Starting a Bullet Journal

I recently happened across the phenomenon known as a 'Bullet Journal'. I saw this first on Basically Innocent's blog, and instantly wanted to have one of my own. From what I've been looking at online, I would describe a Bullet Journal as...a calendar/diary/journal/to-do list all rolled into one neat notebook that you can get as creative as you want with. This is most definitely my favorite thing ever!

I started with the key - a list of symbols I would be using in my journal, and what they mean. I stuck with the original symbols suggested on the bullet journal website, as I wanted to start simple and modify once I was used to the system. Following this logic, I set up my bullet journal following the BuJo website, and got cracking...

It's been over a month, and I can say I'm a full on bujo-er, and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon!

Here's some pics of my pages, hope they inspire or intrigue you enough to check out the bullet journal system  and give it a try yourselves :)

The Empties Challenge! February Edition

This month I've gone through a few products, though one or two of them are actually really old and I'm pretty sure they've gone off - so they're not technically empty...but I'm getting rid of them anway!

1: The Body Shop Shower Gel - Pink Grapefruit

This took FOREVER to get through. Not a bad thing though - if you want a long lasting, great smelling shower gel, this is the one. I do think they are a little overpriced, but when they're on offer they're worth spending that little bit extra on. In this case, I received mine as a gift so I was more than happy with this high quality shower gel. The scent is really noticable - in a good way. after using it it lingers lightly on the skin, leaving you smelling and feeling fresh. Overall a great, long lasting product!

2: L'Oreal Elvive Extroadinary Oil Shampoo and Conditioner

I bought this duo to help nourish my damaged, dry hair. However, the ends of my hair are dry and damaged, but the roots of my hair tend to be healthy and can get greasy easily.I loved these products, they smell nice, and made my hair feel lovely. The downside is my hair needed to be washed more often, because the oils in the shampoo and conditioner made my hair get a bit of a build up of oil. I would recommend this product to people with dry hair, not to anyone with combination, healthy or oily hair. A nice product, but it didn't work for me - I had to substitute in other shampoo and conditioners to control the buildup!

A good product, but not for me! 

3: Avon Naturals Body Whip - Vanilla / Honey

I've had these body whips for a long, long time. So long that they have now, unfortunately gone off. They're both about half used, and have separated. I did try mixing it back together, but they didn't smell right, so it was time for them to go!

That's all I have this month...not sure I'll have many empties for March as I have just opened new toiletries when these ran out...but there we go. I'll try to use something else up perhaps...

No-Spend March

I'm challenging myself!

I'm going to cut my spending through March - this mean no more cheeky coffees, or anything else for that matter. I am on a spending ban - other than necessary items like food and petrol. My rules are below, join me if you fancy it!

Rules:
Only buy what you need to live - food and petrol.
No more coffees or lunchtime food trips
Use as much food as you can from what is already in the cupboards/freezer
Use spare time to go through clutter and chuck/keep/sell things

I know full well I am going to find this difficult, especially as I tend to bulk buy food and binge eat. So I have a couple of techniques to help me along the way...
1. Go for walks at lunchtime instead of driving anywhere (saving in petrol and reducing temptation to buy things!)
2. Don't bring my purse out with me
3. When tempted to spend, set a 15 minute timer and do something else that will occupy my attention, when the timer goes off re-evaluate how tempting it is. If youare still likely to spend, set the timer again and distract self - repeat until able to resist! PS - this works for food cravings too...

I'm tracking spending in my Bullet Journal (more on this later) so I'm holding myself accountable! I'll let you know how I get on with this...

Happy March everyone!