One of the best things in my life Is my friendship with other business owners. Even if both of them work construction versus mine writing, talking to them about the trials and tribulations I face with my business is always invaluable. I garner so much insight from them, so much inspiration about how to make my brand the best that it can possibly be. I am forever grateful for them both. 

Just recently I’ve been chewing Sir JGood’s ear off with the tribulations that I face with my blogs. I was annoyed by my spending around £500 a year on my blogs and not seeing a penny in returns, even in holding my hand out and asking for donations. I felt like giving something back for the help that I recieve, sure, but really the help that I recieve from the UK Government is not about that. The help that I receive is about my needs, not anyone else’s. 

So I needed a way to slash that cost and make this as painless on myself as possible. 

Bad Girl’s Diaries had to be the first sacrifice. Although I’ve loved writing them and sharing the world through my eyes, it was just adding an expense to my budget and a pressure to my plate. Giving them up that blog has freed both my time and my pocket. I’ve created a “Diaries Of A Submissive” category on this blog instead – which I’m not sure if I will write weekly or just as and when – and it was suggested that I bring back my monthly “What’s New With Ten Shades & Me?” posts, which I stopped at the end of last year, shamefully believing that our readers didn’t really care for them. I know, please form an orderly queue for my spanking… 

The other thing was to swap all of my monthly plans to annual plans. Doing that, I could save an additional £160 a year, bringing my total saved to approximately £260 – more than half of my total outgoings!

The remaining £240 is much easier for me. Sure, Ideally I need to find ways to monetise our blog, but finding a way to at least make back that £20 a month running costs shouldn’t be too difficult. In the ideal world I’d like to earn from my blog and be able to surrender my means-tester benefit. But one step at a time, hey? Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

I do have another “side project” as well – selling baby tropical fish – although it’s a competitive market and I’m not guaranteed much success. Although the guppy strain I have bred in my tank is beautiful and I’m sure that there are people who would love to buy some fry from me, guppies are a very popular fish generally, and the competition is rife. Even still, I’m hopeful that they too could be a way for me to recover my blog-running costs. So too, possibly, for my baby mystery snails. 

So budget announcements now over, what’s been happening in the weeks since my last diary post? 

I’m pleased to say that Master and I still continue to do well, I am still thriving well and we still use Embrace and Obedience. I did manage to wrack myself back to a whopping -53 points, largely because of a few days of anxiety that saw me struggling to function, but also because of a few tasks that weren’t set up quite right, and evening deadlines that were hard for me to meet, given the structure of our day. Master listened, made adjustments (though he refused to hear out that there is much evidence that taking a good daily multivitamin actually isn’t of much benefit) and I am now managing much better. Part of it, too, was about making adjustments to the way I run my day. I’m at -25 now, and I’m no longer losing so many points for missed deadlines, so that’s good. 

Master was against setting a spanking for missed deadlines in lieu of losing points, citing that spanking me would be an added task for his evening and task failure is punishment enough for me, emotionally, anyway. Losing points, he said, is more than apt – the longer I have to wait for an orgasm by my own hands or for the sweet taste of bubble tea, the more incentivised I’m going to be. I suppose he isn’t wrong. 

I have been busy this past week, planting some plants (hydrangea and lavender, for those curious), restoring some of the damage done to the back garden that was caused by Storm Darragh ajnd putting up a new curtain pole in the lounge that has been on my agenda since ever. I’m still doing my six chores a day, plus a kitchen clean and a general tidy, and all of which I get points for. It’s enough without being too much, and there is a reward for it now. It’s amazing how much more incentivised I am when getting stuff done actually means something, rather than just the daily grind. 

I’ve also been planning out a story, though how that’s going to go yet, well, that’s in the pipeline. It’s kind of a little bit similar to neighbour Martin’s story, kind of an autobiography with a twist, although perhaps also incorporating a longstanding fantasy of mine. There is a doctor in it, a dash of science and, of course, a love interest. I have both of my fellow business owners working with me to help me write this one, and it’s done something to me, personally. This is power, and I don’t know that I’m used to having so much power – I get to decide this whole story myself!

We did enjoy a little dance in the kitchen the other day too. I was sorting out the kitchen cupboards and I had some music on when the Google speaker decided to play Shania Twain’s “You’re Still The One”. It’s a special song for Master and me: a reminder of those who doubted us, and where we are now. We both wept but glad, still, to have one another. We also talked about our twelve-year wedding anniversary next month. 

“I don’t even know what twelve years is?” I say. 

“Silk” he says matter-of-factly, “I have been looking”.

“So that’s another pair of boxers for you and pound shop silk flowers for me” I shrug. He grins.

I thoroughly enjoyed a woodland walk with my family yesterday as well, spring has sprung and the bluebells and wild cherry trees are in bloom. It was a lovely mild Sunday afternoon with plenty of people and groups out walking, socialising and enjoying the weather. Perhaps on a quieter day and with obviously different company, it might be a wonderful location for some other antics, but it is what it is and for now I must keep my head very firmly out of the gutter. We met other dogs, and nearly had ours stolen a few times too. Not literally, but as a dog owner, sometimes it’s hard to not want to take another friendly dog home with you!

So that’s where we’re at. Until next time, and I hope all is well with you, dear Reader. 

Stay safe & have fun, 

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