While the season is filled with joy and festivities, it can also bring stress, especially when it comes to budgeting for your family Christmas. But don't fret! With a little focused effort, you can plan a memorable celebration without spending every last penny. In fact, I'm going to show you how to create & get your family's Christmas budget & a have plan in place in just one hour. Raise your hand if you often say, "Sod it, let's just have it" and worry about it in January ... Yep that used to be me. I want a Christmas that is as fun & loving, as it is peaceful & beautiful. I ..read more

Even if that is totally alien to you & you don't know where to start. Life has been shifting in huge ways for me this year has it for you? Running your own business, it's jolly hard to switch off, ok it's bloody impossible! After more than 30 years in retail, frantic from mid-October to the 30th of December, I want to finally feel like a grown-up graceful woman who has her life together. Elegant, with a beautiful home that smells divine, the perfect manicure, outfit, all to-do lists with big fat ✔ on them, tablescapes (I hissed that) & an air of "I closed my laptop on the 15th darling ..read more

Having worked 30 years in retail, Christmas was always about planning in advance from a business perspective and very much for my home as working up to the last minute - and invariably back again on Boxing Day meant I had to get my act together or else have a meltdown on Christmas Eve!! Financially, this had to be planned too otherwise one month's salary just wasn't going to cut it. Here are my top 5 tips to budget and plan for Christmas that I have learned over the years, to help ease the stress. Feel free to comment & add your own at the bottom, I'd love you to share your wisdom too! Ti ..read more

Procrastinating, the sudden desire to clean out your cutlery drawer instead of opening up your banking app to start your fresh new budget... When sorting out your cupboards is preferable to sorting out your money you know it's been too long. If it feels chaotic, stressful & you don't know how to untangle it so that you can create a plan that works, it's time to sit down & figure out your spending vs what you're earning. You need a plan for your money because you're sick of wasting so much, it's time to stop. You've got lifestyle plans & none of them will come to fruition if you don ..read more

Before the madness of Christmas ... Slow Living sounds absurd, have you seen my to-do list? It sounds like nothing much gets done so your house becomes a mess, you can't be arsed to dress properly & you become a sloth! I'm all for Seasonal Life Shifts and I love watching nature do her thing with predictable wonder. "Oh wow it's getting dark at 7.30pm now" "Brr it's getting chilly I think we're done with summer" Brits love to talk about the weather but not always so much about the magic it creates in our countryside. No I'm not going all Alan Titchmarsh on you, although I do love his soothi ..read more

Unless you learned money management at school or your parents taught you, like me, I suspect you learned the hard way! Learning to budget and plan my money came from my life experiences juggling my first home, bills & bi-weekly pay. (Me about 1995 in my first management position, Gap in Canterbury Kent, UK. I LOVED that job) Nearly everyone I speak to has a problem or 3 with money. Not enough of it usually tops the list, but it's also the skill of managing & balancing what's coming in with what's going out that is often causing confusion. With multiple income streams now the norm, sim ..read more

And what even is it anyway? When setting up a home budget it's really easy to write down your income, list your expenses & see what's left over. That's the simplest albeit not so efficient way of doing one. One reason I've created so many templates & ebooks is that you shouldn't have to become a master of any budgeting method, you haven't got time for a start you just want one that you like right? Deciding what to spend your money on before you've earned it will set you up for far greater success than merely reporting on what DID happen. You'll see the bumps in the road ahead & be ..read more

What are the pros and cons of proportional budgeting? 1st August 2023 Have you heard about this 50,30,20 rule when it comes to budgeting? So the short story is, Senator Elizabeth Warren in the states in the early 2000's wanted to make savings & investments available to all Americans regardless of their wealth. She suggested a way of portion controlling all household income in the same way to make it equitable & doable: 50, 30, 20 budgeting rule 50% of the household income goes out on all the essentials. Rent, bills, food, kids essentials, commuting etc 30% goes out on all the things y ..read more

,,Imagine being able to know exactly how much money you have at any time day or night? Seeing her eyes light up & a smile dance across her face I knew my suggestions were a "ping" moment. Mentoring will take you by the hand & lead you to where you want to go with some inspiration & life skills thrown in along the way. When you want someone to just sort your budget out for you this is the closest thing to it! The truth is your income & expenses can be a mess as you never quite know whether something's gone out or not mid month & then you remember that car service that means ..read more

When you've created your budget it now lives & breathes with you! If you're going to make it work it will be something you'll do as a habit every month. It'll become just like mowing your lawn, cleaning your windows, doing the food shop, just something you do to manage your lovely home. One mindset tip before getting started; You get to do this because you have a home, with money coming in & money going out to pay for your lifestyle. YOU GET TO DO THIS When you desperately wanted your own place in your early 20's, you dreamed of this. OK maybe you didn't dream of the life admin that wo ..read more