Still Waters

Yes that’s going to be my attitude for April – give the walks a go and get back to the Leisure Centre on a more regular basis.

A friend sent me this quote and reading it today made lots of sense.

Everything in the future will change, if you start making the right effort now.” – Swami Sri Yukteswar

Here we are, its Wednesday morning after the Easter Weekend and so far I’ve been for a walk each day this week. What’s good about that you say – Earlier in the month I had said there were to be no excuses why I couldn’t do things.

Well trudging the streets was becoming a pain for me and I was putting it off until it was too late in the day. Its starting to get dark about 6.30pm now and even tho our neighbourhood isn’t that bad and even tho its been a glorious April and has been mild at that time I’m still not too keen being out on my own in the twilight.

So the walks are back on the calendar but much earlier in the day.

Now to the Leisure Centre and my favourite class Body Pump and the runner up Circuit class. Somehow they are going to have to be slotted into at least 3 days of the week.

Short post mainly to reinforce my thoughts – the weight is still stable (65kg) but my old Weight Watchers chart and the Doctor’s one also says thats still overweight for my short height so thats why I have to give it a go again by putting in more effort than I have for the past few months.

I went shopping today with various things in mind to buy and by the time I’d finished was I glad I chose today to spend my money and not yesterday as I originally planned.

Petrol had gone down another cent a litre and as there were warnings of huge price hikes I filled up on the way out. Lucky me – ‘cose as I drove past some service stations on the way home it had jumped an enormous amount.

We needed a small CD tower to sit near the computer, mainly for DH’s discs to do with the programs he uses. The storage rack on the desk is filled with all sorts of things and he has started using one of the small drawers, which meant I could never find any scrap paper or pens. This was my cue that the whole desk area was in need of a revamp.

One of the discount shops had a model in their catalogue in the same beech finish as the desk so off I go only to find they had a problem with supplies and it never came in…………………but there was another one there which because of the mix up was being discounted. At $19.99 it was a bit more than I wanted to spend for the purpose it was needed but a quick look told me it was a much better buy than the one I had set my mind on, just a little bit taller than the desk and was discounted by a whopping $7 – down to $12.95

Then on to Kmart, a store I only go into now and again…..have had some bad luck with purchases there so it’s not my No 1 choice.

My lucky day again…………%’s off all over the place.
First sign I saw said 20% off slippers and they were on my list 🙂

I needed some new slippers and had promised to buy these for myself this month, the slippers I wear were el cheapos bought when the last ones were beyond a joke just before we went overseas last July. They haven’t done the job I wanted so now it’s getting nippy on the toes around the house it was time for new ones.

I decided to get 2 small pairs of fluffy ones like ballet slippers but with a solid sole for beside the bed and a pair of heavier sheepskin ones slip on ones (no back) with a really solid sole for around the house and going to the post box or bin. NOT for hanging washing out tho’.

Socks and Sleepwear were discounted as well and both those things were also on my list. We don’t always get the weekly catalogues so all this was a fabulous suprise.

I’d promised myself new socks for the gym for a while so those went in my basket and I started to casually look at sleepwear. Last year for her 13th birthday I gave our eldest grandaughter some silky short-legged PJs and she loved them. I had said to myself that if I could find any more discounted I’d get the next size up for her birthday in September this year. I was like a kid on Christmas morning when I discovered the right size on the rack – down from $20 to $15 so $5 off the original price – and then down to $12 with the store discount.

There was even another surprise when I get to till and the person being served in front of me mentioned ‘pension card’ and I remembered Kmart’s 1st Wednesday of the Month discount for pensioners. I don’t often admit it (unless its to my benefit) but we are on the Age Pension and they have discount Wednesday where by showing your pension card you get another 5% off purchases.

As I said in the beginning Oh Lucky Day. I had recouped the cost of my Coffee and Cake from yesterday (and more).

But then maybe it would be better if I physically put the money I save from reductions and discounts into a money box and opened it at the end of the year. That way I could note exactly how much I have saved.

There was a time when I would ‘Go for a coffee’ at the drop of a hat. If a friend rang and said join me down the street I’d change and pop out with no thought of the cost. Didn’t enter my mind to say ‘come round to my house’. It certainly would have been cheaper for me and any cakes or biscuits in the house would have far less calories than the ones on offer at a Coffee Shop.

Today I went out for with some Red Hat Ladies for Morning Tea at a small café in a nearby suburb. Not a posh one – just a very pleasant one on Canterbury Road. We went to enjoy ourselves and meet a visiting ‘sister’ from Canada. There was lots of fun with our usual chat and joking around and eating and drinking. Nothing special.

When I went to pay my share I was horrified at my part of the bill. My coffee and cake totaled $11 and I had been very careful to choose one of the cheapest items available. I’m not sure if I’m becoming tight in my old (well not that old) age and I really need to get out more but it amazes me how some Cafés manage to charge so much and get away with it.

That certainly put a hole in my allowance for the week 😦

Got up early this morning and there were blue skies, the sun was shining and the grass was still damp from some overnight drizzle. Yes Autumn in Melbourne the way it should be is great. Wasn’t it marvellous to see the rain we had last week and I didn’t even mind the cool to cold nights we had.

There was one evening however I couldn’t fathom out how to turn on the pilot light of the new heater and DH wasn’t here to do it for me. After a while I realised how daft I was to think about lighting the fire and just put on a skivvy as well as socks and slippers and forgot all about feeling cold. Did have to use the hot water bottle to warm the bed up tho’ !!

Now that the swimming has finished I have to think about where to go from now on. I did try to walk to and from Spencer Street Station (I don’t think I’ll ever be able to call it Southern Cross Station) and the Crown Promenade hotel where I ‘worked’ but apart from that did very little walking over the past few weeks as I had to sit a desk most of the day. My daily walk will be the first thing to start again and I need to get back to the gym. Having to get the 5.43am train each rostered day was a shock to the system so the gym and pump classes were the last thing on my mind. I did wonder how I’d fit it in if I was back at work full time.

So this week it will all go again.

No excuses not to get out the door in the mornings, no excuses why I couldn’t drink the suggested 2 litres of water each day and certainly no excuses as to why I don’t eat my 4 pieces of fruit and healthy meals.

I’ve been reading lots of ‘money’ and ‘frugal’ blogs recently and am going to have to start taking note of the contents and saving ideas as we are contemplating another o/seas trip next year.

I thought I’d try, as suggested in a lot of them, to keep a note of all my spending and see if I can chop a few dollars of the bills here and there over the next few months. Sometimes I’m not very good at being careful with my money so this will be as trying for me as not eating chocolate.

Now theres a way I could save some cash……………..that could be my challenge for April. Don’t buy or eat chocolate for the month……………the hard part will be not to go down the confectionery aisle in the supermarket. Because breakfast cereal is on the other sideof the aisle from the lollies 😦

Maybe each time I look at it in the shops I could put the cost away in a drawer and see how much is there on April 30th.