We all overdo it during the Christmas period because we tell ourselves we'll kick our bad habits in the New Year. But setting unachievable targets is demotivating- I always used to keep a diary which read like Bridget Jones' - Weight: too heavy to mention, Alcohol intake: Constantly drunk, Swearing: Too many times to count.... and every year I would vow to change my ways, lose weight, eat healthy, take my make-up off before bed, cut down on the red wine and every year, without fail, by February I would be feeling guilty and comfort eating (and drinking) after my will power had yet again given way.
I am pretty sure this time of year exists only to make us feel terrible about ourselves, and the likes of Paul McKenna and Rosemary Conley feel really good as they line their pockets with our money.
It's becoming increasingly fashionable to mock New Years resolutions because they often end up as seven-day wonders or even less. We're so used to multi-tasking at the risk of focusing on nothing, so when we focus on two or three things that matter most can it often be met with such pessimism.
But still every year we look ahead to the next 12 months, and we make New Year's resolutions, although I sometimes wonder if they worked in the first place, we wouldn't have to keep making them every year.
I used to live at home with my generous parents where I never paid towards any rent or house-hold bills, and used to lead a very active social life, drive a nice car and enjoy at least two holidays aboard a year throughout my twenty's and although I had a student loan, two bank loans, three credit cards and several store cards I never felt out of control and always had spending money. I now realise this was mostly because I paid off one loan with another bigger one.
But its only now that I'm cohabiting with the love-of-my-life (*loml) in lovely North Wales that I'm really having to watch my spending. Now I have to contribute towards the rent and bills and buy all our food (and cleaning products!?) to keep our snug one bedroomed basement flat and I watched as my outgoings grow considerably more than my income. Now every bit of plastic in my purse is maxed out, I already owe three times my salary and don't have anything to show for it!
Something has seriously got to give if I am to remain blissfully happy with the *loml. Its time to make a new years resolution to tighten my purse strings and stick to it and become a Penny Pincher.
Log on each week to my Penny Pinching Blog and monitor my progress- see if and how I manage my money....next week I'll be looking into just what I waste all my hard earned cash on and where I can start cutting back.
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Emma Heaton wrote...
wow
what a fantastic idea . i will be supporting you all the way and sharing any money saving tips i come across, i think we could all need some lessons in wasting our hard earned cash.
one of my tips would start with making your own lunches for work which i keep telling myself too over and over cos once you start watching the pennies its so true that the pound`s take care of themselves!!
Again the other morning i got up all ready to make a nice healthy cheap lunch to take to work which would save calories and cash and yet again time moved too fast and i thought ill buy something today and start tomorrow,
so i stopped off at sainsburys local next to my work where the food is more expensive anyway, and brought some milk for work then crispy cakes for my work pals to have with there tea cos they where on offer!! a sandwich , bag of crisps and a pot of fruit which came to over £10 as well as the £3 train fare and not mentioning my petrol to get to the station,in a wk i will of wasted over £65 pounds (a whole days wages!) im sure with planning i could of made healthy lunches for the whole wk for under £10.also never be two proud to use vouchers out of the paper as these to over a yr im sure we would be shocked at the amount it would save us , good luck . emma
Posted by: Emma Heaton | January 10, 2008 1:47 PM