17 Monday Aug 2026
Please see this weeks Cheat Sheet. It will be last one done using AI to help me as I feel like I am cheating you and I don’t want that and will be back to me write them completely and this one I felt helpful with the help of AI. Let me know how you feel about them. Use the comment section below.
They are free to download and print.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
10 Monday Aug 2026
Yesterday in the coffee shop with my Husband and son I, saw this lady who wasn’t on her phone or reading or anything but enjoying her coffee. She looked a bit like Celine Dion and it made me realise that sometimes just having time just taking in the moment is much better than looking at a phone or not watching what is around you.
This made me think of a challenge. I am doing a challenge for August. Doing 100 squats a day for the month to raise money for Cancer Research: https://youtu.be/oaImghC1on0
So in September doing my Autumn Reset going to challenge myself to write my blogs, sort out my sons and my bedroom, complete the editing of my next book as the Reset will continue into October, is to do all those thing in silence taking the moment. Not have music on, tv or Youtube and enjoy my coffee. Not on my laptop or phone drinking but sit in the garden as we go into Autumn and just enjoy the moment.
On the train coming back from London, see Vlog: https://youtu.be/eZ3sHtml_8k on train I decided to not be on my phone and enjoy the journey. On the train to London looking around every one was engrossed on their laptops and phones that I realised have we lost the will to use travel to chat with people~? I think we just so concerned on what is on social media to look and chat. I feel we want to be liked on Instagram to feel adequate. So it will be a realisation for me. I am going to use my laptop to write but not with music on or a video on. Be on my phone too much and enjoy a coffee like that lady without a book or notebook and enjoy the moment better and see what happens.
This weeks Cheat Sheet which with the help of AI I have created on challenging yourself. My Autumn Reset will be the first subscriber only content, but will still be free to read and will be from the start of September to the end of October.
There are many challenges you can do and I really feel I am ready to take on more. Just to say my blogs are not written by AI and are from me, I just needed a little help with my Cheat sheets and that I have been learning from them too.
Do walking challenges. I challenge myself to walk, 4000 steps a day instead of 10,000 too much so be realistic and there are writing challenges too. I often do sprints from 10 to 30 minutes not consecutively as that is not realistic to me and there are loads you can do on Youtube but only using this to help make sure I don’t go over time.
So take sometime to just enjoy your coffee and take in the world and not have headphones in or on the phone and just be free to chat with someone. It is good to look around you and sit and not have any noise.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
31 Friday Jul 2026
Tags
being more present, enjoying the school summer holidays, health and wellbeing., taking time off screens
I have been having less screen time. A few weeks ago I had a migraine and I just needed to take a break. So now I am having less time on my phone, laptop and TV.
Yes I do watch Youtube but the holidays have helped me get off my phone, get off my laptop and not watching TV all day and just read and been doing my Wordsearch. I found a good one that has 365 wordsearch book and still with Youtube but to listen to and go for walks, play sports and just having some good holiday fun and it is only been the first week. I like how we explore and focus on just having days out and try different places to eat, would like to have a picnic whilst we are away. Having Mother and Son days and including his father.
Visiting London it seemed that we have become an unsociable city with people on their phones and laptops. Except a few people who knew each other and must have met up were chatting, but people not chatting with strangers. I like a coffee shop and there are a good place to socialise. So we will go to a coffee shop, go swimming and tomorrow we are going to the cinema which is a big screen but we have had a full on couple of days and been a while so is an end of the week treat.
I just wrote a blog about how being a parent has kept me fit: https://getfitgetactivewithme.blogspot.com/2026/07/how-being-parent-has-kept-me-fit.html We are off out next week and be our first mother and son holiday and been a summer of firsts. We did the Guilfest. I like going to see bands play. I love a theatre show and each year we see at least one show per holiday. Not planned one this time, but is on the list of things I still would like to do before the Summer Holidays are over.
My son will be travelling on a Ferry and first time visiting the Isle of Wight and its good to take a break from being online all of the time. I love seeing live events and just make the most of the time I have on this earth to forget my phone, but have in case of an emergency, but not be looking down, paying attention to pings and have good quality time with my son.
When I am on the laptop and my son is on his tablet, when we are at home I will journal and do my wordsearch. We don’t take our devices out unless away and won’t have the TV on. We will play out in the garden and I love to hand write. Why I love journaling and love a notebook to plan. I like to listen to music but sometimes now I realise that it is good on some days to write with silence.
Enjoying the outdoors always does me a world of good. I do get a bit annoyed. Today in the Café after playing tennis this woman kept moving her chair and so was squashed in. Yesterday it was Cyclists and just daily annoyances but do try to stay happy and not allow people who aren’t nice, stop me from having a good day.
It beats being online all the time and meeting friends. I find it rude when your having a meal and they’re on their phone constantly. I want conversation and full attention and scroll but not to the point they’re not engaging. I like a good natter and just a good old fashioned catch up and keeping my phone in my bag, paying full attention with friends because we don’t see each other a lot now.
Yes phones keep in contact. I use Facebook to wish someone a happy birthday and what they’ve been up to but not all the time and was at one point checking my phone every 5 minutes and being on my phone all day. I would watch Youtube when I should be getting my son ready for school and so I spend less time and it has made a difference and just be with the world. Travel on he bus or train, looking out of the window or chatting and we will see what number buses we can see, if we see planes flying over or helicopters and I love it. I’d rather be having a coffee watching the world go by, rather being on my phone or laptop. Its amazing what you see and so when not on devices.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
22 Monday Jun 2026
Tags
free weekly printable, Giving to others, life as a mum, use up what you've got, weekly cheat sheet
Hello! I hope you all had a good Fathers Day. Sadly my dad is no longer alive physically but feel sometimes he is watching in spirit and be taking the mickey out of those in Heaven. My dad would be someone who’d have you in tears if myself and brother did something wrong and tears of laughter.
I wonder what he thinks about the world as we weren’t super wealthy as a family but we still didn’t go without and he would use what he had. He loved music, comedy TV mainly and films. His Idols were Kevin Keegan and John Wayne.
Times are hard at the moment, I give each month to the Trussell Trust the Food bank organisation and not sponsored but want to help families be able to have things to eat. The thought of a young child not able to have breakfast or dinner feels my heart with sadness and so this Cheat Sheet is about Use Up What You’ve Got.
I like to see my fridge empty, it means we have to use up what we have in the Food Cupboard that has sauces, spreads, tinned meats and other tin produce and in the freezer.
So please check out this weeks Cheat Sheet:
These cheat sheets are free to download and print. I post at the beginning of each week except Bank Holidays.
Have a great week and please check out my Youtube channel where I share much more: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
12 Friday Jun 2026
I am not a hypocrite, I find that APPS can be helpful. I like the APPs that measure my steps, I can keep notes on my phone and now got ChatGPT and used it to help me with my radio show. I checked it to find out how to clean my make up brushes, which to some is common knowledge but when I’ve tried they’ve smelled and had to throw the away but books and magazines for information is still good but ChatGPT is quick and can save you time but it is still good to keep things on paper, because all technology in my experience can break down. My laptop broke and lost a lot of my books I had been writing and so now I hand write some of my books and an APP to do this wouldn’t be the same and thankfully got some copy of some of my books on my google docs, but I like using the Youtube APP, the APP for M&S as I have a Sparks card on there and good for shopping as I loved it last Christmas 2025 using my M&S Sparks card as it did save me money on Christmas gifts, but I find it can affect us. APPs can be good for shopping but if you have a spending habit that has gotten out of hand then is it a good idea to have an APP for stores which can make you over consume?
I worked for a Manufacturer and would deal with complaints when someone was trying to work a Smart TV, a Smart audio device and I found hard in telling them to take it back to the shop and contact the company that they got it from. It is hard for the customer and for me the advisor, to try and resolve their problem and it I felt for them because they’d spent a lot of money and with APPs they can be a scam and be hacked into. With an old tablet often being an old model couldn’t use some of the APPs again and so it can be convenient but also a burden.
Yes the free ones like my fitness one, which came with my phone and I use a Journal APP when I don’t have my physical journal, use Facebook and Instagram to stay in touch with friends, but I stop having Notion because they also can use up your storage and then you start to get messages about it needing an update and not able to send messages and there were many that I would never use on my phone.
I like to visit a store now rather then relying on an APP to support local businesses like the independent and chain coffee shops, charity shops. Not only that I like to go and have walk around the shops not to buy as I am able to now go into a store without buying. I use the bank APPs and that is good and can check my account everyday.
I suppose your wondering what it has to do with Wellbeing, well because we can rely upon them stopping us from seeing the outside world, not cooking and relying on Deliveroo and eating up our money and money is not evil its how is it being used and if you are in debt then having Temu APP for example then is that going to help you? It can be addictive. Spending addiction is real, the same with all addictions. One person I know who I have met in the rugby days had extreme debt and she was level headed, yet she was in debt and I got ruthless with money and so APPs are good if they are purposeful but not to be relied on and I like going out and mooching and window shopping rather than going into the store. I still get the urge to impulse buy but I find going when the stores haven’t opened yet a good way to shop because my enthusiasm to shop and spending money goes and why I don’t have that many shopping acts. I like getting my free coffee from #Costas and the local gym where I can pay as you go, but not in any type of contract and the APP to book is easy to use.
Since unsubscribing getting rid of shopping APPs has helped me save and made me feel better about my relationship with my money and not being on my phone all of the time that can be distracting and lose concentration. The same with shopping on our phone and if you got the money then fine but I had the face the truth. If I don’t spend I can save and pay for a day trip somewhere and I have a few music festivals booked and yes having my wallet APP is good but also especially in London, phones are being stolen right in front of our eyes and scrolling on an APP can cause temptation and why I still carry a purse and not rely on my phone to pay for everything and safety should come first.
I hope you find this blog helpful and if you’d like to share you advice on APPs and not being reliant then please do. You can use the comment section below.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
05 Friday Jun 2026
Watching Channel 4 impact about protein on how actually protein foods you buy like Quaker Oats, yogurts and drinks aren’t actually full of protein and are processed even though they appear healthy and can be deceiving. Learning about nutrition and on Channel 4 impact they showed an oat bars for example that looked healthy but actually compared to a Krispy Crème is not that healthy at all and less protein and so needs to be whole foods and it really rang alarm bells and so here are some ideas of being healthy.
I hope this is helpful to you and really is bad that we are lead to believe we can trust manufacturers and suppliers of goods only to realise they’re not helping our health at all.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
01 Monday Jun 2026
I like to be inspired about books, different fashion styles and planning etc but often enough it can have a negative effect.
Watching Hauls when we are in debt. Feeling paranoid about our health and that we don’t have the perfect lifestyle so we stress over not having the next best pillow for the bed or people moving house and it can be a vicious circle.
You don’t have to follow, do your own thing.
I am no longer interested in Hauls, seeing kids with so many gifts given to them or people moving house.
It is nice to have the house you dreamed of. That is fine but it can often make us feel inadequate because of someone on Youtube for example has a big house, with a gym and don’t get me wrong I like to splurge but not to the point I have no money left and so I will make sure I have the money and have learned to switch off from impulse shopping because sponsored videos and just go into a store buying exactly what I had gone in there for.
It can be make up. I rarely do a full face. I sometimes just use face cream and face spray, others days may use a bit of concealer, eye liner and eye shadow it all depends on what I feel like on the day and what my plans are. My mum wears make up everyday and she has done this her whole life, so she will pay for make up regularly because that suits her lifestyle. It not about being trendy but what makes you happy.
I have friends who like a boy band still, a friend that loves rock music and I like all kinds. I am someone who loves many different things and I go through phases and again it all depends on my mood. I don’t read books because its new but is interesting to me and not because its a bestseller and a top read. I like books that take me into the past, crime, non fiction and chick flicks. Again it depends on what I fancy and why I leave the door open to my plans as I will often change my mind and seeing that that is okay. I take notice of my gut, mind and what I want to focus on and I now like to switch off from the noise of having to consume so much and scrolling all the time.
I rarely check Instagram all the time or Facebook. I will send a birthday message and like some posts but not all the time anymore and go for walks in the morning. For some people it can be the worst thing ever for some people and that is okay. Do what suits you and is safe of course but do what you want and not listening to others to decide for you.
Be honest with yourself and go through Youtube of what you are no longer interesting in, unsubscribe and go analogue. I like to write things down, rather than use Notion all the time. I like to use what I have already got. I find it stays in my mind better when I write things down. It helps to have good hand writing skills as they can be affected typing all the time and just listen to nature. I wrote a blog about how listening to the rain or the birds can be so nice and peaceful: https://mystylewayofliving.blogspot.com/2026/05/listening-to-rain-can-be-peaceful.html
I am not saying that you should shut yourself away but not being influenced so much we forgotten about what truly makes us happy. I don’t want the latest trainers. I not interested in upgrading my phone and think about what I truly want to watch, listen to buy and be who I am and what is important.
I like watching writing vlogs. I like to listen to those about finance and like to use Youtube for training my mind but not to see what the latest gadget is. So it up to you and just live. Be happy if not then it is time to change.
Check out this weeks Cheat Sheet:
I also write book which you can on Amazon in Kindle and paperback under Carrie Challoner and Carrie Holmes.
My new one is called When Mothers Are Real: https://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Mothers-Real-Carrie-Challoner-ebook/dp/B0GTYJS3S1
My Cheat Sheets are are full of tips and information and post every Monday and free to download and print.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
18 Monday May 2026
I was addicted to scrolling when I would be in a comfortable social situation would scroll and not paying attention. So in this weeks Cheat Sheet is tips on Cutting down on scrolling.
It something that I think we all do and I no longer scroll at night and in fact been staying up later to read watch a bit of Youtube or TV series on the TV. I am building my Pinterest at the moment but not doing this all day long and one of my favourite platforms but I not checking Instagram, Facebook or X all the time or Tik Tok continuously as I would at one time pick my phone up every five seconds and was doing subconsciously.
These cheat sheets are free to download and print.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
11 Monday May 2026
Tags
check you bank account each week, financial tips to spend less, free printable, having no spend days, managing your money
Hi I am a bit distracted today. It was a busy weekend and in recovery mode you know when you’ve exerted yourself so much that I need an extra day rest but want to crack on and get things planned and the one thing I do everyday is monitor and check my bank account.
I like to save each week and has inspired me with this weeks Cheat Sheet. It is tips on managing your money and use the tools I have and learned and if you are new here then I post these Cheat Sheets each week and they are free. So please check this weeks and I am posting on here for my Yearly Life Coaching Programme Summer Project 2026.
I am posting blogs every Friday, but cheat sheet every Monday except Bank Holidays.
I have added a blank sheet should you wish to write or take notes on what you feel my tips are helpful and you’d like to do first and I work by making gradual changes. Each Monday I put money into my savings and I will see what has come out. You’ll see I put down that I have no spend days. I wasn’t going to buy clothes but I want to change my wardrobe a bit and I am into dresses and being a bit more feminine and I like to changing my style.
There are weeks where we don’t have enough food as it helps use up what we have and stop having too much waste. I wasn’t junk journaling but now I enjoy it and want to junk journal and love scrapbooking and invest in a nice journal and I making my own. Not sure when they will be available, but will let you know.
I have a planner dedicated to my finances. I did have a spreadsheet but my laptop stopped working and so lost all the files I had created and so write them down and prefer that actually as they won’t get lost.
There was a time where I was in debt and now I have paid it off I am glad I have money to save and more financially stable.
You can subscribe to this site and it is helpful to me and like if you like these posts and will help build and grow this site. It helps me to know what content you find will be helpful and share what you do to manage your money. See the comment box below. Have a great week and now I have a new X Account where I post my content as I have other blogs. See link here: https://x.com/typical86285
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
01 Friday May 2026
Hello! So it is the beginning of my Life Coaching programme Summer Project 2026 check out previous blog: Summer Project Introduction to My Yearly Programme Summer Project 2026 I included a worksheet which is free to download and print.
So to get started I suggest to create a plan. So I journal every morning and it helps me with my creativity and whilst I listen to an audiobook or music. Develop a playlist. I have one for podcasts, videos about writing as I have books out, for my different books and Parenting videos and so it is good for getting the mood to change and learn.
I train my brain everyday. I like to educate my mind and the first thing in the morning once my son has gone off to school.
So to make a change by going through the worksheet:
Good Systems:
Plan, Plan Plan = Have a good set up and create one that will help you focused on and inspire you to make a change. If there are particular things that you are interested in. #so start with developing a plan and do a list, but concentrate on one area or item at a time.
Ask for help, who can help you or what will help you So my husband always cleans the kitchen and the bathroom, so I will do the areas such as the windowsills, put m sons clothes away and my mum has helped with gardening.
Do you have a quiet time of the day or space you can plan? I love to use the sofa or my desk and in the garden.
Drink? Water, tea and Coffee. I am having a glass of juice each day for Vitamin C and especially in the summer life a fizzy drink but only have one and Zero Sugar.
Is there a time where you feel more energized? I like to work in the mornings and then chill in the afternoon and have time off such as the weekend.
I find spending time planning helps to reset, asking for help as we are not built to do everything and my husband loves to clean and only he is allowed to use the vacuum and the iron. This has helped me to function concentrate on other area so I can then move to onto others.
So sit down with a drink and lets make those changes.
Many thanks for reading,
Carrie X
Everyone can build a castle 