Getting Back into a Routine - W/E 19th April 2025

After a week of having LB home and enjoying spending time together as a family, her departure heralded a week of getting back into our normal routine. On Sunday, OH decided not to go cycling as he'd planned and spent the day at home instead.

We both headed up to the local market to buy a few bits we needed. I used my Co-op app to get some money off a small shop there, we bought some more tomato and cucumber plants from a shop on the high street, I bought some unpackaged fruit and veg from the local green grocer and OH bought a print from a local artist we know. We also stopped off for him have a coffee in a cafe and had a nice stroll up and down on Market Day.

When we got back, I decided to prick out and pot on some of the lettuce seedlings that I'd sown a few weeks ago into recycled egg boxes, as they were a bit too congested to plant out as they were. I'm hoping they survive the transition.

We then headed down to the allotment to sow some beetroot seeds and do a bit of tidying up. I did mostly weeding, getting rid of any big weeds coming through. OH did some soil prep and sowed the beetroot seeds, then I sowed a row of hollyhocks.  One side of the plot is now fully cultivated. The plot looked a lot tidier once we were done and it was nice to spend a couple of hours outside. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my phone, so I didn't take a photo.

There is a family of foxes (mother and cubs) living under our allotment shed at the moment. Another plot holder saw one of the cubs creep past us as we were working, but we were so focused on what we were doing we missed him.

Anyway, here's a photo  someone posted on the allotment chat the other day, of the mother fox peeping out from under the shed. So cute.

On Sunday afternoon, OH decided to dismantle the decking from the side return. It is particularly rotten and needs to come up, as next door are having a side return extension built soon. Here's a before picture:

And an after one:

It always feels good when any progress is made around the house and garden. This was a smallish job, but took a lot of effort and will lead to something better eventually. It did mean we had to do another tip run to get rid of all the waste wood.

We've got some exciting (to us) plans for our side return once the building work is completed next door. It's currently been delayed, so it's going to be a few more months yet.  Our plans may not come to fruition this year, depending on how busy OH is, as there is other stuff that needs doing in the garden as a priority, but it is something we'll enjoy when it's done. I'll keep you posted when anything happens on this front.

On Monday, I went out of town to do the weekly shop as usual. I stuck to exactly what was on my list. No deviation into any charity shops or shopping other than for food, which made it a bit less expensive. I also got £5 off my shop at Lidl using an extra voucher and I got a couple of free items too. If I stick to this for the rest of the month, I should get through a tight month okay, so long as nothing unexpected crops up. I won't be putting as much in the car fund this month, but I have managed to squirrel some money away already.

I was tired on Monday afternoon, as I didn't sleep well on Sunday night, so I went back to bed for an hour, before getting up and getting ready for work in the evening. It was my first shift back after 9 days off, which felt strange. Work was okay. I was on my favourite job, so it passed quickly and I was kept very busy.

LB booked us tickets to her graduation ceremony today, which is taking place in July. It seems like yesterday that she started her studies. The time has gone by so quickly.

On Tuesday, I woke up to rain outside. It was the first decent amount of rain for a couple of weeks and OH was happy as it had re-filled the water butt.  The garden looked happy too, nice and green. I love it now that it is coming back to life. I was booked into my class at the gym as usual and headed off there. It continued to rain for most of the day, so I spent the rest of the day inside at home.

In the afternoon, I started to cover another shopping tote.  This one was a Waitrose tote and was quite stained inside due to a leak or breakage. I pieced up fabric to cover it and started to stitch it to the bag. I will be lining this bag, due to it's stained interior. I'll post a picture/video when it's finished. I have just one more bag to upcylcle, which is another Waitrose bag, but it is a large cotton bag rather than a tote. I use this for all of my vegetables and salad items as it holds quite a lot. The remainder of my shopping bags are in OK condition to continue using as they are, so this will be the last one I'll upcycle.

In the evening, we watched the last episode of The Day of the Jackal, which was really good. Hopefully, there will be another series at some point in the future. We also watched a movie starring Saoirse Ronan on Netflix. It was set on the Orkney Isles and was called The Outrun. It was good.

I wasn't working again on Wednesday, so late morning, we decided it was a good day to go to the tip with all the garden waste and waste wood, from ripping up the decking down the side return. I'd also re-sorted all the donations I'd set aside and some of it needed to go to the tip, as there don't appear to be anymore Zero Waste events in our borough to take some of the items to, which is a pity, and they weren't quite good enough to donate elsewhere.

It felt good to get the tip run done and free some space in the garden. OH dropped me off on the way back and I ran the 3km home to get my daily exercise. In the afternoon, I had a nap for an hour. I've come down with a cold and was feeling very tired. I then read for an hour and spent some time working on the shopping tote upcycle in the evening.

I was working on Thursday afternoon, and as my cold had worsened, I decided not to go to the gym in the morning. Instead, I had a chilled morning getting ready for work, dosed myself up with paracetamol and then set off early and walked the two miles to work, to get some steps in. I was a bit hot and bothered by the time I got there, as the weather was quite warm, but I soon settled into my shift, which passed quickly due to it being very busy. 

I left work at 6pm and caught the bus home. I got a call from my manager on the way home, asking if I'd go in for an extra shift the following day. I agreed to go in for a few hours, but not the long shift suggested, as this cold is really unpleasant. OH was cycling all day on Good Friday, so I'd be home alone if I hadn't agreed to go in. I figured that I may as well earn a bit more money if I can.

On Friday, I was feeling pretty awful, but as I'd promised to go into work, I got myself ready and walked in again as OH was using the car. I really wasn't feeling it. My nose was streaming, I had a cough and just felt rough. I dosed myself up with cough linctus and paracetamol before I started, bought some cough sweets and just got on with it. Luckily, it was really busy again and the 4 hour shift passed by super quickly. OH then came to pick me up in the car and we went straight home. It felt so good to get home and relax, knowing I wasn't due to work again for two days and could try to shake the cold off. I was in bed by 8.30pm and got a really good night's sleep for the first time in a few days.

Saturday, I woke up feeling a little better. I had a lie in and then got up and got ready. I didn't have any plans for the day and OH was out cycling again, so I decided to do a bit of sewing. I made the lining for the shopping tote and then hand stitched it in place and completed the second cloth shopping bag upcycle. It made for a lovely relaxing afternoon and the last two upcycles are now completed. Here are a couple of videos of the results:

In the evening, we found another great TV series to watch on Netflix. This one is called The Capture and stars the woman from Strike who partners Strike in his detective agency. She is good in this too.  We binge watched 4 episodes before heading to bed.

Inspite of being ill this week, it does feel like it's been a semi-productive week and progress has been made, which is good enough for me. 

A Family Oriented Week - W/E 12th April 2025

This week, as I've already mentioned, LB was home from university and it was great to have her around. The week began with a mother/daughter trip out to the Car Boot sale. Like me, LB loves a mooch around a Car Boot and as OH was still up in Yorkshire visiting family, I drove us out to our regular Car Boot venue. It was a lovely sunny day and it was super busy again, with even more stalls than the previous time I'd visited. 

We started off mooching together, but soon went our different ways, as we both look for completely different things to buy. I was mainly looking for tops to wear for work and sewing items, but to be honest, there wasn't much that caught my eye. 

I started my purchases on the fruit and veg stall where I bought two bowls of avocados (6 in each bowl) for £1.50 each, which is way cheaper than buying them in the supermarkets.

I didn't find a whole lot else to buy, just some coloured felt and a vintage sewing/knitting basket for the living room, which is quite good for coralling all my current bits and pieces together in the hope of keeping things a bit tidier. Here's a picture of it:

It cost just £1 and is made with a pretty ditsy floral fabric. I also bought this vintage Irish made ceramic jar for 50p (which is now housing my collection of vintage knitting needles)

and a couple of small cross stitch kits for 50p each, which I mainly bought for the wooden hoops that came with them, although the thread will also come in handy.

My final purchase was half a dozen tomato plants for OH, as he'd been looking for them on his previous visit. They cost £1 each and I got 3 Moneymaker, 2 Italian plum and one cherry tomato, which will be great for the allotment. We no longer grow them from seed, as it is much easier to buy small plants grown by other people. We can't get them for £1 where we live, although OH did think that these were expensive.

In total, I spent £15 and came home with £5 left out of my usual £20 Car Boot budget. I did see a beautiful brand new M&S summer dress which was being sold for £7, but I resisted buying it and then kind of regretted it, when I ended up going home with cash in my pocket. But such is life.

When we eventually got home, we chilled for a while until OH came home from his travels and updated us with the story of his weekend with his family. I then did a bit of research on holiday accommodation for our summer vacation and earmarked a few villas in Portugal. We probably need to book something quite soon if I can secure the time off work.

Talking of vacations, later, we began to watch the NOW TV series The White Lotus on TV, as OH signed up for a membership specifically for us to stream and watch this series. LB was keen to watch it too, so we all spent the evening watching it together. Once we've finished watching it and anything else they are showing that takes our fancy, he will cancel his membership.

On Monday, it was weekly shop day and LB was happy to come along with me, as it meant that she'd get to visit a few shops she hasn't been to in a while. I stopped off at the library on the way to return the books I'd take out a few weeks ago, then I picked up a prescription from the nearby pharmacy, so I was able to combine a few errands en route.

We started off the shopping in Home Bargains, as I needed a few things from there. As usual, I managed to pick up a few extras and some foods that I don't always get, but I was fairly restrained for me and most of the shop was either food or necessary toiletries.

Next stop was Tesco, where I dropped off our soft plastics recycling. I needed to buy some seed sowing compost for OH which cost £5, and managed to find some yellow stickered bargains to fill the freezer, so I was happy. LB wanted to go into TK Maxx, so I joined her in there and ended up buying a few small gifts for OH's birthday next month. I like to start early and spread the cost.

We did stop off at the charity shop, but I only bought one item of clothing for £2 and that was a shirt to wear for work, which is on my list of things to look for when thrifting, so I was happy enough with that. I did  try a few other things on, but they looked terrible, so didn't come home with me.

The last stop was Lidl, where I did most of the food shop. It was an expensive week this week, as I did buy some things that I wouldn't normally buy, due to LB being home, and I threw in a few extra bits here and there. 

I've started to be a bit more mindful when shopping this week and am trying to buy as much as I can without packaging. I used to do this, but have fallen out of the habit and need to get back into it. 

When we got home, I made a roast chicken for supper. It's kind of our Easter meal celebrated early, as LB will be back at Uni for Easter and we won't be able to celebrate with her then. I'll be sending her back to Uni with  her egg and a couple of other small gifts.

On Monday night, I hardly slept, so was quite tired when I woke on Tuesday morning. I was booked into a class at the gym, so headed off there. When I got home, I had lunch and then felt really tired, so headed to bed for a nap. I woke at 6pm, so it was a bit of a lost afternoon, but I must admit I do like an afternoon nap on the odd occasion that my body needs it. It feels kind of self indulgent, but sometimes it just has to be done.

Wednesday was another homey day. LB had some uni work to do and I went for a run and did some sewing in the afternoon. I hadn't done any in a while and was getting withdrawal symptoms. It's kind of my happy place, so always refills my cup, so to speak.

On Thursday, I was booked into the gym at 10am and when I got back, LB wanted to go for a family walk in Epping Forest, which is a large ancient forest on the outskirts of East London, about a half hour drive away. We had a lovely chilled walk and then retired to a cafe for lunch before heading home. It was good to get some fresh air and exercise outdoors.

We finished watching the first season of White Lotus on Thursday night. It was okay, but didn't exactly grab me as some series do. I'm not quite sure if we'll continue to watch it once LB goes back to Uni. We might give the second series a try, but we have also started watching the series of The Day of the Jackal, which was also on Now TV and it is really good.

On Friday, I went out for a 5km run and then spent the rest of the day sewing and chilling at home. A friend of LB's came over and they went out all evening, so we didn't see much of her on her last night home, but we were happy that she was out enjoying herself and catching up with friends.

Saturday was quiet. OH was out cycling all day and LB left to return to her flat at lunchtime, so I was home alone most of the day, which I don't mind. It gives me time to think, catch up with myself and think about the week ahead. I had a late lunch and pottered around tidying up after LB's visit, doing some laundry, etc. It was another lovely day. I miss LB when she goes back, the house always seems quiet, but she's got a busy last term ahead of her and lots of work to do on her final project. She always likes to get back at least a day before her week starts so she can settle back in and be ready for the week ahead.

I wanted to do some work on my hexi quilt in the afternoon, but I didn't have any hexies made and needed some papers printing off my computer. I don't have a connection to a printer at the moment, so I couldn't do this, so instead I got out an older English Paper Piecing project that I hadn't worked on for nearly 2 years and did some work on that instead, as I did have some paper templates to use for it. It will keep me going until OH sorts out the printer connection for me and it was quite nice to work on something different and make some progress on an unfinished project.

It was a nice and relaxing week all together. I enjoyed it, but it's time to get back to reality now and go back to work. I hope you had a good week.

Upcycling Jute Shopping Totes

For years now, I've been using jute shopping totes for my weekly shop, as many people do these days. I've got a selection of them from different stores, probably about 6 or 7 in total. They get used every week and loaded up with shopping. I find them very useful and they are strong and good quality for the most part and have for lasted years.

Lately, however, I've noticed that a few of them were looking a bit worse for wear. Occasional spillages or breakages have taken their toll and a couple of them (the M&S ones in particular) had started to split and unravel a little at the seams. 

I was thinking of investing in some new jute bags, but I didn't like the idea of just throwing the old ones in landfill (as they are coated in plastic on the inside), spending £'s on buying new ones, nor of continuing to be a walking advertisement for any large supermarket. So when I came across the idea of covering them with scrap fabric on Pinterest, it seemed like a good way of upcycling them. 

Now, you might think that this is a pretty pointless thing to do and that I have way too much time on my hands, as they are only used for doing the shopping, but the bags themselves still had a lot of life in them, the handles were still strong and covering the bags would make them stronger still. Besides, I enjoy making scrappy fabric, so this idea gave me the perfect excuse to make some more and use up more of my scraps and fabric stash to cover them and keep them in use.

Here's a photo of one of the bags before I began:

I stitched it up where the bag was coming apart and then set about making a fabric cover for it. I used the same process that I always use for making scrappy project bags, ensuring that the fabric pieces were large enough to cover all sides and the underside of the bag. I did go for darker colours, as the bags do get a bit dirty being lifted in and out of the car, so I didn't think the dirt would show so much if I used darker colours, besides, I had plenty of these in my scraps basket.

Sewing all of the scraps together to cover the two bags that I had took an afternoon. I then pinned the scrappy pieces to the bag ready to stitch them into place by hand, as it was too difficult to do it with the machine, unless I unpicked the whole bag, which would probably compromise it's integrity. Here's a picture of the bags with the new covers pinned to them:

I decided to embellish with hexies and patches, as usual. As you can see from the photos, I will need to bind the edges of the outside of the bags to neaten them off.

The next stage was to attach the scrappy pieces to the jute bag. I decided that the best way to do this was to 'stitch in the ditch' of all the seams where I'd sewn different pieces together. It took a while, but it did mean that the scrappy pieces were firmly attached to the bag and not gaping. I then stitched some black binding around the edges to neaten it all up.  I was very pleased with the result at this stage, it looked much more finished.

Here are some videos of the finished bags.  I say finished, but there is still one very small flower to be sewn on. I did think about lining them, but for the moment I have decided not to, as there is a plastic layer inside the bag, so any spillages could be wiped clean, which seems more practical. I may change my mind at some point, but in the meantime, I'm looking forward to putting them back into use when I next go shopping.

Scrappy Sewing Fun

I've been at it again, engaging in some scrappy sewing fun, one of my all time favourite pastimes. I just love using up small fabric scraps and reducing the amount of offcuts in my scrap basket.

Last week, I decided to create another scrappy project bag. I'd been watching videos on YouTube about making fabric from scraps and it just inspired me to get the scrap basket out again and see what I could come up with.

I find it good fun to piece together lots of different scraps, take a photo of the layout and then sew all the bits together to make a bigger piece of fabric.  On this occasion, I went with a different colour scheme from the usual dark coloured fabrics, I decided to use paler fabrics ranging from white through beige, a few pale greens to browns and rust colours. I had lots of vintage scraps amongst these colours that I love, but just couldn't really think of anything I wanted to do with them, so this project was ideal.  

Here's a picture of the scraps laid out:

At this stage, it never really looks like anything special, but once you start sewing the pieces together, it always starts to look a lot better. I did make a few changes as I sewed it together, but nothing too noticeable.

I picked a cotton sateen fabric to line the project bag. I think I bought it for a few cents in an Op Shop in Australia over 10 years ago when visiting my sister and just hadn't found a use for it. It's not something I would really use for anything else, so I was glad to use some of it for this project and the colours matched perfectly with some of the fabrics used.

This is the finished bag and I love it. The top can either be folded over to close or rolled back exposing the lining, to make a kind of fabric basket. I may add a fastening of some kind to it. I think I'm going to use it to keep my dressmaking in when I start a new course next month. It will nicely keep everything I need all together in one place, so it will be easy to pick up and head to class with.

The second scrappy project I've been working on this last week, has been some scrappy rolls or strips, using adding machine roll to hold them all together. In doing this project, I was able to use up some of the smallest scraps in my basket by sewing them together until they were long enough to cover the width of the paper tape.

The only rules I followed in doing this was not to use the same fabric twice in any strip. I also did try to move seamlessly from one colour to another, but this isn't necessary. I was reasonably happy with the first couple of strips I made. Here's a picture:

I decided to use them to make a cushion cover for the shed. I combined them with some scrap offcuts of black linen, leftover from making the shed sofa cover, which made the multi-coloured strips stand out. 

I didn't have enough of this black fabric to make the backs of the cushions and I don't have many plain fabrics, but I did have a mustard coloured plain fabric, which did tie in with some of the scraps in the strips, so I used this and made an envelope closure on the back of the cushion cover.  Here's the completed cushion cover:

 

I'm quite happy with the outcome. It's not perfect, as always, but it is colourful, has helped me to use up lots of scraps which is always very satisfying and isn't bad for a first attempt at this technique. I may make another one at some point, as I think I just about have enough black linen and mustard fabric, but that will be a job for another day.

Finally, I made a small gift for OH's sister, namely these fabric jar openers. I've made them in the past, use them myself and find them invaluable. Is it me or do jars seem more tightly screwed on these days? Maybe it's that I'm aging and find it harder to open them. OH does too. I think I originally got the idea from Pinterest.

Anyway, OH's sister must have used some that I gave to his mum and mentioned to me when we were on holiday in Tenerife, that she could do with some herself, so I made her a pair using some offcuts of fabric. I find using a pair is better, one to grip the lid and one to grip the bottom of the jar.

 I hope she likes them.

Counting Down to a Week Off Work - W/E 5th April 2025

This week started off with my working a couple of shifts on Sunday and Monday. I didn't sleep well on Sunday night and was consequently really tired on Monday morning when I headed off to do the food shop locally.  I didn't have time to go out of town this week, due to being at work for 1pm.

The day didn't get off to a good start, and I apologise in advance for the rant, but I had an altercation with someone in the supermarket queue, when they saw fit to comment on the way I organise my items on the conveyor belt.

I told them in no uncertain terms that it was none of their business and if I want to make my life easier I will, as I wasn't holding up the queue - the cashier hadn't even started on my shopping yet. I pointed out the self service if he was in a hurry, but, of course, he didn't want to use that. He preferred to try to wind me up.

I did feel a bit guilty later, about getting stroppy with him, but he really annoyed me. I did let him in front of me in the queue, mainly so that I didn't have to listen to anymore unsolicited comments. Safe to say, it's not my favourite store, I often come across people with a bad attitude in there, which is why I tend to shop out of town, who needs it. I won't be rushing back, not unless I have to, like today, I'd rather drive 10 miles out of town and have a more positive experience. 

The only good thing about this shopping trip, was that I got £10 off my shopping with another voucher and I stocked up on lots of things, so future weekly shops should be a lot smaller going forward.

Anyway, I eventually calmed down when I got home, had some lunch and went to work, which was okay, save for the odd person behaving badly there too. It was my last shift for two days, after a four day stretch and the tiredness made it feel like a long afternoon. I was so happy when 5pm came around and I could go home and chill. I love to just stay home and not have to deal with people. 

I was in bed by 8pm that night, as I just couldn't keep my eyes open and despite waking for an hour or so at 4am, I managed to get back to sleep until 9.30am, when I had to get up and get ready to go to the gym.

My class at the gym was good and then when I got home it was lovely to have the afternoon to myself and not have to go to work or anywhere else. I didn't do much, just some laundry, some ironing, put some laundry away and read for a little while. I just needed some time to decompress from work. 

I joined the Recycle at Boots scheme today on their app, so that I can now recycle blister packs from my regular medication and also beauty product packaging, such as makeup, pump action bottles, toothpaste tubes and toothbrushes. You get 500 points on your Advantage card (worth £5) for recycling 5 items of packaging if you spend £10 in store at the same time and then 100 points (worth £1) for recycling 5 medicine blister packs. As I need to buy some of my dental care there now, this won't be difficult to do, as it can be expensive and the points will help with the cost of it, plus it helps to recycle things that are difficult to recycle and you can't put in household recycling.

I also joined the Co-op membership scheme today, as our local high street supermarket is a Co-op and we often drop in for the odd top up shop or to get milk. I thought I may as well benefit from reduced prices when I shop there.

In the evening, we watched a programme about the infamous 1970's The Good Life comedy series on TV, which was a lovely trip down memory lane. Such an iconic and funny series and still inspiring to people today in many ways.

On Wednesday morning, I was a bit tired as I'd not slept well again. I stayed in bed and finished reading another book, this one:

I started reading it on holiday in Tenerife in January. It was an entertaining read and is the second full book read this year.  I used to be an avid reader, but I really don't read much these days and really need to make an effort to read more.

I eventually decided to go out for a 3km run in the morning and stopped off to pick up a Vinted parcel on my way back. I'd ordered a new blouse for work in the summer, as I'd damaged one of my only short sleeved tops using a light coloured permanent marker and needed to replace it. It was actually terribly bobbled anyway, so it was probably a good thing that this happened, as it stopped me wearing it. 

I've currently got very few tops to wear for work in the summer and need to buy a couple more in the coming months, especially now the weather is warming up, if I can find them at a good price that is. This one wasn't expensive at £5 including postage. When it arrived, I realised that it was the exact same top as the one I'd damaged only bigger, which was perfect.

The remainder of Wednesday I stayed close to home. I did a little bit of sewing and a bit more reading. There's stuff going on in the background of our lives at the moment, so I'm trying to just chill and not get stressed by it, when there's little I can do to change anything.

On Thursday morning, OH was heading off to visit his Mum, as he needed to do some work in her garden for her over the weekend. He also wanted to go and visit his brother in hospital whilst there too. I didn't go with him, as I was working on Thursday and Friday afternoons and LB was coming home for a week on Friday. Hopefully, I'll get the chance to visit him soon.

I booked myself into an earlyish session at the gym and headed off there. When I came back I had to jump in the shower and get ready for work, get some lunch and head off, as I'd been asked to go in an hour earlier. The shift was okay as it was quite short. I got asked to swap my evening shift on Friday for another afternoon shift, which I was happy to do with LB coming home.

I was glad to get home on Thursday night. It felt strange to have the house to myself, but not horribly strange. Just quiet.

On Friday morning, I had a bit of a lie in, got up, did some laundry, got ready for work and did a bit of cleaning before LB came home. I managed to catch half an hour or so with her catching up before I had to head out to work.  Work was okay. It started off slow but got busier as the afternoon progressed and before I knew it I had finished work for the next nine days and was on my way home. Bliss.

LB was chilling in the shed when I got in, so I joined her and we had a good chat before heading indoors for supper. We both just chilled tonight and enjoyed some downtime. It's great to have her home for a little while. I'm looking forward to us getting out and about together over the next week.

On Saturday morning, I woke up early and decided it might be a good day for LB and I to head to the mall to get our hair cut. I'd promised her I'd take her for a hair cut whilst she was home and I was in desperate need of one and to be honest I just wanted to get it over with, as I hate going to the hairdressers. 

We hopped on a bus at the top of our street and were very lucky to both get an appointment straight away, which is rare. Twenty minutes and £105 later, (it's almost becoming unaffordable to have a haircut) we were done and did a small bit of shopping before heading home. 

It was crazy busy at the mall, so people must have plenty of money to be out shopping, but we didn't and didn't want to stick around, so we came home, had some lunch and hung out in the shed for the rest of the afternoon chatting. It's so lovely to have LB home. OH comes back tomorrow, having finished the work he needed to do for his mum, I'm sure he'll be happy to see LB too.

March 2025 Clothing Purchases

As I've already explained in another post about my low spend disaster in March, it wasn't a particularly good month for reining myself in financially. Consequently, there are were a number of clothing/accessory items purchased this month.

I have already posted about a few of my purchases, namely a belt (£1) and a pair of chunky boots (£5), so I won't post another picture of these, but I also did buy the following items of clothing this month.

Some underwear for £4.80 and a baseball cap for £5.40 (the latter for running in).

A pack of 3 pairs of gym socks for £4.50 and this leopard print T-shirt for £3, both from Primark

(It's a lovely petrol blue colour, which I like)

I bought a gym t-shirt from a local charity shop for £1.50. I did make a slight alteration to this in that I rolled up the sleeves and stitched them to turn it into a more boyfriend t-shirt style, as I prefer this. It's nice and long, loose and baggy, which is how I like to wear them in the gym.

A second pair of boots, Chelsea boots this time, from Matalan on sale for £17.50 

and some gym leggings from Matalan for £18.

A second pair of Matalan gym leggings from the charity shop for £3,

plus this pair of  Phase Eight navy checked trousers from the charity shop for £3. They are a smidge tight, but I really like them and I'm hoping that once I get back on track and lose a bit more weight they'll fit perfectly.

Finally, I spent £2 on this khaki animal print dress at the car boot sale, but I'm going to turn it into a skirt, I think, as I didn't like the style of it when I tried it on. It felt like a big tent, which wasn't a good look.

Yep, over £60 spent. Note to self:  This is not low spend, must do better next month.

Low Spend March - A Complete Fail

Well, I have to admit that on the low spend front, March was a complete fail. I really don't know what happened to me, but I was in way too spendy a mindset, which was not good.

The first week wasn't too bad, but by the end of the second week things got much worse. I got it into my head that I needed some new gym leggings. After trawling Vinted for a favourite brand that I know fit well, are reasonably priced and good quality, I couldn't find what I wanted, so I decided to head to the actual store and buy a pair new. These cost £18, which isn't that bad, but I then found a really nice pair of Chelsea boots in there that I couldn't resist at £17.50. Now, I have wanted some new Chelsea boots for a while. I'd been wearing my old ones at work and they were looking shabby, so I stopped wearing them for work in the hope I could preserve their life. At least now, I can start wearing them for work again, as I have the new pair for wearing outside of work now.

I then visited my favourite charity shop, and whilst I only had £8 of my thrifting budget left to spend, I went ahead and spent £19. It just so happened that I found a pair of gym leggings in there, from the brand I like. I could have taken the new ones back, but decided that it would be good to have two new to me pairs, as this second pair cost only £3. I also found a pair of Phase Eight trousers whilst in there for £3, which seemed a really good deal as they are a good quality brand, so I went ahead and bought them. It was the small additional items that took me over by £11. I found a massive industrial sized reel of black thread, which will be perfect for slow stitching for only £4, a pair of brand new thermal gloves for £2 (I'd recently lost a pair), a couple of bits of stationery for £1 each and then I spent £3 on a bag, solely for the strap fittings, for a project I was planning to do. (I took a look on eBay and it would have cost more to buy them new, so I bought the bag to save me a little bit of money). Not disastrous, but not good either.

A few days later, I bought a silver ring on eBay, one that I've been watching for a while and which was reduced by a couple of pounds and I then went on to compound this online damage by spending £30 on an online order for some slow stitching embellishments, mainly fabric patches and trimmings of varying types. I really shouldn't have, but temptation and my current obsession with slow stitching got the better of me, but it will keep me going for a good while and some of the trimmings were for a project I'm starting for LB, so I'm glad I bought them, as hopefully, they'll improve the outcome. That's the problem when I get a new obsession, it often leads to a bit of a splurge. Hopefully, I've scratched that itch for a while now.

The next splurge was attending a car boot sale mid way through the month. I'd not been to one for ages and with the weather being a bit sunnier (although still very cold) it made for a nice trip out when I had a Sunday off work. I did go with a fixed budget of £20 and a list of things to look for, i.e. anything good for slow stitching (but had to be very inexpensive on account of what I'd already spent recently), a vintage tin for buttons, plants to brighten up the garden, particularly pelargoniums, anything else that caught my eye, so long as it was necessary or very inexpensive. I've posted about what I did buy and I did get a lot for my money, but it did signal to me that I needed to stop spending on unnecessary things for the rest of the month, as I'd already spent way too much.

For the rest of the month, I tried very hard to keep away from any spending temptations, which wasn't easy. I did book a dental appointment and had to pay a £45 deposit in advance, which was quite annoying actually. It was an extra expense that I really wasn't expecting. I also signed up for a 9 week sewing course towards the end of the month, which again I hadn't been planning on doing, but I'm glad I did and it only cost £53.

On the positive side, March wasn't too bad for savings. I did manage to put away £200 towards the car fund and I put £6.39 into a savings account to round up the balance in there to the nearest £100. I also won £125 on the Premium Bonds which was a major bonus and which got reinvested in more bonds and I put money aside for LB's bills and Xmas/birthday gifts as usual. So all was not lost. I also opened a new cash ISA to get a better interest rate on some savings this month, which hopefully will benefit me going forward. I may put the car fund money into this account too, so I don't have to pay tax on any interest I earn.

Next month, is going to be a difficult one financially for me. My wages this month were probably the lowest they've ever been since I started this job, as I got very few extra hours over my contracted hours. I'm not particularly mad about it, as I enjoy working less hours, but with all my expenditure this month, some of which was on my credit cards and has to be paid off next month, this will mean that I will have an extremely limited budget for spending on anything other than the absolute essentials of food/household items, which kind of serves me right for being so spendy this month. I have also promised myself and LB a long overdue haircut which will make a big dent in available cash. It's also looking pretty unlikely that I will be able to put much money in the car fund next month, we'll just have to see how things go.

So, next month will certainly be a challenge, but I'm actually looking forward to it, as it might help me develop some financial discipline. I'll let you know how I get on.