Simple living in the country - back to basics

Cheery_Daff

Voluntary severance and restructuring 🙄 Getting out with a decent payout rather than playing redundancy roulette 😕

I made flapjacks, and checked ferries, and narrowed things down to a couple of weeks - although Mr Cheery now wants to check other accommodation  - he can do that himself, I'm not getting involved. 

I was tired, but cheerful enough, until he mentioned my next job application just as I was going to bed, and I did not react well... 🙄 So clearly I still have underlying tension 😂 Slept well, but I don't feel well rested this morning. Just arrived at the office, so maybe breakfast and tea will help. 

This is the third day in a row I've travelled to work, and back again tomorrow, and on Friday evening for another leaving do 🙄 Unavoidable this week, but I need to have tighter control over my diary I think!

EssexHebridean

That's sad about losing colleagues, and especially as they are going due to preferring to leave rather than risking being made redundant - that is bound to put a bit of a cloud of gloom over things generally I think. Hopefully they will have get good send-offs anyway, even if it's not great in terms of your diary/travel. 

I wonder if a general feel of "it's all a bit much" is a time of year thing to an extent - it's grey and gloomy so much of the time, it feels like a long while still to wait for us at least until our proper next fun stuff that's planned (it's not that long in real terms - only the end of April, and there is Easter weekend  in the mix before that as well) and generally I just feel a bit more in need of less "stuff" and more sunshine and warmth now! I'm focusing back on making sure I don't have caffeine after midday at the latest, making sure I get plenty of outdoor movement and look out for things like spring flowers coming through while I am out, and making sure I maintain the focus on daily yoga by going straight into re-doing an old 30 day challenge now I've finished this years one - all relatively small things but for me I know those will help with a bit of balance. 

Always exciting having a trip to plan that involves ferries too! (Although frequently less good having to pay for them, having just parted with a shade under £200 for ours for our holiday!) 

beanielou

Also feeling burdened & skint. Bah. 

Cheery_Daff

Bah indeed Beanie 😕 Hope you're feeling better soon xx

I suspect you're right about the time of year too EH. Our ferries are going to be anything from £317 to £480 depending on date/time 😱 In some cases more than the house for a few days 😱 But I'm not going to swim to Ireland so needs must 😂

You're right about focusing on the positives and trying to find balance. I'm trying to eat well, although I've noticed vending machine/petrol station chocolate sneaking back in so need to knock that on the head. Trying to do bits of exercise here and there. Deliberately putting down my phone and reading a book instead. Actually left the phone in the kitchen when I had a bath over the weekend which was lovely - I've let doom scrolling and even idle forum reading creep in more than is good for me. 

And I've been doing morning pages for the last week or so,  just reaching for pen and paper when I wake up rather than the phone. Easier as I've been in the spare room so my scratching won't wake Mr Cheery. But the last few days I've made myself get out of bed and sit on the swing seat, in my dressing gown 😂😂 It's been really lovely, being outside first thing, listening to the birds, observing the weather, watching my thoughts. It's been really calming. Obviously won't be doing that if it's raining, but I do have my little greenhouse seat that could become a morning sanctuary for that reason...

So I think I'll try and join those of you who give daily gratitudes on here, or in my case it might be a list of what I've done today to support my wellbeing and balance 😊

So as a starting point, today...

* No phone in bed
* Morning pages on the swing seat - I was outside by 6.50am
* Got to work before 9am (this always makes me feel more settled)
* Brought all lunch and snacks

That's it for now, but I think it will be good to focus on the little things. They help hold us together - and that usually leads us to spending less money too!

EssexHebridean

*Feels a sudden fondness for Calmac, the Road Equivalent Tariff, and travel to the Hebrides being generally far cheaper than travel elsewhere!*

I priced up a possible trip to the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago. Nope - that one won't be happening for a while! 

Ugh - your comments re screen time/scrolling have also struck a chord. This is something that I've been pushing to a back burner for too long really - and I confronted over the weekend the fact that I don't like the fact that my evening default now tends to be messing about on my iPad rather than picking up my book. So you have company on that journey! My first thing in the morning habit probably won't change - I fid that some silly games, and a check of Prolific is a good gentle way to wake my brain up - it's a routine I like. In the evenings though, I'd definitely sooner read immediately before going to bed than scroll.... 

Cheery_Daff

Welcome aboard! I think it's about making it work for us as individuals isn't it? I was losing an hour, sometimes two, in the morning, when I could either have been sleeping or getting up to start work 😱 Not a good start to the day! 

Octopod saving session 6pm today! 🐙 

Baileys_Babe

We managed to sign up.for the saver session, I'm not sure if we made any savings this time as we hadn't prepared at all, we didn't even make a pot of tea before 6pm 🤣

beanielou

How do you sign up for the saver sessions please?

Cheery_Daff

beanielou said:

How do you sign up for the saver sessions please?

Are you already with Octopus Beanie? You have to have a smart meter, and be sending data every 30 mins to them. Easiest is to sign up in the app, or there's a WhatsApp channel that sends notifications. They're usually pretty last minute - I think there was an hour's notice today. We weren't in anyway!

More info here:

https://octopus.energy/saving-sessions/

Productive day, lots of valuable work done and an iron stuck in the fire, so to speak. Then met some friends for a very tasty curry 😊 Home now and trying to convince myself to go back out to take the recycling up the drive 🙄 We missed the collection a couple of weeks ago so it's a dire state and I really should go!

EssexHebridean

I think you have to be registered with the Octoplus scheme for savings sessions as well - although there are other benefits to that as well so it’s worth it anyway! (I’m hoping for a free Greggs sausage roll later!)