Friday, March 3, 2017

Polly's Post Coffee Budget...(?)

So, I'm budgeting. That's the idea generally, whether or not I'll be able to do it effectively for me, for us or anywhere near as well as some of the American bloggers I've been reading is another matter. But, you know what? At least I'm going to try.

This is something I've been doing on an annual basis, biannual basis, quarterly basis and whenever things have felt a little claustrophobic financially, for whatever reason. To date, I've always relied on the good old fashioned tradition of getting it down on paper but this time I'm going to give it a go using proformer print outs as published by the afore mentioned persons. I mean, why on earth would anyone  reinvent the wheel...?

Two major game changers are the fact that DG has switched to taking his own packed lunch & a flask for hot tea each day. Simple. I've a whole selection box, a triple pack of crunchies and a couple of chunky kit-kats left which I fully intend to send to work with DG as a treat. He won't miss out and if I bake regularly he'll eat like a king! €40.00 a week's now being saved & that's an awful lot of money over the course of a year, like some €2,000 or so!!!!!!

The second game changer is the fact that we've stopped smoking. Since New Year's Eve! 5 nicottine free days today!* Hopefully I won't put weight on as a result but that's something we'll just have to wait and see, but I think it's likely to be a smaller amount than it could've been in the past. The effect of stopping psychotropic medication six months ago is that my interest in sweets, biscuits and alcohol is hugely reduced as are my portion sizes.

So far I've lost 21lbs effortlessly. Yay! Fingers crossed that a small amount of exercise will help me keep this up and get back down to my given weight. Admittedly this won't be for another while yet, unless I put some effort into it. I'm not sure that I will, but it's just lovely to be able to fit into clothing that hasn't seen the light of day for a while and I'll never, ever think of myself as being fat again - unless I actually am. Having been 5' 2" & 181lb  I was fat. Now, I'm the incredible shrinking woman!

What's remarkable is that the selection boxes and sweet gifts DG's been tucking into each night have gone and bizarrely I've tucked into very few of them this year. One night left me craving and noshing, hormonally & yet my 3 dime bars lasted well into the New Year! Otherwise I'm more than happy to part with them and all the biscuits we've been given with a view to saving a buck or two...

Of the two of us I'm the coffee freak, not DG. I haven't had one for a good couple of weeks now largely down to the fact that I haven't been into town recently. Like a lot of things coffee's always been something of a treat though recently it's become something more of a regular habit. I intend to limit my treats to once a week, if not less frequently but we'll have to see on that one. If the worst comes to the worst I can always grind my own beans if I want to; ironically I tend to drink tea when I'm at home!

(*Wow! This was written on 5th Jan but I'm publishing it on 3rd Mar & we haven't caved yet plus we've saved loads of money...)

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