CHERYL GIBBS: Sofa, so good for saving money in 2018

Perfect escape, and it's free: Heath Pond, Petersfield

I've got a reputation as being someone who loves to go out and about.

In fact, Matt and I often get labelled as being a couple who are always out having meals or swanning off somewhere. Perhaps that was true of our past, but it hasn’t been that way for a couple of years now.

Yes, we do love to eat out and if we’ve got the pennies then we will spend them on enjoying ourselves as opposed to saving it for a rainy day (something we’ve learnt the hard way – it doesn’t always pay to be carefree, trust me).

So feeling the post-Christmas financial pinch in the past couple of weeks we’ve been extremely careful with the money we had left until pay day comes this weekend.

Now, as I said, we really do like to go out and as a child my mum and dad used to take us out a lot, or if we were having time at home we’d always be encouraged to be outside.

If it wasn’t raining we were outside and that philosophy has stayed with me and my sisters all our lives – we’re all a nightmare if we stay in too long, feeling the need to go outside or do something – anything.

However, last weekend I changed all that when Matt and I quite literally spent the entire weekend at home.

Apart from a walk around Petersfield heath pond to get some fresh air on Saturday, we didn’t leave the house and I bloomin’ well loved it.

It honestly is not something I have ever done, but with money tight and with the craziness of Christmas a not so distant past, we decided it would be okay to stay in, relax, watch some movies and cook.

Instead of getting our usual takeaway or meal out, we cooked all weekend and I loved every second of it.

I guess that’s the difference between choosing to stay in and having too. As I knew we shouldn’t be spending any money I was more than happy to stay in and relax because in my head there wasn’t really an alternative other than the obligatory walk to get fresh air that we had already done.

I didn’t feel guilty about it and I didn’t really get off the sofa all weekend. Marvellous!

TRANSGENDER INDIA IS DOING HER CAUSE NO GOOD

So we’re into the second week of Celebrity Big Brother and I’m hooked.

The house is getting on very well and apart from India’s constant need for attention I’m loving it.

India is the first transgender woman to go on the show and while I don’t pretend to understand the complexities of her life I do think she’s not doing herself or the cause any favours.

She spends almost all her time trying to tell people that she is a woman, which none of her housemates has opposed or questioned, and zero time letting people get to know her.

It seems crazy to me. If she doesn’t want to be defined by her gender, why is she constantly talking about it instead of letting people get to know India – the woman, not India the transgender woman who wants to talk about nothing other than the fact she is transgender. It makes no sense to me.

BRITNEY ABOUT TO DO IT ONE MORE TIME?

Britney Spears has done it again... allegedly.

If the giant rock that sits on her ring finger is any indication it looks like our Britters is about to head down the aisle for a third time.

She’s been dating dancer Sam Asghari for a year now and despite their 13-year age gap (Sam is 23 and Britney 36) their relationship seems to be going pretty well – if their Instagrams are anything to go by.

Britney is constantly posting photos or cute videos of her and Sam and they seemed very loved up at Christmas.

She’s been spotted this week on a beach in Hawaii in a beautiful yellow bikini which showed off her perfect physique, but it wasn’t her toned bod that got the attention – it was the huge rock on her ring finger!