Queen Bee fighting for her Hive!

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Friday, 

It sounds silly but I ate two chocolate oreo eggs last night and I don't feel happy with myself now. I feel like I am on a slippery slope. I have a sugar addiction which impacts on my mental health and last November I  went cold turkey and gave it all up. This did wonders for me and I have been pretty good this year at sticking to it. I started the year saying I will enjoy the junk food when its family celebrations and give myself a long weekend. However the past three weekends I am finding I am struggling to maintain this and the vicious cycle starts so I really need to nip in the bud this weekend. I'm hoping by adding this into the diary will give me a spur on to get over my last hiccup! 

So fight back plan is pretty simple - I need to keep myself occupied this weekend and away from overthinking. I am an expert in this, especially over money. I was doing lots of walking last year and eating healthy too. Went food shopping yesterday so have fruits, salad stuff which I actually enjoy eating.  I will treat myself to a paid of jeggings too this weekend & a pedi at home. Worried about budget - down to £119.49 to last 17 days. 

Lastly my head is swimming with overthinking how I can up the income so I will look into some of the favourites here such as surveying.  

Queen_of_the_Hive

After the school run, took myself off on a 2 hr walk and listened to 'My dad wrote a p@rno' podcast Needed some lightweight listening. When I got home I then set up and enjoyed taking part in Prolific surveys -  so far 5 surveys complete and nearly £4.50 worth of rewards. Website was better than I thought. So far a no spend day

Queen_of_the_Hive

Where has the sun gone?? Its cloudy here and feeling chilly. 

Having an nice quiet weekend so far, no chocolate consumed Friday or Saturday night which is a victory in itself, although I did have some crisps yesterday. But sweet tooth is my downfall and I am determined to use this weekend to get back on the wagon so to speak. Yesterday morning I did one of those video walking workouts. I follow a particular guy on Y Tube and did one of those along with going for a longish walk. The walk included going past a new local plant shop that has recently opened and I inhaled the green but kept walking. Plants are my ultimate downfall and the shop looked pricy. At least my partner now has somewhere to go for my birthday present

Yesterday afternoon made a chicken roast dinner. I used to make this a lot but as the kids are fusspots and my partner working half the week on nights I really don't bother so much but I decided this weekend to give myself a treat so home cooked roast it was. It was delicious, I made a meal for me, two meals for OH and have enough chicken left to make chicken fajitas at some point (i'll freeze the chicken).  I also remembered not to chuck away the carcase and so made some chicken stock for a future soup by slow cooking the carcase in water and some home grown herbs. 

I haven't really spent anything this weekend - We are going on our holidays on Thursday so enjoying the free things in life up to then and saving as much as I can for next weekend. I'm down to £93.54 in my budget, plus have £100 on Monzo plus OH has money. We are fortunate that we can dip into savings if we need to but I really don't want to. We are staying in a catered flat but family in the same town so they will get us stocked with the basics for the weekend of tea, coffee etc. Paying for holiday accommodation through bills account so its tight but I think we can just about pull it off without eating into savings. Last week we bought snacks for the train - I just need to get some sandwich fillings. Hope everyone is having a nice weekend

Queen_of_the_Hive

I had some other really great news yesterday that has really spurred me on to continue on my financial journey - my brother and his little family have put an offer for their first family home together. I won't go into details but they have genuinely had such a crap time of it in the past couple of years and this is a major step forward for them all and I am over the moon for them!  The home is a lovely choice and I can see why they love it. I hope they manage to complete in time to have some benefit from stamp duty holiday. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Today was another gorgeous no spend day. Needed to deliver a letter to a friend so used this as a perfect opportunity to do another longish walk and soaked up the beautiful weather. My walk took me through a massive park and the food offering was very enticing. Seriously the smells!! Defo going to go back another Sunday and treat myself to lunch or something. 

Came home and made an equally yummy lunch from what essentially was leftovers and it was divine, this washed down with Prosecco was a perfect easy Sunday afternoon. 

Had some small luck on the surveys, made nearly £6 which I am pleased about. Nearly on to £20 in the kitty. 

Tonight I need to write lists to plan for next weekend's break and tomorrow start packing. Its much easier to do it with no distractions i.e. the kids although I do miss them terribly - the house is way too quiet! 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Hello Bank Holiday Monday! 

Its been a quiet weekend and I must admit I am missing the company of little people (and some grown ups too) but I think I am getting a bit better at being ok with it. In truth I want crazy, fun times but this isn't happening yet. So in my weekend so far I went for a long walk and walking workout yesterday. I was stunned to learn I'd topped over 20,000 steps! So was chuffed with that. Hoping this means I'll soon be seeing this in the scales too No chocolate yesterday although at one point I had terrible cravings for white chocolate drops with the hundreds and & thousands on top! Pick & mix eat your heart out. 

Tasks for today:

* More walking & step burns
* Packing for this coming weekend. 
* 10 mins spent on reading the highway code (learning for theory test)
* 2x 30 mins study sessions on accountancy module  I have been procrastinating all weekend (and before that!). Not quite sure where to start with it but needs must!  
* In between all that do as many surveys as possible  
* Check out how much rewards points on my credit card - useful for upcoming camping trip 
* Look for shorts for the boy on ebay.

Queen_of_the_Hive

Its taken me a good number of attempts to write this sentence - daft I know but my emotions are not great. My weekend has been too quiet and missed the kids. Spoke to them on the video call this evening and they were happy in my old house and I just miss them terribly, had a little cry and now want to write something positive.  

So to show this Queen has some fighting spirit today I have achieved: 

* More walking & step burns - DONE just under 10,000
* Packing for this coming weekend. - Making a start after writing this
* 10 mins spent on reading the highway code (learning for theory test) - DONE
* 2x 30 mins study sessions on accountancy module  I have been procrastinating all weekend (and before that!). Not quite sure where to start with it but needs must!  - Read the first chapter of the book! Its a start! 
* In between all that do as many surveys as possible   - two surveys completed! 
* Check out how much rewards points on my credit card - useful for upcoming camping trip - Not yet but was window shopping for the camping trip on Amazon
* Look for shorts for the boy on ebay - found some and some jeggings for me

Today was a no spend and no chocolate day. I very nearly reached for the sweets but didn't want to ruin the good work & it'd just make me feel worse! 

Tomorrow is back to work day but in the evening I want to tackle

* 5 more mins of highway code reading. 
* Packing 
* Walking step count
* Activities from chapter 1 of accountancy module. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Today is back to work for me - I'm awake at 5am and will get dressed shortly for morning yoga exercises and go for a morning walk before logging into work. I follow a lady on Y tube. I was doing these a lot last year but recently have been doing it a lot less, so definately something to work on. 

Waiting on hearing back on an offer for some jeggings I put in last night so this will determine if I spend anything today. 

Sorry for the boring post about my low mood yesterday, the weekend in general was great. I just over think at times like we all do. I think I need to do something to occupy my mind a bit more, it has to be something flexible to fit around the kids though as we work on a two week schedule which is going to be difficult for paid work. I'd need that special understanding boss. I haven't looked before but wondering if casual work would fit the bill. This is for extra income not to replace my job and I want something where I was out of the house and interacting with people. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Ended up with an impromptu visit to the big orange supermarket at lunchtime to buy shorts for the eldest kid. He'd got himself in all a fluster at holiday club this morning worrying about not knowing anyone there. His dad did the drop off and he called me to let me know. So as a pick me up I bought him some shorts and made a surprise delivery this evening which was a big perk up for us all. 

Today was a good day - work was unexpectedly busy which I prefer TBH! Lady luck was on my side and the offer I'd put in for the jeggings was accepted on ebay for 3 branded pairs with tags for £20 inc delivery. Hoping they won't be too long in the leg - normally buy a short length but these are a regular so might need to do a bit of taking them up. We will see if  my sewing skills are required. With my ebay spend and spends at the supermarket budget is now down to £61.45 and I still need to buy a railcard for this weekend. Part buying rail card with clubcard points. 

Queen_of_the_Hive

Woo hoo made it on holiday! But major fail, we forgot my son's birthday presents for his birthday family party. So hence a quick dash this morning to the only shop in town selling kids toys and bought replacements. Budget is now blown on this unexpected spend, but he was none the wiser and happy with his lot. He's at that age when it's unwrapping a gift gives the most delight rather than what's in it! MSE me is now thinking of keeping some of his original birthday gifts for Christmas now instead.  Diet also blown out of the water, alway is when visiting mum. She feeds us all up! It is lovely to see her & my stepdad. 

Today when the party was quiet, managed to get a a few more surveys done so chuffed to be nearing £30 in the kitty with this. Will withdraw this money into my savings account when we get home.