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The Stresses and Strains of Caring for Elderly Parents
You love your parents unconditionally; throughout your entire life they have done so much for you, but now it’s your turn to return the favour. You are suddenly feeling the pressure to take care of them a lot more now that they are getting older. You feel like you have to stay strong for the kids, but everyday is a struggle. You are constantly trying to balance your time between caring for your elderly parents, holding down a job and looking after your youngsters. This point in your life has never felt so tough and you’re not sure how to get out of the vicious circle you have entered. Taking…
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Simple Ways to Break the Cycle of Debt
Everybody gets into debt at some point in their lives. Sometimes, you just can’t avoid borrowing money. That’s not a problem if you can pay it all back easily but it doesn’t take much to get into a cycle of debt. Once you’re in that cycle, it’s incredibly difficult to get out of it. If you find yourself in this position, you’ll be spending a lot of money on interest payments every single month and it’s incredibly difficult to manage your budget. It could also affect you later in life because your credit score is going to suffer. That’s why it’s important to get out of that cycle of debt…
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Why I decided to get a Contract Phone
For many years, being money-conscious, I have avoided mobile phone contracts. Instead, I have opted to buy a cheap Android phone (often used or refurbished) outright for around £100-£150, and then I have used a pay monthly sim card and paid a set amount for calls, texts and data. Most recently, I have been paying £15 a month to Giffgaff. Recently however, I became extremely tempted by the Huawei P20 Pro phone, mainly due to the beautiful photos it could produce. As someone who takes at least a dozen photos a day, I had severe camera envy. However, at around £600 to buy outright, it was way out of my…
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Free Entry to Edinburgh Castle (and other Historic Scotland properties) each November
Fancy visiting a palace or a castle this month? Did you know that Historic Scotland are giving away free entry to many of their properties over the weekend of 24th-25th November 2018 to celebrate St Andrew’s Day, including free entry to Edinburgh Castle which normally costs £17+ for an adult… if you are a family of four, entry could potentially cost £60 so it is normally an expensive day out. All the more reason to snap up some free tickets! Free entry is available for the following properties: Aberdour Castle & Gardens Arbroath Abbey Blackness Castle Bothwell Castle Caerlaverock Castle Castle Campbell & Gardens Craigmillar Castle Dallas Dhu Historic Distillery…
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My Favourite Budgeting App for Couples
A few months ago, noticing that we were massively overspending, my husband and I decided that it was time to start setting a monthly budget, and most importantly – sticking to it. We decided the best way to track how much we were spending would be via an app, as we always have our phones with us therefore there would be no excuses for not inputting each expense. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to find a (free) budgeting app for couples i.e. not just for individual users. We wanted to be able to keep track of our budget in real time, not have to add together each…
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Everything I Wasn’t Going To Do (Before I Had Kids)
Do you remember before kids, when you had all these ideas about what kind of parent you would be? How you would silently judge parents, and think to yourself ‘I would never do that“. I was a wonderful hypothetical parent… now that I have two actual children, here’s how I am getting on in the real world with all the rules I set myself pre-kids… I would exclusively breastfeed until they were at least one year old After all, it’s the most natural thing in the world. So it must be easy… right? It turned out that my daughter wouldn’t latch so we struggled through five months of using nipple…
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How to Survive the Terrible Twos
Phew, we did it. My daughter recently turned three which means we made it out of the terrible twos alive. There were definitely times when I wasn’t sure we would get through it. Constant tantrums, in the worst of places (midway through crossing the road was one of her favourite spots). The stubbornness. Waking up in a bad mood and staying that way all day. Don’t get me wrong, these things haven’t disappeared overnight, but now that she is three, things are much calmer in our household. Here are my top tips on how to survive the terrible twos… Remember that it’s just a phase I know you might roll…
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Money Saving Monday: 3 Ways I Saved Money Last Week (24/09/18)
Did everyone have a nice weekend? We had a lovely time visiting the zoo on Saturday and we spent a lovely sunny Sunday morning at one of our favourite local spots, Craigies. It is Monday once again – here’s 3 of the little things I did last week to save money. As we are flying off to sunny Spain at the end of this week, it’s a bit of a holiday special! Instead of picking up our Euros last minute at the airport, where you get a a terrible exchange rate, I pre-ordered and collected at the Post Office, saving about £10 (not much but it will pay for a…
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So, I went to see my GP about my anxiety…
I’ve been a bit quiet on the blog this week. In real life, I have fallen off the radar too. This is a scary post to write. We are living of an era of increased transparency about mental health. There is a lot on social media about talking openly about the struggles we are happening, which I read and nod in agreement. Yet, here I am, a hypocrite, unsure whether or not to write about my own experience. Well, here goes: this week I finally went to see my GP about my anxiety… I have always been a worrier, but since having kids, it seems to be getting worse and…
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Money Saving Monday: 3 Ways I Saved Money Last Week (17/09/18)
Monday is here once again – here’s 3 of the little things I did last week to save money: I didn’t do my usual big weekly shop last week, instead I have been running down the freezer. Turns out I have a lot of bags of frozen cauliflower stashed away so we have been enjoying warming cauliflower soup (spiced with nutmeg) – a perfect dinner now that the nights are setting in and the temperatures are dropping. The weather has turned really horrible up here… we were going to go to soft play on Wednesday but instead I spent the evening before setting up fun activities to do throughout the…