6 years....... Gamble Free......Wow.......Here's to the mods and gamcare friends that got me here xxx

I've set a December objective of trying to spend as little as possible in the month where most people spend the most.  I've got plenty of meals I. Freezer, I've got plenty of soup for lunch, I've got veggies.... The supermarkets will no doubt do the 18p a pack of potatoes, parsnips and carrots...... I'm going to the gym each day for a shower to save on my water and electric with heating water for baths......  I'm got eight pints of milk currently...... Half a loaf of bread..... Tub of marg......I've bought all the Christmas presents and wrapped them.......even with the last four pounds on my sainsburys card I got some chocolates for my health practitioner.....

I've been helping out in a different department today at work as they really short on staff.  Work going well.  I've got some time off coming up.....

Playing table tennis Friday and Sunday.

I've done 46k steps in first four days of week.  Will aim to do 14k tomo. Get up to sixty.

All in all I'm obsessing but I'm doing well

I took my steps a bit too far over the summer.,,,,,, i had a stint of doing 100k steps every week for a month.....boy did that take its toll on my feet with policemans foot and fatigue...... Since then i took a step back and just did around 70k a week and took the weekends mostly off..... Just tallied up the first 36 weeks of the walking year and ive done an average of 5.13 miles a day (5.3 last year) so im doing pretty well again....... In order to match last year id need to do an average of 12350 steps a day for the remaining 16 weeks..... With two days off walking a week this could be a struggle but i usually can get to 82k steps in a week pretty easily so im happy to aim for that....... I briefly thought of aiming for the 2k miles in the year which would be a 17k average each day so i dont think i can get to that averagely without burning myself out so ill stick to the initial plan.

Here i am a week later......boy ive neglected my diary.

This week/month the aim was to spend as little as possible thru december and put me in good stead for the year.

I statrted this off really well and only spent £2.26 in the first week........ horray go me.....

Then i asked my mum to get some pot noodles and baked beans and i owed her 32 pounds for my headphones and a xmas present plus a few bits of food she bought.....added up to 59 pounds.....

Then i looked at my spreadsheet on monday night and thought with the last four months of year the best thing to do food wise would be to buy all my soup lunches along with non expiry essentials for the rest of the year in advance now so that its all paid and i can budget for the rest of the year better......  So i worked out with 120 pounds i could buy most of what i needed for the four months including all my lunches barring the bread....  So i topped up my sainsburys card for the four percent off with 120 pounds then i realised the deal that i wanted on the tomate soup wouldnt be on when the money went thru on to the card...... luckily my mum had lots on her card so i went with her to sainsburys last night and bought everything for the four months lunch wise then topped her card up with what i spent when i got home.  The beauty of this was that as i love heinz big soup which is usually too expensive i used the current deal to get a third off it and got a third off the tomata four packs too.......  So i counted my cans when i got back and ive got around 85 cans now in stock so im sorted till march...... nice work i thought.

So although this is a tough financial month now with 250 being spent on food soo far in 11 days eeeeeek..... ive got 120 on my sainsburys card, all my lunches and essentails for four months paid for....... So ill basically just need to buy my milk, marg, bread from sainsburys with the topped up card....... and buy my meat from waitrose at half price when the deals show themselves....... so meat i can get on average 1 pound - 1 pound fifty per meal for good quality so with 15 weeks of year left it works out between 105 and 157.50 for meat for reas tof year......

This is what ive spent on all food and drinks for each year including restaurants....... with the top figure of 157.50 for meat i will come in if i dont need to top up my siansburys card again and dont go to and restaurants at 1707 for the year .....142 pounds a month average......

Now i dont think ill be able to do this but 1700 does seem to be a very tempting round figure to aim for....   Will just need to focus on essentials.  Also itll mean that each year ive lived here ive got better and spent less on food each year........ This is really good budgeting.....

My main hinderence this year was that when my mum and sister got ill i kinda thought screw it to a lot of things thinking just indulge...... I can see how these types of things thru life really affect peoples decision making.....  Now they are better im thinking more celarly......

So last new years i wrote my objectives for this year..... they were as follows:

So this year i didnt take drugs, tick, i didnt drink, tick, i didnt smoke, tick, i didnt gamble , tick, i stuck to only spending 100 pounds a month on food and socialising, i was obsessing soo much about my finances and life that i did all this performed well at work,.... ive got a good health mot too and still im not happy/?????

so i feel i need to give myself a bit of a break this new year...... im aiming to only look at my finances once a month......im aiming to not obsess about my spenidng soo much...... to appreciate what i have more i feel i need to loosen the straps a bit and feel the release a bit more....... So if i spend double on food for a bit then soo be it......

However these negatives, this obsession has also got me to where i am....... its helped me in a lot of ways..... it shows i care.... it shows im passionate......its show si work hard (or try hard) at life....... but i feel thinknig too much about everything is hindering me a bit... mainly hindering my time.... time i can spend relaxing unwinding this year....

So in 2025:

Three hours a month spent on looking at finances.......

Ill spend mon, wed, fri night 8-9pm in gym on treadmill and on gamcare chat at same time..... doubling up porductivitiy in that hour..... exercising and socialising.

Friday after work a coffee out to relax.....

Apart from those im going to try to relax more and spend more time watching tv and listening to music..... 

Ill work as hard as i can and try to get the same review next december.....

Ill write more on this year on new years as an end to the year........  but ive had a mixed year firstly on positives i spent lots and lots of time listening to music....... 165,000 minutes this year (114 days continuous), is spent 300 hours playing computer games, just under and hour average a day, i walked on average 5 miles and day, i visited the gym a lot, i had 10 bbqs and cooked them for a lot of friends which was great, i watched nearly every spurs game on tv and watched nearly all televised games, i got a good review from work and work is going well, Allthough my mum and sister got unwell they are now better and we got thru the tough tough times.....my mental health was largely good throughout and i managed issues very well.

Negatives...... i spent more on food thru two months when family were ill, i burnt myslef out with walking too much thru summer culminating in walking 140,000 steps in one week when i was on holiday nuts!!!, i looked at finances all the time, i had 10 different sickness occasions off work in the year culminating in an occupational health phone call and meeting...... 

I think all in all the lots of positives to be gained thru healthy living im an example of that but at the samie time i often take things too far ....... as my mum allways says a little bit of everything..... So next year im going to try and be more consistent with my efforts..... not soo much all or nothing but everything in a fixed amount..... neither burning myself out nor letting myself go...... Sound good?

Well a couple of days off work and a lot has happened.......

Firstly on the gambling front......I went to town for a coffee with a friend who gambles everyday he has money......  We go for a coffee look around the shops and then when he visits the bookies a couple of times ive gone with him and watched..... I wont say it didnt excite me the act of gambling and the excitement still holds power over me and even if its not my money at stake i get excitement from it...... Now the first two times he lost and it strengthened my reasoning for not gambling i thought he allways looses and that was fine but this time he went from xxxx up to xxxx  in ten minutes very exciting and then slowly over an hour he went thru all of that then went to the cash machine took out another 150 and then won and got up to xxxx and we left ....... Now it was very close to him having lost it all..... but as he won i got the excitement from it and it made me want to go play poker that night......  Now i managed to not go to poker and remained gamble free but it was close and i feel that it was a very very bad idea going in with him.... ILL NOT DO THAT AGAIN......

Then having no doubt saved money from not gambling i then received my 6 monthly water bill last night...... Now im on  social tarriff as i dont earn much so when i started on the social tarriff my bill went from 40 a month to 15 then it went to 18 then when a large bill came in i was changed to 33 a month for 6 months to catch me up...... now thats just come to an end i thought i would go back to 18 a month....... However due to not realising that my bathroom toilet that i dont use was faulty it has been dripping continuously for a few motnhs meaning that they sent me a bills for 160 cubic metres of water not the usual 30 i use.....  5 times as much..... which the bill is 400 pounds...... So ive now to got pay for the plumber to fix next week and hopefully they will not charge me the full whack that theyve sent in the bill.

So all in all had i gambled thru poker or bookie trip and continued with it for a bit i would be down a significant amount of money and this water bill could have really hit me hard...... Thankfully im doing very well managing my money and things like this are fine.....But things could be ooo so different today Sliding doors ey.....

So three days later and my friend has only got 60 pounds left of those winnings...... this fills me with a better belief that compounds my not gambling thoughts

On to better things.....

My water bill will hopefully be quashed once i send them confirmation of plumber bill to show i had a leak.... hoefully i wont need the extra money that i got yesturday.

I didnt sleep satyrday night after a night of thinking about my finances..... i went firest thing and sold my nintendo..... got 341 pounds (pretty good)....then managed to get a 200 pound argos voucher for my ps portal as i wasnt using it......

With this my bank balance and thoughts were soo much more positive......  

Back to the final full week of 2025 at work today........ i think as mondays go this was one of the least enfused ive felt at the start of a working day...... i plodded along untill lunch then plodded along untill home time..... done 10 k steps surprisingly so happy with that..... then had a nap...... ate chicken chow mein (very nice), beans on toast and two spring rolls..... some more toast... a cuppa.... watched man u game which was great..... now about to have a late bath.... soak in some rest.... then bed again...... Will rest up and give in refreshed for tomo...... almost went to gym tonight but felt like staying in.

Ive got sky cinema for my sister so she can watch mission impossinble new film..... she loves them and she couldnt go to cinema as she had cancer....so shes really looking forward to it and i that she excited for it....

think i said 12k steps average be good..... so im a bit behind from last week.... think i did 49k but tbf december is a couch month isnt it? its a month for sofas and quality streets..... Then hit the gym in January...... but i usually buck the trend so ill try not to eat too much in december and see whether i can hit the 12 k average per day for the month..... like a challenge.

Im actually very impressed with argos for taking my ps portal back, it didnt meet my expectations and wasnt working in my bedroom but there no quibles return policy is great and their service is second to none which is why i buy everything from them.

Looking forward to 8 days off from xmas eve......will be a nice rest......  ill rest on sofa for three days then get in the gym....... But will be very nice.......

Now over the past weeks I've bought several things impulsively and then had to take them back in the following days..... I actually impulsively and I'm trying to work on that.

I have also over the past year tried to cut back on my analysing of finances thru my spreadsheet...on this front I've failed miserably.......I have looked most nights and also been tough on myself by trying to win at spending (my new gambling) in a way ..... I try to get the best deal on everything in life......

So I've decided to delete my spreadsheet and focus on trying to not only not analyze my spending but spend more on experiences thru the year rather than tangible objects....

I'd like to start today.....so I went to lewes with some old friends and had a few drinks and socialized and then watched a film at home.......

Really good start although I still didn't fully forget about the money I was spending so I'll work on that.

I think little improvements on that front will go a long way.

Tomo table tennis with folks and cottage pie.... Then back to work for three days the Christmas holiday days.

I'm very thankful for everything

Adam xx

Back to work...... Start of another week....although a very short one...... Went to work today and started off by doing some training online then had lots of deliveries to deliver around the hospital then took all the rubbish out etc my usual jobs but it was tough getting it all done in the five hours so i ate lunch late and just about finnished on time.

My new objectives are going well...... i deleted my spreadsheet so as i sat down after gamcare last night i immediately thought about going to my spereadsheet...... also when i paid the plumber i thought right put it on the spreadsheet..... but thankfully then relaised i didnt need to anymore and it was a good realisation.

So instead both saturday and sunday night were filled with watching films..... i watched the accountant (amazing), ready player one (amazing) and the last venom (hilarious)..... then tonight i watched the fullham game.....

Its really going to help my mind by switching off at night and watching a good film......

I lso thought today that as ill be sitting on the sofa for a few days midweek this week ill aim to do quite a few steps by christmas eve...... So i went to the gym tonight and ive done 21,000 steps in the first two days of the week....... Ill aim to do 50k by christmas eve..... then ill have earned the relaxing christmas day and boxing day indulge...... where i will be focusing on fully switching off from work and all my objectives for a few days of chill with the family (bliss).

Ive also organised to go visit a friend over the weekend for a roast and a chill.....

Another day done........ felt a health kick coming...... recently ive seen a few people eating overnight oats for lunch as way to feel full but eat less calories/......  so i think ill give it a go for breakfast...... so ive bought the sainsburys version, some apple juice and some natural yoghurt........  ive had a taste vtonight and it tastes lovely so im hopeful for when i eat tomo morning.....

Also as im going to be resting christmas day and boxing day i thought id do quite a bit of exercise to start the week well...... so today i done 23500 steps..... and some weights.....

Last day at work tomo for 8 days......will look to have a productive day

Here i am six days later....... five holiday days later....... ive got three days of holiday left...... i go back on the 2n of jan for a day then the weekend again then full blown january blues that i hope i dont succumb to.

Although ive deleted my spreadsheet for tracking finances im still able to look overall on my banking app..... im looking to have saved 7k this financial year towards debt...... soo far im at 4800 with three months left..... on course to achieve it.

I had six pounds cash in my wallet and wanted to see how far i could make it go towards food so i got a pepper, mince, three jars of pasta bake and six pints of milk and it came to 8 pounds...... So im having pasta bake today and tomo...... then dinner at folks new years eve then bolognese for a few days......  Then i wanted to get my freezer topped up with meat so i went and got a steak and four sausages,,,,,,, cost me 8 pounds...... average 2 pounds a meal..... all food prices going up unfortunately.

Then on xmas eve i bought a few things from fat face.....i needed a new rucksack so ive kept that but ive taken the other two back to save money.....

Also i went and bought a ps5 pro from argos...... then changed my mind thinking its far too much to spend.... so now ive got lots of money on two argos gift cards that i cant return......... they will now be on there untill i can buy the ps6 or new xbox......hopefully sooner rather than later but itll be a couple of years...... boooo

I also took back my ps portal to argos and sold my snitch 2 to cex...... so overall this month im even on speding.

I have also paid for tnt sports for january, sky cinema for december and sky sports for december......

Each month i try to think about my finances less but i think my ocd makes me allways think about these things so unfortunately ill keep analysing.....

One good thing i that im paying 28 a month for gym and their rrp is 75 so thats good too......

Meals wise ive now got 5 pizzas, 4 sausages, 1 steak, 6 pasta bakes, 3 bolognese, so 19 meals plus all my lunches sorted...... so ill try and just buy milk and bread for a bit...... see how far i can get into january..... without spending too much.....

Ive got my tub of pringles for new years..... Ill aim to spend it at home reflecting on the year gone by and looking to the future.