Stuck in a rut

As I expected, January has been a quiet month, a bit like last year. I'm not panicking yet, partly thanks to a major bonus of unexpected - and lucrative - work at the end of last year, and partly because I'm trying to pre-empt future lean spells by getting as far ahead with payments as I possibly can, to the point that on 4th January I sat down and "paid" all of February's regular bills in Quicken.

As an aside, anyone wanting to take a proper grip on their finances should use a personal finance program like Quicken or AceMoney Lite as I've probably saved thousands of pounds over the past 15 years simply by knowing exactly how much money I've got at any one time, ensuring I don't spend what I don't have.

Anyway, life has been hectic enough without the distraction of work! I find it difficult to juggle working from home with helping to raise my two lovely daughters. Sometimes I wish I could get out of the house during the day to work somewhere quiet and without distraction, then remember that in that scenario I'd probably be leaving the house at 7.30am and spending a small fortune to commute to an office where I'd face a completely different set of frustrations before heading home to arrive at 7pm to help put them to bed. Ah the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, isn't it?

I should probably rant more on here about politics, but to my increasing shame the current economic downturn sees me turning inwards to my own selfish concerns, trying to avoid worrying about other people when I know damn well it's something I should being doing regardless of my own personal circumstances. Thatcher would be so proud of me and my "I'm alright Jack" attitude. Hmm, I wonder if some of it isn't down to the fact I really do need to get my ears cleaned out - my temporary deafness has given me just a smidgeon of how it feels to be truly deaf: you feel isolated and slightly cut off from reality. Even typing this in the relative peace of the study I'm aware my hearing isn't quite what it should be, and I turn inwards as a result.

I can't even find it in myself to rant at the football: Blues' financial picture looks incredibly fragile, the team are doing their best to draw their way into the Championship and people are moaning about falling attendances on the one hand while slagging off the club for not awarding a 31 year old a pay rise on a weekly salary of 65K: how do these poor footballers survive? Maybe that's why it's easier not to get so wound up these days - or at least, easier to put it all to bed after an hour or two's gloom - not only am I isolated from reality, I feel increasingly disconnected to the sport that has dominated my thoughts for the past 30 (eek!) years...