Looking Back on 2025

Before we hit 2026, it seemed fitting to take a little look back at 2025, good and not so good.

We started our year at the beginning of January with a lovely holiday in Tenerife, with two of OH's siblings and his mum. OH's mum hadn't been on a proper holiday for years, having nursed her husband until he died in October 2024. We never usually go away at this time of year, save to visit family, so it made a nice change to be somewhere warm in the depth of winter and spend time with OH's family to boot.

There was some bad news in late February, when OH's brother suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalised for months. Thankfully, he pulled through, but is still suffering from the debilitating effects of the stroke, although he is now being cared for at home. We're all hoping he makes progress in the coming year.

I got some good news in April, that a course I'd been wanting to do for over a year was finally being run. It was a YMCA Certificate in Gym Instruction. I was the oldest student on the course, but it didn't stop me. I attended college one day per week for a few months and although it got challenging, because part way through I was given lots more hours at work and struggled to find the time to keep on top of the college work, I did pass, which I was really pleased about. I didn't study to work in the field, it was mainly for my own personal knowledge base and the information I gleaned has been useful.

Talking of studying, LB successfully completed her degree studies this year and we enjoyed visiting her final show and graduation ceremony. She worked hard and did well. She returned to live at home with us in July and it's been lovely having her around and we've had a few day trips out together, which has been lovely.

We had a great family holiday in Portugal in July, but almost as soon as I got home, things suddenly changed at work. I had a bit of a run in with a particular member of staff and it shifted my whole perspective of the workplace. There had also been a lot of management changes and I'd been working way more hours than I wanted to for the previous three months. It was feeling way too overwhelming and the working environment was getting a little too toxic for me, so I just felt like it was the right time to make a change and resigned. I was a little sad to leave, but I know I did the right thing. Sometimes, it's easy to stay in a situation that you are no longer enjoying and I really didn't want to do this, as in my experience, once a situation starts to feel off, it often gets worse very quickly. Life is way too short for this.

I haven't found another job since, and I haven't really been looking seriously, as I wanted to enjoy Christmas this year, but I may start looking in the New Year. Ideally, I just want to work a couple of shifts/days a week and be able to develop a reasonable weekly routine, not be all over the shop and having no work/life balance.

As a consequence of my work situation, I've had to be very careful with money for the last few months. Luckily, I'd put aside money for Xmas and it didn't affect our celebrations and gift giving too much. I've gradually got used to having less money to spend and I actually find that I'm at my most resourceful in this situation. As funds gradually run out in this coming year, I will probably need to start earning again, otherwise I will be living off my long term savings, which I prefer not to do. But if I have to, I will.

I've enjoyed the final few months of the year, having the freedom to do more sewing and other craft projects and not being answerable to anyone but myself. I don't feel particularly panicked about not having a job this time around, as I'm nearly 60 now and I am due to start receiving a couple of small work pensions in the latter part of 2026, so we'll see what happens. I think my retail era might be over though, corporate retail at least.

In retrospect, it's not been an awful year, but it has had it's challenges and it has been a horrible year for some family members. We've tried to support them where we can and just hope things get better going forward. At the end of the day, family matters most and it's good to be free to travel and spend time with them, not working all the time and unable to get away to visit.

I don't know what 2026 will bring, but I will keep persevering to get the right balance for myself and my family.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2026.

 

Christmas Week - W/E Sunday 28th December 2025

Christmas week was a super chilled affair, once we returned to London on the Monday before. As I wasn't working this year, I could fully enjoy the lead up, main event and the days following Xmas.

On Tuesday, I needed to go shopping and buy the last of the Xmas groceries, mainly fridge and freezer items. Our local Tesco was mobbed, with super long queues. I was glad to get back home and know that it was all done and we were set for Xmas.

On Christmas Eve, once LB had finished work, we headed into town for the late afternoon/evening, where we stopped out for something to eat in Coal Drops Yard near Kings Cross. We didn't stay out late. We were going to give curling a try, as there were some lanes you could rent, but OH had injured his knee on a bike ride in the morning and didn't think he'd be able to bend down to send off the stone. It would have been good fun to give it a try, but maybe another time.

We were back in time to watch Celebrity Christmas Sewing Bee and an old Xmas Good Life episode which was funny. Sometimes the old nostalgic programmes are preferable to some of the absolute rubbish on TV these days. (I think I'm getting old!) 

Our neighbour, who's dog we sometimes look after, dropped by to give us a thank you gift of some wine, which was very nice. Our other neighbour had also dropped some home cooked biscuits around to us the night before, which was also very kind, thanking us for being patient with regard to their building works this past year.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas Day. We weren't all up and ready to open presents until around 11am. We all got lots of lovely presents and were very happy with them. Here's a little picture of my crochet nativity characters from LB:

So cute. LB was also super happy with her pouffe and later put it into good use at her desk.

Xmas lunch was lovely. It's very easy to cook for 3 people, so I can't complain. Any more and I'd struggle with our oven, although I have cooked it for 5 when OH's parents came one year. In the afternoon, OH and I dropped round to his friend's house to check on their cat, who seemed fine. He's since discovered where we live (i.e. just over his back fence) and has subsequently spent quite a bit of time in our garden, probably for the company.

The rest of Christmas Day/Night was spent watching TV and eating a picky tea. We watched the Christmas Episode of Amandaland, which was funny, but there wasn't much else I was interested in watching to be honest.

On Boxing Day, LB was working at the theatre, so OH and I booked ourselves to go see a free Xmas movie at 12.30, at our local independent cinema. It was good to get out of the house and the film was entertaining. On the way home, we went the long way round to get a walk in which felt good. 

When we got back, we had some lunch and I fell asleep on the sofa whilst watching a film. It isn't Christmas if someone doesn't fall asleep watching TV and it's hard to do this when you're staying at someone else's house. That's one of the best things about spending Christmas at home.

LB was working again the following day. OH and I decided to go out for a nice long walk. We did about 9,000 steps. It was good to clear our heads and get moving after all the Xmas food and drink we'd consumed. (There's still so much left!) We dropped in at the local gym that we are intending to join now that our gym has closed, as OH wanted to check some details about membership.

The afternoon was spent watching TV and eating too much. We did watch 'Goodbye June' on Netflix which was a good film. I'm looking forward to all the Xmas food being eaten and getting back to normal eating habits.

On Sunday morning, I completed a financial round up for the year. I'd started it a week or so before, but just needed to add December's expenditure. I've posted separately about this if you're interested. It was quite positive in many ways, which I was happy about.

Later on Sunday, OH and I ventured to the allotment to do a few outstanding small jobs. We were there a couple of hours and got all the weeding and pruning done. We just now need to buy and lay out some manure, until the spring when we will dig it in, which is a very satisfying feeling.

When I got back, I did some financial work setting things up for the coming month and writing my shopping list for the week. We don't need a lot. OH made us a veggie curry for supper which was tasty and we watched another episode of Landman. I then got watching Bohemiam Rhapsody and stayed up until midnight watching it. I do love Queen. They remind me of a time in my life, when I listened to their early albums a lot.

A lovely restful Xmas week, spent at home together. We couldn't ask for more.

A Year End Financial Roundup for 2025

The other evening, I decided to take a long hard look at my finances over the past year and see how I'd fared in comparison to the year before. In all honesty, despite leaving my job earlier this year, I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Overall, I had earned a little more over the year, than I did in 2024, but then I did get a tax rebate in 2025, some of which should probably have been accredited to 2024, as it was in this year that the tax was originally taken off my wages, so in reality, taking this into account, I didn't actually earn more in 2025, but I didn't earn much less either. The fact that I earned virtually the same, but worked 4 less months in 2025, can be explained by the fact that towards the end of my job, I worked a lot more hours each week/month, which was a part of the reason why I decided to leave. I never wanted to work 25 to 30 hours per week and found it just too much. I just couldn't get a good work/life balance. I do live in hope that I might find a job at some point where this is possible.

Anyway, I digress, in terms of spending in 2025, I spent approximately £2730 less than in 2024, which is a good thing. This reduction in spending was virtually across the board in terms of the categories of spending. I spent £152 less on food, £492 less on household items, £299 less on miscellaneous spending, £533 less on home and garden, £887 less on myself and £143 less on gifts. The only area of spending that increased, was charitable spending, which increased by £172, by which I mean donations to charity or to the foodbank. I did donate to my local food bank most weeks until I left my job, which accounts for this increase. I tried to donate an item for each day of the week most weeks. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do this now, but I still want to give something, so I may reduce giving to just one item per week going forward, which is better than nothing.

I was quite happy with these figures and when I looked further at spending with particular companies, I spent £384 less on eBay this year and £650 less in charity shops, but I did spend a little more at the car boot sale, with spending rising by £45 here. I didn't keep detailed records of other companies I spent money with in 2024, so I couldn't really compare any other spending, but these few comparisons were also quite positive and indicated that I made progress towards being more mindful and considered in my spending this year, although there is still quite a bit of room for further improvement.

Going into 2026, and having reduced my spending over the last 4 months since I left work, I will need to continue to do the same, as I'm not currently earning money. As a consequence, I'm considering a very low buy year and as I've been building my low buy muscles lately, I'm in a better place to be successful in this regard at the moment. I won't say no-buy, as everyone needs a treat now and then and I don't think it's sustainable for me to have a no buy year, but I do want to reduce my spending further if I can and completely cut out unnecessary spending if possible. I will need to do a lot of budgeting for gift buying and dental treatment, etc., but I'm hopeful that I can do this by tweaking my spending here and there.

2026 is definitely going to be a year of prioritising what is important to me and one thing that is, is my gym membership. My gym, where I got very subsidised rates for being over the age of 50 has now closed for at least 3 years for refurbishment and I want to be able to walk to the gym and not have to catch a bus or cycle for 30 minutes, so I'm considering paying for a monthly membership at another local gym. This is going to be more expensive, but to me it is worth paying for, as I need to be able to go on a regular basis and for my gym to be near to where I live. As a consequence, the money will have to be found from other areas of the budget and that will mean a bit of juggling, but hopefully it will be doable.

There are other things that I would like to do too, such as more dance classes, but I will just have to see if I can accommodate these in the budget.  I am also due a dental check and clean and an eye test in the first few months of the year, so they will need to be paid for and I really would like some new glasses, but I may have to wait a while for these or possibly use some savings. It's going to be a challenging year, but I'm up for it and willing to try my hardest not to waste what money I do have at my disposal.

How have your finances fared in 2025? Do you compare your year on year spending? Do you have any plans going into 2026 to reduce your spending or be more mindful of how you spend your money? I'd be really interested to know what they are, as I'm always looking for tips and inspiration.

A Long Weekend in Yorkshire Making Our Xmas Visits to Family

If I've been a bit quiet on her lately, it's because on Friday of last week, OH and I packed up and headed north to visit family for the weekend before Xmas. LB was working over the weekend, so she couldn't join us, so was having some friends to sleep over instead.

Considering it was the last Friday before Xmas, we were lucky on our journey north.  We did set off at around 12 noon though, so probably missed most of the traffic trying to get out of London for the Xmas exodus. We were there by 4pm and met OH's mother at his brother's house. We then later retired to her house for a spot of supper and a catch up of the family news, before OH and I ventured out into the nearest village to a social club to watch a live band. It was a totally impromtu and spontaneous outing. We walked there, which is about a mile along a busy road and then settled in and had a good few drinks. We saw a few familiar faces from our school days and the band was really good, so we ended up having a really nice evening out.

On Saturday, we had to be up early, as we had a busy day ahead. I did a bit of shopping in the morning, whilst OH ran to his brother's house. We then went from there to meet with my sister and her daughter for lunch at a local pub a few miles away. It was good to see her, as I'd not seen them both since April. We all had a good catch up and a nice lunch and eventually went our separate ways, with us returning to OH's mum's for an hour to relax before then heading out to OH's sister's house for the evening. She made us a lovely curry for supper and we all had a good chat and a catch up, but we needed to leave at a reasonable time, as it was quite foggy out and we didn't want to be too late getting back to OH's mum's.

With most of our visiting done on Saturday, Sunday was slightly more chilled. I had arranged to take OH's mum and his brother's partner out to Dunelm Xmas shopping, mainly to buy his mum's present. His brother's partner hardly gets out of the house at the moment, so whilst OH sat with his brother, she got to come out with us for a while. I wanted to treat her to something nice too, but she didn't really want anything. I bought her a few bits, but I think she was a bit embarrassed to accept another gift from us, as OH had already sent a food hamper to them. They need spoiling though as they've had a horrible year since his brother had a stroke in February. His mum, however, did choose a few select items that she wanted/needed and was more than happy with her Xmas present and we all had a nice outing with brunch in the cafe to boot.

The remainder of Sunday, was spent at OH's mum's house spending the rest of our stay with her. We had pizza for supper and I watched the final of the Game of Wool. We packed up and returned to London on Monday morning, after one last visit to drop off a floral arrangement at the local churchyard where my parents are buried.

On the way home, we stopped off at a local Lidl and did our Xmas grocery shop, well most of it, bar the refridgerator/freezer foods. I had a 10% off voucher that was expiring that day and it seemed stupid not to use it. OH managed to get some beer and some smokeless coal too, for the woodburner, in case the weather turns colder. 

We were lucky again with our journey home and didn't have too many delays. When we did get home, OH had received a lovely hamper from a work associate and a really good bottle of wine from a neighbour, whose cat we are checking on over the Xmas holidays. I received a card from my sister in Australia, which was lovely and a parcel I'd been expecting, which was a great bargain that I'd bought on eBay from a charity seller, as it was just too good to miss. It was 15 large packs of xylitol chewing gum that usually cost at least £4 each pack, for £14 in total. It will keep me in chewing gum for most of the year ahead, at a super bargain price. The last time I bought this on eBay, it cost £27 for just 6 packs.

We were glad to get home, unpack and relax in our own home. It's lovely to visit family, but we love being at home for Xmas In the evening, OH and I caught up on an episode of Landman and then LB and I watched the movie Bridget Jones Diary, which was good. Christmas starts here.

A Week of Trying to Get Everything Done - W/E 21st December 2025

The week before Christmas week, started with a weekly shop. With the car tyre now sorted, I was able to get back to my usual trip out of town. I was quite looking forward to it, as I'd not done it for a couple of weeks.

I had a few extra jobs to do, number one being to post off all the Xmas cards that needed a stamp, so first stop was the Post Office. I then remembered that I needed to drop off lots of donations at the charity shop whilst out, so I headed back home to put them in the car. I decided to call the shop and ask if they were accepting donations and more importantly, accepting Xmas trees, as they were filling up the car and there wouldn't be room for the shopping if I couldn't drop them off. The shop manager assured me they were, save for books, so I had to remove the books I had in there before I could head off.

First stop was Home Bargains for a few bits that I always buy from there. It is always the busiest shop I visit, every week. I always end up queueing for at least 15 minutes for the tills and that's with most of them open. I had a quick stop at ASDA for OH's porridge and then went to the charity shop to drop off the donations. It felt good to make a bit more room at home by finally taking them. Of course, I had a look around whilst there and ended up buying a dress for £5, a small gift for LB's birthday in January, which was reduced from £6.99 to 99p and these spring bulbs which were reduced to £1.29 per pack:

As you can see, I bought several. I also entered the tombola, won a prize and then re-donated it, as it wasn't something I would use.

Next stop was Tesco, where I needed to recycle our plastic packaging and drop off the food bank donations I'd gleaned from a pantry clear out. These were the last two jobs I needed to do aside from the rest of the shopping. I managed to find lots of yellow stickered items at good prices in Tesco and came out with a huge bag of shopping for just £28, which was great.

I then did the bulk of my shopping at Lidl, got a few bits from Sainsbury's, using a £2.50 voucher from Nectar points in the process and stopped in at B&M for some vitamins and then it was home, finally. A bit of a marathon today, but it paid to shop around.

Some of the shops are getting much busier now that Christmas is getting closer, but others didn't seem that busy at all. I was glad to get home and not have any issues with the tyre though.

On Tuesday, I was booked in for my last class at my current gym, as it is closing on Xmas Eve. I am moving my membership to another gym, which will be more expensive, but is only a 15 minute walk in the opposite direction to the current one. Alternatively, I would have to travel across the borough to get to classes and the gym. It's the end of an era for me, but I'm looking forward to a change of scenery, as I've been feeling more and more demotivated lately. I'm hoping the change might inspire me to do more exercise.

Later in the day, I decided to attempt to stuff LB's pouffe, that I'm making her for Xmas. It wasn't a simple job and I didn't have enough scrap stuffing, so I had to add a couple of pillows and an fleece throw. In the end the finish was a bit uneven, but I'm sure it will be fine. It's a footstool afterall. I've posted separately about it. I'm just glad that I got it completed in time and can now focus on cleaning the rest of the house before the festive season is upon us.

On Wednesday, I started the day with an 8500 step walk using my usual route. I'd not slept the night before as LB had been out until the early hours and I don't sleep well until I know she's home safe. As a consequence, I was a bit tired, so getting out into the fresh air woke me up. I spent the afternoon cleaning the kitchen as OH and I were going away for the weekend and LB was having some friends to stay over.

I ended up going to bed early for me and thankfully I slept really well. I booked myself into the gym on Thursday morning. This was one of my last sessions before it closes, so I made myself go and get a workout in. I did a bit of sewing when I got back, but my machine was being difficult, so I didn't actually finish everything I wanted to do.

Later, I did a bit more cleaning and got a few bits ready to go away. We were heading up to Yorkshire on Friday for a few days, to see family before Xmas. LB was working over the weekend, so she couldn't join us.

Making An Xmas Gift For My Daughter - Xmas 2025

Most years, I try to make a gift for my daughter LB, mainly just to put love into at least one of her gifts at Xmas. This year, she wanted me to make her a pouffe, to rest her feet on when she's sat at her desk in her bedroom.  She's currently propping her feet on a cushion, but it's not really high enough.

I offered to make her a pouffe made from denim. My reason for this in part that I had some denim from some dungarees I took apart and wanted to use it up. The fabric I had, however, wasn't enough to complete the project and I wanted to use denims of different colours, to add visual interest. I therefore needed to buy some jeans from charity shops to proceed with the project.

I got lucky on a visit to Hull in November and managed to procure 3 pairs of jeans for the princely sum of £2 each. I got a light denim, a darker denim and a black denim pair. I also bought almost a half metre of very dark denim from Boyes, whilst I was there too. This, added to the dungaree denim and some khaki denim that I'd bought at the Knit and Stitch show for £3, gave me plenty to work with.

I decided that I was going to make each side of the pouffe in a different style, but all of them would be made from patched together bits of denim. I have posted already about how some of them turned out, but here are the pictures again:

I then left it for a week or so. I got busy putting up decorations and doing a bit of cleaning around the house. On Sunday last, however,  I decided to get it out again. Time was passing quickly and I was worried that I wouldn't get it finished in time for Xmas.

I added some jeans pockets to one of the side panels for decoration and then made up the final bottom panel which needed a zip inserting, so that the stuffing could be taken out and the cover washed if necessary. This came together okay, although I did make a few errors putting in the zip and had to correct them. I then went on to sew all the sides and the top and bottom together. It was a bit tricky, but I managed to get them all sewn together and the seams trimmed up on Sunday afternoon, leaving just the stuffing to figure out.

I wanted to create a lining for the stuffing, from an old pillow case, as this would contain all the small scraps I was using as stuffing. I'd collected them over the months, chopping up any scrap fabric that were unusable and this was the perfect project to use it all up. I didn't have enough scraps for this project though, so I had to add a pillow or two and a fleece blanket to make up the extra stuffing I needed.

Eventually, I got it all put together. It's not perfect, but I was pleased enough with the outcome, although the stuffing is not very evenly distributed. I may work on that before I actually give it to her. Here are a few pictures:

I think it probably cost little more than £10 in total to make, although it did take quite a few hours, but then that is the whole point. Taking time out of my day to make something special that she needed and would use. I hope she'll like it anyway.

At my request, LB is making something for me this Xmas. She's crocheting me a nativity scene, starting with Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus. I'm looking forward to receiving this and it becoming a mainstay in my Xmas decorations. I'm hoping a donkey, an angel and a few kings too eventually. Fingers crossed!

Have you been making anything for anyone this Xmas?

Some Reading, Some Cleaning, Decorating the Shed for Xmas and Another Free Festive Film - W/E 14th December 2025 - Part 2

The second half of the week started with me waking up on Thursday after a long and deep night's sleep, which was much needed. I must have been tired going to bed, as I realised I'd put on my nightdress the wrong way around! TMI, sorry. Anyway, I stayed in bed a while reading. I'm currently reading this book that I got from a library in a different part of our borough:

It is a really interesting read. I'm into books about craft at the moment, but this book is about Craeft or the ancient traditional crafts dating back to pre-history, although a lot of it's content is still relevant to the crafts we do today. It's written by an archeaologist/historian and is fascinating. I'm really enjoying it, but it's due back to the library on Friday, so I need to renew it at our local library, as I'm only half way through.

I booked myself into the gym on Thursday morning and headed off after breakfast. I had a good workout, then dropped in at my favourite local charity shop on the way home, but didn't see anything I wanted to buy.

After lunch, I decided to decorate the shed for Xmas. We have a tiny little tree that we put in there and a few Xmas cushions and lights. It looked nice and cosy when I'd finished. 

I then did some cleaning in the house. I vacuumed and mopped the hall, stairs and landings and cleaned the main bedroom thoroughly. I've still got the kitchen, toilet and bathroom to do, and LB's room, but they will be a job for another day. It felt good to give a few more areas of the house a thorough clean. OH and I watched the final of Race Across the World tonight, which we enjoyed.

On Friday morning, I had booked to go see another free festive film at the independent cinema on our local high street. Today's film was a classic, namely Dickens  'A Christmas Carol'. It was a black and white, 1951 version starring Alistair Sims, George Cole (i.e Arthur Daley), a young Hattie Jacques and the guy who played Dickson of Dock Green I think. It was a great film. Christmas isn't quite Christmas without watching 'A Christmas Carol', whichever version and this one was definitely a good one. I don't think that it does any harm having our consciences pricked at Xmas time and this film does that, for me anyway.

When I came out of the cinema, I had to drop into the library nearby to renew my book and then I walked on to our local Lidl, which is over a mile away, to get a few bits that we had run out of and needed. I also picked up a couple of freebies, i.e. a bottle of lime and lemonade, that I put away for Xmas and a box of Lidl brand Jaffa cakes. I also bought a pretty expensive bottle of wine for OH for Xmas, which concluded the purchase of his Xmas presents and I also bought him some decaff coffee, although he gave me some money for that, as it's not really within the budget.

I dropped into a local hospice charity shop en route and bought this book for £3, which sounded interesting and a grey sweater vest for £4. I'll post about it in my monthly clothing purchases post.

I then walked all the way home again, so managed to get 8000 steps in, which was a bonus. I chilled for the rest of the day and didn't do a whole lot, but when LB went out later in the evening, I took the opportunity to wrap some of her presents whilst she was out.

I didn't stop at wrapping all of LB's presents, I also wrapped almost all of OH's, save for the hamper I've gathered for him. I just need to put that together at some point. I felt like I'd made good progress today with regard to Xmas. Just need to get the cards written and sent, finish cleaning the house and finish making LB's pouffe now.

On Saturday, I had good intentions of doing some sewing, but it didn't happen. Our neighbour asked if we could take their dog for the day, so most of my day was taken up with him; going on a long walk with him, snuggling with him on the sofa, etc. I did do a few small jobs, such as writing most of the Xmas cards I'm sending and hanging up the ones we've received, plus some laundry, but not much else got done today. Maybe tomorrow will be a more productive day.

As hoped, Sunday was a much more productive day. I spent the majority of it working on LB's pouffe. I began by making the bottom section which needed a zip inserting to add/take out the stuffing. Once I'd made this, I sewed each side and the top and bottom together in a random order. I'm hoping when the stuffing goes in that it will look okay. It seems cube like, but isn't exactly to my original dimensions and who knows what it will look like when I get it stuffed. It took a fair bit of concentration and that was enough for one day. I hope to get the stuffing sorted in the week and finally finish it. I will make a separate post about the final outcome.

I really don't know where time goes as we get nearer to Xmas. It just seems to disappear. I got OH's hamper put together today too, which was another job done. It wasn't too difficult, as we had wicker M&S hampers from last year that we were given by a colleague of OH and they still had their original shreddings in them, so it was just a case of arranging the items in the basket.

I hope your Xmas preparations went well this week.

Frugal Xmas Wreath, More Car Problems and a Small Charity Shop Haul - W/E 14th December 2025 - Part 1

This week started with a lie in. I'm not getting to sleep until 3am most mornings, so I end up sleeping in to catch up on sleep. It's very annoying.  Anyway, I got up and ready this morning. When I looked out of the front window, the car tyre was flat again. I was going to go out of town to get the last few bits I needed for the week, but I decided not to risk it, even if OH did reinflate the tyre. I have to go on large, busy roads and I would be stranded if it got flat whilst I was out.

Instead, I decided to go for a walk and get some steps in. En route I went through a local park that I hadn't been to for a while and discovered a new outdoor gym had been installed, with quite a few good machines to work out on. The timing was perfect, as that morning, I'd got an email telling me that my gym was closing on Xmas Eve for 3 years. The outdoor gym might be my best option going forward, as other gyms in the borough are a cycle or bus ride away.

After that discovery, and trying out a few of the machines, I continued with my walk. I decided to stop off at the local Xmas Tree shop, which sets up every December to sell trees. I asked if they had any loose fir branches, as I needed them to try to make a wreath for the front door. They were great and showed me to a pile of discarded branches and told me to help myself. I offered to pay, but they said I could take them for free, so I was very grateful. I'd seen some fir branches for sale in Lidl for £6.99 and described as wreaths! Anyway, I filled a small bag and continued home. I've now got fir branches, bay branches from a tree in the garden, rosemary that I need to harvest from the allotment and lots of ivy growing over the front wall, all of which should make up a nice wreath when combined with dried orange slices and maybe even nuts in shells.

I've decided that this year is the year that I'm going to give handmade wreath making a go. I've never done it before, but I've got the time, I've got some materials, I've watched a few YouTube videos on the subject and I'm ready to give it a try. I'll post separately about the results.

I spent the rest of the afternoon tweaking the Xmas decorations. I put up the fabric paper chain, put the decoration bags and boxes back upstairs out of the way and then hung some laundry out. OH, meanwhile, hung out the Xmas lights in the front and back gardens, which is nice to look out on, on dark winter afternoons/evenings. Once I've done a bit more cleaning and made the wreath, we'll be all set and it will just be a case of wrapping presents, writing cards and baking for the festive holiday.

On Monday evening, I ventured out to my last Charleston dance class. To warm up, the teacher taught us a little Xmas Charleston Walk, which had us mimicking carrying santa sacks, eating Xmas pudding, throwing snowballs, slipping on the ice, pulling Xmas crackers and more. It was so fun. Later, she handed out mini mince pies and chocolates, which was very sweet of her.  I wasn't really feeling like going out when I set off, but I had a lovely time once I got there. I'm thinking of booking another set of Jazz Solo classes in January with the same teacher, but I'll just have to see how the finances go.

On Tuesday morning, I got up and ready to go to my usual class at the gym.  I was tired after the class the night before, but it was good to keep moving.  After the class, I walked down into the town to get a few bits of shopping.  First stop was the Card Factory, for a few individual cards for family members. I then dropped into Crisis Charity shop, as I still had an £8 gift card burning a hole in my phone (it was digital). On this visit I did manage to find a few bits to spend it on. 

I got this sead head for wreath making for 20p, 

This felt wreath sewing kit for £2, (it is complete, but someone has started making it - very nicely might I add) and my final purchase was a 100% wool fine knit black jumper from Uniqlo for £9.50, which I thought was reasonable for a sweater made from natural materials. I've got a plan to elevate it a little if I can find the right embellishments. I spent £11.70 in total, so had to pay £3.70 over and above the gift card, but at least the gift card is now all spent, it's taken me 3+ months to do so.

My final stop was Tesco for a few groceries I didn't get from Lidl at the weekend. I also picked up the TV guide for over Xmas and New Year, which cost £1.80 (Cheap version, not TV Times).  When I got home I lost a few hours of my life going through it, to circle all the mildly interesting programmes I wanted to watch over the festive period.  To be honest, there weren't a lot. There is a Christmas edition of Amandaland on Xmas Day which might be funny, a new series of Traitors starting at New Year, a Celebrity Xmas Sewing Bee and a couple of other things, but not much else. I'll probably end up watching some nostalgic stuff, such as an Xmas episode of The Good Life.

When I got back, OH had just got back from taking the car to have the tyre looked at. The garage did some work to remedy the problem. I'm just hoping it works and we don't have any more flat tyres for the foreseeable.

On Wednesday, I woke up a bit groggy, as I only got a couple of hours sleep. There's so much going on at this time of year that when I get to bed stuff is all churning over in my mind. Anyway, I got up and ready and decided to go for a walk. Part of my reason for doing so, was to gather more greenery for my Xmas wreath. I'd seen some ivy berries on my previous walk and wanted to harvest some on the way round. I also found some holly, although not with berries, as I leave those for the birds. On the way home, I dropped in at the allotment and harvested some rosemary and then last stop was to cut some ivy from the front wall.

One of the items I recently bought on eBay came today, namely, this cute vintage Xmas decoration:

I have to admit that I did think what have I done. It seemed much smaller than I expected, but I actually really quite like it. It's very naive and kitsch and I love the little robin. 

I decided that today was the day that I was going to make the wreath. I'd been procrastinating and putting it off, as I think I was a bit scared to do it, which sounds silly, but it's how I felt.  Anyway, it wasn't actually too bad in the end and I was pleased with the outcome. I've made a separate post about it.

After tidying up after this messy job, I made Toad in the Hole for supper. LB and OH were both going out, so we needed to eat early. I stayed home and watched The Game of Wool again and had a chilled evening and was in bed by 10pm which is a rarity for me.

Frugal Xmas Wreath Making

Wednesday this week was the day that I decided to finally get around to making my first Xmas wreath. I don't think I've made one before, but I've always wanted to try. I was a bit anxious about it to be honest, but it needed doing as I'd collected some greenery on Monday and it had been sat in water for two days.

The materials were mostly foraged or from the garden or allotment, so I didn't need to buy anything. I already had a wicker wreath ring, which I'd bought last year in January for £2. I also had some dried slices of orange that I'd bought from Lidl a couple of years ago, which I think I paid £1.99 for, but hadn't yet got around to using. I only used 5 of these which constituted about one third of the pack. The only other thing I bought was a gold seedhead from the charity shop for 20p.

The greenery I used included fir branches that I got free from the Xmas tree shop, bay sprigs that I cut off my bay tree in the garden, rosemary harvested from the allotment and ivy from the front wall. I also foraged some ivy berries and some berryless holly on my walk and that got added too.

I didn't find it that easy to wedge the greenery into the wicker ring, but with a bit of effort I managed to get everything in relatively securely. It's a bit of a wild and straggly wreath, but I quite like that as it seems to make it more authentically homemade to me. Here's a couple of pictures of some of the greenery I included:

After making it, I ran it under the tap to douse it with water to help keep it fresh and then hung it on the front door. I'm really happy with it and really like it for a first attempt. I just hope it doesn't disappear.

There were a few small bits of greenery left over, so I made a hanging garland with them. I'm not sure where I'm going to hang it yet, but waste not want not.

Then there was only the cleaning up to do, as I made quite a mess:

I really enjoyed the whole process, from the foraging/gathering of materials, to making up the wreath itself. I will definitely do this again at some point. Do you make your own Xmas wreath?

More Sewing, A Feel Good Xmas Film, Putting the Xmas Tree up and an Early Weekly Shop - W/E 7th December 2025

The second part of this week has been quite relaxed and varied. On Wednesday morning, I took myself out for an 8500 step walk which was nice. It was nice to walk in open spaces with no traffic or fumes and just breathe in fresh air here in London.

When I got home, I spent the afternoon sewing. I did a couple of small sewing tasks and then finally got around to doing more work on LB's pouffe. I've posted separately about this sewing session, so you may have already read about it. It felt quite productive though, as I made some progress.

On Wednesday evening, OH was out with some friends for an Xmas drink, so I enjoyed myself watching Game of Wool on Channel 4. I've heard that a lot of knitters don't like this programme, but I find it entertaining. They are very skilled at what they do. I for one am in awe, as all I can do is a basic garter stitch.

On Thursday, I got up and went to the gym. OH was already there when I got there and we both came home together via a local cafe, as he needed to eat and it was pouring with rain. It was a nice treat, although I only had a peppermint tea.

I didn't do a lot on Thursday afternoon. I didn't want to do anymore sewing and I couldn't motivate myself to clean ready to put the Xmas decorations up, so I had quite a lazy afternoon. In the evening, we watched the penultimate episode of Celebrity Race Across the World, which we enjoy, and I then once OH had gone to bed, I watched Kirstie's Handmade Christmas, which was also on Channel 4. 

Before going to bed, I got inspired to make yet another couple of items from the denim jeans I bought. Once again inspired by Pinterest, I found a pin to make denim coasters from the remaining seam and hem pieces. I worked out that I had enough offcuts to make one coaster from each type of these pieces. I didn't start work, leaving that until the following day.

On Friday morning, I was due to go and see a free film showing at our local independent cinema. Our local council were funding a film each week over Xmas, which was free to over 55's. This week's film, which started at 11am, was called The Shop on the Corner. It was an old 1940 film starring James Stewart, as a shop clerk and an actress called Margaret Sullavan, as a shop assistant working in the same store. It was actually a good film, one I've never seen before and was actually pretty funny. It brought back memories of watching old movies as a child on TV and as it was a kind of feel good film, similar to A Wonderful Life, I came away feeling uplifted, which can't be said of a lot of modern films.

On the way home, I dropped into a local chariy shop for a festive mooch, but I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Just as well really, as I won a couple of auctions on eBay, spending around £11 on two items; one a vintage Kitsch Xmas decoration and the other a small gift to put in my reusable Xmas cracker. I now just need to find small gifts to put in LB's and OH's.

I spent the afternoon, working on one of the denim coasters using jeans seams. It took quite a while, but I managed to sew all the remaining bits of seams into it, including the belt loops which were small, so I sewed them into the centre. The finished item almost looks like the growth rings in the bark of a tree. I still need to stitch some felt on the back and possibly cover the top with PVA to protect the fabric, but I'm pretty happy with the outcome. There isn't too much fabric left from the jeans now, enough for a project for myself and another idea I've got in the pipeline for all the small offcuts solely of denim, not seams, hems or plackets, just plain fabric, that is much easier to sew with.

I've got one more coaster to make, using the hems of the jeans. It's currently pinned in place so you can get an idea of how it will look when finished.

Our car went in for it's MOT and service on Friday. It needed a couple of new tyres and a headlight bulb replacing. It cost a few hundred pounds all in, but it's not too bad to keep it on the road for another year. It is 13 or so years old, so it's doing okay.

On Friday evening, OH and I watched George Clooney and Adam Sandler in Jay Kelly on Netflix. It was watchable and OH thought it was a great film. I wasn't so enamoured of it.

On Saturday morning, I got up after barely sleeping at all and headed out to the last free gym session of the year. OH joined me there and we both had a good workout. After lunch, I finally got around to cleaning the two living rooms, so that I could get the Xmas decorations and tree up. It feels good to get that job mostly done and the house feels a lot more festive. There's a few jobs still to do, such as hang my fabric paper chains, the front door wreath, any cards that we have received and a few lights that I needed to put batteries in, but they shouldn't take long.

OH headed out to the allotment today to paint preservative on the shed base, which will be erected in 10 days. Later in the evening, he went out to have Xmas drinks with his cycling friends. I decided to have a chill evening watching TV.  

On Sunday, I woke up feeling groggy after a very good night's sleep, which I was grateful for. The day didn't get off to a great start though, as I found out there was a problem with one of the new tyres on the car. One of the tyres, which are tubeless, had not sealed and the air had come out causing a flat tyre. OH had had trouble with it the night before on his night out and it was flat again this morning. Anyway, he managed to get it pumped up again and hopefully it has now sealed and will be okay.  I was a bit nervous going out to do the weekly shop in it, but I was only going locally, so OH could have come out to me if there was a problem.

I did the weekly shop a day early at our local Lidl, as I had a £5 off a £70 spend voucher there, that needed to be used today. I ended up spending way more than the £70 - over £100 in fact, but I did get a gammon ham and a panettone for Xmas, plus a few small Xmas gifts, mostly edible. I also needed a bottle of gin, as I'd run out, so those things alone pushed it to well over £70, which is about what I spend most weeks.

I did have a small accident on getting the shopping out of the car.  The fridge bag had fallen over in transit and the eggs fell out and to the ground, as I opened the boot, so I lost a couple of them, which was annoying, but stuff happens.

The rest of the day was relatively chill. LB finished off my wrist warmers with a row or two of crochet, so hopefully they won't now unravel and I can start wearing them. OH made a curry which was delicious and we watched another episode of series 2 of Landman on Paramount.

How has your week been?

Using It All Up

For the last couple of months, I've been trying very hard, to use up stuff that I already have.  This not only relates to the Project Pan, that I'm trying to progress with, but also with regard to fabric and haberdashery in my stash, clothing that I already have, candles, food and cleaning products/ingredients for beauty products that have been languishing in the cupboard unused, to name just a few.

On the Project Pan front, I am making progress. It is quite slow, but things are being used up. I will probably do a follow up post in the New Year to calculate my current situation on this front and to see if I have reduced the number of items I have left to use up, although I will be receiving a handful of items as Xmas gifts, so that will factor into my results.

With regard to ingredients for beauty products, I have made home made roll-on deodorant this month using ingredients in my cupboard. I don't use it every day, just on days where I'm staying home, going to the gym or not really going out anywhere special. On days when I am socialising or going out, I wear a bought deodorant, but this does reduce the frequency of needing to buy this product. I may stop buying it and just use the handmade at some point, as this will reduce plastic waste for recycling too.

I have also been making my own air freshener sprays and a festive reed diffuser from distilled water, polysorbate and essential oils. It works well enough for me and has minimal ingredients. It also saves a lot of money on buying mostly synthetic products.

I've probably been making the most progress in terms of using up fabric scraps and haberdashery in my stash, which I've been using for various projects, such as weaving and bowl making. This month I've also turned my attention to using some Xmas fabrics to make decor for the house this festive season. I have had to buy the odd haberdashery item, as needed for projects and I have bought and repurposed some charity shop jeans to make a gift for LB for Xmas, but I'm trying very hard to use every scrap of fabric from these, to avoid any waste. Any unusable bits are being cut up small for stuffing.

I'm also continuing to use up foods from the freezer and cupboards to make space for Xmas food and just generally clear out some things that have been hanging around for a while. Inspired by a fellow blogger, I went through my pantry and took out various items that we probably won't use and in doing so managed to almost fill a carrier bag to take to the food bank next week. I'm afraid this was the best I could do, as I don't have any spare cash for a donation, but everything was in date and usable. I'm keeping food purchases minimal, especially with rising prices in the shops, as I can't afford to stock up at the moment. It may take longer to look for good deals these days, but I've got plenty of time. I do try to buy yellow labels when I can and put them into the freezer and this has been saving me a fair amount of money on some items.

Thankfully, I have now completed my Xmas shopping, so this will help to keep me out of the shops during December, when there is greatest temptation to buy more gifts than you really need to. I'm done adding in lots of extras that aren't really wanted, it's a total waste of money and so I've been sticking to wishlists when buying presents. Instead, I can focus on taking my time to creatively wrap the things I have bought, using the paper and reusable wrapping that I already have to hand and not feel too stressed by the approaching festive season. I can also find inexpensive places to visit and things to do to celebrate and enjoy the lead in to Xmas and the festive atmosphere at this time of year. I'm enjoying not working in retail this year and wonder how I found the time to get everything done and work too in previous years.

All of these measures are actually making my spending (particularly on groceries) reduce a little. I think if I can stick to them, it will really help me to keep within my reduced budget going forward and in addition, it does provide me with a sense of satisfaction that I'm being more resourceful and mindful. I'm seriously considering everything that I put in my shopping basket these days, and questioning whether I really need it or whether I can manage without purchasing it for another week or two. It's a strategy that I'm sticking with for the forseeable. It's so easy just to throw things into the trolley or basket and not really give too much thought to it, but when you are trying to stick to a budget this can be very self defeating.

How are you finding budgeting these days? I'm finding it increasingly difficult, and am sometimes having to compromise by buying non- branded products to keep things in budget, as it seems that it is the branded food products (and meat) that are rocketing in price these days. What do you think?

More Sewing - Some Small and Some Not So Small

This week, I decided it was time to knuckle down and do some work on the denim pouffe that I'd promised LB that I'd make her for Xmas. I'd made a start and  completed a couple of the sides of the square shaped pouffe. It's dimensions will be approximately 17" square and 11" high. It's really only for her to use as a foot stool, so it didn't need to be too tall.

I'd made a start and completed a couple of the sides, then I decided I didn't like one of them and made a bit of an alteration to it and the third side took a long time as it was partly hand stitched due to the thickness of the parts of the denim jeans I was using. 

On Wednesday, I got the sewing machine out and continued with the sides and also the top, which I'd cut out, but not sewn together. I managed to get all four sides completed and the top, which I was super pleased about. Here's some pictures:

Top

Front

Sides and Back

As you can see from the photos, each side of the pouffe is constructed differently, using the fabric in different ways. Some sides are more simple in their construction, and I may yet add a jeans pocket onto one of these for interest.  Others, such as the front, took longer, as the seams of the jeans that I used here, needed to be sewn together by hand due to the thickness of the fabric. I think the overall effect is quite interesting though and it was a great way of using bits that otherwise might not get used.

I now just need to make the bottom panel, which will have a zip closure, so that the stuffing can be taken out and the cover washed if necessary. All the panels will then need to be sewn together, which is where it starts to get a bit more tricky. I'll post again about this project when I've made more progress, but this was all I wanted to do for today.

Whilst I had the sewing machine out, I did a few small bits, the first being to finish the denim wristlet. Here it is on my wrist:

The button hole isn't the best and I may need to go around it and reinforce the stitching by hand, but otherwise I think it worked quite well.

I also made a pair of wrist warmers from some wool that I cut from an old sweater. I meant to use this when I made my hot water bottle covers, but couldn't find where I'd put it. Subsequently, I remembered, so I decided to make these wrist warmers with it. I do still need to bind the inner seams and probably the bottom to prevent unravelling, but they turned out okay and should be useful in the winter months.

Finally, I made a new little sleeve for my snips, which are very sharp.  The old sleeve above was ripped and I didn't want the snips ripping the fabric of my scrap basket, so I made this new one from some vinyl samples I had in my stash. 

It does the job and fits perfectly into the pocket for the snips, making it easier to put them in and take them out. (They were catching on the ripped sleeve). A very small make, but one that does make life a bit easier and safer.

 

That was enough sewing for one day, but I was happy with what I achieved.

Advent Begins with Making and Cleaning Jewellery - W/E 7th December 2025 - Part 1

This week I started to feel a bit festive. I always get a bit excited when the advent calendars and candles come out. This year, I've got a paper advent calendar, which is very sweet:

I can't remember where I bought it from, possibly TK Maxx in the sale last year, not sure. I also have a bought chocolate advent calendar this year. (Galaxy for me, Terry's chocolate orange for LB - OH didn't want one) I used to make a chocolate advent calendar myself using small paper boxes, but by the time I ate the chocolates, some of them started to taste a bit off, so I didn't make one this year. I went for the lazy option of a bought one.

I also enjoy the ritual of lighting my advent candle each day and watching it gradually burn down. This year's I bought in the sales last January and put it aside, so I didn't need to go out looking for one. I've already got another put aside for next year, such a hoarder am I.

Aside from opening advent calendars, my week started in the usual way by heading out of town to do the shopping. It was super busy in some of the shops, Home Bargains in particular, you could tell that everyone was starting their Xmas shopping proper. I was glad that mine was all done and all I had to worry about was food.

I had a £4.50 voucher off a £30 shop at Sainsburys this week. I never normally shop there, save for buying the odd thing if I can't get it anywhere else, hence how I got the voucher. I managed to spend the £30 without spending much more than I would going to other supermarkets. I also got triple Nectar points on the shop, so I now have a small Nectar points voucher to use there next week.

I then had a voucher to get 10% off my grocery shop at Lidl, so I bought the bulk of my shopping there, saving around £7 on that shop. I bought a few bits of food to put towards Xmas, but there's quite a lot still to buy, that can't really be bought until nearer the time. I qualified for a free mini Panetonne on the Lidl Plus app, which is going in OH's Xmas hamper, as he loves Pannetone.

Once again, I frontloaded the shop at the beginning of the month, probably buying more than was actually essential, but I wanted to make the best use of the vouchers I had. It should mean that subsequent weekly shops shouldn't be too large and leaves a bit of room to buy a few food bits for Xmas each week.

I then came home and unpacked the shopping, before having an early supper and heading out to my dance class around 6pm. The class tonight was challenging, but in a good way. We learnt a second section of the routine and then put last week's and this week's segments together.  I'm really enjoying it. Just one more week to go next week.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym. It was good and I felt better for the workout. Later, I made a few final additions to my denim scrap/sewing basket. I made a little pin cushion from another pocket, that can be hung from a button and I also added a handmade needle case, which just fitted in a belt loop that I'd sewed on, so it's now complete, with everything I need in one place. Here's a picture of the additions:

I'm very happy with it as it is a very practical solution for keeping the kitchen table a bit less cluttered.

After the dance class last night and the gym class this morning, I felt a bit tired today and just didn't feel like doing a whole lot for the rest of the day.  I did do a bit more hand sewing on another small denim project.  This one was a wristlet. I got the idea from Pinterest. I used the remainder of one of the waistbands for this and added some belt loop decorations. I now just need stitch up one end on the machine and create a button hole before I can wear it. I thought it was another cute idea to use up more of the offcuts.

I also finally made the little vintage doll's face, that LB bought me at the Knit & Stitch Show, into a pin badge. I covered a piece of card with black felt, added some stuffing to the back of the face and then stitched the felted covered card to the face, as carefully as I could before sewing on a pin. It's not perfect, but I like it. It's been kicking around on the kitchen table gathering dust for weeks now, so it was good that I finally finished the job and I can actually wear it now. Another little job done. Here's a couple of pictures:

Later on Tuesday, I decided to clean some of my silver jewellery that I wear every day. One of the necklaces that I wear daily and which was a very fine silver chain, broke at the weekend.  My first instinct was to buy a new necklace, until I remembered that I did have another much thicker silver necklace that I could use instead. I dug it out on Monday, along with a silver charm bracelet that I'm slowly filling with charms. I needed to attach the charms, but hadn't got around to it, so I started work on that this week. I was a little short of silver jump rings, so I need to source some from somewhere to complete the job.

I decided to clean this jewellery, as the new chain had got discoloured and some of the charms needed a clean. In addition, my rings that I wear daily get super grubby and I hadn't cleaned them for months.  

My silver jewellery cleaner of choice is baking soda and hot water. The bubbling effect of hot water being poured on baking soda helps to remove the dirt, especially the dirt that gathers in the stone settings and it's quite gentle with no harsh chemicals. 

This time around, I used some aluminium foil in there too, as I'd heard that this helps with the cleaning process and it did seem to work really well. I repeated the process a few times and also went in with cotton wool buds, to get into all the crevises and my jewellery came out sparkling. Here's a picture of the jewellery after cleaning:

The dark patches on a couple of rings are silicon coils I use to make them fit a little better, it darkens over time.

I'm currently enjoying creating an old fashioned style charm bracelet. My mum and my Auntie both had one, rammed with charms and I loved playing with them as a child. I'm gradually helping to build one for LB too and each Xmas and birthday, I buy her a new vintage charm for her bracelet. I'll be adding one to mine this Xmas too. I only got my bracelet this birthday in October. I actually bought it from Kirsten's Curiosities on YouTube and it was perfect. It was good to support someone I watch regularly and then finally be able to add the few charms I'd already collected to it. The charms can be quite expensive at between £10 to £30 each, especially for the ones that open up with moving parts, which are more collectable. Being silver, however, they do have an intrinsic value too, so I consider them an investment.

It was satisfying to do this job. In fact, I may dig out other silver jewellery that I've got and give all of it a clean too this week.