I have already had a slight success. As I mentioned, I'm writing down all that I spend. Today I didn't buy a knitting pattern. This may be something to do with the folder stuffed with knitting patterns on my desktop or the dozens jammed into various parts of my stash. Mainly, though, it was because I couldn't be bothered to go upstairs and get the notebook to write it down. This could be a really useful tactic, as long as I stick to writing things down. If I can keep going until the end of January, then I should have formed a habit. And the habit should save me a lot of shopping.
I need to work on habits and rhythms. I think I shall use my phone more. When bear was little, I had an alarm on my phone for all sorts of things, like the time he needed to brush his teeth before school and the time he needed to be putting on his coat. Now I need to get alarms set as reminders for washing and ironing and suchlike.
I was reminded that we have two wolves inside us. One is dark, full of fear and anger. The other is light, full of hope and love. The more we feed them, the stronger they grow and we should feed the one we want to see. I am not naturally a positive person, but I'm working on it. I thought I would extend this. I spend a lot of time browsing on YouTube when I'm hanging out with bear and knitting. I need to turn away from the snippets of Downton Abbey and Graham Norton and instead look at snippets about cleaning and writing. If I'm watching a programme about cleaning, it will hopefully motivate me to clean and start forming a more positive mindset. I'm hoping it will be a sort of mental equivalent of 'you are what you eat'. I'm not tracking it, and I expect it will be hit and miss, but it's a start.
I shall also have to watch more videos about saving money. Food prices are going up. I was watching a video of someone doing a challenge about low cost eating, and a value tin of mushy peas, from Tesco, was 15p. The video was posted on 29th January 2020. I just checked on Tesco website, and the same tin is now 22p, or around 50% dearer. To be honest, I think it was more expensive last time I bought it, but the item was labelled as an Aldi price match.
As I write what is happening in my life, goodness only knows what's going to be happening on the blog in the next few months. Fingers crossed that it will be fun.
Hugs and good health to all.
Great post! I have trouble staying on track with things. I have such good intentions but then I get sidetracked and don't end up doing what was intended or I don't stick to what I was supposed to be doing. This is definitely something I need to work on next year.
ReplyDeleteThe image of bear with a hat round his chin made me smile.
ReplyDeleteI don't do resolutions per se, but I am trying to improve myself too. I've settled on only doing one thing at a time though as I find it too overwhelming (and too easy to feel I'm failing and give up) to try and tackle too much simultaneously. Last year it was to eat better, and now we're in the habit of eating low fat Vegan food most of the time, to the point where we have to be careful when we don't or we wind up feeling ill because our systems can't cope with a sudden influx of fat and dense protein. As you so rightly point out, it's getting from a bad habit to a good one and then it's no longer an issue. This year it's going to be exercise. I started with a gym membership in October but then came lockdown; I am so glad we stayed in tier 3 after Christmas because if gyms had been shut again I'm not sure I've got enough oomph to go through withdrawal and then motivate myself to start up again for a second time having pushed myself to go a lot in December. I can't say I like it while I'm doing the exercise but it makes me feel better physically and spiritually after I've done it.
I think you're sensible to have started pre-Christmas with monitoring your spending and add other things in as you go. Food really is going up a lot. I keep seeing reports that inflation fell last month due to a drop in food costs and I'm thinking what food are these people eating, because most of the basic stuff has gone up dramatically and has been doing so since the summer. Here's to succeeding in 2021
I'd also like to point out that unlike thousand of people who like to fancy they could be a writer, you've applied yourself and actually achieved that, and are write regularly, so that's one habit you've managed to cultivate that very few people can.
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