June Jobs

May has been a very strange month and I completely lost impetus towards the end and didn't achieve a lot of the goals I set myself.  In all honesty I think I set myself far too much to do and also was in desperate need of a break from London towards the end of the month, so I am facing finishing the same jobs in June, the main job being the bedroom de-clutter.  It is coming along nicely and some storage solutions have been found, but others are yet to materialise.  I've thrown out lots of old paperwork that I was hanging onto for no particular reason, so it feels good that this has now been banished.  I have a bag of things I need to list on eBay, but just haven't got around to it yet.  Next free listing weekend and I'm on to it, hopefully.

Another job I've got to do this month is spend some time at the allotment.  I haven't been for a few weeks and a visit is long overdue, so I am hoping to do that this week.  I spent Sunday pottering in the garden and planting out almost all of the plants I bought whilst on holiday.  Most of them went into the border I cleared a few weeks ago, but it is still a bit sparse so I might need to fill in with some fennel and cosmos or something similar at a later date. I've also potted on some seedlings from the greenhouse including putting the tumbling tomatoes into a hanging basket, but I still need to pot on lots more and take some to the allotment to plant out there.  The garden is looking pretty tidy though and things are starting to happen which is always exciting.

On the creative front I enjoyed a couple of Adult Learner workshops last month and one in particular has set me off making more things.  I almost completed a patchwork cushion for our bedroom whilst we were away on holiday, so I just need to finish it off and I will do a reveal.  I've really quite enjoyed it and might be tempted to do something even bigger.  I didn't manage to make any clothes in May, save for a few snood type scarves which I like wearing, so it would be good to get making something a bit more challenging in June if possible.

With regard to finances, May was a difficult month, as I expressed in a previous post.  I completely failed to budget well, but managed to scrape through due to the generosity and tolerance of my OH.  After running out of money by allowing for a bill that was due to come out of my account, I got a letter on returning from my holiday telling me it wouldn't be taken out of my account until 7th June which was a bit annoying, as I could have used the money put aside after all.  I did however pay good amounts off my credit cards so all was not lost.  This coming month I am determined not to find myself in the same position and am going to be very careful with regard to my spending and make sure of it.  I also received a couple of cheques on my return from holiday, dividends on shares owned, and will be putting them away in the building society to save for a rainy day.  I have had 35 no spend days so far this year, towards my yearly goal of 50.  I think I might have to extend my estimate a little if things continue in this vein and be a bit more ambitious.  Maybe 75 for the year?  We'll see.

I have a few expenses that I need to cover in June, namely the birthday of one of my nephews who lives in Australia and I need to buy some new contact lenses, but apart from that I don't particularly need anything else desperately.  I had the major expense of my partner's birthday last month, but that has now been met and he now has a year's membership to the Royal Academy in Piccadilly, so hopefully we will all be able to enjoy some visits to their exhibitions and events over the coming year.

I did hope to put more time into my small business last month, but didn't do much more than keeping it ticking over.  I am hoping to rectify this situation this month and really spend more time on developing it.  If necessary, other areas of my life will have to take a back seat.

Finally, in relation to exercise, I missed a week of classes whilst away last week and also missed a few due to the Bank Holiday at the beginning of May and due to being unable to get into some classes as they were fully booked.  I need to be really rigorous in booking classes early to avoid this.

I think my goals this month are slightly more realistic and without any holidays planned I think I might have more chance of achieving most of them.  What are your goals this month if you set yourself any?