Frugal Frump to Fabulous Winter Solstice to Spring Equinox

Teacher2b

mrsJeckyl- I love the soap and glory range! My favourites are the hand food hand cream (I have one in my car, desk, handbag) and the body scrubs are lovely to.

Great to hear about everyone's relaxed Christmases It was a strange one as mum was still in hospital on Christmas day so felt a bit strange having lunch and the queens speech without her but she was then discharged in the evening for us to go and collect! It's going to be a tough road ahead as she is very poorly and is unlikely to make any real recovery but at least we go into 2014 knowing what we're facing having survived a tough one this year.

Today I very much intend to get back on the fabbing. Yesterday was house fabbing and today is car/ me fabbing- including a trip to the gym for spinning class- eeek.

I have a proposal... instead of coming up with New Years Resolutions... having a word for the year. The word is supposed to embody everything you hope 2014 to be or your goals/ aspirations. You write that word somewhere prominent and come back to it every time you feel yourself floundering/ lacking focus/ feeling a bit blue...

What would everyone's word for 2014 be? I've shortlisted a few and will post my final one in the next few days.

lessonlearned

Intriguing - can't think of a word at the moment.

I have decided to write in my journal again. Not written in it for 2 years. Found it this morning so thought I would start jotting down a few things from time to time.

I've also been thinking about goals for 2014 - I've got quite a few already. It's going to be a busy year.:rotfl:

The boys are coming to pick me up in a bit and we are off to hit the shops….. We need to tool up so it's the DIY sheds today.

Does anyone have a shop near them called "The Range" - one has opened up near us. It's fab, fab, fab - a bit like Dunhelm but much cheaper.

There's the boys at the door - time to go - have a great day.

Teacher2b

I love the Range, persuaded dad to go and get his new christmas tree and decs from there this year rather than John Lewis and I think he's converted for life!

Molly41

My word would be HOPE x

Bitsy_Beans

Tomorrow the feeding fest stops feeling a bit like a lead weight. Thankfully I didn't buy too much stuff, we had much of our choc and biscuits as presents, most of it is the kids anyway but the goodies cooked for Christmas Day are gone.

I have a few things I want to do for 2014 and one of which is limited the chemicals etc I put on my hair/skin. So I've ordered some jojoba oil for moisturiser for my face (coconut oil has too high a comedogenic rating) and tonight I made my own oatmeal and milk cleanser. Simple, cheap and not loaded with lots of nasty chemicals. Skin feels lovely having used it this evening

Normally this time of year I feel a bit meh after the excitement of Christmas being over but strangely I feel rather like the year to come stretches ahead of me filled with opportunity

LL/Teacher2b No the Range near me that I know of. I've heard lots of people mention it before. Will have to see if there is a website with store locator.

Bitsy_Beans

Molly41 wrote: »

My word would be HOPE x

And a very good word that would be Molly xxx

charlies-aunt

Please can I join in too?


Really lost the plot over the last couple of years for a variety of reasons and neglected myself to the point where it depresses me to look in the mirror


I want 2014 to be my year

Rummer

I think mine will be healthy

lessonlearned

Hi Charlie's Aunt - welcome aboard….

Has anyone hit the sales yet.

Had a lovely day with my boys, mooching round the DIY sheds and a couple of furniture stores.

Bought a fab table for DS2's house - a large farmhouse style solid pine one - seats 6 to 8 people - on clearance for £99 because it had a couple of dents. Perfect for the shabby chic/salvage look we are going for. I won't even have to "distress" it - it's already distressed.:rotfl:

I have a set of 6 chairs I picked a while ago for £10, which I will paint and recover the seat pads. So £110 plus a bit of paint and some fabric will give DS2 a dining set.

In case anyone is thinking about DIY in the near future….

Homebase have an offer of 20% of everything in store if you spend £50, the savings we made paid for a power screwdriver which will be a real boon in the coming months.

B&Q have some good offers on Dulux paint. We are nowhere near that stage yet but I might stock up anyway. Dunhelm also have their usual 20% offers although I've not checked them out yet.

I've not looked at clothes in the sales yet, but tbh I'm not really bothered - I've got plenty of winter clothes although I might look for some bits for my mum - we still need to replenish some that the nursing home have lost.

I do intend to treat myself to a nice handbag though with some of my Christmas money.

I didn't get any "smellies" for Christmas so I might see what bargains there are although like Bitsy I intend to make most of my potions myself this year. I have a good stash of essential oils so no excuse not to. My skin has become quite sensitive recently so I'm going to start using more natural products rather than slathering myself in chemicals. I've also had to resort to a Ventolin inhaler on occasions so I think my body is becoming over-sensitised.

My poor sister, who has always been asthmatic, had a shocking reaction to something recently and had to be rushed to hospital with severe breathing difficulties. We are not quite sure what triggered it. She now has to carry an epi-pen with her at all times and has to try and figure out what she needs to avoid.

So - One of my goals next year will be to go "au naturel" (no not that kind of au naturel :rotfl:) as far as possible. My aim is to ditch as many chemicals as possible, use natural products, eat an additive free diet and try and create a healthy and, as far as possible, chemical free, home environment.

I have a number of goals and targets for next year but I think improving my health and well being will be top of the list.

elle_gee

charlies-aunt wrote: »

Please can I join in too?

Really lost the plot over the last couple of years for a variety of reasons and neglected myself to the point where it depresses me to look in the mirror

I want 2014 to be my year

Really could have written this post myself! Please can I join in too?

I'm turning 30 in February, have two sons 4.5yrs and 9mths. I was made redundant in July so no work to go back to - financially, I'm very lucky not to have to work, but it does nothing for giving me the kick up the butt I need every morning to make an effort! Desperately need a "taking care of myself" routine, and a whole new hairstyle so I can't just scrap it back every day (hair is just at that whispy point of growing back, post-baby).

We've made the decision I'm staying off work for another year and my "job" is going to be sorting the house ready to move, hopefully putting it on the market shortly, and putting my all into getting DS1 the extra help he needs at school. OH starts a fancy new job on 2nd January which is a change of hours and no more weekend working so a whole new lifestyle to get used to too! Going to be an exciting year