January Roundup

Well, how has your January been?  To sum up mine in two words, I would definitely say expensive and long.

Now, I'm not trying to garner any sympathy here, as it has been completely my own fault. I have got carried away in the sales a little this January.  They seemed to last so long too and I just kept coming across things that I just couldn't resist.  Admittedly, some of them were for Little Bird, to fill some gaping holes in her wardrobe, but still, I did go overboard and will be paying for it this month, which will be a very lean one.

I can't even remember now what my aims were for January.  Just to continue trying to get out of the remaining small amount of debt that I have by way of my overdraft.  This might take another month or two, but it is hard to resist things when they are discounted.  At least I feel I've crossed a few things off my Capsule wardrobe list. (Even if a couple weren't actually on it in the first place!)

I think after all the spending in the lead up to Christmas, it was hard to kick the habit, but I think I'm all shopped out for now and need now to start concentrating on things closer to home and getting more de-cluttering done around the house.

OH is treating Little Bird to a belated Trampolining party for her birthday next week, so I will have a busy week getting the house cleaned for when her friends come around. This should keep me out of trouble. Following this I need to get stuck back into our bedroom blitz, which has ground to a halt. I also need to collate a Food Bank box in February and deliver it to the food bank.

One good thing this last month, is that I have been reading quite regularly.  Only for half an hour or so before I get out of bed in a morning, but I am working my way through the remaining book pile by my bed and some of my reading matter has inspired me to re-organise my routines and rethink my diet a little, to get a better balance and live more healthily.

As a consequence I have stopped buying almost all sweet food items and am trying to cut down my carb intake and introduce a few more vegetables to my diet, to encourage my body to burn more stored fat. I'm not sure how this will pan out, I can but try. We're still eating down our cupboards, to clear some food that has been hanging around for quite a while, but I seem to be making quite good progress on this front, which is encouraging.  Here's a couple of pics of my overspill cupboard looking almost empty

and my main food cupboard after a food shop today.

I do realise that there are a few sweet things in here, (middle shelf) but these haven't been bought this side of Christmas. The only other cupboard in which I keep food is the cereal cupboard which is shown below.  As you can see, it mainly contains cereals and low fat crisp snacks but there is a box of crumble topping and one dessert mix behind which you can't see.

I guess most of our food is kept in the fridge or freezer, which is good as it must mean we eat quite a bit of fresh food.  Here's a picture of the contents of the fridge, again after a weekly food shop today.

The yoghurts are virtually the only desserts I still buy and the double cream is to use up one of a couple of dessert packet mixes I've had kicking around for a while.  We seem to be getting to a healthier place at last, now I've finally put my mind to it.

I definitely find it works best for me when I have minimal food in the house, as I'm not so tempted to overeat or constantly snack.  If we get a sudden craving for something and can't resist, there are plenty of shops up the road to go to and buy whatever it is, as we need it.  I do, of course, try to make sure I fill the fruit bowl at the beginning of the week which helps when it comes to snacks.

Looking to February and other areas, I am aiming to list a few items on eBay this month and raise a little bit of cash, hoping to do a lot more cycling (more in another post) and would like to get back to doing a little sewing this month (I've said this before, however, so we'll see), but other than these things and the fact that it's going to be a frugal one, I don't have a lot planned.

What plans have you got for February?