Operation Project

I started this post a week ago, full of vim. Great plans, great thoughts, great ideas, but I didn't finish. Neither the post, nor the sentiments. So, to finish and update.

Operation Box Room (aka Operation Clear Out)

My first mission is to clear out the box room and make it a storage room. It is currently a storage room. 

However, at the moment you need to be flexible, with good balance and quick wits, to manoeuvre your way in or out between the Christmas decorations, rolls of wrapping paper, never used futon, empty suitcases, unwanted presents, bags of clothes, shoes and bags destined for charity shops and documents for shredding.

Not to mention the boxes and general clutter occupying the wardrobes in the spare room and sitting on top of the wardrobes in my own room, which have never been opened since the day I moved in. I know there are months of House & Home magazines in one box, but which box and what is in the others is anyone's guess.

So the plan is to be ruthless! Throw everything that has not been seen, used or worn in the last 12 months! Not sit reading old diaries, looking at old photos and trying to remember who gave me the fairy sitting on a dolphin holding a sunflower picture frame from their holiday in Playa Del Wherever circa 1998.

Then I will venture Northside to a little bit of Sweden to purchase a system. Not shelves, not a bookcase, not a DVD cabinet, but a system. A system that will house my ever expanding and ever wobbling pile of alphabetised DVDs, the books I'm unlikely to read again but will never throw out, photos from pre-digital days and boxes of cards, programmes, tickets and other memories.

This will still go ahead, I have gone so far as to ask my Dad about skip hire and have mentally pencilled in a date, when I am off work, to complete the task.

Operation Spend Less (aka Operation What The Feck Do I Spend My Money On)

Inspired by an article I read in a magazine (which cost €1.59) and motivated by curiosity and feeding the obsessive compulsive part of my brain that loves a list I decided to keep a money diary this week. 

I'm not sure what I hope to achieve by doing this. Maybe I'll scare myself into spending less time and money in the food hall in Marks & Spencer? Probably not, and I certainly won't forego my morning white coffee, but I hope it will be interesting nonetheless and I aim to share it with you when complete.   

Everything single thing I buy, with cash, debit or credit will be recorded and listed. It should appeal to the economists, the foodies and the nosey parkers among you. 

The money diary lasted about two or three days, then I forgot to keep a receipt one evening and couldn't work out how to keep track on a night out and it spiralled into a forgotten idea. Probably for the best, it was a bit scary.

Operation Lose 8lbs (aka Operation Lose 3.6287396kgs)

Eat less, move more. It's a basic principle, equation, solution. I would prefer to sit on the couch eating biscuits, but life doesn't always work out the way you want.

So I have set myself a manageable target of 8lbs. I haven't given myself a deadline, focussing on what rather than when. Though a wedding in 5 weeks and clothes that are just teetering on comfort should keep my mind, and my mouth, focussed.

I love food, good food and bad food. I love cooking and I love eating out. I love talking about food, reading about food, thinking about food and writing about food. This can work for or against me, so it's just a matter of balance.

The gym and I have long since parted ways, we just weren't meant for each other, but I'd walk till I ran out of road. Preferring to have a route and set out on my own, at a fair pace, with some music or a phone call to keep me occupied.

This might be the thing that starts and stops the most often. In the week where I was full sure I was going to make progress I went out for two lovely dinners and put back on the 2lbs I'd lost the previous week, and the wedding is now in 4 weeks! A definite work in progress.

It got me thinking, this almost unfinished but not forgotten post, but I didn't come to any conclusions. I started thinking, but didn't quite finish. So instead of thinking any more I decided to hit 'publish post' instead.