Hi Jillytee
The most important piece of advice on Alan Shanley's blog (apart from Test Review Adjust, Painless Pricks and all the other actual Blog posts LOL) is his Tagline - 'Moderation in everything - except laughter!'
You might also find his 'Testing on a Budget' one useful now - he wrote that after he discovered the parlous state of the NHS in England and the fact that T2s here don't automatically get issued with meters and test strips and advised how to use them - and that was quite a long time ago, about 10 years ago I should think - so he knows very well it's not exactly improved any since - and now more recently - Australia it seems are following suit.