Looking to have a simpler life .......

Karmacat

Hurray to a cinema trip enjoy.

Kittenkirst

Oooh what did you go to see?

Downshifterella

Went to see the greatest showman, loved it!! ( Munched on smuggled in sweets to save pennies too which were yummy! :rotfl:)
Back on the healthy eating plan today!

Karmacat

That sounds like its wonderful and good to hear about smuggled sweeties too - dreadful that they *have* to be smuggled, but still

pinkypig

Great start to the weekend Ella, love Hugh Jackman nearly as much as I love sweets:rotfl:
Have a lovely rest of the weekend xx

FrugalWeirdo83

Subscribing

Downshifterella

Bah! Just lost post ....
Shall retry in brief with the power of emojis

Friday ...hurrah! :j

Thanks pinky , karma and frugalwierdo ....Mr Jackman and smuggled in sweets were indeed both lush!

Spring like sunshine today! Very lovely :cool:

Mortgage free balance sitting around £91,500 and food spends for the month £110 with little we need to top up with before payday!

Going to try cash only spending in march to see if this changes the tendency to spend in cards and "pay later" ( not debt but not necessarily keeping track of spends):money:

Cheap weekend planned with some social bits .
Wine o clock now methinks! :beer:

Happy weekend Xxx

Downshifterella

Helllooooo ....

Well, seem to have neglected my diary for the last month! Maybe subconscious guilt as it's also been a bit spendy! One of those times where cash has frittered away on I'm not sure what and grocery spends much higher than aimed due to poor planning and multiple "I'll just stop for milk and something for dinner" trips to the shops that end up £20 lighter!!

Not helped by the fact the last week has been pretty miserable health wise on my side ( the kind where I catastrophise that I'll never get back to "normal" again ....of course not helpful! ) ...so I thought a lazy Sunday catchinh up on some diaries in bed might help me focus the mind in a more positive way!

So.... First things first, MF figure by my estimates standing at around £88,500 so that's pretty blinking amazing!:j:j

Before I got ill, had made some real strides on the decluttering which I'm pleased with, and had been doing good on getting my exercise and running back up and going ( illness has put a halt to that (and could be a good few weeks of limits) which is probably why I'm feeling a bit gloomy ...they are right when they say those endorphins really do help! )

We have a full freezer and cupboards thanks to the shopping trips so am planning to eeek that out over the next few weeks to balance things out.

Some of the "frittering away" money has been on lovely things and self-care ....bought a book is wanted for a while, treated a friend to coffee and bought some new baby things for another friend . Mindless frittering on other stuff could be curbed tho!

I've been thinking more about a shorter term aim for this year in terms of work/life balance (rather than waiting till our mortgage is gone!) . Currently my commute and working hours make it feel like it's difficult to fit much in after work and I'm trying to cram everything in to 2 days at the weekend and end up starting back on Mondays exhausted as much as refreshed!

There are a few options to think about, as I think I'm pretty clear now this way of doing things is not sustainable ...

I'm going to look into options .... some being flexible working/reduction in hrs perhaps by a half day/day a week , or again looking at other jobs with a shorter commute.
My work life balance/ questions around "do I want to do this forever" seems to be a reoccurring theme for me, but I mostly enjoy what I do....so I'm not sure if it's the external around me I need to change, or the internal attitude about it ( or perhaps a bit of both!)

That's all a bit deep for a Sunday morning, but I've been up since 7 and the caffeine's had a chance to kick in now!
Hope all are surviving in the snow okay

Ella X

Karmacat

Sounds good, Ella. Sorry you've been ill, but honestly taking notice of ways that your life isn't currently sustainable long term is the best thing you can do. I don't think I did that, and it's created big problems as a result. Short terms aims are great too, mind you

michelle09

Hey Ella, sorry that you've not been feeling ill.

As KC says, sometimes you need to look at your life and see where things are currently not working. Is flexible working a potential in your current job?