La Dolce Vita (The Sweet Life) - on a tiny budget.

Debsnewbudget

Wellness Wednesday for me is swimming this morning, and aiming for 34 lengths. I need to get back up to the 40 I was doing before Christmas.  Then I am going to see Puss In Boots at the cinema, so I feel thats physical and mental wellness ticked. 

Have a great day everyone 

SIRENS

Morning All, thank you for your wise words helensbiggestfan, I do miss my husband every minute of everyday and never thought I'd be widowed before 50, but I see him in my children all the time, the way they look, the things they say, his humour and funny phrases. It surrounds me in our home and that's a comfort.
Today I am staying in as bits to do around the house, but I will be doing some exercises later for wellness Wednesday.
Enjoy the film Debs, my son and I are planning to see it on Friday x

artistlifestyle

My wellness Wednesday was spent at work, we’re a small team and I’m covering a lot of extra days due to unforeseen circumstances. The extra money will be most welcome.
However despite the longer hours my healthy eating continues, now in week 6, and I’ve swopped butter for Benecol, which is expensive to buy. I was somewhat shocked by the initial price but I’m now finding the tub lasts absolutely ages and ages so in reality it’s manageable. 

My unexpectedly high cholesterol found after a health MOT is already going down rapidly which is what matters. 

I’ve returned to consuming between 7-10 portions veg and fruit per day, and my treat is 5g dark chocolate daily, with a cup of peppermint  tea, and I tell myself it’s like a Bendicks Bittermint, my fav. 

I’ve also given up roast potatoes, and any fried food, and puddings unless it’s fruit and yogurt, and sometimes have a baked spud with fat free Greek yog on. The good version as it tastes so much better. Definitely in La Dolce Vita category. 

So far I’ve lost 4 lbs, although weight loss has never been the goal, and owing to the increased fibre in the diet I’m never hungry. 

Getting more active is the next goal, although I do 10 k steps easily while working. Upping the resistance and cardio are on the list, as well as just balancing energy levels versus workload. I have been out of my bicycle once this year so far. 

Widowhood is hard, as Helen says we carry it, but can still find joy and enjoy life. 4 1/2 years now for me, and I’m proud of my new life, I’ve worked hard at it. I can still be triggered by a song, or a memory, and probably always will.

If I can just work out the right balance of energy, income and work so that I have some creative energy left over for painting, it’d be marvellous, that’s another goal. The rising bills meant taking on another part time job 12 m ago. 2 years till I get my state pension. 

Coxy11

I was in the office today so Wellness Wednesday for me has seen:

• breakfast and lunch taken in from home and DH just cooked us a tasty salmon pasta dish for dinner
• I have just had an Epsom salts bath and applied a hydrating face mask, plus body oil afterwards
• I will start a new book tonight after finishing my last on the train home from work tonight
• Will be an early night as TOTM made an appearance today - first since November and very unexpected

Dfw38

Wellness Wednesday: gradually working through my 🐸 list which is relieving the constant mental load although more 🐸 seem to appear as I start clearing others....

Bluegreen143

Dfw38 said:

 Tonight I am going to look into free online courses (futur€learn) to transform my future prospects. As a sahm I am aware of the risk of losing skills while I am out of the workplace. So need to decide what I want to do when I 'grow up' and work out how I am going to get there. As funds are squeezed I am going to have to concentrate on free or cheap ways to boost my skills. 

Good luck with your online courses!

To hopefully give you hope, I was a SAHM for 3.5 years and had pretty much assumed I would have to retrain once my youngest was at school as I’d heard so many absolute horror stories about how becoming a SAHM would mean I’d never get back into work. 

When she turned 2 I was completely shocked to be contacted by a previous manager totally out of the blue (we hadn’t stayed in touch and I wasn’t active on linked in or anything, she just remembered me and still had my phone number!) and offered a job the grade above my previous, before kids, role. It was advertised as full time but she was happy for me to do part time - I finish at 3pm every day and take Fridays off (my youngest is off nursery on Fridays). I may increase my hours to 30 per week when she starts school and work 9-3 Mon-Fri.

The downside was I had to get back into work a couple of years earlier than I’d meant to, and it was a bit heart-wrenching having to find a nursery for my little one. (That was in 2021 so I think I did make the right choice as not sure we’d be managing now otherwise.). But despite not getting any extra training I found my skills weren’t as rusty as I thought when I started and I slotted back in fine.

My point is to have confidence and don’t feel you will definitely lose all your skills when at home. The right employer will hopefully see your value and you’re doing the right thing to take action yourself too. 

Dfw38

Thank you so much @Bluegreen143, it is something that concerns me to be honest and your post has given me hope! I have been out of the workplace 7 years and cannot see me being able to return until ds starts school in 2 and a half years. It was a case of having to not return to work as we had to move 100 miles away due to house prices and having no local family to help with childcare. Dh has a job that has him working at least 6 days a week where he could finish anywhere in the country. (A specialist job where not many people are in that line of work) so I cannot rely on his availability so looking after all 3 dc falls on me.
It was the best decision for the family at the time (childcare would have been double what I would bring home) but I am excited at the prospect of getting my own wages again and having a job that I enjoy. I am glad that returning to work has worked out so well for your family. You are doing great ❤

helensbiggestfan

Good morning lovely lades. 

So many fabulous posts.  It's wonderful to hear all your stories, your successes and wins.  I love the way you are all sharing your ideas and advice and are so supportive towards each other.

  I don't know about you but I'm finding the "themed" days are helping me to stay focussed and on track, even if they just serve as gentle reminders that I need to take action.  

Thrifty Thursday. 

Today I need to chase up my energy companies, both previous and current, to sort things out.  Wont bore you with details but they have both made a right old mess with the move and switching. I  can't say I relish the prospect.....lol.  

On the whole Frugal February Is going well.  Not too many extra spends,  the biggest one was my haircut.  No regrets.  Not done a final tally but I seem to be doing ok with the food budget and still have stuff in the freezer so hopefully March can be fairly frugal too, foodwise.  

Throwaway Thursday.  

Not done much decluttering this week, just one carrier bag size of bits to drop off at the charity shop.  

In other news it's currently raining here but I'm not complaining,  we haven't had any rain for a long time.  

Still feeling very tired, despite sleeping for England. Have now had 8  chiro treatments. They are working and I am feeling the benefits but I have to confess it's rough. I am finding twice weekly visits very demanding,  there's no real recovery time in between adjustments. Just 4 more and then a review.  I have postponed my dental appts for now.  Hopefully this intensive period will have done the trick and I can now reduce the frequency of treatments. And get on with something else, lol. 

I know I said that this year I would concentrate on getting fitter and healthier but this first step has actually felt quite overwhelming. I guess that's only to be expected.  The hardest bit was always bound to be getting started.  

Newtons law and all that.  😂🤣.  

Same with the house move.  There have been a few setbacks and niggles which I didnt  anticipate but 🤞 I am now pretty settled and can just relax a bit and enjoy living here whilst I start planning my house purchase. I am keeping an eye on RIght Move.  A few possibles but nothing has really jumped out at me yet. It's very noticeable that the housing market has slowed down which is good news for buyers. Means I can take my time and not be forced to make a snap decision or have to engage in a bidding  war.  

Right better get cracking....

Have a great day y'all.  

Coxy11

Morning all,

Some great advice about returning to the workplace @Bluegreen143 - good luck @Dfw38 xx

I was up in the night with a seering headache, palpitations and sickness! Feeling a lot brighter now having had a plain biscuit, some tea and pain relief. Feeling lucky I'm WFH today and tomorrow as could not have made the train to London this morning, no way.

Thrifty Thursday - I have some items for the CS that I'm going to drop off en route to posting a couple of Bay of E parcels for my charity fundraising. Not sure what's for dinner as depends on my stomach - I do know there's a stir fry for one in the freezer that DH could have. Would be good to declutter it and save a proper meal for when I'm feeling better.

The chiro does sound intense @helensbiggestfan. DH went weekly for 8 weeks when he had a shoulder issue and that was harsh enough! Are you now managing some pilates too? I've followed your lead and have been doing some in the morning and it's really helped my RSI in my arm/wrist. Use it or lose it as they say!

You are in a good position to move as you have no chain. It will be worth the wait for the right property x

Wednesday2000

Lots of interesting posts.:)

Helen - hopefully the chiro appointments will be worth it in the end. I've never had that treatment before and I didn't realise it was so intensive.

Glad you are feeling better Coxy, sounds like a migraine?

Thrifty Thursdays - Right, I stepped on the scales this morning and I need to start saying no to eating out, takeaways and eating so much chocolate and crisps in general! The workmen aren't here again until next week so I am eating at home completely until then. I have had fresh fruit and green tea so far but I am going to make a healthy brunch for myself after my hot shower. I went through the freezer and the shelf I use as a pantry last night and we have masses of food here.

I have almost got the living rooms back to normal and I just need to tackle one corner of one room where the guy left his (very heavy) tool bag. I think I should be able to drag the bag out of the way and clean that corner of the floor and put my cabinet and lamp back there. I am really happy with the way one living room came out. It had a very dark painted feature wall the previous owners did and now it is just painted white and looks so much better. The decorator said the room looks twice the size once I had put the furniture back in there.

Then I need to finish off cleaning and reorganising in the kitchen, brush my pets outside in the garden and clean the garden furniture. All free exercise at home. I was reading how good housework is for burning calories the other day. Lol.

I'm also going to cut my husband's hair myself as I previously bought some hair thinning scissors. It came out okay last time so it should be alright and saves us the price of a haircut.:)