Hello and Welcome! It is that time again for a new Newsletter and setting those goals for 2026. I post these each month and are free to download and print.
This year I am going to be a lot more organised and sort out my home and I have chosen my word for 2026 “Grow” and so that is what I am going to do. I want to see my blogs, books and videos grow by working on these three things along with my radio show I do on Epsom Hospital Radio and also my learning.
Soon it will be February and I am not one who celebrates Valentines Day but Easter and already stores are selling Easter Eggs. I am going through a declutter and moving so, many changes but I have decided that I am going to embrace them, especially when it something you can’t control.
I like to Plan a lot. It is something I have naturally done and was bread in me. People think because you are planning, that your organised. That is not the case. Its because I am disorganized I plan, I have forgotten when my son has had own clothes day, when he was doing a show at Christmas and not ordered his lunches for school, as he has school dinners, so I see it as a tool but also, a fun exercise.
I keep a written diary and use a Calendar on Notion and google Calendar and make sure I check my emails daily. It is good to have a nice diary or planner as it can feel like a chore but it doesn’t have to be.
I love journaling too and I like to design them so I can flick through and to remind myself of the main things I want to focus on.
I like using photos, images on line to create vision boards along with Pinterest and Canva, and mind maps.
It is great to get your kids involved too and designing and being creative.
Have a Family Planner that your kids can design and write on. Having a List for your children to complete where they can add stickers too once they have completed a task, adding a treat once they have done four things on their list.
I have a writing journal as love to write books, a daily one, gratitude journal and cooking.
You can create your own stickers and cut out words from a newspaper or magazine and books. I have been cutting out notes on my notebooks into my journal. I like to use colouring pens and washi tapes along with labels.
You can be a inventive as you like and can take no more than 10 minutes.
Did you ever do the puzzle where you had to connect the dots that would form a picture? Well you can do that with life.
I have filmed my first video for this years Life Coaching Programme and so please check it out: https://youtu.be/bcHG7Dx_3ck?si=W4nzQka-oHxQ_yLr That is about Habits and with changing your habits it can help to join things together. Once that starts you will see changes in your life. In the printable I created check this blog which had the link to my printable I have created for this programme The Beginning of My Summer Project 2025 I am a Radio DJ/Presenter and connected another dot to having the life I want.
In my free printable I do each week, my cheat sheet I talk creating a Map Do Ten Things it helps me with writing my books. So the first ones I did were parenting books and wrote and published my first novel, A Lonely Walk to Happiness and now creating a series, and drawing out a map of ok so first book this year is to republish book 1 of the series, then continue to work on another book which is a stand alone and then work book 2 of my series.
Create a chart to see your progress or journal.
With WordPress it shows you how engaged your readers are and how much traffic you are getting.
With that it helps to see what blogs they are particularly interested in and why I continued with this programme because of the positive response to them.
So spend time mapping out what you want to work on and with that set goals, develop new positive habits. Example: I know when I brush my teeth how better I feel and there was a time I would miss days but lead me to not feeling good and having bad dreams about it. I like to be active and do a bit of walking each day, even if it is for 10 minutes and this leads me having better energy to write which I enjoy and clears the brain and when I don’t feel clogged up, feel good.
Concentrate on one area at a time, brainstorming is affective too and researching. I read books on writing, watch youtube videos of other self published authors and watching other peoples routine. Add Mind mapping to your routine as I do this a lot as I see my blogs grow and the writing of my books.
I hope you find these blogs helpful and if you want to be notified when I post then please subscribe and my Educational Youtube channel and then you will not miss a blog or a video.
Hello and welcome! It is a new Week and means it is time for a new Cheat Sheet. These are free to download and print. I post them every Monday. This week is all about Ten Ways To Help You Feel about Yourself and Your life.
So getting my projects done I begun to use a planner I got from The Works and planned on sorting out my bedroom in Epsom and where I am going to start, to get it all cleared and be ready to move items to the shed we have once we can sort out the shelving, cupboards, floor and walls.
So I have began to sort out the corner unit in my room and cleared the tidied the top of it and on Monday will be clearing the inside to tidy up my clothes and then start clearing out the closet by observing that I can clear some of the storage bins in there, in order to sort out my craft items and so got toys to get rid of that are out in the corridor and they are toys with bits missing and so no good to anyone.
I have worked on my book and glad to have gone to Morden hall this week, see my latest vlog which features this https://youtu.be/51UAqGNvaic plotting my book, create my script for my Financial living Youtube channel and filmed that today https://youtu.be/giFVlp3oVWY and saw another Secondary school this week that could be a possibility for my son to got to once he has finished in year 6, which is next year.
I only got 3 more questions to answer to complete my last unit on my counselling course and thinking of ideas for my room and created a vision board for it and would recommend in doing this and one thing I love to to, is on amazon create a wish list of items that I have seen and have created a board on my Pinterest where you can find my blogs from last week if you have not read them yet, with other content on there too:
Please check out my printable which is free to download. You can find it here Autumn Reset
Have a great weekend and please share of your 2nd week of doing this reset that I do each year and thank you for your visiting and if you want more blogs like this then please like and subscribe, as then you don’t miss one.
Life will often hit you like a sudden death of someone, job loss or a holiday that has been cancelled that you were really looking forward to and so what can you do? How can you change the feelings of sadness and shock?
It takes time and grief is a personal thing and it dependant on the person but just take each day as it comes and allow it to build your strength and I miss my dad, and everyday I think about “What could I have done?” “What would he say if he was still alive?” and I wish he was here still but I know that dwelling on that is like hitting a dead end, so the importance for me was to move on for my own sanity.
You can’t fix everything and life is challenging at times and it can affect us in what we do each day. Its change. When my parents divorced I tried to block it out and was going out a lot to avoid what was going on and I was working up London and then it hit me and it really sent me down a downward spiral.
Yet I pictured it along time before it happened, but I had to take time to face it and the first Christmas of that year in 2000 was tough, and my spark of the festive season went and dreaded it.
Then in 2002 I went to the Southcoast to work at a holiday camp (Butlins Bognor Regis) and met my now husband and for a while I didn’t realise we were going out but we were, so in 2006 got married and moved back to London and then 2013 my son was born.
I am sad that my dad never got to meet him but he did know about it, as my brother saw him and so I had to come to turns with it as my mind can analyse everything and it drives me mad, so to help me to grow and going on my dads mistakes made sure I didn’t follow suit and remembering the good times and not worry about the bad.
Life will stop you in your tracks and this is good and bad, so I spend a lot of time in focusing on today and not rushing into things. I have had the intensity to think about the Autumn when we are still in Summer and being thankful of what I have in my life today. I was struggling with this blog because I felt I was rambling on and talking all about my passed and that I have had a good day so far today. I got the shopping I needed, worked on completing my Counselling course and watching a bit of Youtube and did a bit of tidy up.
I am having my first coffee for the day and journaled to help get this blog written for my Life Coaching programme Summer Project 2024 and filming a vlog and just enjoying each day, letting myself think about the now and not tomorrow and next week unless it is important and can help to not have too much to do and what I am looking forward to, to stop thinking of the bad feelings and what I don’t have right now.
I just as I write this blog, started journaling to figure out what to do about my restlessness and what I want next in my life, visioning my growth, building my life but focus on what I can do today to get to doing those things and listening to a self help video, listening to music or a podcast.
So today I am filming a vlog, going to make an apple crumble and then see what I can do today to complete my tasks planned for today.
Hi and welcome to my blog! I am posting every Monday a cheat sheets to help you manage your day and manage your life and my one for today is about Making life Simple and stop betting overwhelmed in getting your life together.
I started to plan my goals for 2024 this week, and getting ready to kick start the new year, and see what I can accomplish. I have already set my financial goals, and now starting my Personal/Home goals, and then set work goals and then play.
However set your goals that suit you, as everyone has different things going on in their lives so it isn’t one size fits all. I find some goals over lap, with other goals like Financial goals, example, Pay off debt could be in Financial and Personal/Home goals, along with fitness goals.
So, first of all I like to reflect on the previous year, before getting myself ready for the new year and putting a printable together to help you, and then start planning for the new year.
I use a notepad and OneNote, and set yearly goals and Quarterly goals, and separate them, and also do a vision board on Pinterest, and want to do one using Canva. I have already started on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/thetypicalLondongal/vision-board-2024/
I like to set goals for my son and things I’d like for him to do, like for example he has a bike for Christmas and want to take him to a cycle park, and get confident in riding his bike, and he wants to use a Tennis court to play tennis, and so, this I would like to put into home. Then there Play where I want to take him to different places on the train, and he actually wants to be a train. Yes we have had many discussions, about this and not sure, it is being heard as my son is very determined, and not getting that he does have wheels or several doors, but I am sure that he will grow out of thinking that he and ride on the train tracks, and can work on the trains.
Then there is work. So it could be, getting a pay rise and work more hours, or less, and have a side hustle, and want to build your career and profession. If you like me, write blogs and books, then it could be write a new book, or complete a book, or do some writing everyday and create it, into a book and get it published. I love creating stories and have many books that I have started, but not continued, and once one ideas comes into my head, so does another, and then it could, doing Voluntary work, or changing careers. It is all about how it makes you feel. If it excites you, then do it, and yes, you can get self doubt, but if it gives you a buzz, I say go for it.
If you’d like to check out my current books, then go to amazon, and look under my names, Carrie Challoner and Carrie Holmes.
So, lets enjoy the rest of 2023, and be ready for 2024.
I am up and it is Saturday and usually my night off but spent the time planning in my diary and what is happening for October and November as it is birthday season again for me and like to use the hours I have wisely making sure I have fun, and today me and my son went to see Shrek the musical at the Wimbledon Theatre, and I like doing something different, and this helps me see value in life and grateful for the people I have in my life, like my mum and step dad, my sons dad and my son. Along with other families and friends.
I have wasted days and just would do nothing, and I was so depressed and felt I had no value and would be like, “Let’s just get through this day” and my life came to a full stop. Now though I make sure I make the most of the days and weeks and months.
A reset is for me winding myself back and getting on top of things, and not falling behind. This year I have had to do a reset on my finances, because there were days before where I feared money and not having enough. Now it is spreading my money so it goes further and not owning so much, and letting things go and making changes to my habits in spending money on clothes each week and coffees and there was times I would need to borrow money, and not being able to pay off my debts and it can cause anxiety and so to stop that I began having no spend days and doing No Spend January and I did videos sharing this on my main channel,
I monitor everything in my account and what comes in and what goes and go through my spending on a Sunday on my budget what I spent and how much I have in my budget and make sure that it covers my travel, food, my son and school and each month make sure I pay money towards paying off my credit card debt, put money into my savings, and I save my £5 notes to make sure I have cash available and put money into my sons bank account, so it helps to manage life and not live in fear of things like money and just live a life you are happy with and unless it is hurting someone, then take action so you can have a happier life and feel good about being alive.
If you like reading then and a laugh then check out my book Mum&Me on amazon and is available on Kindle and Paperback:
Today I spent time celebrating my nieces birthday. She turned 16 and I remember at that age I had enough of education and so once I did sixth form, it was time to find work. I was never ever going to university, because I just don’t have the concentration spam to do higher education.
So I started to do stewarding at Fulham Football club and did work experience working with the groundsman and I loved it. This was before you had the internet and so used the Yellow pages to help me find work and back then they had Career Offices and even though the Careers Man wasn’t exactly the politest I managed to find my first full time job in a Marketing company.
The work I have done I have found myself and it was working where I found my feet and way into the world. It was a lifestyle that worked for me, and seeing kids at that time going to school I was glad that school life was over, and began to socialise a lot and met up with friends, and got a buzz from the working life.
You have to get yourself out there and yes it can take time to find a life that you are happy with, but when you find it, it feels like a massive weight off your shoulders. I am not a millionaire, but I have my son, a roof over my head and family. I know there are people that don’t have that, and when I think that, it makes me more happy with my life, and thankful. I have good health and can walk and run, and hands that can write and a body that I can finally say, I am happy with.
Give yourself credit and take time in finding yourself. I would question why I am here? Why was I put into this world? And for me is to help others and to be a good mum to my son. Being a good daughter and niece, and Aunt and help others to live their lives that they can get up for and not feel down and alone.
Keep growing and building your knowledge. Even though I didn’t go to university, I have done short courses and learned a lot. I am doing some other courses online, on a course site, called, Ofcourse and I love to build my knowledge and skills. There are more I’d like to do, and I do have a Youtube Educational Channel, and check out TED Talk and Using Youtube. I also use Youtube to help me with my writing and building my knowledge to build books and getting writing tips, and have published a lot of EBooks, Books on parenting and happiness and well being. Check out amazon under the names, Carrie Challoner, Carrie Lee Holmes and Carrie Holmes.
Map it out. I have written about this in my books and is a good way to plan what you want to do and turn your life around, and do it as you keep growing. It helps to work towards building a life that you are happy with and gives me direction and use it to plan what projects I want to do next/
Learn a new skill. I suppose this relates to Keep growing and building your knowledge, but you can teach yourself too if you don’t want to do a course. If you want to be able to cook, buy a recipe book or look online and there are loads to choose from. Its about what works for you, and what will make a difference to how you feel about your life. Check out Women and Home Magazine. They have stories of people who have done this and started as a hobby into a livelihood, and I get so inspired by reading them.
There is space for you. Just because someone else has done it, doesn’t mean you can’t do it too. Never compare, use it to learn, to help you to be find you path into what somebody has done and put your stamp on it. There is a video by Mel Robbins, who talks about Jealousy and envy check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdYfAc3mMnQ&t=34s
Everyone can build a castle 
