January in London? - So Pretty under Snow
THE.PRESENT: "Come on MUFF have some fun, get yourself one of those gadgets, go on holiday you need one and the kids do as well, a few more presents - they have not had enough for Christmas"MUFF: "Thanks for the pointers. At the moment we are happy with our little lot, love our community and have some great laughs."
This post - Enjoying life one day at a time, Embracing Change through planning and a little list of things to do at the start of the year.
THE PRESENTEnjoying life now
January 2013! Waking to the smell of freshly ground coffee. Our kids are playing happily with their generous Christmas presents, thank you Santa / Grandma. School starts next week. We meet and chat about random topics with friends in the park and run around the library.
Hot warm home cooked meals are the order of the day. Delicious porridge for breakfast. Lentils with french sausages, vegetables and the last of the clementines a satisfying lunch. Soup and dips for tea.
Skype the grandparents in the evening to amaze them with the new skills the kids have learnt. Bath time, story and bed.
Time to enjoy a good book and perhaps a glass of wine, cozy on the sof,a stroking the purring cat on the lap.
Simple times for a cold, damp dark time of the year and time to get on with a few things......
What's happening with this blog?
The blog started out with an idea and a wide breadth of topics Get In The Ring?. When it was turned on in July 2012 and a modest number of people found and visited the site.
Since its early rambling days in July August and September it has now provided several planning tools, 37 posts and several pages of information. Amazingly there are now visitors from all over the world. The best post had 1,000 reads in a day.
Wow - how cool is the internet! (Thanks Revolver Maps)
Following a plan is important when making change happenPlan is the key word in PERL. Effective planning in MUFF's opinion can make a big difference. Our Tribe has seen the dramatic results from our planning. It provided us with clear goals and a way to reach them. Muff Family Financial Freedom in 7 Years! The light of financial independence is at the end of the tunnel, real freedom to do what we want!
MUFF hazards a guess that only a small minority of society have a very clear plan ahead. How many people have been fortunate to have extensive planning training and put it into action on a day to day basis? Both my wife and I have been extremely fortunate to have been taught these skills.
The light bulb moment for this blog: "Hey this planning stuff we have adapted from work is great. It has helped us to plan our futures. Why not share the knowledge perhaps it will be of interest". So this was started and the posts are about our modest findings.
Self Help Booksinto Real Change!
Lots of self help books waffle on about do this or do that. Print out a few pages and fill them in. End result is book goes on the shelf and the person back to real life. Bills to pay, errands to run, work commitments, kids etc.
Who has the time to sit down with all of these books and actually pull them together into something concise, simple and useful? Something that is living, grows and is used each week? MUFF has an inate interest in this area as he has been trying to do it for YEARS.
NOW! PERL is all about taking ideas from some of these self help books and trying to combine them into actionable tools. Self help becomes Self Action, Control and Review. Better concise, decision making follows. This is a result of the structured thoughtful process that takes place while planning THE.FUTURE (and learning from THE.PAST)
This process challenges areas such as procrastination, short terminism, the consumer mindset and atrophy of the mind. A positive, re-enforcing plan can start with RULES (What needs to controlled NOW: 10 Rules of Extreme Saving and 30 Rules of Very Early Retirement)
CHECKLISTS - What need to be learnt / developed / completed are there to compliment the rules MALP! Where to Live in Early Retirement?)
Finally developing second nature HABITS (just do it as a matter of course) keep you on track (6 Habits for Very Early Retirement).
Give us time and we will change
Changing your bad habits for good habits takes time. It also requires discipline while the brain is re-wired to the change in thought processes. Critical thinking skills are honed, intuition becomes more acute and emotions are tempered when making decisions.
When we moved to an Early Retirement mindset (frugality, saving, investing, embracing the world around us, health conscious, continuous learning to name a few) we ditched the "I want one of those / deserve a reward for all of my hard work" culture. This did not happen overnight. It took several years and we work on it to this day.
We found the changes to our lives liberating. A weight of expectation (which was self inflicted) was eradicated. Keeping up with the Jones' no longer mattered. We did not need the fancy house or car (even though we could). We did not want chains of debt.
What is NOW really important to us is family, friends, community, health and the great outdoors. At this point in time it is important to us that we live in a safe, unblemished environment so the children can develop without the "noise" of modern life around every corner.
Our hard earned savings and "controlled" living (not simple or modest we have been fortunate to live well) gives us this opportunity to do whats right and best for us. It is in the NOW we are making it happen: PERL Short Term Planning.
What are some good things to do NOW? (MUFF Tribe's January to-do list...)
- De-clutter - it is nice to have space and get rid of the burden of things. Less stuff encourages more frugality? and more time to think and more space to entertain friends in the house
- Add any un-wanted stuff to Craiglist or try to sell on Amazon
- Pay off any outstanding bills before the interest kicks in
- What odd jobs are needed (fix that leaking tap or loose door handle?)
- What do do with all of the Christmas chocolate - ration it or give it away.
- Check the cupboards for food close to its sell by date and live off it for a week before buying more.
- Any insurance costs coming up - research some alternatives now to bargain with when renewal time comes.
- Clean the house (It is not spring yet but boy oh boy the dust of Christmas has settled under the sofa!)
- Have a break - too much food, TV, alcohol, late nights, noise, you name it. Relax, put your feet up, and have a break.
- Write thank you letters and cards
- Get involved with some community work
- Learn about investing
- Learn about the big issues facing the world in the next 30 years
- What are your short term plans for the year?
- What opportunities are there to increase your income or reduce spending?
- Visit some friends and play with the kids and have friends around
- Create a list of fun challenges for the year (e.g. climb a mountain or create a family play...)
- Create a list of healthy meals and put them on a whiteboard in pain view
- Create a standard printable shopping list (you can cross off what you don't need before you shop)
- Tidy up outside in the garden or sweep the drive - set an example
- Write something on your blog / in your diary..........
Good luck with your own January To-Do List.
NOW MUFF needs to get on with finishing the PERL series of posts and THE.FUTURE he will be what he will be....we have plans for him!
Peace and prosperity
MUFF
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