AUSTERITY CHALLENGE

So how many of you out there are currently struggling with the 'January Blues'?

Long, dark, dreary days.
Diets.
Budgets.
Christmas 2011 sent you along the road to hell and you're still on the track to recovery.
(Only 330 days until the next one - Sorry, couldn't resist!)

Well, the details aren't important, but Hubby and I have decided that some obligatory belt tightening is required over the coming months. Now, whilst I am talking theoretical belt tightening in the financial sense, a little bit of actual belt tightening in the diet sense would also not go amiss, so here's hoping one leads to another. Don't you just love 'happy coincidences'?!

Obviously I'm a bit late for a new year start, but then where's the fun in starting something like this when you still have a cupboard full of foodie goodies to get through; bought in the usual overindulgent - and let's face it, pleasantly obnoxious - way that seems so necessary at Christmas?

So a February start it is.

And so to the budget...

I won't be including mortgage payments or household utility bills, though I have just switched utility supplier and saved a small fortune, so that doesn't mean I have my head in the sand. Also, we have 2 cars to run and the price of diesel is extortionate at the moment, so I'm afraid I have to discount that expense as the cars are necessities of getting to work from a rural location such as ours. However, it does mean that the budget allocated sounds ridiculously small and therefore like more of a challenge.

So get to the important bit I hear you cry! Tell us the actual weekly amount you shout! (Patience is a virtue you know guys...)

How does £25 per week for the entire month of February sound to you? We're talking food, drink, leisure activities etc. For info, now that I've typed it I am thinking it sounds ridiculous and I am way out of my depth here, but hey ho, a challenge wouldn't be a challenge if it was easy now would it?!

Added to that challenge, will be an additional target to see if there are ways to actually make money, rather than to just not spend it. I'm not talking another full time paid job, just a little bit of pocket money to supplement the meagre £25.

If only this was 'Mission Impossible' then the above mission would self destruct in 30 seconds and I could forget all about it...but it isn't, so as of Wednesday 1st February, the austerity begins. Though please be aware that austerity does not have to mean a lack of fun!

Bring it on!

mwah x

RE-VAMP!

In order to try and move closer to a 'lifestyle' blog, I've had a bit of a re-vamp and included a few new pages.

We're not talking lifestyles of the rich and the famous, just ickle old (but not that old!) me. My likes, dislikes, loves, irks and quirks.

I'd love to know your thoughts and hear about the pages you think worthy of 'Blog Roll' (Yes, I said B.L.O.G!) inclusion, the things you're 'Currently Coveting' and the people / places / items you think have 'Style & Substance'.

I hope you enjoy what's to come.

mwah x

Suffolk Days and Sleepless Nights

Well, we've done it! After what seems like 10 hideous long months of hassle and annoyance from the Landlord of what will from this point on be referred to as our 'transit house'; the house we had to endure until we found somewhere to put down lasting roots in Suffolk;  we are finally (almost) settled in our new home....and we love it!

The move seemed almost too easy, though there are a few teething problems due to the house being a new build:

According to the energy company call handler we are currently 'de-energised'. "I know," I responded to her when I rang them to arrange our account "I'm de-energised aswell, it's hard work moving house, without you adding to the problem."

According to the majority of call centre databases we don't exist. There is no such address. In other words the general response to "Can I please update my address with your company?" is that the computer says no. (And believe me when I tell you that if Tesco can't/won't deliver to you because their computer also says no, you know you are going to have an on-going battle on your hands!)

But the gripes are minimal (A first for me, right?!) and life suddenly seems so much more relaxed. Toby is loving the fact that the village has a mass of fields and thicket set aside for the sole purpose of exercising your dog. I am loving bimbling about in my new kitchen and pottering about deciding the final resting places for our furniture and art work. Nev is loving coming home to a soak in a hot bubbly bath after a hard day at work, (Just don't tell him I told you about the bubbles!) followed by a healthy home cooked meal now that I have started to enjoy cooking again.

I am pretty certain that once the environment you live in improves, your mental health acknowledges those improvements and your general well-being and perspective on life improves. I certainly feel more energised, which in turn sees my more positive outlook benefitting my life in general.

Aside from business going well (Jigsaw Care have been included in Mumpreneur UK's Top 100 Business' List) I am now taking some time to do the things I enjoy doing, but have strayed from over the past few months and I am already reaping the rewards. As you know, I am cooking once more, but I have also started crafting again and... drum roll please...I have had my first ever article published in Suffolk Days Magazine and will be doing a follow up for their April edition.

Now if only I could get that old clock tower across the way to stop chiming every hour on the hour, maybe I could get some sleep!

mwah x