Twixtmas 2025

The Monday after Christmas, things were back to normal and I headed out of town to do the weekly shop, with LB accompanying me this time. She hasn't come with me for a long time now, but on this occasion she had reason, as she wanted to buy some things for an early birthday party she is planning on hosting.

I didn't need to get much shopping this week, as there is still so much food in the house. I just needed to get the usual bread, milk, some cold meats, fruit and snacks. I managed to get my usual expensive mouthwash on offer, with over £3 discount on each bottle, which was good as I'd run out. It was great for the shopping to come in at under £50 for once. I will probably do a small top up shop later in the week.

Towards the end of our outing, we had a bit of trouble with the car, as the boot would not lock shut and kept alarming. In the end we had no option but to drive home with it like that and hope it wouldn't fly open on the way. I was concentrating so much on keeping my speed low, that I missed our turning off the ring road and had to come home by a different route, which was no bad thing, as the roads that way had lower speed limits, making it safer. OH has subsequently resolved the issue for now, which is good.

On Tuesday, I had a lie in and read for a while. I needed to return the book I'm reading by New Year, but when I later walked to the library, it was closed until then and so I may have to go overdue. I don't like to, but they didn't tell me when I renewed the book that the library was closed between Xmas and New Year. I think the council have done away with fines, I hope so anyway, but even if they haven't, it won't be much.

After walking to the library, I then walked into town to get some bits I needed. I considered buying a magazine, but £6 - £7 was too much to justify. Luckily, on the way home, I looked in a Little Free Library and found this one which is current:

A perfect example of serendipity, if ever there was one.

I picked up a few birthday cards for January birthdays on my travels and also collected a prescription from the pharmacy and then it was home. I'd done over 7000 steps, so I was happy. When I got back, I treated myself to a toasted baked bean sandwich for lunch. I'm not loving salads at the moment. I'm just listening to my body and giving it a bit of variety from the norm.  The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and packing away a few Xmas bits.

On Wednesday, I took down the bulk of the Xmas decorations. They come down much more quickly than they go up, that's for sure. This is OH's favourite day of the year. He loves it when the decorations come down. The house looked a bit bare, but at least it's done. I did a quick trip to Lidl to pick up a few bits and then pottered, doing more laundry, housework and more packing away of Xmas bits and pieces in the shed.

We had a very quiet NYE. LB went out with friends, we stayed in as usual. We did watch a really good film on Amazon Prime called Jeanne Du Barry about Louis XV of France's mistress, starring Johnny Depp. Worth a watch if you ever see it on TV or Netflix. I then watched Pretty Woman for the first time in years and really enjoyed it.

2026 started with a lie in and almost finishing my current book. Just the postscript few pages to read. Today's chapter was all about basket making. I found it really interesting to read about this ancient craft. I don't how many baskets I have in my house, but there must be upwards of 20, which I use for various purposes. I decided to count them and was shocked to get up to 34, without venturing into the shed, basement or LB's room, where I know there are more. I also have 5 pieces of rattan furniture, which is kind of basket ware. You can't beat a good basket for storage and they compost too, when no longer useful.

OH is cycling in South London today, so I am spending the day vacuuming and mopping the house after taking down the decorations yesterday. It will be good to have a reset for the year ahead. I hope that whatever you are doing today, you have a lovely New Year's Day.

Looking Back on 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2026.

 

Christmas Week - W/E Sunday 28th December 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Year End Financial Roundup for 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A Long Weekend in Yorkshire Making Our Xmas Visits to Family

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Making An Xmas Gift For My Daughter - Xmas 2025

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Have you been making anything for anyone this Xmas?