Monday, 15 January 2018

Monday Motivation || The art of visualization



Hey friends,

So for years now I have been doing #mid-weekmotivation this year however I have decided to change it up to keep in line with new routine I have created for myself. So for the foreseeable future all the motivational posts will be coming to you on a Monday! I kind of like that it will be on a Monday, like I've said before usually when I write these posts I start to feel motivated for life myself.I can't think of a better time for motivation than on a Monday!

Today I want to talk to you all about visualization. I firmly believe visualization is a powerful thing. I remember about this time last year life wasn't looking as that rosy for me & to be quite honest with you I was in a pretty bad place January 2017. I had lost a lot in a short space of time & it took a long time to recover. However one thing I do remember is that as I was feeling a bit better I started thinking about and picturing what I wanted life to look like. I started visualizing my future. It wasn't on purpose, it was daydreaming. However when I look back on it now I realize a lot of what I daydreamed came through. I imagined a beautiful apartment, my own little place, with a beautiful view. I imagined what way I wanted my life to be... job, friends, family & good relationship. The funny thing is that's exactly what I got. 

When I look back on 2017 it was a very divided year for me. The first couple of months were brutal but the latter half of the year was amazing. The thing about visualization it gives you a plan without really realising it. It gives you a clear view of where you want to be. That means when things come up you will naturally gravitate and work in the direction of what you want. Whether you are actively seeking it out or not you are subconsciously guiding yourself in the path of where you want to be in life.

Many people like to do vision boards and things like that. I have yet to venture into this activity but I'm 100% pro visualisation! Believe me you might just think you are daydreaming (like me) but when you start to see those dreams come to life its such an amazing feeling. You honestly look around and think "I am the luckiest person in the world". No word of a lie almost everyday I used to look around see my beautiful apartment, easy & relaxed lifestyle, my wonderful family & friends, my amazing boyfriend and think wow I am so lucky. This was something I was only dreaming about when times were tough and here I was! Literally living my day dream. 


The reason this whole topic came into my head is because I was sitting down looking out my window feeling a bit lost. I was thinking about the previous year, our apartment & the life we had. We decided to move back to the city in Sept for many reasons & I think we had a different idea of the way it would go. Although there are many reasons I'm glad I came back, as soon as my college course is over we are going to go back (well that's the plan at the moment). That's the thing you see, everything is messy, undecided, uncertain & me being and anxious person, it doesn't sit well with me. Anyway that reminded me of how I used too daydream & I realised most of it came true! So I have started doing it again (which is much harder in uncertain times) but I like to think "Where am I happiest?" "What life do I want?" "What do I want to do?" After a while you will start to get a clearer or picture of where you want to be & if you have a afternoon to get creative then why not create a vision board. You an include all your wants & desires for the future. If you need inspiration there are loads of videos of how to create them on Youtube.

Also I think if you can visualise it then you are more motivated if you are actively working towards it. For example with college I'm visualising graduating & I definitely makes me work harder & want it more. 

Anxiety & sometimes just general life can make you think of all the bad things but if change your focus to positive visualisation not only will you feeling better but it will put you in the right frame of mind for life. At the moment I try to visualise which direction I want my life to head in. It really makes me motivated to get out there and grab opportunities along the way.

Remember YOU GOT THIS. I was in one of the worst places of my life this time last year and it was only getting worse. A few months later my life had completely changed and I was living my daydream. Times may have changed again & they are a little uncertain but I'm going to keep daydreaming & follow the path to them once more. 

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading
xox

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Friday, 12 January 2018

10 Areas I plan to cut my spending in 2018! || Financial Series




Hey Friends, 

As most you will know by now finances and minimalist ideas are featuring heavily in my goals for 2018.  There are many reasons for this and if you missed that post you can check it out here - Goals & Resolutions 2018. This year I plan on being more intentional with everything I bring into my life but also I want to stop spending stupid money to the point where it just slips through my fingers and I have no idea where it went. I think these goals work hand in hand and hopefully will come full circle to enrich my life as time goes on. 

I've had a look through my budgets I've created over the past few months & looked at the areas I spending the most money where its not necessary. I have also been decluttering for the past year as well (albeit alot more slowly than I would like #lifegettingintheway) so by taking both of these into account I have decided 10 areas that I am going cut my spending in the next year. If you are planning something similar please leave me a comment on what you're planning on cutting down or out completely. I would love to hear them & I'm always open to ideas.

Here we go - 

1. Magazines & Hardcopy Books 

This was a weakness for such a long time. Just to give you an idea I was the girl that had all the magazines every month, like I would legit walk into a shop scan the magazine shelves and I would already have all the ones I wanted. This would happened regularly, to the point where I would double buy them as I would forget that I had already purchased it earlier that month. I'm also the type of person that can't walk into a book store without buy atleast 3 books.... whether I read them or not after was debatable most of the time I wouldn't have even finished one not to mind all 3 then off I would go again and buy 3 more. So I have decided there is really no need for this. I have so many books (I haven't decluttered them yet) so I will go through them all I will keep any I really want to read or have read and loved and get rid of the rest. I now have audible on my phone & although it's not the same thing in my opinion, its great for travelling whether I'm driving in my car or taking public transport. Will I cut out buying books forever? No but now I will only buy a book when I have put alot of thought into it & I have read all the other books in my collection. As for magazines this has already been a tough one to say no to but realistically I can get all this info online. I may get one or two throughout the year as a treat but other than that I am staying well away from the magazine isle from now on.




2. Takeaway Coffee

Ah my weak spot. Ok so didn't do too great with the whole not buying coffee thing for the holiday season. I mean daammn they are just too tempting. However fresh year, fresh start. I have bought yet another takeaway cup (€1.50 in Dealz) and I will be taking my coffee and tea to work and college with me. €2 - €5 a day is a lot of money when you add it up. Again I'm not cutting it out forever but I don't want to be buying it everyday for the sake of it. I have caramel syrup, coffee, milk, cream. What more could I want & when I get my new place I will use that extra money I have saved from not buying coffees to pick myself up a coffee machine! Win, win.

3. Jewellery

This is another one which to be honest I think I am almost going to cut out completely. I like my jewelry to have sentiment behind them. I have beautiful jewelry that has been gifted to me over the years and these I will keep and continue to wear. However I don't really see the point in costume jewelry anymore. They are fun at the time but they don't last long and don't have any sentimental value for me. They are usually quite cheap, break easily & half the time I don't even wear them I just end up buying them to store them and then declutter them a year later. I think this is a category that is going to get cut out completely.




4. Nail Varnish

Now this is an area that is going to be completely cut out in 2018 if not for a couple of years after. I have so much nail varnish & my collection is currently half of what it was last year. I do love them all but I have so many I have no need whatsoever to purchase anymore! On top of that I was gifted a collection of 20 mini varnishes by my mother as a stocking filler this Christmas time! So no there will be no nail varnish haul in 2018.

5. Clothes

Ok so I don't think I'm not going to buy any clothes in the next year but It's going to be cut down hugely. I know I'm going to be purchasing underwear and possible new work attire should I change jobs again but other than that I currently have no items I need to buy. Last year I went through my wardrobe and got rid of so many items. However I do believe I could even get rid of more and I will be going through everything again during my next move. I feel very blessed with the clothes I currently have & at this moment can't see a need for anymore items.




6. Home Decor

Again another weakness of mine, everytime I walk into a home store I re-design my home in my head. I want everything but I have so much stuff. I want to declutter the home decor items I currently have and refrain from buying knick-knacks for no reason that honestly just take up space. When we move into our new place there may be items that need to be purchased and I'm not saying I'm never going to purchase any home decor but I'm going to be completely intentional with my purchases. I'm going to ask myself questions like where, when & why before I pick anything up for my home.

7. Stationary

Ah Stationary....is there anything more enticing? I have so much stationary so I'm making a commitment to not bring anymore into my life just because its cute. I will now use up all the station I currently own or just simply get rid of it. Realistically as cute as it is, it's just taking up space in my life.

8. Single Item Treats

What I mean here is when you go to the shop and pick up one bar of chocolate for €1.20. I really don't see the point when you can buy 4 for €1.50. This also goes for spending €2 on a pastry when you can buy a pack of 6 individually packaged ones for about €1.80. Another example is bottles for €.80 - €1 a bottle when you can buy a 24 pack for about €2.80. Yesterday I found a four pack of sparkling flavoured water (my new addiction) for €1.89 and they are usually €1.70 in the shop, sold singly. Now they are off brand but does that really matter when you are basically getting 4 for the price of one! It just doesn't make sense for me anymore to buy things individually at a shop anymore.With a little more time and planning so much money can be saved!!

9. Back-ups

Now this is something I'm definitely guilty of. I'm the type of person that likes to know I won't "run out". I now know this is silly. Theres not much we can't live a day or two with out or that we can't just run to the store and pick up should we run out. Also if we know we are going to run out then we can just pop it on the next shopping list. So the plan this year - No More Back-ups!

10. Duplicates

Another thing I'm guilty of. To be honest if you really think about it the reason we have duplicates is due to laziness more than anything else. We either forget we have it, can't find and can't be bothered to look for it. We'd rather pay more money than find, look for or even clean the item we need. While on my decluttering splurge I'm going to look for all duplicates and get rid of them. If we don't need more than one, we don't need to store it.

 So these are all the areas I'm planning on cutting my spending on 2018. I'm sure I'll be adding to the list as time goes on. If this happens I will be sharing it all with you too! Please leave me a comment below if you have areas in your life where you are going to cut spending in the next year as I'm always looking for ways to improve and also minimalism & the path to financial freedom looks different for everyone so id be interested to see what it looks like for you.

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading

 xox

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Wednesday, 10 January 2018

Beauty La Linda ~ Lifestyle || Blogging Goals for 2018




Hey Friends,

In my last post I talked all about my personal goals & resolutions for 2018. You can check it out here - Goals & Resolutions 2018! . However I thought I would create a separate post for all my goals that related to blogging. That way I be more focused for the coming year.


Be more organised

This will be one of my main priorities in 2018. I'm generally one of those annoyingly organised people when it comes to my own life almost to my own detriment where I don't allow any time for spontaneity. This is because my anxious personality wants me to plan my life weeks in advance. I don't like surprises, I like to know when and where I need to be and how. However I have left this slide alot in my blogging life. So I'm putting some measures in place to get my blog organisation back on track and generally making it more efficient.

  • Blogging bullet Journal this way I can plan and track posts, stats and progress
  • Creating a solid routine for both time to blog, promote and all that good stuff but also a routine for scheduling posts. Consistency is so important but it's something my little blog has been lacking
  • Creating goals for stats and posts
  • Figuring out what you guys want by looking at my most popular posts and trying to tailor more to what you guys want to see from me
  • Learning how to monitor process through Google Analytics 
  • Learning more about SEO


Re-Vamp

I have decided it is time to either re-vamp or even re-launch my blog. It has been something I have been thinking about for a while. Although I love my little blog I also think I am not doing it justice sometimes. I have barely made changes to it in the last 4 years and I really think its high time to I did a little sussing up to it. I like the idea of combining my beauty & lifestyle blogs and streamlining the whole thing but I'm not exactly sure how to do it so a little more research is going to have to take place if I am to do this. Maybe I create a whole new blog and start from scratch but keep the other ones live so people have the freedom to go back and read the posts from the past four years if they wish and I can also link onto them too, or maybe create a new web page entirely and transfer them all over. I really don't know at this point but I do want to make a change. Please leave me a comment below if you have any experience in this, clearly I need all the help I can get.


Social Media

I need sometime off from social media every now and then. It overwhelms me and doesn't help with my anxiety. That doesn't mean to say I don't love it, it's just every now and then for my own peace of mind I need to take a break. However I want to be more focused with it, apart from chat groups (which I really enjoy & want to do more of) maybe I'll just keep social media to business days/hours and keep weekends free from them. I also want to be more present on Instagram and Snapchat this year. I love these so much but don't feel like I make the most of them like I should.


Photography &  Editing

These are things I really want to work on this year. I feel like has naturally improved over the years but I'm still not where I would like to be with either of them.  


Working with brands

I always see people working with brands and although I have been lucky enough to work with a couple myself I have realized I need to be bolder when it comes to my blog and the direction I want it to go in. I have always loved my blog as my hobby but now I feel like I would like to take into the direction of becoming more of a job. I love the idea of it but its just not viable at the moment. 

So those are my goals for my little blog this. Let me know in the comments what any of your goals are for 2018, also leave a comment if you have any tips or tricks that will help me along the way I would be ever so grateful!

Chat soon x

Thank You for Reading
xox

Previous Posts -
Goals & Resolutions 2018!

Have you checked out my Beauty Blog!? - Beauty La Linda - MUA
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Monday, 8 January 2018

Beauty La Linda ~ Lifestyle || Goals & Resolutions 2018




Hey Friends,

New year, new start with all those new goals and resolutions. I have been thinking quite carefully about these. I have decided to do a separate post on all my blogging goals and resolutions for 2018 and just focusing on life ones for this post.

If you missed my last post where I re-capped on how my goals & resolutions for 2017, you can check it out here - Review of goals & resolutions 2017!

My goals this year are going to be inter- connected and be more focused. They are going to be focused around 3 main areas, minimalism / home life, finances & travelling.

Home life

In 2017 I discovered the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo Book Review & the whole concept of minimalism. The thought of only keeping things in your life that you truly love and adds value to your life is one that really appeals to me. I intend on doing more of this in 2018. Really taking stock of all my possessions and everything else that has a place in my life and only keeping things that bring joy or have a purpose. With moving so much this has not been really possible yet. Unfortunately myself and my partner are part of the high statistic of 20-35 year olds that have had to move in with the parents due to the housing crisis. This is due to change in up-coming months as we are focused and committed to finding a place of our own again but until that happens unfortunately it will be hard to design the living space I desire. We are eternally grateful for all the support and love we have received from my parents but theres nothing quite  like your own home, is there.

When we move again in a few months I am going to take it as an opportunity to go through everything I own and figure out what to get rid of (by "get rid" I mean throw away anything broken, and donate or sell anything in good condition that might be of some use or joy to somebody else). That way we can start our lives in our new home completely fresh. 

I also want to be more intentionally with what I bring into both my home and my life. Hopefully no more mindless shopping, which might hurt my haul posts a little bit but hopefully you will enjoy my posts about this journey just as much. 


Finances

This is continued on from 2017. I am nowhere near paying off all my debt but I am not giving up. In 2017 I learned a lot about budgeting and handling finances from financial gurus like Dave Ramsey and financial Youtubers too. (I might do a post soon on my favourite Budget Youtubers and Bloggers. I wasn't successful every month on my budget and I made a lot of mistakes but I also learned from those mistakes and thats the most important thing. Sometimes it's not easy, life gets in the way but if you have faith & power through it will all come right in the end. I am very lucky as I have a very supportive partner that I feel comfortable discussing our finances with. This is extreamly important if trying stick to a budget when you are in a committed relationship. You need to be a team. This year I have spent time creating saving goals and debt repayment goals to hopefully be in a much better position by this time next year.



Travelling

My partner and I have set travel goals as well for this year. Although we are not completely clear on where we will be both jobwise and location wise in the next couple of months we have set out a plan from where we are now. If our circumstances change our plans will have to change too to accommodate this but as of now we do have plans to see more of the world in 2018. My family have been really sweet too. My sister surprised me with a little travel diary book so I can record my adventures and my brother gifted my the Instax Mini camera so I can document them. When I see these they make me more motivated to get my ass up and have a wander around the world.





So these are my main personal goals for 2018 and to be honest I'm quite excited about using the year to create a happy, exciting and more stable life for myself and the people around me. Don't worry I will of course be taking all you guys with me on the journey so you will get to see exactly how we are getting on & of course be a part of it too.  Please let me know in the comments any of your goals or resolutions for the new year as I would love to hear them. I would also be very interested if you guys have any tips of tricks that might help me to achieve mine this year!!

Chat soon x


Thank You for Reading
xox

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Sunday, 7 January 2018

Beauty La Linda - Lifestyle || Review of my Goals and Resolutions 2017




Hey Friends, 

First of all HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I hope it is an exciting, safe and prosperous new year for you all! In keeping with tradition I here is my review of all my goals and resolutions of 2017! If you would like to check it out for yourself you can click on the link here - My Goals & Resolutions 2017. So how did I get on?

Cleaning up my act

I think I made good headway with this. I have been really getting into this whole minimalism malarkey lately. I have been doing alot of reading about it from minimalistic bloggers and watching minimalism Youtubers. I have been changing my mindset in the past year and definitely think I have different outlook now when it comes to "stuff". I dont think all of minimalism is for me I think I like the idea more of only keeping things in your life that truly bring you joy and adds value to your life. I'm currently re-listening to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up - Marie Kondo on audible. If you would like to read my review of this wonderful book you and check it out by clicking on the link here - Book Review || Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up. 

Sorting out my Finances

Unfortunately I have not cleared all my debt yet, this is partly due to life circumstances beyond my control and partly due to my own fault as in hindsight I can see many little things I could have done differently that would have helped my situation along the way. However I did learn alot about budgeting and financing & I truely believe this will help me along the way to a more financially free 2018.




Get on a plane

In my mid year review I mentioned that I didn't think this was going to happen this year what with moving once again and I was correct however I have decided not put so much pressure on it. It wll happen when it happens. To be honest it might make me more anxious if I just keep making such a big deal about it. I will be very proud of myself when I finally do it but I'm not going to stress about it for now. It just wasn't meant to be this year.

Learning a new language

Again I explained this in my mid year review. The reason this resolution came about was because of my partner at the time. Now that is no longer and priority. It is still something I have always wanted to do but not a goal at the moment.

Building proper routines

This one I actually got really good with but unfortunately my routine has changed about three or four times this year & every time it takes a while to adjust but soon I will be moving again and hopefully this I'll be able to settle properly at least for a year or two as that it what I crave the most these days. 

Understanding Me!

This year was definitely a year of learning and I don't think thats going to stop anytime soon. I believe we should always be constant working on ourselves. I've an eventful / weird year but I've also learned alot which will I will carry with me into 2018.  

So thats it then, another year down. Did I reach all my goals? No but I'm really happy with the progress I have made & I learned alot this year from both mistakes I have made and things that have worked for me. Next year I will continue to strive to reach all the goals that are important to me. New year, fresh start and all that.

Stay tuned for my next post. All about my Goals and resolutions for 2018!!!

Chat soon x



Thank You for Reading
xox



Previous Posts

Have you checked out my Beauty Blog!? - Beauty La Linda - MUA
Previous Posts

TWITTER - @Beauty_La_Linda
INSTAGRAM - @beauty_la_linda
BLOGLOVIN' - Beauty  &  Lifestyle
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