Like meditation, there is no right or wrong way to journal. Simply getting all your negative and positive thoughts onto the pages in front of you can release any emotional blockages you may have.

Before I start journaling I feel like I have so many thoughts buzzing around my head. However when I start putting pen to paper, I realise that I have very few thoughts just the same ones rehashed. That’s helpful in itself.

No one will read your journal, so you can write things you wouldn’t say to anyone else, completely uncensored. Remember it’s for your eyes only. 

You can use the journal as a means of catharsis.

Don’t force yourself to write  Write when you feel inspired, otherwise it will become a chore and that defeats the object of journaling.  

Why I Journal

There are so many benefits to journaling, it not only facilitates personal growth but assists in developing a deeper connection with yourself resulting in you having improved mental clarity which allows you to gain insights on yourself and your experiences.  Journaling is very healing for the mind, body and spirit. 

I journal:

1. As a means of catharsis, consciously bringing how I feel into to awareness.
2. To see how far I have progressed. I review and analyse the past 30 days of journaling and see what lessons can be learned.
3. To record daily events for you to review at a later date. This is similar to the above reason however this is just day to day stuff. So much happens in our lives everyday, big and small things and it’s easy to forget these things. To record achievements
4. To set intentions/goals for the week, month year etc.
5. To empty my mind. Sometimes I feel I have that many thoughts, that my head could explode. So simply writing EVERYTHING down until I can no longer write is HUGELY BENEFICIAL.
6. To help improves mental clarity.

For me, blogging is like journaling. Once I have written and published a blog I feel like a sense of peace and relief. 

How To Journal

Choose a notebook and pen that looks beautiful and that you would enjoy writing in. Sit down in a quiet room and write. I like to play classical music, as there has been research that has proven classical music puts you in a heightened emotional state. The same applies when studying for exams (click here for more details on that benefits of listening to classical music)

There are five ways you can journal, they are:

Free Writing.

Write down whatever you want until you no longer have anything to say. Get every thought feeling dream or fear onto those pages and u run out of steam

Timed Journaling. 

Set a timer for 1, 15 or 30 minutes and go for it. Keep writing down whatever you want until the timer goes off

Subjected Journaling.

Each session you can purely focus on feelings, thoughts, emotions, experiences from the day, fears, dreams, goals or intentions for the week

Question Time. 

Ask yourself/the universe a question. Is there something that you would like to know? Write it at the top of your page, and write down the answers given to you from the universe. You may think it’s ridiculous, then write that. Write down everything that comes to mind because once you had recorded all your negative self talk, the truth will come through, if you allow it. A question I like to ask during journaling AND meditating is “What you I need to know?”

Sketchbook Journaling. 

Sketchbook Journaling is drawing how you feel or what you experienced instead of writing words. Words are powerful but so are images, especially the ones you create. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, quite the opposite.

You can keep more than one journal; for health, goals and intentions, purely negative rants, positive rants etc. You get the idea. It’s literally up to you.

Personally, I have a three journals; a personal one, for a mind dump to get all the thoughts buzzing around my head down on paper, a business one where I write all my inspired ideas and plans and a smaller day to day one, that is more bullet journal style that I keep in my handbag everyday.

10 Questions To Ask Yourself When Feeling Unsure or Stuck On What To Journal About:

1. How are you feeling right now?
2. Where are you?
3. What time/date is it?
4. What good things happened today? How do you feel about that?
5. What bad things happened today? How do you feel about that? What is the lesson to be had?
6. What are you grateful for today?
7. What do you wish you could improve about your day?
8. What did you do today to get you closer to your goals?
9. What DO you want to write about?
10. What DON’T you want to write about?

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The post How To Keep A Journal and How It Can Help You Grow, Heal And Flourish appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

Richard Branson, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Warren Buffett haven’t succeeded in every project they have begun. However, that hasn’t stopped them becoming the world’s most successful entrepreneurs.

People go through life jealous of other people’s success, ignoring all the hard work and failures they had to endure to get there. Why struggle through life blindfolded. Simply immerse yourself in whatever industry drives you and the rest, as they say, is history.   

There are certain traits every entrepreneur needs to embrace to ultimately become successful.      

They get comfortable with failing

In every failure, there is a lesson to be learnt. Some entrepreneurs actively go out trying to fail as that is where the lessons are. No one learnt anything by striking gold first time round. If they had to replicate that success, I can almost guarantee they couldn’t strike gold again, as last time they were fumbling along, not knowing what they were doing and BOOM, they somehow struck gold, but for the 2nd time round …. now that requires a bit of skill. A skill that you probably didn’t learn previously.    

They network with like-minded people.

You will notice throughout your financial freedom journey, is that everyone who has an opinion on everything! For example, people who have bought their own house and/or renovated their own house means they know everything there is to know about buying to let – WRONG!! (this really frustrates me) Renovating your own house and purchasing a B2L property are two VERY different things. Investing in B2L property or anything which solely relies on you – to spot the opportunity and take that plunge – will show you who you really are. 

There will be many dark nights of the soul in your journey to master property investing, this is why you need to be careful about what advice you listen to. Only listen to people who are deep in the B2L industry, they will know exactly how you feel and what you are going through as I can almost guarantee that they have felt the same at some point.  

They practice self-discipline

We live in a world where most people want instant gratification, however, this is not a suitable mindset for an investor.    

There was a series of studies on delayed gratification called the Marshmallow Experiment completed at Stanford University by Professor Walter Mischel, were 16 boys and girls were offered a small reward instantly or if they waited 15 minutes they would receive a larger reward or 2 smaller ones. During the experiment, the tester left the room and returned 15 minutes later to see what the child has chosen. Over a series of follow up studies, the researchers found that for the children who waited the 15 minutes for their reward seemed to make better life choices.   

Think of investing like a game of chess. You need to make, relatively small yet important decisions whilst thinking about the next 2-3 moves, sometimes sacrifice a pawn or two, but with calculated strategic decisions you will ultimately win at the financial independence game.

A lot of people that start the financial independence journey have been lead to believe (by who I don’t know) that you can get rich quick, but I ‘d like to ask two very simple questions:
1. How rich you think you can get?
2. How quick do you think it can be?

I can tell you this … There is no such thing as getting rich quick. You may hear it from companies trying to sell you their product. But this is merely a marketing strategy. (If you do know of a proven get rich quick scheme … then please comment below and I will be all over it, LOL)

They get plenty of sleep.

I know everyone says this but there must be some amount of truth in it. It is vital for our health and well being. Studies have shown that it is recommended for an adult aged 18-64 to get 7-9 hours of sleep to be productive. I know from experience, that if I get multiple bad nights sleep, I don’t quite function right. My thinking is delayed and I may very poor decisions.       

They never stop learning

Learning is key to mastering the property investment game, there is ALWAYS something new to learn. Things change, demands and need change and to be a long term successful investor, you need to be on it. There’s a lot to be said about the value of education. 

Be aware, you don’t have to spend tens of thousands on get rich quick schemes (there’s no such thing) you can gain knowledge with a good coach or mentor, reading books, listening to audiobooks, listening to podcasts and using and a lot of information is available free of charge on the internet.    

Are you looking to start a budget? Simply download our FREE Budget Template or sign up to YNAB if you are looking for another alternative.

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Many of you know that I am a huge fan of journaling and its amazing benefits. Putting pen to paper and getting all your thoughts down gives me a sense of peace and relief, like that chaos (in my head/mind) has been removed from the system ready to carry on with a fresh free mind.  

I believe journaling will change your life.  It will help you more organised and productive, resulting in you achieving your goals. 

If you are not sure of the many benefits of journaling, I have included my top seven for you:

1. It will consciously bring how you feel into awareness.
2. Helps you achieve your goals
3. Encourages you to be mindful
4. Helps improve mental clarity 
5. Assists with self-confidence
6. Helps you get organised
7. It encourages creativity

What you need to get started

1. A journal. Many BUJO’ers LOVE the Leuchtturm1917 Medium Size Hardcover A5 Notebook. 
2. An assortment of pens
3. A ruler

There are other things you can choose to include such as:

1. Washi Tape
2.  Stickers
3.  Stamps
4. Highlighters
5. Stencils

The choice is yours. To be honest, I find the washi tape a little bit pointless however everyone has their own style and it is, after all, it is your journal so you decide what goes in. But for now, if you are a newbie to it, I’d stick to the first three on the list… unless you are the creative type.

Don’t overwhelm yourself.  It’s a stress-free place for you to get organised and be super creative … or be super minimal.

As you may or may not be aware journaling comes in many different shapes and sizes. My three favourite ways you can choose to journal are:

Free Writing/Dear Diary 

As I like to call it, a mind dump. This is writing down whatever you want until you no longer have anything to say. Get every thought, feeling, dream or fear onto those pages and until run out of steam.

Sketchbook Journaling

This is drawing how you feel or what you experienced instead of writing words. Words are powerful but so are images, especially the ones you create. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, quite the opposite.

Bullet Journaling aka BUJO  

Over the past few years, I delved into the world of Bullet Journaling. It’s fascinating. It is the “IN” thing in the journaling circles. 

It provides you with a creative outlet AND you get organised at the same time.

I use a journal all the time, sometimes multiple journals for many different things. I have a business one, where I do a mind dump AND a planner/bullet journal type of one, that includes all my ideas for the #livefullretireearly business. Also, I have a personal one, which simply a mind dump one, that includes all the positive and negative emotions I go through. Once I have dumped all my thoughts into the journal I feel a sense of relief and all those thoughts I thought I had were simply the same few buzzing around my head, driving me crazy.

What is BuJo and where does it come from?

Ryder Carroll designed and invented the bullet journaling system. As a child he was diagnosed with a learning disability therefore organisation using the traditional methods proved difficult. So for the next 20 years, he began creating his own methods being fast, simple and effective .. which we now call Bullet Journaling.

Bujo isn’t the Dear Diary type of journal. Bujo is a creative organisational system, that allows you to track your goals, habits, appointments, tasks, create collections, plan your meals, be your to-do list, to plan your week/month/year. It can become anything you need it to be. Pinterest will give you some great ideas!

I guess you’d call it a personalised planner in the journal of your choice.

There is no right or wrong way to bullet journal. You can choose to use it as a Dear Diary journal however personally I think it gets too complicated and messy.

How to Bullet Journal

There are many creative ways you can bullet journal. Ryder’s way of creating his journal is very basic compared to the ones created today. 

I have included 2 videos to show you what is possible for your Bullet Journal.

Basic/Minimalistic Version By Pick Up Limes:

Super Creative Version By Boho Berry:

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The post A Beginners Guide To Bullet Journaling. How To Achieve Your Goals By Becoming More Productive appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

When trying to stick to a budget and your financial independence journey, occasions like Valentines Day or even date night can feel a little stressful. You don’t need to cave into peer pressure and do these overly expensive lavish things to show your partner that you love them. A nice meal and a trip to the cinema (including drinks and snacks) could end up costing you over £75.00, plus anything gifts you buy each other. It’s insane.

You don’t need to bankrupt yourself to show others how you feel and if you think you do … maybe you’re not with the best person for you.

Emma Woodhouse

Here are my 19 cheap and frugal date ideas

Going Out

1.Go out for breakfast or brunch. A large breakfast at Wetherspoons will cost you £5.29pp, and that includes a drink. So a meal out for two will only set you back just over £10.00.

2. Rent a rowing boat. It’ll be funny as hell, especially if you end up rowing in circles, which is something I would end up doing, and you can bring a picnic. 
 

3. Go for a walk. Visiting a local park and walking in the country is not only a romantic date idea but also great for your spirit. 

4. Go for a run together. This might sound like an odd one, and I used to think that. My boyfriend told me that he had a running date as the first date with a girl before he met me. If someone asked me to go for a run on a first date, I would say hell no. I can’t look all pretty sweating and gasping for breath. But if you have been with your partner a while, I think it’s a lovely thing to do together. You can encourage and motivate each other. For an added bonus, once you’ve completed your run, you can go out for breakfast together. That’s two ideas in one!

5. Go camping. Need a little quiet time away from the kids? Camping can cost as little as £15 at a campsite per night. 

6. Visit an open garden. Visiting an open garden is a lovely thing to do, especially in the Spring and Summer. You get to walk around a strangers garden for free and get inspiration for your own garden. 

7. Go feed the ducks. Spending time in nature is always good for the soul. You can buy a bag of seeds for as little as 50p.

8. Go to the cinema. Compare The Market offer 2-4-1 cinema tickets for a whole year when you buy a qualifying product through their website. This could be car or home insurance, travel insurance, switching your tv and broadband provider and even switching energy suppliers. There are so many products to choose from comparethemarket.com.  

9. Go out for a meal with meerkat movies (2-4-1). Depending on where you live in the UK, you will have access to countless restaurants that offer 2-4-1 on starters, mains and desserts using Meerkat Meals. Another alternative to Meerkat Meals is buying a tastecard

A quick tip:  if you buy a tastecard through Top Cashback you will receive up to £8.00 cashback. Tastecard currently has a promotion on where you can try it out for 60 days for just £1.00. Imagine all the yummy low-cost meals you could have within that 60-day window. Once the 60 days are over, you can choose to renew or cancel. 

Staying in together

1.Cook your better half breakfast in bed. There’s nothing more romantic than waking up to breakfast in bed. and guys you will get a lot of points from your special lady if you do this … trust me.

2. Make a meal together. Cooking a meal with your better half is a great way to spend quality time together. You can try a new recipe or split who cooks which course and you can surprise each other. 

3. Have a floor picnic. You don’t need good weather to have a floor picnic. You can have one on the floor of your living room. 

4. Make cocktails together. It’s SO much cheaper than going out to a cocktail bar. 

5. Have a BBQ. Weather permitting, depending on where in the world you live.

6. Strip poker. Fun and a little naughty. 

7. Binge watch a series on Netflix or Amazon Prime. Gosh, there are so many series available on Netflix and Amazon Prime. You will have hours of fun readily available for a minimum of £8.99 per month. Already cheaper than going to the cinema.

Quick Tip: To get a 30 day FREE trial on Amazon Prime Click Here (UK)

Double Dating

1.Have a dinner party – Come Dine With Me style cooking or everyone brings a dish. Everyone can either chip in £10.00, and you buy the ingredients and cook, or everyone invited to the dinner party brings a dish for a selected course. You will get a three-course dinner for a fraction of the cost.

2. Play on the Wii, e.g., Wii bowling, golf etc. I do this regularly when other couple friends. It’s such a laugh and a great way to spend a Saturday night. 

3. Play board games. OMG, my current fave is Articulate. We had friends round at the weekend and OMG, it was so much fun. A complete icebreaker as well.

Remember you don’t need to spend a lot of money to have a fun and memorable date night. Remember these suggestions are cheap and sticking to your budget if the number 1 goal. So doing something cheap and fun doesn’t have to be boring. I have offered plenty of fun and guilt-free suggestions.

Looking to start a budget? Simply download our FREE Budget Template or sign up to YNAB if you are looking for another alternative.

Let me know in the comments your favourite low-cost date night activity.

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The post 19 Cheap & Frugal Date Ideas That Are Actually Good appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

Blue Monday is just days away so I thought I would share some tips to help you survive and thrive.

The third Monday of January is called the saddest day of the year, also known as Blue Monday. Christmas is over, we have packed up all over decorations, we are back to work and ‘back to reality’, and made and broken a few New Year’s resolutions. You are not alone. Millions of people will be feeling exactly how you are. However, all is not lost. Let’s use this feeling as an emotional springboard to set new realistic goals (not New Year’s Resolutions) that I know you can smash.

I have read so many blogs and articles that offer ‘advice’ that just isn’t practical and leave you feeling more frustrated than ever! Try working through the 9 steps below to help improve them Blue Monday Blues.

Plan the next few months.

Make a plan and give yourself something to look forward to. This could be researching and planning your next holiday, planning a spa day with a friend (this is what I’m going to be doing) or even a shopping trip with the girls (or boys).

Go for a power walk or run.

Spending a good 20 minutes outdoors (and in nature) can have huge effects on your mental health. You will get your endorphins pumping and you will burn calories in the process. Trust me, with all those good chemicals pumping throughout your body, it’ll be hard to feel depressed. 

Set your goals for the year

These are not New Year’s Resolutions but things you want to achieve throughout the year.

Consider setting goals for each of the following:

• Financial
• Social 
• Health
• Wellbeing
• Career

If you set a goal stop smoking from the 1st January, you may have had a sneaky cigarette (or two) already. But don’t worry, all is not lost. Obviously going cold turkey is not a realistic approach for you. Instead, try cutting down to 1 a day, then 1 every other day, then 2 a week, then to none a week. If you do it slowly, you are less likely to feel a huge loss and won’t be such a shock to the system.

Break your goal down into small bite-size pieces, this will help you feel less overwhelmed and give you the motivation to achieve your goal.

Many of us set materialistic goals, thinking that will make us happy. But the goals we should set are “feeling goals”. Goals to be happy, fulfilled, contented etc.

My primary goal for this year is to find out what makes me truly happy. How or what I have no idea but I am going to try different things and gather as much data as possible. It’s very exciting. I am going to keep a log of everything I do and analyse how I feel about each thing. It’s going to be like a Gratitude journal, but a Happiness Journal.

Create a budget for the next 12 months.

This can assist you in regaining control after any Christmas and New Year splurges and planning the next few months out. Maybe you want to go on holiday, maybe you want to move house and save up a deposit or maybe you want to be able to go out with friends and you want to see if and how affordable it is. 

Creating a budget is one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself, especially if you feel like you are drowning in debt. 

If you’ve never created a budget, don’t worry, it doesn’t have to be this difficult thing. You can do it on a piece of paper, in a spreadsheet or using budgeting software like Every Dollar or YNAB*. Before I met my partner and we combined our finances, I used a simple no-frills spreadsheet but as our finances started to get more complicated, I felt I needed a little extra help so I  now use YNAB. 

If you would like access to my FREE 12 Month Budget Template > Click Here

Meditate

Beginning and ending your day with a 10-20 minute prayer or meditation is a great way to start your day. You can set the intention of no matter what is going to happen, that today is going to be a good day and you can overcome anything that comes your way. You will be surprised at how good you feel.

Try laughter yoga

Sounds weird? Well, you are right, the first time you do this you will feel like a right weirdo but guess what? You’ll feel so much better and if you do it in a class then you will do be weirdos together. In all seriousness, there are many benefits to laughter yoga and has proven to make you feel happier and overtime you will naturally begin to laugh more. 

Try it now 
Lay down on the floor, spread your arms and legs out – like a starfish and just start laughing. Go for it, just laugh your heart out. Think Ray Liotta in Goodfellas. 

Check out my Laughter Yoga playlist on YouTube

Surround yourself with positivity.

This can mean several things; look at your friendships, are they loving and empowering ones or are they fuelled by gossip and negativity? Do you leave the interaction with your friends feeling uplifted or feeling a little low and unsure of yourself? Cut out all gossip, remember, what goes around comes around.

Watch old funny movies and comedians. 

My favourites are any of the Carry On movies. Check out the YouTube playlist below I have put together for you to enjoy.

Check Out my ‘Funny’ YouTube Playlist

Watch inspirational movies and YouTube videos. 

I have created a playlist for you to check out.

I will constantly update these playlists so subscribe so you don’t miss anything. 

Check out my YouTube Playlist

TIP: Observe your behaviour. Avoid nipping online and doing a spot of online shopping, although this might help you feel better at that moment however that feeling won’t last and you will just go back to square one only 50 quid lighter.

If you have any more practical suggestions then please comment below. I’d love to add more to my list for next year.

*contains an affiliate link

The post 9 Practical Tips To Survive and Thrive This Blue Monday appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

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It doesn’t matter if you own your own home or are renting, moving home can be one of the most stressful things you can do, besides getting married or divorced. So you need to make sure you are organised when it comes to moving and packing.

After moving a couple of times, the second being much more stressful than the first, I realised a  lot of the stress can be avoided with a little forward-thinking and smart organisation. So compiled a list of helpful stress-free moving to-dos. 

Write a ‘change of address’ list.

Previously I used to use a spreadsheet I threw together, it wasn’t structured the best but it was the best I had during a stressful move. However, you don’t have to do the same. I have created a ‘change of address’ checklist below for you to tick off, feel free to add any of your own companies that you need to inform, but this will give you a rough idea as to what to include.

• MORTGAGE COMPANY
• COUNCIL TAX
• ENERGY SUPPLIER
• ELECTORAL ROLL
• TV LICENCE
• DVLA 
• BANK(S)
• CREDIT CARD COMPANIES
• LOAN COMPANIES
• STUDENT LOAN 
• TV/INTERNET PROVIDER
• CAR INSURANCE PROVIDER
• LIFE INSURANCE PROVIDER
• HEALTH INSURANCE PROVIDER
• DOCTOR
• DENTIST
• ANY MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS
• MOBILE PHONE PROVIDER
• CONTACT LENS PROVIDER
• HMRC (IF SELF EMPLOYED)
• PAYPAL
• ANY LOYALTY CARD PROVIDERS, EG, CO-OP, BOOTS, NANDOS, MORRISONS, TESCO, MATALAN
• BUY TO LET MORTGAGE PROVIDER
• BUY TO LET INSURANCE PROVIDER
• ANY ONLINE SHOPPING ACCOUNTS

Take photos of your electric and gas meters

Obviously you can jot them down, which I also suggest you do but I also recommend taking pictures of your meters. I have found that taking pictures of the meters and saving them onto my camera roll has been vital. You may accidentally end up writing the wrong numbers down in a mad rush so if you are queried by your old provider you have a picture to refer to and back up your readings. What did we do before mobile phones?

Declutter as you unpack.

You want to do this ideally as you pack however, I know from experience, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time, so packing when unpack may just be your easiest and stress-free option. Have boxes and bin liners dedicated to items to throw in the bin, give to friends and family, to sell eBay, craigslist or your local facebook group and give to charity.

Buy a tape gun dispenser and labelling machine

This will be your best friend and secret weapon during your move. If like me, you end up with well over 50 boxes, these will be a godsend. 

I picked a tape dispenser up relatively cheap on eBay and it came with 12 tape rolls included and you can buy a labelling machine from most stationery suppliers, this is the one I use. It’s never let me down, you can make the font bigger or smaller and two spare labelling tapes are included. 

Use plenty of black & bubble wrap

These saved my bacon during our last move, as we didn’t move straight into another house after we moved out of the apartment, we put nearly all of our furniture into storage. Therefore we had to wrap big pieces of furniture and fragile items in the bubble and black wrap. They were another godsend. It offered protection to our furniture and prevented them from getting scratched in transit and in storage. 

Black wrap: Check out the ones I bought from eBay 

Bubble wrap: Check out the bubble wrap I also bought on eBay

Don’t make boxes so heavy and buy strong cardboard or plastic reusable boxes

Trust me you will thank me for this. Again, a mistake I learned the hard way which resulted in me pulling my back out mid-move. It is also helpful to yourself and the removal company that you write ‘FRAGILE’, ‘HEAVY’ or ‘GLASS’ on your boxes if they apply. 

Use vacuum and storage bags

Vacuum pack bags are fantastic whether you are moving home or not. You can get these anywhere, I’ve bought something from both Amazon and Poundstretcher, both great quality. I use these for packing away my Summer or Winter wardrobes. 

If you don’t know what they are or why they are incredible, put simply, you pack bed linen, clothes, coats, pillows, towels etc into the bag, zip it up and use a hoover to suck out the air making bag smaller and easy to transport and store. 

Food bags are also a mini saviour. When dismantling beds, dining tables etc, put all the little screws, nuts and bolts into the food bags, tie a knot in the bag and label each bag and put in your ‘immediate item box’.

Pack an ‘essential’ bag and an immediate item box

I highly recommend packing an overnight bag with toiletries you will need that night along with PJ’s, comfy clothes, underwear and any clothing for the next day and remember to pack your phone charger as there’s nothing more frustrating after a long day going back and forth from your old house to your new one then finding out your phone battery has died. 

Have a bag or folder for important documents, spare keys and any nuts and bolts for any furniture you have dismantled. It’s easy to forget where you placed something during the chaos. 

Arrange for a 3-month mail redirection

Despite following your ‘change of address list’, there is always something important we manage to forget so I recommend a minimum of 3-month mail redirection. Don’t blame or hate on yourself, you will have a million and one things to think about and that’s why Royal Mail offer this service. You can redirect your mail to any UK or overseas address from £33.99. 

I hope these have helped at least one person out there. I understand how stressful and chaotic moving house can be. Good luck and make some amazing memories. 

Feel free to tag me on Instagram @livefullandretireearly with your moving house snaps, I’d love to see them.

The post 9 Tips To Help You Be More Organised and Make Moving Home Stress-Free and More Enjoyable appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

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Welcome to the first installment of what I (Emma Woodhouse) spends in a week. This week includes trips to the pub, a quiet weekend and making lots of new Keto recipes. 

Let’s see how I did …

Monday

Today started off with me nipping to the co-op to get a couple of Pepsi Max’s to drink at work. I bought a 600ml bottle which was £1.55 (rip off) and a 2 litre bottle for £1.50. 

Later that evening my boyfriend and I decided to go for a walk (something that we love to do together) and then decided to go to the pub for a drink (£2.25) and then we nipped to the spar shop to get a couple packs of chorizo and salami to have as snacks throughout the week which cost a whole £2.00. 

Daily Spend £7.30

Tuesday

Today I nipped to B&M to get some toiletries (£19.92), drinks (£1.96) and some items for me to sell on my amazon store (£80.91). I thought about going into town to get the toiletries I needed but I knew that the price would be at least 20% more. Why pay more for exactly the same thing. #shopsmart

Again, my boyfriend and I went for our daily walk and sneaky visit to the pub (I only drink Pepsi Max, don’t worry, I don’t have an alcohol problem, LOL) and that cost £3.38

Daily Spend: £106.17

Wednesday

Today I decided I wanted to try a couple of Keto recipes so my friend and I nipped to Tesco for the ingredients, along with some other extra bits (£17.22). 

On the way to work I had a craving for a Pepsi Max so I nipped to the local shop and bought a couple of small bottles (£2.00).

I also received a refund of some Jeans I bought my boyfriend from Amazon (£19.99)

Total Spend £19.22
(plus a £19.99 refund) 

Thursday

Like most days I had a craving for a Pepsi Max to drink at work so I nipped to the same local shop (I’m becoming a bit of a regular there) and bought another couple of Pepsi Max’s (£2.00), one I’ll save until tomorrow. 

As my boyfriend is going away for work this weekend we decided to go for a lovely walk around our village and have a sneaky drink at the pub (£2.25) before going home to a lovely spicy chicken dinner with peppers and onions, ingredients of which I bought yesterday.

I ordered some equipment to help make Keto recipe videos on amazon for you guys. It has proper changed the way I see ‘dieting’ and have to share my yummy finds (£34.98)

Later that night I attempted to make a second batch of pud in a mug but I wasn’t happy with the sweetener I have been using so I ordered a 1kg bag of Erythritol (£8.50) as it’s extremely low carb unlike agave and Total Sweet. 

Total Spend: £47.73

Friday

I intended on having a no spend day and I was almost successful until 8pm but unfortunately I had to nip to Aldi and do a mini food shop for the next coming week. I bought a roast chicken, steaks, eggs, and lots of veggies (£14.50).

Today I day the day off work, spent time in my soft office (my bed) and worked on my side hustle. #lazyday

Total Spend: £14.50

Saturday

Today was a relatively cheap day. I spent the day hanging out with my bestie. We took both of our cars to get washed (£7.00) then went back to mine and chilled.

We had dinner with what I had bought earlier that week. I made Keto bread for him to try and we watched Celebrity Catchphrase on TV. #rocknrolllifestyle

Total Spend: £7.00

Sunday

Today I had a me day. My boyfriend wasn’t back until 11pm, so at lunch time, I decided to take a walk into my local village (I wanted to get my steps in on my Fitbit)  to the co-op and get myself a pack of Pepsi Max’s to drink for the next few days (£6.04)

Total Spend: £6.04

TOTAL WEEKLY SPEND: £207.96

(and I received a refund of £19.99 which went back into my clothing budget)

So to review the week, I spent:

£115.89 at B&M for my side hustles. 

£42.22 for Groceries all covered by my ‘grocery budget’. Sadly, grocery bills can’t be avoided but by shopping in the right places (aka Aldi) you can bring your weekly spend way down!

£7.88 at the pub, that doesn’t sound too bad upon reflection.

£19.92 on toiletries. Again, all budgeted for and the products I bought will last me a few months. 

£15.05 on Pepsi’s, wow that’s more than I would’ve like to spend.

£7.00 on getting my car cleaned. This is a one off expense really and I probably wont get my car cleaned for another couple of months.

All in all, this wasn’t a bad week. I budget £175.00 per month for my ‘grocery budget’ so I’ve stayed within this weeks budget and the numerous trips to the pub and the car wash came out of my ‘fun money’ budget. 

Despite me spending over £200 this week, every penny was budgeted for. That’s the wonderful things about budgeting, if you set yourself a weekly/monthly budget anything you spend won’t affect your lifestyle for the rest of the week or month. I had fun without putting myself in the red. 

Next week I intend on having at least one no spend day.

How’s your spending going this week? Have you stuck to your budgets? Do you even have a budget? What could you have improved with your spending this week? Let me know in the comments below. 

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The post Money Diary: Trips To The Pub, A Quiet Weekend In & Lots Of Keto Recipes appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

Hi and welcome to Live Full Retire Early (LFRE). Here we talk all things money & lifestyle and explore and share ways to live your best life on a budget. Here are our 9 Rules to help you do just that…

Rule 1. You must always talk about Money. 

Money is a bit of a taboo subject, especially for us Brits. We feel talking about our levels of success is a bit of a narcissistic and ugly thing to do, like we are bragging. However, I don’t see it that way. If you talk about your struggles and listen to other people’s successes you might find something however big or small to inspire you into creating a better life and increasing your finances.
 

Rule 2. Set Yourself Annual Targets. 

Think about how much money you intend on saving or investing in that 1 year and then make it your personal mission to hit that goal. 

Rule 3. Learn how to repair, cook and make things whenever possible. 

My friend had to quickly learn how to repair something recently. The ringlet in his favourite pair of trainers broke and as he didn’t have any room left in his budget to go out and replace them, we went to Wilkos (a low budget household chain) and purchased an Eyelet Plier Repair Kit for £6.00.

It was relatively simple to repair the trainers and watched a YouTube video on  How To Repair Eyelets on Shoes.

Rule 4. Always have a side hustle. 

In today’s world, relying on one stream of income is risky. VERY RISKY. Since the recession I don’t think there has been one person not affected by it in some way. Some people have been more unfortunate than others. 

See my blog post How To Make More Money. 51 Lucrative Side Hustles

That leads me onto my fifth rule. 

Rule 5. Start an Emergency Fund. 

For years I never realised just how important one of these was. For a long while I had never even heard of the term Emergency Fund. But now, I preach this rule. So many people live hand to mouth, never knowing what is around the corner. Receiving a high gas bill in the middle of Winter can wipe many people out and it takes months to recover from this. This type of lifestyle scares me. It scares me so much that it drives me to have side hustles and invest hard! 

Check out my blog post of 9 Ways To Create An Emergency Fund

Rule 6. Spend less than you earn and invest the difference. 

For this rule I must give credit to Chris Coney, the co-founder of LFRE and Founder of Cryptoversity. He is the one who taught me this and it has worked for us both every time. 

Rule 7.  Know your numbers & set a budget. 

I was horrified to learn of a friend of mine who has been running his own business for over 5 years told me how much he would like to buy his own house and would like to save up for a deposit. I asked how much he earned and if he could afford to save after paying out all his current living expenses and the reply was …  “I don’t know how much I earn”. I was absolutely mortified. 

How can you have your own business for so long and not know your numbers. How do you know if your business is profitable? It may be more beneficial to get a regular job (still in your current industry) just with a steady paycheck. The business can be a side hustle until it financially overtakes your day job. 

Here is an easy 4 step action plan to help shed light on your current financial situation:

• Gather all your paychecks or self assessments together 
• Write down how much you earn after tax
• Write down all your monthly expenses
• What is the difference? Do you earn enough? If not it may be time to consider a side hustle or a career change?

Just make yourself aware of your current situation. You might realise you need to earn more money to cover all your expenses. That’s not a problem. It’s only a problem if you don’t know your numbers. Now you do, we can figure out how to move forward. 

Rule 8. Plan for the future. 

I know most of us don’t like thinking too far into the future but god willing, we are all going to get old, we will retire and need some form of income to rely on. I’m not necessarily recommending pensions .. we all have our own view on them which I will talk about in another post but we do need some form of plan.

Do you intend on investing in property, stocks and shares and bonds, ISA’s, precious metals, cryptocurrency or yes a pension. 

What is your retirement goal? How much do you think you need to retire on? 

Rule 9. Prioritise and Scrutinise EVERY Pound and Give Every Pound a Job. 

You work bloomin’ hard for your money so let your money work hard for you. You are the boss! You get to decide where every pound (or dollar) goes. 

Here is a very simple 3 step plan to follow:

• Get some money
• Prioritise and Scrutinise that money 
• Give that money a job

Review your energy supplier, are you on the best deal? If there is an early repayment charge, do you still end up saving money long term … the same applies to your mortgage. In the last 3 years interest rates in the UK have fallen, I know happy times right? But the interest rate I went on 3 years ago is 1.34%  higher than the interest rates now. Eek!

The post How To Become Financially Free. LFRE’s 9 Rules of Money & Life appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

Do not save what is left after spending. But spend what is left after saving.
Warren Buffett

One of the main objections from people who I speak to about beginning their saving and investing journey is the lack of disposable income they have available.

Most people live hand to mouth, pay cheque to pay cheque and when something like job loss occurs in their life their whole world comes crashing down, they scramble to find the next available job, not even considering if this is the right job for them.

I can imagine what you’re thinking right now, “that’s easy for you to say” or “easier said than done, when you don’t have a back-up” An Emergency Fund can help you with this, please check out the blog post: What Is An Emergency Fund and Why Everyone Needs One & 9 Ways To Help Create An Emergency Fund With No Money.

A few minor changes to your lifestyle will help you save over £7,000 per year if not more (depending on your lifestyle)

So you ask “how do I save an extra £7,000 per year without increasing my earnings?”  … simple. I have created a table below of basic items you can cut down on and how much you are likely to save per month.

According to an article published on the BBC website on 18th March 2019 “People spend £69 on average on a UK night out, 15.5% up from a year ago.” That alone works out at £299.00 per month. I am a UK citizen and even this amount baffles me. Spending almost £300.00 on alcohol, meals out/takeaways and taxis home, it’s just like flushing £300.00 down the toilet with nothing to show but feeling rubbish the next day.

WOWZERS! You haven’t had to get a second job, you haven’t had to start a part time business and you haven’t had to ask for a pay increase. You have started exactly where you are right now but made some slight changes to your lifestyle.

Maybe you’re not at the point where you can stop smoking completely so how about halving how much you smoke or, maybe you’re not a smoker at all so you don’t need to include that in your lifestyle analysis. But you get the idea. Have a look at what you spend and how much you spend on them each week. Make a note of everything on your phone as you go about your day then review and analyse your purchases, as I am almost certain that there will be at least 2 things to can cut out or cut down.

Like this article? Follow Live Full Retire Early on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular tips, tools and inspiration. 

Until next time …

The post How To Save Over £7,000 For An Investment Without Increasing Your Earnings appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.

WOW how great does that sound? A whopping 33% off any Amazon purchase, why haven’t you heard about this before? Well, if you aren’t into cryptocurrency, then it is highly unlikely.

I don’t know about you but I LOVE a bargain. I’m always on different comparision websites researching items, products and services determined to find the best deal possible. If I find that I have paid more than I should’ve, I feel really frustrated.

Two years ago, my friend introduced me to Purse.

Purse is website that allows you to shop safely and securely, accessing products from Amazon but pay by Bitcoin or Bitcoin Cash for HUGE DISCOUNTS and if there are any issues, they have “World Class Customer Support”. I have used their customer support and I can say that this isn’t just a marketing slogan. The customer service staff are brilliant, they respond to any queries quickly and efficiently and if anyone acts poorly, they endeavor to take actions to stop this happening again.

So since signing up in September 2016, I have purchased countless household items, treats for myself along with all birthdays and Christmas gifts, I have completed over 108 transactions saving over £1,108.59.

I couldn’t be happier and so I had to share it.

Simply follow the 8 step process below to start saving:

1. Sign up for an account on Coinbase. This is a secure place for you to buy, hold and store your Bitcoin.
2. Verify your account and link to your bank account. Once you have verified your account you can now start saving.
3. Buy Bitcoin. Go to “Buy” Bitcoin and select the amount you would like to purchase. Coinbase will complete your transaction and deliver the Bitcoin into your account. (the same applies for selling your Bitcoin) You can choose to buy as little as £10 worth of Bitcoin.
4. Then sign up for an account on Purse. Simply enter your email address, a username and a memorable password.
5. Put your items in an Amazon wishlist and get a shareable link.
6. Import your wishlist into Purse
7. Name your discount. The more you buy the bigger discounts you receive.
8. Start Saving.

Like this article? Follow Live Full Retire Early on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for regular tips, tools and inspiration. 

Until next time …

*please note that some of these links are affiliate links

The post How To Save 33% On ALL Amazon Purchases appeared first on Live Full Retire Early.