Earthgirl gets back on track!

SmlSave

This saving of £19 is equivalent to one hour of working at my normal job, if I think of it this way it keeps me motivated!

What a great way to think of a takeaway!

how did the mortgage quote, allotomont and leaflets drop go?

earthgirl

Mortage quote I didn't get, putting it off I know!

Allotment is doing well, and another lady allotmenteer has kindly been opening and closing my green house for me when I've been at work and its been hot.

Leaflet drop went ok - its really good exercise and good for the business too, so I plan to do another tomorrow.

Sleep is much better but take antihistamines now to cause a bit of drowsiness and only take the big ones twice a week!

Managed 3 tutorings on Monday, and have others booked for Friday, and I've had an enquiry about another lot of tutoring.

Now I am going to finish of my work, then have a bath and relax.

earthgirl

:oI can't believe I haven't posted on here for over a month! I have really wandered from the money saving path and am feeling really bad. I am trying to figure out why I lost my motivation and can only think that I got so stressed out with so little time to spare that I started spending to make my life more convenient and it spiralled.

During this time I have still overpayed by over £1,000 per month, BUT my reserves are low now and I am going to have to work really hard to earn/save the money for next month.

Here is my confession I have spent:

Hair cut £35, smellies £25, beautician £35
Clothes (scarf £7.50, top £3, cardi £12, 4 pairs shoes £35, bag £20)
House (Candle £1.50, plants £4, flowers £5, plants for garden £12)
Shopping other than necessities (persil £6, slimfast shakes £30, nibbles £4, Go Ahead bars £4, desserts £2)
Sending flowers / wine rather than a hand made card or pressie £45
Hotel rooms £200
Meals out and takeaway £200

Total wasted on luxuries in 6 weeks: £686 :eek:

This is without mentioning the petrol and electricity that I have not been MSE about! It is terrible, once I start spending I am just ridiculous.

On the plus side the extra time I have had (by buying everything for convenience) I have put into working on the business, which is stilll really successful and has definately benefited. I suppose I also have a 'stock pile' of clothes and smellies to last me the year!

I have set myself the challenge of earning back the £686.So this is my plan to get back on track:

1. Send all of my old gold away to get the value in my account.
2. Make sure I use quidco currently £70 balance.
3. Hand make presents
4. Encourage OH to be MSE - big bone of contention!
5. I have loads of salad at allotment, potatos nearly there, so I should maintain and use allotment food.
6. Have a freezer and cupboard month. Make use of cheap meals using eggs, potatos and salad.
7. Bake instead of buying biscuits.
8. Pick flowers from the hedgerows and garden instead of buying.
9. Use my slimfast shakes up, get plenty of exercise and then return to normal healthy eating.
10. Stick to budget of £8 per week for groceries - Milk, fruit.
11. Don't spend money on hotel rooms, these are a luxury -stay with friends and camp more.
12. Don't buy any more clothes, shoes, bags, etc. I will also return clothes still with tags (not counted in the total, so won't affect my challenge)
13. Don't waste electricty. Try to use less petrol, no special trips in the car and use bike more.
14. Make sandwiches for trips.
15. Don't buy bottles of water - get organised and refill.
16. Get organised at work, don't get stressed out and return into the needless spending spiral!

If I don't do these sort of things consistently then I can kiss my dreams of paying off the mortgage goodbye!

Right, I'm off to make a start, and I'm going to come back and post as often as I can (even if its a bit boring to read!) as I need to keep going.

wantabetterlife

Hi earhtgirl, was wandering were you went. I still think you are doing excellent making £1000 o/p every month! You have to have treats every now and then otherwise you would lose all hope! Hope work is less stressful for you now, im sure you are looking forward to having the summer off!! Best of luck

StuartGMC

EG
I think I would include Persil in the essentials (or at least a washing powder of some sort!). Take a review of the past month vs your "target" and look for an overall balance in all aspects of life. If the business needs you to get some convenience foods on occasions, start to budget for it; you indicate it has helped, so do a complete balance of return i.e. for say, 3 convenience meals has it made a significant increase in income to the business or in other words - what return on "investment" has it achieved by creatng some time in your day to address the business needs?

Also, do consider a budget which includes some leisure and enjoyment. If you find you need to reduce your OP to £800 a month, that is still a massive OP, and maybe it is more realistic to aim for this, with occasional payments on top?

This sounds like the ideal time to do a formal review of all your finances and personal life, business and job with OH. Set a weekend aside to do so and look at your 3, 5 and 10yr plans.

All experiences are worthwhile if we learn from them. Hope to hear more regularly from you now and best wishes.

Trying_to_be_good

EG

I think we all need to have a break/release every now and again - for me it means I come back to the challenge refreshed and remembering why I'm doing it.

I spent £130 in M&S on clothes last week as I had a 12.5% discount voucher (shopping logic). I could do with the clothes (included a new suit for confidence boost for job interview Im hoping to get etc), but none of them fitted, so they all went back. Will have to get some summer stuff sometime.

Life is for living now and in the future - trying to find the balance between the two is tough. Too much of either one is a bad thing for me.

Be refreshed, back on the band wagon!

setmefree2

what they all said - you've got to have a life so don't beat yourself up too much:D

Kind Regards

SMF2

SmlSave

Welcome back

Sounds like a reasonable plan of attack - good luck (esp with your OH - mine is just the same)

earthgirl

Thanks everyone, this is the nicest board, everyone is always so encouraging!

I know there needs to be a balance between living and OPing, but I seem to be too far one way or the other! I think I will reassess our finances on Friday and see what is really going on Thanks SGMC)

However, all day I have been waiting to post about my success, so thats a good sign!

Today I have been so motivated, I weeded and watered the allotment before work, and had a nsd - I took tea and water to work, did lunch duty, and two tutorings after work so £53 for OP pot!

I'm now going to do some business work then relax (when I'm back on track I feel so much better!)

Tomorrow I will do loads of organising and planning, then work on business and then off to a cocktail party (for networking purposes!)

Thanks again for encouragement

EG x

StuartGMC

EG
That's good to hear and I hope OH will also be involved in the review on Friday too; it helps to have you both focused on the effort.