A Country Cabin

newgirly

Don't think it counts as moneysaving really but I bought a dress today to wear to my kids 18ths/21st party and it was £99 reduced to £39 in the sale and I got about 3% cashback

Plus many bottles of drink as they are currently 25% off in tesc* , again this is more spending than saving :rotfl:

IAAM

Hi newgirly

I hope they have a lovely birthday celebration. :beer: My DDs are 3 years apart so I also had an 18th and 21st in the same year. It was an expensive time but it's a great age gap when they're little, as well as when they're grown up.

Well done finding a dress - sounds like you got a fab dress at a great price :j. The way I see it is, if you know you have to buy something but you do your best to try and reduce the cost then that counts as money saving. . Sometimes, a particular occasion needs the MF journey to be put on the back burner temporarily.

Hope everyone has a fantastic time at the party

IAAM

I've just spent some time looking at others MF diaries and, crikey, what inspiration! This is such a great forum with loads of support and ideas. I might need this when my MF honeymoon period fizzles out...

My plan today is to:
check out the book Your Best Year Ever
come up with some kind of strategy to achieve a better balance of getting things done during my free time, and having some relaxing time
have a quick look at my finances (only a week into my MF journey but my overall finances are a bit unknown)
meal plan for next week (haven't done this in a long while and my shopping bills reflect that!!)
review what I can do to help on my MF journey

Happy Sunday everyone

julicorn

The diaries are so inspiring, aren't they? I think it's so awesome to see people get closer to their goals, even if there are set-backs and changes in plans every now and then.

Sounds like a great list of plans you've got for today! I need to start planning meals again as well, I've always found it so helpful in the past, I find it super hard to get back into the routine again if I've had any sort of break from it. Silly, I know! And making time for relaxation is super important as well, and so easy to overlook

Enjoy the lovely weather today!

IAAM

Morning everyone - looks like it's going to be more of the same with the weather today!

Although I'm not a morning person, I've come to realise over the last few days that, if I don't set myself a To Do list first thing (or the night before), I end up having an unproductive day.

So my list is ready for the day ahead :j. I've also set myself a target to do at least 30 minutes exercise each day. However, I need to get my garden ready for planting some new flowers (new build; bland turf out the front). So....I spent my half hour digging over the front to get a patch ready for the plants. A win-win as it definitely ticks the exercise box, but also multi tasks as something I needed to do anyway. :T

I've also set myself a pledge to make sure I have half an hour away from my laptop at lunchtime so I might spend that time digging in some compost into the patch I've just dug over.

On the money front, I'm not exactly sure how on track I am but I do know that, no matter what your plans, there's always something that's ready to challenge it! I've shuffled around some of the money between envelopes so I need to have a think about that. It could be that I've allocated myself the wrong amounts or (more likely) I'm not being disciplined enough about sticking to a budget.

I am doing well with my petrol allowance though as I really think twice before using the car, and I make sure I combine any trips with incorporating other things (like going to the recycling centre, dropping things off at family/friends etc).

Have a good day everyone :-)

Runders

Hey IAAM,

Sounds like you are making good progress on the garden. I was just really starting to get there with mine before I came away. Thankfully my friends live opposite and will be taking care of watering the newly planted lavender etc. for me.

I know what you mean about managing people. I work away for long stints and so when I get back I get invited out for lots of lunches and dinners etc. Some of my friends don't seem to understand when I say I am trying not to spend too much money. The thing is it may be their only lunch out that week, but it could be the 4th or 5th I've been invited too. Now the garden is looking nice I am going to start suggesting that we have afternoon lunches (and gins) sitting out there instead.

How is the budget coming along, have you got a better sense of where you are? I've made a new budget up this week, the real test will be when I am back home.

Hope you have a good weekend!

pinkypig

Hi IAAM :wave:

Balancing getting stuff done with getting enough R&R is an endless challenge but you sound like you're well on your way to getting it sussed. I love a list but now try and add things like reading and half an hour sitting in the garden on to it:D
Good luck with all your plans

julicorn

Hi IAAM! That plan with the to do lists sounds really positive, and 30 minutes exercise every day is such a good and important target. I really need to start exercising again, I've let myself go a little

As for the shuffling money about, I think that's completely normal, especially as no two months are ever completely the same. In the system I use, that's completely planned in. Essentially, because you've made plans for all your money, you can then also adjust them if you're deciding to overspend in a category (e.g. if you're wanting to eat out again, but have no money left, you can take the money from another category, ideally before you overspend. Although flexible, it's still motivating and really makes you question your choices - e.g., am I really willing to steal money away from my holiday savings goal, or home improvements, or that dentist bill I've got coming up, just to get pizza? Or should we just make pizza at home instead, and not mess with the other categories?)

Suffolk_lass

Hi IAAM, I have been reading since you started this diary but coming out of lurkdom to suggest something.

There is a National Gardens Scheme (known as the yellow book) app that I have. I regularly check out the default "what is on near my location" - people open their gardens for charity so you pay a small amount to look around (gain ideas, motivation, chat with experts about their solutions) and they nearly all have seeds and plants for a fraction of the cost from a garden centre. And cake. Nearly always tea and cake. So a good option for combining R&R with tasks in the home and garden. Of course you may already be set on a design :-)

IAAM

Suffolk lass - thank you so much for this :-). I've seen signs for the National Garden Scheme but didn't know too much about it. I've just gone onto the NGS website and there are loads of gardens relatively close to me so I'll download the app to my phone

Runders - I agree entirely about meals out etc. We seem to have quite a few different sets of friends who we meet up with. As great as that is, the cost does add up really quickly if you're not careful. Great that you have got a lovely neighbour to help out with your plants

julicorn - that's a really good point about shuffling the money around. This first couple of weeks has made me realise that maybe I haven't quite got the right amounts in the right areas. I'll see how it works out after I've been doing this for a month and then review it. Don't beat yourself up about exercise. It's genuinely difficult fitting stuff in as life is always so busy. You could start by always making yourself run whenever you go upstairs, or take things up one item at a time. It is incredibly difficult doing anything in this weather though :-(

pinkypig - I do like the idea of momentum and building on achievements. Unfortunately, my half hour exercising has gone a bit pear-shaped over the last couple of days as I'm just too hot to do anything. I've even put off housework as it's just too hot in the house. But, as long as I understand why my setback has happened (which I do) then I'll try again tomorrow.

I've been looking at ways to try and increase my income over the last day or so. Here's what I've done:

1. Checked my tax code is correct
2. Checked to see if there are any random benefits I'm entitled to
3. Checked my pension situation for the future (I only need 4 more years of NI contributions and then I'm entitled to a full pension when I retire. Yippee)
4. Reminded myself to use cashback sites when I'm spending
5. Ways to get a possible pay rise
6. Ways to get a possible bonus at work