Crazy Lent idea... I must be crazy for doing this!

[greeneyedlulu]

No wine
No chocolate
No spending....
For Lent I usually give something up.... this year I'm combining a few elements of my life that need a damn good shake up!!
I'm a drinker, not rolling around in gutter drunk every night, just I can easily drink most of a bottle each night without realising it, cheeky glass whilst cooking, top up to sit down for dinner... you know how it goes!

The chocolate tends to be a daily treat at the end of the day once my little boy is finally tucked up in bed asleep and I've done my daily chores and my bum finally hits the sofa, with a glass of wine in hand (the rest of the above bottle) and the other reaching for the remote control to watch some crappy tv show..... yes that includes eastenders but I love it!!

As for the spending..... well as you can imagine the above mentioned products set me back a bit! So that added to the cost of the mortgage, council tax, nursery fees and blah blah blah!!! Everyone has these costs! I know I'm not special but my God, it's just so overwhelming sometimes being a single mum and having so many outgoings! And I know I'm wasting money by buying lunches and coffee and wine and chocolate each day!

My fridge broke down in January (you know... the month we're all swimming in cash) so that cleared out my little bit of rainy day funds and this month, I'm struggling and I refuse to carry on like this and be so worried about money every day so I sat down and worked out my finances and I'm pretty ashamed by the difference on how much I should have left over and how much I actually do!! Eek!!

So Lent starts tomorrow and I've been paid today, all the bills go out tomorrow and I'll update as I go along on how I'm doing as I really want to give everything a shake up so the way I see it is that

1. If I give up wine and chocolate I will save money and lose weight
2. If I'm making lunches then that will help to towards the weight loss and I'm saving money
3. If I stop spending money on non essentials, I can save and get those few irksome jobs that need doing around the house that are beyond my DIY skills that 'I can't afford'!

I want to make this work and figure if I put it out there that I'm doing it then I will more likely stick to it!

Wish me luck!!

PS. Anyone else who is giving up something for Lent you are welcome to share your plight and pain along side me as I will probably need the support too x

An angel!! Hahaha

Happy mothers day everyone!!

I got taken out to lunch today and totally over indulged and I have no regrets whatsoever but I will be a good girl from tomorrow again!!

Hi guys. Had a latte on Sunday morning and OMG it was gorgeous.

I've lost 11 pounds so far which is a wonderful byproduct and up to today had no chocolate cravings but today I'd kill for it.

Still no cakes, biscuits or alcohol though.

You're doing really mikey!

I'm not doing so well this week, though I have kept off the weight I've lost so far I'm just munching too much!!
Need to organise myself better of an evening for my food the next day. Still pleased though, I reckon I'm still doing better than this time last month!

*well!
Sorry was typing on the go!

Together we'll do it lulu

Morning!!

I'm still trying but have to be honest and say that this probably wasn't my best behaved week so far as I did buy a couple of lunches and ate loads of stuff that I know I shouldn't have!!

However I went shopping yesterday and got loads of healthy snacky stuff, celery, radishes, mini cucumbers, so I can put together a snack box to take with me and I'm hoping the crunchiness will keep my cravings down.

Happy Sunday!

Been better behaved this week as I've been organised the night before preparing lunch for the next day!! Organisation is the key to dieting!!

And the DIY funds are looking good too! Had a quote for the work I want doing and I have the money saved already!! Now I need to save more to buy the materials!!

Lost another couple of pounds this week but went out on Friday night and had a Chinese takeaway last night so I've probably put that back on!

So Lent is over! How did it go for everybody??

I did really well on giving up wine, but I did have 2 small bottles of beer on 2 nights each weekend.
Not as good on giving up sweet things, I had cake and deserts perhaps 1-2 times per week, but managed to cut out shop bought sweets.
I improved on spending less money on unnecessary things, but plenty of room for improvement 😊

I lost almost half stone!! Yay !!

Now that Lent is over, I will try to

1. reduce wine to once per week
2. stop buying treats, most likely significantly reduce rather than stop, If it's not in the house, I can't eat it..
3. continue going to gym.
4. continue to watch my spending

I'd love to lose another half stone by end of summer.

Had a couple of lattes but as I usually have 1/2 a day that's a huge improvement.

No cakes or biscuits and didn't miss them.

Had a couple of snack style things but no crisps.

NO CHOCOLATE and that's massive.

No alcohol either.

I've lost more than a stone so I'm thrilled, but I've loads more to lose.

Cut right back on my spending too - woohoo!!

How did you do to the end Lulu?

Hello everyone!! Happy Easter!!
I did ok, wasn't perfect all the way through if I'm honest but I have saved loads which I've spent on buying stuff to decorate with and have cash left over to put towards paying someone to do it so need to save again!! That should take another few weeks with careful spending!
I've lost half a stone in weight too so overall I'm pleased with myself!!

There are things I'm going to carry on with l like the unnecessary spending, making lunches every day, leaving the bank cards at home and definitely doing the weekly shopping at lidl rather than asda as I can spend a third of what I do in asda in lidl as I'm not sidetracked by all the home stuff and clothes in lidl lol