The Longshot route to a new life!

Itsa_Longshot

Oh dear oh dear, shame on me - no diary update for 10 days! :eek:

I'm going to put it down to just feeling very 'meh' of late. Generally fed up with work and life in general. Consequently I've spent a bit of cash on some goodies to try and cheer myself up, probably shouldn't have done (well, no probably about it!), but what's done is done. One more food shop and tank of petrol to go this month, and I should still be up by about £200 though, not quite as much as I'd like.

One thing that will certainly cheer me up - a bank holiday weekend! :j Will be out during the day on Saturday (cheap though), then will have Sunday and Monday to get plenty done at home. I've put together, and am still adding to, a mammoth list of things to get done over the weekend. Some big, some small, some easy, some hard, mostly boring, and a few of them fun! :cool: I'll be turning the music up and really going for it this weekend!

I've also signed up for the next unit in my Open University course. This will start in October, though I should receive the books through next month and will try get ahead early on - that's the intention I usually start with, I shall try to actually follow it through this time! The fees amount to just over £100 a month from November for 8 months, but it's in the budget. It makes things a bit tighter for a while though, so certainly don't want any more loose spending like I've had recently.

belleandthebudget

At least you recognised the Cheer You Up spending and haven't added to the debt! Being up by less than you'd like is such an improvement for all of us that used to throw hundreds a month on the credit card during meh times. You're still doing great, Itsa!

Itsa_Longshot

Oh, in terms of money spent to cheer myself up, this is a long way down the list! I think the worst was a few years back when I woke up one morning and decided to go and buy myself a new PC that same day, right off the very pricey high street. :doh: I'm still kicking myself about that one now (and it did contribute to the debt), let alone the comparatively small spending this week.

What's not helping my mood recently though is lack of sleep. Over the last three weeks or so, I've nearly always been waking up during the night and taking a while to nod off again. Don't think I've ever done it so consistently before, and there's no clear reason for it either. And just to make it a vicious cycle, when I'm feeling low I tend to procrastinate far too much, particularly on my computer, and end up staying up late reading all sorts or watching trash on youtube. Stay up late, get less sleep, feel worse, stay up late and so on. *sigh* I've never been one for lying in bed in the mornings once I've woken up either! I shall be trying to turn my computer off earlier in the evenings and get to bed a bit earlier too. So as soon as this post has appeared, time for zzzz!

belleandthebudget

Turning the computer off earlier really does help. I've taken to reading before I go to sleep (I'm a TERRIBLE sleeper) and that also helps although I have to read a real book or on a Kindle that doesn't light up otherwise it just does exactly the same as the computer screen.

Other things that help me are making sure I'm warm enough and always have a glass of water by the side of my bed.

Itsa_Longshot

Well I failed entirely to get to bed any earlier these last two night - just short of 2am this morning when I climbed in to bed. Ooops. But it is a long weekend, and I've actually woken up this morning feeling very fresh and energetic! Work tomorrow though, so will certainly need to be in the land of nod earlier tonight.

On to financial matters though, and another month gone. For August, I'm up by £200.56, which is not quite as good as it should have been - but at least it's two consecutive months of being up by over £200 since seriously starting my debt-busting.

I had one annual spend of £75 on roadside service renewal, but let myself down a bit on other spending. £50 on furnishings, and just over £100 on entertainment, which is too high.

September will hopefully be a good one though. Only four weekends rather than five where I'll have a food shop and petrol, so should be around £70 better off. I'll also try to get through the month without any superfluous spending. I've therefore set an ambitious target of being up by £400 in September. This is after all debt payments too.

If I do this I want to start making additional payments towards my loan. If it runs it's natural course, I've got another two years to go. Monthly payments are £170, and the interest has just come under £20 for the first time. I'm getting rather keen to see this loan gone.

Have a great bank holiday everyone! :beer:

Itsa_Longshot

Well I've had a very productive day today, lots of housework, good amount of tidying up and a bit more decluttering. Felt pretty good all day despite the unnecessary late night, and had some lively cheery music on most of the day to keep me going - finishing off now with the awesome Lindsey Stirling.

But back to work tomorrow (can't say I'm looking forward to that) so I'll just check up on a few diaries here then head off to bed to read for a while before an early night. G'night all, hope you've had a great extended weekend!

moneyonmymindsam

I've just caught up with your diary again, you're doing really well !!


Well done for being so positive

Digging_2

Just a quick Hi from me. You're doing really well. I need to start decluttering. I may pinch your 'Ruthless Hour' idea;)

belleandthebudget

You're doing great with all this decluttering, Itsa! I need to take a leaf out of your book and just get on with it rather than arranging things into piles... whoops!

Itsa_Longshot

Thanks all! :hello:

I've a fairly quiet weekend ahead, so I'm planning to tackle my pile of paperwork. I've got one filing box and one desk drawer both with various hanging files, which I want to reduce down to just one or the other. There are also various separate piles of old bank statements, car documents and payslips, but I think I'll treat those separately.

In the desk drawer there are two bulging files of unsorted documents though - the 'I'll file it properly later' pile! Well, 'later' is now going to be this weekend.

I'll lay out each of my existing files, work through the miscellaneous pile and place the documents on top of the appropriate file, or create a new one. Then work through each folder and pile, putting things in order, and setting aside what's not needed. I've set a target of getting all the files in to just the desk drawer.

Then the shredding will begin! :eek:

Have a fabulous weekend everyone! :cool:

Edit: oooh, 3rd page!