So you may remember that I formally decided that I would give up all refined sugar, white flours and grains on my birthday and I did indeed start on my birthday weekend although I have to admit that my last alcoholic drink before starting was a glass of wine on the 3rd of February.

So it's been around a month and I'm entering the 5th week and what can I tell you?  Well you're probably wondering dear reader if I have found it hard and the answer would be, no, not so much, the tricky things have been eating out but I always seem to have found something I could eat and on one occasion I even had fish and chips, though I did of course take the fish out of all of the batter.

Cake avoidance has also been tricky when out with friends for coffee, especially if they're enjoying a scrumptious morsel but I've been pretty resolute and I know now that I definitely have will power and determination when I want to!

I think for me the best thing that has happened is the increase in energy, just after Christmas I bought my first Fitbit and I have gradually seen my activity rates creep up and now I am happy to report that I've never done less than 10K steps since 13th Feb and even when I have had office days and I'm working I've made up for it when I have come home, I've even done the last couple of thousand steps around my sitting room if necessary.

Last week at my official Slimming World weigh in I had lost 6lb since I started the sugar free plan but remarkably for me it's the inches which I seem to have lost, I wish I'd taken measurements.  I took a photo in the mirror when I was staying in Edinburgh earlier in the week and for the first time in ages I didn't totally hate what I saw.

I've 13lb to get to my target so still some way but I think if I can do it my leggies are going to look pretty brilliant.

I thought I would also share with you my favourite recipe I've created over the last month so here it is, I give you Chilli Con Quinoa

So first of all you have to cook the Quinoa, this is tri-coloured but I've also used the normal stuff which is fine also.

So you take your Quinoa, add double the amount of water or slightly more, give it a good salting, peppering and then add a heaped teaspoon of hot chilli power in (the one which contains paprika etc, not just chilli) and then cook until ready, Quinoa when ready goes slightly translucent but it's still got a crunch to it.

Now at this point you could eat it warm and add chicken etc but I like to let it cool down and then I pop it into a large container with chopped peppers and onion and then I keep it in the fridge and eat when required, the above photo I added beetroot and goats cheese and I can confirm that it was a super tasty salad which is syn free on Slimming World (as long as you count your goats cheese as a HEA) really filling, full of the right type of fats and totally delish!

Now I do have to admit that when I was at the bloggers event in Edinburgh on Thurs/Fri I had a tiny bit of alcohol and also some sugars but yesterday I was straight back on the sugar free wagon.  What I did find is that if you don't eat sugar and then you do it's actually quite a high for a while, peculiar how it seems to have a drug like effect, that can't be good can it?

14 things you can do to start saving money right now!

It's no secret that I've been building towards a better life both inside and out and helping lots of lovely blog readers do the exact same thing, we've looked at how to get control of our lives, we've looked at how we can respect our bodies a little more and today with the help of our resident financial expert Stephanie Pickering of Verity Wealth Management we're going to look at ways you can give yourself a financial makeover.

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a complete spendthrift and money management is not my strong point so I asked Stephanie for her top tips to put our finances in order right now, here's Stephanie's guide to better financial management which can save you money right now!

1)      Draw up a household budget – many people have NEVER done this and have no idea of the actual amounts of income coming into a household, let alone the expenditure going out.  If you have no idea of the Income/Expenditure of your household, you may never know where your money goes to!

2)      Keep all shop/restaurant receipts and use these to review all Bank and Credit Card Statements, checking off every entry individually – should there be any amounts you fail to recognise or disagree with, ring your Bank or Credit Card Company to ensure you find out what it’s for in case it’s a fraudulent entry.  Many fraudsters start with little amounts and when not spotted they then go for larger amounts in the hope they can achieve their fraudulent transaction before being stopped.  This will also help with household budgeting (see point 1 above).

3)      When food shopping try to draw up a list and stick to it – check what’s needed in your cupboards before going shopping – try planning the weekly menus before setting off.  Make a pan of fridge soup at the end of the week – I do this by using all the vegetables wilting in the fridge and throwing them in a pan with some vegetable stock – red lentils, Garlic, Chilli, Onions and a bit tomato puree – its amazing how good it tastes for such ease in making! (I love this tip Steph, I did this with Christmas leftovers and the soup was amazing)

4)      Pay off debts – always make the minimum payment on debts on time and wherever possible with any spare money overpay the debt with the largest interest rate – once this has been paid off, review debts again and pay all spare money off the debt with the current highest rate of interest.  Keep repeating the task until all debts are repaid!

5)      Even if you think you cannot afford to save any money, start small either by saving a favoured coin in a jar, such as the £2 coin – you generally don’t get many and their big and bulky, so put them in a jar….you’ll be amazed at how soon they add up.  Do a separate one for copper if possible…again they are annoying in your purse or wallet.  I wouldn’t suggest £1 coins here as we get too many of these and we need to keep something in our purses/wallets.

6)      Set up a standing order to make a payment into a different bank account each time you are paid…you will miss it initially but within a few weeks/months you will not miss it!  The amount you save no matter how small soon adds up.

7)      Review the cost of your utility bills– if you have never switched providers or have not switched in a long time, you could save quite a bit by moving to an alternative provider.  Switching to paying bills by direct debit rather than quarterly cheque payments also helps as many providers offer discounts for paying by direct debit and often charge a lower tariff for the service provided.  There are many online websites to help carry out switching such as Uswitch.com and others.

8)      If you need to get Cash back on an in store purchase ALWAYS use your Debit Card NOT your Credit Card.  Your Debit Card takes the money straight from your own bank account and generally costs nothing – by using a Credit Card you will be charged both for the transaction and also interest will apply from the day you receive the money.

9)      If you or your child are a student or in 6^th Form college – you can purchase a NUS Student Union/ NUS Extra Card.  This does cost £15 per annum however it provides money off many good and services such as Cinema entries, some restaurants, Clothes Stores, Amazon purchases plus many more.  The £15 although an expense initially not a  saving, should soon recoup its cost many times over!

10)   Sign up to Cash Back Websites, such as Quidco and TopCashBack.co.uk and get money back on your purchases or Voucher savings sites such as My Voucher Codes to get money off vouchers to use on purchases – it may not be huge amounts, but it does add up over the year and you would have been spending the money on items even without using these sites.

11)   When buying something – ask yourself - Do I need it?, will I use it, have I already got something similar…….if in doubt – do not buy go away and think about it first!

12)   Get a professional to carry out a Financial Review – it may cost you money to have one carried out but they can potentially save you money sometimes substantial amounts!

13)   Ensure you have a Will – many people plan all their lives only to be undone on death by not having a valid Will.

14)   Check your Tax Code – are you paying too much Income Tax?  If you are a non-Tax Payer are you paying Tax on your Bank/BS Savings – if so speak to the Bank and they will be able to provide you with a form to have interest payments on your accounts paid Gross.  Also if your partner is a higher rate Tax Payer than you – look to switch savings to the partner who pays lower rates of Income Tax to save tax that way.

I want to thank Stephanie for taking the time to compile that list for us, I shall be getting an NUS card for Iain post haste!

If you would like to speak to someone who really knows their stuff and can carry out that all important financial review why not speak to Stephanie at Verity Wealth Management, if she can write this list just off the top of her head can you imagine how much money she could actually save you with a proper financial review?

Sweet Poison and Davina's 5 weeks to Sugar Free

Ever since I joined Slimming World and started to respect my body a little more dear reader i've become fascinated with trying to understand how my body works and why I've always had a problem with my weight, it's only in the last couple of years I've really got to grips with that and that's why I'm more than 2 stone lighter than I was in April 2013.

Just lately as I've really been changing my life in all aspects for it I've taken a really hard look at what's going on inside my body as much as I've looked at all of the external things which affect me, my life and my business.

Last week I tentatively started on Davina's 5 weeks to Sugar Free and I'm actually really enjoying it, I've not cut out all sugar yet as it was my birthday, I went out for drinks but it's around a week since I started putting most of it into practice and I'm 2lb down, feel a lot brighter and definitely have more energy during the day.  I am also reading "Sweet Poison, why sugar makes us fat" by David Gillespie recommended to me by a friend and it's a good (although quite heavy in places) book  all around the same subject that refined sugar isn't good for us at all but we're all blooming addicted to it and if we can just restore our bodies to the way they're supposed to work we'll feel and look a whole lot better.

Now obviously I'm not a diet guru just like I'm not a life guru and actually it's probably more the case that if I can do it anyone can but we're all in this together right?  We made it through January and came out of the end better people because we took control, well this is one of the next step because we need to love ourselves and respect ourselves in all areas and that includes what we're putting in our bodies.  I love cake, i'm sorry, I do, it's not my fault!  I've just experimented by making a Victoria sponge using a recipe from Davina's book which substitutes the sugar by using Maple Syrup and which swaps white flour for wholemeal spelt, I can tell you that it was so delish that Looby asked for more!!  Ideally I think no maple syrup or honey would be the ideal but none of us are perfect so if we can just cut out most of the sugar, swap white flour for wholemeal spelt (yes I know, spelt, it sounds hideous but I promise it's not, I made a loaf, I didn't die and I didn't suffer from bloating, I didn't even have middle aged lady night sweats)  I also made our Yorkshire puddings with it yesterday and Iain (yes the one with aspergers who doesn't like anything and won't try anything) didn't notice the difference, obviously I didn't tell him until after he'd eaten them!

So if like me you're on a path to changing your whole entire life for the better why not give it a go, you can still have pies (wholemeal spelt crust) and you can still have pizza (home made with wholemeal spelt) and you can still have bread and the changes you need to make are minimal, it's actually a lot simpler than I thought and I was doing a lot of it with Slimming World anyway, the one thing I wasn't doing was I was having a lot of low fat things and they seem to contain some not very nice things and some hidden sugars in some cases so now I'm making sure I'm moving back to basics, I'm a pretty good cook and I really enjoy baking and cooking, I find it's actually relaxing, especially if you can put on the radio and dance with your beagle!

So now we're into February, I hope you're continuing on the path to being a better you, you know what I'm working on, well lets just say by the end of the year I hope I'll be able to help you be a better you in person and online, more about that coming up soon...

Taking stock of January

It's February tomorrow dear reader, a whole new month, Holly will be 8 months old and I'll be, well lets just say it's my birthday but if anyone asks I am 35 and sticking ;)  I heard that people are allowed to wish Philip Schofield happy birthday but no one is ever allowed to refer to how old he is, well he's perpetually young so if that's all it takes I'll just tell people I'm 35 forever.

So it's the end of January and I am taking stock of the last month, it's been quite a month for me personally, this month has been about helping myself and others to get control of their lives so that they (and I) can become fuller, better, richer, more fulfilled people.  I want to thank you for all of the messages, comments, discussions on my Facebook (that's my personal Facebook, please do feel free to add me, but not if you're an axe wielding psychopath).  It's great to be able to help others to help themselves and sometimes it's just as much as getting someone else to vocalise the questions you can't seem to ask yourself, I of course do this myself with others who are far more knowledgeable like the amazing Leonie Dawson for instance!  I'm sure you'll hear much more about her as we go through the year.

The very most important thing I did of course was to start the month forgiving myself and anyone who'd ever hurt me, it's given me the power to build the entire foundations of my new life and it's a wonderful amazing thing and life is only going to continue to get better and better.  This single point has brought forth the most questions I've had asked and I just want to reiterate that it's not about knocking on everyones door who has ever wronged you, it's just about you making your peace with yourself, the universe and God and I think from experience that actually it was a lot harder for me to find inner forgiveness and be at peace with myself more than anyone else but my goodness, my shoulders relaxed straightaway and one physical thing I've noticed is that I've had far less neck pain during January, I think holding onto things just builds up inside you and it can actually cause physical pain, of course you have to be able to let go and this was something I covered yesterday, it's taken me time to reconnect with my own emotions and let myself be truly happy, sad, excited, interested instead of pretty numb to it all.  As many of you know I am bi-polar and I take medication which does control at least some of my emotions but I found that digging inside myself I can still reach them all, I just had to look a teeny bit harder.

Look, I'm really proof that if I can do it, screwed up, made a mess of it a billion times and bought the T-shirt then for you, well not only is it possible but it's an absolute definite!

The first key to everything is a simple smile in the mirror at yourself, fake it till you make it if you have to, it's been proven psychologically that if someone smiles at you it makes you happier and if you smile at yourself it makes you happy.

So what are you waiting for?  Smile at yourself, be happy and lets all leap into February and have the best month together we've all had for years!

I shall be starting mine off with dog walking, lunching, caking and champagning, sounds like a good first of February to me!