Hello and welcome it is halfway in the week and so if there is something you’d like to read then check out this months newsletter where I talk about my monthly challenge, which is to declutter for a whole month and getting my life straight, and will be writing and sharing blogs on this and about Spring and what I am looking forward to and wanting the warmer weather and done with Winter and wear less.
So here it is and I hope you enjoy it and lets watch new flowers growing and babies born and welcome the lighter days and nights.
Watching a video by Phil and Alex, who were doing a cleansing detox, made me think that its not just what is inside the body, but for the mind and life too, when life gets too much.
Spend some time away from your phone: Last Saturday I was watching the rugby and was picking up my phone about 5 to 6 minutes, and annoyed at myself as Saturday’s I like to spend time away from my phone, in terms of checking my emails. watching Youtube and checking Instagram. I do still post at the weekend on Instagram of me to document the time I spend with my son, but I like to have my phone away, and do feel good for that. As my son gets annoyed with me when I am on my phone, and just having that time away can really help your wellbeing and your mind rest, because too much phone usage can make us feel unproductive and lose touch with reality.
Change your routine for some self care: Are you fed up of the same old routine? Perhaps you need to have a selfcare routine and change if you feel like you are procrastinating because you are bored, and so need a new routine so you can spend time having a detox, like putting on some chill out music, whilst you use a face mask and want your skin to glow. Stress can affect the skin, it has been discovered and so it is good to have some selfcare to look after your skin and have no make up days.
Work outdoors: Fed up of sitting at a desk in the same room and the same chair? Time to make changes to this and work outdoors. Of course this can be difficult when it is raining and cold, but once the summer starts to get closer, the temperature will change, and I enjoy writing outdoors, with a coffee and have a picnic for one. If not go to the library to work, or a coffee shop, if you don’t do this all the time and have a different change of scenery. In summer I want to film my videos and change my working space.
Detox your house: Last Sunday I continued doing my March challenge, which is to declutter for an entire month, and having less does feel good, but there is more to do, that I need to put away and have more space and be strong in doing so. The items I like to keep is my notebooks because I use these to plan goals, make notes and my writing of my books, because in case someone takes my idea, and because some books I’d like to go back to, to write. I plan to write more books, and use up what I have got before I spend more on items I don’t need to. I don’t need anymore showering gel, or moisturiser as I have plenty to use, and anything not used I will give to someone else or donate.
Detox your mind: I have already talked about stress and goes with the others, like not using your phone and putting it away, but what an help this too, is exercise and I often if I feel things are getting too much, I will walk as this helps to clear the cobwebs away and helps me go through my thoughts and mindfulness is a great tool to use when walking with no headphones in the ear, but taking note of birds, squirrels and visiting a national park can help clear the mind and be present with yourself and enjoying nature.
Have a financial detox:I like having no spend days and if you didn’t know I did no spend January this year and it was so good to help me balance my money. only getting items I needed, and it feels good not having to many receipts. I want that to be my focus and have a lighter purse without receipts, as they just cause clutter. It has help me spend wisely and stop the impulse buys. It good to have a full bank account and saving. This year I want to pay off my debts, and managed to clear one debt and is good to see my credit card balance going down. Being in debt and cause a lot of stress and so it good to sit down and go through subscriptions you no longer use, and making the money I have last, and see my savings going up.
It is so worth it to detox certain areas of your life when things get to much and feel good about life again and growing positively and being rid of the stresses of it, and have a good balance of home life, work life, and getting in touch with what is around you that can help balance your life to feel good within yourself.
As I continue to declutter and make plans to sort out my belongings, it helps me to value the things I have. Example: a bed for my son for when he comes and stays with me at the weekend, and the desk space I have to write my blogs and books, and for the curtains that black out the light to have a good sleep, and shoes that protect my feet. This helps me not to buy another pair of shoes, a brand new set of curtains, and so I go through it of the items that gives me comfort and peacefulness in my mind and how I feel about myself.
This is not to say I will never buy clothes or shoes again, or have the same curtains for the rest of my life who knows what is destined for us, we never know so being appreciative to what we have already that makes you happy can delete those feelings we get when we want a pair of shoes that sparkle or the latest iPhone, when we know its just more expense and actually what we were already using was enough and then worry because we couldn’t really afford it and the buzz you had in buying the item has quickly gone.
As I wrote this blog I just picked up my gratitude journal and wrote what I currently value down as I love practicing gratitude and being thankful. Look around you and the people in your life, how do they add value and how do you feel around them and others like I wrote that I value the roof over my head and the my everyday trainers I bought from TU Sainsbury’s as they weren’t that expensive and wear them most of the time, because they are so easy and light on my feet. I value the food that is made for me as I currently live with my Mum and step dad and so grateful the space and room I have and so need to value more as I want a more minimal amount of stuff that no longer gives me joy.
It’s following the Kon Marie method of if that item gives you joy or not, and what purpose does it give? My trainers for example help me walk and comfortable and goes with what I like to wear and are practical as my son likes to play sports and I do a lot of travelling and saves me time, and saved me money.
For me it is essential item because I need in order to travel and get from A to B and buy food as some days my mum and step dad go out and not rely on others and to be able to buy stuff for my son and I believe that every penny does count as I would like to give my room a make over and have it more organized, and so it is essential item to live, and respect it for the items it allows me to have.
My dad used to say “That money speaks a difference language” and part of me believe that too. When I worked in accounts if people didn’t get their expenses paid they would get angry about it and would hunt me down, and found tough because it was a lot of work for one person, and felt overwhelmed. Since those days my relationship with money is starting to be good again, as it is hard when you have little and you have bills to pay.
I did get into debt and became reliant on using a credit card and it can be stressful and can really effect how you feel about money but I am to blame and I have had to admit that. Admitting that has helped me to get back on track with my money and stopped me from taking it for grunted and I like to see money saved and can’t wait to pay off my debt and put it behind me. I have already cleared one, so just got one debt which I am getting down, and so money is important and is what we need to survive, but not having a load of stuff that will make us happy for 5 minutes but forever.
When I buy something now I think to myself Do I need it right now? Will it last once its been cleaned and what role will it play in my life. I know I don’t need 30 pairs of leggins, or 100 notebooks, to feel good about life, but enough that will help clothes me, and does it work with what I have got.
Hello and welcome and thank you for the continued support on this blog. I today uploaded my first video on my March challenge which is to declutter for an entire month to get some order in terms of clothes and areas of my bedroom that continues to be cluttered.
My enthusiasm is not good. I want to be “Yeah lets this decluttering done” and then I pick up my camera to film and see my battery needs charging and sigh with relief. I know I will get more of it done, its for me not being a natural declutterer, not naturally an enjoyable task but I know it needs to be done and who else is going to do it?
I do watch youtube to get inspired and been watching the programme on BBC 1, Sort your life out with Stacey Solomon but I have to really kick myself up the bum to get it done. Sorry for the rhyme, but How many people can identify with that?
I want to be excited but I am not but seeing the untidiness behind me I just got up and tidied this space but its my workout clothes as I was running again, but looked at it and asked “Do I plan to run tomorrow, this week? I want to but whether I do is another story. I will see, but for now as I am not running so put the items away hanging up in my wardrobe in my bedroom, and if I do run this week, I have hung it together can take out easily and put it on.
I have begun and inventory list of what I have got, this is in terms on food, clothes, toiletries and skin care and going though what still to be used and got plenty of. This is to make sure I use what I have got before buying any more, and seeing I have enough and that actually gives me comfort.
So once my camera battery is charged will be filming more and doing a bit more each day. I have to do it a bit at a time because if try and do all in one go, will make me avoid it, so lets do this together and if you have any decluttering tips please share I am welcome to suggestions, and you can leave a comment below.
I got the idea of this blog from seeing the theatre show The Bodyguard, which was originally a film with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, because bodyguards do amazing things and people who create music that last decades and means so much to people.
People who I see on Instagram doing running events to raise money for charity and those who save lives like the NHS, the forces and people who are firefighters or paramedics. I know there has been negative press about some of these services and they overshadow the ones working in these services who do a brilliant job and risk their lives everyday.
Then there are people who run foodbanks and on the One show, which is a BBC weekly show at 7pm each evening apart from the weekend do a section called One Big Thank you to people who have gone out of the way to help others with daily living and making life easier for people who are struggling to live and be happy. Example they had a lady who ran a library and arranged it into local meeting place and people creating a community for those struggling have somewhere to have interaction and support where they haven’t any support.
We should be helping each other and building happy communities and not just here in the UK but all over the world. Doing acts of kindness can really make a difference, and when I shop in Tescos they give you an option to donate to a charity which I always do and giving others clothes to help landfill and making a more healthy environment and help with less waste.
I look at Road sweepers and when I worked for the Borough Cleansing for Hammersmith and Fulham, they would be people who had been working in cleaning our streets all their lives but never get mentioned and they should, because they don’t often get paid a lot but we need people cleaning our pavements and roads.
They should be rewarded and given honours, and people who stand out in all weathers selling the big issue. These are people that do amazing jobs, and they don’t see it that way. To them its become their life and just doing a job, but do we want to have dirty untidy streets? Growing up in Hammersmith and Fulham in the 80’s there would be dog pooh all over the pavements, rubbish everywhere and in Chelsea too. It was grubby and so people who clean our rubbish and they in Hammersmith had refuge officers making sure that people didn’t put rubbish in the wrong place and fly tipping, which is against the law in the UK so they would make sure that people paid for items to be collected as waste like fridges were collected and alerted by residence of the borough following the rules in living waste on the streets.
Then there are carers. They don’t get much help financially either and that to me is disgusting because when you have a person with a disability or an illness can affect them emotionally and do wonderful jobs in helping people to still have normality in their lives. I think about Katie Price and how she has looked after Harvey. and on her own a lot, and had to deal with people using him to make fun of children and adult with disorders, and using him to put offensive material online. I know she is in the public eye but that is no excuse of the treatment they have often received and I think she is a excellent advocate to carers of children and yet doesn’t always get credit where she should.
Lets celebrate the wonderful people we have in the world and give them a One Big Thank you.
This is not saying we should forget about the man as there are men we could celebrate, like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, but us women should be celebrated to and love writing blogs on this day because as women we carry our families with us and try to do so much and in the passed decades women were seen as being wives and looking after children when now men and women take care of the home and we raised our voices to change on what being a woman means.
I was around very domestic women and when I think of decluttering, which is my challenge this month (March 2023) to declutter think of it being a woman thing, because of the women I was influenced by. This is not a bad thing I am glad to have learned to tidy and clean, cook and make a cup of tea, and look after my son whilst his dad goes to work . Cleaning and tidy is not my favourite activity, but who else is going to do it? Should it be me? Or course, check my last post: I do not want to declutter and its only the beginning
Being a woman means to be strong and feeling good about being woman and like my boobs, my bum, face, eyes and seeing what we can achieve being a woman. Don’t forget I know not everyone was a fan but had female Prime Ministers, we have had Queens and celebrated Queen Elizabeth ruled for 70 years and so we should feel proud in being a woman.
I love the fact I was carrying a child, my son and was able to cradle him in my womb, and see him being born and watching him grow, not want to miss any minute and us women carry a lot on our shoulders and so being woman is to be a sister, mother, Aunty friend and a Nanny. Not saying that we all should be mothers, that is personal choice, but being able to carry another life is an amazing thing, being able to produce milk to feed our children, and be proud of what as women of what we can do.
Yes I am now regretting my March challenge to declutter because now I am like “Can I be bothered?” feeling, but I know it has to done and this week I have free, well kind of, because I have been doing a course, but I really don’t feel like decluttering.
Since beginning of this blog I have sorted out my sons pants and sock draw and so one part done, and it was me saying to myself “Do it now and then its done”. I am not a natural organized person and looking at my desk where I type my blogs, as that is where my Laptop sits is well overcrowded and so this area is going to need a change.
This is what month challenge is going to be, me getting more out of the space I have and working to have a better set up, that makes me feel good about and excited about using that space doing the thing I love, writing and so for this I know I need to make changes, and so I have the time so I am gong to do it.
I do feel that I have begun, sorting out my son pants and sock draw, and next gonna sort out his nightwear and gonna take my time, and gonna try and make mornings my mornings decluttering rather than later.
For me I need to take baby steps and get in touch like running, how I feel once it is done. It helps boost my energy and one step further to where I want to be. I like having the things I love and use around me but in a less crowded space.
As I just wrote this section of this blog tidied one area of my desk and feel better just by taking that step.
House work I don’t enjoy, but the feeling I get once it is done, is where I do feel good. I like the outcome not the doing. How many of you feel this way? I know I am not alone here.
God bless Mary Poppins, she was a terrific woman and I wish she was real as I could do with a spoonful of sugar, or actually less sugar as my downfall is sugar, but its the organizing skills, one click and then its done.
You may like to read my EBook where I talk about making one change a day and not doing it in one go, if that makes you feel overwhelmed.
Things to Change one day at a time : Life doesn’t have to be fast pace but easy, simple and flexible Kindle Edition:
I have written others too like this one, under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
It is all about making changes that are easy to do, and feeling calm and not that life is hectic, when we have a cluttered space and being able to open a draw without having a fight to open it or shut it. Opening a cupboard without all the clutter falling on your head, and make it a useful happy place.
With the challenges it is the outcome that I want and to keep building a better place where I have my stuff in order, I have money in my bank account that will be forward and be out of debt and excited about the next stage of my life and keep building and learning. Learning is key to living calmly and what we will do from this point forward and not on what we will not.
Please follow if you want to keep updated of my blogs and like, so I know my blogs are helping you.
Lets work together and build a community that is full of happiness and posibility.
Check out my Youtube channel to as I share videos on resetting, being a parent and life coaching, and filming my challenges to help you do the same: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal
First of all welcome to those who are new to my blog Everyone can build a castle, and to new followers of my blog, and thank you for your likes, and really helps me in what topics you like me talking about.
If you didn’t know I also write books, and my newest one is about a Mother and a daughter who live together and is a love hate relationship, but there is one person who unites them, a lady called Gloria, who is a beautician and head of Elizabeth (the daughter) son’s school, PTFA and Elizabeth takes part in a virtue bake off, and because it is a pandemic they have to have meetings using Zoom and emailing and texting. This blog is about trips and falls, which in this book happens. Its available on Amazon and is called Mum&Me and I write other books too under the names Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes. See link to my new book:
Last Monday coming home I got of the bus and it being dark, crossed the road I tripped and cut my hand, knee and hurt my back and I was shaken up, and didn’t do much walking or did my run I started to do this year, because of it.
We are all gonna have trips and falls, it’s part of life, and it is how we react afterwards that can help us get over them.
I had to gather my confidence and brush myself off. And because of this fall I have been going to bed early to try and allow my body to recover and feel ready to continue on and so next week I will be exercising indoors, do some walking and go for a run. I do write a blog where I talk about exercise, that I also write on WordPress, check it out via this link: https://sportsandfitnesspassion.wordpress.com
Its not all about falling over though, it can be your car broke down and now having to travel using public transport, or the trains having delays and make us feel that it is not going to be good day. It can make use want to stay indoors and hide away.
This for me means I get into a what I call “Dead end mindset” so makes me more unhappy, but I have to get up, I have a son and he needs to be met. It can hard with kids because like my son, he wants my attention all of the time, and so I have to get up and get on.
This doesn’t mean you have to forget yourself, it means you have to take more care of yourself to help your kids grow and be there for others. If you are a carer, this can be demanding, and we forget ourselves, but when we fall over we realise we need to care for us, aswell as others. We need a cup of tea and coffee, a shower or a bath, and do some reading to switch off, and so listen to when you trip or fall to realise you are just as important aswell as the people you care about.
We grow from our trips and falls, not saying you can’t be careful and not trip again, but if I cross that bit of road to the pavement to take more care in making sure I don’t trip and fall there again.
If you’d like my content then there is more on my Pinterest, so check it out:
So it is the end of the month and I have two videos to be put together and one them is my last what I bought video for my February challenge and need to film my reflection,. which will be on my main Youtube channel that I have linked below @typicallondongal under my name Carrie Holmes. It was good to see what items I needed if I could get a good deal and feel I did, but I had to buy a few items for my son, and not sure if I should take these amounts into his monthly allowance I give him to spend, or as my home products and in my home budget. What would you do.
It has really helped me financially to see my spending habits and if there are other things I can cut back on or cut out.
I would recommend trying it out. I spent more than I wanted so gonna reduce on snacks and this month is going to be declutter month and so this is managing productivity and will include reset videos. and post on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/typicallondongal/) aswell as on this blog site.
There will be areas in which need to be done first and that is decluttering first my son’s underwear and socks, and it is little changes like that, that can free up space and does ease the mind when you see the results and why not when it is now spring time, I know the weather doesn’t match the new season yet at the moment, and for those you live in Australia and it is Autumn and if you are from the land of oz check out my Autumn Reset videos and blogs and sorting out my life to get things completed and tying lose ends.
I do write a blog on google blogspot called Organize4thebetter. and will be posting on there too.
I am late in starting as I did a course this week, but will begin as of next week and so lets get rid of what we no longer want and bring home stuff we do, and it also means sorting out my laptop and phones I no longer use, that are lying around. Even those things can cause or mind to feel cluttered aswell as rooms and homes.
If you have a office the one thing many companies I have worked for, would make sure we cleaned our desks, as it good to work in a clean and tidy environment.
It is coming up to the end another month of 2023 and I have been going through my finances for this year. and I did a video on my channel My Way of Living, about spending Productively. Check out here: https://www.youtube.com/@mywayofliving1602
In this blog I am talking about Things I want to cut out of my life as I continue this year and want to pay off my Credit card, and plan days to take my son on train trips during the summer holidays. This means being sensible with my money and live consciously, and spend consciously and ask myself “Should I give them my money?” “What difference will it make?” and “Are they worthy of my money?”.
I know a lot of shops like Paperchase for example I closing and I loved that store and was going to buy some items from them and may still do so as I would like to see if I can get a better organized system on my desk and it is cluttered and want it to be clearer.
I want to use what I have got and that is notebooks, clothes, skincare and toiletries and have a clear and get rid of items that no longer have any purpose in my life, like buying certain foods, like crisps and want to lower my sugar in take, and focus on doing long walks again and running.
I am no longer going to spend a lot on fitness equipment because when I was living in Epsom we had a lot of items that we saw on info commercials and now are gathering dust but do use the Crosstrainer that has been put in the living room and want some bands to do my floor exercise, and do want to pay as you go in a gym, when I feel I want to do more, and may think about paying a membership, depending on costs. There are gyms where you can go at anytime like The Gym and Pure gym, but I do also got points from the leisure centre I take my son to, and take him swimming, and so will be thinking about this and if it is logical. As writer this I am asking myself in my head, “What will I get out of it?”.
It is to be around other people not necessarily to know who they are but to see I am not on my own and we all have a reason to be there and I do like the gym environment.
This is not forever, as I still need clothes, but at the moment I have enough and so this year is a big challenge but one I know I wanted to do, to be wise with money and concentrate on other things, like going out and taking my son up London and would like to go to more shows and take him to watch a rugby match as he is a sports lover and take him to football matches too, so I am enjoying the challenge and will make a difference in how I shop for clothes. “If I don’t need it why have it? “.
Then there is crafting. I was really into making cards and I enjoyed it but no longer got space for those items and so until these items get used and want to give some to my nieces but keep some for my son to do, am I going to buy anymore, because these items can lead to clutter, but keep my stickers sets, it’s different type of paper, and have some use for them.
To make changes in your life you do have to let areas in your life go so you can continue to grow, and it doesn’t have to be long time but for now. “What is important to me now?”
So you know I do have three Youtube channels and do write other blogs. and I have created some pins on my Pinterest on financial living and planning my life, check my Pinterest site below:
If you’d like to keep updated of my blogs on this site then please remember you can follow me and subscribe and like it so I know that my blogs are helping you and I’d like to know what you are cutting out this year. you can leave a comment below.
Thank you once again for liking my blogs on this site. If you didn’t know I am doing a monthly challenge where I am finding deals of items I need for the month and have two new Reset 2023 videos up too, so please check my channel to see them: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal
This blog I am talking about goal ideas to set for spring and I have created a new printable.
When it comes to Spring we begin to have longer days and I find it makes me feel I have more time to do stuff and that means a good spring clean, take on a spring challenge if you haven’t begun challenging yourself. It is all about being SMART which I am sure you have heard before, but is important. example when the weather gets nicer to have a meal outside a local pub or restaurant with friends or join an outdoor exercise class. When my son was a baby I would go to Buggyfit and it such good fun, and it is good to spend time outdoors and not something you don’t always can do in the winter time.
Setting goals for me is important to help me grow and learn. I set them quarterly and make them realistic and reachable. For example: I want to do more runs.
Where would you like to run?
How far you’d like to reach?
So put, build to doing 5km of running and around my local park or common. I do write a sports and fitness blog, see the link here if you’d like to read these blogs too: https://sportsandfitnesspassion.wordpress.com
It is a good season to decide on what you want to let go of and what you want t let into your life now we heading into a new season to start a fresh for the Spring. I am doing more RESTS because I want less and continue my goal for this year, which is not to buy anymore clothes, and concentrate on paying off my Credit card and so where I can save I will. I am continuing on having no spending days too. I feel good not buying things everyday.
I do have a printables page on this site if you wanted to check this page out: New Printables Page
It is hard when there is a tension between people, because it can cause a bad atmosphere for everyone. When you feel that the world is against you, you can lash out, and even you don’t know why.
The way I see it now is that, do you want that be the last memory you have with that person? It can be too late. I never got to see my dad in the end and it taught me that no matter of what has gone on, you have to build the bridge again between you and them and often we can forget what the issue was that caused the break in the first place.
It is important for my son, because he will now never get to meet him and it brings me sadness, that he knows about him. I wished I could have had that time back, but once someone goes what is left? Anger, resentment, what you could have done, what you couldn’t do, etc etc. Yet I have shown pictures of him to my son, to help with the memory of him and so if you have had family or even friends that you have fallen out with, which you wished never happened, it is time to rebuild and whatever happened forgive and forget.
Of course if they have done something terrible then that is different like physical harm and I am writing a book at the moment called When Mothers Are Real and it is about a lady called Lesley who was abused as a kid and now her mum wants to build a good relationship because can you forgive? This is no reflection of my life, as I had a good childhood, accept at school, but many children aren’t that lucky and are hurt by their parents or other guardians everyday.
Nevertheless if it was an argument and its just escalated to not seeing each other, ask how important is this person in your life? How do you feel when you don’t go out with them anymore? What did they bring to your life?
Some people may have a illness that they worry about telling anymore and be the cause. So sitting and talking to them can do wonders and listening over a coffee or tea, or any drink but understanding what actually happened. It is important to let the dust settle, but not to leave it too long, get in touch and be the one to make the first move and remove the bridge that caused the break in your relationship and rebuild the foundations so it can grow positively and whatever happened is laid to rest.
Thank you for supporting this blog site and the feedback is amazing and lets work together to happier in ourselves and love the people we have in our lives and be happier so no tension is there again.
Hi its that time of the month for my Monthly Newsletter which has details of what I have been doing and what is to come within my content. I talk about monthly challenge for February and about setting goals, targets and habits. See it below which you can download.
Being the week of a UK school holiday (so kids are off from school: February 2023) and my son is at a holiday club called Youngstars I planned the week before of what I will be doing whilst he is at the holiday club. Today I did a reset and went through my make up and toiletries cleaning the shelf I use to store these items, I then cleaned the skirting boards, went through my son’s books and vacuumed and went for a walk as I needed some bread and sat in a local park whilst listening to music and then came back, and worked on my EBook called How I like to live, and updating it and make it into a bigger book and worked on my new Novel When mothers are real and now watching Gillian Perkins on Youtube where this idea of this blog post was created.
Sorry if that tires you out, this blog is not supposed to cause fatigue or make you feel like you haven’t done anything, but it is possible for everyone and who has kids off from school too, and when we get some hours to ourselves.
This is no way showing off, as you should have seen my room, it was a mess and could have easily gone back to bed, but no, there was no time like the present. So I chose today whilst I had the chance and more in the next two days. Time is precious and if I don’t do it today, when will it get done? This is a question I ask myself a lot when I think of others things I could of be doing. This question stirs me on to get my stuff together. I don’t like living in a mess, and I know if I was in bed I know that guilt of not doing anything would sink in, and then comes my negative thoughts, so being productive helps with my thoughts and anxiety.
Now being 2023 there is a lot of resources like different cleaning products and organizing digitally and using APPS, but lots of these new items come with cost and how functional are they? I could put it all on Notion, which I did use but already had OneNote on my computer and works well with me rather than paying to use Notion. Just say that is having an issues with it, I just trying not that works, but may still use Notion in the future, but not right now. OneNote is free I use it, like Notion to make lists rather than a notebook, but my question is, what if they stop working which my laptop does crash at time? It is technology and means losing all my lists and notes, so I still convert to paper, because I still find this method more resourceful and I don’t need to clog up my phone with a loads of APPs or have the latest appliances, they can cause clutter and be counter productive because they take up so much space, so in 2023 is keep it simple and still have a written plan and to do lists and for working on projects. I know we need to save on paper because of the environment, but I find it better to jot down rather than type all of the time, and what if I lose my phone and that means not having the APPs to help me, so for me, being productive in 2023, always have a back up plan written and stored so you can see it and notes for books is important because it helps me keep on track of where I am and brainstorming. I do like using my laptop but I like writing things down especially for when I write a journal and creating stories. I find it relaxing and great for on the go and save the space on my phone. Its not what an item can do but how resourceful it is, does it make life easy?
The items I do like are the cordless items, like I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I do have access to a cordless vacuum which I did use, but don’t need tones of appliances, and so it is using what I have already got and this saves me money and time.
So, lets get productive and take that time to sort our lives.
When I worked at a Holiday Camp back in 2002 to 2005 was told when working in the Residential Catering Department working with the chefs, that a sandwich should taste good from the first bite to the last and life for me should be like that too. How you feel when you wake up can affect you when you go to bed, whether it has been a good day or bad day.
Routine: I live by a routine and one day a week I will go for a run, or do a workout indoors or later in the day by using a Crosstrainer and has made a massive difference and had reminded me of how much I have missed it and exercise in the morning really wakes me up. There are days when I don’t because I need that balance, but I make sure, if I don’t workout indoors or running I at least do some walking. Each day I have to have my first cup of tea and some breakfast. I make my bed except Saturdays because I am out with my son and wants to play as soon as it he gets up, I know say it “It shouldn’t make a difference and can save play until I have made the beds” This will be changing. I don’t feel right too if I don’t have a coffee at least one and make sure I hydrate throughout the day. Very important to me. I do have a bedtime routine too, whereby I will plan the next day using my diary I keep on my desk, my Reminder APP on my phone and on OneNote. Then I will take my medication that helps me sleep and then read, and if my mind is starting to come active again, and I do have a overactive mind, usually at bed time, I will get up like this evening and empty my mind, onto paper or on a blog, before the idea goes out of brain and forgotten by morning.
Rhythm : I have to have a good rhythm, to push down anxiousness I feel growing inside me each day and that I have quiet time aswell being super productive and have that time to myself. On Sundays I love getting outdoors with my son and go for a long walk and he will count the door numbers as we walk and enjoy the fresh air and love the peace, especially when we walk along the river. It is so nice to just let our feet travel while we take in what is around us. We will look at the different wildlife we see, like the birds, squirrels and ducks and watch trains as they go passed and just enjoying our surroundings.
Family time: It is good to spend time with family and so we all today as I continue to write this blog spent time watching the Rugby o the TV, along with a nice roast dinner and when my son goes home, which this week he is staying with me, but will make sure I have tidied up. I am still going to do this but when my son is at a school holiday club and going to do a total reset this week whilst he is there and doing a reset. THIS WILL BE FILMED!
Food: I know, I have already talked about this one, but having a good meal in the morning, through to the evening really good to fuel and I love dinners and is my favourite meal of the day and so make sure I am hungry to have dinner and am thankful that I don’t have to cook each day as I live with my Mum and step dad, but if they are out then I will buy food for myself, and try to use what is already indoors that I can have. I love leftovers so I do take advantage, and never rush but eat making sure I food is properly digested.
So how do you like to start the day and end it? You can leave a comment below.
Am I going through the past a lot? This is a habit I have done all my life, but I can’t ignore as much as I try, so rather than avoid it I allow it to come into my mind and then I will address and think, what did I learn from that? For example when I went to Brownies there was a girl who was really bitchy and she would be very abrupt towards me and talk to me as if I was an idiot. This helped me to toughen me up and so when I went to Secondary school I made sure that noone was like that to me again. Many of the girls, as I went to a girls school, did try but I didn’t stand for it and showed my authority and when someone is rude I will speak up and say “You don’t talk to me in that way” and so has helped me to set boundaries.
Boundaries are the very important. It also taught me about communicating better and not talk as if someone is able to read my mind, like that girl did because they would play games at Brownies and because I was new wasn’t understanding it.
As a kid who was super shy, I needed support in understanding, but remembering this event, it made me decide on what type of person I wanted to be and that the way she reacted was wrong, and what would I have done if I was her. I know she was a kid herself and was still learning and thinking perhaps it was because she had troubles in how to interact properly and so needed to be given training and understanding, that her way of talking to me was wrong. She did get told off, and when the Brown Owl, The head of Brownies left so did she.
It taught me about morals and respecting others like I would like to be respected. She obviously thought that the way she spoke was her way of stamping her authority and had learning difficulties, who knows? Only she would know, and I think about the times where I had been unkind. There was a guy I worked with was super happy and cheerful and I couldn’t understand what he was say because he had a very thick accent and I was very dismissive and he then had a go at me. I then said “Sorry but I can’t understand you” and was worried in answering him in case he said something rude. All I had to do is say “Sorry but can you say that again” and it made me understand that when someone is being nice doesn’t mean they are actually being mean. So, the past incidences and help us with reactions to how we have been interacting with other people.
Can I fix that? Yes by realising that being rude is not necessary in any form, but being nice and polite goes a long way and it I don’t want people to think I am rude, because then people won’t want to talk to me. It didn’t make me an angel but human and I can’t mend what I once did but I can learn by being better to that person. Noone is ridiculous because they can’t understand a game, they just need to be shown again and someone to be beside them and show them, rather than shouting. Shouting is just someone not knowing how to communicate correctly and I have been guilty of that too, if I want a good response I have to initialize it.
Is it good to have regrets? A lot of people would say “No” and that it was part of them growing and I come to see that, is it worth regretting? NO because you can’t go back, so you have to move on and learn, Learning is the key to mending our ways and about the world and how it works. I believe in forgiveness. You have to forgive yourself and others may have done something wrong to upset you, and instead of arguing talking. I think with technology it is very good to hide behind it and not speak to a someone in person.
We live and learn by our actions and the past can have an impact on how we respond to others and I catch myself when I realise I am being like my dad and its like NOOO. I love my dad but he was very outspoken and said what he thought which wasn’t always good, but the one thing that was taught by him was how to talk to someone. He wasn’t ever rude as such he just was honest and he would talk to anyone, whether they knew him or not, and he loved to socialise. He would make us laugh because he would take the mickey but people never took him seriously and he never took himself seriously either, he was just very well spoken and I do feel sad that I never to to see him again before he died, but glad he was my dad, and remember the good parts and why everyone knew him and loved him.
So the past can help us to grow and be thankful for how the past has shaped us to think about the present.
So my last “No spend January” video is up on my main Youtube channel https://youtu.be/Ree9adtj7YM and it really helped me to look at my money in a different light in that it not about not spending, but cutting back on things and looking at all the stuff I already got and not buying anything more until I used everything up.
It made me see that there I things I like to enjoy, and that is no spending days which I began last year. I enjoy making my coffee, rather than someone else do it and I like instant coffee. I did want to buy some clothes, as I have decided that this year I won’t be buying any and wear what I have got and the same with skincare, and so would say to myself “I have enough”.
My February challenge is to look for deals on the items I plan on buying this month. and I have filmed one video already for this and will be posting videos on my Instagram and my main Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal once a week.
I like buying sensibly now and the part of a reset is managing your finances if you have debt like I have and it can really affect your wellbeing and cause anxiety. My financial goal for 2023 is to pay off my debts and have a target amount on what I want to save and I love hunting for deals and if I can find a product that is still as good, but get it for less than I normally pay for, I know that this is a good deal.
Building a life is investing on what you care about and I have had a bad relationship with money, because when I began working up in London I would be out in the evenings a lot, near Oxford Street in London and became a bit ruthless. Now I feel I am managing my money well again and think about what it is going to help me and feeling happy with spending money, but not gonna cause me to get stressed. When it comes to money it is good to have a plan and have a list. With the internet it is good to go through how much different items cost that you need and what you are willing to pay for items. Budget for me in very important and that has really helped me to get my good money habits back on track.
If you’d like to join me in this challenge then you can do and let me know how it went for you, and see how much we can save, and use it to buy what we have always wanted. I have a what I want to call, a Financial Wish, to take my son on a holiday and would love to take to Disney in Florida.
It is also good to get your kids involved to if you have children and why not have your friends and family involved too.
Hello and welcome! I have created a new Printables page where you can download of Life coaching, tracking your happiness and managing your life and building it to have a life you love.
They are completely free and so no cost at all and because of your wonderful support you given to me. Your feedback has helped me to build this blog and what us all to work together in us all living our life full of happiness and wellness.
Hello and welcome! Please check out my No Spend update of my No Spend January Challenge.
It has really help go through my finances and not neglect them, and be logical and I did do a video similarly ago on my other Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mywayofliving1602
The video on this blog is on my main channel, Typical London Gal.
Here is a my latest No Spend January update
It has influenced me to plan my finances for the entire year which I have never done before, but I feel the sense of dread where I know bills are due, but worrying how they gonna get paid. I will do it again and I will be filming another update this week and if you did No Spend January how it went for you.
I knew as a kid that I didn’t want just a job and do something different to what other kids wanted to do and as a kid I wanted to be famous because I never was the popular kid and starting school I was a loner and it took me ages to form friends.
As I gone through life I have been different depending on where I am, like when I went to dancing school in Fulham in London on Saturday’s and first I was shy and would get anxious and cry, but then when I realised I was good at it didn’t look back and I loved it. I am now a mum living in Wimbledon in South West London and finally have a good balance with being a mum, writing and looking after myself and my wellbeing and its taken a long while to achieving my goals and ambitions.
I like who I am now. I still can be self critical and allow the negative thoughts come through, but I have started to be resilient to those thoughts and use proof to these thoughts that I can be who I want to be. It has taken a long time and I don’t want to just stop, but keep going, that is what I am all about.
You can lose your way and I did. I have been battling with managing my mental health and now back on my feet and never felt such strength before and feel more good things coming away. It has taken its time, but I have never lost my ambition or my drive, and know I have to make the choices and stand on my own two feet. I have to be strong for my son and he is my priority, and struggled with motherhood and so that took a back seat, whilst I got back on my feet, and the bond never went and we have so much fun now and want my son to learn from me, and if he ever has struggles that he will talk to me about them so he can have balance in his life too.
It is good to talk about your ambitions and live the life you want and not what somebody else wants, and have habits that help towards to be the person you want to be and feel good. If anythings feels like a chore then something needs to change, because in my experience, it can make you put it off.
There are a lot of things I still want to do and I still a lot of growing and building to do, but lay off on myself and be proud of who I am and I like having good conversation and so start going through the area of your self you do like, and what you can improve and set a plan for yourself to get there.
So, who do you want to be? And I’d like to hear from you and so you can leave a comment below, and if you like my blogs then please follow me so you can be updated whenever post and don’t miss one.
I did my first run this week, and was my first one after a two year break and it felt so good and doing that gave me so much energy and felt so good about myself and feel grateful for my legs and being able to run, and on Tuesday I did my first long walk this year and again it gave me such a boost.
If you want to make change then it is up to you to do it, and did start getting thoughts about doing the run, but said no to those thoughts and I done it.
We can all put things off and have excuses of why we shouldn’t and I would often talk myself out of it, forgetting the benefits of how I’d feel afterwards if I did a run for example, but then you get stuck in a rut and becomes a tug of war.
I have started to put together some life coaching tools together and it is for my Life Coaching programme I do each year and this year it is Project 2023 and so check these out here:
I will let you all know when this will be starting and so I will keep you informed.
Going for a run really gave a kick start to my day, I got a lot done, like changed and washed my bedding and uploaded a new update of my “No Spend January”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8-74xKzsyQ
I kick my start my day by setting an alarm and I before I am tempted to go back to bed, turn the light on, make my bed and get dressed.
When we have kids I get that it can be a challenge but once I got passed my 8 weeks after having my son I would get up early about 4 to 5am, whilst I did my son’s milk used the time to do some exercise. It was hard at first but my mindset was “If I don’t do any in the day at least I did some exercise in the morning” and it is was mentally energizing.
Then started to struggle, so getting back to it 9 years later having battled with it, remember how good it feels. Yes I still get bad days, well I am only human. Through those years, I developed a mental health condition, psychosis and my exercise was overtaken by it and lost my energy. Not that I didn’t try, I did, but I felt drained and so had to seek help and now got my life back and did exercise around the Autumn, but I take some time off for that time of year because I have birthdays and then comes Christmas, and so I am determined this year to make sure I continue to kick start my mornings to boost my energy for the day and not allow my inner critic talk me out of it and not worry about the cold and the dark mornings to stop.
For the first time in a long time feel good about my life and how I see it.
Habits go along way when they serve a purpose, like I get fit in the morning because that it helps get my day on a good start and that I don’t feel anxious about it, not drained by worry and thinking the worst and be relaxed and content.
So kick start your day honestly it can make a huge change, like dancing in the kitchen whilst doing your kids breakfast and why not have them join in. I loved doing this with my son before he started school. This stopped because of my mental health and because I don’t do the school run in the morning, because his dad and I no longer live together, but is a great way to wake up and boost you entire life.
So today I did some laundry, sort my son’s bed out and spent time planning using OneNote and going through my goals and completed another Unit on another course I am doing and so feel super productive, and I do plan a new video to do for my 2023 Reset and to inspire others to complete projects and making steps towards achieving goals.
I have a pile of clothes to be put away and it is late at night so don’t clear away tonight but will do so tomorrow, and Sunday I will plan my week ahead and do a reset, by tidying my room, going through my wardrobe to set up more of my clothes and what I want to wear for the week and I wear the same clothes in the week and use my wardrobe before I go into the open closet I am using and rotate my clothes. This makes sure I wear them all, and my goal for this year is not to buy anymore clothes.
I go through unfinished tasks and so will set a plan to get them done and BUILD my word for this year and follow my dreams and ambitions.
It is Sunday now a I finish this blog and sorted out my clothes for the week and spending time catching on Youtube in between and uploaded my Sunday chat video. and do a have a new Update on my No Spend January to go up and I like to use my Sunday’s wisely to help set my week up and it is so good when I get things ticked off my lists.
Doing a reset helps the mind too and manage my thoughts. I like to feel calm and contentment to be ready for a new week and plan my days and getting more things done to build and continue to grow in mind and body, and get control of my wellbeing.
I like to do my skincare to reset and wash my hair, along with having a nice dinner and work on tasks that I can’t get done in the week.
There will be more blogs to come and I hope that you spend time resetting and getting your life on track.
When it comes to love it is all around us and often we can’t see it. To remind me about love I will write in my gratitude journal of everything I am grateful and thankful for, like my son, he is the most precious person of my life and love seeing him everyday and spending time having fun and bonding by play and learning.
Love is about giving your whole being to somebody and at times it can be a challenge, if you have different views on life and love, but as long you can talk, laugh and be yourself, that is what is important.
It can break your heart and change, but it can also be what drives you forward and learn how to help love be good again, by looking around you and by that phone call, watching the one show tonight on BBC 1, Will Young was talking about writing letters, rather than a text message can really make a difference and change your view about love.
Love is a personal feeling that should not be taken for granted and it can be from a person who let you go first on the bus and giving money to buskers and street acts, and there is so many ways to show it and give, that it lights up your world and their’s, and it can also be a object, like a music instrument you love, where you like to travel to each year and watch on the TV and writing a book to help others, and spreading love through many different channels and I do tell friends I love them, because I do or if I see a post from a celebrity on Instagram for example and say if I love something they have posted and it has to be what relates to you, and mean something more than a post of someone unwell or just reaching out and showing love.
Compassion goes a long way and love is where it all begins and grows.
Tell me what love means to you and what you have learned. You can leave a comment below, and remember if you’d like to see more posts then please follow me so you don’t miss out on more content and blogs.
I love you for taking the time to read my blog and for your feedback, because without that I wouldn’t know if they are helpful to you and feel so enlighten by the likes and follows I get, you make it that way.
So lets spread the love today and always, and remember to love yourself too.
Hello and thank you for all your likes, it really helps me to build my content and do more to reach out to you and seeing your likes and following me, means the world, honestly it really makes me feel proud of my blogs and build my confidence in myself and want to help you do the same. Love yourself, and have belief, honestly if you can put your mind to it, you can do anything and I want to be part of your journey in doing so.
I really enjoyed the feedback about my Newsletter that I began last year, and will continue, so here is my new Newsletter for 2023 and hope you like it and helps kick start your adrenaline to be the person you want to be.
You can reduce clutter from all areas of your life, like your computer/laptop, the kitchen, wardrobe, draws and cupboards and set a date of when you plan to do this and stick with it and start with one area at a time.
Living with clutter can be too much and we dread going back to the mess, and so if you want to clear it do it step by step and if you have someone to help you, take advantage and delegate.
I like having a sort through and do a weekly reset, where I will put my clothes away and quickly go through and take anything out that is worn and that you have no use for anymore and taking such steps can really help your wellbeing and I did a whole reset and had a complete sort through of my stuff and once I saw the clear space I had, made me feel relieved and so much better.
Clutter can build and build and so set it all out from the area you have chosen first to sort out and be realistic in making the choice to keep it or go. I am conscious of landfill and so if it is in a good condition like a piece of equipment, interior or furniture and clothes, donate and or sell. I know many people sell items on Facebook so check that out.
Set up a plan and challenge yourself to clear one items a day, or area.
I hope you find this useful and never fear, if I can declutter so can you.
It has been a while since I last did a book review, and have an All About Books’ video coming, (check out my previous video I did) and will be on my main Youtube channel as I finished two books this month and still challenging myself to read a book a month and got in the habit of reading before I go to bed again, rather than travelling.
This book review is talking about the High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins. I listened to it on audible because I find it easier when it is a self help book and when ever my son does something good we high 5 and I have begun to high five myself in the mornings and give myself credit rather feel bad about myself.
She spoke such sense and doing habits like not having my phone by my bed, because it can affect how we wakeup in the mornings and it has made a difference as I do sleep for a longer and make sure I have a good nights sleep. I no longer allow my son to take his tablet to bed and this has made a difference as he can fall a sleep quickly and for a lot longer, because he wakes up really early in the week, and not have his tablet too early in the morning and we both sleeping in, which I need at the weekends because of the travelling I do each week and need it to wake up better and get stuck planned down and use my weekends to take my son out and not feeling tired the whole day.
So check it out and I would give in 10 out of ten and the good thing about audible (I am not sponsored) you keep the books in your library and forever and go back to them, which those like the High 5 Habit because I like to listen to these types of books again.
If you know of more books that I like it, please recommend by filling in the comments below.
So I feel so blessed that you are liking my blogs and following me, it really means the world.
I am still continuing on with my Monthly challenge of No Spend January and so here is a video I did for my Main Youtube channel on how it is going. I talk about my money habits and things I have paid for whilst doing this challenge and only buying what I need, as this is the point, and being strict with myself.
Here is the video below:
It can be tempting, because I do like to have a coffee from a coffee shop, but this can add up and I have got access to a Coffee Machine and have two jars of instant coffee which is just good enough, and so I have been focusing making sure I top up my Oyster card, which I used to ride the bus and train, and that I have cash on my should I need to buy anything like personal care items.
I am starting to feel like I want to challenge myself for the year, but I know that will be super tough, so going to decide once I have reached at the end of the month.
I really hope you like this video and remember if you’d like to be kept up to date about blogs, then you can do so my following me.
Are you ready to make some changes in your life? I am and started a Reset for 2023, starting with tidying my desk that I use for writing, doing courses and as a dressing table and so needs to be functional and has everything placed at arms length.
So check out my video and remember if you Subscribe to my Youtube channel you will notified of when I put up a new video and currently put up 2 to 3 videos a week.
This means sorting certain areas of my life and really helps to get different projects and tasks done and really helps achieve my goals.
I hope you like this video and there is more content to come.
So if you didn’t see my last blog then I am taking on a new challenge for January and that is no spend. This is from and idea I got from watching a Kate Kaden, and not because she is doing it, it’s because I do want to control myself when it comes to money and focusing what I need rather than what I want.
If you’d like to see more of my videos that I do each week then please subscribe on my channel as I love reaching out to you all.
Please check out first vide on Youtube here:
I really you enjoy watching and there will be more to come.
Yes it is 2023 and my first challenge for this year for January is going to be no spending. Now yes I have been out and bought a few bits today, but they were items I needed, and it is not buying items that aren’t a need, and avoid the impulse buying. Plus I do have a birthday coming up, but have already reserved money for this and planning what I will be using my money for, like travelling that I do each day to wait at my son’s home to come home from school, food and that is what I did today and want to buy items for lunches to be a bit more healthier and be vigilant with what I want to put into my body.
I am not going to buy anymore clothes and wear what I have got and not spending money on coffees at a coffee shop. Making a small changes make a huge difference and doing no spending days, that I did last year really help prepare me, and it helped me manage my habit of buying coffee from a coffee shop and use instant or from the coffee machine I have where I live. I will be vlogging it and so will do this as of tomorrow as I should be able to speak as I have had a stinking cold, and just want to get over the first day.
I have just written my financial target to pay off my debts and almost paid one off, just got to make another two payments and then that is then complete, and all I have to worry about is my credit card, and so plan to pay off £1200 by the end of this year, by paying £1200.00, which will take my debts to zero. I feel so good about that, because debts has had an effect on my wellbeing and mental health.
All challenges have to lead to a good result that make you feel good about life. Getting as much out of life as much as possible and feel good about yourself and give you a buzz, and stir you on for building your life every year. Making good positive changes. I want to start running again and do some fundraising events and do a fitness class that helps me to fight fatigue and to help me build up my energy levels, to feel fitter and reduce my sitting down time.
I am trying stop having my phone near by all of the time, as it does make me procrastinate and has made me feel more present. I think we get so sucked in when it comes to social media so monitoring my phone habits, when I have tasks to do, having my phone away from me has made a difference and getting jobs done.
I am not sure what I plan for February, but going to see how my no spending January goes first, and looking at the thing I want to invest in and was going to book an exercise class, but got a bit nervous about doing so and so going to concentrate on not spending money on clothes and see how much I can save for items I want, and what I need and would like it to continue in being logical when it comes to money.
I have put together a set of Pins which has some Life coaching advice and tools to help, check out my life coaching tools I have put together on my Pinterest that may help you set some challenges for yourself, and have already putting items ready for my Life coaching programme, “2023 Project” too, so you can whilst you are there checks these pins too.
It is new years eve and tomorrow it will be 2023, and soon it is all systems go again, but not gong to forget 2022, it has been okay for me. I am happy that I did complete the writing of my book I wrote about yesterday and going to make it a tradition that I publish a book by the end of each year to publish as I approach another year.
I didn’t complete the writing of my Christmas book and want to make changes to it and so still got to achieve this goal and have a book about Christmas. Many may not believe in goals but I do, as I like challenging myself. It gives me such a good energetic feeling and looking over 2022 I really liked the challenging to read a book a month as I have read some really good books, check out my videos All About Books. I do video book reviews and due to do another as talk about the book I read and finished during the Christmas holidays.
Doing my reset and for Autumn and going to do another this year as it made me feel free. It is good to have space and I plan tomorrow to do part of it and film, so I will let you know if this happens, and I liked reaching out to you through my Life Coaching blogs. It was good to go through my emails and still got to do more to empty them out, and so yesterday did a big clear out as I have run out on storage on my google account.
This year I began writing newsletters and love putting these together and I am glad that you have liked them too.
Another year means more challenges to come and creating new habits this year, like not having my phone near my bed has made such a difference and making my bed each day. There is more I want to do, as they are helping me so much in making sure I look after my self aswell as other people and concentrating on what makes me happy.
So lets all have a good new year and celebrate a new year,
Hello, so it is December the 31st and yes it is going to be a regular each year to publish a book at the end of the each year.
My book Mum&Me is now published.
It is a comedy and is about a Mum and a daughter who live together and get on each other nerves and have a different opinion on most things that leads to arguments. Elizabeth Mum is continuously ordering items from TV shopping channels and online and not what she thought they were and Elizabeth guest bedroom is full of boxes, but when it comes to Bucci Tits Gloria they always reunite as she is Elizabeth’s arch rival.
I want the book to be a good cozy read and go lovely for winters day or the summer, with a cup of tea or coffee or even a cocktail and have a good laugh.
I at the moment I have a stinking cold and when I feel like this I find it hard to stay positive because all I want to do is hide away and hibernate until it goes. Some people hate the word, because some say that “It’s not easy to stay positive all of the time”, and I do believe that this is true, because life takes over, and as much as I’d like to stay in bed all day, going on how I feel at the moment know I have responsibilities that need care. I don’t want to be grumpy when looking after my son, because it can really affect him, and so it is putting brave face on and getting on with whatever needs must. When it comes to positivity it is not all about smiling but being content and right now as I write this blog I am in my nightwear, and is making me feel a lot better.
Our bodies need fuel and so when you have a comfy dinner or a room that you can just chill can help with mood and so that is the good side of the positivity and why it is good, because it gets in touch that we need some love care and attention. We should be able to do that and look after our wellbeing. Having a hot bath or a hot drink can do wonders, so looking after yourself is for me positive but not the cringing kind, such as “Smile everyday, you’ve got this”. When I am feeling like death that is the last thing I want.
There are positive outcomes, whereby you’ve had a bad day so far, but when your spouse hands you a glass of wine can be just the ticket someone needs for a smile, but when they are beaming, “How was your day?” with a massive grin it can be like “I love you but honestly not what a I need, I will get my own glass of wine”.
When I try this with my son Henry, no glass of wine involved, in case you got confused there, being excited to see him after school and how his days been, he is like “No no, let me watch my tablet” and I try again, and which I get pushed away, until he wants to play rugby or football, and then I am like “No it’s okay” I say being full of cold, but then see he won’t give in until I get up off the sofa, and see that being super positive is not needed, but being present is, so we don’t all need to be positive but happy with the simplest of things. It is all about balance and finding what makes you feel like the weight of your shoulders and have someone to share responsibilities with, can help too.
Caring is sharing and so it depends on the time of day and what has happened each day that can be positive or negative. Everyday is new and so if you feel like its time for an early night that will help you feel better, then do it. Sometimes rather then being sprung on my a cheerful maniac a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits is all one needs to be positive, so tell me what you think do you think is Positivity good or bad? You can leave a comment below.
Thank you once again for all of your support and checking out my blogs. So it is now coming up to another year but it doesn’t mean we can’t make changes in our life now.It is about progress, and it isn’t about getting everything so perfect that I often have to remind myself of that, but have a life that makes you smile rather then feel down.
Yes I have had a mental health illness but doesn’t mean my life has to be at a stand still, it means it gives me more fight in me too build my life and continue following my dreams. There is still so much I want to do. I have been meaning to take my son to another football match as he loves sport and has been on my list for ages and this weekend we did just that and wanted to take Henry to another Pantomimes and this year he is going to see two.
Life should be full of dreams and making the most out of each season, and have a life full of joy, and things to look back on and everlasting and be able to pass them on as each generation comes into the world and everyone deserves a life they love.
Begin by keeping a journal of your thoughts and getting your dreams out on a paper and go through the things you want. some may not have been a sort of person who ever wanted something, like a lady called Baroness Karen Brady, but looking and viewing herself, she must have done but subconsciously she must have done to be as successful and I can’t imagine how she got so far by not, and she ran football clubs and so she must wanted good things at the clubs she worked for to get where she is.
You do have to take on challenges, like I was in a hospital to help my mental health illness I had and helped me get back on my feet again and was challenging but was good to have that space and time to make sense of life again, and can’t wait to take on more. I really get a boost of setting myself challenges each year and now my challenge is to find outside work to expand myself even more and help with my writing and understanding more about people and want to help others with mental health problems and help build other children’s life and set a good example for my son, for him to be the best person he could be, and follow his dreams he has.
If he does find that he wants to play football or rugby then I going to look for him to join a team, or a club. Kids do change their mind I did a lot, of what I wanted to do in my life.I do believe in having eggs in different baskets and do many different things and so far accomplished them. I wanted to sort my room out in the week just gone and I did. I did a total reset and it feel so good to have a room with no clutter. I felt I needed to do it and it can make my life feel chaotic which I want to avoid.
The next thing is to sort my hair out so if I do work outside I want neat and tidy hair and be a manageable length.
So lets keep building our lives and enjoy our lives through each season whether it not in the new year. We can set our goals whenever we want.
I’d like to know what you want out of life now and what your ambitions and dreams you have. You can leave a comment below.
We can all be somebody if we truly believe in ourselves, watching the world cup inspired me to write this post because we like me a lot of you may, doubt themselves, and for me I have always wanted to do something that I never thought I could do. I never thought I’d ever run and was just a thought and never thought I’d do the Great North Run, but there I was in 2008 doing just that. It made me see what I am capable of and everyone deserves a life they want and be the best at what they can be.
Making small changes in your life can lead you to success and that can be doing a workout in the mornings and I have started to meditate each day and I never thought I’d write a book, even though it has been a childhood dream, and then I saw a programme on TV and it was someone talking about self publishing on amazon, and thought I’d like to do that, so when I had my son it inspired me to create The Parenting Adventures, check these out on Amazon under my married name Carrie Challoner and working on a new book called Mum&Me and editing as we speak and never thought I’d blog as this type of writing never was a thing as a child as there were no internet like there is today.
I know a lot of people are going to be struggling this year with the prices of things going up, but you can still have a life you love and that is to set a plan and if you wanted to write and publish a book then go for it, or run a half marathon, as it really helps with your wellbeing. They are just examples, because when I was working it inspired others to do the same and I loved that and people wanted to join me.
I never thought I would have people liking my blogs and it was reading a book that inspired me to start blog writing and everyday I getting likes and followers and it really feels my up with a lot of joy and build my life up even more.
Set yourself some quick and easy goals, like going for a walk each day and if you are looking for work then sit down and do plan to find that job you have always wanted and write a plan of how you want to get there. Tomorrow I am going to a Job Fair and if you contact the Jobcentre they can refer you and make an appointment for you to go. If you find out it is not what you want to do then that is fine, your only going to find out and see.
Think about year from now what do you want your life to look like?
Visualise and write it down. Set yourself challenges and these has really helped me and I have managed to get a lot done by breaking it down and focus on small tasks each day. I listen a lot to Mel Robbins and she writes just five things a day and I have found this very resourceful. So make challenges for yourself and small and then make them bigger each year.
Hello and thank you so much for your feedback of the blogs I shared for my Autumn Reset, and it really has helped me get tasks finished and plan to do another in 2023.
I have put together a free printable for you to help you have a reset this Autumn and other ones to come.
So I said in my last newsletter that I would be putting up some days in a life and gift guides but I need to put my hands up “I am behind” and do this to myself a lot. I try to do some many things and so once again I rein myself in and think right what can I get done that will make less for tomorrow?
Since school half term which was two weeks ago it has been tricky to get bits for my blogs and videos been difficult but do what I can. I continue writing this blog on a Saturday night, and supposed to be my night off, but wanted to write this blog because I write a lot of blogs on having a better wellbeing, and show I am a real person and not always ahead of myself, as much as I try to be and because I know for my wellbeing I need to slow down.
I have been doing a course about mental health and it that is has taken a lot of my time, but wanted to do it to help me go to where I want to be and that is to help others with managing their mental health, but nearly completed and this week going to do all I can to get back to working on my book Mum&me and have more day in a life videos to publish as I love doing documenting my life and something I can look back on and if they really help just a few people then that is my goal and keep my energy levels high to keep on creating items for my blogs, books and videos.
I also been looking for outside work hence why I have been doing some courses, and be in healthcare or in a educational setting.
When I get behind it helps me to focus on focusing on one thing and having a cup of tea and a coffee in the morning really helps along with having something I can jot things down on, even when I go out, as ideas of content usually comes to me when outdoors along with listening to podcasts and music.
The other things I have started to do organize what I am going to wear each week on a Sunday and wear all of my clothes I have, I have started to go through my finances and manage my money again and have no spend days and use what I have got and not started other things until I have gotten a few the main things I need to get done completed first. To manage my life and you may feel the same is when I prioritize and like this week get my training course done and today now being Sunday finishing this blog and last night when I couldn’t sleep is create a filming schedule and what videos I want to film and upload.
Have patience with yourself and know that you will finish tasks and break it down. I did this last night and created a list of things I want to complete and where resetting really helps and so do this each Sunday, which is today finishing this blog and Monday’s and get back on track and continue growing my life, my blogs and my videos.
This was so enjoyable to do and I am glad many of you liked the posts I shared, and I did manage to sort some areas out like going through my emails and using any spare time to go through and unsubscribe from services I no longer need, but with half term and getting my next book finished it was a lot of work,but glad I was able to have a good sort through and lead me to new positive habits, like each Sunday I will plan what I want to wear in the week and getting the most out of my clothes. Clear my laptop and do have a printable to go up for the Autumn Reset, but been on a course and so couldn’t complete, but going to continue with it and upload, once ready and can still use it as I do a weekly reset, mainly on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
I want to do more projects and for Winter I am planning a Winter Wellness Project to give tips on Managing Your Life in the winter as I can often feel slumped because of the reduction of day light, and so this will be coming soon. I will say more next week.
It is all about looking at your mind, body and soul.
Making gradual steps is what works for me and will help me set up new goals for myself and getting ready for the festive season and going to do some gift guides, but minimising my spending and remember that is not able cost but being with family and creating happy memories, and I know we are all feeling worried because of the prices on things are increasing, but you don’t need to spend a fortune in celebrating Christmas and forget the worries for one day and have friends and family bring food over so it is a joint effort and enjoy the festive cheer, without having to organize on your own, and ease the anxiety on the cost of things and not have a Christmas.
Life is not all about money it is more to do with time. If you make a gift or make a card with scrap paper with nice message is still a thoughtful gift and use what items you have in your possession unused that someone else would like. Doing a reset helps to see what ways you can change things in your life, and giving gifts can be one of them. Do a reset on money, can really help reduce spending and now I keep note again and check my account throughout the week and seeing what I can reduce, to save and invest in my life, of items that really mean something to me, such as clothing I like to wear all through the year and not just for the colder or summer season, and on skincare because I like to try different products and like to treatment me to some gift sets that will last all year and will save my money on festive drinks I like to have, like Advocate and Lemonade, which is called a Snowball.
Have what you like but save for those special occasions and have a back up fund, for those days you need an extra bit of cash, and one thing you can do to do a reset is to set a financial plan to budget and save for those items we want each year and any amount you can save do it.
I have limited myself to not spend money on coffees out and use my instant coffee. I now have a discount card on travel because I travel a lot to look after my son when he returns home from school, and if you are on Universal credit you can get money off on travelling on buses and trams.
I have begun limiting my spending on clothes, and buy what I need. like I live in Leggins most of the time because of be active with walking a lot and playing sports with my son, and so I replace them but limit myself on pairs, but enough that I can work continuously and make sure they wash well, as some can lose their shape.
So I am not going to get ready for the week ahead, and will blog again in a few days.
My next newsletter is ready and talk about the content I have been sharing and giving to good causes as and wanting to do more to help and support other people and make a difference to other peoples lives.
There was a time where I would take my son to school and as soon I got home would return into bed and then get up about 1pm to give the house a clean and then go and pick up my son from school, and as soon as I had dinner go back to bed.
I couldn’t find the energy to do much, and it was as if energy had been pushed out of me. Now though that girl has gone and glad. I love being lazy at times, but that only results in me feeling more tired and I like to get up have my cup of tea and then breakfast and make sure I am dressed apart from the weekend where I do take it a bit easier and spend that time with my son.
The mornings for me is the hardest at time but once I am up now I get myself ready for the day and take anything that is rubbish downstairs, take shower if I don’t have one the evening before and gather myself together. Having routine that is fulfilling is what helped me get out of the slump of wanting to stay in bed all day, and so I make sure I have a enough sleep at night so I have no reason to go back to bed.
So if you are having a hard time to get up and out of bed, ask yourself, “Do I want to be doing this all my life?” and I didn’t and knew that it was effecting my everyday and it would cause arguments, but then something clicked in me and I have now never felt so alive. It takes time, but if you feel fatigue all the time, it may mean going to the doctors and getting support as it is a mental health issue and put things into bed that makes you want to get up and make the most of your days.
This is why I write these blogs to give support if you feel low at and unenergized it is something that you can work on and can get out of.
Living in the city, it can be very noisy and you can get sucked in the city way of life. This is rushing and not taking anything in, but the noise of the city.
Today I edited a new Autumn Reset video and going to upload this tonight, this is now up: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUDFIqjVKLy7NhtcR6Hy0Tg and sometimes you just need to take mini steps, which is part of having a reset as we often can’t take it easy with running errands.
If you can take yourself away from it, then do. I travel to and from Epsom, and walking along the common can be peaceful and sitting near a pond, even like the Serpentine in Hyde Park can make all the difference and when I am near water, I instantly feel so much better and helps stop the noise that can disrupt us and good to take some time away from the busy streets.
I like to read a book in the park and have a nice coffee whilst sitting by the river. I like listening to podcasts when waiting for my son to return home from school, and then listen to my music whilst on the bus and just helping my anxiousness that I get each day, and taking in what is around me rather than rushing around and not noticing anything.
Seeing it from my son’s eyes has made me look around me and watching planes flying over watching other parents with their kids and just chilling, whilst others are rushing around, I just need that peace and quiet. So I make sure I give myself that time, as it helps ease the mind and stop feeling overwhelmed.
I like to begin with Thank you all for reading and liking my blogs on this site and my others, and it really helps me to see that my blogs are reaching out to you, and getting the message, that we are all worth a life filled with possibility. Even when I am having a bad day I still can have a positive mindset , and today travelling on a bus there were school girls just being disruptive, and felt “No I am not going to allow them to effect my journey”, and yes I was imagining myself saying negative things to them, but know better not too as why should I be driven in by their negative behaviour and if we learn to help our emotions and feelings, can still be a help to learn to grow even more to have a happier life.
It is like building a forte and a wall around you, that you aren’t going to allow bad things happening around you to, allow the negative thoughts and listen to them, and addressing them.
Dealing with Mental health can be challenging, because with having psychosis, and it has taken a lot to say yes I have this, because of judgement by others. It can trigger negative thoughts, and lash out, but know this won’t fix the issue that is happening around me, like those girls on the bus, and wants you know how to control it and manage your mental health can help things like that effect your growth with mental health.
We all have the strength to build ourselves and have a life full of joy and happiness, never allow your Mental health stop you from doing the things that you love and helps you gain a sense of control and learning about your mind. Once you learn about your mind and what it says to you, the more you can get a hold of it and seek the right support, as I have needed that and go through what you instantly feel to someone who understands.
When I was in a Mental Health hospital last year, it made me learn more about it, and I think often we think we are going to loose your mind even more, and I know there hasn’t been good press for Mental Health hospitals, and I went down hill, because I was changed to a new medication and of a high dosage and couldn’t move and had to be aided when it came to having a shower and using the loo, and I had the shakes, but it was rectified. When my nurse, as you get your own, saw this she and instantly gave me a lower dosage and another medication to counteract with that other medication. I was in two hospital as the other needed the room for another patient, I was transferred but glad I did as the doctor there was brilliant and within 4 days I was back to myself and got back on my feet.
I came out of it and you have to be strong and for me it helps me get back to a good mind and shown me how strong I am and how others can be too, and so if you are struggling with your mental health never stay quiet and get help, as there is no miracle that can cure you unfortunately but get the right support you need, and honestly I will never allow it to build up ever again and neither should you.
It can be hard, but you know in order to make changes in life, there are things that need to be rid of, and if they just gathering dust and no longer make you feel good then it is time to give them to a new home, like clothes or books you are never going to read again.
This can cause anxiety because you need stuff in your life to feel fulfilled and that to me is fine, but if it makes you feel low and feels like an eye sore, then it is time to let it go. There may be items that have sentimental value but if they don’t fit anywhere, for me that is a sign that some items need replacing, and something else to replace it.
Example I used to collect T-Pots and had loads, but I moved into a new home with my husband back then and it was time to let them go. It was a hard decision but it felt right and had no more a place for me. It helped start a fresh chapter and time to focus on living and building myself as I was looking to a new job, so it was time. That need replaced my need t collect stuff.
As I have gotten older it has become easier and so this week concentrated on sorting my clothes out, and then going to work on paperwork. I find paperwork can build and build so it is time to have a sort through to have a clearer space and feel I need to get this done to allow other documents that have replaced other documents and go through what is a requirement and what is not.
I keep my writing because of fear of someone else writing the same thing and it is proof that I wrote it, and I hope noone would, with the internet you never know who could steal my work, so it is safety net of just in case. Also like to look back on my writing because how far it has come and go back on passed ideas that I may want to re-write.
I am a stuff girl and so I have to be disciplined and realistic. Do I have a place for it all? and no so going to keep going through what is still present in my life and what is not, to downsize and have more space.
Thank you for following me on my Autumn Reset journey and lets work together.
So you have gone through your habits, you have tidied different spaces of your home and now you feel like you can’t do more. So that means it is time to take some time off and so in this blog I am going to give ideas of How to have a good day off.
Switch off your devices. I do this a lot now and the day I mainly do this, is Saturdays. I often get tempted to write a blog or film a video, but I remind myself I have my son to think about and so this is the day I spend a lot of time with my son and nothing substitutes that. The only thing I do like is to post on my Instagram but then the rest of the day I will watch some morning TV, and go outdoors and just spend time having fun
Have a homely day. Just spending time watching a movie or episodes of the your favourite shows can really be a good way to unwind for the whole family, but then get your kids to make dinner for a change. One thing I will have my son do at some point. As a kid when I could reach the kitchen tables and basins, I would wash up and make a cup of tea, whilst my parents watched some TV they liked. I would spend ages as a kid washing up and playing, and make it fun, by using a funny sponge and if they complete the task then they get to choose what they want to do, in terms of playing.
Set a date. Yes choose a date in your diary to book holiday for a day and have a Personal Day, and this could be meeting friends for a meal or a coffee, and go shopping or for a long walk somewhere. It is good after having a day where you have just not stopped resetting your life and taking a day helps to reset even more. Rest is just as important when it comes to a reset, as it can effect the motivation and so take breaks in between and set a time to rest is a must for me
Travel to see family you don’t always get to see. I think visiting family and friends regularly so important for you and if you have kids make it a must that I make the effort and good way to do something and see different people on occasions does wonders for your wellbeing.
Use the weekends for all of the above. If you are not able to do anything during the week because of the school run, running errands to help do a reset, then take a day off then. Each Sunday now I will take Henry to our local gardens and he will use his scooter whilst I sit and watch or walk round with him, and I know this may not suit everyone’s idea of having a day off, but because I travel a lot in the week, then doing this on a Sunday is such a joy.
Doing a Reset is not breaking you neck, but to put things back into place, developing a good routine, which includes some time to do other things, and being able to just unwind as said and putting your feet for a bit.
I am still doing my challenges, so this month September through to October I am doing a reset and going through my routine to see if it can be better, as hate it when it feels like Groundhog and I have published a new video talking about how it is not about Materialistic things, and so check this out along with my newsletter linked above.
Its about getting projects finished, including newsletter that was on my list and so see above, but want my new book finished and published and finish my Autumn Reset printable I am putting together too, so again I will once it is finished link it to my blog and on my main Youtube channel.
Like I said I do have another two youtube channels, blogs, and I am on social media and check out my Pinterest and have written books, on amazon under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes. I am going to list all my books at some point to amazon, so will let you know once that is done.
Checkout all the links below of where you can find my content that I post each week and month.
Today I have a few videos to be edited and uploaded, yet right now I don’t feel like it. Not because I don’t like the videos, because I do. It is about “Will my laptop shut down when I try?” as it is a bit temperamental and feel like I want a day off, which once I can get into the right mindset I know I will get it done.
I tend to feel like this each morning because of self doubt of “Am I capable?”. It is only a video some may say but for me it is the process of listening to myself that stops me in my tracks to ask “Is it good enough?”, “Will people like it?”. Imposter syndrome is very common and I feel it a lot at times, and have to remind myself that “I am good enough” and “I am worth it”, but I find it so hard to say because of how much others are doing compared to me.
That needs to stop I know so I allow myself to get bits done but with a break and as I get through the morning feel better, because I know this is just a habit I have got myself in and can be detoured by just acting not thinking.
The more I think about it the more I resist it, so I just need to “Bite the bullet” and get it done, and that is the answer. No more dwelling but doing.
So lets take action today. Do you ever feel like this? Leave a comment below.
Hello it September 2022 and it has taken a few days to get over the events of the Queens passing as it was so amazing to see so many people paying their respects and when it comes to a loss of someone it can take a while to readjust and it was such a historic event that kids will be able to tell their kids one day of the last ten days.
Now it is time to get back to normality and so getting bits done and today I have really had to push myself as I am struggling with my energy levels and been gradually getting bits done but at a steady pace and that the key is “Not to stress over what I needs to be done”, and do it because you want to. It is a bad habit to fall into as when we rush we aren’t using our full potential. It can make us even more unmotivated, and make mistakes, so this morning I have been filming as filming in the mornings works better for me and I don’t always wear make up, but I want my videos to be about me and that is what it is, it’s showing parts of my life that may inspired others, but finding what works for them, using my methods of getting parts of your life sorted out.
I separate my time by doing some work in the mornings and in the evenings and it really is a system to manage what I need to do. Doing a Autumn Reset means Managing your life but for me it has to be “One area at a time”. I can’t do it for my sanity “All at once”. So for example this week I have been filming some videos that were due and wanted to get done, I have been going through my financial goals, then writing this blog post and will be working on my other blog sites and get my Autumn Reset Printable completed to post and work on this months newsletter and then work on my emails.
I have no posh system. I use my diary from TK Maxx, a notebook from the store The Works, One Note and Notion to manage my life. I use a teacher planner for my son Henry to help with managing his life to help keep track of dates and what he had for dinner, what he has been doing and just keeping track, to help him and me. It is have “A I can do it system” and now I have started to feel a live and so gonna use it to manage my life and listen to music, and “Be comfortable”.
Welcome and thank you for liking my blogs and for following this site, it really is amazing that you like this blog site and are reaching out to you, and find them helpful.
So it is Day 7 and not doing this on continuous days, but the areas I want to go through and make changes, as sitting here being September, catching up on watching Youtube videos I realise I go through different cycles and do live seasonally, example: I start to want to do crafting and decorate my notebooks and journals, and want to have a hot chocolate and tend to have a bigger sweet tooth.
It is seasonal habits that I subconsciously do and so I do have to watch my weight and find that I find it hard to take a shower because of the cold and want to get ready for bed earlier too.
Getting out of bed is another issue because of the dark mornings and soon the clocks will change again and not wanting salads but hot meals and have a hot drink at the end of the evening, rather than a can of coke. This can effect your wellbeing because it just makes me want to hibernate.
This is why I make it a habit to make my bed now as it can be easy just to leave it, because if not I will get back in and stay there the whole day. I want to stay in my pyjamas all day, which is good to do, I love lazy days but then get that sense of guilt for doing so and feel unproductive, so I have changed and so as much as loved lazy days, I still like to get dressed but do more cozy things like watching a film or documentary.
I like to read and listen to chill out music, then watch repeats of things on TV and so I really have to try my best not to stay in more, but still get outside, so I will layer up because of the cold and just want to be comfortable and still be productive.
I like to go over my habits and I don’t want to be sleeping in, but still get at a reasonable time to get things done and get to where I need to be. I find I don’t want to exercise but this year want to go on regular walks and I love it. I like walking and still do workouts indoors too.
I want to make a habit into doing a new Make up routine where I want to still put on some but not too much and have no make up days still, but not wearing any effects my confidence so I have started a new regime and want to have a clear out of my make up, so I put some on each day of the week perhaps and have no make up days at the weekends. So I go through changes and will be setting myself some academic yearly goals.
Do you live seasonally let me know and what habits you wish to change this part of the year to continue into 2023. You can leave a comment below.
Hello and welcome it is halfway in the week and so if there is something you’d like to read then check out this months newsletter where I talk about my monthly challenge, which is to declutter for a whole month and getting my life straight, and will be writing and sharing blogs on this and about Spring and what I am looking forward to and wanting the warmer weather and done with Winter and wear less.
So here it is and I hope you enjoy it and lets watch new flowers growing and babies born and welcome the lighter days and nights.
Watching a video by Phil and Alex, who were doing a cleansing detox, made me think that its not just what is inside the body, but for the mind and life too, when life gets too much.
Spend some time away from your phone: Last Saturday I was watching the rugby and was picking up my phone about 5 to 6 minutes, and annoyed at myself as Saturday’s I like to spend time away from my phone, in terms of checking my emails. watching Youtube and checking Instagram. I do still post at the weekend on Instagram of me to document the time I spend with my son, but I like to have my phone away, and do feel good for that. As my son gets annoyed with me when I am on my phone, and just having that time away can really help your wellbeing and your mind rest, because too much phone usage can make us feel unproductive and lose touch with reality.
Change your routine for some self care: Are you fed up of the same old routine? Perhaps you need to have a selfcare routine and change if you feel like you are procrastinating because you are bored, and so need a new routine so you can spend time having a detox, like putting on some chill out music, whilst you use a face mask and want your skin to glow. Stress can affect the skin, it has been discovered and so it is good to have some selfcare to look after your skin and have no make up days.
Work outdoors: Fed up of sitting at a desk in the same room and the same chair? Time to make changes to this and work outdoors. Of course this can be difficult when it is raining and cold, but once the summer starts to get closer, the temperature will change, and I enjoy writing outdoors, with a coffee and have a picnic for one. If not go to the library to work, or a coffee shop, if you don’t do this all the time and have a different change of scenery. In summer I want to film my videos and change my working space.
Detox your house: Last Sunday I continued doing my March challenge, which is to declutter for an entire month, and having less does feel good, but there is more to do, that I need to put away and have more space and be strong in doing so. The items I like to keep is my notebooks because I use these to plan goals, make notes and my writing of my books, because in case someone takes my idea, and because some books I’d like to go back to, to write. I plan to write more books, and use up what I have got before I spend more on items I don’t need to. I don’t need anymore showering gel, or moisturiser as I have plenty to use, and anything not used I will give to someone else or donate.
Detox your mind: I have already talked about stress and goes with the others, like not using your phone and putting it away, but what an help this too, is exercise and I often if I feel things are getting too much, I will walk as this helps to clear the cobwebs away and helps me go through my thoughts and mindfulness is a great tool to use when walking with no headphones in the ear, but taking note of birds, squirrels and visiting a national park can help clear the mind and be present with yourself and enjoying nature.
Have a financial detox:I like having no spend days and if you didn’t know I did no spend January this year and it was so good to help me balance my money. only getting items I needed, and it feels good not having to many receipts. I want that to be my focus and have a lighter purse without receipts, as they just cause clutter. It has help me spend wisely and stop the impulse buys. It good to have a full bank account and saving. This year I want to pay off my debts, and managed to clear one debt and is good to see my credit card balance going down. Being in debt and cause a lot of stress and so it good to sit down and go through subscriptions you no longer use, and making the money I have last, and see my savings going up.
It is so worth it to detox certain areas of your life when things get to much and feel good about life again and growing positively and being rid of the stresses of it, and have a good balance of home life, work life, and getting in touch with what is around you that can help balance your life to feel good within yourself.
As I continue to declutter and make plans to sort out my belongings, it helps me to value the things I have. Example: a bed for my son for when he comes and stays with me at the weekend, and the desk space I have to write my blogs and books, and for the curtains that black out the light to have a good sleep, and shoes that protect my feet. This helps me not to buy another pair of shoes, a brand new set of curtains, and so I go through it of the items that gives me comfort and peacefulness in my mind and how I feel about myself.
This is not to say I will never buy clothes or shoes again, or have the same curtains for the rest of my life who knows what is destined for us, we never know so being appreciative to what we have already that makes you happy can delete those feelings we get when we want a pair of shoes that sparkle or the latest iPhone, when we know its just more expense and actually what we were already using was enough and then worry because we couldn’t really afford it and the buzz you had in buying the item has quickly gone.
As I wrote this blog I just picked up my gratitude journal and wrote what I currently value down as I love practicing gratitude and being thankful. Look around you and the people in your life, how do they add value and how do you feel around them and others like I wrote that I value the roof over my head and the my everyday trainers I bought from TU Sainsbury’s as they weren’t that expensive and wear them most of the time, because they are so easy and light on my feet. I value the food that is made for me as I currently live with my Mum and step dad and so grateful the space and room I have and so need to value more as I want a more minimal amount of stuff that no longer gives me joy.
It’s following the Kon Marie method of if that item gives you joy or not, and what purpose does it give? My trainers for example help me walk and comfortable and goes with what I like to wear and are practical as my son likes to play sports and I do a lot of travelling and saves me time, and saved me money.
For me it is essential item because I need in order to travel and get from A to B and buy food as some days my mum and step dad go out and not rely on others and to be able to buy stuff for my son and I believe that every penny does count as I would like to give my room a make over and have it more organized, and so it is essential item to live, and respect it for the items it allows me to have.
My dad used to say “That money speaks a difference language” and part of me believe that too. When I worked in accounts if people didn’t get their expenses paid they would get angry about it and would hunt me down, and found tough because it was a lot of work for one person, and felt overwhelmed. Since those days my relationship with money is starting to be good again, as it is hard when you have little and you have bills to pay.
I did get into debt and became reliant on using a credit card and it can be stressful and can really effect how you feel about money but I am to blame and I have had to admit that. Admitting that has helped me to get back on track with my money and stopped me from taking it for grunted and I like to see money saved and can’t wait to pay off my debt and put it behind me. I have already cleared one, so just got one debt which I am getting down, and so money is important and is what we need to survive, but not having a load of stuff that will make us happy for 5 minutes but forever.
When I buy something now I think to myself Do I need it right now? Will it last once its been cleaned and what role will it play in my life. I know I don’t need 30 pairs of leggins, or 100 notebooks, to feel good about life, but enough that will help clothes me, and does it work with what I have got.
Hello and welcome and thank you for the continued support on this blog. I today uploaded my first video on my March challenge which is to declutter for an entire month to get some order in terms of clothes and areas of my bedroom that continues to be cluttered.
My enthusiasm is not good. I want to be “Yeah lets this decluttering done” and then I pick up my camera to film and see my battery needs charging and sigh with relief. I know I will get more of it done, its for me not being a natural declutterer, not naturally an enjoyable task but I know it needs to be done and who else is going to do it?
I do watch youtube to get inspired and been watching the programme on BBC 1, Sort your life out with Stacey Solomon but I have to really kick myself up the bum to get it done. Sorry for the rhyme, but How many people can identify with that?
I want to be excited but I am not but seeing the untidiness behind me I just got up and tidied this space but its my workout clothes as I was running again, but looked at it and asked “Do I plan to run tomorrow, this week? I want to but whether I do is another story. I will see, but for now as I am not running so put the items away hanging up in my wardrobe in my bedroom, and if I do run this week, I have hung it together can take out easily and put it on.
I have begun and inventory list of what I have got, this is in terms on food, clothes, toiletries and skin care and going though what still to be used and got plenty of. This is to make sure I use what I have got before buying any more, and seeing I have enough and that actually gives me comfort.
So once my camera battery is charged will be filming more and doing a bit more each day. I have to do it a bit at a time because if try and do all in one go, will make me avoid it, so lets do this together and if you have any decluttering tips please share I am welcome to suggestions, and you can leave a comment below.
I got the idea of this blog from seeing the theatre show The Bodyguard, which was originally a film with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, because bodyguards do amazing things and people who create music that last decades and means so much to people.
People who I see on Instagram doing running events to raise money for charity and those who save lives like the NHS, the forces and people who are firefighters or paramedics. I know there has been negative press about some of these services and they overshadow the ones working in these services who do a brilliant job and risk their lives everyday.
Then there are people who run foodbanks and on the One show, which is a BBC weekly show at 7pm each evening apart from the weekend do a section called One Big Thank you to people who have gone out of the way to help others with daily living and making life easier for people who are struggling to live and be happy. Example they had a lady who ran a library and arranged it into local meeting place and people creating a community for those struggling have somewhere to have interaction and support where they haven’t any support.
We should be helping each other and building happy communities and not just here in the UK but all over the world. Doing acts of kindness can really make a difference, and when I shop in Tescos they give you an option to donate to a charity which I always do and giving others clothes to help landfill and making a more healthy environment and help with less waste.
I look at Road sweepers and when I worked for the Borough Cleansing for Hammersmith and Fulham, they would be people who had been working in cleaning our streets all their lives but never get mentioned and they should, because they don’t often get paid a lot but we need people cleaning our pavements and roads.
They should be rewarded and given honours, and people who stand out in all weathers selling the big issue. These are people that do amazing jobs, and they don’t see it that way. To them its become their life and just doing a job, but do we want to have dirty untidy streets? Growing up in Hammersmith and Fulham in the 80’s there would be dog pooh all over the pavements, rubbish everywhere and in Chelsea too. It was grubby and so people who clean our rubbish and they in Hammersmith had refuge officers making sure that people didn’t put rubbish in the wrong place and fly tipping, which is against the law in the UK so they would make sure that people paid for items to be collected as waste like fridges were collected and alerted by residence of the borough following the rules in living waste on the streets.
Then there are carers. They don’t get much help financially either and that to me is disgusting because when you have a person with a disability or an illness can affect them emotionally and do wonderful jobs in helping people to still have normality in their lives. I think about Katie Price and how she has looked after Harvey. and on her own a lot, and had to deal with people using him to make fun of children and adult with disorders, and using him to put offensive material online. I know she is in the public eye but that is no excuse of the treatment they have often received and I think she is a excellent advocate to carers of children and yet doesn’t always get credit where she should.
Lets celebrate the wonderful people we have in the world and give them a One Big Thank you.
This is not saying we should forget about the man as there are men we could celebrate, like Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, but us women should be celebrated to and love writing blogs on this day because as women we carry our families with us and try to do so much and in the passed decades women were seen as being wives and looking after children when now men and women take care of the home and we raised our voices to change on what being a woman means.
I was around very domestic women and when I think of decluttering, which is my challenge this month (March 2023) to declutter think of it being a woman thing, because of the women I was influenced by. This is not a bad thing I am glad to have learned to tidy and clean, cook and make a cup of tea, and look after my son whilst his dad goes to work . Cleaning and tidy is not my favourite activity, but who else is going to do it? Should it be me? Or course, check my last post: I do not want to declutter and its only the beginning
Being a woman means to be strong and feeling good about being woman and like my boobs, my bum, face, eyes and seeing what we can achieve being a woman. Don’t forget I know not everyone was a fan but had female Prime Ministers, we have had Queens and celebrated Queen Elizabeth ruled for 70 years and so we should feel proud in being a woman.
I love the fact I was carrying a child, my son and was able to cradle him in my womb, and see him being born and watching him grow, not want to miss any minute and us women carry a lot on our shoulders and so being woman is to be a sister, mother, Aunty friend and a Nanny. Not saying that we all should be mothers, that is personal choice, but being able to carry another life is an amazing thing, being able to produce milk to feed our children, and be proud of what as women of what we can do.
Yes I am now regretting my March challenge to declutter because now I am like “Can I be bothered?” feeling, but I know it has to done and this week I have free, well kind of, because I have been doing a course, but I really don’t feel like decluttering.
Since beginning of this blog I have sorted out my sons pants and sock draw and so one part done, and it was me saying to myself “Do it now and then its done”. I am not a natural organized person and looking at my desk where I type my blogs, as that is where my Laptop sits is well overcrowded and so this area is going to need a change.
This is what month challenge is going to be, me getting more out of the space I have and working to have a better set up, that makes me feel good about and excited about using that space doing the thing I love, writing and so for this I know I need to make changes, and so I have the time so I am gong to do it.
I do feel that I have begun, sorting out my son pants and sock draw, and next gonna sort out his nightwear and gonna take my time, and gonna try and make mornings my mornings decluttering rather than later.
For me I need to take baby steps and get in touch like running, how I feel once it is done. It helps boost my energy and one step further to where I want to be. I like having the things I love and use around me but in a less crowded space.
As I just wrote this section of this blog tidied one area of my desk and feel better just by taking that step.
House work I don’t enjoy, but the feeling I get once it is done, is where I do feel good. I like the outcome not the doing. How many of you feel this way? I know I am not alone here.
God bless Mary Poppins, she was a terrific woman and I wish she was real as I could do with a spoonful of sugar, or actually less sugar as my downfall is sugar, but its the organizing skills, one click and then its done.
You may like to read my EBook where I talk about making one change a day and not doing it in one go, if that makes you feel overwhelmed.
Things to Change one day at a time : Life doesn’t have to be fast pace but easy, simple and flexible Kindle Edition:
I have written others too like this one, under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
It is all about making changes that are easy to do, and feeling calm and not that life is hectic, when we have a cluttered space and being able to open a draw without having a fight to open it or shut it. Opening a cupboard without all the clutter falling on your head, and make it a useful happy place.
With the challenges it is the outcome that I want and to keep building a better place where I have my stuff in order, I have money in my bank account that will be forward and be out of debt and excited about the next stage of my life and keep building and learning. Learning is key to living calmly and what we will do from this point forward and not on what we will not.
Please follow if you want to keep updated of my blogs and like, so I know my blogs are helping you.
Lets work together and build a community that is full of happiness and posibility.
Check out my Youtube channel to as I share videos on resetting, being a parent and life coaching, and filming my challenges to help you do the same: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal
First of all welcome to those who are new to my blog Everyone can build a castle, and to new followers of my blog, and thank you for your likes, and really helps me in what topics you like me talking about.
If you didn’t know I also write books, and my newest one is about a Mother and a daughter who live together and is a love hate relationship, but there is one person who unites them, a lady called Gloria, who is a beautician and head of Elizabeth (the daughter) son’s school, PTFA and Elizabeth takes part in a virtue bake off, and because it is a pandemic they have to have meetings using Zoom and emailing and texting. This blog is about trips and falls, which in this book happens. Its available on Amazon and is called Mum&Me and I write other books too under the names Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes. See link to my new book:
Last Monday coming home I got of the bus and it being dark, crossed the road I tripped and cut my hand, knee and hurt my back and I was shaken up, and didn’t do much walking or did my run I started to do this year, because of it.
We are all gonna have trips and falls, it’s part of life, and it is how we react afterwards that can help us get over them.
I had to gather my confidence and brush myself off. And because of this fall I have been going to bed early to try and allow my body to recover and feel ready to continue on and so next week I will be exercising indoors, do some walking and go for a run. I do write a blog where I talk about exercise, that I also write on WordPress, check it out via this link: https://sportsandfitnesspassion.wordpress.com
Its not all about falling over though, it can be your car broke down and now having to travel using public transport, or the trains having delays and make us feel that it is not going to be good day. It can make use want to stay indoors and hide away.
This for me means I get into a what I call “Dead end mindset” so makes me more unhappy, but I have to get up, I have a son and he needs to be met. It can hard with kids because like my son, he wants my attention all of the time, and so I have to get up and get on.
This doesn’t mean you have to forget yourself, it means you have to take more care of yourself to help your kids grow and be there for others. If you are a carer, this can be demanding, and we forget ourselves, but when we fall over we realise we need to care for us, aswell as others. We need a cup of tea and coffee, a shower or a bath, and do some reading to switch off, and so listen to when you trip or fall to realise you are just as important aswell as the people you care about.
We grow from our trips and falls, not saying you can’t be careful and not trip again, but if I cross that bit of road to the pavement to take more care in making sure I don’t trip and fall there again.
If you’d like my content then there is more on my Pinterest, so check it out:
So it is the end of the month and I have two videos to be put together and one them is my last what I bought video for my February challenge and need to film my reflection,. which will be on my main Youtube channel that I have linked below @typicallondongal under my name Carrie Holmes. It was good to see what items I needed if I could get a good deal and feel I did, but I had to buy a few items for my son, and not sure if I should take these amounts into his monthly allowance I give him to spend, or as my home products and in my home budget. What would you do.
It has really helped me financially to see my spending habits and if there are other things I can cut back on or cut out.
I would recommend trying it out. I spent more than I wanted so gonna reduce on snacks and this month is going to be declutter month and so this is managing productivity and will include reset videos. and post on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/typicallondongal/) aswell as on this blog site.
There will be areas in which need to be done first and that is decluttering first my son’s underwear and socks, and it is little changes like that, that can free up space and does ease the mind when you see the results and why not when it is now spring time, I know the weather doesn’t match the new season yet at the moment, and for those you live in Australia and it is Autumn and if you are from the land of oz check out my Autumn Reset videos and blogs and sorting out my life to get things completed and tying lose ends.
I do write a blog on google blogspot called Organize4thebetter. and will be posting on there too.
I am late in starting as I did a course this week, but will begin as of next week and so lets get rid of what we no longer want and bring home stuff we do, and it also means sorting out my laptop and phones I no longer use, that are lying around. Even those things can cause or mind to feel cluttered aswell as rooms and homes.
If you have a office the one thing many companies I have worked for, would make sure we cleaned our desks, as it good to work in a clean and tidy environment.
It is coming up to the end another month of 2023 and I have been going through my finances for this year. and I did a video on my channel My Way of Living, about spending Productively. Check out here: https://www.youtube.com/@mywayofliving1602
In this blog I am talking about Things I want to cut out of my life as I continue this year and want to pay off my Credit card, and plan days to take my son on train trips during the summer holidays. This means being sensible with my money and live consciously, and spend consciously and ask myself “Should I give them my money?” “What difference will it make?” and “Are they worthy of my money?”.
I know a lot of shops like Paperchase for example I closing and I loved that store and was going to buy some items from them and may still do so as I would like to see if I can get a better organized system on my desk and it is cluttered and want it to be clearer.
I want to use what I have got and that is notebooks, clothes, skincare and toiletries and have a clear and get rid of items that no longer have any purpose in my life, like buying certain foods, like crisps and want to lower my sugar in take, and focus on doing long walks again and running.
I am no longer going to spend a lot on fitness equipment because when I was living in Epsom we had a lot of items that we saw on info commercials and now are gathering dust but do use the Crosstrainer that has been put in the living room and want some bands to do my floor exercise, and do want to pay as you go in a gym, when I feel I want to do more, and may think about paying a membership, depending on costs. There are gyms where you can go at anytime like The Gym and Pure gym, but I do also got points from the leisure centre I take my son to, and take him swimming, and so will be thinking about this and if it is logical. As writer this I am asking myself in my head, “What will I get out of it?”.
It is to be around other people not necessarily to know who they are but to see I am not on my own and we all have a reason to be there and I do like the gym environment.
This is not forever, as I still need clothes, but at the moment I have enough and so this year is a big challenge but one I know I wanted to do, to be wise with money and concentrate on other things, like going out and taking my son up London and would like to go to more shows and take him to watch a rugby match as he is a sports lover and take him to football matches too, so I am enjoying the challenge and will make a difference in how I shop for clothes. “If I don’t need it why have it? “.
Then there is crafting. I was really into making cards and I enjoyed it but no longer got space for those items and so until these items get used and want to give some to my nieces but keep some for my son to do, am I going to buy anymore, because these items can lead to clutter, but keep my stickers sets, it’s different type of paper, and have some use for them.
To make changes in your life you do have to let areas in your life go so you can continue to grow, and it doesn’t have to be long time but for now. “What is important to me now?”
So you know I do have three Youtube channels and do write other blogs. and I have created some pins on my Pinterest on financial living and planning my life, check my Pinterest site below:
If you’d like to keep updated of my blogs on this site then please remember you can follow me and subscribe and like it so I know that my blogs are helping you and I’d like to know what you are cutting out this year. you can leave a comment below.
Thank you once again for liking my blogs on this site. If you didn’t know I am doing a monthly challenge where I am finding deals of items I need for the month and have two new Reset 2023 videos up too, so please check my channel to see them: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal
This blog I am talking about goal ideas to set for spring and I have created a new printable.
When it comes to Spring we begin to have longer days and I find it makes me feel I have more time to do stuff and that means a good spring clean, take on a spring challenge if you haven’t begun challenging yourself. It is all about being SMART which I am sure you have heard before, but is important. example when the weather gets nicer to have a meal outside a local pub or restaurant with friends or join an outdoor exercise class. When my son was a baby I would go to Buggyfit and it such good fun, and it is good to spend time outdoors and not something you don’t always can do in the winter time.
Setting goals for me is important to help me grow and learn. I set them quarterly and make them realistic and reachable. For example: I want to do more runs.
Where would you like to run?
How far you’d like to reach?
So put, build to doing 5km of running and around my local park or common. I do write a sports and fitness blog, see the link here if you’d like to read these blogs too: https://sportsandfitnesspassion.wordpress.com
It is a good season to decide on what you want to let go of and what you want t let into your life now we heading into a new season to start a fresh for the Spring. I am doing more RESTS because I want less and continue my goal for this year, which is not to buy anymore clothes, and concentrate on paying off my Credit card and so where I can save I will. I am continuing on having no spending days too. I feel good not buying things everyday.
I do have a printables page on this site if you wanted to check this page out: New Printables Page
It is hard when there is a tension between people, because it can cause a bad atmosphere for everyone. When you feel that the world is against you, you can lash out, and even you don’t know why.
The way I see it now is that, do you want that be the last memory you have with that person? It can be too late. I never got to see my dad in the end and it taught me that no matter of what has gone on, you have to build the bridge again between you and them and often we can forget what the issue was that caused the break in the first place.
It is important for my son, because he will now never get to meet him and it brings me sadness, that he knows about him. I wished I could have had that time back, but once someone goes what is left? Anger, resentment, what you could have done, what you couldn’t do, etc etc. Yet I have shown pictures of him to my son, to help with the memory of him and so if you have had family or even friends that you have fallen out with, which you wished never happened, it is time to rebuild and whatever happened forgive and forget.
Of course if they have done something terrible then that is different like physical harm and I am writing a book at the moment called When Mothers Are Real and it is about a lady called Lesley who was abused as a kid and now her mum wants to build a good relationship because can you forgive? This is no reflection of my life, as I had a good childhood, accept at school, but many children aren’t that lucky and are hurt by their parents or other guardians everyday.
Nevertheless if it was an argument and its just escalated to not seeing each other, ask how important is this person in your life? How do you feel when you don’t go out with them anymore? What did they bring to your life?
Some people may have a illness that they worry about telling anymore and be the cause. So sitting and talking to them can do wonders and listening over a coffee or tea, or any drink but understanding what actually happened. It is important to let the dust settle, but not to leave it too long, get in touch and be the one to make the first move and remove the bridge that caused the break in your relationship and rebuild the foundations so it can grow positively and whatever happened is laid to rest.
Thank you for supporting this blog site and the feedback is amazing and lets work together to happier in ourselves and love the people we have in our lives and be happier so no tension is there again.
Hi its that time of the month for my Monthly Newsletter which has details of what I have been doing and what is to come within my content. I talk about monthly challenge for February and about setting goals, targets and habits. See it below which you can download.
Being the week of a UK school holiday (so kids are off from school: February 2023) and my son is at a holiday club called Youngstars I planned the week before of what I will be doing whilst he is at the holiday club. Today I did a reset and went through my make up and toiletries cleaning the shelf I use to store these items, I then cleaned the skirting boards, went through my son’s books and vacuumed and went for a walk as I needed some bread and sat in a local park whilst listening to music and then came back, and worked on my EBook called How I like to live, and updating it and make it into a bigger book and worked on my new Novel When mothers are real and now watching Gillian Perkins on Youtube where this idea of this blog post was created.
Sorry if that tires you out, this blog is not supposed to cause fatigue or make you feel like you haven’t done anything, but it is possible for everyone and who has kids off from school too, and when we get some hours to ourselves.
This is no way showing off, as you should have seen my room, it was a mess and could have easily gone back to bed, but no, there was no time like the present. So I chose today whilst I had the chance and more in the next two days. Time is precious and if I don’t do it today, when will it get done? This is a question I ask myself a lot when I think of others things I could of be doing. This question stirs me on to get my stuff together. I don’t like living in a mess, and I know if I was in bed I know that guilt of not doing anything would sink in, and then comes my negative thoughts, so being productive helps with my thoughts and anxiety.
Now being 2023 there is a lot of resources like different cleaning products and organizing digitally and using APPS, but lots of these new items come with cost and how functional are they? I could put it all on Notion, which I did use but already had OneNote on my computer and works well with me rather than paying to use Notion. Just say that is having an issues with it, I just trying not that works, but may still use Notion in the future, but not right now. OneNote is free I use it, like Notion to make lists rather than a notebook, but my question is, what if they stop working which my laptop does crash at time? It is technology and means losing all my lists and notes, so I still convert to paper, because I still find this method more resourceful and I don’t need to clog up my phone with a loads of APPs or have the latest appliances, they can cause clutter and be counter productive because they take up so much space, so in 2023 is keep it simple and still have a written plan and to do lists and for working on projects. I know we need to save on paper because of the environment, but I find it better to jot down rather than type all of the time, and what if I lose my phone and that means not having the APPs to help me, so for me, being productive in 2023, always have a back up plan written and stored so you can see it and notes for books is important because it helps me keep on track of where I am and brainstorming. I do like using my laptop but I like writing things down especially for when I write a journal and creating stories. I find it relaxing and great for on the go and save the space on my phone. Its not what an item can do but how resourceful it is, does it make life easy?
The items I do like are the cordless items, like I bought a wireless keyboard and mouse, and I do have access to a cordless vacuum which I did use, but don’t need tones of appliances, and so it is using what I have already got and this saves me money and time.
So, lets get productive and take that time to sort our lives.
When I worked at a Holiday Camp back in 2002 to 2005 was told when working in the Residential Catering Department working with the chefs, that a sandwich should taste good from the first bite to the last and life for me should be like that too. How you feel when you wake up can affect you when you go to bed, whether it has been a good day or bad day.
Routine: I live by a routine and one day a week I will go for a run, or do a workout indoors or later in the day by using a Crosstrainer and has made a massive difference and had reminded me of how much I have missed it and exercise in the morning really wakes me up. There are days when I don’t because I need that balance, but I make sure, if I don’t workout indoors or running I at least do some walking. Each day I have to have my first cup of tea and some breakfast. I make my bed except Saturdays because I am out with my son and wants to play as soon as it he gets up, I know say it “It shouldn’t make a difference and can save play until I have made the beds” This will be changing. I don’t feel right too if I don’t have a coffee at least one and make sure I hydrate throughout the day. Very important to me. I do have a bedtime routine too, whereby I will plan the next day using my diary I keep on my desk, my Reminder APP on my phone and on OneNote. Then I will take my medication that helps me sleep and then read, and if my mind is starting to come active again, and I do have a overactive mind, usually at bed time, I will get up like this evening and empty my mind, onto paper or on a blog, before the idea goes out of brain and forgotten by morning.
Rhythm : I have to have a good rhythm, to push down anxiousness I feel growing inside me each day and that I have quiet time aswell being super productive and have that time to myself. On Sundays I love getting outdoors with my son and go for a long walk and he will count the door numbers as we walk and enjoy the fresh air and love the peace, especially when we walk along the river. It is so nice to just let our feet travel while we take in what is around us. We will look at the different wildlife we see, like the birds, squirrels and ducks and watch trains as they go passed and just enjoying our surroundings.
Family time: It is good to spend time with family and so we all today as I continue to write this blog spent time watching the Rugby o the TV, along with a nice roast dinner and when my son goes home, which this week he is staying with me, but will make sure I have tidied up. I am still going to do this but when my son is at a school holiday club and going to do a total reset this week whilst he is there and doing a reset. THIS WILL BE FILMED!
Food: I know, I have already talked about this one, but having a good meal in the morning, through to the evening really good to fuel and I love dinners and is my favourite meal of the day and so make sure I am hungry to have dinner and am thankful that I don’t have to cook each day as I live with my Mum and step dad, but if they are out then I will buy food for myself, and try to use what is already indoors that I can have. I love leftovers so I do take advantage, and never rush but eat making sure I food is properly digested.
So how do you like to start the day and end it? You can leave a comment below.
Am I going through the past a lot? This is a habit I have done all my life, but I can’t ignore as much as I try, so rather than avoid it I allow it to come into my mind and then I will address and think, what did I learn from that? For example when I went to Brownies there was a girl who was really bitchy and she would be very abrupt towards me and talk to me as if I was an idiot. This helped me to toughen me up and so when I went to Secondary school I made sure that noone was like that to me again. Many of the girls, as I went to a girls school, did try but I didn’t stand for it and showed my authority and when someone is rude I will speak up and say “You don’t talk to me in that way” and so has helped me to set boundaries.
Boundaries are the very important. It also taught me about communicating better and not talk as if someone is able to read my mind, like that girl did because they would play games at Brownies and because I was new wasn’t understanding it.
As a kid who was super shy, I needed support in understanding, but remembering this event, it made me decide on what type of person I wanted to be and that the way she reacted was wrong, and what would I have done if I was her. I know she was a kid herself and was still learning and thinking perhaps it was because she had troubles in how to interact properly and so needed to be given training and understanding, that her way of talking to me was wrong. She did get told off, and when the Brown Owl, The head of Brownies left so did she.
It taught me about morals and respecting others like I would like to be respected. She obviously thought that the way she spoke was her way of stamping her authority and had learning difficulties, who knows? Only she would know, and I think about the times where I had been unkind. There was a guy I worked with was super happy and cheerful and I couldn’t understand what he was say because he had a very thick accent and I was very dismissive and he then had a go at me. I then said “Sorry but I can’t understand you” and was worried in answering him in case he said something rude. All I had to do is say “Sorry but can you say that again” and it made me understand that when someone is being nice doesn’t mean they are actually being mean. So, the past incidences and help us with reactions to how we have been interacting with other people.
Can I fix that? Yes by realising that being rude is not necessary in any form, but being nice and polite goes a long way and it I don’t want people to think I am rude, because then people won’t want to talk to me. It didn’t make me an angel but human and I can’t mend what I once did but I can learn by being better to that person. Noone is ridiculous because they can’t understand a game, they just need to be shown again and someone to be beside them and show them, rather than shouting. Shouting is just someone not knowing how to communicate correctly and I have been guilty of that too, if I want a good response I have to initialize it.
Is it good to have regrets? A lot of people would say “No” and that it was part of them growing and I come to see that, is it worth regretting? NO because you can’t go back, so you have to move on and learn, Learning is the key to mending our ways and about the world and how it works. I believe in forgiveness. You have to forgive yourself and others may have done something wrong to upset you, and instead of arguing talking. I think with technology it is very good to hide behind it and not speak to a someone in person.
We live and learn by our actions and the past can have an impact on how we respond to others and I catch myself when I realise I am being like my dad and its like NOOO. I love my dad but he was very outspoken and said what he thought which wasn’t always good, but the one thing that was taught by him was how to talk to someone. He wasn’t ever rude as such he just was honest and he would talk to anyone, whether they knew him or not, and he loved to socialise. He would make us laugh because he would take the mickey but people never took him seriously and he never took himself seriously either, he was just very well spoken and I do feel sad that I never to to see him again before he died, but glad he was my dad, and remember the good parts and why everyone knew him and loved him.
So the past can help us to grow and be thankful for how the past has shaped us to think about the present.
So my last “No spend January” video is up on my main Youtube channel https://youtu.be/Ree9adtj7YM and it really helped me to look at my money in a different light in that it not about not spending, but cutting back on things and looking at all the stuff I already got and not buying anything more until I used everything up.
It made me see that there I things I like to enjoy, and that is no spending days which I began last year. I enjoy making my coffee, rather than someone else do it and I like instant coffee. I did want to buy some clothes, as I have decided that this year I won’t be buying any and wear what I have got and the same with skincare, and so would say to myself “I have enough”.
My February challenge is to look for deals on the items I plan on buying this month. and I have filmed one video already for this and will be posting videos on my Instagram and my main Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@typicallondongal once a week.
I like buying sensibly now and the part of a reset is managing your finances if you have debt like I have and it can really affect your wellbeing and cause anxiety. My financial goal for 2023 is to pay off my debts and have a target amount on what I want to save and I love hunting for deals and if I can find a product that is still as good, but get it for less than I normally pay for, I know that this is a good deal.
Building a life is investing on what you care about and I have had a bad relationship with money, because when I began working up in London I would be out in the evenings a lot, near Oxford Street in London and became a bit ruthless. Now I feel I am managing my money well again and think about what it is going to help me and feeling happy with spending money, but not gonna cause me to get stressed. When it comes to money it is good to have a plan and have a list. With the internet it is good to go through how much different items cost that you need and what you are willing to pay for items. Budget for me in very important and that has really helped me to get my good money habits back on track.
If you’d like to join me in this challenge then you can do and let me know how it went for you, and see how much we can save, and use it to buy what we have always wanted. I have a what I want to call, a Financial Wish, to take my son on a holiday and would love to take to Disney in Florida.
It is also good to get your kids involved to if you have children and why not have your friends and family involved too.
Hello and welcome! I have created a new Printables page where you can download of Life coaching, tracking your happiness and managing your life and building it to have a life you love.
They are completely free and so no cost at all and because of your wonderful support you given to me. Your feedback has helped me to build this blog and what us all to work together in us all living our life full of happiness and wellness.
Hello and welcome! Please check out my No Spend update of my No Spend January Challenge.
It has really help go through my finances and not neglect them, and be logical and I did do a video similarly ago on my other Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@mywayofliving1602
The video on this blog is on my main channel, Typical London Gal.
Here is a my latest No Spend January update
It has influenced me to plan my finances for the entire year which I have never done before, but I feel the sense of dread where I know bills are due, but worrying how they gonna get paid. I will do it again and I will be filming another update this week and if you did No Spend January how it went for you.
I knew as a kid that I didn’t want just a job and do something different to what other kids wanted to do and as a kid I wanted to be famous because I never was the popular kid and starting school I was a loner and it took me ages to form friends.
As I gone through life I have been different depending on where I am, like when I went to dancing school in Fulham in London on Saturday’s and first I was shy and would get anxious and cry, but then when I realised I was good at it didn’t look back and I loved it. I am now a mum living in Wimbledon in South West London and finally have a good balance with being a mum, writing and looking after myself and my wellbeing and its taken a long while to achieving my goals and ambitions.
I like who I am now. I still can be self critical and allow the negative thoughts come through, but I have started to be resilient to those thoughts and use proof to these thoughts that I can be who I want to be. It has taken a long time and I don’t want to just stop, but keep going, that is what I am all about.
You can lose your way and I did. I have been battling with managing my mental health and now back on my feet and never felt such strength before and feel more good things coming away. It has taken its time, but I have never lost my ambition or my drive, and know I have to make the choices and stand on my own two feet. I have to be strong for my son and he is my priority, and struggled with motherhood and so that took a back seat, whilst I got back on my feet, and the bond never went and we have so much fun now and want my son to learn from me, and if he ever has struggles that he will talk to me about them so he can have balance in his life too.
It is good to talk about your ambitions and live the life you want and not what somebody else wants, and have habits that help towards to be the person you want to be and feel good. If anythings feels like a chore then something needs to change, because in my experience, it can make you put it off.
There are a lot of things I still want to do and I still a lot of growing and building to do, but lay off on myself and be proud of who I am and I like having good conversation and so start going through the area of your self you do like, and what you can improve and set a plan for yourself to get there.
So, who do you want to be? And I’d like to hear from you and so you can leave a comment below, and if you like my blogs then please follow me so you can be updated whenever post and don’t miss one.
I did my first run this week, and was my first one after a two year break and it felt so good and doing that gave me so much energy and felt so good about myself and feel grateful for my legs and being able to run, and on Tuesday I did my first long walk this year and again it gave me such a boost.
If you want to make change then it is up to you to do it, and did start getting thoughts about doing the run, but said no to those thoughts and I done it.
We can all put things off and have excuses of why we shouldn’t and I would often talk myself out of it, forgetting the benefits of how I’d feel afterwards if I did a run for example, but then you get stuck in a rut and becomes a tug of war.
I have started to put together some life coaching tools together and it is for my Life Coaching programme I do each year and this year it is Project 2023 and so check these out here:
I will let you all know when this will be starting and so I will keep you informed.
Going for a run really gave a kick start to my day, I got a lot done, like changed and washed my bedding and uploaded a new update of my “No Spend January”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8-74xKzsyQ
I kick my start my day by setting an alarm and I before I am tempted to go back to bed, turn the light on, make my bed and get dressed.
When we have kids I get that it can be a challenge but once I got passed my 8 weeks after having my son I would get up early about 4 to 5am, whilst I did my son’s milk used the time to do some exercise. It was hard at first but my mindset was “If I don’t do any in the day at least I did some exercise in the morning” and it is was mentally energizing.
Then started to struggle, so getting back to it 9 years later having battled with it, remember how good it feels. Yes I still get bad days, well I am only human. Through those years, I developed a mental health condition, psychosis and my exercise was overtaken by it and lost my energy. Not that I didn’t try, I did, but I felt drained and so had to seek help and now got my life back and did exercise around the Autumn, but I take some time off for that time of year because I have birthdays and then comes Christmas, and so I am determined this year to make sure I continue to kick start my mornings to boost my energy for the day and not allow my inner critic talk me out of it and not worry about the cold and the dark mornings to stop.
For the first time in a long time feel good about my life and how I see it.
Habits go along way when they serve a purpose, like I get fit in the morning because that it helps get my day on a good start and that I don’t feel anxious about it, not drained by worry and thinking the worst and be relaxed and content.
So kick start your day honestly it can make a huge change, like dancing in the kitchen whilst doing your kids breakfast and why not have them join in. I loved doing this with my son before he started school. This stopped because of my mental health and because I don’t do the school run in the morning, because his dad and I no longer live together, but is a great way to wake up and boost you entire life.
So today I did some laundry, sort my son’s bed out and spent time planning using OneNote and going through my goals and completed another Unit on another course I am doing and so feel super productive, and I do plan a new video to do for my 2023 Reset and to inspire others to complete projects and making steps towards achieving goals.
I have a pile of clothes to be put away and it is late at night so don’t clear away tonight but will do so tomorrow, and Sunday I will plan my week ahead and do a reset, by tidying my room, going through my wardrobe to set up more of my clothes and what I want to wear for the week and I wear the same clothes in the week and use my wardrobe before I go into the open closet I am using and rotate my clothes. This makes sure I wear them all, and my goal for this year is not to buy anymore clothes.
I go through unfinished tasks and so will set a plan to get them done and BUILD my word for this year and follow my dreams and ambitions.
It is Sunday now a I finish this blog and sorted out my clothes for the week and spending time catching on Youtube in between and uploaded my Sunday chat video. and do a have a new Update on my No Spend January to go up and I like to use my Sunday’s wisely to help set my week up and it is so good when I get things ticked off my lists.
Doing a reset helps the mind too and manage my thoughts. I like to feel calm and contentment to be ready for a new week and plan my days and getting more things done to build and continue to grow in mind and body, and get control of my wellbeing.
I like to do my skincare to reset and wash my hair, along with having a nice dinner and work on tasks that I can’t get done in the week.
There will be more blogs to come and I hope that you spend time resetting and getting your life on track.
When it comes to love it is all around us and often we can’t see it. To remind me about love I will write in my gratitude journal of everything I am grateful and thankful for, like my son, he is the most precious person of my life and love seeing him everyday and spending time having fun and bonding by play and learning.
Love is about giving your whole being to somebody and at times it can be a challenge, if you have different views on life and love, but as long you can talk, laugh and be yourself, that is what is important.
It can break your heart and change, but it can also be what drives you forward and learn how to help love be good again, by looking around you and by that phone call, watching the one show tonight on BBC 1, Will Young was talking about writing letters, rather than a text message can really make a difference and change your view about love.
Love is a personal feeling that should not be taken for granted and it can be from a person who let you go first on the bus and giving money to buskers and street acts, and there is so many ways to show it and give, that it lights up your world and their’s, and it can also be a object, like a music instrument you love, where you like to travel to each year and watch on the TV and writing a book to help others, and spreading love through many different channels and I do tell friends I love them, because I do or if I see a post from a celebrity on Instagram for example and say if I love something they have posted and it has to be what relates to you, and mean something more than a post of someone unwell or just reaching out and showing love.
Compassion goes a long way and love is where it all begins and grows.
Tell me what love means to you and what you have learned. You can leave a comment below, and remember if you’d like to see more posts then please follow me so you don’t miss out on more content and blogs.
I love you for taking the time to read my blog and for your feedback, because without that I wouldn’t know if they are helpful to you and feel so enlighten by the likes and follows I get, you make it that way.
So lets spread the love today and always, and remember to love yourself too.
Hello and thank you for all your likes, it really helps me to build my content and do more to reach out to you and seeing your likes and following me, means the world, honestly it really makes me feel proud of my blogs and build my confidence in myself and want to help you do the same. Love yourself, and have belief, honestly if you can put your mind to it, you can do anything and I want to be part of your journey in doing so.
I really enjoyed the feedback about my Newsletter that I began last year, and will continue, so here is my new Newsletter for 2023 and hope you like it and helps kick start your adrenaline to be the person you want to be.
You can reduce clutter from all areas of your life, like your computer/laptop, the kitchen, wardrobe, draws and cupboards and set a date of when you plan to do this and stick with it and start with one area at a time.
Living with clutter can be too much and we dread going back to the mess, and so if you want to clear it do it step by step and if you have someone to help you, take advantage and delegate.
I like having a sort through and do a weekly reset, where I will put my clothes away and quickly go through and take anything out that is worn and that you have no use for anymore and taking such steps can really help your wellbeing and I did a whole reset and had a complete sort through of my stuff and once I saw the clear space I had, made me feel relieved and so much better.
Clutter can build and build and so set it all out from the area you have chosen first to sort out and be realistic in making the choice to keep it or go. I am conscious of landfill and so if it is in a good condition like a piece of equipment, interior or furniture and clothes, donate and or sell. I know many people sell items on Facebook so check that out.
Set up a plan and challenge yourself to clear one items a day, or area.
I hope you find this useful and never fear, if I can declutter so can you.
It has been a while since I last did a book review, and have an All About Books’ video coming, (check out my previous video I did) and will be on my main Youtube channel as I finished two books this month and still challenging myself to read a book a month and got in the habit of reading before I go to bed again, rather than travelling.
This book review is talking about the High 5 Habit by Mel Robbins. I listened to it on audible because I find it easier when it is a self help book and when ever my son does something good we high 5 and I have begun to high five myself in the mornings and give myself credit rather feel bad about myself.
She spoke such sense and doing habits like not having my phone by my bed, because it can affect how we wakeup in the mornings and it has made a difference as I do sleep for a longer and make sure I have a good nights sleep. I no longer allow my son to take his tablet to bed and this has made a difference as he can fall a sleep quickly and for a lot longer, because he wakes up really early in the week, and not have his tablet too early in the morning and we both sleeping in, which I need at the weekends because of the travelling I do each week and need it to wake up better and get stuck planned down and use my weekends to take my son out and not feeling tired the whole day.
So check it out and I would give in 10 out of ten and the good thing about audible (I am not sponsored) you keep the books in your library and forever and go back to them, which those like the High 5 Habit because I like to listen to these types of books again.
If you know of more books that I like it, please recommend by filling in the comments below.
So I feel so blessed that you are liking my blogs and following me, it really means the world.
I am still continuing on with my Monthly challenge of No Spend January and so here is a video I did for my Main Youtube channel on how it is going. I talk about my money habits and things I have paid for whilst doing this challenge and only buying what I need, as this is the point, and being strict with myself.
Here is the video below:
It can be tempting, because I do like to have a coffee from a coffee shop, but this can add up and I have got access to a Coffee Machine and have two jars of instant coffee which is just good enough, and so I have been focusing making sure I top up my Oyster card, which I used to ride the bus and train, and that I have cash on my should I need to buy anything like personal care items.
I am starting to feel like I want to challenge myself for the year, but I know that will be super tough, so going to decide once I have reached at the end of the month.
I really hope you like this video and remember if you’d like to be kept up to date about blogs, then you can do so my following me.
Are you ready to make some changes in your life? I am and started a Reset for 2023, starting with tidying my desk that I use for writing, doing courses and as a dressing table and so needs to be functional and has everything placed at arms length.
So check out my video and remember if you Subscribe to my Youtube channel you will notified of when I put up a new video and currently put up 2 to 3 videos a week.
This means sorting certain areas of my life and really helps to get different projects and tasks done and really helps achieve my goals.
I hope you like this video and there is more content to come.
So if you didn’t see my last blog then I am taking on a new challenge for January and that is no spend. This is from and idea I got from watching a Kate Kaden, and not because she is doing it, it’s because I do want to control myself when it comes to money and focusing what I need rather than what I want.
If you’d like to see more of my videos that I do each week then please subscribe on my channel as I love reaching out to you all.
Please check out first vide on Youtube here:
I really you enjoy watching and there will be more to come.
Yes it is 2023 and my first challenge for this year for January is going to be no spending. Now yes I have been out and bought a few bits today, but they were items I needed, and it is not buying items that aren’t a need, and avoid the impulse buying. Plus I do have a birthday coming up, but have already reserved money for this and planning what I will be using my money for, like travelling that I do each day to wait at my son’s home to come home from school, food and that is what I did today and want to buy items for lunches to be a bit more healthier and be vigilant with what I want to put into my body.
I am not going to buy anymore clothes and wear what I have got and not spending money on coffees at a coffee shop. Making a small changes make a huge difference and doing no spending days, that I did last year really help prepare me, and it helped me manage my habit of buying coffee from a coffee shop and use instant or from the coffee machine I have where I live. I will be vlogging it and so will do this as of tomorrow as I should be able to speak as I have had a stinking cold, and just want to get over the first day.
I have just written my financial target to pay off my debts and almost paid one off, just got to make another two payments and then that is then complete, and all I have to worry about is my credit card, and so plan to pay off £1200 by the end of this year, by paying £1200.00, which will take my debts to zero. I feel so good about that, because debts has had an effect on my wellbeing and mental health.
All challenges have to lead to a good result that make you feel good about life. Getting as much out of life as much as possible and feel good about yourself and give you a buzz, and stir you on for building your life every year. Making good positive changes. I want to start running again and do some fundraising events and do a fitness class that helps me to fight fatigue and to help me build up my energy levels, to feel fitter and reduce my sitting down time.
I am trying stop having my phone near by all of the time, as it does make me procrastinate and has made me feel more present. I think we get so sucked in when it comes to social media so monitoring my phone habits, when I have tasks to do, having my phone away from me has made a difference and getting jobs done.
I am not sure what I plan for February, but going to see how my no spending January goes first, and looking at the thing I want to invest in and was going to book an exercise class, but got a bit nervous about doing so and so going to concentrate on not spending money on clothes and see how much I can save for items I want, and what I need and would like it to continue in being logical when it comes to money.
I have put together a set of Pins which has some Life coaching advice and tools to help, check out my life coaching tools I have put together on my Pinterest that may help you set some challenges for yourself, and have already putting items ready for my Life coaching programme, “2023 Project” too, so you can whilst you are there checks these pins too.
It is new years eve and tomorrow it will be 2023, and soon it is all systems go again, but not gong to forget 2022, it has been okay for me. I am happy that I did complete the writing of my book I wrote about yesterday and going to make it a tradition that I publish a book by the end of each year to publish as I approach another year.
I didn’t complete the writing of my Christmas book and want to make changes to it and so still got to achieve this goal and have a book about Christmas. Many may not believe in goals but I do, as I like challenging myself. It gives me such a good energetic feeling and looking over 2022 I really liked the challenging to read a book a month as I have read some really good books, check out my videos All About Books. I do video book reviews and due to do another as talk about the book I read and finished during the Christmas holidays.
Doing my reset and for Autumn and going to do another this year as it made me feel free. It is good to have space and I plan tomorrow to do part of it and film, so I will let you know if this happens, and I liked reaching out to you through my Life Coaching blogs. It was good to go through my emails and still got to do more to empty them out, and so yesterday did a big clear out as I have run out on storage on my google account.
This year I began writing newsletters and love putting these together and I am glad that you have liked them too.
Another year means more challenges to come and creating new habits this year, like not having my phone near my bed has made such a difference and making my bed each day. There is more I want to do, as they are helping me so much in making sure I look after my self aswell as other people and concentrating on what makes me happy.
So lets all have a good new year and celebrate a new year,
Hello, so it is December the 31st and yes it is going to be a regular each year to publish a book at the end of the each year.
My book Mum&Me is now published.
It is a comedy and is about a Mum and a daughter who live together and get on each other nerves and have a different opinion on most things that leads to arguments. Elizabeth Mum is continuously ordering items from TV shopping channels and online and not what she thought they were and Elizabeth guest bedroom is full of boxes, but when it comes to Bucci Tits Gloria they always reunite as she is Elizabeth’s arch rival.
I want the book to be a good cozy read and go lovely for winters day or the summer, with a cup of tea or coffee or even a cocktail and have a good laugh.
I at the moment I have a stinking cold and when I feel like this I find it hard to stay positive because all I want to do is hide away and hibernate until it goes. Some people hate the word, because some say that “It’s not easy to stay positive all of the time”, and I do believe that this is true, because life takes over, and as much as I’d like to stay in bed all day, going on how I feel at the moment know I have responsibilities that need care. I don’t want to be grumpy when looking after my son, because it can really affect him, and so it is putting brave face on and getting on with whatever needs must. When it comes to positivity it is not all about smiling but being content and right now as I write this blog I am in my nightwear, and is making me feel a lot better.
Our bodies need fuel and so when you have a comfy dinner or a room that you can just chill can help with mood and so that is the good side of the positivity and why it is good, because it gets in touch that we need some love care and attention. We should be able to do that and look after our wellbeing. Having a hot bath or a hot drink can do wonders, so looking after yourself is for me positive but not the cringing kind, such as “Smile everyday, you’ve got this”. When I am feeling like death that is the last thing I want.
There are positive outcomes, whereby you’ve had a bad day so far, but when your spouse hands you a glass of wine can be just the ticket someone needs for a smile, but when they are beaming, “How was your day?” with a massive grin it can be like “I love you but honestly not what a I need, I will get my own glass of wine”.
When I try this with my son Henry, no glass of wine involved, in case you got confused there, being excited to see him after school and how his days been, he is like “No no, let me watch my tablet” and I try again, and which I get pushed away, until he wants to play rugby or football, and then I am like “No it’s okay” I say being full of cold, but then see he won’t give in until I get up off the sofa, and see that being super positive is not needed, but being present is, so we don’t all need to be positive but happy with the simplest of things. It is all about balance and finding what makes you feel like the weight of your shoulders and have someone to share responsibilities with, can help too.
Caring is sharing and so it depends on the time of day and what has happened each day that can be positive or negative. Everyday is new and so if you feel like its time for an early night that will help you feel better, then do it. Sometimes rather then being sprung on my a cheerful maniac a cup of tea and a packet of biscuits is all one needs to be positive, so tell me what you think do you think is Positivity good or bad? You can leave a comment below.
Thank you once again for all of your support and checking out my blogs. So it is now coming up to another year but it doesn’t mean we can’t make changes in our life now.It is about progress, and it isn’t about getting everything so perfect that I often have to remind myself of that, but have a life that makes you smile rather then feel down.
Yes I have had a mental health illness but doesn’t mean my life has to be at a stand still, it means it gives me more fight in me too build my life and continue following my dreams. There is still so much I want to do. I have been meaning to take my son to another football match as he loves sport and has been on my list for ages and this weekend we did just that and wanted to take Henry to another Pantomimes and this year he is going to see two.
Life should be full of dreams and making the most out of each season, and have a life full of joy, and things to look back on and everlasting and be able to pass them on as each generation comes into the world and everyone deserves a life they love.
Begin by keeping a journal of your thoughts and getting your dreams out on a paper and go through the things you want. some may not have been a sort of person who ever wanted something, like a lady called Baroness Karen Brady, but looking and viewing herself, she must have done but subconsciously she must have done to be as successful and I can’t imagine how she got so far by not, and she ran football clubs and so she must wanted good things at the clubs she worked for to get where she is.
You do have to take on challenges, like I was in a hospital to help my mental health illness I had and helped me get back on my feet again and was challenging but was good to have that space and time to make sense of life again, and can’t wait to take on more. I really get a boost of setting myself challenges each year and now my challenge is to find outside work to expand myself even more and help with my writing and understanding more about people and want to help others with mental health problems and help build other children’s life and set a good example for my son, for him to be the best person he could be, and follow his dreams he has.
If he does find that he wants to play football or rugby then I going to look for him to join a team, or a club. Kids do change their mind I did a lot, of what I wanted to do in my life.I do believe in having eggs in different baskets and do many different things and so far accomplished them. I wanted to sort my room out in the week just gone and I did. I did a total reset and it feel so good to have a room with no clutter. I felt I needed to do it and it can make my life feel chaotic which I want to avoid.
The next thing is to sort my hair out so if I do work outside I want neat and tidy hair and be a manageable length.
So lets keep building our lives and enjoy our lives through each season whether it not in the new year. We can set our goals whenever we want.
I’d like to know what you want out of life now and what your ambitions and dreams you have. You can leave a comment below.
We can all be somebody if we truly believe in ourselves, watching the world cup inspired me to write this post because we like me a lot of you may, doubt themselves, and for me I have always wanted to do something that I never thought I could do. I never thought I’d ever run and was just a thought and never thought I’d do the Great North Run, but there I was in 2008 doing just that. It made me see what I am capable of and everyone deserves a life they want and be the best at what they can be.
Making small changes in your life can lead you to success and that can be doing a workout in the mornings and I have started to meditate each day and I never thought I’d write a book, even though it has been a childhood dream, and then I saw a programme on TV and it was someone talking about self publishing on amazon, and thought I’d like to do that, so when I had my son it inspired me to create The Parenting Adventures, check these out on Amazon under my married name Carrie Challoner and working on a new book called Mum&Me and editing as we speak and never thought I’d blog as this type of writing never was a thing as a child as there were no internet like there is today.
I know a lot of people are going to be struggling this year with the prices of things going up, but you can still have a life you love and that is to set a plan and if you wanted to write and publish a book then go for it, or run a half marathon, as it really helps with your wellbeing. They are just examples, because when I was working it inspired others to do the same and I loved that and people wanted to join me.
I never thought I would have people liking my blogs and it was reading a book that inspired me to start blog writing and everyday I getting likes and followers and it really feels my up with a lot of joy and build my life up even more.
Set yourself some quick and easy goals, like going for a walk each day and if you are looking for work then sit down and do plan to find that job you have always wanted and write a plan of how you want to get there. Tomorrow I am going to a Job Fair and if you contact the Jobcentre they can refer you and make an appointment for you to go. If you find out it is not what you want to do then that is fine, your only going to find out and see.
Think about year from now what do you want your life to look like?
Visualise and write it down. Set yourself challenges and these has really helped me and I have managed to get a lot done by breaking it down and focus on small tasks each day. I listen a lot to Mel Robbins and she writes just five things a day and I have found this very resourceful. So make challenges for yourself and small and then make them bigger each year.
Hello and thank you so much for your feedback of the blogs I shared for my Autumn Reset, and it really has helped me get tasks finished and plan to do another in 2023.
I have put together a free printable for you to help you have a reset this Autumn and other ones to come.
So I said in my last newsletter that I would be putting up some days in a life and gift guides but I need to put my hands up “I am behind” and do this to myself a lot. I try to do some many things and so once again I rein myself in and think right what can I get done that will make less for tomorrow?
Since school half term which was two weeks ago it has been tricky to get bits for my blogs and videos been difficult but do what I can. I continue writing this blog on a Saturday night, and supposed to be my night off, but wanted to write this blog because I write a lot of blogs on having a better wellbeing, and show I am a real person and not always ahead of myself, as much as I try to be and because I know for my wellbeing I need to slow down.
I have been doing a course about mental health and it that is has taken a lot of my time, but wanted to do it to help me go to where I want to be and that is to help others with managing their mental health, but nearly completed and this week going to do all I can to get back to working on my book Mum&me and have more day in a life videos to publish as I love doing documenting my life and something I can look back on and if they really help just a few people then that is my goal and keep my energy levels high to keep on creating items for my blogs, books and videos.
I also been looking for outside work hence why I have been doing some courses, and be in healthcare or in a educational setting.
When I get behind it helps me to focus on focusing on one thing and having a cup of tea and a coffee in the morning really helps along with having something I can jot things down on, even when I go out, as ideas of content usually comes to me when outdoors along with listening to podcasts and music.
The other things I have started to do organize what I am going to wear each week on a Sunday and wear all of my clothes I have, I have started to go through my finances and manage my money again and have no spend days and use what I have got and not started other things until I have gotten a few the main things I need to get done completed first. To manage my life and you may feel the same is when I prioritize and like this week get my training course done and today now being Sunday finishing this blog and last night when I couldn’t sleep is create a filming schedule and what videos I want to film and upload.
Have patience with yourself and know that you will finish tasks and break it down. I did this last night and created a list of things I want to complete and where resetting really helps and so do this each Sunday, which is today finishing this blog and Monday’s and get back on track and continue growing my life, my blogs and my videos.
This was so enjoyable to do and I am glad many of you liked the posts I shared, and I did manage to sort some areas out like going through my emails and using any spare time to go through and unsubscribe from services I no longer need, but with half term and getting my next book finished it was a lot of work,but glad I was able to have a good sort through and lead me to new positive habits, like each Sunday I will plan what I want to wear in the week and getting the most out of my clothes. Clear my laptop and do have a printable to go up for the Autumn Reset, but been on a course and so couldn’t complete, but going to continue with it and upload, once ready and can still use it as I do a weekly reset, mainly on Fridays, Sundays and Mondays.
I want to do more projects and for Winter I am planning a Winter Wellness Project to give tips on Managing Your Life in the winter as I can often feel slumped because of the reduction of day light, and so this will be coming soon. I will say more next week.
It is all about looking at your mind, body and soul.
Making gradual steps is what works for me and will help me set up new goals for myself and getting ready for the festive season and going to do some gift guides, but minimising my spending and remember that is not able cost but being with family and creating happy memories, and I know we are all feeling worried because of the prices on things are increasing, but you don’t need to spend a fortune in celebrating Christmas and forget the worries for one day and have friends and family bring food over so it is a joint effort and enjoy the festive cheer, without having to organize on your own, and ease the anxiety on the cost of things and not have a Christmas.
Life is not all about money it is more to do with time. If you make a gift or make a card with scrap paper with nice message is still a thoughtful gift and use what items you have in your possession unused that someone else would like. Doing a reset helps to see what ways you can change things in your life, and giving gifts can be one of them. Do a reset on money, can really help reduce spending and now I keep note again and check my account throughout the week and seeing what I can reduce, to save and invest in my life, of items that really mean something to me, such as clothing I like to wear all through the year and not just for the colder or summer season, and on skincare because I like to try different products and like to treatment me to some gift sets that will last all year and will save my money on festive drinks I like to have, like Advocate and Lemonade, which is called a Snowball.
Have what you like but save for those special occasions and have a back up fund, for those days you need an extra bit of cash, and one thing you can do to do a reset is to set a financial plan to budget and save for those items we want each year and any amount you can save do it.
I have limited myself to not spend money on coffees out and use my instant coffee. I now have a discount card on travel because I travel a lot to look after my son when he returns home from school, and if you are on Universal credit you can get money off on travelling on buses and trams.
I have begun limiting my spending on clothes, and buy what I need. like I live in Leggins most of the time because of be active with walking a lot and playing sports with my son, and so I replace them but limit myself on pairs, but enough that I can work continuously and make sure they wash well, as some can lose their shape.
So I am not going to get ready for the week ahead, and will blog again in a few days.
My next newsletter is ready and talk about the content I have been sharing and giving to good causes as and wanting to do more to help and support other people and make a difference to other peoples lives.
There was a time where I would take my son to school and as soon I got home would return into bed and then get up about 1pm to give the house a clean and then go and pick up my son from school, and as soon as I had dinner go back to bed.
I couldn’t find the energy to do much, and it was as if energy had been pushed out of me. Now though that girl has gone and glad. I love being lazy at times, but that only results in me feeling more tired and I like to get up have my cup of tea and then breakfast and make sure I am dressed apart from the weekend where I do take it a bit easier and spend that time with my son.
The mornings for me is the hardest at time but once I am up now I get myself ready for the day and take anything that is rubbish downstairs, take shower if I don’t have one the evening before and gather myself together. Having routine that is fulfilling is what helped me get out of the slump of wanting to stay in bed all day, and so I make sure I have a enough sleep at night so I have no reason to go back to bed.
So if you are having a hard time to get up and out of bed, ask yourself, “Do I want to be doing this all my life?” and I didn’t and knew that it was effecting my everyday and it would cause arguments, but then something clicked in me and I have now never felt so alive. It takes time, but if you feel fatigue all the time, it may mean going to the doctors and getting support as it is a mental health issue and put things into bed that makes you want to get up and make the most of your days.
This is why I write these blogs to give support if you feel low at and unenergized it is something that you can work on and can get out of.
Living in the city, it can be very noisy and you can get sucked in the city way of life. This is rushing and not taking anything in, but the noise of the city.
Today I edited a new Autumn Reset video and going to upload this tonight, this is now up: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUDFIqjVKLy7NhtcR6Hy0Tg and sometimes you just need to take mini steps, which is part of having a reset as we often can’t take it easy with running errands.
If you can take yourself away from it, then do. I travel to and from Epsom, and walking along the common can be peaceful and sitting near a pond, even like the Serpentine in Hyde Park can make all the difference and when I am near water, I instantly feel so much better and helps stop the noise that can disrupt us and good to take some time away from the busy streets.
I like to read a book in the park and have a nice coffee whilst sitting by the river. I like listening to podcasts when waiting for my son to return home from school, and then listen to my music whilst on the bus and just helping my anxiousness that I get each day, and taking in what is around me rather than rushing around and not noticing anything.
Seeing it from my son’s eyes has made me look around me and watching planes flying over watching other parents with their kids and just chilling, whilst others are rushing around, I just need that peace and quiet. So I make sure I give myself that time, as it helps ease the mind and stop feeling overwhelmed.
I like to begin with Thank you all for reading and liking my blogs on this site and my others, and it really helps me to see that my blogs are reaching out to you, and getting the message, that we are all worth a life filled with possibility. Even when I am having a bad day I still can have a positive mindset , and today travelling on a bus there were school girls just being disruptive, and felt “No I am not going to allow them to effect my journey”, and yes I was imagining myself saying negative things to them, but know better not too as why should I be driven in by their negative behaviour and if we learn to help our emotions and feelings, can still be a help to learn to grow even more to have a happier life.
It is like building a forte and a wall around you, that you aren’t going to allow bad things happening around you to, allow the negative thoughts and listen to them, and addressing them.
Dealing with Mental health can be challenging, because with having psychosis, and it has taken a lot to say yes I have this, because of judgement by others. It can trigger negative thoughts, and lash out, but know this won’t fix the issue that is happening around me, like those girls on the bus, and wants you know how to control it and manage your mental health can help things like that effect your growth with mental health.
We all have the strength to build ourselves and have a life full of joy and happiness, never allow your Mental health stop you from doing the things that you love and helps you gain a sense of control and learning about your mind. Once you learn about your mind and what it says to you, the more you can get a hold of it and seek the right support, as I have needed that and go through what you instantly feel to someone who understands.
When I was in a Mental Health hospital last year, it made me learn more about it, and I think often we think we are going to loose your mind even more, and I know there hasn’t been good press for Mental Health hospitals, and I went down hill, because I was changed to a new medication and of a high dosage and couldn’t move and had to be aided when it came to having a shower and using the loo, and I had the shakes, but it was rectified. When my nurse, as you get your own, saw this she and instantly gave me a lower dosage and another medication to counteract with that other medication. I was in two hospital as the other needed the room for another patient, I was transferred but glad I did as the doctor there was brilliant and within 4 days I was back to myself and got back on my feet.
I came out of it and you have to be strong and for me it helps me get back to a good mind and shown me how strong I am and how others can be too, and so if you are struggling with your mental health never stay quiet and get help, as there is no miracle that can cure you unfortunately but get the right support you need, and honestly I will never allow it to build up ever again and neither should you.
It can be hard, but you know in order to make changes in life, there are things that need to be rid of, and if they just gathering dust and no longer make you feel good then it is time to give them to a new home, like clothes or books you are never going to read again.
This can cause anxiety because you need stuff in your life to feel fulfilled and that to me is fine, but if it makes you feel low and feels like an eye sore, then it is time to let it go. There may be items that have sentimental value but if they don’t fit anywhere, for me that is a sign that some items need replacing, and something else to replace it.
Example I used to collect T-Pots and had loads, but I moved into a new home with my husband back then and it was time to let them go. It was a hard decision but it felt right and had no more a place for me. It helped start a fresh chapter and time to focus on living and building myself as I was looking to a new job, so it was time. That need replaced my need t collect stuff.
As I have gotten older it has become easier and so this week concentrated on sorting my clothes out, and then going to work on paperwork. I find paperwork can build and build so it is time to have a sort through to have a clearer space and feel I need to get this done to allow other documents that have replaced other documents and go through what is a requirement and what is not.
I keep my writing because of fear of someone else writing the same thing and it is proof that I wrote it, and I hope noone would, with the internet you never know who could steal my work, so it is safety net of just in case. Also like to look back on my writing because how far it has come and go back on passed ideas that I may want to re-write.
I am a stuff girl and so I have to be disciplined and realistic. Do I have a place for it all? and no so going to keep going through what is still present in my life and what is not, to downsize and have more space.
Thank you for following me on my Autumn Reset journey and lets work together.
So you have gone through your habits, you have tidied different spaces of your home and now you feel like you can’t do more. So that means it is time to take some time off and so in this blog I am going to give ideas of How to have a good day off.
Switch off your devices. I do this a lot now and the day I mainly do this, is Saturdays. I often get tempted to write a blog or film a video, but I remind myself I have my son to think about and so this is the day I spend a lot of time with my son and nothing substitutes that. The only thing I do like is to post on my Instagram but then the rest of the day I will watch some morning TV, and go outdoors and just spend time having fun
Have a homely day. Just spending time watching a movie or episodes of the your favourite shows can really be a good way to unwind for the whole family, but then get your kids to make dinner for a change. One thing I will have my son do at some point. As a kid when I could reach the kitchen tables and basins, I would wash up and make a cup of tea, whilst my parents watched some TV they liked. I would spend ages as a kid washing up and playing, and make it fun, by using a funny sponge and if they complete the task then they get to choose what they want to do, in terms of playing.
Set a date. Yes choose a date in your diary to book holiday for a day and have a Personal Day, and this could be meeting friends for a meal or a coffee, and go shopping or for a long walk somewhere. It is good after having a day where you have just not stopped resetting your life and taking a day helps to reset even more. Rest is just as important when it comes to a reset, as it can effect the motivation and so take breaks in between and set a time to rest is a must for me
Travel to see family you don’t always get to see. I think visiting family and friends regularly so important for you and if you have kids make it a must that I make the effort and good way to do something and see different people on occasions does wonders for your wellbeing.
Use the weekends for all of the above. If you are not able to do anything during the week because of the school run, running errands to help do a reset, then take a day off then. Each Sunday now I will take Henry to our local gardens and he will use his scooter whilst I sit and watch or walk round with him, and I know this may not suit everyone’s idea of having a day off, but because I travel a lot in the week, then doing this on a Sunday is such a joy.
Doing a Reset is not breaking you neck, but to put things back into place, developing a good routine, which includes some time to do other things, and being able to just unwind as said and putting your feet for a bit.
I am still doing my challenges, so this month September through to October I am doing a reset and going through my routine to see if it can be better, as hate it when it feels like Groundhog and I have published a new video talking about how it is not about Materialistic things, and so check this out along with my newsletter linked above.
Its about getting projects finished, including newsletter that was on my list and so see above, but want my new book finished and published and finish my Autumn Reset printable I am putting together too, so again I will once it is finished link it to my blog and on my main Youtube channel.
Like I said I do have another two youtube channels, blogs, and I am on social media and check out my Pinterest and have written books, on amazon under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes. I am going to list all my books at some point to amazon, so will let you know once that is done.
Checkout all the links below of where you can find my content that I post each week and month.
Today I have a few videos to be edited and uploaded, yet right now I don’t feel like it. Not because I don’t like the videos, because I do. It is about “Will my laptop shut down when I try?” as it is a bit temperamental and feel like I want a day off, which once I can get into the right mindset I know I will get it done.
I tend to feel like this each morning because of self doubt of “Am I capable?”. It is only a video some may say but for me it is the process of listening to myself that stops me in my tracks to ask “Is it good enough?”, “Will people like it?”. Imposter syndrome is very common and I feel it a lot at times, and have to remind myself that “I am good enough” and “I am worth it”, but I find it so hard to say because of how much others are doing compared to me.
That needs to stop I know so I allow myself to get bits done but with a break and as I get through the morning feel better, because I know this is just a habit I have got myself in and can be detoured by just acting not thinking.
The more I think about it the more I resist it, so I just need to “Bite the bullet” and get it done, and that is the answer. No more dwelling but doing.
So lets take action today. Do you ever feel like this? Leave a comment below.
Hello it September 2022 and it has taken a few days to get over the events of the Queens passing as it was so amazing to see so many people paying their respects and when it comes to a loss of someone it can take a while to readjust and it was such a historic event that kids will be able to tell their kids one day of the last ten days.
Now it is time to get back to normality and so getting bits done and today I have really had to push myself as I am struggling with my energy levels and been gradually getting bits done but at a steady pace and that the key is “Not to stress over what I needs to be done”, and do it because you want to. It is a bad habit to fall into as when we rush we aren’t using our full potential. It can make us even more unmotivated, and make mistakes, so this morning I have been filming as filming in the mornings works better for me and I don’t always wear make up, but I want my videos to be about me and that is what it is, it’s showing parts of my life that may inspired others, but finding what works for them, using my methods of getting parts of your life sorted out.
I separate my time by doing some work in the mornings and in the evenings and it really is a system to manage what I need to do. Doing a Autumn Reset means Managing your life but for me it has to be “One area at a time”. I can’t do it for my sanity “All at once”. So for example this week I have been filming some videos that were due and wanted to get done, I have been going through my financial goals, then writing this blog post and will be working on my other blog sites and get my Autumn Reset Printable completed to post and work on this months newsletter and then work on my emails.
I have no posh system. I use my diary from TK Maxx, a notebook from the store The Works, One Note and Notion to manage my life. I use a teacher planner for my son Henry to help with managing his life to help keep track of dates and what he had for dinner, what he has been doing and just keeping track, to help him and me. It is have “A I can do it system” and now I have started to feel a live and so gonna use it to manage my life and listen to music, and “Be comfortable”.
Welcome and thank you for liking my blogs and for following this site, it really is amazing that you like this blog site and are reaching out to you, and find them helpful.
So it is Day 7 and not doing this on continuous days, but the areas I want to go through and make changes, as sitting here being September, catching up on watching Youtube videos I realise I go through different cycles and do live seasonally, example: I start to want to do crafting and decorate my notebooks and journals, and want to have a hot chocolate and tend to have a bigger sweet tooth.
It is seasonal habits that I subconsciously do and so I do have to watch my weight and find that I find it hard to take a shower because of the cold and want to get ready for bed earlier too.
Getting out of bed is another issue because of the dark mornings and soon the clocks will change again and not wanting salads but hot meals and have a hot drink at the end of the evening, rather than a can of coke. This can effect your wellbeing because it just makes me want to hibernate.
This is why I make it a habit to make my bed now as it can be easy just to leave it, because if not I will get back in and stay there the whole day. I want to stay in my pyjamas all day, which is good to do, I love lazy days but then get that sense of guilt for doing so and feel unproductive, so I have changed and so as much as loved lazy days, I still like to get dressed but do more cozy things like watching a film or documentary.
I like to read and listen to chill out music, then watch repeats of things on TV and so I really have to try my best not to stay in more, but still get outside, so I will layer up because of the cold and just want to be comfortable and still be productive.
I like to go over my habits and I don’t want to be sleeping in, but still get at a reasonable time to get things done and get to where I need to be. I find I don’t want to exercise but this year want to go on regular walks and I love it. I like walking and still do workouts indoors too.
I want to make a habit into doing a new Make up routine where I want to still put on some but not too much and have no make up days still, but not wearing any effects my confidence so I have started a new regime and want to have a clear out of my make up, so I put some on each day of the week perhaps and have no make up days at the weekends. So I go through changes and will be setting myself some academic yearly goals.
Do you live seasonally let me know and what habits you wish to change this part of the year to continue into 2023. You can leave a comment below.
Everyone can build a castle 