Finally, a Normal Week - W/E 12th July 2025

It will come as no surprise that this week started with a shift at work on Sunday. I was working 1pm until 6pm. This coincided with a street party down our street, organised by our neighbour. As a consequence of working I couldn't attend, but everyone seemed to have a good day, according to messages on the street chat, despite a bit of rain here and there. OH missed the party too, as he was travelling back from his mum's that day.

On Monday morning I woke at about 4am to the sound of rain outside, which was very welcome. It's been so dry for so long, the garden and allotment really needed a good downpour and the water butt got refilled, which makes watering so much easier.

Later, I got up and ready and headed out to do the weekly shop. There was quite a bit of grocery shopping to do this week as we'd run out of quite a few things and I had to bear in mind LB being home now, so the grocery bill was higher, but such is life. I just had enough time to put the shopping away, when I got home, before I had to get ready to go to work again in the evening. It was my last shift for a couple of days, thank goodness, as I needed a break and a couple of free days doing what I pleased. It was a super busy shift at work, but we did get off half an hour early, which was good.

It was lovely to get up on Tuesday morning and know that I didn't need to go anywhere all day, if I so wished. I decided not to go to the gym, as I've got a slight niggle in my neck and I don't want to make it worse. I didn't want to go to my usual class at the gym either, as I'm not enjoying it so much lately. Besides, after being so busy for the past couple of months, it was lovely to just have a free day ahead of me. 

I started the day with a bit of blogging over breakfast and then got dressed and ready for the day. I spent the morning going through some of the things that LB is throwing out. Sometimes, I keep the odd thing if I think I'll wear it or use it. There wasn't much I decided to keep. I sorted it all out according to where I'm going to take it and then went through my own donations in the same way and decided to hang onto a couple of things I'd put aside to donate. I now just need to drop everything off where I'm going to donate it and then do a tip run with the furniture bits, but OH had the car, so I couldn't do it today.

After lunch, I topped and tailed the blackcurrants and gooseberries I'd harvested at the weekend and started to make the first batch of jam with some of them, as the freezer was getting way too full. I made 2 and a half jars in this batch, but I'll be making a couple more batches before I'm finished, so we should be okay for jam for a while. I did have a slight accident whilst making the jam, some jam spat out of the pan and into my eye, which was very uncomfortable. I had to use some eyedrops afterwards. Who knew that making jam could be so hazardous. I'll have to wear my glasses next time.

Inspite of this, it was lovely to just stay home today and do these jobs in the house, it felt like a luxury after being out and about so much in the last few weeks, working and going to college. I've missed spending time at home pottering.

On Wednesday, I woke up and read my book for a while. I'm reading a book called Craftfulness at the moment and I'm quite enjoying it. It is all about the therapeutic effects of crafts and crafting. I got up and had breakfast and then decided to take some of the donations to the donation bank to free up some space in the house. On the way back, I stopped off at the allotment and harvested the rest of the gooseberries and blackcurrants, getting scratched to bits in the process.

Later, I got my sewing machine out and did a little work on my patchwork skirt, sewing on the pockets. I also altered a dress to a skirt for LB, elasticated the bottom of another pair of trousers to make them more wearable and finished another alteration I had started last week.

Another job I did, was to put these guys through the washing machine before they get donated. They've had a bit of tumultuous day being spun around in the machine and then sat outside in the sun to dry. I'm sad to see them go, it feels like the end of an era. I wanted to donate them clean, to give them the best chance of finding a new home. They're a motley, but lovable crew, with lots of memories attached. Why are soft toys the hardest to part with? I think it's because we anthropomorphise them, which makes it harder to let go.

I also did some laundry, so that I have clothes to wear for work when I return tomorrow. I heard today that another manager is leaving work at the weekend. So many people have left the store this year. It feels like a mass exodus.

On Thursday morning, I got up and got ready to head off to the gym. It was my first gym session of the week. I enjoyed my workout and then came home. LB was going out thrifting locally, so I got changed and accompanied her. We started in a local charity shop, where I also took some donations, to clear a bit more stuff out of the house. I didn't find anything I wanted to buy, but LB found an item, so I purchased it for her as something she could take on holiday with her.

We then continued into the town centre. Neither of us found much we liked. LB bought a few bits to accessorize an outfit and I bought  a storage solution for her bedroom, which cost £2.50, but other than that, we didn't spend much. I dropped into the Post Office and got some currency for a forthcoming holiday in Portugal, so that was another task completed.

I had lunch when we got home and then had to get ready for work in the evening. Work was steady, but I was given lots of tasks to do, so I kept busy and it passed quickly.

Friday, was a much lazier day. I had a bit of a lie in, as I didn't need to go anywhere. I then got a text saying I needed to pick up a prescription, so after doing a bit of housework, I walked up to the pharmacy. It was so hot out. I didn't do a lot else before getting ready for work. It was nice to have a quiet day.

It was just as well that I had a quiet day because work was crazy busy. By the end of the night my head was spinning. I was so glad to get home and decompress.

I was up early on Saturday morning to head to the free gym session. I had a good workout, but was a bit disgruntled when some guy spent 40 minutes on one machine that I wanted to use, and I just couldn't get on it for the whole hour I was in there. Some people are very selfish. I never monopolise a machine for that length of time, especially if it's the only one in the gym. Also, many of the things he was doing on it, he could have done elsewhere, but instead he just chose to hog this particular machine and prevent anyone else using it. Not good gym etiquette.

I stopped off on the way home to buy a few top up grocery items and then just chilled when I got home. It was nice to be able to sit in the garden for 10 minutes in the sun, without there being any builders next door. We only get to do it on weekend mornings. In all fairness, it's a bit too hot to sit out anyway.

I was working again on Saturday evening, so I had a few hours to do what I pleased before I needed to get ready. I decided spend an hour doing a bit more sewing upstairs and completed the side seams and hem on my patchwork skirt. I now just need to complete the waist facing and it will be finished. I may post a picture, but it's a bit crazy and I quite like it.

Work was steady, but not overly busy for once on a Saturday night. Another colleague left tonight, that I didn't know was leaving. When I got home OH and I watched a couple of episodes of 1923 on Netflix which were quite good, but it did mean we were late getting to bed at the end of another not quite so busy week.

The Luxury of Free Time at Last - W/E 5th July 2025 - Part 2

Towards the end of this week, I've finally found myself with a bit of free time on my hands and it has been wonderful. I am having to work every evening, but I get the mornings and a couple of hours in the afternoon, to do as I please, which feels like a luxury to me.

On Thursday morning, I got up and did some more sewing. I started some more clothing alterations by hand, gradually working my way through quite a big pile of things that I'd set aside to work on when I had the time. 

LB spent the day re-organising her bedroom and starting to unpack some of her things. It's a bit messy in there at the moment, but I'm sure she'll get it how she wants it eventually. I think we're going to need a tip run in the near future to get rid of some of the things she no longer wants to keep, which does include some furniture that she's had since she was at school, but which we can now let go of.

Work was busy on Thursday night. More people have left or are leaving. It's quite a transitional time there at the moment, so more recruitment is in the pipeline. As a consequence, I've got a lot of hours over the next couple of weeks, but at least when I'm not at work, my time is my own to do as I please.

On Friday, OH set off on his bike with a few friends, to cycle up north and visit his mum and brother who is now being looked after at home. He's still got a lot of health problems, but at least he is back in his own home, which is something. I spent Friday morning and part of the afternoon working on more clothing alterations. The pile is slowly going down and the sewing room is gradually getting tidier and more organised. I've made a separate post about the alterations I've been doing.

Work was steady tonight, but passed quite quickly, so wasn't too bad. I fell into bed exhausted at 11.30pm which was early for me after work, as I normally need at least a couple of hours before I feel ready go to bed, which tends to be no earlier than midnight.

I was up early on Saturday morning to go to the free gym session. I got an email this week telling me that it will not be running in the current venue from September due to a refurbishment of the building. I'm waiting to hear where they move it to and will soon be looking for a new gym for the next 3 years. I may have to go back to havimg a monthly membership somewhere. I would preferably like to go somewhere within 15/20 walking distance.

Thankfully, the weather was a lot cooler on Saturday. It felt like respite from the heat. When I got home, I pottered around watering the indoor plants. I haven't been a very good plant mum lately, but they seem to be surviving my neglect. I then watered outside in the garden and did a bit of pruning and tidying up before lunch.

After lunch, it was the turn of the allotment. Although we had a miniscule shower of rain, it wasn't enough, so I headed over and picked some more gooseberries, lettuce, blackcurrants and cucumbers and gave it all a good soak, which should be enough until OH comes home on Sunday. We had a site inspection this week and had to clear the paths of weeds, but it sounds like it went okay.

By the time I'd finished at the allotment, it was time to shower and get ready for work. LB was heading out to a club in the evening, so I wasn't expecting to see her until sunrise or the following day, as she was possibly going to stay at a friend's house.

I was working on a different section from usual at work, which although it's not my favourite, made  a change from where I've been working lately. It was super busy for most of the evening, so the time passed pretty quickly. Then it went a bit quiet, so there was plenty of time to tidy up and we all got away half an hour early, which was good.

A positive end to a slighly less busy week for once.

Monthly Clothing Purchases - June 2025

I'm afraid it's a long one this month. I got off to an early start in terms of buying clothes, when I ordered this dress on Vinted, that was being sold by someone that I follow on YouTube. 

It cost £5.70 including postage, which was very reasonable. Although I like the fact that it is leopard print, I'm not entirely sure that I will wear it as a dress. I may just use it as a night dress or to wear around the pool or on the beach on holiday, as I'm not sure it's really my style. A bit of a fashion fail to begin with, but not an expensive one.

I then visited my favourite out of town charity shop during the first week of the month and came away with the following few items:

This floral sleeveless top came home with me, as I thought it was very pretty. I think it is made of viscose and cost £2.

I bought this classic navy linen/cotton top for £3, which I intend to shorten a little. Excuse how crumpled it looks, I took it out of the ironing basket to take this photo.

This black and white ditsy print dress was probably my favourite purchase. It's fairly flattering on and I've worn it a couple of times already. It's nice and floaty and cool for the summer and is made of viscose. It cost £5.

Finally, I bought this linen dress. It isn't really my style, but my intention is to cut it down to make a skirt. I like the colour and print and the fact that it is linen, I just don't like the top half of it. It also cost £5, which I think is very reasonable for a linen dress.

 

I did buy one item from where I work this week, namely this gym top for £8. I really like the colour and the sleeveless style. It is a little sng around my midriff, which isn't yet honed, but I'm hoping to get good use out of it.

My final clothing purchases from charity shops this month were the following items:

First, was this Miss Selfridge sundress. It is a lovely print, but I didn't like this as a dress on me, as it wasn't too flattering at the back, it seemed to create a shelf around my backside. As a consequence, I intended to make it into a skirt, but when LB came home, I showed it to her and she liked it, so she is going to keep it and wear it as a skirt. This cost £5, but is made of cotton, making it good value.

Second, was this 100% cotton top. This is quite a thick cheesecloth like cotton fabric, but I liked the style of the neckline. I have significantly shortened what where crazily long and voluptuous tiered sleeves, which were a bit too impractical and dramatic for me and I may yet shorten it a few inches as it is quite long. This cost £3, which is good value for cotton and I can see myself wearing this with lots of skirts and trousers in my wardrobe on cooler days. It could also be worn for work too.

I also bought this black longsleeved cotton t-shirt. I wear these kind of tops a lot in the autumn/winter, as they are great layering pieces. This one had a pretty flower/plant print, was new with tags from M&S and was cotton. I'll look forward to wearing it the autumn/winter. It cost £3.

Next, I bought this pair of grey pinstriped cotton summer trousers for £3. They are nice and loose and light for wearing in the summer months. They do look a bit like pyjama bottoms, but I don't mind that. I may do my favourite thing of elasticating the bottoms as I find this style more flattering and wearable, but I haven't decided yet.

This pretty cotton shirt went quite nicely with the trousers above. It is 100% cotton with a paisley print and a ruffled sleeveless design. At just £3, it was not a difficult decision to bring it home with me.

Finally, I bought this Linen/Cotton mix button down skirt for £2. It was a much bigger size than I wear, but I have taken a big chunk out of it at the back, creating a new seam to reduce it in size. I like this button down style and it has pockets too, what's not to love. 

For £19, I think I did okay on this particular visit, as I got some great pieces made from more natural fabrics for an absolute steal. In total though, I spent £52.20 this month, which is a little less than I've spent in recent months, but I did get a lot of items of arguably better quality, so I'm very happy with what I bought.

As always, I'm hoping to buy less next month, but I'm sure I've said this before and then gone on to spend the same or more money on clothes.

 

Finally Seeing The Light at the End - W/E 5th July 2025 - Part 1

This week was a week of finally seeing the light at the end of what feels like a long tunnel, but which has only been a couple of months in reality. They've been an intense couple of months though, that's all I can say. On Sunday, I wasn't working for the first time in weeks. I got up and did some financial stuff, as it was virtually the end of the month. I then did some laundry and went out to do the weekly shop locally. I had a voucher for 10% off to use at Lidl and as we were going to collect all of LB's stuff from her flat on Monday, I wouldn't be able to do my weekly shop then, so it had to be done a day earlier.

By the time I got home and unpacked the shopping, it was lunchtime, so I had some lunch, did the washing up, hung out my laundry and then finally got down to working on my college work, which was the whole point of having the day free. It took the whole of the rest of the day to get it done and send some of it off to my tutor, but by 11pm I was finished and could finally go to bed knowing that I'd done my best. I may need to make some alterations if I get some feedback, but I'm hoping I've done enough to pass and just submit everything. The test will be on Wednesday when I go into college for the final sign off. 

On Monday, I woke early and read for a little while in bed before getting up. We needed to head out quite early to go over to LB's flat and load up all her stuff into a van and bring it home. We set off about 9.20am and got there for about 11 am. I got straight down to the cleaning. It was pretty bad, as LB had been busy with her uni work and the cleaning had been put on the back burner for months.

OH gradually loaded all of her stuff into the van and we managed to get the living room and LB's bedroom cleaned fully. We vacuumed the rest of the flat and then had to take the vacuum home and leave LB to do the rest, so that we could get the van back in time and also miss any traffic that builds up around rush hour. We got home about 4ish and unloaded the van, putting most of LB's stuff in her bedroom for her to sort out when she came home. She was due to have an inspection and hand over the keys the following day, so she stayed at the flat for a last night to get the rest of the cleaning done and do the handover. Her flatmate had already moved out earlier in the week and gone back home.

On Tuesday morning I got up and ready to go to a class at the gym. I did a bit of cleaning before heading out, ready for LB coming home later in the day. The class was okay. I dropped into the charity shop on the way home, but there was nothing that appealed to me. It's rare for me to come away empty handed, but ti does happen sometimes. 

Later, I got ready and headed out to my sewing class. It was so hot. I was glad of the air conditioning in the classroom when I got there. I did some more work on my dress. I finished the bodice and finally figured out the sleeves and then attached the bodice to the skirt, so it's slowly coming together. I think the next job will be putting in the zip down the back and then putting some elastic in the sleeves, before I tackle the neckline. I'll have to see if I can do it at home on my own following the pattern. I just need an invisible zipper foot for my machine before I can insert it.

I finished my book from the library where I go to my class and returned the remaining books I had taken out, as I won't be going back there for a while. The library is being refurbished, so all the sewing classes are being transferred to another venue in September. I'm not sure if I'm going to return. I may do, if I can get a place.

When I got home, LB was in bed asleep. I imagine she's got a lot of sleep to catch up on after a super busy final term and then moving out of the flat. It's lovely to have her back home for however long it may be for. I was very tired tonight and retired to bed early, as I had to be up early for my last day at college the following day. I'm going to be so happy when it's all done and I finally get some free time for sewing and doing other things I enjoy.

I was up super early on Wednesday morning, getting ready for college and making sure that I took everything I needed to submit with me. The tutor spent and hour making sure we had completed all of the required pieces of work and then she went off to do an assessment on another student.  When she got back she signed off all of my work and I was free to go which felt good. I then went to the gym to do a last session. At this point, I'll explain that the course I was doing was to gain a Certificate in Gym Instructing. As part of the course, we got free membership to the gym that the college uses for it's sports students, so I got to work out for free once per week for the duration of the course.  It was useful to get to know the gym environment too, especially when it came to practical assessments, which we did in there.

Some of my fellow students came into the gym later to do an assessment, so I arranged to meet up with one of them when they'd finished and we had lunch and a chat, as I'd not seen her for weeks. We'd all been off preparing for and doing our assessments at different times. I then left and came home. It felt strange to have finally finished.

When I got back home, I spent the afternoon sewing, as I'd just had no time at all to do any (save for at my sewing class). I altered a skirt and top I'd bought from the charity shop a couple of weeks ago, so both are now wearable. A sun dress I was going to alter and make into a skirt, I gave to LB as she liked it and she's going to wear it as a skirt. 

I also did quite a bit of work on a patchwork skirt that I started back in May. It's coming together nicely. Whether I'll be brave enough to wear it is another matter. By the time I'd finished for the day it was supper time, so I packed up until I next have some spare time to sew. It was lovely to get back to my sewing projects though. I've really missed having time to work on them.

Monthly Finances - June 2025

Financially, it was quite a good month in June. I got paid less than I have for a while, as I'd not been given many hours in May. This changed drastically from the end of May, as I was scheduled for as many as 30 hours per week some weeks, due to staff holidays, which has frankly been exhausting, but the money I've earned will come in very useful. It didn't come at a great time, as I was busy with my college course, but as a consequence, I've not spent as much money as I have done in other months, in fact, my expenditure was the least it's been since last September, which is good.

One of the main reasons, it's been a good month is that I got a £500 or thereabouts tax rebate.  This was used to pay off some dental treatment on my credit card and I put some away into savings, i.e. the car fund and other accounts. It really saved me this month. I also won £100 on the Premium bonds again, which was fortunate and which got reinvested and I got some dividends from some shares I own to the tune of £150, which also got put into savings. So quite a fortuitous month for me really. I cannot grumble.

On the expenditure side of things, I overspent slightly on food, which is a regular occurence these days, probably due to prices rising constantly. This will go up more from July, when LB comes back home, but it's worth it to have her home. I overspent a little on household and miscellaneous expenditure. The latter was mainly due to buying a new cabin case for our summer holiday.

I spent nothing on our home and garden this month, but then overspent on myself to help get me through a very busy month. I bought a weighted vest for walking in, spent £80ish on mostly thrifted clothing and other bits and pieces. This took me way over my £25 thrifting budget, but I consider this a necessary slip for my mental and emotional health during an exhausting month. I also bought some fabric for a new project, I spent £37 on gifts and made some charitable donations. I was pretty happy with how it panned out.

Moving into July, we are planning a holiday this month, so I will need some spending money for that. Luckily, all the overtime I've worked will nicely cover this. I don't have any birthdays or anything to buy gifts for, so other than the holiday, it's a regular month. However, LB will be back home and I may treat her to some things.  She probably needs an outfit for her graduation this month and she may need a few bits for the holiday, so we'll see where that takes me. 

I am looking forward to July, once I've finished my college course. It will signify freedom for me from trying to juggle too much at once. Self inflicted, of course. I'm itching to do more sewing, that I just haven't had time for recently, and as soon as I have the time I will be getting the sewing machine out, which should keep me out of the shops, but I can't promise this.

I hope you've had a financially stress free and enjoyable month.