Playing Catchup

I have to admit and some of you may have noticed so far this year, that I've definitely been a bit of a spendthrift in the first few months of the year.  I can't deny it, it is perfectly true, and whilst I realise this may seem to go against my aim of simplifying my life and routines, etc. etc., it is all part of the long term plan, well mostly anyway.

For the past couple of years, anyone who has been reading my blog will be aware that I have been paying off my credit card debts and my overdraft and by the end of last year I had virtually achieved these aims, save for a small overdraft still outstanding.  During this time, whilst I was working hard toward these goals, I still purchased things along the way and made a deliberate conscious decision not to go completely without, in an attempt to help motivate me to complete the financial tasks I was aiming for.

There have, however,  been certain things that I have made a conscious decision to put off replacing or buying, preferring to wait for a time when I had more disposable income to purchase them.  For the most part, they weren't particularly exciting things, mainly household linens, but also some basic unexciting clothing items too.

The first few months of this year, whilst the sales have been on, I have been making up for lost time and I started the year with a wishlist of things I didn't want to put off purchasing any longer.  Mostly they were small things, that cost less than £20, but nevertheless ones that I wanted to purchase as soon as I could, i.e. new beach towels, pillow protectors, a new set of bathroom towels, a bedside light, duvet covers, some new gym tops, a couple of new thermal t-shirts and of course, the completion of my new capsule wardrobe.

I had intended to take all year to gather the latter, but such was my enthusiasm for the project and such was the availability of well priced items in the sales, that I have virtually completed this aim already, (for the colder months of the year at least) save for a couple of big ticket items.

It may seem a little excessive to some readers, but I am happy to make the most of the opportunities for bargains while I can, in the first few months of the year in the hope that this will free up spare cash in the later months of the year, to enable me to start saving and putting money aside, which I also hope to do this year.  It's taking a while, but my wish list has almost been completed and I'm finally starting to look forward to getting back to normal spending levels in the very near future, if there is such a thing.

I've rejuvenated my wardrobe, done the same for Little Bird and also done the same for my linen cupboard, which was looking a decidedly worn and weary.  It has felt good to be able to do some of these things at last.  Please bear with me and forgive the temporary spending excesses, I am not intending to continue in this mode for the whole of this year.