2026 - Mindful Living and Connection

leftatthetrafficlights

@debtfreewannabe321 - I'll let you know how I get on with the canner - the delivery date has moved to next weekend now which is disappointing - it was meant to be today and I was getting all excited!! 🙄😂 I have joined the flylady thread on here as I'm drowning in cat fur and mess and was losing the plot - I love a clean and clear house so these moggies have thrown me completely out of my comfort zone; I actually enjoy cleaning normally (it's part of my mindfulness practice) but it's soul destroying when it looks like chaos within seconds again these days 😔 The moggies are relocating at the end of the month though so I'll be spending a good few weeks blitzing the place then my daily cleaning will be a pleasure again 😁

The past couple of days have been very quiet - I've felt a bit flat since my headache (despite my mammoth cleaning session on Wednesday) so decided that doing very little at all was the best thing for my body l. Today I'm definitely feeling like I'm getting back to normal so will restart my asana practice tomorrow.

I've got a few garden bits to do tomorrow - clearing out and cleaning the greenhouse, getting the staging in and getting some rocket sown for the winter. I sorted the budgets on Thursday and I'm doing pretty well so far - keeping salad greens going will definitely help with that as I eat a lot of them 😉

Have a fab mindful day! 😁🐌

leftatthetrafficlights

Sorry I've been awol for over a week! 🤦‍♀️

I've been helping someone out with a variety of things and time just slipped away from me...

Things have changed again - the moggies are no longer relocating this week and it looks like they may be around for a while longer so I'm working on the basis that they're here long term now (at least until next year - possibly up to spring) which gives me a bit more certainty on what I need to do. The house blitz which was planned for when they leave is changing to just doing a room a day until it's sorted - I know that the fur will never improve but I'll feel better for having a cleaner house! I've spent this morning doing the main house cleaning and will start the deep cleaning tomorrow - my yoga room is first on the list as that's where they spend a lot of their time (they have constant access to that room along with the hall, stairs and landing) and they also eat in there. It has been neglected since they arrived - basically I've just hoovered the visible carpet and cleaned the yoga mat which now serves as their food mat - because one of them was so timid she stayed behind the sofa for the first few months! 😔 She's very much feeling at home now though so I can get everything pulled out and sorted tomorrow without her freaking out 😁

My asana practice has been neglected due to the work I've needed to do for my friend so that can restart tomorrow now - I'm aching too much from cleaning this morning to attempt anything today! 😂

Meditation and yoga nidra have been daily though so I'm pleased with that and I've been trying to maintain mindfulness in all I've been doing so that's a definite bonus.

Anyway, not much else to report - just popped on really to remind myself that I'm still around!! 😂

Have a fab mindful day 😁🐌

Brie

It's a scientific fact that if you lie on the floor with the cats they will heal your achy bits!! Especially if they sit on you making biscuits - a mindful moggy massage!!!

leftatthetrafficlights

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82151562#Comment_82151562

More like acupuncture with this lot! 😳😂

I've been feeling a bit ropey for the past couple of days - thankfully I no longer feel dodgy but I'm exhausted! 😖 I'm pretty convinced that dh is the culprit as he has had a cold - I'm glad that I haven't had the worst of it but think that today I'll rest as much as possible to give myself a chance to shake everything off.

I have got to rearrange our chest freezer and transfer all of our upright freezer contents into it today (the upright freezer needs replacing) but other than that and the usual dailies, it's going to be a slob in front of the tv and watch something funny 😁

I'm a bit annoyed at the moment- I ordered a pressure canner in the middle of the month and after a number of delivery date changes and still no sign of it, I've been informed it's lost in transit! 🤦‍♀️ To avoid any confusion, dh has ordered it this morning (allegedly it's coming tomorrow) from his account and I've requested a refund. It normally wouldn't bother me but we've bought canning jars, replacement gaskets and made plans on shelving for the end products already - a lot of headspace (I did a lot of research!) and money have been invested and I've wanted one for years so it's very frustrating!! This morning when I received the 'lost' message, I was very glad of mindful breathing! 😂

I'm really keen to get on with the yoga room clean (felt too dodgy to do it on Tuesday) but it can wait until tomorrow when I have a bit more energy - I'm sure the moggies won't mind 😉

I am going to attempt to restart asana today - even if it's only a five minute practice, I'll feel better for doing it - it's been a while since my last practice so I think that I'm going to start the 30 day programme I was doing from the beginning again; I certainly don't have the energy or strength at the moment to pick up where I left off! 🫣

Dh is talking about us going away for a break this month - I'm keen to do so but have the moggies to consider and unfortunately, it's a bit of a complicated situation as their owner isn't necessarily able to come and look after them and I don't really trust my ds to do the job properly 🤦‍♀️ dh didn't want to foster the cats in the first place and was decidedly displeased when I agreed to extending their stay so telling him we can't go away as a result of them being here would not go down well at all!! 😳 I need to get something in place in the by the end of next week really - I'm just not sure what!! 🤔🤦‍♀️

Anyway, time for me to sort the moggies out and get started on the freezers - have a fab mindful day! 🐌😁 xxxx

Wednesday2000

Have you thought about Trusted Pet Sitters? I have never tried them, but I know people who have and had good experiences.

leftatthetrafficlights

Thanks @Wednesday2000 - I'll check them out! 😁

weenancyinAmerica

If I lay down on the floor here, the cats would just use me as a springboard to get on top of everything. With claws out. I'd also get an allergy attack from all the cat fur and dust.

leftatthetrafficlights

They do like to use me as a climbing frame and launch pad while I'm doing asana!! 😂

Freezers sorted, new one ordered and it's being delivered on Monday which is perfect - I will have the time to give the utility floor a good clean - I haven't pulled anything out for a couple of months so that might be scary! 😳😂 I also received an e-voucher today for some surveys I've done as I ticked the wrong redemption box (I usually get a bank transfer) so have ordered some items from waitr*se that are expensive but we really like and buy frequently 😁

amber03

I have a fridge/freezer in my kitchen and a small chest freezer in the garage which I have had for many years. Im just trying to decide if I actually need the one in the garage. Think what I will do is run it down the unplug it for a month or two and see if I miss it.

leftatthetrafficlights

@amber03 - I've got a (new now, it was delivered yesterday! 😁) tall upright freezer in the utility room and a medium chest freezer in our 'spare' room and they are both packed! 😂 We grow as much as we can so I make lots of tomato and courgette sauces over the summer plus all of the peas, beans, greens, sweetcorn, beetroot etc that get frozen too. I certainly couldn't reduce our freezer space but I'm not going to increase it either 😉

So, the pressure canner saga continues! 🤦‍♀️ dh's order of it after my 'lost in transit' saga, has been...you guessed it..lost in transit!! 🙄🤬 Suffice to say, I have abandoned the possibility of ever getting one from that company so have ordered one from lovejars instead. Unfortunately, it won't arrive until some date in November but that's fine - at least it's going to turn up at some point! 😂

We ordered next year's veg seeds at the weekend - we're going to grow a lot more of everything next year as we will have another method to preserve it - beans are one of our staples and being able to preserve more of those will definitely save us a lot of money. I'm also growing more 'sauce' tomatoes so that I can do lots of those in the canner too. We've bought our seeds from Real Seeds this year which means that we can save our own seed from it to plant the following year - I always prefer to buy things from less commercial businesses so it is better all round! 😁

I've been thinking a lot recently about getting back to a more frugal and self-sufficient lifestyle - it's all part of living mindfully and I've neglected it somewhat this year so it's time to embrace it fully again - I've never moved completely away from it but I could definitely improve.

Some of it requires a financial outlay (for instance, the pressure canner and jars) but it's all things that are spending now to save lots later so it's future proofing my finances really. I watch someone on YouTube who is a gardener/preserver and she described her garden and preservation as building a 'wealth pantry' which I think is a lovely way of looking at it so now I'm planning what else can be a part of my wealth pantry 🤔

One of the main things about my 'wealth pantry' is remembering that it is as much about what I don't use as what I do. Every time I dry laundry on the line, unplug an appliance, boil stuff with a lid on etc, I'm reducing my costs and adding to the wealth pantry and that's just as important as growing more and having lots of preserving options, only buying goods and services when they're at a good price etc. Making my own stuff is always going to add to the wealth pantry (in future I'm abbreviating that to WP 😂) - I used to make ivy laundry liquid and last year I collected and dehydrated a loads of conkers to use for laundry liquid too (they're still in the cupboard, unused!🤦‍♀️) so I'm going to start doing that again - I only use it for dark clothes so I'll still use my ethical laundry products from the refill shop for whites but it will save me a fortune! I think we normally go through around a bottle of laundry liquid and fabric conditioner a month - swapping to ivy or conker stuff will reduce that to one container of each every 3-4 months (I'm going to try white vinegar as a fabric conditioner for the dark stuff) and at over £7 for each container, that a substantial saving over the year!

There are some things that we will always have to buy but the more things I can replace with home grown/home made or foraged will be a step in the right direction 😁

It's nice how so many of my beliefs and practices have always aligned with mindful living! A few years ago when I first became interested in it, I didn't realise that I was already living part of that lifestyle - I just wish I'd got into the no toxins, asana and meditation bits earlier! 🙄😂

Have a wonderful mindful day! 🐌😁