Monday 31 March 2014

Monthly Round Up - March

March has been a good month.  I've paid off my credit cards again this month and they now seem to have far less on them from month to month, on account of my spending less, which leaves a bit more room in the budget for the odd treat or day out with spending money, such as the one I had at the Knitting and Stitching Show this month.   I've continued to pay money off my overdraft, which is going down gradually.  I've also managed to make the money I have last well this month and have not been financially stretched as the month came to a close, which is a first for me. 

I've stuck to the menu plan pretty closely and used up more of the things from the overflow cupboard.  I managed to use all the frozen items and halve the remaining items on the list from my February Food Challenge.  Anything still on it will get used up eventually, especially now that I'm onto it and trying to include dishes using the items in my menu planning, so that challenge has come to an end.

April might be a little more expensive with Easter on the horizon, but I don't have any birthdays to speak of, that require expenditure.  I do have the expense of renewing a passport for Little Bird, but I think there is plenty of room in the budget for this.  I also need to pay for her trampolining lessons, but again there should be enough for this too, as they aren't too expensive.

I have finally got around to doing some dressmaking in the last couple of days, which has been really satisfying (post to follow), and I will hopefully be making more garments in April if I manage to find the time.   I also managed to complete a couple of other projects this month, which has reduced the list somewhat.  Sorting through my wardrobe and sewing room has also meant that I have created a 'to make' pile with fabrics and dressmaking patterns ready to go , so I'm hoping next month will be much more productive.

I managed to get all the jobs done at the allotment that I needed to this month and sowed some seeds at home in the greenhouse, although only a few have actually germinated thus far.  Having sorted through all my seeds and put them in date of sowing order, I will have some more to sow next month once the weather warms up a little more.

The house got a good de-clutter and clean, on account of having some guests to stay this last weekend.  It feels good to get on top of things for once and have some breathing space for pursuing some of my other interests.  

Finally, the challenges I have been joining in with have continued to help motivate me to complete tasks and read books, which in turn often results in yet more clutter being re-purposed or leaving the house, which has also been very satisfying.  I'm hoping I can keep up the momentum into April.

I hope you had a good month too.  Have you got any plans for the coming month?

10 comments:

  1. My decluttering continues! Need some more inspiration! lol!

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    1. I'm sure I'll be doing some more before long. It's an on going process here too. Keep us posted on your progress. I always like to hear how other people are doing on the decluttering front as it inspires me too.

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  2. You have been doing really well with all your challenges, it has been interesting reading about them on here. Bet it feels good to be in control of so many aspects of the household just now :)

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    1. Hi, I'm not sure about being in control of the cleaning budget as I'm failing miserably at that one. Never mind. It does feel good to be getting on top of things though. I hope I'm not tempting fate by saying that.

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  3. Sounds like a really productive month, you should be pleased.

    This month has been a period of change for us but I feel like I've made a lot of headway so I'm happy with that.

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    1. It's exciting when you change things in your life sometimes. It can feel really liberating.

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  4. My plans all centre around the shop at the moment...it's rather taken over !

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    1. I'm pleased that you're enjoying your new job and getting more involved. It must be exciting. Good luck with your plans for the shop. I look forward to hearing more about them.

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  5. You are doing an amazing job tackling so many different areas at once and being so productive in each of them. Keeping to a challenge I find does help - my problem is always time - I find working almost full time I am too tired in the week to keep going at anything. I definitely want to use more of what time I have to make more things especially gifts.

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    1. I must admit it is probably easy for me to do this, as the work I do I do from home, which means I can work my day around it. To be honest, I should perhaps pay a bit more attention to that part of my life, instead of getting distracted by other projects and try to be a bit more successful in my small business. Good luck with finding the time for gift making. I would like to make more gifts, but am never quite sure how recipients might feel about my efforts.

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