The end of procrastination and disorganisation.......

parsniphead · 21 June 2017 at 5:28AM

Thanks cherryfudge

I do get obsessed with one thing and everything else gets forgotten. Lately it has been trying to get the clutter in the house sorted, so health/weight and money became invisible. I need to find a way for me where the three fit in on a daily basis.

I sat past night and filled in my everydollar budget sheet for next month. I do have to make some ammendments but i should be able to get through a month without getting into a mess. Its lack of control, food top ups and disorganisation which puts me where i am now.

Todays plan

To revisit july budget and check nothing is missing.
To spend this morning before work on housework.
To spend tonight on self employed work so i can get more money in.

I'm dreading today. I'm out at the animal sanctuary and its going to be tough in this heat. I have noticed as i have got older i really struggle with it. I have nicked dh's hat to wear. I like the sunny weather, but more the quintessential english summers day rather than Mediterranean heat. I must think im living in The Darling Buds of May.;)

Have a lovely day all and dont get burnt.

Eager_Elephant · 21 June 2017 at 7:06AM

I feel we are living parallel lives - I have struggled with the finances this month as well. It is a 5 week month for me and this week I need petrol and I don't have the money in my account for it - it's not helped by the fact I collected DS from Uni - I think it is about 200 miles round trip.
I have taken money from my car repair fund so I can buy petrol as need to get to work.

I also find that top up shops cause problems - our food budget should be enough and it is when I do one big shop in Lidl and then smaller shops (on my own) when needed but this month I haven't done a big shop so we keep visiting the supermarket (all of us) and spending £50 on junk to eat just for the weekend. DH decided on a BBQ for Fathers Day and that cost £50, I think a takeaway Indian would have been cheaper.

I know what the triggers are for a bad budgeting month but I still do it - I think I am time poor and this affects my logical thinking.

I really must get a grip for July.

Hope your school trip goes well and you don't get too hot.

Chandelier. · 21 June 2017 at 7:09AM

Morning

Parsnip, I totally understand the whole obsession with one thing and forgetting others important things. I'm so obsessed with bringing debt totals down at the moment and losing some weight I'm forgetting other things. I have a whole ton of clutter I need to sort out

We just haven't found the right balance yet but there's time

Is there any chance you can set aside time to look through budgets and allocate time/day each day just to revisit your budgets? We used to always have a set day of food shopping and we'd buy an extra loaf just to pop in freezer and allocate a day to do a top up shop if required. To be honest these days we're out of sync but slowly getting back into it

Have a good day

hope the heat is at least a big bareable. Last day of scorching weather according to the weather forecast

in_need_of_direction · 21 June 2017 at 8:26AM

Don't be cross with yourself. You're making progress just, like most of us, not as quickly as you'd hoped. Have you ever thought of a vision board? For me it's a visual reminder of things that I could otherwise ignore which does help.

Bobarella · 21 June 2017 at 8:46AM

Parsnip Hope the trip goes well. This heat is incredibly draining. We are just not set up for it in this country. The buses have been hell on earth this week. Poor kids literally drenched with sweat. No air con and one side of the bus naturally hotter than the other where it's heated in the afternoon sun.

I am no one to preach on multitasking as I find my focus is constantly my financial situation on the business side and I hate how much it takes my eye off the ball at home. As one person recommending to another though I wonder if putting up visual reminders in key places would help you? Just simple - have you taken one thing out of the house with you (to decluttering) today
Have you rounded up all reciepts & put them to file in one place?
Have you updated your stock list when you have eaten a meal from stores?

Might be useful, who knows. Hope so.

Bob

Cherryfudge · 21 June 2017 at 9:09AM

I think the weather is set to break today: certainly it's cooler here (up north) and very cloudy, with rain forecast for the afternoon.
I do like Chandelier's idea of a set day for a food shop to include the extra loaf in the freezer or what ever it might be that sends you to the shops for 'just one thing'. When I do a top-up, it's never just one thing... come to think of it, we stopped doing a 'big shop' as the kids left home and we didn't need to be so organised... but maybe we do because nowadays every shop is a top-up shop. Maybe when I've eaten our way through some of the backlog (freezer is chockablock) we need to consider planning big shops again.
Writing that, I wonder if you need to revisit your planned shopping? Perhaps listing everything you buy on top up shops for a week or so, and adding those to the planned shopping trip in future, would help?

I do feel for you and the animals at the sanctuary in this heat. My poor guinea pigs have been wilting and I'm giving them chunks of veg out of the fridge because they can't have ice cream.

doingitanyway · 21 June 2017 at 9:15AM

parsniphead wrote: »

I do get obsessed with one thing and everything else gets forgotten. Lately it has been trying to get the clutter in the house sorted, so health/weight and money became invisible. I need to find a way for me where the three fit in on a daily basis.

I completely relate to this PH, but you are excellent at taking stock, turning things around and creating a plan. I admire you actually and often steal your ideas for moving forward

parsniphead · 22 June 2017 at 10:35PM

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

I feel we are living parallel lives - I have struggled with the finances this month as well. It is a 5 week month for me and this week I need petrol and I don't have the money in my account for it - it's not helped by the fact I collected DS from Uni - I think it is about 200 miles round trip.
I have taken money from my car repair fund so I can buy petrol as need to get to work.

I also find that top up shops cause problems - our food budget should be enough and it is when I do one big shop in Lidl and then smaller shops (on my own) when needed but this month I haven't done a big shop so we keep visiting the supermarket (all of us) and spending £50 on junk to eat just for the weekend. DH decided on a BBQ for Fathers Day and that cost £50, I think a takeaway Indian would have been cheaper.

I know what the triggers are for a bad budgeting month but I still do it - I think I am time poor and this affects my logical thinking.

I really must get a grip for July.

Hope your school trip goes well and you don't get too hot.

I think you are right EagerElephant about being time poor. I guess we all live lives so busy that it's near impossible to be organised. Well I find it impossible anyway. Perhaps we will both get a grip in July.

Chandelier. wrote: »

Morning

Parsnip, I totally understand the whole obsession with one thing and forgetting others important things. I'm so obsessed with bringing debt totals down at the moment and losing some weight I'm forgetting other things. I have a whole ton of clutter I need to sort out

We just haven't found the right balance yet but there's time

Is there any chance you can set aside time to look through budgets and allocate time/day each day just to revisit your budgets? We used to always have a set day of food shopping and we'd buy an extra loaf just to pop in freezer and allocate a day to do a top up shop if required. To be honest these days we're out of sync but slowly getting back into it

Have a good day hope the heat is at least a big bareable. Last day of scorching weather according to the weather forecast

Even when I'm organised chandelier I still find it impossible. I have set days for shopping and do meal plan. The trouble is that I have had the same plan for so long. Perhaps I'm just so bored with food I sabotage it. I have been looking around at new ideas so hopefully this will help. I'm trying to arrange my week so I have set times for looking at budgets, which is not easy with a child with autism. I just to keep trying.

in_need_of_direction wrote: »

Don't be cross with yourself. You're making progress just, like most of us, not as quickly as you'd hoped. Have you ever thought of a vision board? For me it's a visual reminder of things that I could otherwise ignore which does help.

That's a good idea INOD. I'm a visual learner so it may work. I do just need to learn to have a little patience. I need to find a way to focus on all areas of my life.

parsniphead · 22 June 2017 at 10:55PM

Bobarella wrote: »

Parsnip Hope the trip goes well. This heat is incredibly draining. We are just not set up for it in this country. The buses have been hell on earth this week. Poor kids literally drenched with sweat. No air con and one side of the bus naturally hotter than the other where it's heated in the afternoon sun.

I am no one to preach on multitasking as I find my focus is constantly my financial situation on the business side and I hate how much it takes my eye off the ball at home. As one person recommending to another though I wonder if putting up visual reminders in key places would help you? Just simple - have you taken one thing out of the house with you (to decluttering) today
Have you rounded up all reciepts & put them to file in one place?
Have you updated your stock list when you have eaten a meal from stores?

Might be useful, who knows. Hope so.

Bob

I did do some decluttering Bob but not the rest.

The day was very hard. It wasn't a trip to the Santayana, the students work there for one day a week doing land work or feeding and cleaning the animals. Blimey it was sooooooo hot and trawling around in steel toe caps made it all the harder. I was so glad when we left again. I think I've decided against becoming a farmer.

:rotfl:

Cherryfudge wrote: »

I think the weather is set to break today: certainly it's cooler here (up north) and very cloudy, with rain forecast for the afternoon.
I do like Chandelier's idea of a set day for a food shop to include the extra loaf in the freezer or what ever it might be that sends you to the shops for 'just one thing'. When I do a top-up, it's never just one thing... come to think of it, we stopped doing a 'big shop' as the kids left home and we didn't need to be so organised... but maybe we do because nowadays every shop is a top-up shop. Maybe when I've eaten our way through some of the backlog (freezer is chockablock) we need to consider planning big shops again.
Writing that, I wonder if you need to revisit your planned shopping? Perhaps listing everything you buy on top up shops for a week or so, and adding those to the planned shopping trip in future, would help?

I do feel for you and the animals at the sanctuary in this heat. My poor guinea pigs have been wilting and I'm giving them chunks of veg out of the fridge because they can't have ice cream.

Perhaps you could invent guinea pig ice cream. Sorry, I have had a bottle of beer and feel a bit wobbly. I'm such a lightweight.

Bread is always the thing which leads me astray on top up shops. If I used some of the food from freezer then I could keep one in the freezer.

I only have one week left at work so plan to start going through the freezer for meals while I'm at home and have time to think.

doingitanyway wrote: »

I completely relate to this PH, but you are excellent at taking stock, turning things around and creating a plan. I admire you actually and often steal your ideas for moving forward

Thanks DIA. I'm happy for you to steal my ideas but they are someone else's that I have stolen.

That's the great thing about this place is the motivation from the diaries. Yours always makes me want to eat much healthier. I'm trying to increase my nutrition knowledge to do this.

I had an hour and a half today with not much to do at work so I took advantage and started work on my financials for the second half of the year. I'm determined to work out to the nearest penny allowing me to save for annual bills and throw extra at the debts. I haven't taken into account any potential money from the extra earnt from the business. Any drawings taken from this will be thrown at debt.

I have my fortnightly shop tomorrow. I'm going to check stocks to see what I don't need, then over the weekend I'm going to do a BIG batch cook so I have things ready for next week. I will, I will, I will be organised if it kills me.

Before I go I want to say thank you all for your support. It is VERY appreciated.

Have a good night and a better/cooler nights sleep.

parsniphead · 23 June 2017 at 2:37PM

The day has started well. I did the fortnightly shop and then popped to the local town for more cat food. While there mum brought us lunch...yum yum.

Since I rturned home I have decluttered and cleaner the bathroom and also the kitchen. Well the kitchen has some decluttering to go but it looks much, much better. Then it comes to a halt while mopping the floor because.......

the head brakes of my flippin mop :mad::mad::mad::mad Now I have to buy a new mop.

I have used the steamer to complete it but to be honest it drives me a bit mad as the fabric cover keeps coming loose.

I have also thrown out quite a few bits and bobs of rubbish and clutter. It feels so good to do it. I have some old carpet to get rid of so will do it in a moment. I just needs cutting up and bagging up.

I have to pick up the little fella soon and after tea have promised I will take him to spend a bit more of his birthday money. He still has loads left bless him. Hopefully he is learning to be better with money than me.

Later this evening I'm going to complete my six month financial plan. I have thought of more stuff which I need to include such as DH's birthday pressie. He wants a dvd and for me to make him some new shirts. I also need to get the little ones school uniform for September. He may not need new trousers as they still have loads of growing room in them. He will need some polo tops and sweatshirts as his are stained and a new pair of shoes, pumps and a tracksuit. It shouldn't cost too much to be honest.

I have also been pondering christmas. I'm going to get the little one some bits each month so as not to rush in December. I have been thinking about a nice handmade leather belt for DH and my brother and possibly mum. I made lots last year after being made redundant and really enjoyed it.

I hope you are all having a good day.

The end of procrastination and disorganisation.......

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