Could be harder than I thought.

Oh SO much harder. Great stuff in the sales, you know, birthday gifts, clothes, face paints ( you never know when you might need face paints) kitchen stuff.......keep cheque book in bag, must have saved £60 today. I took some stuff back to the store and exchanged it for nice stuff for ME, that feels good because I bought the original stuff before christmas and then decided not to give the gift after all, not suitable blah blah, so to exchange it and get me something, well that feels like getting something for nothing.
Shopping, grocery shopping, I am a buy one get one free, bargain hunting, fill the cupboards, freak.
I am not doing that now. If we need the offers then I will get it, otherwise wait til we do need it.
Cash only shopping, on a budget. When you know that you have X amount and its going to last a week, well that changes how you do things...but it's HARD! I took twice as long shopping because I kept putting things back, talking myself out of things, walking back to make sure I didn't want it. I think I got a big pain not buying things.
Also, eating.....that makes me talk to myself too, walking back from town..." hmmm pasty for lunch...no not pasty, homebaked ham and salad, delicious and already paid for...saving £1.75 and healthy too....but pasties are so nice and hot and already to eat....too bad, eat what is there and healthy and you will feel GOOD." See what I mean?
How quickly I slipped into the eating on the go without thinking trap again and how PAINFUL and slow it is going to be to get back into that simple way of eating, or not eating......eating is such a non thinking thing for me, I can eat while I do pretty much anything else, drive / eat. Watch TV / eat. Shop / eat . Read / eat, for me, eating has nothing to do with hunger, its just nice to do, I am so mad at myself that I have to retrain myself all over again. Darn it.
My coat is tighter again, double darn it.
My clothes feel.......miserable and messy and horrible. I don't feel good at all. Getting back into the 'kind to me' frame of mind is helping though, I like that I feel better almost immediately, even when I am still pining for the food that makes me feel so miserable.
I do love chips though.
Tough having the best fish and chip shop and the most divine bakery within sitting distance from my front door. Tough indeed.
I have been out, in the fresh air, using my legs, 2 days running. More of a head down battle against the persistant rain and wind than a heart thumping aerobic workout, but we're making a small effort, air was taken in and expelled. We all have to start somewhere, who knows where it will end? I might get further than the other side of town ( which sounds sort of impressive until I tell you that it takes maybe 20 minutes to get to the other side, if you look into shop windows as you go!) Today I am just proud of having gone from one end to the other without hitting a bakery or Costa coffee who do the best and most enormous hot chocolate. Well done me.
Tomorrow I fill up the pots, then we shall begin our journey into sticking with the budget proper. Good.