Seriously, utter the word “budget” and wait for the collective tantrum. It’s like telling a group of sugar fuelled 7-year-olds that the party is over. Some are crying, others are clutching the side of the bouncing castle for dear life and I’m pretty sure there are two hiding under the table having a picnic pretending it’s all fine.
Values-based budgeting flips the script.
Rather than a strict budget that leaves you wanting to pull your hair out, it’s a spending plan that gives you room to breathe and build the life you want.
What is Values-Based Spending?
Values-based spending is a budgeting philosophy focused…
Location hacking seems like it has always been a thing but mostly it just conjures images of people moving to Bali and paying a pittance for accommodation while living in a beautiful country making 600–700 dollars a month online to cover expenses.
I didn’t move to Dubai to location hack. I moved for the luxury, the opportunity and the weather most of which was going to cost a pretty penny. But thus far it hasn’t been too bad. In fact, it’s worked out far cheaper to live in Dubai than I ever could have imagined.
I’ve somehow managed to reduce…
Did you know that way back when they used to share beds with strangers? Like staying for the night at an Inn you would have to share, not just your room, but your bed with complete randomers you had never met before. It’s no wonder people wore pyjamas.
Nowadays our rooms are set-up to be sanctuaries. Somewhere to retreat into privacy, to be alone and yet we still don the PJs. Bed and pyjamas, they just go together like tequila and lime. But really, are they good for us?
Orthopaedic Pillows
Machines that pump white noise into your room
Weighted…
6 Ways Tried And Tested
From the second I realised I couldn’t just stop whenever I wanted, I wanted out. I hated every cigarette. I especially hated how much money it took from me and with the Irish Government thinking the only way to get people to quit is to cripple them with the price of a packet it was becoming harder and harder to keep up.
An overly controlling boyfriend who regularly told me he didn’t find me attractive when I smoked and threw the word disgusting out one too many times also didn’t help.
I say this merely to let you know that…
You need to get yourself out.
Life can be a sh*t-show. And sometimes you get so low you don’t think it’s feasible to get any lower yet somehow you end up four levels below that. It’s not that you ever consciously decide to screw-up but it can happen that every decision you make, no matter your intention, just worsens the situation.
I remember begging to any invisible force to have “this” situation be my rock bottom. The place I need to be before turning my life around. Just like all those rags to riches stories.
The problem is not hitting rock bottom. It’s that it can…
As the botox and filler start to dissolve in lockdown so too does our ability to pretend that everything is fine. What’s revealed is a more vulnerable, more natural version of ourselves who don’t have the wherewithal to pander to goals that we couldn’t give a flying f*ck about.
2021 is 2020 with side-swept bangs and a pair of fake glasses. There is a glimmer of hope in the distant future but in reality, it’s a copy and paste situation. So, setting goals does not have to happen. …
After a decade of trial and error and a decade of fuck ups I decided I needed to look after number 1. Relationships came and went where his needs came first. Socially, emotionally, financially you name it. In turn, I took a lot of my worth from external sources. Feedback told me what I was worth. The problem with that is that you can’t be everything to everyone and even if you could different peoples wants and needs could clash and then you’re stuck.
So when my last relationship ended I put me first. I fucked with abandon and fought…
Do you think your life hasn’t been that traumatic? Do you believe that other peoples trauma is more important than yours? Have you ever told your friends a “normal” story and they look at you strangely and then you watch their faces fill with pity?
Pity is the worst. Isn’t it?
But this, it seems, is an ordinary part of having dealt with trauma. We don’t know any different. …
I made my first YouTube video yesterday.
It’s terrible and hilarious (to me). I don’t recommend watching it (but if you do, like and subscribe). It’s 12 minutes of me stitched together blathering on about emergency funds, trying to be “real” and not look like I’m trying to have a conversation with the back of my phone.
That sh*t is HARD.
But everybody has to start somewhere and even if it’s clunky and uncomfortable, the fact that you’ve done it means you’ve started and you’re on the road in the right direction.
And that’s a nice little segway into todays…
My mothers’ incessant degradation lives in my head.
“Don’t be so stupid”.
“Why would anybody care?”
“You can’t do that”.
My self-help journey, in turn, became about proving. I’d show her. I would show everybody. I would follow my dreams and build my life to be whatever I wanted it to be.
And so came the millions of lists, dreams, resolutions, aspirations & goals. Step by step instructions on how to achieve anything I ever wanted. All one needs to do is google.
I never felt like I deserved them, always felt like I was cheating but would persevere, never…
