Determine my financial priorities and spend accordingly

1. Saving ?500 – ?1,000 a month (ha!) so I can buy a bigger flat somewhere NICE and be able to put a new kitchen in it if needed. And a catflap.

2. A pension.

3. Paying off council tax owed before they come and cart me away.

4. Paying off outstanding parking fines before they come and cart me away.

And NOT:

1. Buying vintage de sede sofas on ebay.

2. Buying vintage viners cutlery on ebay.

3. Buying vintage Wiinblad on ebay.

4. Buying very expensive ingredients from the ‘I have better taste than you’ shelf at Sainsburys that I won’t use for 6 months, 1 week before the sell by date expires.

The pattern – focusing too much on ‘lifestyle’ and not enough on life’s fundamentals. Enough.

Simultaneously debating which of two designer sheepskin coats to buy on ebay, when I have £50 in my bank account, whilst knowing that if I want my ‘big 40th birthday holiday of lifetime’ in February then I need to SAVE SOME MONEY or get on with remortgaging/selling my flat (not solely to fund holiday!), which will also cost money. In the meantime, I still manage to spend hundreds of pounds a month in Sainsburys on god knows what, and I simply MUST have this book, that top, that pair of boots etc ‘cos they are a bargain – too good to miss, surely? Time to prioritise – that Jeremy Cole aloe light will never be mine if I spend all my spare cash on organic smoked paprika sausages.