Happy Easter lovely people!

And what an Easter it is. Now I’m not remotely religious (too much catholic school as a child), but I do love a four-day weekend.

For most people still working for other people, Easter is a chance to chill, go and see family and friends and enjoy the sun.

I’m currently sat looking at the view above, in my parents kitchen in North Wales. I love coming home and seeing the animals (and my parents) but this year I nearly didn’t. Last weekend 20ft snow drifts threatened my Easter weekend – the roof blew off the shed, took out the phone line and (duh duh duuuhhhhh) internet, they had a power cut and the generator wouldn’t start and despite 4x4s and a tractor, couldn’t get out for 3 days.

Anyway, the sun came out and did its job and now I’m here (I’m all about the end of a story 😉 !). Albeit I’ve spent my time digging snow but I’m here and that’s the main thing.

Why did I start with that story? Because now I’m here there’s something I realise I miss terribly – my brand new shiny Nespresso machine.

This machine I bought with vouchers I received for Christmas for Harrods. If you don’t like coffee you might want to skip this paragraph but go on to the next one. This machine is AMAZBALLS. Seriously. I love it. I put one of the specially selected 16 Grand Crus pods in to the machine. I take the milk jug out of my fridge and clip it on the machine. I press the ‘cappuccino’ button. 30secs later I have one of the best cappuccinos I’ve ever had. 19 Bar pressure, proper milk. You don’t get that with a Tassimo!

Anyway, I love my coffee and my morning cappuccino and I miss it whilst I’m here in plain old kettle and tea bag land.

All this made me realise something. It took me three months to buy that machine. Three months of dithering wondering if that was really the best use of my vouchers – wasn’t it a bit extravagant? Would I really use it? Shouldn’t I buy cheaper things so I could buy more rather than one big thing? What would I do with the perfectly acceptable old school coffee machine I already had that my ex gave me less than a year ago?

MY GOD WOMAN! It’s a freaking coffee machine! AND a free one at that! What the hell was my problem?

My problem was a little thing know as guilt, coupled with a decent helping of pessimism. I grew up knowing the value of money. When my parents started their company we had very little. We used coupons, my mum made all our clothes, she had a rolling-pin in her car which she had to hit the engine with in a certain spot to get it to work in the morning, I had second-hand everything. Don’t get me wrong, I never felt hard done to – I had an amazing childhood and my parents’ business is now successful and I have reaped the benefits, but the point is, even now, they’re really cautious when it comes to spending money, and I’ve taken after them.

Being sensible with money is a good thing. I have a budget. I can tell you exactly what I earn and what I spend and what I spend it on.

But SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO HAVE A LITTLE FUN!

Let your hair down, get extravagant (please make sure you can actually afford it – using rainy day money is fine, using money you need to make rent this month is not) and go buy yourself something pretty!

A little self-indulgence every once in a while never hurt anyone. Every morning I use my coffee machine and absolutely love it. If I’d have been sensible and bought a couple of work dresses it would have been a complete waste.

So buy / do something for you. Make yourself feel good. Indulge. Enjoy. EAT ALL YOUR EASTER EGGS AT ONCE!

Now write me a message below and tell me what you bought / are going to buy or tweet me with #easterindulgence

Love you lots! 🙂