better sometimes. He is lovely.

Travel plans. Summer break is booked and paid for and we are making plans for a holiday which is enjoyable but also quite a bit of work as we want to work on the house. Maybe I can consider renting it out after the landscaping is complete. The out doors is too dangerous at the moment and potential visitors could easily fall to their death. Not a good selling point. We are also looking at cheap flights for a late year visit to friends in Sardinia.

Improved work life balance means happier Lizzie. Tomorrow is housework day and gardening day. Happy Days

Sunday, 6 June 2010

Need Sleep zzzzzzzz

I didn't sleep last night. It was hot and clammy and Fahed must have got out of bed about 20 times. So now my eyes are barely open and I don't have energy to do anything.

We have to go out this afternoon. We are committed to a mystery shopping lunch & report write up. I also need to do some gardening, finish the laundry, do some mending. Tomorrow I have a work day in London and that is a 7am start from the station & is something I need to really be awake for. But what I really want is to curl up like a cat and sleep until refreshed.