I often tell myself that I’m not just a mum and as I mentally prepare myself to return to work, I question what have I done for myself?  Before pregnancy I got into the habit of working out, looking after my skin, budgeting, keeping an eye on my goals and pension but all that stopped the moment I gave birth.   

I want to remind you that as women, we have to make sure that we are doing enough for ourselves at every level because you never know what is around the corner and covid has emphasised this even more.

Almost 9 months have gone past and as a family we have achieved a lot, as a mum I have achieved a lot but what I have done for myself?  As part of my 30-day life detox I started to get back into self-care, but not just the self-care that its advertised, the real self-care.  Stay with me, big companies, the media and society will have women believe that self-care is based around our physical appearance, relaxation or the food we eat and whilst there is truth in all these, the real self-care goes much deeper than what we are led to believe.

I strongly believe that self-care includes relaxing, looking after our mind, body and our finances.  There is so much advertisement out there about self-care for women, enticing us to part with our money which has been really annoying me.

Statistics show that women are financially more vulnerable than men. There isn’t much out there to remind us that we should also look after our pockets which is difficult enough anyway as our income tends to be lower (men get paid more for doing the same job). With so many constrains it becomes really difficult to think of money as part of our self-care routine, money then becomes an illusion that can help you buy that new dress, face mask or go on that holiday.

I am so passionate about our purses because I know what it’s like not to have any money and to go from meal to meal. I was in my early twenties when I had my daughter in what I believed to be a secure relationship and when it abruptly ended, I struggled with rent, bills, food, childcare, I constantly felt like a failure and left out.  Finances has to be part of what we do for ourselves and what we teach our children in a positive manner.

Last week as part of my 30-day detox I started to redraft my budgeting template, I started to set some saving goals and also look at my pension so that I can review.  I won’t lie to you, initially it’s not exciting or fun but it must be done in order to be self-sufficient in all levels and to have peace of mind.  In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be sharing my templates and tips.

True self-care should enable us to get to the root of what we need, true self-care should be satisfying and not expensive. 

Make sure you are doing enough for yourself, I can get easily sidetracked by all the outside noise, take time to reevaluate what you are doing for yourself.