Tuesday 20 May 2008

10p tax rate

Okay, hands up if you're peeved at Gordon Brown for doubling your income tax? ME, ME, ME!!

It possibly wouldn't be so bad if the price of everything wasn't going up at a rate of knots, but it is and so it is.

I do think that this is actually a fairly good thing for the moral structure of this country. Well, no, not quite so much that, but almost. Only in the sense that its slowed down the rampant consumption by the majority of the population. I'm afraid for people who don't put the brakes on under these circumstances as these are the people who will end up homeless as a result of being overstretched beyond their limits.

People need to spend less, period. Anybody interested in spending less money to live day-to-day should check this site out: http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/banking/Budget-planning#bplanner this link will take you to a budget planner which is the best way of finding out whether you're living within your means or not. Then you need to browse the rest of that site to find your tips on saving money in all areas of your life. There are other things you can do, and I'll get to these things at some point, but seek out blogs that discuss frugal living and stick two fingers up to Gordon Brown, sat there panicking because the economy is slowing down. Well Gordy, if you bleed us all dry we have nothing left to give! Maybe you could leave last year's plush pile carpets down for another year, or buy your furniture from MFI instead. Maybe you should try living on £15,000 a year and see if you can support your whole family on that. Maybe then you'll have some idea how the rest of us struggle.

Monday 12 May 2008

So much to say I say nothing

Obviously I have SO much I need to say that I end up saying nothing! A bit like my house - there is so much clutter around and so much cleaning to do that I end up doing nothing.

However, I've been looking around for inspiration and motivation to address that particular problem, and the key to it all, to sorting out the mess I've lazily allowed to develop, is baby steps. One step at a time.

Like, for example, wanting to reject consumerism and wanting to conserve. My life was so tied up in buying ready-made products and ready-made clothes, and ready-made food, that I forgot how exactly I would make these things for myself. This is being a consumer, and its a very expensive way to live. There are so many things that tie you to that way of living, you're scared to change.

That is, until I realised the importance of why I absolutely MUST change. Okay, a large part of that was hitting the buffers on my bank account and not being allowed any more overdraft. I'm already paying tons off of credit card bills, and the mortgage, so I really didn't want to take out yet another loan to see it through. Only one thing for it: I needed to STOP spending money. After all, I had absolutely none to spend!

My God it was hard though. Thinking back, I must have been spending a little bit every day. For one I always bought lunch at work - now I make it at home (well, at least my darling hubby does) and bring it in, and that £2-£5 per day not being spent has already made a big difference.

Also, I had a really bad habit for buying cosmetics and toiletries. If I was feeling low in myself (which happened an awful lot back then, much less now) I would justify in my head, even when I'd promised myself that I would only spend on what I needed, that I had to have a new shampoo or new mascara, or new whatever. It didn't seem to make any difference that I already had 10 in the drawer at home, because they were different TYPES of shampoo, mascara, whatever other thing. Now things are different. I realise that these are all marketed differently so that people will fall into that trap and buy what they don't need. The company selling the blessed stuff doesn't care if you actually use it or not, the point is that they want you to buy it.

I've not bought a prepared beauty treatment for around 5 months now, and I feel so much better for it. These things are made from a combination of petrochemicals, which are really bad for you, particularly Parabens (see http://www.live-naturally.co.uk/article/Parabens-and-their-effects for further info). I've been washing in natural, handmade soap with lavender, and using coconut oil as a moisturiser. Sunburn I treat with sodium bicarbonate and honey in a comfortably warm bath followed by home-made lemon cologne, and use a basic shampoo (not a lot of it either) followed by the coconut oil after to soften my hair. Its very basic, but works loads better than all the lotions and potions I used to waste huge amounts of money on. I'm still using my enormous stash of make-up and I have enough to last me ages yet, and won't be buying any more!

Wow, I really get rambling when I get started! Still, I've enjoyed sharing this with you. If anybody actually ever reads this, do say hello, it would be nice to hear from people and what they think of what I say. Not that that particularly matters, I'll still say it.

Thanks for listening.

Thursday 1 May 2008

Where do I go from here?

When you have so much to say about life and the way you see people living it around you its difficult to know where to start with it.

One thing's for sure, there's something very wrong about society today, about how we're bombarded with advertising and have so many expectations put upon us within society.

In many ways I'm changing my life to get away from all that, and hopefully one day I can leave the rat race and live a fulfilling life doing things more simply and removing complications from my sphere of existence.

Where it will take me is anybody's guess, but I'm still very much in the learning phase for now.

Laters all x