MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL EVIL........

Actually let me rephrase it and say "Money is the root of all HEADACHES!!' I have finished doing my budget for September and Arrgh!!! though there were no adverse effects I should say by the end of it I had a throbing head. Well i guess if I am going to take back control of my finances a Budget is a necessary evil.

Now that I have chosen this path there is no hemming and hawing, I am finally taking everthing in stride and hopefully in the following months I will be properly adept at trimming all the budget fat and reach a point where I can live within my income and not splurge needlessly.


The template I downloaded for my budget is the American application Pear Budget, after trawling the internet I was happy to start with something free but comprehensive and though this is a bit busy on first impression it offers a step by step guide to sinking your teeth into budgeting and understanding a simple Excel spreadsheet even if you are not adept at this.

The principles of this budget template are that your expences fall under three catergories - Regular, Irregular and Variable expenses. The spreadsheet lets you keep track of your daily expenditure and you can also look at an indepth analysis of the budget. Its still all work in progres but my monthly spend is looking something like this:

Regular Expenses:

• Rent - £411.67
• Travel - £60
• Insurances & Hospital cash plan - £23.64
• Tithes & donations - £65
• Savings - £125
• Rainy day fund - £50

Irregular Expenses:

• Gifts - £30
• Family £75 (this is the onus of coming from an African family - need to help out)
• Hair - £20 (another weight, starting to put money on the side for when I get to take care of my african nap)
• Overdraft - £50

Variable Expense:

• Store cards - £140 (no more splurge purchase, its painful paying back for something that I am not wearing anymore*OUCH!!!!*)
• Food shopping - £100
• Mobile & Internet - £60
• laundry - £15

Well it's all still bare bones at the moment but I am making progress, and change is coming WATCH THIS BLOG!!!!

SOMEONE CALL THE FASHION POLICE REAL QUICK !!!!

Holy Moly!!!!! Michael Jackson that definitely aint "Smooth criminal" but well I guess that it definitely is thrillingly "BAD" Seeing this latest picture of the "King of Pop" who turns 50 tomorrow if you are like me are left to wonder why there is no end to his eccentricity. We all know the millions have been drying up but honestly you should still have the hundreds of thousands to buy yourself a decent pair of pants because those are so Hammer Time!!!

Well in all earnestness I hope some of those rich friends of yours get you some nice fitting trousers for your 50th. MANY HAPPY RETURNS MICHAEL!!!!! May your future years be filled with closets full of decent fitting pants/trousers/pantalon, oh Michael just get some clothes that fit the crown

TAKING CONTROL OF THE PURSE STRINGS

There is no good time like the present especially with payday looming tomorrow to take charge of my finaces. As already stated in my previous posts I am revisisting my goals, coming into the last lag of the year it is with huge dissapointment to know I have not fared well in one of the most important of goals. I let myself down big time, it's enough knowing my mistakes but being a perpetual offender shows how lightly I take the responsibility of things that are important like securing my future.

Its well and good to get that reality slap on the face now and agin but its time to stop all the whimpering and get back to the drawing board, hopefully by the end of the year I will be singing a new song. Thank goodness I am beginning to understand that financial discipline is about finding a balance between necessities, luxuries and saving for the future. As of today I here AGAIN!!! pledge to make conscious decisions on how every penny in my wallet is spent.

I have downloaded a budget template, this is my first step to reigning in all my improtu spending. I have lso found some bit of inspiration from fellow bloggers on tightening the purse strings. As of September and hopefully for all the remaining months of the year I will be daily tracking on what I spend my money on. Heart on hand this is going to be a huge task but one that has to be put in place all the same.

They say wobbling always precedes walking and as of now these are the two baby steps I am taking, I am going to grapple with them and once I am comfortable with my wobble there is nothing that is going to stop me from walking and what do you know might follow it with running and before I even know it Usain Bolt might be looking in front to see me sprint right ahead.

PENNIES MAKE POUNDS !!!!!!!

Rewind to only a few days ago I would have been thoroughly embrassed to chase after or wait around for a penny if I went into a shop and bought something and my change was anything less than 10 pence. Since I am on this mission to sort out my well being includingmy finances I am learning no pound let alone penny should go unaccounted for. Today I put this into practise, lately I have had such an unyielding pang for Cadbury' s Twirl chocolate (by the way I will pretend I did not learn anything from my recent visit to the dentist)so yesterday after work I decided to pass through Woolworths and they had this offer to buy 3 for a pound.

I think I did sing a few halleluiahs to have found this bargain, so I took 3 to the counter paid for my purchases which also included a tupperware container with my debit card. Only when I got home did I look at my receipt and saw that they had charged me the full price for the 3 chocolates. My earlier elation for having found a bargain evapourated as quickly as it had come. The old me would have just let it slide, what is a mere 65 pence but of course the new thrifty me would not let it go and first thing before going to the office I passed by Woolworths, unabashed went to the till and graciously demanded my discount be credited back to my card.

Not only was I happy that I did not just walk away from my money but there was no way I would have bought 3 bars of chocolates at once even if my life had depended on it unless of course if it was a BARGAIN which it was and guess what I am now done with chocolate, I guess it was that time of the month...............Blame it on the boogie.

PLAN YOUR PURPOSE IN LIFE

I have been feeling really despondent about alot of things, getting that feeling thatI have made a mess of my life. I know this is a bit of an exageration, I am being overly hard on myself but I cannot help but think that I have been bumbling through life with no clear set goals and no compass for the direction I want my life to take. Going through some of my favourite blogs I feel really inspired to start empowering myself to live a life that is well balanced socially, financially, professionally and spiritually.

The realisation that I need to map my life brings me such a relief but also an even greater responsibility of planning and defining my purpose and goals. When faced with so many of life's puzzles to piece together getting a foothold of what is important can become blurred but I am always happy to let one of my favourite life coach managers dr Grace Cornish hold my hand and assist me cross that road. Her compass points are a guideline that I feel will help steer me in a forward direction, and I hope as of today I rid myself of all the "Eyeore Attitude" steer as far away as possible from some of life's pitfalls that for most of the time is perpetuated by my self defeating behaviour. Below are some of the points she lays out in her empowerment books and seminars for enriching women's lives

One needs to have:

• A sense of self - knowing who you are
• A sense of value - knowing what you are worth
• A sense of direction - knowing where you are going
• A sense of being - Knowing why you are important

By looking at the Who, What, Where and Why of my life I hope to start living a life that is productive, wholesome, happy and well lived................

THE CROWN SITS HIGH & PROUD!!!

Today marks the first week since being fitted with a permanent crown on one of my top molar teeth. The whole dental expirience was as perfectly put by Ogden Nash " Some tortures are physicalAnd some are mental,But the one that is both is dental".

I should also hasten to say that not only was it a mouthful of silver for me but it was definitely a pocketful of gold for my dentist. I should count my blessing though for finding an NHS service that is still registering new patients considering the shortage of such and the extotionary amount of going private. After the initial jaw dropping and the numb wearing off*pun intended* I am honestly relieved that the 3 fillings, 2 root canal treatments and the crown came just under £200 and to sweeten it (Oops should not have that) they allowed me to stagger the payments during the course of the 5 week long treatment.

I had not budgeted to have this much drilling on my teeth nor on the pocket that I had to use money I had built up in my "Rainy day fund" well funnily enough after all the teeming of tears from the pain and from being chided by dentist like some rugrat caught with my hand in the candy jar it was definitely that.

Well after all the melodrama which it usually tends to become once you sit in that dentist's chair and you are told to "RELAX" and "OPEN WIDE" that i am happy to sit back and smile at the beautiful job well done, the crown especially fitted like a glove and it sits all hail, mighty and proud.

Like they say every cloud has a silver lining and from this I have learnt to set one's teeth to honouring all my future 6 monthly appointments in the chair!!

MIA IN ACTION YET AGAIN!!!!

Oh please help me God!!!! I guess I have not just been missing in action, my abscence has not been a slight pause,interval, hiatus DAMN call it whatever but more like this blog has been knocking at death's door. All things considered I really love writing so needing the least bit of incitement I have promised myself to endeavour to rescucitate this blog, hopefully one fine day this journey that is my life will be a good read for all.