Lockdown Diary w/e 13th February 2021

I've now decided to call these weekly Lockdown posts my Lockdown diary, because essentially that's what they are. They'll serve as a reminder of how I spent some of my time in Lockdown.

Sunday this week, was a very slow day. I started a new book, as I'd finished Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine the day before. In fact, I stayed in bed all morning on Saturday until 1pm reading it. It was a really good book. I'm glad I did, everyone needs a duvet day now and again, especially whilst on Furlough.

Later, I decided to take a look at the Premium Bonds Monthly Prize checker. The bonds I bought the other week aren't actually in the draw yet, but I find it interesting to see who wins what. You can see how many Premium Bonds the people who win the large prizes own and even when they bought them. It is fascinating. As a consequence, I decided to put some more savings into them. I've been reading articles lately about negative interest rates on savings accounts possibly coming about in the future, and I certainly don't intend to pay a bank to hold my savings, so it seemed like a good idea. Besides, the more I have in there, the more chance I might have of winning.

Later, when I took the dog out, I decided to test out my recently purchased litter picker. It was very cold and snowing, but I quite enjoyed picking up the litter I saw on my walk. It gives you a strange sense of satisfaction. I did fill a quarter of the bag with rubbish from inside the car before I set off, but the rest of the bag was full by the time I'd got around the field. Indeed, I could have filled a bigger bag, but had to leave some things, as there was just no room to put them into the bag. I did get thanked by one gentleman as I was clearing some rubbish from a picnic area, which was nice. I'm pleased I bought it and gave it a go. Even if I just use it once per week when I go on one particular walk that we do regularly, it will be worth the cost and I will feel that I'm doing something positive.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. After a pretty spendy first week in February, (I treated myself to a new sweater and some dungarees from ASOS in their sale, I bought the litter picker, an LP and a new hi-viz cycling jacket from eBay, did a food shop and placed a Cherryz order) this week I decided that I wanted to achieve as many no spend days as possible. (I didn't do as well as I'd hoped managing only 3 this week, but hey ho.) I made one purchase on eBay on Monday, but I'll talk more about that once it arrives and I've started using it.

On Tuesday, I took delivery of a couple of parcels.  The ASOS parcel and the LP from eBay. The LP is great, it was a classical album that OH got me interested in. I bought him the CD for Xmas, but I then wanted to buy it on vinyl to play in the house (we have no CD player, save for in the car). It's by Glenn Gould and is Bach's Goldberg Variations. I love it.

The clothes I bought from ASOS were keepers too. One item was a very large black roll neck sweater, very snuggly, perfect for this snowy weather and not easy to find in my size at the moment, as this style of sweater seems to have sold out everywhere that I looked. I opted for a maternity version by Topshop, which is how I managed to find one. It is a bit oversized to be honest, but serves to hide all those bits you don't want anyone to see, especially after all the lockdown munching, so I'm pretty happy with it.

On Wednesday, I needed to go out food top up shopping again. I ventured back to ASDA this time, as Lidl stores are just too small and crowded in pandemic times. I needed to pop into the B&Q nearby too, for some smokeless coal, as we've been lighting a fire during these cold snowy days and had run out. 

On Thursday, I stayed close to home. In the afternoon, I finished sewing the TV/Sofa quilt that I'd been working on. I really like it and can't wait to start using it in the living room. (More in another post coming very soon). 

Later, after supper, I sat down and started another book, this time The Third Wife by Lisa Jewell. It was one of those books that I found very hard to put down and got almost all the way through it by the time I went to bed at midnight.  There were just a few chapters left, which I finished off the following morning. It was a good read though.

On Friday afternoon, LB had some free time from college work, so we agreed to head into the local mall together. The main reason for this was to go to a bank there and deposit some change and a cheque, pick up a new kitchen bin from Argos, that I'd ordered online and also get a few essential bits from Boots. We headed off on the bus. 

To be honest, it wasn't a very productive afternoon. I picked up the bin, but when I tried to put the lid on it, it had been misshapen in storage and didn't fit properly, so I had to take it back and as they didn't have another one, I had to get a refund. In addition, the bank in question was temporarily closed, which was also very annoying, rendering the trip a bit of a waste of time, save for getting the bits I needed from Boots and also using part of an M&S gift voucher to get some new slippers.  My current ones are mule type and don't feel very secure on my feet coming down the stairs.  Here's a picture of the one's I bought:

More booties than slippers and definitely not my usual style, but there wasn't a great deal of choice to be honest. They are very comfortable though and feel much more cosy and secure on my feet.

When we got back home, my Cherryz order had been delivered, which was exciting. Here's a picture of what I ordered:

Mainly treats as usual and as we'd run out of most of them, it came just at the right time. These should last us a few weeks.

After all the expenditure and activity on Friday, I stayed home on Saturday and had a very quiet homey day. I stayed in bed reading yet another book and then started a new sewing project that I need to do on my new machine. I haven't actually started using the machine yet though, this was just prep.

Later, I did another litter picking dog walk. This time I picked a carrier bag full of trash and a carrier bag full or recycling, i.e. cans, bottles, etc. 

On the way out, I managed to acquire a free fiction book to add to my collection, as our next door neighbours had left some books outside their house, after de-cluttering before they move house in a couple of weeks time.

I lapsed from having a no spend day after succumbing to placing an Approved Food order tonight. It was mainly for dog food and treats as we're running low, but I'm hoping that over the next two weeks I'll be better on the no spend front. I have currently carried out 5 less shopping transactions compared to this point in January, so my spending has improved a little so far this month.