My Deep Fat Fryer has been an absolute god send during this 6 week holiday so far (although I know we are only 1 week in so far - but, it has been really useful for after school and half-term holidays too).

I say this because my 7 year old loves fast food, and there is a famous fast food restaurant very close to his school, which we visit sometimes.

The food there, though, has become super expensive over this cost of living crisis, which was why I decided to invest in a Deep Fat Fryer in the first place.

I tend to buy supermarket own brand chips, chicken nuggets, etc., fry it, and top it up with store brand condiments, and breakfast/lunch/dinner is served!

Best of all, I tend to always have a supply of chips, chicken nuggets, etc., in the freezer, so I never have to worry when my son fancies this type of meal, when it's about 9.00 o'clock at night, and having to travel to a Fast Food place for it, as I only have to go as far as my freezer for it, knowing that it will cost a fraction of the price!

I also never have to worry about having to buy extra portions of, say - chips at a fast food restaurant if my son runs out of them, because I often find that the fast food restaurant portions are often too small, whereas when I buy a big bag of store brand chips, for say £1, I can make my son several portions of chips from that one bag. It really is more economical.

I don't give my son fried food often, and do have an air fryer as well, because I know that they are a lot more healthier way of cooking food - but every now and then won't hurt, and keeps me happy knowing that my son is fed, and is happy for being fed too!

Well it's half term again been lovely weather so just been visiting local parks and walking to save money for the summer holidays where I'm hoping to take the kids a few places and maybe camping is an option to save money and it will be fun.

You hello I'm going to answer the question of the week what's your relationship with paid employment? So at the moment I'm doing three jobs and I have a daughter, nearly twelve that still lives at home so when this school holidays about? Luckily she can spend about half the time with her dad which gives me a bit of space but I basically just run in and out of the house doing my job and I think if I didn't have my job I would really struggle with just doing childcare because I just have to keep going all the time. I enjoy working but sometimes I enjoy having a rest that I don't get much chance to do or just going somewhere nice in the school holidays, which would be good. York is particularly good to visit, but yeah, I think when my kids were younger it was hard but I still always worked and I was also doing a degree at university that I did struggle with as well at the time there was a lot going on so being a mother is also a full time job. Working as well is quite stressful. When your kids are about, I think it's important to have time for yourself. Just sit in the garden, look at the flowers, go for a mindfulness walk or just something that didn't have to cost money to give you some space.

I like sewing, listening music, cooking, etc. which makes me feel better. Sometimes chatting with family members back home refreshes my mind. Celebrating occasions with my family members gives me a restart of my life and less worry for the current situation for time being. Surfing the internet scrolling down with Facebook is now a new addition to my daily life for lifting up my mood.

We always try to do dinner together to have a family time together in this busy life. Sometimes we cook together for a special day celebration otherwise organise a meal out on our special occasion. We always have a plan to play together like carom board or chess but not always it happened. Always tried to do extra bit to make other family members smile such as doing house chores, etc.

I think I’m quite good at looking after myself (after years of self discovery and learning). I enjoy running - aiming for at least 3-4 miles a week. I walk the dog, although the best walks are the scenic ones near water and in the woods/open fields. I journal as often as I can - not always daily, but frequently. I read books (but often get distracted and end up doom scrolling my phone). However the phone is a source of helpful resources as I listen to audiobooks and podcasts. My favourite podcast is Parenting Hell which has me laughing out loud. Spending time with friends, having a coffee and catch up is always conducive to my wellbeing - as a single parent who works from home - I recognise the days without adult interaction in person, are not my happiest days!

Music - I put headphones on and listen to the tunes of my childhood.

For me, what I do is to feel better is try and get out of the house. I'm disabled. I'm registered disabled. So it is what it is. But I got arthritis in both my knees. I struggle to walk, so I often go out when I can in a mobility scooter, and sometimes I just go out for fun, just take a trip. And instead of getting the bus out somewhere, I'll just have my mobility scooter or I'll just go out and get the train somewhere just to get out of the house. I've got a Freedom Pass, so I use that just to go out and about and travel around London. Sometimes I just go up by the River Thames, have a spot of lunch and come home. Just get out the house, really, for me is the main thing of sort of by sanity.

I used to love going to salsa socials although I recently swapped this for weekly online chair yoga/dance classes. There's a small fee to pay and they are organised through a private group for people with similar health issues to me, but the classes were fun to do.

For the sake of my sanity I also practice meditation as often as I can. I used to enjoy attending local classes face to face whenever I could but the pandemic put a stop it. In fact I've only recently started using a meditation app on my phone. I stumbled across the app through an email subscription I've received for years and never bothered with but a video on it caught my eye and has opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me. I now prefer the app to 'real' classes because as well as saving me money it also allows me to meditate in the comfort of my own home.

In addition, we love trips to local beaches, or the woods in good weather. We take a big bag of bird seed with us. It's become a cheap new hobby to go bird feeding if that's even a thing?! It's a great way to get children, young and old, engaged in something that benefits wildlife and is rewarding to do. We all get so excited to see the birds flock around us while we scatter seed for them. There are some lovely parks with ponds a short car ride away. One of them has a model railway ride which is very popular with families. There's no charge but a donation is welcomed. Never too old to enjoy a ride on it but having a grandchild to ride with, makes it all the more worthwhile.

I like to pamper myself with a lovely foot spa or give myself a facial beauty treatment using some of the kits I have at the house for them.

Also, I have a few body massagers which I also use, whenever I get time, they are great for relieving any built up tension.

Such treatments help a lot with my wellbeing and makes me feel refreshed and rejuvenated.

I guess the money waves, like the little things that make me feel a bit better, especially with the crushing cost of living crisis. Well, it has dominated into my mental health crisis. It's basically just to take time to breathe, to find something in the day that makes me feel happy, like walking outside my house, and I live to the left of this beautiful mountain, and it just does genuinely make me feel a little bit better. It's not going to solve all the problems alive, especially with the cost of living over here being so high, but it does make me acknowledge that there are some things that are decent and nice and nature is just one of the things that I love. And now that the nicer weather is coming in, one thing that my friends started to do with me whenever I went on to Universal credit, was that every Saturday she takes me and the children out with her child and just having something to look forward to makes life just that little bit better. So I'm really looking forward tomorrow, Saturday, to probably going for a wee drive or going to Ikea, just to like, window shop or just going for a coffee. And it's just really something each week that me and the kids kind of count down to Saturday, where we look forward to that. Because I don't drive, it's that exciting, being in somebody else's car and being chauffeured about. So I guess it's just finding little tiny things that don't cost the earth to try to look forward to every wake or every day, just to make life that little bit better. With everything that's going on around in the world.

I like to go for a walk in the nature to de-stress and for exercise. I also enjoy reading a good book and needlecraft.