Champagne Lifestyle on a Lemonade Budget - 2021

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning my lovely friends.  

Wow isn't this weather just amazing, day after day of glorious warm sunshine.  I just love it.  

Is anyone still trying the miracle mornings.  I have been at it for over a week now. And the change in my energy levels is nothing short of astonishing.  I do a form of mediation and visualising, mainly using my journal to do this because I'm hopeless at just sitting and meditating, my mind wanders too much.  So I write it all down.   I am also exercising every day and I can already feel my body responding, feeling stronger, more flexible and pain levels diminishing by the day.  Long May it continue.!  

I have been busy in the house and garden. Today I'm going to start painting my fencing.  It's going to be a marathon, there's a lot of fence panels. 😂. I will pace myself, employ the 1 hr a day rule if needs be. If I just manage a couple a day it will get done over the summer.  

Been fairly quiet social wise but did manage to meet a friend for lunch the other day.......felt so strange to be in a restaurant, I was exhausted afterwards. 😂.  It was lovely to see my friend though, hadn't seen her face to face in over a year.  

SUgarbaby. Your creative writing sessions sound great. Part of my master plan is to start some classes next autumn.  Not quite sure what yet.  Definitely something to do with fitness and maybe something cultural or arty.  

Have a lovely weekend.  😎😎

helensbiggestfan

Good Mornjng my lovely friends.......it's very quiet on here.  Are you all having lots of nice champagne moments and too busy to check in,......😉

Doing well here, still enjoying the gorgeous weather.  This is what has been keeping me busy. ......

helensbiggestfan

Hard work but I love the finished result.......it's like bringing in a bit of the Mediterranean.....on a sunny day the blue is like the one you see everywhere in Greece, on a dull day it's more of a dark denim colour.  Anyway it's certainly better than what was there before.  A huge job though, a bit rough on my dodgy shoulder but I can do it, just pacing myself.  I could pay someone to do it, but why when I am capable. (sort of) 😂🤣

Yesterday made a start on clearing the shed, did the first tip run.  Again, it would be quicker and easier to just hire a skip, but at around £200 I would rather not.  😂

As you can imagine with all that going on I haven't had much time for either socialising or building my business although I did have a very good week last week with sales.  Actually I've had a great month money wise.  As well as earning some money from my little enterprise, I also had a nice bonus in the form of dividends on my shares and a refund for an overpayment on my gas and leccy bills.  

Not enough to make me rich but nice to have.  

It's  another glorious day.  Seeing a friend today for coffee and a catch up.  Another one I have not seen face to face in over a year.  It will be lovely to see her.   Anyway time to exercise and start the day. 

Hope you are all well and having lots of lovely champagne moments.  

sugarbaby125

LL the fence looks great. Definitely worth all of your hard work.   

MrsPorridge

You put me to shame with that fence, ours desperately needs doing.  I love the colour as well.

candygirl

Love that fence colour LL 😍 

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moments yesterday were going to a Music Appreciation session in the afternoon, then going to Leilani restaurant with my daughter for a Caribbean meal in the evening. Both were very enjoyable. It was lovely to have a reason to make an effort with my appearance twice in one day.   


We both had peppered beef for out starter, I had oxtail with rice 'n' peas, mixed salad leaves and coleslaw and my daughter had a jerk chicken burger with salad and chips for her main. I had a Disaronno gladiator cocktail and my daughter had a glass of apple juice as she did not want a cocktail. All of the food was really delicious.   

As I bought the Goupon for this meal at a discount, it only cost me £17.25. I will eventually receive cashback of £6.03 on this Groupon purchase, so it was a really inexpensive meal for the two of us.   

sugarbaby125

My Champagne moment today was receiving the £250 from Tesco that I won in one of their text to win competitions this month     

mrs_slapshot

I love that fence colour LL! I painted the fence in my last house (the first time I did it) a very similar colour to that! My ex-h laughed at it and asked me if I thought I was in the mediterranean.... he's my ex for a good reason!   

I am also trying very hard to carry on with Miracle Mornings and I completely agree with you about the energy levels when I do - it's nothing short of miraculous! I need to find the optimum bedtime and getting up time - I've found if I set my alarm for 5.30 it's too early and I keep snoozing it, but 6am doesn't give me a full hour to do the whole thing 'properly'. I decided I was going to start working on my blog at least 3 mornings a week after the MM and before I start work, so I need to start that at 7.30. I'm going to try and do 5-7 minutes on the MM individual activities, which should be around 30 - 40 minutes on it. I found some visualisation and affirmation tracks on Spotify that I've put into a playlist. I'm not great at doing the exercise though.....

I've had another look at my finances tonight and decided I need to be really tough with myself and save aggressively if I want to retire within the next two years. I'm currently planning out my saving and investing strategy - which is all well and good but I need to make sure I take the action after doing all the planning!

I'm also finalising my kitchen and floor plans, and it's probably going to be more expensive than I thought...I've decided to get a 0% credit card to buy the kitchen on, as I'm not sure my budget (money I have left over from my house sale) will stretch to cover everything including fitting, so I can then pay the kitchen off monthly if I need to. I finish paying for my car next month, so that money can go towards the kitchen.

It's all very busy here as I am having the boxroom plastered next week, which means I have to strip the wallpaper this weekend. I also need to order a new door, a carpet, and a blind. Once all that is done I can decorate it, and set my home office up in there, meaning I can move everything out of the family room and decorate that!

I've also been (loosely) following my Noom plan, and had an epiphany last week when I had a couple of meals with no carbs nd I felt so much better AND lost some weight! I feel like my head is now switched on to a more healthy lifestyle, and I've lost 10lb over the last few weeks. I'd like to lose another 10, ideally.

I've had some physio on my poorly shoulder (which we've decided is down to all the decorating I did earlier in the year...) and that feels better although I need to make sure I do the exercises a lot more regularly!

Right - I'm going to start my 'wind-down' routine so I can fall asleep before 10.30 and wake refreshed to do my Miracle Morning tomorrow  

helensbiggestfan

Good Morning lovely ladies

its taken me a few days but I've finally sussed out the new MSE layout .....I get there in the end, thanks mainly to Candy who pointed me in the right direction. 😁  

Awake super early this Morning, not done my exercise routine yet.  Just enjoying my coffee and some quiet time catching up with MSE and a couple of blogs I follow.  

I'm now managing a proper 45 mins or so exercise most days...... my own mash up of pilates/yoga/tai chi followed by resistance training using small hand weights.   I never thought I'd say this because I am the least sporty person you could imagine but I am genuinely enjoying it.....maybe not so much the actual doing but certainly the effects regular exercise is having on my body. I usually do my routines whilst listening to podcasts to alleviate the boredom and keep self motivated. 

 Still also having regular massages so with a combination of exercise and massage my pain levels are substantially reduced and I'm starting to feel more flexible.  Like you though, Mrs S my shoulder is still a problem and I think I probably need proper physio for that.  

Well Mrs S you are certainly making good progress on your house.  And wow to the weight loss.  Well done you.  I think the idea of using 0% loans to help you with your new kitchen is a great idea.  I have done similar in the past in order to protect my emergency/savings funds.  I find it can be hard sometimes to replace savings so for me I prefer to leave them intact.  

I'm with you on the need for strict fiscal management over the next few months..  There's so much I want to do and money will only stretch so far.  😂.  Luckily I have no desire to travel anywhere this year and I'm in no tearing hurry to mingle with crowds so I'm not chafing at the idea of prolonged covid restrictions. I'm saving a bit of money there.  

I have also decided that, even though it is a significant birthday for me this year, I am keeping the celebrations low key.  Just a small family gathering and a couple of lunches with close friends.  I will be perfectly happy with that, I just can't face a fancy holiday or big parties.  

Just Gently easing myself out of lockdown, either visiting friends or entertaining here.  It's been so lovely seeing friends in the flesh again, some of them I haven't seen face to face for well over 15 months.  Real champagne moments, spent with people I care about.  I'm sure there will time enough for cinemas/theatres and travel at some point in the future but for now I'm perfectly happy living quietly.  

My champagne moments aren't very exciting at all at the moment, just quiet domestic pleasures really,  but I'm fine with that.  I can live without a hectic social whirl for a while longer.  For now I'm just concentrating on getting stronger and fitter and continuing to lick my house and garden into shape. Did a trip to the recycling centre this week and I have a pile of stuff ready to drop off at the chazza next week. 

Getting there, slow but sure.  😂

Right  time to exercise and then a nice "home spa" type bath and pamper session.