April Round Up

April has been a bit of a budget buster for me.  Mainly because my budget is in a period of transition, especially since I've decided to completely change our dietary habits and beauty/bathing habits and follow a more natural/organic path.  I think I've been mulling certain aspects of this over in my mind for quite a long time now and have now finally taken the plunge and committed myself.

I have to say that this isn't a cheap option, finding natural/organic alternatives to anything is invariably expensive, if possible at all.  I'm slowly making changes in an organic way, i.e. when I run out of a product I will look for a more natural alternative if I can, that is within my price range. Sometimes, I have to admit, it is not easy, but there is so much more out there these days compared to 10 or 12 years ago when I last took a good look, especially online and I feel happy that I'm now finally taking this path.

Other than these major changes, April hasn't been too startling. We had a lovely week in Yorkshire, which wasn't particularly expensive, but was very relaxing. As I've already mentioned, the budget hasn't gone too well, which wasn't helped by my spending some money on a couple of items of footwear in the sales.

I have now changed over from my autumn/winter to my spring/summer wardrobe and I do need to add a couple of things to my summer wardrobe in the next few months, i.e. some vests and a new swimsuit (that is flattering), but not much else.

I have also made a major purchase of this pair of prescription sunglasses. I tend to wear my glasses most of the time and I've been struggling whilst driving on the sunny days that we've had, so I indulged in a nice pair that I will enjoy wearing.  I collected them from ASDA Opticians the other day. I was a bit short sighted (excuse the pun) in November when I bought my new glasses, and didn't get reactalite lenses put in because of the £40 cost. I'm paying for it now by having to buy a separate pair, but I really like these and am now just waiting for a sunny day to be able to wear them.

One very positive thing I'm happy about this month is that with OH's very kind help, (financial and otherwise) I've managed to rebuild the beds at the allotment and for once I'm on top of it this season, with lots of seeds sown, potatoes, onions and broad beans sown too.   I'm just waiting for everything to grow now.  There's still a bit more sowing to do next month (beans/peas) and some weed clearing to do at the back of the plot, but one visit per week should keep on top of things and make a bit of progress with that.  Although the vegetables I grow aren't strictly organic, I know I haven't put anything on them, so they are as natural as I can grow them, which is good enough for me.

On a different subject altogether, I eventually started on my Kitchen Declutter and Spring Clean in April, albeit towards the end. It's progressing at a fairly slow pace, so I will be continuing through May until it is done.  My 2015 challenge to declutter 1000 things is progressing okay.  I had a bit better month this month. (More in another post)

In May, aside from finishing the kitchen declutter, I'm aiming to sort through the garden shed, which is full to the brim with 'stuff'. I think I can class this as part of the challenge, as it's mostly stuff that came out of the house in the first place.

It is also OH's birthday next month, so it is going to be a slightly more expensive month on account of needing to buy his present.  We do buy birthday presents for each other in our household, but tend to stick to practical things that we need or consumables such as chocolates/coffee/alcohol.  Not particularly romantic or much of a surprise, but it suits us just fine.