Saturday, 7 January 2023

Money, Money, Money.....or lack thereof

Well, how's this for being on top of things? Two posts in one week. I can't promise that will happen every week (I'm sure you're breathing a sigh of relief as I write this) but I intend to use this as a kind of journal for 2023 so I am certainly aiming for two posts a week but am committing to one!

So why are you writing this at all? I hear you ask. Well as a freelancer, money is something that needs to be thought about quite a lot as the amount I have coming in can fluctuate from month to month. The past year I have been quite good at budgeting. Or so I thought. Suddenly I find myself teetering on a knife edge and having to scrimp and save more than I have had to in a long time.

I am not alone in this, I know. There are many a lot worse off than me. I still have enough money to buy cheese so I can not complain too loudly. In fact I'm not complaining at all. Prices for most things in life have gone up but I think this did not register with me fully until now. 

I have become a little obsessed with TikTok recently and two college girls did some daft TikTok about telling yourself "I am lucky. Everything goes right for me" or summat like that. I decided to try it as I have been thinking about trying some manifestation techniques in January. It can't hurt to try this new mantra every day, I thought. Well 2 days after starting this my printer gave up the ghost and I had to spend £200 to replace it. So I am done with that mantra. On to something else I say.

Manifestation aside, I am going to try spending no money throughout January and February. This does not include food and other essentials (although I intend to buy less cheese). I have a few vouchers for free coffees on my Costa and Nero apps so I can still have the odd treat but I won't have to pay for it. I may also tidy my flat properly so I can invite friends round and not have to go out to meet them. I have never done a proper budget before but I fully intend to now. As a single lady, NOT in want of a husband, I have to make sure I can look after myself (although I am lucky that the bank of Mum and Dad is still available to me should I find myself in dire straits (not the band)) and that means saving, and saving properly.

I must use all the willpower available to me to stop me buying frivolous nonsense anymore. A treat is just that, a treat! Not something to have everyday. It has taken me until, almost, 50 to realise this but, better late than never I say.

So, having said in the last post that I had no intention of making new years resolutions, I AM going to make a couple. One is to budget and to be slightly more financially secure by December 2023 and the other, completely unrelated to anything in this post, is to average 8000 steps a day in 2023. In 2022 I averaged 5200 steps per day so I reckon I can manage 8000 this year. More would be better but I am trying to be realistic.

I hope you are all OK and not struggling where money is concerned. These are strange days we are living in right now so I think the more we can find joy in things that cost nothing at all, the better! That said I do have a Ko-Fi account (link is somewhere on this page) so if you enjoy reading my nonsense and fancy paying for a coffee from time to time I would be most grateful. No pressure!



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