108 spiders are a girl's best friends

Msmoneyspider

Day 80

Thanks savingholmes, - you are absolutely right. I will make sure I have a very clear exit plan/clause in place, but I really hope that we can make this work.

When I first started the business it grew very quickly and I was overwhelmed with all the paperwork and staff issues. I pulled right back and retained just a few, very profitable, easy to manage accounts. Recently, however, I have got a full licence to practice, in two areas. If I do not grow the business and employ more people the model is unsustainable.

I had a very productive day with my new assistant yesterday, she is excellent. She was also very enthusiastic about a form of tithing I do. I find that giving away 10% of any income, after costs, to those in need, gives me joy and seems to increase my abundance. Enlightened selfishness lol!!

With the money, I informally set-up an arrangement which is helping a lot of people. It is a very creative, win/win solution to a problem involving elderly persons and it is taking on a life of its own. It should also now become officially registered and allowed to really grow and flourish, but again I need to share the load with capable people.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.' Eleanor Roosevelt

It was quite unsettling, yesterday, that the biggest file and fear was connected to my ill health! It was full of letters and about 2 inches thick. My form of encephalitis is a very rare, recurrent autoimmune illness. I have had three very bad episodes in 11 years and have been in remission since March 2016. I cannot afford to play Russian roulette with my brain.

Going to move ahead but very cautiously x.

Msmoneyspider

Well it has been 5 months since I last posted but I have recently had a yearning to return to a more simple, frugalista lifestyle, so I am back.....

Things went well with my assistant and I got an excellent review from the Inspector, but work took over again and I felt completely out of balance. After one particularly gruelling weekend, I grabbed the reins and pulled the horses right back in. I helped my assistant get another job and moved on all the work I had which was not bringing me joy. I even stopped the charity project as it was sapping my energy too.

So as of today, I am left with the work I want to do, which just covers my outgoings, but leaves my weekends free and allows me to work 4 days a week, which was my original goal. I have no spare cash to splash.

My budget for January looks like this:-

Husband for bills: £525.00
Misc: £200.00
Office: £360.00
Accountant: £120.00
Web: £ 50.00
Bank Charges £ 25.00
Art £ 80.00
Food £550.00
Hair and Nails £ 100.00
Insurances: £100.00
Wages £3,810.00
Expenses £5,920.00
Income £5,970.93

I do have £16,000.00 in business reserves and I do not want to use this.

I also have two stone to lose by 1st May 2020, moving from 13 stone 8 to 11 stone 8.

I am going to put on my own oxygen mask first and heal the healer, before I take on any new clients.

I am reading a great book called "Women who run with wolves, contacting the power of the wild woman", which feels like a resume of much of what I have been through during the last 10 years, as I have tried to find some authentic ground on which to build a solid foundation for the future.

Overall, I am feeling very strong, positive and grateful; ready to gain control of my budget and weight..

Best wishes to all for 2020. I will check in tomorrow.

Msmoneyspider

My mantra is:-

"I am a beautiful, balanced, spiritual being who is 11 stone 8 pounds".
"I am joyfully and creatively sticking to my budget".

My symbol is a whitefeather and my new number is 9.

The two things that I am doing today to fully align myself with the above are:-

1. A no spend day.
2. An audit of the freezer/cupboards and menu plan for the coming week.

savingholmes

Nurturing yourself is definitely a good plan. Have a fab new year. Good to see you back posting.

Msmoneyspider

Hi savingholmes,

Yes, it is good to be back. I think that I feel overexposed at times and then run for cover, but on the other hand there is something about MSE that has really helped me over the years and draws me back in, so hopefully I will have the courage to stick around through 2020 and support others too as they figure out their paths.

I have just finished watching the series Gold Digger and really enjoyed it, despite it being panned by the critics. I think it was because all the skeletons in the family cupboards were exposed before they could move on and the protagonist takes a chance at life with a man 30 years younger, who seems to love her curves and wrinkles!! Maybe I am a naive believer in fairy tales ........

Still going to shave two stones off my curves though, becase I could not help thinking she would have been healthier without them .... call me shallow.

I had a NSD yesterday and menu planned based around an old favourite on here, Jack Munroe's book, which I have borrowed off my sister. Yesterday I made her chicken satay dish and it was cheap, simple and yummy.

Today I am going to go for a walk and get 10,000 steps in and have another NSD.

Msmoneyspider

So it is the 31st of December 2019 at 7.33 and I have been dreaming all night about 2020 and it felt good!

I woke up this morning determined that my week would look like this from 2nd January 2020.

Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday - 9.00 - 5.30 pm (hour for lunch) - Work
Saturday/Sunday - family/friends and catching up on chores
Wednesday - Art and then hiking in the afternoon (once a month horse riding)

My plan is to come in under budget on my calories (1300 a day) and spending budget each week, overbudget on my steps and bounces (10,000 steps a day and 500 bounces).

I really like my office, it has a beautiful view, art all over the walls and relaxing crystals and candles strategically placed. I even have a shiatsu foot massager, boogie bounce and yoga mat installed in it and a really comfortable rocking chair with foot rest for contemplation ….. c'est la vie. It is probably more suited to a gym/spa environment, but Inspector liked the vibe, so running with it. I just need to discipline myself on the work front and will track hours actually put in.

DH is a fab cook and made a victoria sponge with cream and jam, yesterday, that the women's institute would die for. Going for a hike today with DS and DH and potentially MIL and taking sandwiches, flask and some of the cake. I did 8,600 steps yesterday, so need to clock up 11,400 today to break even.

I am going to turn one of the boards in the office into a vision board and on the 2nd January 2020, I will be in the office creating the pictures to match the above dream/plan.

Msmoneyspider

I enjoyed my walk with the family, so much, that we are going on another one today! Who would have thought that munching on a tuna mayonnaise sandwich and Victoria cake in -3 degrees could be so much fun. I did not feel an ounce of envy for the other walkers who were making a beeline for a pub which has a roaring log fire and does the best hamburger and chips in the county!

It also made me realise that clocking up 10,000 steps a day is a lot harder than I remember. It is a good couple of hours of walking a day, one of which needs to be actively carved out, as my miscellaneous steps struggle to hit 4,000. I will need to get my thinking cap on here to make sure this happens.

I have also cancelled my amazon prime, amazon music, audible and gym membership this month, all of which could not really be justified in terms of my useage and I will save a whopping £100.00.

doingitanyway

Just lost a post, so the new shorter version is, I have subscribed, well done on the steps (this is the way forward for me too after wasting gym memberships) and your office sounds amazing. Happy New Year.

Msmoneyspider

Thank you doingitanyway, we can be cheerleaders for each other!

I enjoyed the walk with the family yesterday too, this time it was a very blustery beach walk. I live in one of the most beautiful places on earth, so it is almost criminal not to commune with nature on a regular basis.

Really inspired by a kite surfer too. The speed, agility and breathtaking leaps he performed were quite mesmerising. We were all convinced that the wind would be too strong for him and he would rise up like Dorothy in the wizard of oz and never come back down to earth again, but in the hour we watched he never fell once.

A kite surfer is going on my vision board today, because as the La La song, "Here's to the ones who dream" goes;

"He captured a feeling, a sky without ceiling, a sunset within a frame." I have no intention of taking up the sport, though paraglided in my much younger days and adored it. What I want to focus on are things that give me that same feeling and make my spirit soar.

I went through my pre-Christmas purchases/gits too and a top, electric toothbrush, boots and trousers are going back because I really don't need them. I already have three good pairs of boots that I love …..Continuing to move into a DFW mindset.

doingitanyway

I love walking in nice places but struggle to walk in the city. A blustery, blow away the cobwebs walk by the sea sounds amazing.

I have a little room that still needs a new window. Once it is in I might turn it into a little study as I am inspired by yours!

Have a good day tomorrow