Beating Lifestyle Inflation and Staying Mortgage Free!

earthgirl2

More diy oat milk made, along with things from olio collection/glut

parsnip and apple soup
veg and lentil soup 
kiwi and ginger Jam (frozen to give as gifts, thank you's etc)
sweet potato choc brownies 
ginger and honey chicken skewers 

still to do:
dust house
washing away
plant veg under fleeces

At cat sitting (I'm there a long time so need to keep busy!)

1. course (including charge up and free up space on phone for recording) 
2. Organise course 
3.  Edit yt video
4. reply to comments and emails
5. Work on ohs business
6. a few personal care tasks 
7. Yoga
8. reset up Airbnb 
9. other short term income tasks 
10. Sort out course website etc 
11. end of week and end of month admin 

remember to take
stuff for above 
lunch, dinner, breakfast 

teapot2

Wow thats a lot! enjoy the cat sitting even though you'll be busy 😻

South_coast

I think I'd just be watching the telly 🤣

earthgirl2

Had a lovely weekend. Planted veg seeds under fleece so I'm hoping for more germination in the next week or so with the warm weather. 

 Very productive cat sitting, and then a wonderful Mother's Day where I was totally spoilt by my boys. I got vouchers for them washing my car (for life) and also carrying all my bags for the rest of my life! Just carrying in the shopping will do tbh!
We had lunch out, pretty cheap but excellent and organised and paid for by my OH out of his budget. Played games and had a lovely family day in the sunshine. 

Busy day tomorrow. I'm collecting 7 olio items on way to work, then work, then 7 hour cat sitting. I have lots of admin still to do so it work out fine.

still to do at home 

1. dust house 
2. plant more seeds
3. Make soup
4. make oat milk 
5. pack lunch and dinner
6. last few end of week and month tasks 

Still to do admin

2. Organise course 
3.  Edit yt video
4. reply to comments and emails - this is never ending, thousands of comments. I did about 4 hours on this. So maybe another 4 hours to go? 
5. Work on ohs business
8. reset up Airbnb - fine for short term, need to organise longer term. 
9. other short term income tasks 
10. Sort out course website etc 
11. withdraw income for end of tax year 

earthgirl2

In the middle of March I came back to MSE so not quite sure how to round up march as I wasn't really tracking or really increasing income before but here's an update on 2 weeks:

Extra income (above normal wage)
£100 youtube
£230 cat sitting
£64 Vinted (but can't withdraw )

Saving money 
My weekly shops before were £100 or £130/week for 2 adults 2 hungry teens (teens also have school lunch £80 each per month)
Last part of March reduced to £75/week 
(first of April £50/week so definitely going in right direction). 

Savings on groceries 
- making oat milk
-olio a few times a week
- meal planning from things in the house
- soup for lunch
- foraging for herbal tea, wild garlic, gorse flowers 

I made sure my mileage claim at work was not missing ANY miles
I drove much more carefully and was very fueL conscious - saved £60 over previous month. 

I'm going to carry it over to April as I only really focused for 1/2 the month and I'm looking to use next years isa and pension allowance (to offset higher rate tax).

so I've loved being back here and getting things organised and frugal again. I really feel happy that I'm not wasting my time or resources anymore

earthgirl2

So April has started really well. Apart from some work issues around violence at work. Although I don't want to have to pay for more bills, I decided to join a union for a year as I can see that it would be a good thing to have this year. It's half price for 12 months so £10 per month. Another thing is as I'm getting more olio, I'm eating more bready things (hot cross buns seem to be unpopular here!) which isn't great for my waistline!

money making
£60 cat sitting 
a new tutoring client next week 
keep forgetting prolific - must remember!
Have not made time to work on my side hustle
No interest in Airbnb yet 
Vinted £3 sale

money saving
Walked to oilo
biked to cat sitting and can see me biking a lot more in the future to save petrol and keep fit
made foraged date night meal and it was delicious 
made chutney in slow cooker
processed olio foods to store them
discovered I can get 3 uses from one tea bag if I dry it out (sensing some procrastination tactics here)
washable toilet roll very easy and going really well 

I'm on Easter break now, I've got my FT job up to date and May is a mad month work and side hustle wise, so I want to relax more in the second week of my hols when I've got some trips booked, and get a bit more done this first week. 

I've obviously 🙄 been procrastinating about my side hustle so just need to get on and do it this week. 

Im going to try and busy myself with things that I'm procrastinating about and just get them out of the way!

3 hours side hustle (videos, course creation, website, comments, emails) 
1hour quick Income (Vinted, prolific cat sitting etc)
1 hour tasks that need doing like errands, cleaning, working on ohs business etc 

earthgirl2

Wow what gorgeous weather! I'm sitting in the garden getting organised and using Watty's gratitude prompts. My plans have had to change a little due to weather and also visiting my parents this week (my dad is away next week and I haven't seen my parents since Christmas so this week it is.) 

It's also wonderful weather this week and terrible next so I am unsure if my hiking and camping trip will go ahead next week. The other days I will probably be fine to do more work, where as the week I really want to enjoy the nice weather!

I've decided I need to split my jobs up into smaller tasks so that I can do a little each day or, if I miss a few days I can just catch up, without it seeming overwhelming and just giving up! 

I'm sorry this is very boring but writing lists on here like this in the past has been very productive I guess it's the accountability! 

Urgent todos
✔️ do a shopping list, shop from home,
 ✔️ do weekly shop use vouchers. 

✔️ Pack for trip to parents incl breakfast on the road
make sure my boys have plans when I'm away 
✔️ Swap library books done
cook soup for lunch
✔️ cook dinner
✔️ deal with kids medical things
shop and scan


Then
drip feed s and a isa as much as I can 
✔️ Marketing for ohs business
edit and publish yt video
✔️ cleaning (1/2 done)


Big jobs split into One small task per day for April. 

Each day list 10 things on Vinted plus - 

✔️ 1.Transfer videos off phone to editing software 
2. film remaining videos for course (4)
3-8 write course documentation (1-10 this will take 5 days)
8-13 edit course videos (12, this will take 5 days)
14. write course blurb etc
15. Set up course website 
16. upload course to website
17. marketing plan for course and coaching
18-20 schedule marketing/social posts etc for course and coaching 
20. Set up coaching options- booking
21. Record yt video explaining course/ coaching options
22. Edit this video and publish 
23. answer comments and emails 
24. answer comments and emails 

earthgirl2

I'm in a sunny spot but a lot of garden still in shade. veg patch to the left with fleece on it, wee forest where I forage our food, and the beach beyond. It's like the height of summer today!

TallGirl

That is a fantastic spot I love it EarthGirl must be amazing to sit there. Good luck with the to do list makes sense to break it down so it does not become overwhelming. 

LadyWithAPlan

Great you are able to get so much admin done whilst cat sitting.
Your focus is impressive