Shopping in Primark

So last Thursday as my mum was getting her hair done in Surbiton I thought I would take a walk along the river to Kingston and have a look in Primark, as there were a few bits I wanted to get.

I realise going through my wardrobe that I didn’t own a pair of jeans which for me as far as I am concerned is a staple item to have in your wardrobe.

I also wanted another pair of shorts for the summer, another vest top and a white cardigan. In looking I found a lot of nice tops. Here is one I picked up and I love it.

In looking I found this little miniature mirror which I absolutely love and was another item I had been looking for. The total amount spent was £38.50. I could have spent more but I didn’t.

I rarely go into Primark and shop in there like once or twice a year, that is due to not having one close by, so I do have to go out of my way to go there, so does help me to save and when I do get a chance I will have a shop in there. This is if I find items I like. I don’t see the point in spending money just for the sake of it, but more often than not I do find items and I got to say I am pleased with my purchases made this shop.

The next time will be September or October time once my son goes back to school and I have more free time.

As always I will make a list and save for the next shop and am planning on relaunching my Youtube channel and do some hauls as we head towards Autumn and Winter.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

How I save money

piggy bankHello and welcome it is sunday and I wanted to talk about how I save money.

There are times when I can be reckless when it comes to spending money, but in mind I do still like to keep a budget on how much I am willing to spend any item.

As a kid I was a massive saver and I would hide money in draws. I never liked spending it, but as I got older and became independent I did start to spend money as if it was growing on trees.

For ages I have wanted to find that kid again who loved to save rather than spend and I do feel now that she is back.

I always ask myself now, do I need or want it. Needing something is different from wanting, and so more often I will walk away from an item I find myself for a few moments wanting  to by to then not wanting the item.

How I save money is:

  • I no longer buy a load of books, if I want a book I will see if it is available via Audible and use a free credit to have the book, go to a charity shop or to the library. I will only have 4-5 books at a time.
  • CDs and records. I always see if I can find a song or album I like via Youtube and play it, as it costs nothing
  • Home telephone and broadband. I am now living back with my mum so I don’t use these at my old house, and so no longer pay for them
  • Toiletries and perfumes. I have still got loads of items that were gifted to me in gift sets, that I no longer have to buy any such products
  • Recycling. If there is anything like a pot or a container I will wash it out and clean it, and use it as storage.
  • Photos. I use an APP called Free prints, and it is brilliant as all you pay for is the delivery charge and that is it, and they have other APPs where you can order tiles, with a photo you have taken on it and put it on the wall, and one where you can create a photobook. Or you can use Google where you can create a photobook for a really low cost
  • Stationary. I could be forever buying items, but I don’t, and if I do need items I will buy them from stores such as, Wilkos, The Works or Poundland. I find Rymans and Whsmiths really expensive so I rarely will spend money in those stores if I can help it
  • Shoes, I will only buy one to two pairs a year no more than that, as most of my shoes are still in good condition, so not need to.
  • Bags. I could be someone who owned loads and in some ways I do, but have limited my spending on these sort of items as like my shoes they are all in good condition
  • Make up brushes and makeup. I am not someone who wheres make up every day, but normally at the moment it is at the weekends, so don’t buy these items a lot, only if I have run out of items or if I have had some items for a while, as makeup if you didn’t know can have really bad bacteria which can cause infections, so be aware. Things like Mascara for example should be kept no longer than 6 months.
  • Craft items. I have loads that I have accumulated over time so have not needed to purchase anymore items and use what I have already got in my collection. These are great things to keep especially if you have kids, as it is a great way to keep them occupied aswell.

When it comes to saving I would sit down and go through everything you spend your money on and where you can save money. I find doing this really disciplines me when spending and reining myself in, to see that I don’t need everything but enough that will see me through the year.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

 

Shopping in Poundland

I do love stores such as Poundland because they are great places to pick up bits and bobs from, even clothes for low cost, however you can still end up spending a lot of money on items you don’t really need because of the cost of the products they sell.

I will usually only spend in these stores once a month and no more than £20.00, and that is my limit.

I would say still keep a list of items you wish to buy, and create what I am going to start doing is create, my own wish list on items, that I would like to buy from such stores and then when I have money left or money to spare then go ahead and purchase these items.

This year because diaries can be expensive bought one from Poundland. It is a open dated planner from Poundland and I love it, because I can design it on how I wish, and reuse it for next  year, because it can be refilled. The stationary from these stores are brilliant, and wipes the floor with stores like Whsmiths and Rymans, because you can still get the same items but for less.

There are a lot of household items too, which I love and you could actually buy a whole range for your home and not spend the earth.

Here is a picture of my last Poundland shop.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

My Skincare Regime

Hi all it is Wednesday and midweek, so I have just come back from dropping my son off at school and wanted to write about my skincare regime and the products that I use daily.

I always use face wash, and they have to be non soap products otherwise I will have a break out of dry skin on my face, which does bother me and makes me self conscious, and as I have always used at the start of the day, and didn’t today so had a small break out on my skin yesterday , is use Nivea face cream.

Above are the two products I am using on my face at the moment. The Face wash I picked up from Boots and was on special offer, and that is the Cucumber Face wash and my Nivea Cream which I pick up from various places as they are usually less than a quid.

I have always used Nivea Cream as it seems to be the one that suits my skin on my face.

The two foundations I use are Luxe by Avon and True Match foundation by L’Oreal Paris and seem to work great on my skin, but the other day I used my concealer and it became patchy on my skin.

The concealer I am currently using is one from Avon and it has been fine but I am thinking of getting rid of it as I have had it for a while and most of it used, and use the new one, which is by Collection from Boots and was just over a pound.

Below are the two concealers I have. The one on the left is the one that I am currently using and I have used quite a bit of it, and the other one is my new one, and I will let you know how good this new one is once I have tried it.

I also use press powder purchased from Poundland and I absolutely love it and applies nicely that I bought some more, however may have to buy another as this other one I purchased became crumbled.

The moisturiser I use to moisturise the rest of me from the Garden Collection which was part of a gift set and is magnolia body lotion, and smells devine and very soft on the skin and soaks into the skin really well.

The night cream I use on my face is currently one by  L’Oreal Paris and it is their Wrinkle Expert Anti-wrinkle Densifying Night Cream and is brilliant however as I did have break out of dry skin, will need to apply my Nivea cream in the morning aswell to help keep my skin on my face moisturised and not to dry up.

It terms of shower gel I am using the Nivea one called Diamond and I love these shower gels, only a pound even in Boots and brilliant for those like me suffer with dry skin.

I have also started to use a new Body Scrub, which I love using once a week on my skin to exfoliate it and keep it fresh and clean.

The one I am currently using is brand called Joules, Body Scrub, Buff, Polish and Lovely. This was part of a gift set I was given for one of  my birthdays, but there are other body scrubs in stores and as long as feel the difference when using them, then they will still do the same job.

I am not able to use soap products and most of the items I use must be fragrance free.

So if you have any products you’d like to recommend to me, then do so by leaving a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

Summer Holidays

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Hello and welcome to another blog post on Carries Everyday Living. So it is another start of the week and my son’s final week until the summer holidays begin.

I have decided to plan out my son’s summer holidays and what I plan to do to this time round, so I have some idea of when and where to take him, create a plan using microsoft word adding activities and days out on a calendar format for each day.

The holidays can cause friction with your finances so I try to balance it all out, so I am not spending too much but my son still gets some quality fun time. There are many places to go to which are free and so this means we can still explore, so we will be visiting a lots of parks and doing some activities at home.

You don’t really have to spend the earth as it isn’t about how much you spend but what we are all going to get from it. 

My son loves a park and now that a lot of places have begun to reopen since lockdown we can go ahead and visit. Where I live in Wimbledon there are quite a few parks to choose from, so some days we will be staying local.

There will be some bus rides so going to find one of my other Oyster cards because Henry’s dad has got one of them and will take him on many bus rides and train rides as we go through the 6 weeks holiday.

In Wimbledon you have Garfield Park, South Park Gardens, Wimbledon Common and Wimbledon Park, they are the main ones and there are some little parks too, situated near by aswell.

The Polka Dot Theatre in Wimbledon is closed for the time being as there are works being done, but I am hoping the cinemas will reopen so I may take Henry to see his first ever film at the pictures, I haven’t yet taken him, but I do think he is ready now.

I also plan to do some of the theme parks, like Chessington, which isn’t far, London Zoo, Bocketts farm and Legoland Windsor.

So lets kick start the week, grab a coffee and enjoy our week ahead.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

Weekends of freedom

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Hi and welcome to another blog on Carries Everyday Living site, so it is Sunday time to take it easy.

Today I am going to spend today just catching up on some bits and bobs, aswell as perhaps watching a film later if there is a decent one on, sometimes they will put some on back to back on Channel 5, so going to have a look to see if there are some on today.

I am loving my weekends of freedom, it means I can do things I wouldn’t normally do during the week, like yesterday I bought a new book from a Charity shop, and actually sat in the park reading it.

So far I have picked up some shopping from sainsburys and used one of their smart scanners, this was to use Henry’s free lunch voucher and got plenty for us to eat and drink.

I got to say that the smart scan system is a lot more convenient however a lot of items wouldn’t scan first time so had to lay item flat on the floor to do the scanning.

Going on that, I am not sure if they actually save time or not as you still have to scan items on the till to check that all items had been scanned correctly and I few times in checking out I had to wait of assistance.

In comparing supermarkets, as I have shopped in quite a few, the ones that seem to be a better price on items is Morrisons and ASDA.

In any case in using the voucher which was £90 all I ended up spending was £1.70, so not bad and now won’t need to get anything else.

I am now drinking a coffee and will pop out again to do some more walking, and reading some of my book again in the park . The fictional book I am reading is called Thursdays in the park by Hilary Boyd.

I have also a audiobook to still finish which is by Grant Cardone called Sell or be Sold How to get your way in business and in life. 

Audible is brilliant and you can listen to any book on the go, and usually listen to it whilst I am doing my walking.

Once I have finished these books I will write a review.

Anyway I am going to get on with my day and I will be posting in this site again tomorrow.

If you have any books you would like to recommend to me then please do. You can leave a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

 

Planning my life this weekend

Picture of a coffee

Hello and welcome it is the weekend and time to have some alone time again. Planning my life this weekend and going over my last weekend before this one, I gave myself a lot to do, and this weekend I am like,

“No I am going to have more chill out time and time to catch up on TV rather than rushing around trying to do loads of blogs and not have time to sit on the sofa and just be”.

You have to give yourself time to recharge and laze around sometimes, and I haven’t had a lazy day for ages so this weekend I will write some blogs still, ones I have scheduled including this one, but have some time lounging in front of the TV or even watch on my computer and just chill out for once.

Some of today I will pop out to get a few bits and if the weather continues to be nice sit in the park for a bit, but I am not going to rush to be anywhere and just take my time.

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I do plan to have my first McDonalds since Lockdown I kind of been planning this all week and I am craving for it now, but I am not going to rush anywhere. I may go for a walk along the river in Putney but I will see how I feel as the day goes on.

Soon the summer holidays will be coming up, my son literally has this week and then it is holiday time, and will be going out a lot during this period, so want to get in a lazy day of some kind, before they begin.

I do still have next weekend to do absolutely nothing too, so going to make use of this free time and just take it easy.

What you up to this weekend I would love to know. You can leave a comment below, but until tomorrow I am going to go and enjoy my weekend.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

Why I like having a daily and weekly routine

boy yawning

Hello and welcome! It is another week and already it feels like it should be the end.

My son decided that he would kick off this morning because he couldn’t take his tablet into school. I am not  sure if these devices are a blessing or a burden. Any  how once he was at the school gate and went into his classroom he was fine.

If you want to read my blogs about parenting then please check out these two sites:

https://theparentingadventurestipsandtricks.wordpress.com/

https://theparentingadventuresthebirthofmyson.wordpress.com/

Having a weekly routine helps, and I have shared my morning routine in a previous blog post, see link below:

My Morning Routine

It is good to have a routine throughout the day as I find the day goes much better when we do.

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In the mornings I set three alarms. One at  6am, 7am and 7:25am. I know this seems strange but there is logic to my madness, and that is so I wake up gradually and not just get up straight away as I could end up staying in my bed for longer.

Having a final alarm at 7:25am is like my last call, and I have to get up and get ready for the day, however by then I am fully awake.

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The one thing I have started to do is having my shower  the night before, and I got to say it has saved me a lot of time.

If you need some motivation about getting into a good routine, then check out Jordan Paige’s Youtube videos as she gives tons of tips and advice about having a more productive life.

https://www.youtube.com/user/funcheaporfree

I will sometimes mix it up, like on Monday when Henry finished school early I took him on the bus and train and then to the park where he had his tea, but I still like to do the same thing in the mornings getting to school, when I return home whilst my son is at school and the afternoon and evenings.

Sometimes it can depend on what mood my son is in, but when we get back home from school we will do some reading, watch our favourite quiz shows and then play a game of some kind.

Then by 5pm me and Henry will have his dinner and sometimes I will join him or I may eat a bit later with my mum and stepdad, and then Henry will go to bed between 7 to 8pm, and I will read him a few bedtime stories.

I won’t always allow my sons tablet before bed as it can effect his sleep, but once he is settled in bed, I will often along with my shower in the evening do some more work to get ahead of myself the day before.

I also have a weekly routine, where by I will go on regular walks outside to get some exercise or train indoors. Please check out my Sports and Fitness Coaching blog for further details on this:

https://sportsandfitnesscoaching.com/

I will use my weekends to exercise more if not able to fit it all in the week, go and visit the shops, sit in a park and do more work on my blogs and books.

Sundays is usually my extra self care day, where by I will shave my legs, wash my hair and use my body scrub.

I will use the free time I have at the weekends to also catch up on TV or watch a film.

It is important to me that however much as I want to get bits done it is also important to schedule in some down time to not write and just listen to an audio book or do some reading, or some days have an early night so I am bright and cheerful for the next day.

So get in touch and tell me what you routine has been like, are you slowly getting back to normal. Please leave a comment below.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

A Blissful Sunday

Hello and welcome! So yesterday I had a blissful Sunday as the weather was so nice, and so decided to go on a walk along the river.

Please check out my blog site:

https://sportsandfitnesscoaching.com 

It was my first walk along the river since lockdown and it felt so good to be out and be able to travel on the bus again. It is amazing what you can miss when you haven’t done something for a while.

I am still craving a McDonalds so may treat myself tomorrow if I have time to that is.

The other thing that was great was that the pubs were open again, so yes I took full advantage and had a drink along the river. Honestly if you go up to the Battersea Power Station there are some really nice bars to have a drink in and watch the world go by.

Then on Sunday evening I watched my favourite film, A Star Is Born. I love this film and it was an extended version. I think Lady Ga Ga and Bradley Cooper are brilliant and one of my favourite films of the era.

Having my weekends to myself again I am absolutely loving as I get to sleep in if I want to and do whatever I choose to do.

The TV at the weekends from Friday onwards are great again. Sadly Not Going Out and Car Share finished last week so I couldn’t watch any of these this Friday, but on Saturday they will often on Dave show repeats of Would I Lie To You, which is one of my favourite shows and Not Going Out.

On Fridays there is still the new series called The Other One, which I have gotten into and is very funny. I have last Friday’s to catch up on as I worked late on Friday so missed it, but will watch, and the other show I am loving is Alan Carr’s Epic Gameshow.

So to let you know I will be posting on this site as I have actually put together a proper blog schedule, on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X

 

 

 

Where to go if you are like me love stationary and homewares

Hello, I really hope you are having a good weekend.

In today’s post I am sharing where to go if you are like me love stationary and homewares.

Well the first place I look and I am so happy some have reopened, and that is looking in charity shops, which I checked first on Saturday, in the stores that were open, but this time round nothing caught my eye.

The one store I am getting desperate to go in is still closed and that is Paperchase. Items in there can be quite pricey but if you hold a Paperchase Loyalty card you can usually get some money off from your purchases, plus they often will have a sale on.

At the moment the stores I have been looking in, is The Works great for buying good priced stationary, books and craft items.

The other stores have been Poundland, TK Maxx, and Wilko’s

Here are some stationary items I purchased, along with some other items:

I love TK Maxx food cooling bags, I had one before that was thrown as I had used it so much, and saw this one and thought this would be perfect, especially as the school holidays come up, and I take my son out for the day.

This was priced at £5.99, and will be great for me also when I take some trips up London and want to save money by taking a packed lunch with me.

I also discovered these in The Works these highlighter pens for £1 and stickers which were £1 each, great to use in my new bullet blog planning journal.

In terms of homewares I bought this mug for myself as sometimes I like having a small cup of tea, and this was £3.99.

They had quite a lot in their collection, but this one caught my eye instantly and then I bought these notepads, and washi tape.

One was £2.50 so bargain price from TKMaxx, the other from The Works at £2.00 and some washi tape for £2.00.

I did purchase some other bits but I am going to save those for another blog post, as I am creating Henry a reward system to encourage good behaviour.

Anyway that is it for this blog, and will post again as of Monday.

It after all is not about how much something is, but what value it will  bring to me, or help me towards my current goals and ambitions.

Have a good rest of the weekend.

Many thanks for reading,

 

Carrie X