My Regaining the Focus and Getting Back on Track Diary

chocaholic110

Hi, I'm a regular on the boards who has been a lot less regular of late. Since joining the site a couple of years ago I have discovered a wonderful new way of living involving budgetting, free money, cashback sites and loads more...far too much to mention! I also discovered supportive board members and that we weren't the only people in the world with debts. I got into all the different boards with a vengeance and soon had dwindling debts, little clutter (thanks to ebay!), a clean house (flylady board), organisation...it was great. And much of the ups and downs can be found in my original diary

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=265959

So what happened???

Today as I sit here the house is a mess, we have £1,200 sitting on my credit card, I need to lose about 2 stone, my wardrobe is full of horrible clothes that don't really fit, there are piles of stuff to ebay everywhere and I have no, repeat NO motivation to sort any of it. Well, I WANT to but seem incapable of making any physical effort, as evidenced by the fact that I said I would start a new diary on October 1st and here we are just doing it on the 12th!

So what's the problem?

Having thought about it, I think I need this site! Stupid as it sounds, I can't motivate myself on my own. So I've decided I should write myself a "To DO" list, at least weekly but maybe also with tasks to do by the end of the month.

The current situation...

I am grateful for:

3 lovely children -

• 14 year old DS (calm, quiet, intelligent, helpful - if I only had the one child I would think I was the perfect mother as he's never given me a moment's trouble in his life - so far),
• 9 year old DD (noisy, grubby, clever, attention-seeking, lively, pretty & active - the one who's always doing something (ie the one who costs us the most money!) whether it's football, dancing, drama, trampolining, gymnastics. She's the sort of person who wants to try anything and everything. She's also a bit Jekyll and Hyde and can be super helpful (school think she's great!) or up to no good (We see the other side of her) and finally;
• (nearly) 9 month old DS2 (commonly known as Tom, though why I name No. 3 and not 1&2 I have no idea). Demanding, loud, cheeky, gorgeous and bouncy - I think he's going to take after his big sister.

A lovely and helpful husband (when he's here!)
A (mostly) helpful mother
A varied and interesting job that I only need go to 3 days a week
Good friends, who I don't see nearly enough
We have always paid our bills etc, even if there's not much left over

I would like to improve:

• my house - it's far too small and with the addition of Tom we're all squished. However, it's been on the market for ages and no luck selling. We've decided to take it off for the time being due to...
• OH's job. He hates it and we both hate that he's away all week. The money isn't bad (as long as he's away) but the company is looking a bit shaky anyway so he's looking around for new opportunities - hebce the fact that we're holding fire on the house - at least we can pay the mortgage here.
• Our finances - we should be fine - we managed while I was on maternity leave so we should be laughing now that I'm back at work. I can't get our SOA to work though and calculting it is difficult as OH is paid weekly and his wages are variable.
• The mess everywhere - this SHOULD be the easiest to sort. We need a major declutter - ebay and freecycle. here I come!
• Other family situations. I don't want to go into detail here as this is one of the reasons I'm leaving my old diary behind but I've come to think the best solution is to leave well alone and get on with my own life.
• My weight / health - I have lost the baby weight but still need to get rid of the weight I was already carrying. Plus I am SO unfit. Started to tackle this somewhat in that I have meal planned for the last two weeks and actually cooked the meals (This is almost unknow for me. OH is our cook!)

Where to go from here?

I think a weekly / daily - depending on how much I'm at work "To Do" has got to be the way to go. So here goes...

hypno06

woooooooooooooo hoooooooooooooooooo

chocaholic110

Today I want to achieve

• [strike]Daily clicks [/strike](I haven't done these in so long and they were a nice boost to income)
• Ebay 10 items (got them photographed but need to list - forgot photos are on other computer that won't let me use Auctiva
• [STRIKE]Planning for work (the most important but funnily the one I always do last)[/STRIKE]
• [STRIKE]Clean the kitchen[/STRIKE]
• [strike]Clean the bathroom[/strike]
• Organise my wardrobe and put anything I never wear in a bag for "Bags 2 School" charity - will have to do next week
• [strike]HUGE pile of ironing[/strike]
• [strike]Write a list of what I need to buy for Christmas / DD's birthday[/strike]
• [strike]Go for a walk with OH and the children[/strike]

doodledo_2

Morning Choc and good luck with the new diary.

I am the same as you without this sight I am just not motivated. I try and wean myself off as I feel I spend too much time on here but when I do I don't do anything debt busting.

hypno06

I would HATE to think what sort of a financial mess I would be in if I drifted away from this site, even for a couple of weeks! This keeps me very definitely on the straight and narrow, so I can understand completely where you are coming from!

Enjoy the walk - it is a beautiful day!

PoorPrincess

Hi Choc,

Dont think i was about on here when your first thread was up and running but i can follow this one now. Good luck & well done for starting another!

Princess
x

chocaholic110

Hi doodledo and hypno, welcome to the new diary and glad I'm not the only one who needs a website to keep me on the straight and narrow!

Hi PoorPrincess, no I don't recognise the username but i haven't been here a lot the last couple of months. Welcome also and please feel free to post words of advice / constructive criticism etc.

ella_ella_ella

Hope you dont mind me following your diary as the other was a little too long to read fully.

Hopefully some of your motivation will rub off onto me as everything money and budgeting wise seems to have been forgotten since Natasha was born.

I also need a major declutter and to re-start the things that made a little extra cash - mystery shopping and especially matched betting as i did quite well at this 18 months ago. I also have a couple of small debts that i should be getting sorted rather than just ignoring.

Good luck x

chocaholic110

You can help me with the motivation by giving me a kick up the bum every once in a while!

Matched betting - still don't get that at all. Maybe you should teach me as it's probably the only avenue of income I haven't exhausted.

beanielou

Happy new diary!

Gemmzie

Hey Choc, happy new diary :beer: I know exactly what you mean about the variable weekly income (only with my dad's it's not even as organised as weekly sometimes!) making budgeting a nightmare, gotta say, I couldn't do it without Money!