Budgeting by the beach

DaisyCheerings

Another Christmas has come and gone and I'm again feeling reflective.  In June I had a back injury which was really debilitating. Most activities were really uncomfortable for months.  I had to have a lot of physical therapy, and some of that was really expensive as I couldn't wait for the NHS appointments due to how much pain I was in.  It wasn't anything particularly serious, but it was very painful for a very long time.  I now have lots of exercises given to me by the physiotherapists which I need to do to strengthen the areas to prevent any further pains or injuries.

On a more positive note, my finances are being kept in control pretty well, and my debts are getting smaller.  I'll update my signature in January.

Now I'm feeling more energised and motivated to improve things next year.  I have a habit of drifting along, and so I'm noting specific goals I want to achieve in 2024 and am going through the exercise of writing out actual plans to make each thing happen.  I feel that writing in this diary will also help me to stay focussed.  I've always been a life drifter, and I'd like to give myself more focus to keep me on the path I want to be on.

Regarding finances, I got paid today (well, 10 days early, but I move it out of my current account until the correct date).  So tomorrow I'll go through and pay the bills.  I'm a touch overdrawn (in an interest free overdraft), so I need to catch up and get myself on a blank canvas to start the year.  Note to self - be more organised when buying Christmas gifts!!! 🧑🏻‍🎄

I've also reshuffled my budgets to suit my current needs better.  I like to do that at the beginning of the year, just to check my money goes to where it needs to.  Last year I found I had too much in some budgets and was struggling with others, so hopefully I've fine tuned it better.

I won't list all 2024 goals here, especially as I haven't made final decisions, but I'll incorporate in my updates what I've achieved.

After today I'm away until 2nd January, so HAPPY NEW YEAR to anyone who reads this, and cheers 🥂 to a more focussed 2024 for me, and for you a year of achieving the goals you set yourself.

savingholmes

Welcome back Daisy. Sorry to hear about your back. Hope things are improving there. 

Good luck for 2024!

DaisyCheerings

Thank you savingholmes.  My back is much better now, just the odd twinge here and there.

I hope you had a great new year.  I'll catch up more on your diary today.

DaisyCheerings

I was away over the New Year, and then got invited to a couple of new year events at friends' this weekend, so was away again.  That should be it now until the end of March.  I'm hoping that's the case as I've been so busy since early December.

That has also meant that I've not had much time to determine specific goals, but that can come later this month.  At the weekend I told a friend I want to repaint my living room, so he's put time aside in 2 weeks to come and help me.  I know I want a deep green and have shortlisted 2, so I just need to choose a winner.  I'll offset all the dark with light accessories.

My shopping budget for the month has really taken a hit with me visiting friends this weekend.  When friends have a little gathering, everyone always takes  food so it's not all on the host or hostess to sort out, and I always overdo it.  I have a fear of coming across as rude by not bringing enough, so I need to figure this out to make sure that I'm only buying what I need to and also making sure I'm taking enough.

Yesterday I realised I had some Sainsbury's vouchers, so I bought a few kitchen organiser items in the sale that I've been wanting for a while.  I spent half the vouchers, so I'll save the other half to offset the overspend on my food budget.  

I've now lit my fire and some candles so am going to sit in the warm and maybe get through some of the leftover Christmas chocolate while I catch up on other diaries.

savingholmes

Good luck with finalising your paint choice. Hopefully it will be a really calming colour for you moving forwards.

DaisyCheerings

Thank you SavingHolmes.  It took me a long time to really decide, but I think I chose the right colour.

DaisyCheerings

The living room is now a gorgeous deep green.  It desperately needs some accessories, but I'm very slow at making decisions so it's all fine for now.  I still have a little bit of "touching up" to get into the edges etc, but I'm so happy with it.  This is literally the first time I've used a bold colour and it's felt very liberating.

I was beating myself up about not doing anything to achieve my goals and now we're at the end of January, but I haven't taken into account how empty I've felt since mid-December and that my lounge has been painted.  I know that I need to write things down and refer back, and that's going to be done this weekend.  

Work paid us early, so I've managed to end the month within budget.  Next month is slightly lower than it should, but I'm sure there will be enough if I'm careful.  Shopping is generally when I overspend so I'll need to keep a close eye on that.

Other than visits to DIY stores and decorating, I've had a fairly quiet January.  I'm actually surprised at how fast it's gone.  My next plan is to look at healthier eating.  I have all the right cooking appliances etc, I just need to make better choices.

WinterWarrior

Gold and black accessories have worked really well with my deep bottle green office walls. I have some old gold flying ducks in a top corner (which look really nice and not at all Hilda Ogden 😅) and some old masters prints in thick baroque frames. I felt I could go giddy with my office, but am glad I did. 

DaisyCheerings

Thank you so much for the tips @WinterWarrior.  I wouldn't have thought of that but it sounds lovely. I'll add this to my list of what type of accessories to look for.  I love the sound of the gold flying ducks.  Where did you get those from?

DaisyCheerings

I've started working on becoming more organised at home 🌻.  My office upstairs has been in chaos for a long time, so I've cleared it all out, cleaned the work surfaces and am in the process of moving the furniture to where it makes more sense.  That part is slow going as it's all very heavy and there is thick carpet in the room, making it harder to just drag things along, so I'm doing a little bit at a time - small steps.  I've had to empty drawers etc to make the cabinets easier to move, which is working but minimising the space I have.  The worst part is done, and now I just need to reorganise the drawer items before putting things away.

I've also been looking online for videos on how to clean some of my specific white goods as I don't like to just throw in "machine cleaner" anymore.  My washing machine has a detergent drawer that wouldn't pull out, so I never used it and really struggled to keep it clean.  Watching the video I found there's a little lever I needed to locate and pull to release the drawer.  That's come out and is being soaked in hot water before I give it a good scrub.🧺  My tumble dryer lint tray doesn't come out, which I thought was just me not knowing how to release it, but having looked it up, it is designed not to be removed.  The lint does gather around the door and I regularly clean that out (like a candy floss machine - using the wooden stirrers some coffee shops use).  I've now seen how I can remove the door to give it a good wash, so I may do that 👚 - or I probably won't as it's so old and may crumble apart in my hands 😬

The worst job is the oven as it has a sliding door 🍪 and I'm very worried about breaking anything.  I think getting a professional in to do that is the best idea.  I can keep the oven itself clean but the door is a whole different job.

I need to go shopping tomorrow and so I want to write out a better food shopping list to take with me 🍎 📃.  I've eaten most of the rubbish I had in the house which was leftover from halloween trick or treating and Christmas 🍫, and now it's time to fuel myself better.  I've been watching some IG reels on cleaning 🧽 and if you ever want to feel completely rubbish about how badly organised you are, then absolutely give those a watch.  I do find them motivating but also very amusing when they pull out a drawer that's got every type of cleaning machine and accessory you could ever wish for.  The other thing I've noticed with the ones I follow, is how many snack foods they have around the house.  When they fill up their fridge storage etc it's all unhealthy snacks and the "cook with me" reels are always greasy rubbish. How do they get the energy to do these cleaning videos when the videos they show are all about sugary and fatty items?  I wouldn't be able to get out of bed on their diets.

I've ordered some garden shears to get rid of the mess in the front that needs to be cut away before it all starts growing again, and those are due to arrive today although I'm not sure when I'll get started on that.  It's a shame as it's such a beautiful day today, but I need to carry on working on getting the inside of the house cleared up and I want to go through the whole house.  I'm obviously feeling in a spring clean type of mood.  I hope that lasts.