Focus 101

Focus 101

I lost some focus this week. Only 1 day and I am aware of it. I read an article about how one family lived on $14000 and that reset my focus. I know I can do it and that I need to focus daily, and make that a goal for each and every day.

What are the benefits of that?

I'd then have the cash to make purchases that are neccessary, like;

• school pants for my boys
• singlets for me
• shoes for Hubby
• new mattresses all around
• a new kitchen frypan
• replace the water filter
• new glasses for hubby
• podiatry for me
• our fixed up bathroom

All those are worthy & affordable purchases, provided I focus.

I have attained a part time job which starts in May.
That will take time & energy to establish and will bring in some extra funds.
Its exciting & challenging.

How will I remind myself to stay focused?

1. Write about it.
2. By seeing the progress with purchases
3. Goal setting
4. Clearly defining each item, its cost and working toward each purchase.

Time to go clarify goals!

The little book of Thift by Paul Lonergan

I borrowed this from the library, a book of tips to live thirfty.

 Today I implemented;

• I diluted the hand soap.
• Switched to rechargable batteries for AA

I find that I alwaya have something to learn and enjoy reading tip books.

That is 2 wins today. 

Wonder how many more I will find in this little book.

It is now lunch time!

It's almost the end of...

Its almost the end of...

the month. I like the end of the month as that is when interest appears in the bank account, both from us and to us. I also get to make a new budget which perversely I enjoy, especially if we have funds to budget. Its more fun than budgetting imaginery money.

Its almost the end of...

Summer. It has seemed a long hot Summer. We have had a long dry stretch that has left the earth here parched. It is raining today so Summer will end a little less dusty. Maybe the kookaburras will replace the magpies in our yard again.

Its almost the end of...

the Business Course that I am doing. It finishes next season and there is some work to go but it started last Autumn and I have been learning lots of useful things. I have especially enjoyed meeting with grown ups each fortnight.

It is almost the end of...

our being in the three thousands for our emergency funds. I am planning on getting to 4K in March. Having started our emergency fund in 2011 I feel like we are making snails pace progress. We have even gone forward and backward a number of times. Or worse still, I got discouraged and stopped even trying to make progress.

Yesterday I did the grocery shopping and put cash into the various envelopes. The enveloe system is working well for us.

Progress?

Today I spent some money out of the gift envelope on gifts & a lamp for my sons room, and have felt guilty ever since.

The total was $7 at the op shop.
Not a big deal you may think, but hey!, I'm attempting to get ahead daily.
If this were everyday it would be a big problem.
I did spend yesterday too, o oh.

I had been wondering how this would play out in our ticght budget but (this month at least) there is a little wiggle room. I'm letting myself off the hook.
I want Maltesers and haven't yet had any, just think it will make me want more.

Anyway.

I am in a dilemma over $7 today and $34 yesterday, food & household items. OK I did buy some lollies in the food and scoffed them all in the car on the way home, but that doesn't change the total.
I had been doing so well with the envelopes, and i shall again but I just don't understand my downfall.
I like spending and it has been a cash drought for a while here &  I just got carried away.

I am getting too serious about a slip up but I would really like to hit some goals this year and can't let small amounts get frittered away daily, thus eroded any progress we may make. 

How does one stay on track, focused daily on a goal?

Did I make any progress in the lst 24 hours?

Yes, 

1. By buying sugar for jam with a giftcard.
2. Picking wild blackberries on the road side for jam.
3. Making my own jam at about $0.60 a jar instead of buying jam at $4 a jar.
4. Borrowing a book from the library for bookclub rather than buying it.
5. Doing a survey for 90 points and a uick poll for 10 points on WDYT (1 point is 1 cent & redeemable for cash).

No,

1. By also buying a 2 bags of chips when I went & bought the sugar.
2. Leaving appiances on standby rather than press the button that takes them off, which we bought. 

Thats the way it goes... or does it?

That is typically the way I function and therefore I haven't made much progress despite many varying strategies to save money. I am learning along the way but would really like to be making progress. Our income has dropped some and we have made some changes but think that by being more consistent I could make some better progress, or at least that is one strategy that I haven't fully pursued.

I was thinking that I could use the survey money and reward cards to buy shares.
Putting the dollars earnt aside until I have enough to make another share purchase.
This idea didn't land in my head last night.
I had attempted this last year just before our income dropped but I didn't follow through as I thought we needed every dollar to live on.

Now I think I may have let that idea drop too easily.

Now I am ready to pick it up again starting from today.

I know I have $25 coming as I redeemed it only on Sunday, so that will be my start.

Feel like I am trying to squeeze more out of a dollar.

Wish me luck!

"I back to dreaming and thinking that we could possibly live debt free, 

totally debt free. "

Our only debt is our mortgage at the moment so we are one debt away from our goal. 

It happens to be a very big step but it is still only one step.

So what are we doing today as a tiny step to achieve this goal?

Good question! We are eating at home, growing food, looking to sell items we no longer use or need, finding ways to make possessions last longer and making do with what we have!
Specifically today I did some surveys on Pure Profile, I usually cash out $25 a month.
Ysterday I was on My Opinions and I'm daily on Rewards Cental but am yet to make a redemption from them, but I am close to being able to redeem $100, about which I am very excitied. So excited that I'd like to turn that into shares!

This gets me to my new confusion. 

Do we continue to follow Dave Ramseys Total Money Makeover or do we follow Scott Papes Barefoot Investor plan? I would like to be investing now, especially after reading the barefoot newsletter last Friday, and not slogging away attempting for our 2nd year to build a fuly funded emergency fund. It just isn't very fast or sexy or fun. I want action, achievement and a sense of progress and I'd like to be buying some shares.

I'm really just thinking out loud.

We follow the Dave Ramsey plan as we, my husband & I, have not been wise with our money in the past. I read and enjoy Scott Pape's stuff, its Australian and relevant and is often about current issues, an he writes well. Do we really need to follow an experts plan or could we follow our own? We do follow our own to some degree anyway, but could we sit down and write out a plan for ourselves an goals that we'd like achieve and set about achieveing it. Do we have the courage to tread our own path?

Anyway, we are off to pick wild blackberries for jam! Yum!