Balancing not just the budget

Hi all

Sam - the looooong January is a bit of a nuisance isn't it. I used to get paid on the last Thursday of the month and it was a nightmare as the January gap could end up being six weeks. Fortunately now it's a set day in the month and they've already said when we will get our December pay - it's only a couple of days early.

MT I am doing OK on the organising and very glad to have got back to it - I had forgotten how nice it feels to come into a lovely tidy clean flat... not that I'm there yet, but progressing. The only problem is that the time I am spending on organising is taking away from study time, so I'm going to try and balance out the two. I also set up a work journal to get myself fully back to organised there, and will start cleaning out desk drawers etc - I suspect there's stuff that can go now I've moved jobs.

So today...

Organising things

• Shifted a big item of furniture that the landlord is going to pick up tomorrow. This will give me more storage space, which is desperately needed. I'm not sure how best to use it yet so will look at this on the weekend.
• Picked up a new food recycling caddy as yet another one has disappeared :mad: already clearly wrote the house number on it and am considering keeping it in the back garden instead of out front. Fortunately they're free, but it's a PITA when they 'go missing' as it means either waiting two weeks or wasting a lunchtime to get a new one.
• Completed the first week of my own design work journal and set up the next one. (Still waiting on my Desire Map planner for personal stuff.)

MSE things

• Ate one of the ready meals for work lunch when I decided to dial into a meeting instead of driving there.
• NSD

Sooo looking forward to the weekend - at college tomorrow which will be a really long day.

I'm trying to work on my sleep pattern as logically it would be better to start and finish work early and have more of the evening spare, than my current later pattern. So I'm avoiding screen time after 10pm, going to bed earlier, and am just getting to the point of waking up before my alarm. It will be all disrupted again with the early start tomorrow but I hope I'm getting somewhere albeit slowly.


Rosa xx

I'm a happy bunny :T.

Last time I was in college I decided I really need to sort out a study nook so I can enjoy my reading and internet-ing and DVDs. I always used to when I was studying before and it doesn't require a lot, just a clear spot around the bookcase and the sofa.

I've been sort of not using the living room and garden of my flat for a while, and couldn't really think why. Today when I finally tackled moving the bookcase and shifting a few other things I realised that I had not wanted to look at all my files and books from the course I hadn't finished - it made me sad. I also didn't like looking at the files and books from my masters, because I felt so awful for half of it and felt I had done it badly as well as just the memory of my emotional and health state at the time. Well today I realised that there is no longer any need for that - I know what was wrong during the masters, I was really ill. I've started getting my confidence back about that and have now got all my stuff for that subject together. And now that I've gone back to college to finish my other course, there is no need to feel bad about that either. I've cleared the bookcase, hoovered everywhere, wiped things down, and will start putting all the books back and organising things tomorrow night. And I've reshuffled things so the living room now looks fab - cosy and tidy and inviting.

I am just so happy I've done this - it feels like there has been a stagnant little corner of the room holding all that sadness, and now it's washed away. The room is mine again and I am back to taking care of my home like I always did before I got ill with the gluten issue. I've still got bits of decluttering to do, but I reckon by January I can make this flat look great again and be pleased not embarrassed to have people here.

I think in some ways Marie Kondo is quite right - stuff holds emotional power for us, and needs to be let go of or cared for to stay healthy.

I'm off to curl up on my newly cleared and cosy sofa


Rosa xx

Decluttering continues - in a kinda random order as I had a sudden need to go through one of my cupboards and check the dates on things, but it turned out to be just as well as quite a bit of stuff was out of date. So that's now sorted and I made a bit more space there which should enable easier use of the coffee machine!

Still loving my living room space and that is also making progress. I'm sticking to doing things a little at a time and whatever feels easiest so am currently working my way through some shredding. The landlord is coming in the week to do two things that I should probably have asked him about ages ago and will both make the flat nicer - I put them off when I thought I was going to buy the place, but have now decided I deserve to live somewhere as nice as it can be for however long I am here .

The budget is a little over what I had planned for December so I will have to use some of this month's paycheque in the same month. I have just emailed a coach about help with preparing for a job interview next year so that is an additional cost, on the other hand now that I am cosily sorted with my study nook I feel much more settled and will hopefully just enjoy the things that matter to me without any unnecessary spends.

Oh and in small :money:things - I checked my Clu7car3 account and found £6.50 I didn't know about - turns out it's not worth spending on the thing I wanted, as I'd have to pay delivery, but worth knowing. I also have about £7 in Boots points and have to sort out my Wa1trose card next time I'm in there as I seem to have two. And I have got six months Ama3on Pr1m3 for free as a student membership trial!

So all going OK here, hope everyone else is having a lovely weekend too.


Rosa xx

Why Being Organised Is Brilliant #1

I ordered a leather jacket from Ebay a few weeks ago, I suddenly remembered one I used to have and by a stroke of pure luck there was one the same for sale.

The only thing is, it smells of someone else's perfume - even after weeks of being left hanging in the breeze inside out. Which has meant every time I've put it on, I've felt a bit weird about it and taken it off again.

What it needs is say, a steam cleaner.

Oh, you mean like the one I found in the cupboard that I bought from Ald1 ages ago and had forgotten about?

Jacket now steam cleaned


Rosa xx