A Better Week On the Whole - Week Ending 8th March 2025

This week got off to a busy start. I was working on Sunday from 1pm to 6pm and the store was very busy again on PayDay weekend. The sun was shining too, which probably helped to bring people out. I had a good shift.

On Monday, it was weekly shop day again. I used a 10% off voucher at Lidl and got over £8 off my shop which was a bonus. I treated myself to a geranium plant for the garden in Lidl, which cost me £2.69.

I used a £4.75 Holland and Barrett voucher to reduce the cost of buying a few things there. I also went to my favourite charity shop and spent £10 on a few choice items, but I've posted separately about these.

The only other purchases, were ones I made at a different branch of the store I work at, as I wanted to take advantage of a double discount weekend. I bought a few things, some for the home i.e. tea towels, oven gloves and some soy wax candles, the latter of which I'm going to put away for OH to give me as a birthday gift, a couple of small gifts for LB and a couple of other small accessories for me. I saved nearly £8, plus the savings as a consequence of most of the items being on clearance. I felt like I'd done enough shopping for a while. I'm hoping to keep the rest of the month to as minimum spend as possible.

On Tuesday, I headed to my usual class at the gym. It was another sunny but cold day. It's amazing how much more positive you feel when there's a bit of sunshine. I was working in the evening, and needed to get the bus to work and do a little bit of food shopping before I started, to get a couple of items I'd not got with the weekly shop, so after lunch I got ready for work early and headed out to catch the bus.  I had a good shift at work again and OH picked me up as he'd needed to use the car.

I was working again on Wednesday afternoon, so after a really good night's sleep, which is rare these days, but much appreciated, I had a lie in, a late breakfast and then got ready for work. Work was okay, until that is, I unintentionally got embroiled in some workplace politics, which really ended my working week on a downer. I deliberately avoid this kind of thing, but sometimes you get unknowingly dragged into the issues people have with others. It upset me. I'm just glad I'm not there for the next four days.

On Thursday, it was lovely to wake up knowing I didn't have to go to work. I got ready and then did a bit of sewing, starting a patchwork tablecloth for the kitchen table, as I needed something to clear my head of work. I then decided to go for a run, as I also needed to move my body. It was a lovely sunny morning, so it felt good to get outside.

After lunch, I went back to my sewing machine and completed the tablecloth. It was lovely to spend a whole afternoon sewing. I've not done it in a good while. Here's a photo of the finished tablecloth:

I used some larger pieces of fabric for this project and was able to use up quite a few bits from my stash. I don't think I would have used it for anything else. I made it double sided, using one fabric for the back:

I was happy enough with the results. It's not perfect, but it's good enough and the colours are a good match for the kitchen.

Later, I picked up this book that I started reading a while ago and I finally actually finished it. This book was about Barbara Hulanicki of Biba fame. I bought it when I went to a Biba exhibition last summer. It was a good read. She had amazing success with her business in the 1960's and 70's, before it was bought out by British Land, an infamous property company here in the UK. It was the first book I've finished this year. I've got a few more that I've started and I might try to finish reading them. A couple of them I started on holiday in Tenerife, but never finished.

On Friday, I didn't need to be anywhere or do anything, so I had a long lie in, a late breakfast and then showered and got ready for the rest of the day. It was another sunny day, so I decided to go out into the garden and pot up my new geranium into a bigger pot. I decided to place it on the step to the shed to brighten up that end of the garden. 

I then decided to wash some empty plant pots and tidy them away ready for the new growing season and potted on all of my trees in pots.  They now shouldn't need potting on for at least a couple of years if not longer. It's a job that's been on my to do list since last year. As you can see, I like to make use of old kitchen bins and dustbins for this purpose. They make good larger pots once holes have been drilled into the bottom. for drainage. I'm not too worried what they look like. This does make them very heavy once filled, however, hence the wheely bases to make them easy to move around the decking and prevent rot underneath.

 

I pinned some new shoots of a honeysuckle that grows down our side return into pots of compost to root. This plant used to be glorious, but it was cut right down when our neighbours built their new fence and as they are building an extension into their side return this year, I imagine that it will be removed altogether, so I decided to try to save some cuttings and grow them into more plants. It will take years to grow it to the mature beauty it once was, but I'm going to try. I've got a few weeks before the builders start, so I'm hoping they'll root by then.

Finally, I sowed some lettuce seed for transplanting into the allotment. I used lots of egg cartons that I've been saving every week. I'm hoping they'll work well as seed trays.

I had a lovely relaxing afternoon in the garden. It became a bit overcast by the end of the afternoon, but it was lovely just to get outside, tidy up and do some jobs I'd been meaning to do for a while.

On Saturday, I did my usual free gym session. When I got home, it was lovely and sunny, so I decided to have a cup of tea sat out in the garden. Whilst out there, I got the sudden urge to tidy out and move the greenhouse. Our neighbours will be starting building work in a few weeks and I wanted to move it a bit further away from any building work. I was limited with regard to how far I could move it, but hopefully it's in a slightly better place now and it felt good to sort through everything, clean underneath and tidy it all up ready for the new growing season.

After lunch, I did some sewing on a new project I started the night before. I've decided to make a book pouch using a combination of patchwork and slow stitching. I really enjoy these small projects that can be finished in a couple of sittings. They are very satisfying to make and I'm slowly learning to use up favourite fabrics and notions that I have in my stash, instead of keeping them to use for who knows what. I'll post a picture when I've finished it.

It was nice not to work this weekend and to spend time on some creative pursuits and necessary tasks. In all it's felt like a much more productive week. Lets hope it continues.

Exciting New Scrappy Projects

As you all know, if you've been following my blog for a while, I'm obsessed with using fabric scraps, probably more so than larger pieces of fabric. I love a good scrappy project and I've tried out quite a few different ones over the years.

The latest scrappy projects that I want to try, are mainly inspired by KateMustSew on Instagram and Marion's World on YouTube and are definitely my idea of fun. 

Kate's way of using scraps isn't solely attributable to her, as I've seen others use it too, but I was especially inspired by the creative ways that she uses colourful scraps to make her quilts and wall hangings.

One method she uses, is to take card machine or adding machine tape, and to sew fabric scraps onto the tape, creating scrappy rolls of fabric that can then be incorporated into a quilt or other projects or used as binding. I love watching videos of her making these scrappy rolls and then trimming the edges of them with a rotary cutter.  So, a few months ago, I decided to buy some card machine rolls on eBay.  Here's a picture:

This box of 11 rolls cost me just over £5, so approx. 50p per roll, which I thought was very inexpensive to potentially provide me with hours of fun making scrappy rolls and using up my fabric scraps. They're not the thickest or widest rolls you can find, but I'm sure they'll be good enough for anything I want to make initially. 

Marion (YouTube@marionsworld24) is another crafter who absolutely loves working with scraps. I've enjoyed watching her videos in which she makes a few different projects, such as 10 metres of scrappy yardage, a scrappy table cloth and a kawandi style quilt. She also does videos on slow stitching, rug making and lots of other crafts and her craft room tour video and her video about thrifting for fabrics are great videos to watch.

I'm particularly interested in trying to make a scrappy tablecloth for the kitchen table. I'm going to give it a go the next time I get some free time and I will probably use dark blue fabrics as I have quite a lot of these in my stash.  The main reason for this is that the kitchen is partly painted dark blue, I made dark blue curtains for the patio doors a while ago and the other reason being that dark colours don't show up spillages quite so easily, which are virtually inevitable in the kitchen.

So, here I go again, delving into new scrappy obsessions to use up my scraps and fabric stash. I'll take you along with me on the journey and we'll see where it goes.

A Small Charity Shop Haul

This week whilst out doing the weekly shop, I ventured into one of my favourite charity shops. It's been a couple of weeks since I last visited, so I was happy to return. To be honest, I didn't see a whole lot that interested me.  I think perhaps the best items are put in the shop for the weekend and I never visit at weekends, it's always a Monday, when possibly all the best things have probably been bought up.

Anyway, I still had a good look around. I only really need clothing for work, black tops mainly for the coming warmer weather, but I didn't find anything suitable. I didn't even try any clothes on, such were the slim pickings this visit. This is virtually unheard of for me.

What I did find, however, was this pair of brand new ASOS chunky biker boots.  They're probably not going to be to everyone's taste, but I do like a chunky boot with skirts and dresses and for £5 brand new, I couldn't leave them in the shop.

The next item I bought was this belt for £1. It looks unused, synthetic with no brand, but I thought it might be good to cinch in a dress and I like the khaki colour and style of it. I tried it around my waist and it fitted, even with a big sweater on, so that came home with me too.

The only other clothing/accessory item I bought was this lovely pair of bamboo socks. They cost £2 and have this lovely feather design. I love me a pair of socks and as they are brand new, I'll probably put these away for OH to give me for my birthday later in the year.

I also bought a couple of books. I have lots of books to read, but at two books for £1, I found the one referencing native indigenous American traditions first and couldn't resist it. I've been watching Yellowstone on Netflix recently and it has brought their culture to mind. I admire their beliefs about living as one with nature, not taking too much from the earth and taking good care of it, which is something that we should all be doing more of in my humble opinion. I'm looking forward to reading more about these beliefs and how in combination with science, they can lead to a better understanding of nature.

The second book, by Patricia Highsmith, I bought to make up the 2 for £1, but it sounds really good, so I think I might enjoy reading this one. I've never read this author's work before but it has some good reviews.

I bought one other small organisation item which isn't shown here, but it cost £1, so in total I spent £10, which is okay. I'm happy with the items I bought. All of them are new or if not, as new. Sometimes, when I get the thrifting itch, I just have to scratch it and this little outing has done just that, without causing too much damage to the budget.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things and Some Bad News - W/E 1st March 2025

On Sunday morning, I had a bit of a lie in after staying awake until the early hours waiting for LB to come home. LB had an even longer one, as she was a bit hungover after her night out. Eventually, OH came home from cycling, LB got up and we all headed out for lunch at a local restaurant, before she headed back to her flat. 

Afterwards, we saw her onto the bus and then came home and had a chill afternoon. We'd had a nice meal, but to be honest, I don't really enjoy eating out as much as I enjoy eating at home. It's nice in terms of being social and getting out and about, but the food doesn't quite hit the same when it's made by someone else. I don't want to sound ungrateful and many people might disagree with me on this point, but it's just how I feel about it. I think we've eaten out a bit too much this week and we're both looking forward to eating at home more from hereon in.

On Monday, I did my usual of heading out of town to shop. The bill was quite a bit more than the previous week, but I did throw something in the trolley from the Middle of Lidl for LB, so that accounted for some of it. We are pretty well stocked up though on most things going into March.

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to some bad news. One of OH's siblings was in hospital after suffering from a stroke, which kind of threw us completely. We spent most of the day waiting for news from family members going to visit them. I went to my usual class at the gym, as I was already booked in, but I was pretty distracted. We eventually did get some news and OH decided to go up by train the following day to visit them. I agreed to stay home, as we had engineers coming to connect fibre optic internet cables the next day and I'd arranged to meet with friends, although I could easily have cancelled the latter.

On Wednesday, I stayed close to home all day. I wanted to go for a run, but it was raining quite heavily so I gave it a miss. I did some pottering and sewing and then got ready to go out and meet my friends for supper. We had a nice evening and had a good catch up. OH in the meantime was messaging me updates from the hospital. I'm hoping to get up to Yorkshire to visit in the very near future, but OH was reasonably reassured that they seem to be getting good care in the hospital and had their family around them every day.

On Thursday morning, the engineers came earlier than expected, so it was just as well I'd stayed home.  OH was back a couple of hours later, as he needed to be back for a hospital appointment himself and I went out for a run once he was back, did some work on my monthly finances and then got ready for work in the evening. I've got quite a few shifts between now and the middle of next week, but maybe after that we might travel back north to visit again, hopefully things will have stabilised a little by then.

Work on Thursday was okay. It felt like quite a while since I'd been there. The shift passed okay though. It's that time of year when staff reviews are taking place, so I expect I'll be called in for mine sometime in the next week or so.

On Friday morning, I had a lie in and a late breakfast. OH was due at a hospital appointment and had to fast, so I didn't go down to breakfast until he'd gone for his appointment, as it didn't seem fair to eat in front of him whilst he was fasting. 

There was a global anti-capitalist protest taking place on Friday, encouraging people not to buy from large multibillion pound/dollar corporations for the day, so I decided to join in and avoided spending any money today. I don't really need anything and it's not difficult for me to have a no spend day. I will be considering much more seriously what I buy in the future. Wealth is very unevenly distributed in the world and some individuals/economies really don't need any more wealth than they already wield. Enough said.

On Saturday, I hit the over 50's free gym session again, which was good. It was a lovely sunny day on Saturday, so I pottered outside for a bit and then pottered inside for a bit, potting on some baby houseplants, that I've been meaning to do for a while now. I then got ready for work and headed off there for an evening shift. Work was pretty busy. I think the sunshine and the fact that it was a payday weekend, brought people out and led to them spending money in the store. As a consequence, the shift passed pretty quickly and I enjoyed it. I always like to keep busy at work. I'm not the shirking kind.

I hope you had a good week.

Conspicuously Using My Spending Power

I've read recently about economic blackouts which are due to take place in the next few months, as a protest against wealth inequalities, diversity/human rights issues and as a protest against the increasing vast wealth of large corporations the world over. This is mainly taking place in America, but anyone, anywhere can join in and refuse to spend any of their hard earned money on American or other origin products produced by large multi-billion pound corporations and more especially the ones that do not treat their employees well or with spurious diversity policies.  It has been organised to allow us the little people to demonstrate our concern about growing inequalities in wealth/human rights.

The first protest took place on 28th February and was for just one day. I joined in with this and had a no spend day on this day. I don't buy many American products, save for Coke Zero and my current brand of toothpaste, plus perhaps, the odd McDonalds. There are probably many more American owned companies I buy from or through, such as Ebay, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, etc., so to play it safe I'll be spending with no-one on this day and this includes the multimillion pound supermarkets in this country.

Following this, I've heard that there is also a planned economic blackout on Amazon from 7th through to 14th March, mainly due to some of the treatment dished out to Amazon employees by the company. I rarely use Amazon, only as a very last resort. Mr Bezos has quite enough money already and I'm not prepared to add to his billions just for my own convenience, when I can share my money out amongst other people who I consider to be more deserving of receiving it.

I've been watching a YouTube channel lately called Gary's Economics. Gary Stevenson, who studied for his Economics degree at the London School of Economics and for his Masters at Oxford, was born into a working class East London family and subsequently ended up working in Canary Wharf as a trader. 

Having quit working for Citibank, he has subsequently launched his channel to highlight how the super rich 1% are eating up most of the financial assets in the world, leaving less and less for the average working person and in doing so creating ever widening inequalities in housing, health, wealth, etc. His videos are very interesting and he advocates for making the world a more equal place, by way of co-operation and working together to make sure that wealthy corporations pay appropriate levels of tax in order to redistribute wealth and help provide housing, health care, etc. to those that need it. He argues that our grandparents got together to do this in the past and that we can do this today, if we stick together and pressure for change.

He argues that in todays world, we are encouraged to act as individuals and only be interested in ourselves and bettering our own financial position/keeping our own heads above water, but that we need to change this and join forces with others to effect change in our societies. The alternative, is an ever widening gap in wealth with young people being unable to afford homes and unable to obtain good jobs, leading to despair, increased mental health problems and increased financial struggle and poverty. It is refreshing to hear his honest and very easy to understand explanations of todays politics of greed.

We may not think that we can do anything as individuals, but we can. We can refuse to line the pockets of large corporations and support political parties whose policies widen the gap further or solely serve the interests of the already rich. We can keep ourselves informed of what is really going on in the world and make our views known to our local/national politicians and we can use our voices to pressure for change. I for one am rethinking some of my everyday behaviours. I don't have all the answers, but I'm trying to work out what I can do to play my part going forward.

February 2025 Clothing Purchases

It's been a much better front on spending this month and consequently, there were only a few clothing purchases during February.

The first item I bought was this polka dot ruffle skirt from my favourite charity shop. It is originally from M&S, but cost me just £2. I like the polka dots and the burgundy colour of this skirt, but I am in two minds about the length. I did think I might shorten it to the length of the upper ruffle, which would make it longer at the back than the front, but when I tried it on again I decided not to rush into this, as maybe I like the original length.  The jury is still out on this one, but I like the skirt, it's cute and it was a steal for £2 and could easily be worn year round. I was thinking with chunky boots and a big sweater in winter and with a vest or t-shirt in the summer.

The second item I bought was this super cute handmade dress from a local charity shop. It was reduced to £3 on the sale rail and I just couldn't resist it. It is a little snug and possibly a little short, but I'm working on the former and tights will aide with the latter issue. I really liked the style of dress. The collar and rolled back sleeves are flattering as is the slight flare of the skirt and the print is adorable. I've provided a close up of this, as it's difficult to see in the full length photo. It had a lot of ends of cotton hanging from it, as if it's never quite been finished or worn, so I cut them all off and hopefully I'll actually wear it at some point as it deserves to be worn, it's very well made.

The final item that I bought from another local charity shop was this black vest sweater. It's a good long length and is quite loose and can be worn over dresses/jeans/skirts. It's very versatile, especially as we come into slightly warmer weather. It was a bit pilled, but I did some depilling when I got it home. It also had slits up the sides, which I didn't like, so I've sewn the slits closed as I find it more flattering worn that way. It cost £7, which is a bit more expensive, but if it becomes something I wear a lot it will be worth it.

One way that I have already worn it is over this dress, that I previously bought at a charity shop a few months ago. This dress was a maxi length and didn't look quite right on me so I've shortened it (possibly a little too much), but it is much more wearable now. The vest sweater covers the shirred top of the dress which I don't find too flattering and makes the dress more wearable.

The only other items of clothing I have bought this month were some gym socks. I've tended to wear trainer socks for the gym, but I'm much preferring a longer sock for both gym and running these days, so I'm slowly changing over to longer socks. I bought a pack of 3, two white, one black for £4.50 at Primark and I really like them.

Thankfully, a lot less clothing has come into the house this month, my wardrobe is probably grateful for it, although whilst decluttering a few weeks ago, I did bring some things out of storage to start wearing again. I'm hoping to continue in this vein this year and make good use of what I already have.

Monthly Financial Round Up - February 2025

This month has been much more successful in terms of it being low spend. I've taken care to not buy inessentials on the whole, although a few did slip by me. It has helped that it has been a short month, I can't deny this, but I did drastically reduce my expenditure by over £400 or one third compared to last month, so this has been a big win as far as I'm concerned.

In terms of the budget, I was just about on target for food, a little over, mainly due to meeting some friends for supper at the end of the month, but I'm not going to punish myself over this. I managed to keep well within budget for household and miscellaneous items,  but spent over budget on the house and garden due to buying some new bedding and a new toilet seat, plus a few bits for the garden/home. 

I also spent a little too much on myself, on account of my £25 thrifting budget, which I stuck to. (I haven't really felt the urge to visit the charity shop so often this month, I think because I already have so much stuff in my house that I don't want to bring any more in.) I did, however, succumb to buying a new silver ring I'd been watching on Etsy for a while and a couple of other small items. The main overspend this month, however, was gifting, as I had a 21st birthday gift of money that I gave. This did come out of money I'd already saved up throughout the last year though, which was good.

In terms of putting money aside in savings, I did my usual £100 for gifting, £50 toward a contingency fund for LB, in case her bills turned out to be more than she could afford (I've been doing this for the past 6 months and if it is not needed, I can either give it to her to spend/pay off her overdraft once she's finished Uni, continue to save it for her or use it for something else). In addition, I got the ball rolling this month on the car fund, putting aside £200 for this purpose, another £16 into another savings account to round up the figure in there and put aside £30 in cash for a rainy day.  I also won £100 on the Premium Bonds which got reinvested in more bonds, so altogether it's not been a bad month on the savings front.

I'm also trying to give more to charity on a monthly basis, where I can. I regularly give £18 per month to 3 different charities by direct debit and I've continued to contribute 7 items to the Food Bank every week. In a Some weeks it costs more than others, depending on what I donate, and sometimes I get freebies (or discounts on item) through my Lidl plus account, which I often donate if they're not something I buy regularly or would use. I do intend to continue with this, unless, of course, there is a change in my circumstances that means I can no longer afford do so, as I like to try to do something charitable in my everyday life, especially now I'm no longer volunteering or working in the Charity sector. 

Looking ahead to March, there aren't really many large expenses on the horizon, save that I still need a dental checkup and a haircut. I keep putting both off, but I do need to book appointments for these. Otherwise, I'm hoping to keep expenditure low again and save more towards the car fund. I'll keep you posted with progress.

How was February for you? Have you got any financial plans for March?