A Better Week On the Whole - Week Ending 8th March 2025

This week got off to a busy start. I was working on Sunday from 1pm to 6pm and the store was very busy again on PayDay weekend. The sun was shining too, which probably helped to bring people out. I had a good shift.

On Monday, it was weekly shop day again. I used a 10% off voucher at Lidl and got over £8 off my shop which was a bonus. I treated myself to a geranium plant for the garden in Lidl, which cost me £2.69.

I used a £4.75 Holland and Barrett voucher to reduce the cost of buying a few things there. I also went to my favourite charity shop and spent £10 on a few choice items, but I've posted separately about these.

The only other purchases, were ones I made at a different branch of the store I work at, as I wanted to take advantage of a double discount weekend. I bought a few things, some for the home i.e. tea towels, oven gloves and some soy wax candles, the latter of which I'm going to put away for OH to give me as a birthday gift, a couple of small gifts for LB and a couple of other small accessories for me. I saved nearly £8, plus the savings as a consequence of most of the items being on clearance. I felt like I'd done enough shopping for a while. I'm hoping to keep the rest of the month to as minimum spend as possible.

On Tuesday, I headed to my usual class at the gym. It was another sunny but cold day. It's amazing how much more positive you feel when there's a bit of sunshine. I was working in the evening, and needed to get the bus to work and do a little bit of food shopping before I started, to get a couple of items I'd not got with the weekly shop, so after lunch I got ready for work early and headed out to catch the bus.  I had a good shift at work again and OH picked me up as he'd needed to use the car.

I was working again on Wednesday afternoon, so after a really good night's sleep, which is rare these days, but much appreciated, I had a lie in, a late breakfast and then got ready for work. Work was okay, until that is, I unintentionally got embroiled in some workplace politics, which really ended my working week on a downer. I deliberately avoid this kind of thing, but sometimes you get unknowingly dragged into the issues people have with others. It upset me. I'm just glad I'm not there for the next four days.

On Thursday, it was lovely to wake up knowing I didn't have to go to work. I got ready and then did a bit of sewing, starting a patchwork tablecloth for the kitchen table, as I needed something to clear my head of work. I then decided to go for a run, as I also needed to move my body. It was a lovely sunny morning, so it felt good to get outside.

After lunch, I went back to my sewing machine and completed the tablecloth. It was lovely to spend a whole afternoon sewing. I've not done it in a good while. Here's a photo of the finished tablecloth:

I used some larger pieces of fabric for this project and was able to use up quite a few bits from my stash. I don't think I would have used it for anything else. I made it double sided, using one fabric for the back:

I was happy enough with the results. It's not perfect, but it's good enough and the colours are a good match for the kitchen.

Later, I picked up this book that I started reading a while ago and I finally actually finished it. This book was about Barbara Hulanicki of Biba fame. I bought it when I went to a Biba exhibition last summer. It was a good read. She had amazing success with her business in the 1960's and 70's, before it was bought out by British Land, an infamous property company here in the UK. It was the first book I've finished this year. I've got a few more that I've started and I might try to finish reading them. A couple of them I started on holiday in Tenerife, but never finished.

On Friday, I didn't need to be anywhere or do anything, so I had a long lie in, a late breakfast and then showered and got ready for the rest of the day. It was another sunny day, so I decided to go out into the garden and pot up my new geranium into a bigger pot. I decided to place it on the step to the shed to brighten up that end of the garden. 

I then decided to wash some empty plant pots and tidy them away ready for the new growing season and potted on all of my trees in pots.  They now shouldn't need potting on for at least a couple of years if not longer. It's a job that's been on my to do list since last year. As you can see, I like to make use of old kitchen bins and dustbins for this purpose. They make good larger pots once holes have been drilled into the bottom. for drainage. I'm not too worried what they look like. This does make them very heavy once filled, however, hence the wheely bases to make them easy to move around the decking and prevent rot underneath.

 

I pinned some new shoots of a honeysuckle that grows down our side return into pots of compost to root. This plant used to be glorious, but it was cut right down when our neighbours built their new fence and as they are building an extension into their side return this year, I imagine that it will be removed altogether, so I decided to try to save some cuttings and grow them into more plants. It will take years to grow it to the mature beauty it once was, but I'm going to try. I've got a few weeks before the builders start, so I'm hoping they'll root by then.

Finally, I sowed some lettuce seed for transplanting into the allotment. I used lots of egg cartons that I've been saving every week. I'm hoping they'll work well as seed trays.

I had a lovely relaxing afternoon in the garden. It became a bit overcast by the end of the afternoon, but it was lovely just to get outside, tidy up and do some jobs I'd been meaning to do for a while.

On Saturday, I did my usual free gym session. When I got home, it was lovely and sunny, so I decided to have a cup of tea sat out in the garden. Whilst out there, I got the sudden urge to tidy out and move the greenhouse. Our neighbours will be starting building work in a few weeks and I wanted to move it a bit further away from any building work. I was limited with regard to how far I could move it, but hopefully it's in a slightly better place now and it felt good to sort through everything, clean underneath and tidy it all up ready for the new growing season.

After lunch, I did some sewing on a new project I started the night before. I've decided to make a book pouch using a combination of patchwork and slow stitching. I really enjoy these small projects that can be finished in a couple of sittings. They are very satisfying to make and I'm slowly learning to use up favourite fabrics and notions that I have in my stash, instead of keeping them to use for who knows what. I'll post a picture when I've finished it.

It was nice not to work this weekend and to spend time on some creative pursuits and necessary tasks. In all it's felt like a much more productive week. Lets hope it continues.

Exciting New Scrappy Projects

As you all know, if you've been following my blog for a while, I'm obsessed with using fabric scraps, probably more so than larger pieces of fabric. I love a good scrappy project and I've tried out quite a few different ones over the years.

The latest scrappy projects that I want to try, are mainly inspired by KateMustSew on Instagram and Marion's World on YouTube and are definitely my idea of fun. 

Kate's way of using scraps isn't solely attributable to her, as I've seen others use it too, but I was especially inspired by the creative ways that she uses colourful scraps to make her quilts and wall hangings.

One method she uses, is to take card machine or adding machine tape, and to sew fabric scraps onto the tape, creating scrappy rolls of fabric that can then be incorporated into a quilt or other projects or used as binding. I love watching videos of her making these scrappy rolls and then trimming the edges of them with a rotary cutter.  So, a few months ago, I decided to buy some card machine rolls on eBay.  Here's a picture:

This box of 11 rolls cost me just over £5, so approx. 50p per roll, which I thought was very inexpensive to potentially provide me with hours of fun making scrappy rolls and using up my fabric scraps. They're not the thickest or widest rolls you can find, but I'm sure they'll be good enough for anything I want to make initially. 

Marion (YouTube@marionsworld24) is another crafter who absolutely loves working with scraps. I've enjoyed watching her videos in which she makes a few different projects, such as 10 metres of scrappy yardage, a scrappy table cloth and a kawandi style quilt. She also does videos on slow stitching, rug making and lots of other crafts and her craft room tour video and her video about thrifting for fabrics are great videos to watch.

I'm particularly interested in trying to make a scrappy tablecloth for the kitchen table. I'm going to give it a go the next time I get some free time and I will probably use dark blue fabrics as I have quite a lot of these in my stash.  The main reason for this is that the kitchen is partly painted dark blue, I made dark blue curtains for the patio doors a while ago and the other reason being that dark colours don't show up spillages quite so easily, which are virtually inevitable in the kitchen.

So, here I go again, delving into new scrappy obsessions to use up my scraps and fabric stash. I'll take you along with me on the journey and we'll see where it goes.

A Small Charity Shop Haul

This week whilst out doing the weekly shop, I ventured into one of my favourite charity shops. It's been a couple of weeks since I last visited, so I was happy to return. To be honest, I didn't see a whole lot that interested me.  I think perhaps the best items are put in the shop for the weekend and I never visit at weekends, it's always a Monday, when possibly all the best things have probably been bought up.

Anyway, I still had a good look around. I only really need clothing for work, black tops mainly for the coming warmer weather, but I didn't find anything suitable. I didn't even try any clothes on, such were the slim pickings this visit. This is virtually unheard of for me.

What I did find, however, was this pair of brand new ASOS chunky biker boots.  They're probably not going to be to everyone's taste, but I do like a chunky boot with skirts and dresses and for £5 brand new, I couldn't leave them in the shop.

The next item I bought was this belt for £1. It looks unused, synthetic with no brand, but I thought it might be good to cinch in a dress and I like the khaki colour and style of it. I tried it around my waist and it fitted, even with a big sweater on, so that came home with me too.

The only other clothing/accessory item I bought was this lovely pair of bamboo socks. They cost £2 and have this lovely feather design. I love me a pair of socks and as they are brand new, I'll probably put these away for OH to give me for my birthday later in the year.

I also bought a couple of books. I have lots of books to read, but at two books for £1, I found the one referencing native indigenous American traditions first and couldn't resist it. I've been watching Yellowstone on Netflix recently and it has brought their culture to mind. I admire their beliefs about living as one with nature, not taking too much from the earth and taking good care of it, which is something that we should all be doing more of in my humble opinion. I'm looking forward to reading more about these beliefs and how in combination with science, they can lead to a better understanding of nature.

The second book, by Patricia Highsmith, I bought to make up the 2 for £1, but it sounds really good, so I think I might enjoy reading this one. I've never read this author's work before but it has some good reviews.

I bought one other small organisation item which isn't shown here, but it cost £1, so in total I spent £10, which is okay. I'm happy with the items I bought. All of them are new or if not, as new. Sometimes, when I get the thrifting itch, I just have to scratch it and this little outing has done just that, without causing too much damage to the budget.

Getting Back into the Swing of Things and Some Bad News - W/E 1st March 2025

On Sunday morning, I had a bit of a lie in after staying awake until the early hours waiting for LB to come home. LB had an even longer one, as she was a bit hungover after her night out. Eventually, OH came home from cycling, LB got up and we all headed out for lunch at a local restaurant, before she headed back to her flat. 

Afterwards, we saw her onto the bus and then came home and had a chill afternoon. We'd had a nice meal, but to be honest, I don't really enjoy eating out as much as I enjoy eating at home. It's nice in terms of being social and getting out and about, but the food doesn't quite hit the same when it's made by someone else. I don't want to sound ungrateful and many people might disagree with me on this point, but it's just how I feel about it. I think we've eaten out a bit too much this week and we're both looking forward to eating at home more from hereon in.

On Monday, I did my usual of heading out of town to shop. The bill was quite a bit more than the previous week, but I did throw something in the trolley from the Middle of Lidl for LB, so that accounted for some of it. We are pretty well stocked up though on most things going into March.

On Tuesday morning, we woke up to some bad news. One of OH's siblings was in hospital after suffering from a stroke, which kind of threw us completely. We spent most of the day waiting for news from family members going to visit them. I went to my usual class at the gym, as I was already booked in, but I was pretty distracted. We eventually did get some news and OH decided to go up by train the following day to visit them. I agreed to stay home, as we had engineers coming to connect fibre optic internet cables the next day and I'd arranged to meet with friends, although I could easily have cancelled the latter.

On Wednesday, I stayed close to home all day. I wanted to go for a run, but it was raining quite heavily so I gave it a miss. I did some pottering and sewing and then got ready to go out and meet my friends for supper. We had a nice evening and had a good catch up. OH in the meantime was messaging me updates from the hospital. I'm hoping to get up to Yorkshire to visit in the very near future, but OH was reasonably reassured that they seem to be getting good care in the hospital and had their family around them every day.

On Thursday morning, the engineers came earlier than expected, so it was just as well I'd stayed home.  OH was back a couple of hours later, as he needed to be back for a hospital appointment himself and I went out for a run once he was back, did some work on my monthly finances and then got ready for work in the evening. I've got quite a few shifts between now and the middle of next week, but maybe after that we might travel back north to visit again, hopefully things will have stabilised a little by then.

Work on Thursday was okay. It felt like quite a while since I'd been there. The shift passed okay though. It's that time of year when staff reviews are taking place, so I expect I'll be called in for mine sometime in the next week or so.

On Friday morning, I had a lie in and a late breakfast. OH was due at a hospital appointment and had to fast, so I didn't go down to breakfast until he'd gone for his appointment, as it didn't seem fair to eat in front of him whilst he was fasting. 

There was a global anti-capitalist protest taking place on Friday, encouraging people not to buy from large multibillion pound/dollar corporations for the day, so I decided to join in and avoided spending any money today. I don't really need anything and it's not difficult for me to have a no spend day. I will be considering much more seriously what I buy in the future. Wealth is very unevenly distributed in the world and some individuals/economies really don't need any more wealth than they already wield. Enough said.

On Saturday, I hit the over 50's free gym session again, which was good. It was a lovely sunny day on Saturday, so I pottered outside for a bit and then pottered inside for a bit, potting on some baby houseplants, that I've been meaning to do for a while now. I then got ready for work and headed off there for an evening shift. Work was pretty busy. I think the sunshine and the fact that it was a payday weekend, brought people out and led to them spending money in the store. As a consequence, the shift passed pretty quickly and I enjoyed it. I always like to keep busy at work. I'm not the shirking kind.

I hope you had a good week.

Conspicuously Using My Spending Power

I've read recently about economic blackouts which are due to take place in the next few months, as a protest against wealth inequalities, diversity/human rights issues and as a protest against the increasing vast wealth of large corporations the world over. This is mainly taking place in America, but anyone, anywhere can join in and refuse to spend any of their hard earned money on American or other origin products produced by large multi-billion pound corporations and more especially the ones that do not treat their employees well or with spurious diversity policies.  It has been organised to allow us the little people to demonstrate our concern about growing inequalities in wealth/human rights.

The first protest took place on 28th February and was for just one day. I joined in with this and had a no spend day on this day. I don't buy many American products, save for Coke Zero and my current brand of toothpaste, plus perhaps, the odd McDonalds. There are probably many more American owned companies I buy from or through, such as Ebay, Nestle, Proctor and Gamble, etc., so to play it safe I'll be spending with no-one on this day and this includes the multimillion pound supermarkets in this country.

Following this, I've heard that there is also a planned economic blackout on Amazon from 7th through to 14th March, mainly due to some of the treatment dished out to Amazon employees by the company. I rarely use Amazon, only as a very last resort. Mr Bezos has quite enough money already and I'm not prepared to add to his billions just for my own convenience, when I can share my money out amongst other people who I consider to be more deserving of receiving it.

I've been watching a YouTube channel lately called Gary's Economics. Gary Stevenson, who studied for his Economics degree at the London School of Economics and for his Masters at Oxford, was born into a working class East London family and subsequently ended up working in Canary Wharf as a trader. 

Having quit working for Citibank, he has subsequently launched his channel to highlight how the super rich 1% are eating up most of the financial assets in the world, leaving less and less for the average working person and in doing so creating ever widening inequalities in housing, health, wealth, etc. His videos are very interesting and he advocates for making the world a more equal place, by way of co-operation and working together to make sure that wealthy corporations pay appropriate levels of tax in order to redistribute wealth and help provide housing, health care, etc. to those that need it. He argues that our grandparents got together to do this in the past and that we can do this today, if we stick together and pressure for change.

He argues that in todays world, we are encouraged to act as individuals and only be interested in ourselves and bettering our own financial position/keeping our own heads above water, but that we need to change this and join forces with others to effect change in our societies. The alternative, is an ever widening gap in wealth with young people being unable to afford homes and unable to obtain good jobs, leading to despair, increased mental health problems and increased financial struggle and poverty. It is refreshing to hear his honest and very easy to understand explanations of todays politics of greed.

We may not think that we can do anything as individuals, but we can. We can refuse to line the pockets of large corporations and support political parties whose policies widen the gap further or solely serve the interests of the already rich. We can keep ourselves informed of what is really going on in the world and make our views known to our local/national politicians and we can use our voices to pressure for change. I for one am rethinking some of my everyday behaviours. I don't have all the answers, but I'm trying to work out what I can do to play my part going forward.

February 2025 Clothing Purchases

It's been a much better front on spending this month and consequently, there were only a few clothing purchases during February.

The first item I bought was this polka dot ruffle skirt from my favourite charity shop. It is originally from M&S, but cost me just £2. I like the polka dots and the burgundy colour of this skirt, but I am in two minds about the length. I did think I might shorten it to the length of the upper ruffle, which would make it longer at the back than the front, but when I tried it on again I decided not to rush into this, as maybe I like the original length.  The jury is still out on this one, but I like the skirt, it's cute and it was a steal for £2 and could easily be worn year round. I was thinking with chunky boots and a big sweater in winter and with a vest or t-shirt in the summer.

The second item I bought was this super cute handmade dress from a local charity shop. It was reduced to £3 on the sale rail and I just couldn't resist it. It is a little snug and possibly a little short, but I'm working on the former and tights will aide with the latter issue. I really liked the style of dress. The collar and rolled back sleeves are flattering as is the slight flare of the skirt and the print is adorable. I've provided a close up of this, as it's difficult to see in the full length photo. It had a lot of ends of cotton hanging from it, as if it's never quite been finished or worn, so I cut them all off and hopefully I'll actually wear it at some point as it deserves to be worn, it's very well made.

The final item that I bought from another local charity shop was this black vest sweater. It's a good long length and is quite loose and can be worn over dresses/jeans/skirts. It's very versatile, especially as we come into slightly warmer weather. It was a bit pilled, but I did some depilling when I got it home. It also had slits up the sides, which I didn't like, so I've sewn the slits closed as I find it more flattering worn that way. It cost £7, which is a bit more expensive, but if it becomes something I wear a lot it will be worth it.

One way that I have already worn it is over this dress, that I previously bought at a charity shop a few months ago. This dress was a maxi length and didn't look quite right on me so I've shortened it (possibly a little too much), but it is much more wearable now. The vest sweater covers the shirred top of the dress which I don't find too flattering and makes the dress more wearable.

The only other items of clothing I have bought this month were some gym socks. I've tended to wear trainer socks for the gym, but I'm much preferring a longer sock for both gym and running these days, so I'm slowly changing over to longer socks. I bought a pack of 3, two white, one black for £4.50 at Primark and I really like them.

Thankfully, a lot less clothing has come into the house this month, my wardrobe is probably grateful for it, although whilst decluttering a few weeks ago, I did bring some things out of storage to start wearing again. I'm hoping to continue in this vein this year and make good use of what I already have.

Monthly Financial Round Up - February 2025

This month has been much more successful in terms of it being low spend. I've taken care to not buy inessentials on the whole, although a few did slip by me. It has helped that it has been a short month, I can't deny this, but I did drastically reduce my expenditure by over £400 or one third compared to last month, so this has been a big win as far as I'm concerned.

In terms of the budget, I was just about on target for food, a little over, mainly due to meeting some friends for supper at the end of the month, but I'm not going to punish myself over this. I managed to keep well within budget for household and miscellaneous items,  but spent over budget on the house and garden due to buying some new bedding and a new toilet seat, plus a few bits for the garden/home. 

I also spent a little too much on myself, on account of my £25 thrifting budget, which I stuck to. (I haven't really felt the urge to visit the charity shop so often this month, I think because I already have so much stuff in my house that I don't want to bring any more in.) I did, however, succumb to buying a new silver ring I'd been watching on Etsy for a while and a couple of other small items. The main overspend this month, however, was gifting, as I had a 21st birthday gift of money that I gave. This did come out of money I'd already saved up throughout the last year though, which was good.

In terms of putting money aside in savings, I did my usual £100 for gifting, £50 toward a contingency fund for LB, in case her bills turned out to be more than she could afford (I've been doing this for the past 6 months and if it is not needed, I can either give it to her to spend/pay off her overdraft once she's finished Uni, continue to save it for her or use it for something else). In addition, I got the ball rolling this month on the car fund, putting aside £200 for this purpose, another £16 into another savings account to round up the figure in there and put aside £30 in cash for a rainy day.  I also won £100 on the Premium Bonds which got reinvested in more bonds, so altogether it's not been a bad month on the savings front.

I'm also trying to give more to charity on a monthly basis, where I can. I regularly give £18 per month to 3 different charities by direct debit and I've continued to contribute 7 items to the Food Bank every week. In a Some weeks it costs more than others, depending on what I donate, and sometimes I get freebies (or discounts on item) through my Lidl plus account, which I often donate if they're not something I buy regularly or would use. I do intend to continue with this, unless, of course, there is a change in my circumstances that means I can no longer afford do so, as I like to try to do something charitable in my everyday life, especially now I'm no longer volunteering or working in the Charity sector. 

Looking ahead to March, there aren't really many large expenses on the horizon, save that I still need a dental checkup and a haircut. I keep putting both off, but I do need to book appointments for these. Otherwise, I'm hoping to keep expenditure low again and save more towards the car fund. I'll keep you posted with progress.

How was February for you? Have you got any financial plans for March?

A Week Off and a Trip to Yorkshire - W/E 22nd February 2025

This week, I had a week off work to use up the remainder of my annual leave, as the year end where I work is the end of February. The week got off to a slow start. I had a quiet day on Sunday and made sure to make some time to do some sewing. I spent a bit of time in the sewing room choosing some fabrics for a few new projects that I want to attempt.

One of the projects was to make a slow stitched journal cover. It was fun to find things to sew onto it from my scraps and button jars. I made a fabric cover using some fabric I had bought to make a tailored jacket at a class I used to attend and which I never finished. Once I'd fashioned it into a basic cover, I then proceeded to place all the bits and pieces of fabric and haberdashery onto it ready to sew them into place.  I almost got the front finished. I just need to iron and then stitch the big bird onto the front and sew and eye onto it.

I took a photo of how I want the back to look, but I haven't yet sewn all the scraps, buttons and bits onto it yet.

It's pretty random, but it is colourful (mainly pinks and purples) and was fun to sew and I'm very happy to use up lots of little bits of fabric, buttons, patches, lace, etc. from my stash.

On Monday, I did a few jobs around the house in the morning before heading out of town to do the weekly shop. I needed to drop into Dunelm to get a new toilet seat for the bathroom. I kept the weekly shop to a minimum this week, as we were planning to go up to Yorkshire for a few days later in the week. I just got enough to tide us over. I did also need to buy some more pillow cases to use the fabric for my hexi star quilt, but couldn't get them, so had to buy a single fitted sheet instead. It will give me plenty of fabric to hopefully finish the project though and possibly bind it too and cost just £6.

By the time I got back, OH had finished fitting the new bath and then went on to fit the new toilet seat. We've got a bit more work to do on the bathroom yet as the flooring needs replacing, due to the tiles being badly cracked and we need a new bath panel too. It's looking a lot better though and no more plumbing noises in the middle of the night thankfully.

On Tuesday, I went back to my usual class at the gym. I was glad to get moving again, although I'm still not feeling 100%. I felt better for the class though.  When I got home, OH and I filled the car with the old bath and plumbing bits, plus lots of gardening waste from all the pruning we did last month and we took it all to the local tip. It felt good to get rid of it all and free up some space in both the house and garden.

In the evening, I made us a veggie chilli with tortilla chips for supper. OH was out cycling for the evening, so I had a shower in the new bath, re-painted my nails and got packed in preparation of heading out of London the following day.

On Wednesday morning, we set off to go up to Yorkshire and visit family. We'd booked into a hotel for a couple of nights, where we'd previously stayed that has a pool, gym, sauna and gym classes, which we were looking forward to utilising. We got a good deal on account of using some cash back on the booking platform, so it will make for a nice break on my week off work. OH's mum had the decorator in, which is why we decided to stay elsewhere on this particular visit.

We had a good journey up north, with few delays. We went straight to OH's mum's house to catch up for a couple of hours, before heading to the hotel. We spent the evening in the fitness suite. I did a Zumba class, which is something I haven't done for a few years now. I really enjoyed it. We then both went in the gym for a workout before getting changed and heading down to the bar for supper. It was a nice evening.

On Thursday, we got up and did a few errands. OH needed to get a new tyre put on our car as it had a slow puncture, turns out there was a nail in it. Meanwhile, I went to Boyes and then later we met my sister at a pub for lunch and a catch up. I'd not seen her since last November. Later, we went to OH's mum's house and took her out for supper at a local pub. We haven't done this for years in Yorkshire, so it made a nice change for all of us.

When we got back to the hotel, we went for a swim and used the sauna and hot tub, which was a lovely relaxing way to end our visit.

On Friday, we packed up and checked out, filled the car with petrol for our journey home, picked up a few parts from ScrewFix, so that OH could secure his mum's back door and then headed to her house, so he could do this job before we set off back to London. It was very windy on our journey back and the roads were very busy on account of it being a Friday and half term holidays from school, so it took a bit longer to get home, but we got back safely.

LB came home a little later for a couple of nights and to work at a local shop on Saturday, so it was lovely to see her and catch up with her news.

On Saturday, I went to the free session at the gym first thing, which I enjoyed. LB was working all day. I retired to bed on Saturday afternoon for a few hours. I'd not slept well whilst we'd been away, so I think I just needed to catch up on some sleep. I felt a lot better for it.

We spent the evening watching Yellowstone on Netflix and then I watched a new series called The Story of My Family, which was good. LB was out with friends and came home in the early hours. I always tend to stay awake until I hear her safely come home.

Taking a New Financial Approach in February

This week, having had some time off work, I had some time to really think about our finances and what steps we might need to take going forward, to keep living within our means as we head towards retirement in the next decade. 

In all honesty, I've been a bit of an ostrich over the years and I've never really known or asked how much it costs to run our house. I've tended to leave all that to OH, as he was the main breadwinner over the years, whilst I, being a stay at home mum or working part-time and earning significantly less, mainly concentrated on buying what we've needed on a monthly basis in terms of food/household expenses. 

This week though, I decided to put on my big girl pants at long last, and asked him what our monthly bills actually amount to. It was quite an eye opener. I did this with a view to seriously contemplating our retirement finances, which are now less than 10 years away and how we might manage on a reduced income. It will be the ideal time to reconsider our joint finances and re-distribute the financial burden of all of the household and other bills, as there will be less disparity in our income in retirement. 

There have been and still are things that I can do now to share the burden. LB has almost finished University and thankfully some savings I put aside for her have helped her to manage financially whilst studying. I'm not a great planner for big purchases such as cars, holidays, etc. but I have planned financially for LB's studying in the past and do plan for smaller expenses such as birthdays/Christmas. Putting money aside every month for these things does work quite well in spreading the cost and also reducing the stress of trying to find the money when needed. I realise that I now really need to get serious about planning for necessary bigger purchases for our family going forward. OH has plenty of other things to think about, so I feel it is easier for me to start the ball rolling so to speak.

Having had time to think about the amount of money I've been wasting lately, on things I don't really need or even use (i.e. Project Pan/charity shopping), it's made me realise that a lot of what I earn could definitely be better utilised by putting it aside to save up for a new car. So I've now decided to use my low buy year to this effect. Starting from this month, I'm going to start putting aside as much money as I can into a new car fund. This may be a couple of hundred pounds per month or less, it might even be more, but at least it will be something going towards this major future expense. I will also still be putting aside money in other savings too, where I can afford to, but my major focus will be the car.

We've had our current car, a hybrid Toyota Prius, since we bought it virtually new in 2012 and although it's still very reliable, we love it and don't intend to get rid of it anytime soon, we are starting to think that there will come a time when we will need a new car. OH is very keen to go fully electric and electric cars are very expensive. As a consequence, I think it's time to start seriously saving towards this.

It may possibly be the last car we buy, as we head towards retirement and it's going to be quite an outlay. I don't know that we'll buy one new, it will depend how much we manage to save, but such an expense does need planning and saving for, as I don't really want to go down the car financing or leasing route.

This February, I've been a lot more successful at curtailing spending on unnecessary things, and my expenditure has somewhat fallen off a cliff and reduced significantly. I've spent relatively little compared to some previous months and it feels a lot more sustainable financially. I think I've recovered from all the overconsumption of Xmas and settled back into living more frugally and simply and not wasting money. I'm hoping that it continues as we go through the year and I can make serious inroads into the car fund. It's good to have savings goals, as it keeps you accountable and gives you something to work towards and I'm looking forward to the challenge of saving as much as I can.

I'll keep you posted with my progress. Are you saving for any major purchases?

Taking Some Time Off - W/E 15th February 2025

This week started with an early shift at work on Sunday. I was due to work from 11 til 3pm. It was a miserable drizzly grey day. I didn't really want to leave the house, but needs must. Fortunately, work was pretty busy so passed quickly enough and before I knew it I was back home again. My cold was feeling quite a lot better than the day before. I think staying in bed all day on Saturday really helped.

In the evening, we watched the new series of Unforgotten. I've always liked this series and particularly like the atmospheric soundtrack. I then watched the second episode of the new Jane Austen series, which I'm really enjoying, before heading to bed.

On Monday, I went out of town to do the shopping again. It was another grey, drizzly day. It's very depressing. I used a £3.50 voucher off a new set of bedding at Tesco this week. It ended up costing me £24.50 for 100% cotton king sized bedding. I had contemplated spending over £100 on some Dorma bedding from Dunelm in the sale, but before I made a final decision to buy it, it went out of stock. This bedding is the same colour, i.e. plain dark green. It won't be as good quality, but it looks pretty good for the price.  I like to dress the bed with a plain duvet cover, so that I can put a colourful handmade quilt over the top of it.

I decided not to go into my favourite charity shop this week. I didn't need anything and I'm half way through my thrifting budget whilst only one third of the way through the month. I did go to Home Bargains though, as there were a few things I needed. Having had a cold last week, we were almost out of paracetamol, and we all prefer the capsule version that I buy from here. I bought a few gifts for OH for Valentine's Day too. I'm making up a small hamper of edible treats for him. Hopefully, he'll like it.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my usual class at the gym as always, and feeling like I'd almost recovered from my cold, but after having porridge for breakfast I felt quite unwell with stomach ache and nausea. I walked to the gym, hoping I'd feel better by the time I got there, but I didn't, so I didn't stay and do the class. I just came home and went back to bed. After a couple of hours in bed, I did feel a lot better, which is just as well as I was due at work later.

OH meanwhile, fitted a new shower. We've been having trouble with our plumbing lately. It's been very noisy, sometimes in the middle of the night, so he's been turning the water off every night to prevent it disturbing the neighbours. Anyway, he got the new one working in time for me to have a shower and get ready for work, which was good.

I had just the evening's shift left to work this week, before taking a week's annual leave. I was required to take next week off, as I was unable to carry over my remaining leave into the next leave year. I'm not complaining, as I'm happy to have a bit of a break and the way my shifts have fallen, if I don't get asked to work any extra hours, I should get two whole weeks off before I need to go back, which will be lovely. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the time, but I'll think of something. I may do some spring cleaning, as the house could really do with it, and I hope to get a bit of time for some sewing.

Anyway, my last shift was good. I ended up working in 3 or 4 areas of the store, which made the work very varied and the night passed super quickly.

On Wednesday, I had a lie in, as it was the first day of my two weeks off work. I thought about going running, but didn't. Instead, I decided to start a Project Pan challenge, so I collected together all my beauty products, laid them out, took photos and wrote a blog post. This was quite a big job, as you'll see if you read the post. I then pottered around at home for the rest of the day, tidying a shelf in the pantry cupboard and doing odd jobs about the house. It was a nice leisurely day to start off my leave and the best thing was I didn't spend a penny.

Thursday was another day spent at home. OH is currently renovating our bathroom and a new bath arrived today, which he will install in the next few days. I spent the morning paying some attention to our joint finances and finally taking an interest in how much our household expenses actually are. It's not something that I've paid much attention to in the past, as OH has mostly taken care of it, but it's time for me to take a more grown up approach to the household finances. I've created a separate post about this. Later, I did some laundry, put some laundry away, then did a bit of ironing and stitching on my hexi star quilt whilst binge watching Celebrity Bear Hunt on Netflix, which was mildly entertaining.

On Friday, I finally went out for a run and got some exercise after over a week of not doing any due to having a cold. It coincided with a sunny morning at last, so it felt great to get out and get some fresh air. Later, OH and I went out for lunch locally to celebrate Valentines Day, which was a nice treat. I would  have loved to go see the new Bridget Jones film at our local cinema, but I couldn't convince OH to join me, which didn't surprise me. 

On the way back from lunch, I dropped into our local charity shop. I'd not been in for a couple of months. I found one item to buy, which was long black sweater vest for £7. It needed a bit of a debobble when I got it home, but I liked it because it's so versatile. I can see me getting a lot of wear from it as we move into spring.

By the time I got home, I wasn't feeling well and once again had stomach ache and nausea. I had to return to bed until I felt better later in the evening, so it was a bit of a lost afternoon. I'm not sure what caused it or if I have some kind of gastritis or something.

On Saturday morning, I was still feeling a bit unwell, but managed to take myself off to the gym for the free 50+ gym session which I enjoyed, as I'd not been to the gym for a couple of weeks. Whilst there, I got a message from work asking me if I could work in the evening. I agreed to go in, as any extra money I can earn when only getting basic contracted hours is worth taking.

To make the most of the rest of the day before going to work, I retired to the sewing room and did a few alterations to a couple of items of clothing I'd bought previously from the charity shop. One item was a maxi dress that I shortened to midi, as at 5' 3" tall, maxi dresses look a bit ridiculous on me. I also cut a dress down to make a top and it worked out okay and it is now something that I can wear for work. In fact, I did wear it for work in the evening and it worked well for the purpose. 

Work was okay tonight. We got to finish a bit early which I was perfectly happy about. Hopefully, I won't be contacted now, for at least a week whilst I'm on annual leave.

Project Pan 2025

This year, after watching a Project Pan video on YouTube, I've decided to do my own Project Pan challenge in 2025. I haven't done this challenge for quite a few years, approximately 10 years to be exact, but I am currently in a place where I seem to have collected a lot of beauty products over the last few years, and it really is time to work my way through as many of them as possible this year.

With any Project Pan challenge, the first hurdle is collecting together all of your products. This is going to be a bit embarassing, especially in some areas such as dental care, as I have amassed a lot of these products in the last year and it will take me at least a few years to work my way through them. Some of them, mainly the toothpaste I use, I have to buy online, as they are not available in UK shops, so I have deliberately overstocked these in case they get prohibitively expensive in the future. 

Anyway, I collected together all of the makeup, beauty, personal hygiene, dental products I could lay my hands on.  They were mainly to be found either in the bathroom or bedroom. I have very few products in any other rooms in the house, save for maybe a couple in the kitchen.

Once I'd collected them all together, I laid them all out, according to category of product, like they do in in the TV programme Sort Your Life Out, which I often enjoy watching. This is always very illuminating, as you can see where your multiples are. 

As you can see, there are hundreds, 241 items to be precise. I have to admit that some of them I will never use, such as some of the face creams, that I've already tried and that break me out. I'm not willing to go back to using these, as I really don't enjoy breaking out in spots in my 50's. I will probably have to throw these away, unless LB or OH will use them, but I doubt that LB will, as she already has way too many of her own products to use up and OH doesn't really use moisturisers, but maybe I could convert him. I don't enjoy throwing anything away, but sometimes there isn't really any other option. 

Some other products, I might be able to enlist OH to help me use up. In particular, I'm thinking of any shower gels, as I don't tend to use use them, preferring a good old fashioned bar of soap. Also, I like to use a particular brand of soap, so any soaps of different brands, I may just grate up and use to make liquid hand soap at some point.

Skin care is one category where I have a lot of products and if I'm honest, I've not really been using many products in recent months, just a facial wash, toner and moisturiser. The above picture is mostly new unused products I have yet to use. Some are duplicates of things I use regularly, some are new to me products that I bought to try, but haven't. I think I definitely need to add other products into my routine in order to try to use up what I've got and to perhaps try to keep the years from showing quite so much.

With regard to makeup and nail varnishes, of which there is/are a lot, the nail varnishes and lipsticks are the items I have most of. I may donate some nail varnishes that I don't really like or wear, some, if they are a bit dried up, I may throw away and then divide the rest into everyday and holiday use and try to use them as often as I can. Historically, I've always had difficulty in growing my nails without them splitting badly, but recently, they have been growing well. I'm not sure whether some subtle dietary changes have had an effect or the fact that I've been using a nail strengthener more regularly has helped, but whatever it is it has worked and I've been able to wear nail varnish more often in recent months.

With makeup, I've got a few products that I know I won't use, as they are not a good colour match for my skin, so again, I may need to dispose of some of these. I do also have a ridiculous amount of lipsticks, 27 in total (not including lip balms), many of which I've had for years, but I will continue to use them as I do like to use them until they run out. I have my tried and tested everyday favourites, but I do need to make a concerted effort to use different colours sometimes, especially in the summer months, just to help use some of them up, otherwise they just don't get worn. I have to admit that many of my lipsticks are red and I've moved away from brighter reds in recent years, in favour of darker reds, so I don't know if I can comfortably go back to the bright ones, but I'll give it a try. 

What I do know, is that my main weakness is when I go to inexpensive shops such as Home Bargains, Boyes or Poundland and drop a couple of low cost products into my basket to try when I get home. Over time, these purchases have really added up to get me to where I am currently and I really need to stop this habit and reduce the products I buy to only essential ones that I use regularly. I also need to get ruthless and reduce the amount of products I have in my stash.

After collecting everything together, I did manage to donate 5 or 6 unused products that I no longer want, I threw a couple of used but unsuitable ones away and a couple of bars of soap were grated up to use in making liquid soap, which I will make once I've used up the bought liquid soap I've already got in my stash. So I'm already 9 down which is progress. Just 232 more to go. I'd ideally like to get this number down to 100 or less, but I'll keep you posted with my progress over the coming months.  Wish me luck.

A Quiet Week - W/E 8th February 2025

This week has been a quiet one. We didn't really have any plans at all this week and I've stayed home when not working or exercising. Sunday was a quiet day at home. I had some month end financial reckoning to do in the morning. It was a bright but very cold day and I just didn't feel like going outside all day, which was a bit of waste really. We started watching Yellowstone on Netflix on Sunday night, which is quite dramatic but watchable.

On Monday, I headed out of town to do the weekly shop as usual. I used my 10% off voucher at Lidl, which saved me £8 or so. A new Aldi has opened near to where I shop, so I went in there for a look around and bought a few bits we needed. I have to admit that I much prefer Lidl though, perhaps just because I have better knowledge of their products after decades of shopping with them. I did drop into my favourite charity shop, but only found one item I liked which cost £2. I will add it to a monthly clothing haul towards the end of the month.

Tuesday, I headed out to my usual gym class which was good. I found out this week that the sports centre I go to several times per week is closing for refurbishment in September for three years. This has come as a bit of a surprise, so I'm having to think about what I might do when the time comes and have been looking at other local gyms that I may decide to join. It is going to signify the end of an era and will be quite a wrench, but nothing stays the same does it.

I stayed home sewing for the rest of Tuesday, as going out anywhere usually involves spending money and I'm trying hard not to do that this month.

On Wednesday, I got up, had breakfast and then headed out for a run. I ordered the spotted dress I bought for £1 in a larger size from Vinted. It cost me £5. I got a notification that it was at a local inpost point, so on my way back from my run, I stopped off to collect it. I tried it on when I got home, once I'd had a shower. I was much happier with the fit and have subsequently donated the dress that I paid £1 for.

I was due at work for 1.30pm, which was an unusual shift for me, but I'm not complaining, as it meant that I didn't have to work until late and I also didn't get stuck in horrendous traffic at rush hour, which was a blessing.  I also managed to pick up an extra shift on Thursday, which I couldn't really turn down when we're being given only basic hours at the moment. Any extra money is welcome

OH had made supper when I got home which was nice and then later I watched the new Motherland offshoot series called Amandaland, which was funny.

Thursday, I had a lie, as I'd come down with a cold and wasn't feeling great. I needed to be at work for 1pm, so I had a leisurely breakfast, got ready and then had an early lunch before heading off. Work was good today, I was working on my favourite job, so it passed quickly. I couldn't wait to get to bed though later and just snuggle up under a heavy quilt and feel warm and snug. Having a cold is lousy. I've not had one since last summer, so I can't really complain, it's just that it's come at a time when I'm due to work quite a bit over the next few days, which isn't ideal.

I skipped my run on Friday morning. I figured my body had enough to contend with at the moment fighting off this cold and it was raining to boot. Instead, I decided to get all my out of season stuff out of storage and go through it again, to see if there was anything there I could declutter. I decided to part with quite a lot of items that just don't fit, aren't flattering or have had their time. This boosted items for donation to over 100 and I've mainly only tackled clothing so far.

I was due at work for 5pm, so I had a late lunch and then got ready to go. I have to allow more time to get there now, especially on Fridays, when the traffic is bad due to everyone finishing early for the weekend and due to changes in our local road systems, which are very annoying, but there's nothing I can do about it. I just have to suck it up.  Work was okay, but I was glad to get home and chill, knowing I had a day off the following day.

Saturday, I skipped the free gym session. I woke up feeling lousy and spent most of the day in bed. It's very rare I have a duvet day, but I felt I needed it to at the very least give my body a rest. It was a bit of a non-day, but such is life. I felt better for it and it seemed a suitable way to round off what has been a pretty quiet and uneventful week.

I hope you've had a good week, free of any ailments or illness.

Monthly Financial Update - January 2025

The first month of my supposed low spend year, has had mixed results. I can't really say that I've had a low spend month, for various reasons.

The first reason is because I went on holiday for a week, so my spending money of 300 euros was quite an outlay. It was mostly spent on groceries and eating out. I didn't really buy anything much for myself whilst away, I probably spent less than 10 euros on non-food items. We did eat out every day, whether it be lunch or supper. I also spent 50 euros on a gift for LB and I came home with 20 or 30 euros, so I don't think I did too bad.

The second reason that January was an expensive month, was that it was LB's birthday. I had bought her a few gifts before January, but I did give her some cash too, so that was another outlay.

Aside from the above expenditure, the main area of essential spending this month was the food budget, which I managed to keep low this month and still stocked up the pantry. I think I was able to do this due to us being away for a week and also having so much food left over from Xmas. 

Some things I spent money on this month were necessary, such as a new pair of trainers for the gym, as I was getting pains in my feet and calves wearing my old ones and I think it was time to invest in a new pair. I use them multiple times a week, so it's important that they give me the support I need. I spent £40 on a new pair and wore them for the first time at the gym on Saturday.

In terms of non-essential expenditure, there was a quite a lot this month. It didn't seem like it at the time, but it has all added up to quite a large amount. I spent £14 on an ASOS sample sale haul, in which I bought 4 items of clothing, plus paid for postage. I spent a total of £16 on two separate visits to my favourite charity shop. This was, however, less than the monthly amount I am allowing myself to thrift shop with. (i.e. £25) I also got tempted by a couple of very inexpensive items of clothing in the store where I work and spent £12.50 on these, which wasn't too bad, but I could do better by resisting temptation altogether.

Scarily, I also managed to spend around £200 on a variety of other items during the month. These items ranged from bulk buying household products (£50), bulk buying vitamins/supplements that I use daily (£27), Xmas wrapping items bought in the sales (£32), Valentines/birthday gifts/cards/postage (£14) and toiletries/beauty products (£45) which did include stocking up on some quite expensive dental products that I use for my current dental hygiene regime. The remaining £30 or so, was spent on various small items for the house/garden/craft/travel.

As a consequence, it's not really been the most successful first month of buying/spending less, but I am hoping to improve as the months go by and reduce my spending still further. I always do find that coming out of such a spendy period as Christmas, it is a big challenge to break the habits of the previous months. 

The good news is, that I did manage to put aside some money in savings. Not a huge amount, but anything is better than nothing. I did also set aside £100 for birthdays/Xmas 2025 this month and I'll continue to do this each month this year, so that the cost of Xmas is evenly spread throughout the year.

Next month, however, I will be getting paid a bit less, as I've worked quite a lot less hours, so that should prevent me from spending too much, as I just won't have the money. I will, however, need to book a dental check up and get my hair cut, which could prove expensive, especially if I need some treatment and I do have a 21st birthday this month, but I have already set aside some money to give as a gift. Other than these things, I don't have any planned spending in February, so I'll just have to see how it goes and try to do better.

Feeling More Motivated - W/E 1st February 2025

It's taken a couple of weeks since getting back from our holiday, but this week, I finally felt like I was getting back to normal. I've been suffering with a lack of motivation to do anything much, but I've kept on keeping on and gradually small things have been crossed off my to do list. There's still a good few things on it, but these are mainly dependent upon good weather and it was very wet at the beginning of this week.

On Sunday, I was due to work from 11.30 am until 6pm. I managed to keep myself busy all of the shift by having a thorough sort out of the section I was allotted to. It often gets neglected, but it kept me occupied for the shift and helped it to pass more quickly. We ended up leaving half an hour early too, as everyone had finished recovering the store early.

Monday, was the usual weekly shop day. I needed to head to Home Bargains today, to get a couple of toiletries and supplements I use regularly and ended up spending £45 there, which was a lot for me. It was mainly due to finding the face cream that I like to use, which I couldn't find last time I shopped there, as I think they've discontinued it or didn't have it in stock any longer. I could only find it in a solitary gift set on the shelf, so had to buy that, but it wasn't too expensive at £4.99. Maybe it is super popular and sells out, I don't know. Anyway, I also treated myself to another face cream, for when the first one runs out and I can't get hold of it anymore. This one was £3.99. I shouldn't need to buy any more for a long time now.Other than these items, most of what I spent was on food.

I then bought more food items from Tesco and some dental care items. I spent more than I intended to, which I regretted as soon as I left the store, because I remembered that I needed to spend £94 at Lidl this week to qualify for the 10% off my next shop. As a consequence, I kept adding things to my trolley to hit this figure and ended up spending more than this and really stocked up the pantry. I still came within the monthly food budget though, which was good.  This should mean that food spending in February should be lower, as we can eat from the pantry/freezer for a week or two and February is also a very short month.

It was quite stormy when I finished the shopping and I headed home. I avoided the charity shop this week. I really do not need any more clothes. My wardrobe is bursting at the seams. I need to start wearing more of the things in it, instead of constantly buying more.

On Tuesday, I was booked into my class in the gym in the morning. I'd made overnight oats, but had made way too much. I still ate it, however, and then it felt heavy in my stomach all through the class. I won't be doing that again, at least not making as much anyway. I pottered for most of the rest of the day, doing a bit of blogging and sorting through charity donations. I've now put aside 59 items for donation, as I'm hoping to declutter at least 500 things this year. I also made a few more hexies for my star quilt. I'm down to making the last two star blocks and then I'm almost finished. It will just be a case or backing and binding it. It's been a long project, but I've enjoyed it.

In the evening, OH went out to the cycle track, so I had the house to myself. I was feeling a bit of a mess, so I decided to get a shower and have a self care evening. I felt better for it and then watched an interesting Storyville on TV. I've not been sleeping well for a few nights now, waking every few hours to go to the toilet. I decided not to drink any alcohol or fizzy drinks and not to eat past 7pm and it did work. I had the best night's sleep that I've had in a while getting a full 6 hours at least and then a further couple of hours. I definitely need to be more mindful of what I consume in the evenings, as sleep is so important for feeling positive and having energy.

Wednesday morning, I got up feeling quite refreshed and whilst making breakfast, I decided to make a candle from all the dregs of candles that I've burned over the last year or so. I melted all the waste wax that I keep in a jar and added it to a clean candle jar with a new wick. It seemed to turn out okay and it's made a good sized candle, but it will probably be a strange mixture of scents, although that doesn't worry me. I'd just finished burning a candle the night before, so this will be the next one I burn. I only really burn candles in the winter months to create a bit of cosiness. I enjoy the ritual of lighting a candle when I sit down to watch TV or do some sewing.

A bit later, OH and I headed out for a run. He's recovering from and injury and just getting back into running, so decided to come out with me, bless him, as it was a slow one.

When we got back, I felt inspired to go out in the garden and get some work done. It was finally dry enough to do this, as it had been raining for 3 or 4 days. I managed to tidy the beds, plant out some ferns and hellebores that had been hanging around in pots for months, put some bulbs in, albeit very late, tidy up a few plants, sweep up and finally put the cherry tree prunings on the beds to try to prevent them being used as litter trays by the local cats. I don't know if it will work, and it doesn't look that pretty, but I'll try anything. Here's a couple of pictures:

It felt very satisfying to get these jobs done, and now all that's left is to do some pruning, which I need OH's help with and to take some garden waste to the tip.

After lunch, I rewarded myself by spending some time working on my hexi quilt until I got a call from work asking me to work in the evening, which I agreed to do. I quickly got ready and headed off only to find that the road system where I live has changed since I last went to work and I had to go a different way which took ages and was very busy with traffic. Work was okay when I got there though and the shift passed very quickly.

On Thursday, I had a lie in as I didn't get to sleep until the early hours. We had arranged to meet LB at the Barbican in London (again) to see a movie and then go out for something to eat.  The movie we went to see was The Brutalist, which was 3 hours long. It did have an interval though, thankfully. It was lovely to see LB again. I've missed her. The movie, however, was brutal. That's all I can say about it. We went for some supper afterwards and then for a drink before heading our separate ways home. She's coming home for a night or two in February, which will be nice.

On Friday morning, I had a lie in again, as once again I didn't get to sleep until the early hours. When I eventually got up, I had breakfast, went for a run, had lunch, did a few household chores and then went back to bed for an hour or so before getting ready to go to work in the evening. Work was good tonight, I enjoyed it.

On Saturday morning, it was nice to wake up in a new month. I was glad to see the back of January, as it was a bit of a struggle for me if I'm honest, save for the week when we were on holiday. Anyway, I got up and ready to go to the free gym session again, which I enjoyed. OH was out cycling, so I decided to take a walk onto our local high street. First stop was Greggs, to pick up a free vegan sausage roll that I had a voucher code for. I also dropped into Primark, as I needed some sports socks. 

On the way home, I visited an old favourite local charity shop, that I hadn't visited for a month or two. It was nice to have a leisurely browse. I ended up buying a handmade dress for £3 on the sale rail, which is really sweet and I couldn't resist, a brand new t-shirt for LB and a couple of very small bits and pieces. I spent £10.50 in total, which wasn't too bad.  I also picked up a free book on the way home from the Little Free Library. It sounded like an interesting read.

I wasn't scheduled to work all weekend for a change, which was nice. I didn't have any particular plans for the rest of the day. I just enjoyed chilling at home and doing some sewing. Later, OH used up some mince from the freezer and lots of veg from the fridge to make us a lovely shepherd's pie for supper. It was a nice way to end what has felt like a better week.

January 2025 Clothing Purchases

As requested by Kezzie, and in an attempt to keep me accountable during this low buy/spend year, I thought I would do a post about the items of clothing I failed to refrain from buying this month. None of them were very expensive, but that's not really an excuse, the plain truth is I just wasn't able to resist them. So here goes:

The first two items were from the charity shop, one was this pair of black jogger style pants, which I think are men's, but I figured I could wear them for work, as they have deep zippable pockets to keep my phone etc. secure.

This short camo style jacket, I will hopefully wear in the summer months.  I like the pockets on this jacket and am hoping I can find a suitable way to style it. Both cost £3.

The ASOS sample sale was the next temptation, from where I bought the following items:

This navy bridesmaid dress was hard to resist for £5. I've wanted a net/tulle skirt for a while and I'm thinking of wearing this with a tailored jacket over the top. It's very pretty for the money I paid.

I then bought a pair of black parachute pants, which I thought were cargo and would be good for work, but did in fact not have the pockets on the sides. They are still wearable for work purposes if I wear a gilet to keep my belongings in, but they're not ideal. They cost just £3 and fit okay, so it seemed churlish to send them back. As you can see, I do have a bit of a habit of buying black pants for work and I now have way too many pairs, so this is definitely something that I need to focus on curtailing.

I also bought a pair of black knitted ankle warmers, which I wear to the gym in the winter months. These will get used regularly and have already been worn. They were £3, which compared to the other items I bought seemed slightly more expensive, but they weren't really, as I doubt I would get them for less elsewhere.

Finally from ASOS, I bought this black racer back long t-shirt dress. This also cost £3 and fitted well. It can be worn either as a dress or possibly as a nightdress on really hot evenings. I was very happy with this purchase. I can see me wearing it with a denim/camo jacket or layered in the spring/summer. I often get too hot wearing sleeved nightwear in the summer, so having this to potentially wear is a definite plus.

A second visit this month to my favourite charity shop resulted in my purchasing the following items:

This spotted top was £2 and I really like the style and fit. I will enjoy wearing this in the summer months.

This spotted dress is actually way too small, as it is only a size 8. I could get it on, just, but it was very tight. At £1 on the sale rail, however, it was worth buying to help me source the same dress in a bigger size on Vinted. Yes, I could have saved a £1 and taken a picture, but I didn't. I've since looked it up and have found a few of the same dresses for sale in size 14, at a very reasonable price, so I may indulge in purchasing one next month, as it is a really flattering style for me. I really like it.

I also bought a grey knitted snood for £1, as I wear these a lot in the winter months and have worn this already on a number of occasions. 

This Gerard Darel paisley blouse I also bought for £1. It is 100% cotton and is lovely quality. It's a little small, but I bought this to potentially use the fabric, as I'm not sure I like the collar on this shirt and this might prevent me from wearing it. I haven't quite decided yet, but it was too pretty to leave behind. If I decide to re-donate it, £1 isn't a large amount to lose. I'll just consider it a donation to charity.

My final charity shop purchase, was a black crew necked knitted tank top, which I could wear/layer in a number of ways and is a good wardrobe staple. This cost £4.

The two other clothing items I bought this month included this pair of Bershka black cargo jeans which cost £7.19

and this long silky khaki leopard print skirt, which I will probably wear with a long black knitted sweater and boots.  This was in the sale and cost £5.40.

So there we are. My clothing purchases laid bare for all to see. Maybe I will post my purchases every month, to keep me accountable in this year of supposed spending/buying less, as it will be a good way of making me think twice before each and every purchase.

Did you succumb to temptation this January or did you stick to your low buy?