September's Goals & Intentions
If you’re new here, each month I share reflections on the previous month, as well as my goals for the following month. These posts allow me to share more personal and intimate details of my life. They’re like a monthly journal or diary for me, and their aim is to keep me accountable on my journey to being debt free, but also to reflect on how I’m doing/ feeling, and what we’ve been up to as a family.
So, on to my goals and intentions for September…
Personal Life & Health:
August was a tricky month for me, mental health wise. I really struggle in the summer holidays to keep all of the plates spinning. I know I’m not alone in that, as the summer holidays are often hard to navigate with keeping the children entertained, and working at the same time. I say it every year, but I need to be more organised for next year. If you’ve got the perfect work/ life balance for the summer holidays, I’d love to know your tricks, although I’m not entirely sure it exists.
We did manage to celebrate my 30th birthday 2.0 though, after being unwell with mastitis for my actual 30th in July (read more about that in August’s post). We had a lovely week off together where we spent our days walking, exploring, swimming, playing golf, playing football, laughing, and swimming in lakes. It was wonderful, and just what we needed.
I want to do more of that for September. I’d love to spend our weekends more intentionally together, just like we used to. So we’ve decided that Sunday’s will be our family days. Saturdays are spent at football games and swimming lessons, so Sunday’s will be just ours. I can’t wait!
After many, many months of saying I’ll get back to regular exercise, and never actually doing a workout, I’m committing to a 28 day beginner challenge throughout September. It’s been over a year since I’ve exercised properly, due to being pregnant and then recovering after the birth. But, I’m SO ready now. I have the motivation and I’ve already completed daily workouts. Exercise used to be something I really enjoyed, and I used to be quite fit. I’ve lost a lot of strength in the last year, so I feel like a beginners challenge is exactly what I need to ease my way back in gently.
I’m determined to complete the 28 day challenge in September, and I’m writing it here to hold myself accountable.
Work Life:
I’m feeling SO energised in my work right now. My Virtual Assistant job is going well, and I’m really enjoying the work I’m doing for my clients. It feels so amazing to get back to doing the work I love, whilst helping people in their businesses.
Find out more about my VA work here:
The other side to my VA work is teaching other creative business owners what I’ve learnt over the years so that they can grow their own businesses, without having to hire me. It’s great for those who want to build and grow their businesses, but maybe don’t have the funds to hire a VA right now, or maybe they’ve got the time to invest in doing the work themselves.
So I’ve got many informative posts, how-to guides, freebies and teaching sessions planned, and I can’t wait to share them with you. Right now I’m planning a Pinterest teaching session with
after helping her to use Pinterest to focus on growing her business and Substack audience.In other work related news, my Simple & Calm Interview Series has been so incredibly well received. I’ve had so much positive feedback from readers, and the interviewees have seen amazing results too.
If you’d like to take part in the series, I’d love to interview you! Please email me at simpleandcalm@substack.com and I’ll send you all the details.
Finances:
Current debt: £11,087.90
Amount paid off in August: £327.20
Plan of action: Pay £355 towards debt in September
I’m back to tracking my income and outgoings after a bit of overwhelm saw me take a break from it in July and August.
This month I’ll have finished paying off one of my debts, it would have left just our car finance and credit card payment remaining, but our washing machine broke and we couldn’t afford to buy a new one outright, and had to get it on finance. I’m so pleased that another debt has gone, but we’ve also added another debt to the total which is just so frustrating. It’s like one step forward, one step back constantly with debt.
Paying off debt is such a long journey, and it can be hard to keep momentum up for so long without necessarily seeing positive results.
We haven’t managed to get the credit card below £1000 in many months, which is so annoying as we’d nearly paid it off at one point, but then needed it in an emergency. It’s so discouraging not having an emergency fund to fall back on, but I’ve managed to squirrel around £100 away to start my emergency fund. It’s not a lot, but it’s a start and I already feel much better knowing it’s there.
I’ve also made a start with saving for Christmas. We never go overboard with Christmas, but it can still end up costing a lot of money, no matter how frugal you are. So, we’re focused on saving as much as we can throughout September and beyond. I’m still kicking myself for not having a Christmas sinking fund this year. Next year needs to be much more organised financially for us, and I’m determined to be more prepared and more secure.
Home Life & Possessions:
Feeling overwhelmed and stressed one day in the summer holidays, I organised every cupboard in the kitchen. It felt like something I could do to bring order to quite a chaotic day.
You’d be surprised how much ‘stuff’ I was keeping that I didn’t need, especially as a minimalist. So a good cull and organise made me feel so much better. I suppose living minimally is a journey, and we will constantly have to review what we want to keep, and what we use.
I’m now itching to declutter and organise more areas of the house, including my little office space (have I shown you that space before?) where I keep all of my business supplies, boxes and paperwork. I’ve just been shutting the door on that while I’ve been on maternity leave since February, but I really want to tackle that space in September. Preferably when the weather cools down though because it can get hot in there!
Technology & Social Media:
When I get overwhelmed and anxious, I tend to turn to Instagram as a distraction. I didn’t use Instagram in July, but I downloaded it again to my phone in August, and I’ve been using it quite a bit (compared to July, I’m still barely on it).
It’s been good to catch up with the people who I’ve missed, and also updating my followers about why I’m no longer spending all my time on Instagram.
I was met with a lovely welcome back, but I feel like I’ve scratched that itch now and I’m no longer bothered by being there again. Maybe this will be what I do from now on - remove myself completely from it, get a little overwhelmed about something, download the app for a few days, enjoy it and then leave again.
The positive thing about this is that I’m not obsessing over being there. I don’t feel like I HAVE to be there or have to show up consistently. This is a huge step for me as I used to be on the platform all the time.
For now I’ve enjoyed adding to my stories, but I doubt I’ll be spending much time there for the rest of the month.
Family & Relationships:
We’re now in full swing with weaning William. It was a tricky start, but now he’s well on his way. It’s only been a couple of days and he already loves his food.
Harriet and Charlie are now back at school, and doing really well to say they’re in the same class now. Their school is a very tiny rural school, with only a small amount of children in, so years 4, 5 and 6 are mixed together in one class. This means that they’re both together now (Harriet is year 5, Charlie is year 4). I was worried how they’d handle being together constantly, but so far they’ve managed really well, and, dare I say it, are getting along like good friends!
I’ve been working all the hours I can lately because I have all of this energy and excitement for it. My husband has been such an incredible support through this time. He always is. He’s absolutely amazing at encouraging me and supporting me to follow my dreams, and I’m so lucky to have him.
I’d really like to spend some good quality time with him, and with the children in September. I know this seems like my goal every month, but my little family are my entire world, and I just want to spend my spare time soaking them up and enjoying them.
And so those are my goals and intentions for September.
I’m really looking forward to Sunday family days, completing the 28 day beginners exercise challenge, starting to publish my new teaching posts over on Sophie Ingleby VA, continuing to save as much as possible for Christmas, decluttering and tidying my little office space, and spending more time with my husband.
How about you? What are your goals and intentions for September? Join me in the comments to chat, or tag me in your own goals and intentions posts, I’d love to read them.
Until next month,
Sophie