Hypno's "there's more to life than debt" diary.....

Chapter 5.......

(I will one day add in links to the previous 4, in case anyone ever feels the need to spend a few weeks reading them!)

Anyway - the reason for another diary? Well, as you will probably know, I have been going hammer and tongs at the debt these last few months, and have done reasonably well in getting it down. In the last three months we have paid off one loan, a credit card, and are almost clear on the last card, which just leaves us 5 loans and has freed up about £500 a month in our SOA, making things much more manageable as far as budgeting is concerned, and as a result we have not incurred bank charges for the last two months.

BUT, great though this is, I am exhausted because of "life".......a stressful job (don't get me wrong, I enjoy it immensely, but it IS stressful) and the hours are reasonably long, plus running the children to karate and skiing all over the country, fitting in as many mystery shops as I can in lunchtimes which are often non-existant, not eating properly because I don't have time, and trying in vain to run a household with a lodger and the biggest pile of ironing this world has ever seen! The 4am and 5am starts are starting to get to me and when I DO get home, I just want to sit in a bit of "space" which is not possible due to the clutter.

So, anyway, I was chatting on the phone today to an MSE buddy and she suggested that I swap debt busting, for a month, with other things.......trying to bring my life back into balance a bit.

This seems the obvious thing to try - last month we got the tax payment which enabled us to get ahead of ourselves in terms of bringing the debt down, so I am going to use that to "buy myself some time" to get on top of the other stuff in order that I can restore some of my energy and enjoy the space I am in. My DFD won't change, if things go according to plan because I am still ahead in my 600 day challenge.

In turn, I am sure this will lead to being more productive, debtbusting wise.......If I can work in an ordered environment at home, just as I have to at the office, then I may well get more done......I have articles to write, clients to see, and all the MSE "extras" like matched betting that I do much better when I give myself proper time and space in which to work. We operate a "clear desk policy" at work, and I can stick to it there - so there is no real reason why I can't do it here.

Also, because of the nature of my job and the current environment, I need that strength of energy and focus every single day, and if I don't have it, I will not earn the money there that I am capable of earning.

But of course to get to that point, I need to GET ordered and sorted, and to date it hasn't happened because I haven't given it the time and effort that it needs because all that time and effort has gone on debt busting.

So, for October (and the last few days of September) I will be making minimum payments and sticking to the budget. I will still be taking part in the £10 a day challenge and the NSD challenge, because these are required to balance the books and the budgets, but apart from that I will not actively be stressing about making additional payments. Instead I will channel that energy into creating time and space order.

I already have workshops and mystery shops booked in, and I will still do these, but I will do them in a far less "chaotic, last minute" manner!

I have no idea if that makes sense to anyone else reading this, but it makes sense to me!

Sorry for the waffle.....:rotfl: