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Simplified Mum Life

Nina A Spencer – Motherhood Mentor – Simplifying the every day for busy overwhelmed mums -Mum Of Twins Twice! Placenta Accreta Survivor, Mental Health Champion, On my own simple living Journey filled with adventure and travel . Embracing The Imperfectly, Chaotic moments of motherhood.
Adventures

Belvoir Castle Simple Family Days #AD

A great family day out

This weekend we headed out to Belvoir Castle located in rural Leicestershire’s Vale of Belvoir. The Castle is dated back to the eleventh century and is home to the Duchess of Rutland and family. You can explore some of the castle and marvel at the decoration inside as well as exploring the 7 gardens outside.

Castle Life and Treasure Hunt

Once we had worked our way up the hill to the castle we left the pushchair outside and headed in to explore. One of the guides told the big twins about the teddy hunt around the castle. The kids set to straight away looking for hidden teddy bears. I’m told this teddy hunt is on daily through weekends and holidays.

As a lot of the rooms are upstairs we opted to leave the pushchair and let the littlest twins walk around. There is so much to see during your visit and if you book a guided tour from one of the knowledgable tour guides I’m sure you wouldn’t be disappointed. We didn’t have a tour guide, however just chatting with a couple of the guides I actually learnt a thing or two about life in and around Belvoir.

Once we had found all of the bears in the hunt you inevitably end in the gift shop to pick up the teddy hunt prize.

Explore the Gardens

We picked a good day weather wise for our day out at the Castle. We were able to explore some of the extensive gardens around the property. The gardens are great for tiring out the little ones. Our big two enjoyed playing hide and seek and running off on their own while the little twins tried their best to keep up!

Engine Yard & Play Area

Once we had worked up an appetite exploring the beautiful gardens we headed over the road to the Engine Yard. Where we had a well earned cuppa and some cake at The Fuel Tank. Of course once we had stopped off at the play park. We obviously didn’t tire the kids out enough walking around the Castle grounds.

The Engine yard is home to a range of boutique shops as well as The Balloon Bar. The Ballon Bar was New for Summer 2019.

A Great Family Day Out

Choosing Belvoir as a location for a summer day won’t disappoint. There is ample parking and several places for a good cuppa, lunch or even tapas and a cocktail.

belvoir castle,

Nina x

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Uncategorized

What is Simple Living?

I am on a journey to living more simply for better wellbeing but what is simple living? What could be classed as Simple Life?

If you head off into the the obis of google you can find loads on simplifying life. Rules to follow, decluttering techniques and more. It can be a little overwhelming to say the least.

I have decided to set my own simple list of simple living ideas and what it means to me.

Can I even have a simple life as a mum to 2 sets of twins? I mean just leaving the house is quite a complex task. The amount of things we need to carry on a daily basis!

simple living, beach art, rock stacking

5 Simple Living Ideas

I’ve been doing a little research into living a more simple life and I have come up with a set of rules. Hopefully These will create a simpler way to live for my family.

Declutter for simple living

The big one to start with for any Simple living lifestyle is decluttering. I have been on this mission for as long as I can remember. One piece of advise I heard is just start. Though I think working on decluttering on a bigger scale is in order for it to really impact positively on our Simple living lifestyle.

Rhythms and Routines

I know as well as most that creating a daily routine can make for a less stressful time especially on school days. Creating these routines or rhythms is essential for simple living.

Daily rhythms are personal to our circumstances therefore we need to create ones that fit the time of life we are in right now.

When we find a routine that fits our time of life it means we dont have to think as much about the things that need doing. Like brushing your teeth or making a cuppa first thing. Why not add emptying the dishwasher to that list and do it every day in the same order. You will have created a rhythm before you know it. Then it just gets done as part of your everyday.

Simplify Money & Spending Habits

Is it really as simple as not spending money? Well yes and no. Most things cost money. Food, clothing, our homes, e.t.c.
We need to start a budget and not impulse buy. Write lists for things we need.

Paying off debts is is a huge way to simplify finances and something we have been working on for a while.

Food Made Easy

Following on from Money and making lists for less spending is food. Creating meal plans for our weekly meals not only saves us money but it also takes away the stress of thinking what to eat each day.

A lot of the research I have done into simple living also suggests eating a more organic unprocessed diet. which we all know is good for our health.

In my bid to live a more simple life I plan to mostly cook and eat a less processed diet. Add more fresh fruit and vegetables into our daily life, however I am realistic I will also throw in some more quick and dare I say fast food meals because you know 4 children and all that. Sometimes you have to go for the easy option.

ECO Friendly

For a long time I have sat with my head in the ground regarding living more eco friendly. I have used disposable plastics and not thought about the consequences on the world we are leaving for our children. I think alot of us are guilty of this.

The past few months though I have been trying to find alternatives. making swaps within our life to help with the plastic crisis and our effect on the planet.

Making more conscious decisions for eco living is high up there on my list for simple living.

I hope this list will inspire you to start your simple living journey. Remember little steps each day. Maybe make up your own rules to suit your season of life.

Nina x

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bucket list

18 Summers – Number 8!

Has anyone else seen the posts going around the internet about the fact that we only get 18 summers with our kids? I am on Summer number 8 already. Now, Although there are only 18 until they can legally abandon you it doesn’t mean they are forced to. Its our job to make sure we create enough good memories so that they want to still spend time with you during their adult years. I have been creating a summer bucket list and other holiday bucket lists for our school holidays for as long as I can remember. It helps so that we dont waste our time then at the end of the holidays we have lots of good memories to share.

Summer Bucket List

I find it so beneficial to create a bucket list for different seasons in our life and for the different holidays to make the most of our time together. Since starting my simple living journey I know how important it is to keep our schedule simple too.

Keep it simple

This year my bucket list is paired down so that we can have a slow summer holiday and enjoy every moment. I have broken our bucket list into 5 different sections.

In addition to our bucket list I plan on scaling down my workload so that I can focus more time on being present and less time scrolling through my instagram feed.

Summer 2109 Bucket list

Kids & Family

  • Swimming
  • Geocaching
  • Play Park
  • Sandcastle Building

Travel

  • Cornwall Road trip
  • Whitby
  • Maltby Weekend

Me

  • Sea Swim
  • Lone Coffee
  • Yoga
  • Less time online

Couple Time

  • Cinema Date
  • London Evening

Food

  • Campfire Marshmallows
  • BBQ
  • Pancakes
  • Seaside Fish ‘N’ Chips
  • Ice cream

This may look like a lengthy list however they are all simple little things that make great family memories. None of them involve lots of money or thought and some of them can be done with a little spontaneity.

Great Summer Memories

This is what makes a great summer for me. Getting up in a morning, deciding on the days plans while sat in bed cartoons on and a cuppa in hand.

I’d love to know whats on your family Summer bucket list?

Nina x

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Meal Plan Monday

Meal Plan Monday – June 17th

Another week another meal plan Monday. Last week was my first Hello fresh box trial.

Now before I start with this weeks plan I just thought I would give my thoughts on my hello fresh box.

Hello Fresh

When the box arrived I was so very excited to start. The box comes with separate bags for each days dinner. This is so handy and means you can just put it away until you need it.

I thought the meals were delicious. There was plenty enough to feed our family of 6. in fact there was quite a bit left over for some meals.

In conclusion for now we wont be having another box although with the discount the box is a good price a full price box is a bit to expensive for our family at the moment.

Right back to this week.

Meal Plan Monday

Meal planning relives the stress after school of thinking what your going to make for dinner each day. There is nothing worse than getting to 4pm and realising you have no idea what to cook or that you have nothing in to cook.

Breakfasts

Our Breakfasts for this week will consist of..

Cereal for school Mornings

On Friday while the kids are all in childcare I have a few chores to run so it will probably be a breakfast while I’m out and about.

Lunch

Just myself and the little twins for most of this week.

Monday – Snack plate for all.

Tuesday –

Wednesday –

Thursday –

Friday – Coffee Shop Lunch

Saturday – Picnic lunch

Sunday – Fathers Day Lunch.

Dinner

On to our Dinner Plans. Dinner time is my most stressful time of the day. The kids are often hungry after school but if I give them snacks before dinner they often wont then eat their dinner. The little twins need their dinner quite early too so that they can settle ready for bed.

Meal Plan Monday

Monday – Veggie Sausage & mash – Onion gravy

Tuesday – Lemon Chicken

Wednesday – Nuggets & Chips

Thursday – Pasta Bolognese Bake

Friday – Take Out Friday

Saturday – BBQ – lets try again.

Sunday – Home Cooked Sunday roast

Dont forget I often post on my Instagram feed or in my stories the meals we are having and our daily adventures.

Nina x

Joining in with Katy Kicker – Meal Plan Linky

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Hub

From Living Anxious to Simply Living! The start Of My Journey.

I have been blogging since around 2008. When I started I was suffering with Infertility and Insomnia. This led to anxiety and bouts of depression. Years later and I still live with with mental health issues, Now though I am on a journey Living more consciously and simply to stay on top of my wellbeing.

Living Consciously and Simply to stay on top of my wellbeing.

There has been a lot of influences in the past few years that have finally kickstarted my Simplify journey. The main thing that has led me to dreaming of a better life for my family and myself is surviving the rare pregnancy condition Placenta Percreta. I got over the initial few months of physical recovery from this truly scary time and hit crisis point. I vowed then to live a better life and and give my family a better me.

So what am I doing on my consciously living Journey?

There are a number things I have changed to live a better life. Some things I am still trying to work through. Decluttering and living more simply to getting more exercise and eating a better diet are a few ways.

Living simply

I have been trying to live more simply since my mental health hit crisis point. Saying no to more things, pulling things out of my diary and just living each day as they come. Having four children really can add to a full diary. I am trying to be careful about what I put in there.

To add to living more simply I have been trying to declutter the house. Living a more minimalist life within our home. I have got rid of a lot of things there is still such a long way to go.

Travel

For a while I toyed with the idea of taking the kids out of school and travelling. We did actually home school for a while but funds and patience was a big issue so they have ended up back in school.

Now though we have learnt how to travel more budget friendly. heading out on a weekend traveling to new places and making new little adventures.

There are a few little trips we take that take us to places further a field too. These are so special to us as we work hard to be able to show the children more of the world.

Becoming more Eco Friendly

For a while I have been a little bit blind sighted. Be that consciously (head in the sand kind of thing) Or subconsciously. Blind sighted to the sheer amount of waste we produce as a household. The amount of items we buy that amount to the plastic pollution crisis. Making bad or uninformed choices that can negatively impact the world we leave for our children.

I have recently been trying to make more eco friendly choices. Make changes to become more eco friendly.

Exercise & Healthy Diet

I have tried to start living a more healthy life. Changing my diet, taking up more movement in my daily life and adding more exercise throughout my week. I have a little issue with will power and nap-time bingeing however I am really trying to stay on top of this and get fitter for life in my 40s and beyond.

Blogging / Telling My Story

A few weeks ago I push myself out of my comfort zone and spoke to a group of WI women. It was in fact my own WI which somehow made it even more scary.

I believe that telling our story getting our words out there can really help other people feel less alone in their own story. It doesn’t have to be about mental health, or something tragic it can be just our daily slog of being a parent. Its sometimes all you need to know that its not just your new baby that doesn’t sleep. I have told many of my stories here and over on my instagram feed and I often get replies of gratitude for sharing. This really helps with my own wellbeing, knowing that I have helped someone else.

Unplug

Finally unplug. I am a self confessed screen addict. There have been times in the past that I have had days for switching off. I am finding getting into a better routine for working helps with putting my phone down more and switching off the screen.

There is a lot of work to do on becoming better at switching off. Maybe restarting my screen free posts could help.

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Where to next?