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.

Monthly Financial Roundup - November 2025

This month has been the usual problem of trying to balance my budget. I have to say, I didn't help myself by buying some new towels for the house, which weren't really essential and cost £35. We could have managed perfectly well without them, but they are nice all the same.

The £18 purchase of a new greenhouse cover, was essential though and it was money well spent to make sure the greenhouse and it's contents are weather proofed for the winter. It wasn't a perfect fit, unfortunately, but it fits well enough.

I didn't go too mad on the thrifting front this month. Some weeks I stayed out of thrifts shops completely or couldn't find anything I wanted to buy, which helped. I did buy a couple of items of clothing, a book and some pairs of jeans to use for a sewing project, but I was quite restrained.

We had a trip up to Yorkshire, I had a couple of lovely days out with LB shopping at Canary Wharf and thrifting in Dalston, East London, a meet up with friends at a restaurant and a couple of other inexpensive social events that I attended. The meal in a restaurant was the most expensive of these, but cost less than £20, so I can't complain.

Mostly, I've just been grocery shopping once per week, ordering Xmas/birthday presents mostly online and spending time sewing and going to the gym. I've done quite a lot of sewing this last month, but I've quite enjoyed it and have made progress with a few things.

In terms of grocery shopping, I kept a tight control on spending, trying not to overbuy anything, but I did have the benefit of £25 worth of money off coupons in November, which helped with the food budget, although I still went over.  It was, however, only £55 over budget, as opposed to £140 the previous month, so that was a win in my eyes. All other spending categories were also reduced, save for Home and Garden, the purchases for which I've mentioned above.

Going into December, I have done virtually all of my Xmas shopping and it is now just a case of buying the food we will need for the Xmas holiday. I've already bought some things, but there are quite a few things I still need to buy.

We're planning a trip up to Yorkshire to see family before Xmas and there may be the odd inexpensive social event to attend, but otherwise it shouldn't be too expensive a month. LB might be able to get me free tickets to the Panto at the theatre where she works, which I'm hoping to use with a friend and I've booked a couple of free films at the cinema, courtesy of our local council, which is cool.

I'm due a dental appointment and keep getting reminders, but I really can't afford the expense before Xmas, as the dentist wants me to have another clean, which combined with the checkup will come to £120, so I might just have to book one in the New Year.

It will be another month of getting on with sewing projects, particularly LB's denim pouffe, which I hope to have finished for Xmas, if not, her birthday in January. This should keep me busy inbetween doing other things. I'm looking forward to being totally free this year in the lead up and over Xmas, now I'm not working. I have time to shop around for the best deals and save money where I can and I'm not exactly out living it up and throwing money around, so it's fine. Having less money to spend, actually makes me appreciate the true meaning of Xmas more, which can only be a good thing.

I hope your finances are on budget coming into this most expensive time of the year.

Monthly Clothing Purchases - November 2025

It has been a little quieter on the clothing purchase front this month. I've not been looking to buy clothes really, as I don't need much, save maybe a few sweaters made from natural materials, but I rarely see these in charity shops these days.

Having said this, I did find a sweater in the charity shop this month. It is from Hobbs and is part wool, part cotton. It cost £4 and is in pretty good condition. I may need to do a little debobbling on it, but nothing more. Here's a picture:

I think this will be good for wearing over a dress or with a long sleeved t-shirt underneath. It is handwash only, but I want to wash it as little as possible, if I can.

The next item I bought this month was a denim shirt for OH to give me for Xmas. It was from Primark and cost £16. It's 90% cotton and quite oversized. I'll maybe post a picture of it when I receive it at Xmas.

Another item I bought this month, was this Seasalt dress for £6 from a local charity shop. It is a bit oversized on me, but it is part linen, part viscose and I liked the print on it, so I figured that it was too nice quality to pass up. I will probably wear it under a large sweater or sweater vest, so the fact that it is oversized won't be as noticeable, as a consequence.

I did also go thrifting with LB to try to spend what remained on a Charity Shop gift card, but I couldn't find anything I wanted to buy, so at least this didn't add to my clothing purchases this month. 

I made one more clothing purchase of a 100% plain cotton black T-shirt for the gym, which cost £4 from the men's section in the charity shop. I just need to turn up the sleeves and stitch them in place and then wash it before I wear it.

It's been a good month for not buying too many items of clothing. I spent £14 on items and another £16 on a gift for OH to give me for Xmas, so just £30 this month, which isn't too bad and means my spending is still reducing, if only slightly. I just hope I can continue to keep spending to a minimum going forward. Thrifting will always be a temptation for me though, I just have to keep it under control.

An Interesting and More Social Week - W/E 30th November 2025

This week got off to a very busy start, as I had quite a lot going on on Monday. I headed out a bit earlier to do the weekly shop. I can't honestly say that I kept it within budget, as most of the cost of the shop will be coming from next month's budget, as I ran out of money again before the end of the month. It's becoming the norm of late, but I just have to roll with it and hope that once Xmas is out of the way, things will calm down and I'll manage to stay in budget.

I was back home by 1.30pm, but then had to get ready and go out by 3pm. I was meeting a couple of friends for an early supper. I hadn't seen them since July, so there was quite a bit of news to catch up on. It was lovely to see them. We were all organised and exchanged Xmas cards, which saved us all on postage. I couldn't have a drink though, as I'd booked myself onto a 3 week dance course, that I was due to attend later that evening.

The course is a Jazz Solo/Charleston course, which is being taught over the next three Mondays. It wasn't very expensive at £28 for 3 classes. I've really missed doing dance and haven't done anything since before Lockdown, when all the classes I used to attend closed down. The solo classes never resumed, post Covid, so when I saw this course, being run by a different dance school, I jumped at the chance to go along. I thought that I would probably be the oldest person on the course, but there were quite a lot of mature students, which made me feel much less self conscious about my age this time around.

I was a few minutes late to the class, as I had to take 2 buses from the restaurant and just missed one as we left, so had to wait a while for another to come along. The class itself was really good though and the teacher was excellent and really broke the different steps down for ease. I really enjoyed it and was home by 9.15pm, glad to just chill for the rest of the evening.

On Tuesday, I had a bit of a lie in and read for an hour in bed before getting up and heading out to a class at the gym. The regular teacher was back from her holiday this week. I spent the remainder of the day trying to do some work on LB's pouffe, but I didn't really get very far. It's a bit trickier than I thought.

Wednesday, started with another lie in reading, before getting up, showering and heading down for breakfast. LB had already gone into work. The Panto has started and she's getting shifts again. I took myself out for a walk in the morning, but it wasn't as long as I normally take. I only did 6,000 steps, but it's better than nothing.

When I got back, the Budget was on the radio. I was relieved that nothing drastically affected us as a family, but we will be paying more tax in some areas, such as paying tax per mile for car journeys, as we have a hybrid car. Our mileage isn't high. We maybe use the car twice per week, most weeks, driving 40 miles or so in total per week, plus visits up north to family a few times per year. I do wonder if they are planning to bring this in for all cars eventually, if it is successful for electric/hybrid cars. It would probably take something like this to reduce traffic on the roads these days, which seems to get ridiculously busy.

I spent the afternoon doing some sewing. I didn't feel like continuing with the pouffe, I needed a break from it, so I got started on a new festive project that I had put aside to do if I got the time. I'll make a separate post about this. I also did a bit of work on another craft project using fabric scraps, that I've been doing over the last week, which I'll include in the same post.

In the evening, OH and I watched a great film on Netflix, called The Holdovers starring Paul Giamatti, in which he plays a boarding school teacher who is required to stay at school over the Xmas holidays, to look after students who can't go back home for Xmas. It was a film that came out last Xmas and I wanted to see it then, but didn't. It was great to catch it on Netflix this year and it made me feel a bit festive. 

Talking of feeling festive, our local council are providing free film viewings for over 55's this Xmas at our local small independent cinema on Friday mornings.  I've booked a ticket for a couple of films, one of which is a 1951 version of A Christmas Carol with Alistair Simms and the other a James Stewart film set in Budapest. It will be nice to go along and see a film and they throw in a free cup of tea and biscuit. Even better.

On Thursday, I went to the gym in the morning and then spent the afternoon working on the festive project again. In the evening, OH and I had arranged to go to our local mall, the main reason being for me to pick up an order from John Lewis. I bought a gift for LB's birthday in January in their Black Friday sale. (A sewing machine!) 

We decided to have supper out and do a little Xmas shopping, as there was something I needed to get for LB that I could only get there.  We then had a drink in the bar, before picking LB up from work at the theatre nearby.  My Xmas shopping is now mostly all done, which is a relief. I just need to buy a bottle of wine for OH and that's it.

Friday, I was out all day. I started out attending a coffee morning at a cafe in an area where we used to live many years ago, in our first rented flat together. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane for me.  The cafe is part of a community led project and is heavily subsidised. I was shocked when I was charged just £1 for a cup of tea. I don't think I've paid that little for a drink in a cafe in years. Anyway, the group I was meeting with were there in quite a large number and I got chatting to quite a few people and had a nice sociable couple of hours.

When I left, I decided to walk all the way home, which was probably 2-3 miles. I took a detour to a lovely little shopping street full of independent shops, where a flower market is held every Sunday. I stopped off to get a brie and cranberry bagel for lunch in one of the shops and then walked on to our local city farm, where I explored the gardens. I hadn't been here in years, since I did a gardening course there probably 15 years ago. 

I visited a few charity shops en route and bought just one item that I actually needed, before eventually getting home at about 4.30pm, so I made a real day out of it. I enjoyed it. I need to get out more and make the most of what is on our doorstep here in London and it was nice to get to know new people a little.

When I got home, I spent the evening doing a bit more work on LB's pouffe and then did some financial reckoning, as it's near enough the end of the month and I don't intend spending anymore money between now and December 1st, if I can help it.

Saturday morning, I had to drag myself out of bed to go to the gym, as I'd slept really badly and was exhausted. OH came along, which helped to motivate me to go.

I spent the afternoon sewing. I finished the festive project, i.e. fabric paper chains, making another 9 links and stitching on all of the velcro, so it's now ready to hang. I also did a bit of work on LB's pouffe and also started another small project with some of the denim waistbands from the jeans I cut up. I'm trying hard to use as much of the jeans fabric and features as possible. This small project was to make a basket, possibly for threads and bits of scraps from sewing. It is being completely sewn by hand.

OH, meanwhile, spent the afternoon re-roofing, repairing and creosoting our little wood/coal shed. We've had this shed for over 20 years and it should now hopefully last a bit longer still. Here's a picture:

In the evening, OH got all of the Xmas decorations out of the loft and I went through and took out all the Xmas mugs, crockery, kitchen linens to put them straight to use. Putting up the decorations will have to wait until next week, once I've had a tidy around. It's exciting though.

On Sunday, we had a canine visitor again, next door's dog Toby came to stay for the day. OH went out to a cycle race, so it was just LB and I at home. I took Toby on a long walk, which I think we both enjoyed. I do miss having a dog and he's such a sweetie.

When we got back, I spent the rest of the afternoon finishing the thread/scrap basket. I added a few pockets to hold the sewing tools I use most. It will just help to keep everything tidy and together in one place.  I intend to line it with a plastic bag that I will fill with chopped up scraps and then replace it with another bag when it's full. I'm pretty happy with the outcome, I think it's cute. Here's a couple of pictures:

I just need to hang a little pin/needle cushion to one of the belt loops or the button on the back and it's good to go. I'm hoping it will help keep the kitchen table a bit tidier, as I do most of my sewing there these days.

Recent and Festive Makes

I've been dabbling lately in a new to me craft. If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you will know that I'm always looking for new and inspiring ways to use up fabric scraps and I saw this idea on an Instagram post that happened to pop up in my feed. It was to create a bowl made from fabric scraps. I immediately thought this looked quite simple and easy to make, so I gave it a try.

The first step was to cover the bottowm of a bowl with cling film and then PVA and then stick the fabric scraps to it, coating it with more PVA.  The first layer of fabric scraps needed to be face down, as this would become the inside of the bowl. Here's a picture of the bowl at this stage:

Once this dried, which took approximately 24 hours, I could then apply a second layer.  For this layer I just used plain fabric, just to thicken the bowl and give it more strength. I used the cotton pocket bags from the jeans I'd been cutting up for this, and it worked well enough. Once this dried, it was time to apply the top layer, which would be the outside of the bowl and these fabric scraps needed to be face up.

When this was dry, I took the fabric bowl off the metal bowl and the cling film. To do this I cut away the cling film and lifted the bowl out with it, before peeling it off. For some reason, the inside layer of fabric was covered with what looked like a thin layer of plastic. I'm not sure if this came from the cling film, or was the initial PVA I used drying to a shiny finish. The later PVA I used dried matt, so I decided to add a second layer of scrap fabric to the inside of the bowl to cover this. To be honest, it was also good for making the bowl a bit thicker and stronger too, and I preferred the fabrics I used latterly too.

Once completely dry, here's a picture of the resulting bowl:

I'm going to use this to store the balls of fabric yarn I made to use for weaving. 

I enjoyed making it and I liked the results. You can, of course, use any bowl, of any size to do this and you could make it from one fabric, rather than lots of different scraps. I love the fact that it is constructed completely from fabric (and PVA).

In addition to the above make, I also started a festive sewing project recently, to make some fabric 'paper' chains. I've been meaning to do this for a few years, but have never got around to it. I have a stack of Xmas fabrics and wanted to make some kind of decor with it. Here's a picture of the stack of fabrics I chose for this make:

I mainly chose red, white and green Xmas prints. I created a template from cardboard and then proceeded to cut several pieces from each fabric, using the template.

Using just the fabric on it's own made the links of the chain a bit too flimsy, so I needed to iron interfacing onto the back of each strip to make the links a bit stronger, before I proceeded to link them. I added velcro to each link for closure, as this way they could be stored flat and not get squashed or take up too much space.

Here's a picture of what I've made of the chain so far:

I'm really happy with it. I still need to make a few more links to make it long enough to hang where I want to put it, and the velcro needs stitching as it is just pinned in place in this photo, but it's coming along nicely and I love the bright and cheerful Xmas prints. I'll post another picture when I've got it up in situ next month.

I had a couple of smallish pieces of two of the fabrics left, so I decided to use them up and make them into drawstring gift bags for wrapping gifts this Xmas. They just need some ribbon threading through at the top and they'll be good to go.

A few inexpensive things, that I enjoyed making from fabric I already had in my stash and that should be useful this festive season and beyond.

Allotment and Garden Jobs and a Day Out Thrifting With LB - W/E 23rd November 2025

I managed to almost keep within the budget of £90 for grocery shopping this week, save that I threw a couple of Xmas items in my basket at my last stop in B&M. I used my last £4 off a £40 spend at Tesco this week, so I've got no more vouchers now for the rest of the month. They have really helped me with the budget this month.

With just one grocery shop left in November,  I think I'll probably go over budget by a few pounds, if I'm honest, as I have a meal out with friends planned for next week. I always count this as part of the food budget, which might seem strange, but the money is being spent on food and it's a pretty rare event these days.

I picked up a click and collect order for some new Morris & Co towels from TKMaxx whilst I was out shopping. I decided to order these online, as they are really good value from this store and I saved probably nearly £20 on buying them elsewhere. Quite a lot of our towels are getting a bit old now, so I'm gradually trying to replace them and I now have 3 different sets of these. I love the designs, this one is Sunflowers and they feel quite luxe to use. It wasn't a planned expenditure, but I don't regret it, as they don't always have them in stock, so when they do it's good to be able to get hold of them at a good price.

Tuesday, was a busy day. I attended a class at the gym in the morning and then at 1pm, OH and I had to go to the allotment, to load all of the rubbish from the shed demolition into a hire van and take it all to the tip. Another plot holder came to help us, which was good, as it made it slightly quicker. The van was full to the hilt. We couldn't get another single thing in there. As we were taking a van to the tip, we had to book a drop off slot, to prevent trade waste coming in. It took a couple of hours all told, but it was a job well done. I took a picture of the area we cleared on this visit. I forgot to post one on my last post about this:

OH now just needs to level the pavers ready for the new shed to be erected. He managed to rescue some roofing felt from the old shed to re-roof our little shed in the garden at home, which was good, as this saved him having to buy a whole roll of the stuff and should keep our little shed, that we use for coal and kindling, in use a bit longer.

We did the right thing taking all of the rubbish to the tip on Tuesday, as on Wednesday it was raining all day. Had we left it, the debris would have been very wet and messy and it would have made the job a lot harder and dirtier.

LB and I had arranged to go thrifting on Wednesday, but I saw an instagram post on my phone informing me that one of the shops we were going to visit was closed, so due to that and the awful weather, we decided to postpone the trip until Friday.

Instead of going out, I decided to have a day at home sewing and doing other odd jobs. I managed to finish another couple of small projects and then spent the rest of the afternoon making more fabric yarn for my next weaving project. I'd already cut the strips of fabric and just wanted to get them run up into yarn. I've got a few more left to do, but I needed to change the colour of the cotton in the machine, so I stopped at that point as it was getting a bit late. 

A new PVC cover for our small greenhouse came on Wednesday. I'd ordered it on eBay, as our current one, which we haven't had that long is leaking badly. It was damaged by the strong sunlight over the summer months and everything inside is getting very wet and soggy. 

In the evening, OH and I watched the first episode of series 2 of Landman on Paramount. 

On Thursday, I didn't go to the gym in the morning. I had a twinge in my shoulder and I didn't want to exacerbate it by going to the gym. Instead, I went for an 8500 step walk. It was quite cold, but refreshing to get out in the fresh air.

 

When I got home, I had some lunch and then spent an hour or two making more fabric yarn. I then decided to sort out the greenhouse and put the new cover on. The inside of the greenhouse was a soggy, mouldy mess on account of water getting in. It wasn't a particularly nice job to have to do, but it needed doing. We'd been throwing lots of stuff in there all year, on account of the building work next door and having to move stuff from the side return, so it felt very satisfying to re-organise it and make it water tight for the winter. It also needed a few joints replacing, as they'd broken, but luckily I'd bought a mixed bag from the charity shop for £2 earlier in the year and it was a life saver, as it contained just the joints I needed. The job was done in a couple of hours, luckily before it got dark. Here's a picture of the greenhouse with it's new cover on:

It still looks a bit of a mess, but it's a lot drier, repaired, I've evicted all the snails, swept it out and it is now water tight. I'll go through everything again in the spring, wash the dirty plant pots and trays and put them away. Hopefully, OH will  build the side return greenhouse next year and everything will get transferrred into there. For now, it serves a purpose and it will be fine.

On Thursday evening, I ventured out to attend a talk by a theatre costume designer, being held fairly locally, a short bus ride away. I had a nice evening and the talk was very interesting. There are more talks that I may potentially attend in the future, which might be interesting. It was good to get out and do something different.

Friday morning, I got up and ready, as LB and I were heading out thrifting today in another part of the borough, where there are a couple of shops where I can spend the £8 that remains on my Charity Shop giftcard. It was a nice excuse to spend some time out and about together before LB gets busy at work again.

LB took a while to surface, so I continued sewing some fabric yarn until she was ready to go out. Once she was ready, we headed out. 

First stop was a Poundland store that was closing down. We decided to go in and have a look. I bought a couple of cans of de-icer for 20p each, and bought these three sets of bio seed pots and a pack of seed labels, which I'm going to gift to OH for Xmas. These totalled £1.10. Bargain. Combined with some seeds, they'll make a nice little extra gift.

I bought a few other food bits, but only spent £4.30 in total. It was sad for the staff that the store was closing, but I was very happy with my bargains.

We then visited a few charity shops, a couple of which I could spend my voucher in. Unfortunately, as is usually the case when you've got the money there waiting to be spent, despite spending over an hour in one particlularly large thrift store, I didn't find anything I wanted to buy. Well, I found a couple of items I wanted to buy, but they were too small for me, so that made the decision for me. I felt very restrained coming home with my Charity Gift card balance still intact. I'll just have to spend it another day.

We stopped off in a lovely garden bar for a drink before catching the bus home. We had a lovely afternoon out together. It was perishingly cold though, so we were happy to get home and get warm again.

On Saturday morning, OH came to the gym with me for the over 50's free session which was nice. When we got home, his friend had dropped off their dog Bruce, as he'd agreed to look after him for the day whilst they went out. It was nice to have another canine companion for a day and he was no trouble.

OH took him for a walk and then took him to the allotment whilst he levelled the patio area ready for the shed to be erected. Hopefully, now that is done, OH will get a break from working on the shed, as it will be erected by the company they're buying it from and then other plot holders can sort out treating the timber once it's up.

It was another miserable and rainy day here on Saturday, so I spent the rest of the day sewing, making fabric yarn and working on LB's pouffe. I've now managed to finish one of the six sides of the pouffe and am now contemplating how I'm going to sew the others. The one I've done is made of hexagons, but I'm doing each side in a different patchwork style.

On Sunday, I woke up quite late and had a leisurely breakfast. I spent most of the day stitching with denim or mining the different bits of fabric from the various pairs of jeans that I'd bought to make LB's pouffe. I made another of the six sides of the pouffe. Two down, four to go. I'm making the four sides 11" x 18 ", as she only needs it to put her feet on under her computer desk, so I don't want to make it too high.  The remaining two sides will be 18" square.   I'll probably put a zip in the bottom, so that the stuffing can be taken out and the cover washed. I started on a third side piece, but it's not going as well as I'd hoped, so it may not end up as part of the project.

After supper, OH and I watched another episode of Landmen.  A quiet day at home for me today, which was fine by me as I had a busy start to next week.

Recent Sewing/Other Makes - November

After going away at the beginning of November, it took me until mid month before I got my sewing mojo back proper. I did manage to continue work on a second gilet, which involved a lot of hand sewing and by the middle of the month I had finished this.  

This gilet is reversible, but I will probably wear the gingham side for the most part. I'm happy with the outcome, but I did find the cotton wadding harder to work with than synthetic wadding. It felt stiffer and a lot tougher to sew through.

I forgot when I used the gingham check fabric to make this item, that the fabric had previously been very lightly used as a table cloth and had a very small pea sized stain on it. I didn't notice the stain until after I'd cut all the pieces out and I didn't have enough fabric to re-cut the piece. As a consequence, I sewed a small bee patch over the stain to hide it, which looks fine to me, it adds a little bit of interest. I was going to put a pocket over it, but decided that I didn't want pockets on the front. I sewed one to the inside instead.

Here's a couple of pictures of the finished item:

I did complete a new small project this month. It was something that came to mind when I saw how scruffy my small hot water bottle covers had got. I use them very regularly in the colder months, so they've seen some life. Here's a couple of pictures to illustrate:

I decided to make a pattern for some new covers. I used an envelope design, similar to the one used for the cream cover. I had some fairisle wool fabric in my stash, that I'd cut from some felted sweaters years ago and hadn't found a use for, so I decided to use them for this project. I think they turned out quite cute:

I didn't attach velcro for closure, but I may do at some point. I've now used the blue one a few times and it's fine without the velcro. I'm just hoping that no moths get to them. They should be super cosy to use this winter and are a definite upgrade. The old covers were chopped up to make stuffing for a new project I'm working on this month.

The main new sewing project I have worked on this month, was a patchwork denim pouffe for LB, as a gift for Xmas. Here's a picture of how it's coming along:

I'm hoping to have it finished in time. I'm trying to clear the deck of other projects, so that I can focus on this one and get it finished.

As part of clearing the decks, I completed this non-sewing make, although part of it did involve sewing to bind it and make the strips of fabric yarn.

This small mat was my first attempt at weaving with fabric yarn, that I made from unused fabric scraps. It was woven on my small children's loom. This mat was the biggest thing I could make on the loom, it only being small. It's a very simple design, as I wanted to keep it simple on my first attempt. I bound the edges with some fabric that I cut off a blouse I shortened.

I'm going to use it to put under my sewing machine when I'm sewing at the kitchen table, as the noise can be quite loud, so hopefully this will soften it. I was pretty happy with the result. I would like to make a larger loom and make a larger sized floor mat or rug, but I need to find the right sized frame to create a loom. It's a possible project for the future.

My focus for the remainder of November and December will now be to finish the pouffe for LB and maybe make some Xmas fabric chain garlands and fabric wraps. I'm keeping my list short, so that I make sure to focus on priorities and not get too distracted, but I probably will anyway.