A path out of the Jumble

Jumblerina

Thanks DIA it was definitely an eye opener, will see if it helps me stay on track this month!

Thanks for your comments on emergency/holiday funds I'll be feeling wealthy in a few months time :rotfl:

Jumblerina

Morning Diary,

It may be drizzly and a little grey outside today but I'm feeling more upbeat after having a grumpy Sunday, I've been working my way back to my usual, happy self sometimes it can be all too easy to let's things get the better of you.

At times like these, I like to think about the wonderful and usually free things I have I my life. Every time I do this,I always end up feeling a million times better, today I'm thankful for friendship.

I know a lot of people yet I can count my true friends on one hand, people who are always there for you, at the best and very worst of times. People you can be yourself around and whenever you spend time in their company you feel energised and happy

I'm very lucky to have 3 friends who make feel like this, it's even more important when you're going through a tough time. So I'm extra thankful for them and having seen or spoken to them all yesterday, it's given me a wonderful boost.

Had a good clean of the house yesterday too, I do love the smell of polish, seeing shiny taps and clean floors sadly the clean kitchen floor was only temporary as my puppy has developed a love of digging :rotfl: my lawn is presently a patchwork of holes in varying depths, it's almost artistic certainly makes walking on the lawn in the dark interesting!

Had a little play around with Octobers budget, it's looking pretty tight as I've factored in £150 for an emergency/Christmas fund. I need to look closely at my personal spending budget and make some decisions about what to spend/what to cut this month.

So today I'll be.....

Re-visiting my October budget and getting it finalised
Attempting to reduce the shredding mountain
Make a cake
Make a list of subscriptions/renewal dates
Cleaning the rest of the house
Mopping the kitchen floor

Hope you all have a wonderful day

Jumblerina xxx

doingitanyway

Funny but all I can see on that list is CAKE
Glad you are feeling happier...

Jumblerina

Morning Diary,

Is it me or are pay days even more exciting when you're debt busting? it's a beautiful, crisp Autumn morning out there and I'm feeling motivated

Yesterday I wasn't as productive as I could've been as I had a headache on/off all day, when I woke up with it I thought it would go, yet it decided to stay as an unwelcome guest until the evening! Still got a bit of a niggly headache this morning but I'm not going to let it stop me, I'll just take parcetomol and chug water

I did tinker with the budget and make some fluffy American pancakes - yet I abandoned the rest of the jobs I had planned in favour of playing with my puppy, he needs tonnes of exercise at the moment and watching N@tflix! It was indeed a day of two extremes :rotfl:

So I'm going to have some coffee, eat the rest of the pancakes and plot out my goals for the week and month ahead I'll be back later to review the week and post some goals for the month ahead - I do love a good planning session

Hope you all have a wonderful day xxx

Jumblerina

Morning Diary,

It's that time of the week again, I'm finding looking at my spending each week is really helping, although I did I have a mini puppy related spending spree last night :eek:

So, here's this weeks spending

Saturday 17 September 2016
Travel: £5
Lunch & tip: £37.35
Tea: £1.95

Sunday 18 September 2016
NSD

Monday 19 September 2016
NSD

Tuesday 20 September 2016
Bus fare: £2.60
Coffee/Panini: £7.60
Takeaway: £10
Top up shop (bread, milk): £6.33
Brush for puppy: £5.60

Wednesday 21 September 2016
Puppy food: £46.99

Thursday 22 September 2016
Puppy toys: £22.18
Puppy food bowl: £7.91

Friday 23 September 2016
NSD

Total weekly spend: £153.51
NSD: 3/7
Takeaways eaten: 1/7

What went well this week

I've managed to meet my NSD goal and when I went top-up shopping I stuck to the essentials and avoided buying things as they were on offer. I also got the bus home despite being tempted by getting a taxi.

What I've learnt this week

Despite having nothing left in my personal spend budget for the month, I still spent £56.90 :eek: I didn't really focus at the start of the month on what I'd be spending my personal budget on, it left me with nothing at the end of the month. I'll need to do things differently this month.

The puppy spending is still tough to budget for, I got the essentials food and bowl for him. He's eating a fair amount at the moment as he's growing so quickly and his food is expensive! I've found a slightly cheaper brand my Vet recommended, so we'll transition him onto that at the end of the month.

I did guilt purchase £22.18 worth of balls, ball thrower and toys last night as I'm so worried about his exercise. I'm not up to walking him as much due to being ill, he has a dog walker 4 days a week who takes him on a 20 minute walk. He's a Labrador so needs lots of play, running and 2x 20 minute walks a day.

Review of last weeks goals

[STRIKE]Aim for 3 NSD's[/STRIKE]
Done

Do a de-clutter/cleaning plan
Didn't do a plan but house is clean and tidy, not much de-cluttering done this week. Need to get back onto that for the upcoming week

[STRIKE]Take the bus to my appointments[/STRIKE]
Done

Review my subscriptions
It's kind of a boring job, so I've left it :rotfl: typical of me, I'll get to it this week

[STRIKE]Build in an emergency fund to my monthly budget[/STRIKE]
Done I've set up an emergency fund and a debt payments online saver. I've moved the money I've allocated to them straight away from my pay, that way I can't spend it

Goals for the upcoming week

Aim for 4 NSD's
Make a de-clutter plan
Review my subscriptions
Send off my application for my bus pass
Plan my personal spends to avoid over-spending
Don't guilt buy for my puppy, it doesn't help me or him - ask for help from OH if I'm not up to walks or play

Jumblerina xxx

Jumblerina

Morning Diary,

I read a really interesting article about online life, smartphones and always being connected. It's really struck a chord with me, I do occasionally have phone free weekends to just detach from the constant whirl of messages and emails.

To start off with I catch myself wanting to check my phone but then I get used to it and enjoy the time to think and connect with people in person

I've been thinking I need some time to re-connect with myself, I'm possibily the most easily distracted person ever :rotfl: so, some time offline with my own thoughts, spending time with my OH and friends is something I'd love to do, yet have always been scared to do.

There are so many benefits to being online, this lovely community is one of the best with all the things you stand to gain by being online, you don't always realise what the trade off is.

They do say, doing something that challenges you helps you to grow and this can't be as bad as the time I gave up chocolate for 30 days in March :rotfl:

So, my dear readers - I'm going to switch off my smartphone and my iPad for a week and have a little foray into the offline world. I'll be back on Saturday 1st October at 8.30am to let you all know how it went,

I hope you all have a great weekend and a wonderful weekend ahead

Jumblerina xxx

Tinkerbelle2000

Hi Jumblerina what an interesting and inspiring diary you have. I've just finished reading it when I should be in bed lol. I love your weekly updates, its something I might just write in my planner to myself. I must admit I'm another who loves a good list (and a bit of a stationery addict).

You will be in London the same month as us, I wonder if it is the same weekend. How funny would that be.

My emergency fund is a £0 at the moment so I do need to re-budget after the London trip. Every spare penny is allocated until we go. I too had the problem of too many take-aways and have managed to cut right back on those.

I also love your year plans. I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks. I'm 45 now and have a few goals that I would like to meet before I'm 50 and being debt free is just one of them. It might do me good to write them down as I still keep checking back on the resolutions I made at the new year.

Well I guess I'll speak to you in a week, thank you for posting on my diary. Hope you have a good week.

Tink xx

Jumblerina

Thanks so much for stopping by Tink and your kind comments I love stationary and I'm trying to use my current stock of notebooks before buying anymore :rotfl:

Hope you're getting back on track with the emergency fund and I totally feel your pain in the takeaway front good luck with your plans and resolutions.

Jumblerina xxx

Jumblerina

Good afternoon Diary,

I'm back in the land of the Internet it's been a really interesting week and I've learnt a lot about how I use the Internet, what I want to change and more about myself.

With the whole de-cluttering process that's ongoing in my house and changes I've already made, I've been thinking about what steps I want to take to achieve more of a balance in my life.

It's all too easy for me to be busy all the time, with work, housework, messages, e-mails, TV, reading, browsing the Internet, looking up random facts. Yet when I started to strip things back, it's given me time to think about what's really serving me and what's holding me back.

It's helped me to re-balance the amount of time I spend online and on my smartphone. To use the time to look after myself, work on clearing my debts and get healthier/more active.

Time to ring the changes

Jumblerina xxx

Lauralozzle

Welcome back.

It is easy to be constantly busy/bustling around with chores, work etc. It's good that you've taken time to reflect on that and are looking to readdress the balance.