Hating suprises

A few Christmases ago I had a bit of a meltdown over a gift from my parents. To anyone on the outside I guess I would have been comparable to a spoilt toddler having a tantrum because she didn't get the toy she wanted. My mum didn't take it personally though.

To set the scene for you, I'd just made Christmas dinner for the whole family for the second time not having learnt my lesson the first time round that the stress of cooking a 3 course meal for 8 people, and the burns and mess were simply something I shouldn't volunteer to put myself through again. But hey if you listen to anyone round here I'm stubborn.  

My mum handed me the gift - I hate gifts. Or at least, I hate things I haven't specifically asked for. So I open this gift, it's a pair of socks. They're soft, cosy, fluffy. I love soft, cosy, fluffy socks. But Oh My God. I put them on. Aggrh the discomfort. The seams. The unusually long length. They feel just soo wrong. I try to keep them on and show thanks but the stress and discomfort is unbearable. I'm walking around in these socks, crying and laughing at the same time. It's ridiculous that socks can make me cry. 

Luckily my mum was laughing with me. She knows what I'm like. She still tries to buy me surprises occasionally, knowing full well I'll probably freak out. I know she means well but Oh My God I hate surprises. 

Claire x

Tackling clutter when you're unorganised

We're on a roll......

These past few weeks has seen us sorting out our finance, but we've also started to get rid of all the clutter in the house. I love, love, love this. I am super untidy and Mr H is a massive hoarder so I'll leave the state of our house to your imagination! Having less stuff in the house though certainly helps me - apart from the obvious that there's less to keep tidy, it's also that sense of calm that comes from having less stuff around. We've done this in a number of ways and we're still going!

After watching this TED talk  I was inspired to get up the next day and spend half an hour clearing out 3 huge bags of stuff from the bedroom that I hadn't touched since we moved into our place a year ago. Without a word of encouragement* Mr H joined in and filled a few more bags and loaded the car up and off we went to the charity shop and the recycling center. It felt great. We'd actually achieved something. I hate they way us humans feel the need to have so much stuff. I think we could easily get rid of half the stuff in our house and still be just as happy, if not happier.

The other thing that has helped massively is Mr H decided to sell some of his 'might be worth a bit in the future' toys that were filling the loft and that made a few pennies on ebay. If you struggle with this type of thing try and get a family member or friend to help you. Maybe you can offer to help with something that they're not so good at in exchange for them selling some of your things that you no longer want.



Its all a process

Whilst this is just the beginning of the process I feel really positive about what we've been doing. Some of you guys are probably doing bigger and better things but I'm happy with where we're at. I've tried to tackle our clutter before but always felt so overwhelmed that I've let it slip very quickly, or in some cases not even known where to start. Little and often is the key. Don't see these things as huge jobs that need doing right away, see them as a process of changing the way you do things. Break each task down into small manageable tasks and only when you've achieved one do you go on to the next.


I'd love to hear if any of you are de-cluttering? How do you tackle big overwhelming tasks?

Claire x

(*come on guys we all know I mean nagging)

Hating the feeling of make-up on your skin but not being brave enough to go barefaced to work

Feeling stupid when everyone in the meeting is laughing at something someone said but you don't understand why they are laughing

Working really really hard to keep up at work but being told by your boss you're not working fast enough over and over again

Trying to explain to your employers you struggle with certain things for them to label you as lazy like every employer you've had before them

Going hungry at work because you left your lunch on the table at home with your purse next to it, again

Getting huge headaches day after day because you told your employer you have a problem with bright lights so they moved your desk right under a fluorescent light

Putting up with comments about the way you look from the men you work with because you can't think of what to say when put on the spot

What does dyspraxia mean to you?

Claire x

Taking control of your finances

Money, money, money

If you're anything like me you won't be the best with money. I've tried time and time again to 'be good' when it comes to controlling my spending and to try and get something into savings. Having started a job in the debt advice sector it's made me really analyse our spending habits as a family and basically has been a huge wake up call about how bad we are with money. Not only did we have no savings we'd also been overspending each month and piling it on credit cards. So after a mooch around the net and stumbling across Mr Money Mustache (seriously love this guy!) I'd found my latest obsession - sorting out our money situation.

So we've gone all guns blazing on trying to pay off this debt we've got hanging around like a bad smell. Looking at our spending habits over a couple of months was a SHOCKER! I recommend you all go do this (but be prepared to be horrified!). We certainly were when we realised aside from our mortgage our biggest outgoing was on food and eating out, spending a few hundred pounds each month on restaurants and coffee. Ouch. The easiest way I found to do this was to split our spending into main headings such as food, transport, eating out, clothes.... and working through our bank statements total up the spending for each category.

Time for a kick up the bum

The first logical step was to start out by doing a budget that included all the essentials that we have to pay for:

Essentials:
Mortgage
Building & contents insurance
Landline & internet
Food
Mobile phones
Pet insurance
TV licence
Council tax
Car insurance
Fuel
Car Insurance
Mr H's car HP - this ones a bummer, it's not something I wanted him to get in the first place but he's tied into it now so we just got to suck it up and pay it
Little H's sports clubs - most of these double us a childcare now that I'm working

Then we added in a couple of things that although we're essential, we really didn;t want to get rid of completely:

Non essential:
£50 a month allowance for social/entertainment costs
Little H's pocket money - he has to do jobs for this and only gets it on the agreement he puts half into his savings account
Clothing - we haven't set an amount for this but realistically things need replacing now and again like little H needing new school shoes this month. All non essential clothing costs have gone though, we're making do with what we have.

Next up I opened us a joint bank account that we have all our bills going out of and then use a 0% cashback credit card to do all the food shopping which we then pay off in full on payday.
So on pay day I transfer most of our wages from our accounts into the joint account. The only money we leave in our single accounts is fuel money Mr H, and a little in my account to cover pocket money and sports clubs. Anything left over after this goes on paying the debts off and some goes into our savings account for things we know we have coming up like birthdays, Christmas, & school trips.

Our first steps to being debt free

It's been a couple of months and so far things are going great. We've paid off nearly £3,000 in debt and saved just over £1,000 (this may seem strange but we're off to New York next month as we'd already booked and paid for it before deciding to go on a spending freeze).

At this rate we're hoping to be debt free in the next 6-8 months and then we can really ramp up the saving. I'll keep you posted.

Are you good with money or do you find it hard to control your spending?

Claire x

Job hunting with dyspraxia

Wow you guys! I'm totally amazed at how many of you stopped by to read my post about what dyspraxia means to me. It's clear to see that dyspraxia affects a whole bunch of you all around the world to some degree. So I want to say a big thank you to you all, you're fab.

As the post was so popular I've been considering writing more about living with dyspraxia. I already posted my tips for trying to keep a tidy home here.

I've not posted in a while as I started a new job earlier in the year so it's taken a while to get my act in to gear! Finding work and starting a new job can be hard enough for most people but with a hidden disability like dyspraxia things can be, well, a tad tricky I guess.

In all honesty I'd love nothing more than to be able to just find something I'm good at that can bring in enough money so that I don't have to work for someone. It would make my life so much easier and I'm sure many of you can relate to that. Unfortunately I'm yet to find that something so I'm battling on in the world of employment. I won't lie, it's not easy. Its a struggle some days and my current employers seem to have the same lack of understanding that all my previous employers have had when it comes to hidden disabilities.

To any of you currently looking for work, keep at it. I had so many applications ignored and rejected. My biggest knock back was when I interviewed for a job that I desperately wanted at a charity I'd worked for before. The interview was with a girl I'd worked for and knew, and they were well aware I had dyspraxia. What unfolded in the interview room was confidence shattering. The questions were so long winded that by the time the interviewer had finished asking them I couldn't have told you what she'd asked me for toffee. By the end of the 40 minutes having asked her to repeat most questions at least twice I was stumbling over my words and struggling to get any coherent sentences out. It was not a pleasant experience and certainly not one I'd like to repeat but hey if someone wants to treat me like that in an interview then they sure as hell don't deserve to have me work for them.

To any of you having similar struggles - don't let it get you down. Anyone would be lucky to have you work for them. You are amazing and unique and whilst you struggle with some elements of life, you sure do make up for it in other areas.

If any of you have any specific questions about applying for jobs or doing interviews then ask me in the comments below......

Have a great weekend,
Claire x

Love that #5

Totally in love with these.

Hello Merch

Vans are the comfiest ever. I totally need to add these to my collection.

Vans

I can't decide which of these I love the most.

Mokuyobi Threads

Ha ha this made me chuckle.

Miss Harry

Cats and sprinkles? Yes please!

I like CATS

Enough to brighten up the dullest of days.

Rocket Dog

Hunting for an outfit for a wedding and this little beauty pops up.

Rock N Roll Bride for Crown & Glory

Hope you guys have a great weekend xxx