Big and Small Revolutions. What a trip to the coffee shop taught us last night.

Last night, after drama-rama class, I took Betty to Cafe Nero as a treat for going up a level in her reading at school. It was freezing cold, her sister was at the later  drama session and we had an hour to kill.

Huddling round with our hot-chocolates we chatted about the day and suddenly, because I have all but killed our coffee-cake cafe habit (saving us nearly £200 a month), this 'naughty' rule-break felt really special.

It went to show how mindset is so adaptable and that the smallest changes can make the biggest difference. There have been many times I've sat in the coffee shop not really being present with the girls because it's all so much part of routine, but last night wasn't like that. I wasn't going to waste our precious treat checking my phone or glancing through the newspaper. No - heading out and spending £12 on a tea-time treat was suddenly seen in terms of being 25% of our weekly food bill challenge. It was special. It put it firmly in perspective.

What was also interesting was that as Betty didn't finish her chocolate cake, which was almost bigger than her head to be fair, we asked to take it away with us. The barista was very happy to pack it up and grabbed for a clear plastic box. I bravely asked if he would mind putting it in a paper bag and explained that we were trying to reduce our plastic as part of our New Year resolutions.

He broke into a wide grin and told me that I was just one of many people that day who had said something similar and that many people had started bringing their own cups.

So as Betty and I walked back to meet Rosie, hand in hand chatting away, swinging our paperbag of left-overs by our side, it made me feel that we are actually part of a vastly spreading movement between ordinary families like our own who are genuinely determined and committed to making as much change as we can - and I felt genuinely optimistic that things are changing.