30 November 2016
Over the past few days, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.
Returning to my meditation practice has helped me straighten a few things out and see how I need to move forward as a human being.
2017 needs to be very different. I need to move toward a state of being free of debt, lighter, calmer, and unconstrained.
The first change is simple in principle, harder in practice: taking back control of how we consume stuff as a family. Everything goes under the microscope. Not in an extreme, hair-shirt way. I’m not abandoning toilet paper for dock leaves or swearing off the car forever. This is about making small, sensible changes so we can spend less and live better.
The debt we’re carrying came from normal things. Moving house. Taking a holiday. Things most people absorb without too much pain. For us, it was a setback, especially after already living a fairly austere life.
Budgeting has never been my strong suit. I forget quarterly bills. Annual subscriptions ambush me when I least expect them. These ghost payments are where I need to get sharper. Day-to-day costs, I understand. Fuel. Food. Utilities. It’s the margin, the drift, the little extras that catch me out.
So I’m trying something simple.
£5 a day for food.
£5 a day for petrol.
£70 a week, on top of household bills, to feed us properly and keep us mobile. No unnecessary spending. No casual leakage. If I can stick close to this, there should be more left to throw at clearing the debt.
Of course, there will be pressure points. School clothes. Trips. Car repairs. Real life doesn’t pause for tidy plans. But even accounting for that, the direction feels right.
2016 has been a brutal year for our family. Stressful. Disruptive. Exhausting. Next year will still be tight financially, but it should lay the groundwork for something better. A future built around experiences rather than accumulation.
Getting my head straight matters too. Daily movement. Better food. Less noise. A healthy mind and a healthy body, or something close to it.
Christmas is almost here, another small test. I’m not overly bothered about it this year, but I am curious to see what a genuinely frugal festive season might look like in 2017.
So the plan is simple enough.
Spend less.
Eat less.
Move more.
Find my centre.
I refuse to live in a permanent state of stress.
Until next time,
adieu.