I am pleased to report that I coped well with my emotional week last week, my mums birthday and death day passed with calm, peace and self care. My lockdown spending diary week 14 was a spendy week, but some big one off purchases were made. Much of last week was child free and I used the time effectively to progress with my book, that I am so close to finishing. My writing and first review deadline is this Saturday 4th July, so this is the big week to get everything done. Release date is 1st September and the title is The Money Guide to Transform your life.
I had a big meeting regarding my website, and made some go, no go decisions. The launch date has been slightly pushed back to around the 10th July. I want it to look as amazing as possible from launch. It will not be perfect, it will never be perfect, but it will be looking beautiful and colourful and so much easier to navigate. I cannot wait to share it with you.
I am slightly on countdown to the summer holidays as well. Three working weeks left until no more schoolwork or home education for six weeks. And beaches and countryside for at least 16 days of the summer holidays.
Monday 22nd June – £508
A few holiday things were paid for on this day resulting in a big spend day. We are going to Norfolk and Isles of Scilly for two separate weeks. Isles of Scilly accommodation deposit was paid for £125. I booked the train to get to Penzance, the boat to get to Isles of Scilly and the plane to return to mainland. The train was £87 return, pretty good I thought, I used the Trainline and got a tiny bit of Top cashback. And the boat there with Skybus return was £148. Isles of Scilly is with Neilboy.
I also paid for my last couple of therapy sessions as a cost of £140. Some pretty big expenses for one day! All very necessary for summer holiday enjoyment and protection of mental health.
Just a couple of other small costs, a trip to little shop after a long and very beautiful canal walk for ice creams and drinks £8, plus a contribution towards the end of year teacher pressie at £5.
My new rules started last week with me being stricter about working hours. My work was complete by 10am on Monday morning and we headed off to the beautiful canal for a long walk. It was stunning, we watched boats going through the lock, spotted so many animals and birds. We loved it.
Tuesday 23rd June – £153
I had an hour of business coaching on Tuesday that cost £125. I place huge value in business coaching. It really helps me to focus and deal with the overwhelm that I often feel this time of the year. Kat and I came up with a wonderful power statement to carry me forward over the next few months. I am calm, changing my karma. I am cleansing my mind, body and soul and creating new rules.
Once I was done, the boys and I escaped to Caffe Vero in the village for a spot of lunch £17, sausage sandwiches for the boys, gluten free bread for me with smoked salmon, spinach, and poached egg. This detox is happening! This week saw my first full week of no alcohol, caffeine, sugar, gluten, meat, dairy or acidic food. And I must report it went well. Only two days of cravings and I just went to bed! Here is the vegetable vegan curry I made last week with mushrooms, okra and carrots.
I have lost at least an inch all over my body after 1 week of strict detox, pleased with that. I continue for three more weeks until the summer holidays.
Other spends include some bits from the Co-op for £7 and lip salve from the chemist for £2.50. All prep for a walk to the park, but it was too hot. Last week was VERY hot!!
Wednesday 24th June – £6
A baking hot day. All we managed was a quick walk to the village for a sausage roll and some halloumi cheese, we turned around and came back home. It was a day for the pool, now refilled and chemicals sorted.
The boys went to the exes for 5 days from Wed afternoon. I was ready to embrace the heat and relaxation for a few days.
Thursday 25th June – £(165)
Yeah to a big refund! I took some of the clothes back to John Lewis from my shopping spree the previous week. Some of the bits just did not look right. Total refund processed was £(186), so my spend from the previous week was not quite as high.
Whilst in Welwyn I also popped to Simmonds for a coffee £2 and sat in the gardens drinking my decaf coffee having a meeting. Again, I got my work done by 10am and had the rest of the day free to relax. I got the sugar cravings on this day, so I headed to Co-op and bought lots of yummy plant based and gluten free food and very much so enjoyed it. Spending £19.
Much of the rest of Thursday was reading, listening to podcasts, and floating in my pool on donut.
Friday 26th June – £(10)
Another refund day!! A dodgy company took an annual subscription from my bank account without my permission, and I had to fight and fight to get my money back. It finally arrived on Friday, £48 refund.
I had a long walk in the morning with Brene Brown for company and spotted a slow worm on my travel. Most exciting!
A couple of regular bills were paid, life insurance of £6 and I forgot to amend my Mindful chef box for the following week again, so was hit with a £32 charge for a chicken and fish dish. Annoying when I am not eating meat. I will freeze it and make the recipe with tofu instead!
Most of meetings on Friday got cancelled which I adored. The meeting that did happen was my writing coaching meeting. Bec and I rejigged a few dates and set hard deadlines. All good stuff.
Saturday 20th June – £215
I did very little work but did quite a few jobs. I went to John Lewis again to choose a new mattress but did not buy as I needed to think about the buying decision. The mattress I liked was £1000, so I needed to walk away and return another day once the decision had been made.
But I did get some bargain new bedding and sheets for £66. And some Rituals Happy Buddha bathing and shower products, total John Lewis spend of £86. More coffee and some decaf capsules were purchased from Café Vero £6 and I got a beautiful rainbow balloon for £10 to celebrate my 7th birthday for Mrs Mummypenny. I took pictures for the Instagram and wrote this post celebrating my past year. Incredible for Mrs Mummypenny, not so great on the personal life front.
I popped to Aldi for groceries for the week and picked up some lovely new makeup products some for me and some for Anita as a gift, whom I was meeting on the Sunday. Spend of £82. Afterwards I went to Pets At home for flea stuff for Trev who has caught them again. Never ending excitement, but they were brilliant at Pets at Home. Very knowledgeable, I spent £30.
Sunday 28th June – £0
Whoop for a no spend day. These do not happen often! I met my buddy Anita for a 6km hike around Ivinghoe Beacon in Buckinghamshire. It was lovely and a perfect way to spend a few hours on a Sunday, just talking life, issues, solutions, dogs, and vaginas. Anita brought the food, and I brought her Aldi candles and make up to try.
Summary £ 710 spent
A big week with some big one off spends, holidays cost was £365, with groceries at £146 and business expenses at £86. Personal fun money was £142 with therapy session included.
I want to say that next week will be a lower spending week, but it will be high as its the first of the month when all my monthly bills hit. I will try not to spend anything else on groceries, and too much fun money. We shall see hey!
Exciting news, I will be in iNewspaper on Saturday this week sharing my lockdown diary learnings. These diaries have been uber popular. I did some very cool overall graphical analysis of the full three months of spending data, there is 100% an upwards trend in spending recently.
Have a great week everybody.
