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Hi guys,

As I tackle my finances I'm finding that there's no shortage of advice and concern for my bank balance, some of it useful, some of it, well let's face it, not quite my cup of tea.

In that respect it’s exactly like fitness – everywhere you turn there's a new diet or exercise system.  As someone who's struggled for years with my weight the one thing I know is that you have to find what works for you.  A crash diet might work in the short term but usually the weight just comes back on plus even more for good measure.  Since I discovered Zumba it's been so much easier!

So, trying to find my balance, I'm figuring out what are my spending and saving rules, in short – my perfect diet (with, most importantly, my acceptable "cheats").

At the moment I have the mantra of super life change guru Tony Robbins going round in my head as I tackle my finances "Take Massive Positive Action".  Take Massive Positive Action and you will see immediate results which make you feel empowered and motivated to continue (Rome wasn't built in a day). However you don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, and another thing I've learned from Zumba is that you have to feel successful to feel good, even if it's not with every single move!

I believe that as much as we need to control our spending as a society, if we all stop spending then there is no circulation of money, which affects everyone, especially small businesses.  So I'm looking around at the things I spend money on and the places I spend it and asking myself – which of these do I want to see still here in a year's time?  I've seen some of the best spas in the world go belly up because they didn't have enough customers, wonderful little independent coffee shops and… yes, we all saw it… Woolworths.

The good news is that as I buy my coffee on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday from community and charity cafes where I teach I feel absolutely relaxed about keeping up that habit because not only am I supporting local businesses but I'm also interacting with existing and potential customers and the people behind the counter give me free advertising – not bad for a couple of quid!

I also believe that giving a portion of my earnings to charity is essential and I do believe that it comes back to me – karma comes back around.

Harder to answer is, "when do I cheat?"  Add in that a trip to see my boyfriend includes crossing the Atlantic and that becomes a much bigger question.  It's something I'm still figuring out that probably has a lot of Tesco Clubcard points involved.  At the moment I'm thinking that my "cheat" budget is along the lines of what I manage to save in interest and charges rather than what I've actually paid off debts – the last thing I want to do is ever "put any of this back on!"

But it's important to balance spending just as much as it’s important to have a balanced diet, cutting back on certain things can create costly expenses or stunt business growth – for example making sure I keep on advertising and marketing, and it’s absolutely vital that I keep paying what I owe (it's amazing how many businesses – especially big businesses withhold payment to help their cashflow – which is disastrous when you're the little business working for them!)

The Demotivator (search on the money saving expert website) is a great tool to help you see exactly how much small expenses will end up costing you, so I've given up magazines for now (not that I really bought them).  Truth be told I picked up a couple of old magazines from my mum's and the content was exactly the same.

I think as I sort out my rules the most important thing for me is to remain ethical and stick to my own values and beliefs.  (According to my own ethics of course!)

I was interested in an article on Money Saving Expert about why Martin feels that not everyone should rush to claim for compensation with late flights (the official compensation is often more than the cost of the original flight) but personally the flight I am considering claiming on (BA) was so late that all the tubes were no longer running and I had a desperate and scary trip back to central London from Heathrow, including at least one expensive taxi.  So even if it does mean the airline is out of pocket I think that's the risk you take when you run a transport business.

Ethics may seem to cost money in the short term but if you make earning and saving money your highest priority you will basically end up with the same moral outlook as the big banks - now that's scary!

Much love, Pearl x