My Triple A Rating - April Aims Achieved?

It is nearing the end of the month and time to start thinking about what I have and haven't managed to achieve this month.  I don't think I have fared too badly overall although I have indulged in a bit of retail therapy here and there and thus haven't stuck to the straight and narrow with regard to not spending money on unnecessary things.  I have managed another 8 no spend days though,  so my current total is now 31 out of the 50 I am aiming to achieve for the year.

On the gardening front, the allotment was more or less up to scratch by the time April came around, but a visit or two to check all was well before inspections at the end of the month and to water after the warm spell was required this month.  At home in the garden I managed to sow some more seeds in the greenhouse for the allotment and garden.  Not much has germinated as I speak, some salad from impregnated sheets are starting to germinate which is exciting.  I may transfer them to the allotment at some point and let them grow full size rather than use them as cut and come again.  I will probably get more for my money that way.  I have one sunflower, one cucumber or tomato (I didn't label these - naughty) and some fennel that has germinated, which I will probably plant out at the allotment too, when they get substantially bigger.  Everything else I'm still waiting for as they were only sewn a week ago.

We had a good weekend in the garden early in the month, and tidied it up ready for visitors arriving, properly dogproofed the remainder and got the bikes outside.  I must admit that they are creeping back inside now, for convenience,  but at least there's room for them in either place now.  We can sit out in the garden now the weather is better, which is a treat.  The plant pots that had been littering the garden for a couple of years now have all been washed and stacked neatly in the greenhouse and all the clutter has been removed leaving it an enjoyable and useable space once again.  There is still a bit of work to do in the border on one side of the garden, the grass needs attention and more bark needs putting under the trampoline, but other than that it is quite tidy really.

Inside the house, I managed to achieve my aim of clearing out the dining/reception room to make a bedroom for visitors who came to stay, and then afterwards we took out the bed and finally got our dining/reception room back after a year of it being used as a spare bedroom or storage area.  I also managed to sort through my wardrobe and replace winter clothes with spring/summer clothes and generally declutter in this area too.  Both of these tasks resulted in quite a few more boxes and bags being taken to the charity shop.

There were a few things I didn't manage to do that I had wanted to.  One was to make a couple of items of clothing for my spring/summer wardrobe.  I'm afraid no sewing took place this month.  With all the other more pressing tasks to complete, I just never managed to get around to any.  The other thing I didn't manage to achieve was to cycle to the gym at least once a week.  In spite of the weather being a lot better, it was time that was the main deciding factor, as having to walk the dog in the morning means I have less time to make the journey to the gym which takes longer than it does in the car.  I need to think about a solution to this one.

Fitness wise I have resumed my 4-5 classes per week after taking a two week break over the Easter holidays and have taken up netball training once a week with some mums from school.  We had our first session this week with a coach who reminded us of the rules and referreed some short games.  The sessions cost £2 each, but are great value at this price.  They take place in a local secondary  school which my daughter may attend in the next few years, so it is interesting to get a feel for the place.  The first session was really enjoyable, so I think that I will continue to play for the time being and see how it goes.

Financially, I have stuck to my cash budget again and managed to pay a good lump sum off my biggest credit card debt.  I did place one large Approved Food order on this card, which qualified me for their April prize draw.  I also paid off my other credit card, but have subsequently added a few internet purchases to it, so I will need to pay them off next month.  At least I won't need to any pay interest charges on this card any longer which is good.

Although there were a couple of things I didn't achieve this month, there was one thing that wasn't on my list that I did manage and it was quite a biggie, namely the reorganisation of all my financial documentation.  This is a pretty big task which took me the better part of a week on and off.  I had to buy some new files to store everything in but managed to do this for the small sum of £6.  With this done I can start to think about starting to calculate this last year's tax accounts rather than leaving them until the last minute again.

All in all, I feel happy that April has been very busy and productive.  I just hope that May carries on in a similar fashion.  I just need to think about what I need and would like to achieve next month now.  I'll post my aims shortly.  Do you set yourself goals for the month?  I find it helps to motivate me to get things done, but I'm not too hard on myself if I don't acheive them all as life does have a habit of getting in the way of things sometimes.