Things I like to have in my home

I love that I can look out of the window and see nature. Nature is beautiful with the different birds and wildlife. The best time is watching the sun rise. 

There is no feeling like it and gives me so much pride and enjoy. I am thankful for the things in my life and home. 

I love that I can have toast with Marmalade or on some days a bacon sandwich. 

I like traditional English food and you can't beat a fry up or a bowl of porridge even in the summer. 

In the summertime its oranges, apples and love a bit of lime or lemon in some water or orange juice and this week bought some blueberries, along with having crackers and cheese. I love mini cucumbers so versatile and had these sliced on a cracker with butter. You can't beat it along with Dairylea. I am very old school.

I like a room that has many uses. My living room for example I use for eating in, watching TV, creating my blogs and books and working out. My garden. Playing football in the garden, journal and read. 

Washing up inspired this blog because I love my take away cup which I use for my cold coffee in the morning and can go out with it. It was from Primark and a hack. Clean inside the straw with a barbecue skewer. 

I love my mugs. I invest in a good mug for my tea and coffee, when I want a hot coffee and I have inherited some when my mum and step dad moved and I have an insulated mug for my hot drinks and takeaway insulated cup.

It wouldn't be a home if it didn't have a fireplace and even though we don't use it to heat up the home it is still a great place and would like to use it again. See if I can persuade my husband, but for now we have my sons toys and badges he's won at his sports clubs and has a shelf where we use for drinks, clock, the box that we use for heating the home and my husband and loves his dart board. 

And no this is not near the fireplace, it is on the wall and often my son and my husband will play and even I will have a go. 

Now that is not a must, but my son loves having the dart board because it has really helped with his hand grip and motor skills, and adding up. It is good to have a room that you can relax but is full of games to be played and great for getting off screens and why I love that we have a garden but also my son loves his trains and having things he can take and use, but working on him to putting things he has used back in their place once he has finished.

So what do you like to have in your home? You can leave a comment below. 

Please check out Youtube channel where I share more: https://www.youtube.com/@Carriechalloner

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

Finding My Style in 2026

Yes my style has changed a lot. I still like the Rock Style look but I also trying to use what I have. I have bought a couple of new items of clothing which I am happy about as they are quality, but not over spending on clothes and I love my journaling so investing in this and currently working on creating my own journals and it is good to have money for experiences. I am taking my son to two music festivals and we have a holiday in August and I'd rather a holiday, a day out somewhere and want to walk everyday. 

I never continued park run as I had moved from Wimbledon where I was living with mum and step dad and so now fully in Epsom now and been focusing on sorting the house I live with my husband and son. 

My room is coming together along with my son. My son chose a clock for his bedroom to be put up and doing it bit by bit. I have changed my eating habits. Trying not to snack and not too much of the bad food and trying to walk each day, do some toning and strength exercise at home and then journal everyday and posting blogs on my Site Everyone can build a castle, on my Life Coaching programme, Summer Project 2026 check out this blog https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com/2026/05/29/life-coaching-blog-being-good-at-what-you-do/and writing a new parenting book. 

I have many books I am writing and had to rewrite some because my laptop broke and using my husbands' at the moment and posting a blog each day. It is about consistency which I am really focusing on and watching my blogs and books grow, along with posting on Pinterest and now on Substack. 

I regularly post on Instagram and on X and I have had to start over on somethings, but I feel okay with that. I am not on my phone too much now and having less time scrolling and like yesterday I focused myself on sorting out my home and then completed another blog and it is good to reduce screen time which I am doing. 

The one area I have started to be conscious of my spending. I go through phases and one is buying things from Amazon and it is handy as I buy my toilet rolls, kitchen rolls and now bought a bulk of house tissues as we get through them so much. However I have become reliant and that is not good. So I am putting things in my basket and waiting. 

I will shop around and I will change my mind. 

In my journal I wrote today after watching a bit of Youtube wrote down what I would like to do and is a great tool. I decluttered and sorting through my sons clothes and it is good to have some organisation and as long as Henry has gotten to school okay and back, is my priority and making sure he has a bath, has clean clothes, had dinner and used up some energy.

I found that if I go for my morning walk I still have a whole day to sit and watch Youtube, organising my home, do some weights and if it rains you haven't wasted a day and so I am going to walk everyday, even if it is around the block. 

Reading teaches me so much, would like to continue with Youtube and making short videos at the moment and think I will use my phone rather than my camera and change up my vlogs a bit. 

So that is my style 2026 and now going to have some lunch. 

Many thanks for reading, 

Carrie X 

A Productive Week Indoors After half term break

It was a good half time visiting the Science Museum, playing tennis, visiting a garden centre called Blue Water and going to Morden and just having time visiting places we haven't visited for a while and took a trip to St James park. 

This week has been a week indoors apart from Monday. My son had an inset day and focused on tidying, cooking, cleaning and working on blogs, books and videos. This week I am doing my radio show. I work for Epsom Hospital radio and so has been a good productive week. I do a show on Fridays 10-12.

It is good to clear some of my laundry basket. Had a declutter and been exercising indoors. It has been a  good time to catch up on sorting out the home, making my bed again and getting dressed as soon as I get out of bed and just have a bit of space and Henry now is in school so it is good to have returned to normality. 

A tip# Get up before your kids.

I like to be up first because it allows me time to read, get dressed and then have time drinking a cup of tea before my son wakes up and then my main focus is getting my son ready for school. 

For this helps because I can wake up slowly and I just need that time to fully awake and then I start  once my is picked up time to journal and watch a bit of Youtube, before starting on content and even did a workout this morning. 

B Tip# Have a list already prepared 

I like to have a list written. Sometimes I will decide not to do that today, but I like a list to help me decide on what I want to get done and having a list just helps me to make sure I write a blog even if not published yet and scheduled and I watch a lot of content on writing, ideas of music to play on my radio show and so I like to know what is my priority for the day. 

C Tip# Don't have so many tabs up on your computer 

I have had to learn this and wondered why my husband's laptop kept crashing and its taken me a while to accept that that is not a good idea to have so much open because I find I get distracted too, so I am only going to have a few tabs up at a time. 

D Tip# Clear you emails and check them once or twice a day

I find I get easily distracted and keeping track of my sons school emails and other important emails and helps make sure I spend time having a clear out. I like to spend 10 minutes going through my emails and again why I am not having too many tabs and going to clear my email to complete this blog. 

So a few things that I have been learning to do and I love watching different things to train the brain and geared up to write and create content..

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X