Glad for a New Month - W/E 8th February 2026

Usual start to the week, heading out of town to do the grocery shop. I do like getting out of London for a few hours each week, even though it's not very far out (only 10 miles). The pace of life is different, everyone is a bit calmer and not in such a hurry. 

More importantly, I shop in very large out of town stores and I know exactly where the bargains are to be had and I actively seek them out. I managed to get some breakfast items very inexpensively in the reduced sections today. They just get put in the freezer and I pull them out as I need them, so I'm sorted for a week or so. 

I ended up getting two bags full of shopping at Tesco for £34, which included 9 chicken breasts and a medium sized chicken, as well as yoghurts, bread/breakfast products, two packs of tortelloni, 2 cartons of juice for OH and a pack of Lincolnshire sausages. I also bought some dark chocolate, some for making a little Valentine's treat for OH and some to give him as a gift, so I think I did okay on this shop.

I also managed to get some reduced sticker items from B&M. Their bread products often get discounted to 10p each, so I was able to get tea cakes, bread and pancakes (all Warburtons) for this price and 50p in the case of some crumpets. Again, most of it gets frozen and used as needed.

I did most of my shop at Lidl, where I had a 10% off voucher to use. I decide to stock up on canned goods, i.e. tinned tomatoes, kidney/other beans, chickpeas and lentils, buying several of some of these to re-stock the pantry. I did buy lots of other items that I normally buy weekly, but didn't get at the weekend. I was expecting the bill to come to around £70/£80, but got a nice suprise when I'd only spent £52.

I bought more cans from Home Bargains, this time Branston spaghetti and ravioli, which I haven't tried before, but which works out much cheaper than Heinz. We like their beans, so I'm hoping I like these products too. I occasionally like to eat spaghetti on toast for a quick supper if OH is cycling. Not the healthiest meal, but I enjoy it. (I did try the spaghetti this week and it was okay, not quite as nice as Heinz, but I can live with it)

I spent quite a bit in total today, it was another case of front loading the grocery shopping for the month, but I think I got a lot for my money and the house has plenty of food in it again, so shops for the next couple of weeks shouldn't be too expensive as a consequence.

OH and I are getting a bit bored of our regular meals at the moment, hence why I bought the chicken breasts. I am going to try to make some dishes that I've seen on Instagram, that are high in protein. Maybe just once per week to change things up a bit and then I also want to try some from scratch curry dishes I've seen on YouTube too, so I purchased some ginger and garlic paste for this purpose. I will probably need to freeze what's left of the jars in ice cube trays and then decant into pots or bags for future use. I figure that there are probably much cheaper ways of eating than we currently employ, but I just need to build my confidence in making some new dishes.

I tried a new dish in the evening, a kind of one pot (roasting dish) chicken, chorizo and chickpea bake with rice and a few vegetables included. It was very tasty, but the rice wasn't quite cooked and it took 30 minutes longer to cook than suggested, so it wasn't a total success. I may cook it again, but I would probably pre-cook the rice and seal the chicken in a pan before oven roasting the combined dish.

Tuesday, was another wet and pretty miserable day here. I went off to my Zumba class at the gym. It was a stand in teacher this week, but I like her class and music so I was quite happy. There were only two of us in the class though, which was disappointing. I'm hoping they don't start removing the classes from the timetable, as they have gone quieter lately. After the class, I did a 1km incline walk on the treadmill. I've decided to go back to this type of cardio, as it did really work for me when I was trying to lose weight and it is supposed to target visceral fat (i.e. the tummy area). I'll see how that goes.

When I got back, I did some sewing again in the afternoon, attaching another couple or rows to the denim project and organising the pieces for two more rows, which I'll sew another day this week. I'm hoping to have it finished by the end of the month, hopefully before.

On Tuesday afternoon, I decided to do a major sort out of all the clothes in my wardrobe and storage. It took me until 6pm. It was a useful exercise though and I've posted separately about it. It felt good to get it done.

After hardly sleeping on Tuesday night, I woke up shattered on Wednesday and so was late getting up and ready for the day. It's a been a while since I slept so badly.  Anyway, I got up and ready and headed downstairs for a very late breakfast, afterwhich I did a few small sewing jobs. I've been going through all my current WIPS (Works In Progress) and decided to let a couple of small ones go, as they no longer appeal. The remaining 3 I'm going to try to continue with this year and hopefully finish at least one of them. They are all English paper piecing projects and I've kind of moved away from doing them lately, but I need to keep trying to progress them, between other projects.

I was thinking of walking into town to visit our newly refurbished local library, which re-opened this week, but in the end I didn't go anywhere today. I'll maybe do this another day this week. Instead, I just had a homey day doing some hand stitching. I started a little project to use up the last two denim jeans pockets I had left over. I'm making them into a little zipped pouch using one of the jeans fly zips. 

Today, was a bit of a comedown from being quite productive on Tuesday, but such is life, some days are better than others. In the evening, OH and I finished watching Frankenstein on Netflix which was good.

Thursday, I was up and out to go to a class at the gym. It was good today, there were a few more people in attendance which was encouraging. I did my 1km incline walk on the treadmill and then took a slightly longer route home to get yet more steps in.

When I got in, I needed to re-organise the undersink cupboard, as OH had had all the contents out for a few days, whilst replacing the trap and the waste unit when it got blocked. It was good to get it all put away again.

After lunch, I decided to do a bit more decluttering today, this time of my earrings. I got out the surgical spirit to clean all of the earrings, whether I was keeping them or not. It was shocking just how many I have and I only managed to donate 17 pairs. I have posted separately about the process. It was good to get it done though, as it's the first time I've systematically gone through everything and cleaned and organised it properly. I just need to keep it in order now, which isn't so easy.

Friday, was a quiet day here again. It was filthy wet and miserable outside for most of the day. I spent the day at home doing  a bit of laundry, working on some English paper piecing and then I finished making the little denim pouch from jeans pockets. Here are a few photos:

Most of it was handstitched save for sewing the zip in by machine. I'm really happy with how it turned out, it's cute. Not sure what I'll use it for yet, but I'll think of something.

Later, in the afternoon, I had to go out to the shop to get some milk and dropped into our local charity shop on the way. I think it was my first visit this year. I bought two books for £2.50 each, one of which, Quiet, I'd seen new in a bookshop and wanted to read.  The other, about waste food, is quite old, but I thought it might be an interesting read.  I love reading non-fiction, so these should keep me entertained for a good few months, at a good price too.

On Friday evening, we watched the second part of Ken Burns' series called The Great American Buffalo. Thankfully, this part was a bit more positive and focussed on how the US rebuilt the Buffalo population, although not nearly to as much as it existed before it was hunted almost into extinction. A very sad history, but an extremely interesting series.

On Saturday, I didn't need to go anywhere, so I had a lie in after another terrible night's sleep and then got up and spent some time at my sewing machine, this time preparing some weaving yarn from fabrics that I don't want to use for anything else. I am planning on making a rug at some point, using mostly shades of green, with the odd brown/neutral thrown in. The making of the yarn probably takes the longest time in the whole process.

Late afternoon, OH and I did a trip to the tip. We had a whole bunch of stuff in the garden that needed to go and some bags of wood at the allotment from dismantling a pallet, that we picked up on the way. We left it a bit late, but just had time to drop it all off before they closed.

When we got back, I returned to fabric yarn making. I am going to need approximately 100 meters of fabric yarn for this project, which is dependent on the size of the makeshift loom I'm going to use. This sounds a lot, but I will hopefully manage to make 28m this weekend. 

To figure out how much I will still need to make, I decided to measure what I had previously made, which came to about 40 m, so just 32m to go! At least I now know what fabrics I need to add to get a balanced selection throughout the rug.

Sunday, was a pretty quiet, chill day. I went to the gym in the morning and then spent the afternoon sewing more fabric yarn. I only need to make another 15m or so, so I'm almost there. I won't be actually making the rug until next month though, so there's no hurry. I just wanted to be a bit more organised about it, so that I've got everything I need when I do start weaving.

Today, I volunteered to show some potential new plot holders the three plots we have available on our site at the allotment, starting on Friday, so that should be interesting.

It's been a pretty uneventful week, but I feel like I've been a bit more productive and have been doing a lot more sewing. Hopefully, this will continue into next week. Hope you've had a good one.

Cleaning and Decluttering My Earring Collection

This week, I've been a lot more motivated to do some decluttering and organising, especially after working on my wardrobe earlier in the week. On Thursday, I decided to tackle my earring collection. I have to say from the start that I have a lot of earrings, that I've collected and worn over the years. I have culled them before, letting go of some, but I haven't done this job in a long time.

In a previous style incarnation, I used to wear mostly fashion jewellery and I liked to have studs and danglies in every possible colour to go with my outfits.  These days, I don't wear a lot of my old stuff and prefer to stick to some everyday favourites, which tend to be either sterling silver or sterling silver gemstone studs or huggies (i.e. gemstones that hang from a small hoop that hug the earlobe). 

There are a few costume pairs that I also wear quite regularly, but the rest of my collection rarely gets worn. That doesn't mean I can easily part with many of them, as they are old favourites and I like to keep a good selection to go with different outfits and whims. Thankfully they don't take up much space, so I'm not too desperate to declutter them all. Here's a picture of the current extent of my collection:

They were a bit of a jumble, so I decided to get very systematic when going through them with regard to the type of earrings they were.  Every pair was considered, cleaned and then put into the different piles according to whether they were studs, danglies/dressier earrings and everyday earrings that I reach for. I made sure that each pair had appropriate backs and then put them back into their containers.

There were another few places where I keep earrings, namely silver ones and gemstone ones, so I went and dug these out too and went through and cleaned them all. I do have a lot of gemstone earrings, as at one point I bought a supply of beads and findings and made these, so I have many more pairs than I need, but as the findings are silver, they do have a value, so I'm happy to hang onto them. Besides, if I lose one earring, as sometimes happens, I can  replace it with another.

Here is the gemstone collection after organising and cleaning it:

I separated the earrings in the box according to colour more or less, to make them easier to choose from. Some of my gemstone earrings, the ones I wear daily, I put in a little dish that I keep on my dressing table. Here's a picture of these every day earrings, not all are silver or gemstones, some are just costume, but are my current favourites:

The danglies and dressier earrings I have put in this pot. I don't reach for them often, but sometimes, I do feel like a change or if I'm going out I may take a look through and pick a pair out.

The studs went into another box:

As you can see, I like large ball shaped studs in all colours and finishes. They are a definite favourite that I return to a lot. These costume ones don't get worn so much now, but I do sometimes look for a pair to match something I might be wearing.

In addition to the above, I do also have two other collections of earrings, the first are vintage clip ons. I don't wear them often, as they can nip, but sometimes I will wear the odd favourite pair. I also like them as they are mostly vintage and I have a particular love of vintage jewellery and have had phases where I've dressed in a vintage style and I would reach for these to wear with outfits. Here's my collection, now divided into danglies and non-danglies.

I particularly like the red danglies with the gold cross on them. I can remember wearing these a lot at a particular point in my life and I loved them, they are so 80's. Some of the diamonte/paste ones are nice to wear for an evening out, not that I go out anywhere special very often these days.

The other collection I have are Xmas earrings, to wear with my collection of Xmas brooches. I didn't photograph these, as I may do a separate post nearer the festive season. I try to wear a different brooch and similar themed pair of earrings every day in December to give them an airing. I've collected them over many years, some are vintage, but the earrings are mainly modern/new and I try to match them as best I can to whatever brooch I'm wearing. It's just fun and a hobby of mine. 

I cleaned all of my Xmas earrings before putting them away after Xmas, so I didn't need to clean these. I moved a few pairs back into normal use, as they aren't specifically Xmas ones, and I donated a couple of pairs I never reach for, mainly because they are too small. I mostly kept these earrings, as they are a themed collection and there is value in that when it comes to selling them on. I still add to the collection when I see a pair that I particularly like, as I love Xmas and this is my way of expressing that. I keep them in out of season storage until December rolls around.

The final small collection of earrings I have are sterling silver ones. I don't have many, just a few favourite pairs. Some I've lost along the way and I have been left with just one, others have broken. I sorted all the singles and broken silver into a bag and I may sell it for scrap at some point. Any that I hadn't cleaned recently got cleaned with bicarbonate of soda and came up sparkling. 

This was all a bit of a mammoth process and took me all afternoon, but at least it is now done. I donated 19 items which included a couple of necklaces, which isn't a lot when you consider the number of earrings I still own, but it's a start. Here's a rundown:

Dress/Dangly - 25 pairs

Studs - 35 pairs

Crystal/Gemstone - 31 pairs

Clip ons - 19 pairs

Sterling Silver - 11 pairs

Xmas - 29 pairs

Total - 150 pairs

It's just as well that they are small and easily stored. I may go back to them and donate more at some point in the future, but for now, I'm happy with the one's I've kept.

The items I am donating, I cleaned and put onto cards to make them easy to put out for sale at the charity shop. Hopefully, it will save them some time. I'll probably put a note in to that effect too.

A Clothing and Accessories Sort Out

This week, I decided to have a major sort out of all my clothes and accessories. It's something that I've been meaning to do for a while, as I've got way too many items in my wardrobe, drawers and other storage. I just felt the urge to release as much as I could and get to a place where everything was a bit more organised and more easily accessible.

I began with my wardrobe, which in the winter months is always a bit full, mainly due to large sweaters and other bulky items. I went through and tried on every item that I haven't worn in the last few months, to see if they still fitted and whether I still wanted to keep them. I came across quite a few items that I know I will never wear again and donated them.  I did the same with shoes and boots too and a couple of pairs went into the donation bag. Interestingly, clothing wise, I came across the odd item that I haven't been wearing that I really liked when I tried them on, so I'm going to try to start wearing them again very soon.

Some items that I really liked, but that were feeling a bit snug, I moved into storage. I'm not giving up on losing a bit of weight again, although I'm not consciously dieting, as I have done in the past. Good quality or favourite items I hung onto for a little while yet. This really freed up some space in the wardrobe and made it look a lot tidier and easier to navigate. Here's a picture:

I then went through my storage for clothing that doesn't fit well anymore. As mentioned above, I'm not good at getting rid of clothing I like, when I put a bit of weight on or lose it. As a consequence, I did find a few items in storage that I re-introduced into my wardrobe, which felt good. Most of the traffic went in the opposite direction though. I'm hoping that I will get back into some of them, but I'll reassess the situation in 6 months time, at least they are all in the same place and easy to go through in the future. I did decide to donate some items that I don't feel are my style any longer or that I know I just won't wear again.

The out of season clothing was my next task. I'd already gone through this at the end of last year when packing for our holiday in January. However, I did come across another bag of summer clothing that I'd stored elsewhere. I have to admit that I thought I'd donated these items when I couldn't find them for our holiday. It was nice to discover that I hadn't, as some of them were treasured old favourites.

There were some things in the summer bag that didn't fit well, so I put them into the non-fit storage bag, leaving just the summer clothing that fitted in the out of season storage. I also sorted them by type, i.e. skirts/trousers, dresses/jackets and tops, so everything is easy to locate. I also tried everything on, to be able to make decisions about what to keep and what to let go of. It feels good that everything in storage is now better organised and easier to find.

In terms of accessories, I also went through my box of belts and donated 4 or 5 of these that I don't think I need, as I had duplicates of some colour and style of belts. I still need to go through my jewellery and sort out the earrings that I no longer want to keep. I'm pretty sure that there will be quite a lot of them. I'll be doing this another day and will clean any earrings I intend to donate and maybe even put them on cards ready to be sold on by the charity shop. I will also go through my brooches and scarves to see if there's any of those I want to donate.

I'm feeling quite motivated to do these jobs at the moment, as I want to shed some stuff and feel less weighed down by it. I also do still need to go though some of my clothing drawers and see if there's anything else I want to let go of or even repurpose for quilting/sewing or cleaning cloths, etc.

By the end of the day, I had put aside   items for donation, almost filling this very large bag: 

I will take great pleasure in taking these to the charity shop next week and I look forward to uncovering many more items that I feel ready to let go of in the coming weeks.

Heading into February - W/E 1st February 2026

This week started with my going off out of town shopping on Monday. I went on my own this week, as LB didn't fancy it. I had a bag of donations to drop off at my favourite charity shop whilst out, so of course, I had a little look around whilst I was there, but came away without buying anything.

The grocery shopping went okay, although I did spend a bit more than I anticipated, mainly because I found a few things that I use regularly that were on offer, which was too good to ignore. They will save me money in the long run, but I had to use some of the extra money I found I had last week.

For a treat, I made us beef burgers with wedges for supper. We don't have them often. I'm still working my way through two bags of potatoes, that I bought for 5p each at Christmas, taking advantage of the supermarkets vying for everyone's custom over the festive season. They are sprouting slighly, but nothing that can't be nipped off before use. They'll probably last at least another month, if not longer. Well worth purchasing.

On Tuesday, I headed to a Zumba class in the morning which was good. When I got home, I decided to start a new sewing project after lunch and spent a pleasant couple of hours working on that. Later, I popped to the allotment to put the garden waste bins out, to be emptied the following day. 

We're currently watching the new series of The Night Manager, which is good.

I had a lie in on Wednesday morning, as I hadn't slept well on Monday night. I read for a while in bed. I'm currently reading the book I got from the exhibition last week. It's very good with lots of social history about clothing, women, work, fabric, etc. It's right up my street. It's not a particularly easy read, as it's dense with information, but I'm really enjoying it.

It was a lovely sunny, dry day on Wednesday, which is rare at the moment, as we've been getting so much rain lately. After lunch, I decided to go out into the garden and do some work. The main job I did was to clean all the dirty pots in the greenhouse and re-organise it a little. Once the pots had been cleaned and put away, it did free up quite a bit of space and make things easier to get to.

I also decided to plant the bulbs I bought last year and some that OH had bought me for Xmas. Luckily, we had some compost to pot them up in, so I didn't need to go out and buy any. I'm definitely a bit late planting them, but hopefully they will still grow.  I'm starting most of them off indoors to give them a better chance and to keep the squirrels off them. I've still got a couple of packs to plant, which I will do another time.

I also did a little bit of pruning and tidying up and by the time I'd finished it was getting dark. It was lovely to get out there and get started for the coming season.

OH made us a lovely chicken curry for supper, which was nice and then he and I watched a Ken Burns documentary on iPlayer. It was called The Great American Buffalo and is in two parts. We watched the first part, which was harrowing. I've not watched anything as painful to watch as this in a long time, but it was very good, as is the case with of all Ken Burns' work. If anyone is interested in watching it, it was broadcast on Channel 4 earlier this week.

Thursday morning, I went to my now usual Soca class at the gym which was good. I did my usual of taking the long route home to get more steps in. To be honest, Thursday afternoon was a bit lazy, as I didn't do much. I finished watching a series on Netflix and then watched a movie which was quite good. After supper, OH and I watched a Netflix documentary about the Art band Devo together, which was great. They recognised the direction our world was going in way back in the 1970's. 

I've never watched so much TV as this month. I'm really not very motivated to do anything much and it's my fall back in a quiet month. It costs nothing.  Some things I've watched have been enjoyable and others very informative. I do need to be a bit more productive going forward though.

On Friday, after getting up and ready, I decided to walk to our local Lidl, which is just under 2 miles away, and do a top up shop, mainly to hit the target for the 10% discount this month. Seemed silly to waste it. By buying the things we use regularly a few days early, I'll get 10% off my shop next week and I intend to use it for a bit of a stock up of pantry staples. I came across a really good recipe for a lentil curry and a chickpea masala on YouTube this week and I'm keen to try them out, but did need the odd inexpensive ingredient to do this. If they work out, they will be much cheaper to make than buying sauces from the supermarket and they will also be meat free.

Walking to the store was a good way to get a bit of exercise on a day I don't go to the gym and also I decided to try out my new trolley bag, as I wasn't doing a full shop. The trolley worked really well. I was half expecting it to collapse under the weight of the shopping, but it stood up well to the test and I decided to walk all the way home too, which was harder with a bag and trolley full of shopping. It saved on bus fares though and I did over 8,000 steps, which was a bonus. I wasn't able to do the full weekly shop, as I steered away from the heavier items, such as tins and bottles, but I'll use the voucher when I buy those and the remainder of the weekly shop on Monday.

I had another lie in on Saturday morning and read another chapter of my book. I spent the morning doing laundry and putting away clean laundry, catching up on blog reading and doing a bit of blogging. In the afternoon, we had a special visitor, i.e. next door's dog Toby, who was coming to stay with us until the evening, as his owners were going out until late. It was the first time we've looked after him this year and it was nice to see him again.

Before he arrived, I spent an hour or so working on my latest denim scrap project and then I put it away as I wasn't sure if the sewing machine would upset him. It's coming along nicely. I'm now one third of the way through it.

OH and I took Toby for a walk in the late afternoon and stopped off at the pub on the way home for a drink which was nice. 

We started watching a film about Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein tonight on Paramount, but only got half way through before OH headed off to bed as he was up early to go cycling the next morning. He dropped Toby back next door before going to bed. He was happy enough to go.

On Sunday, it was my usual gym session of the week which went okay. When I got back, I did another couple of hours sewing on my current project. I'm posting separately about this. It is now half done. Progress is slow, but it's definitely coming along. It actually looks better the further I get on with it. I think I've just about got enough fabric scraps to complete it, although I will probably run out of some colours of denim as I get towards the end.

I then spent an hour or so cutting up some of the remaining pieces of scrap from the jeans I used for LB's pouffe, mainly the flies, which I didn't have a use for. I managed to salvage a few bits of scrap fabric to try to use, a couple of small brass zips, which may come in handy for purses or pockets or something small and I used part of one fly to make a pen holder for my handbag. The rest was cut up small for stuffing and the only bits I threw away were 3 metal fly buttons which I can't re-use. There has been very little actual waste from the denim I used, thankfully.

On Sunday evening, OH and I finished watching Mary Shelley which was good and then watched a bit of Frankenstein, which is currently on Netflix, until OH decided he couldn't stomach the cutting up of cadavers to make the Monster. Thankfully, it didn't give me nightmares.

Hope you've had a good last week of January.

A New Make For February

Towards the end of January and moving into February, it was time to come up with another sewing project to work on for the month. I'd had a scrappy project in mind for a while, to try to use up lots of leftover offcuts from the denim material I'd used to make LB's pouffe. It was an idea that I got from a video on YouTube and involved stitching all the small pieces onto a piece of fabric using a zigzag stitch.

The aim of this project was to use the created fabric to repair a cover that we use on OH's favourite chair in the kitchen, the one I re-upholstered during Lockdown.

The cover in the above photo has been used on this chair for years now to protect it, but the underside of it is made of silk, I think, and it is slowly perishing with wear. As a consequence, I thought I would cover it, using the denim scraps, to keep it in use a bit longer, as this would be more hard wearing.

I started by finding a piece of fabric, in this case the lining from some curtains I took apart, to stitch the denim scraps to and then cut it to the right size. I then proceeded to stitch each small piece of denim onto it, each one overlapping the one before, using a wide zig zag stitch on my machine to minimise fraying. 

It took a couple of hours to get a few rows done, as it's quite fiddly trimming off the bits of thread, but by the end of my first session, I was probably a quarter of the way done which was quite satisfying. Here's a picture:

It's not perfect, as theres a bit of fraying and overstitching here and there, but it's fine, as it will probably be the underside of the cover in any case. 

I continued to work on this project over the next week or so, adding a few rows every few days or whenever I felt like it. It's now half way done and here's a picture. 

I'm liking the overall effect. It's interesting what you can do with even the smallest pieces of scrap fabric.

It is a great project for this month, to use up not only scraps, but thread too. I'll post again when I've  completed the project.

Monthly Finances - January 2026

It's been a pretty low spend month this month, which was the intention after all the expenditure of November/December. All I wanted was to get through the month relatively unscathed and thankfully that did happen. 

I did have to put off making a dental appointment though, so that might have to be done this month, which will cost £60, to pay for half of the checkup and clean up front. I think that I am also due an eye test, but this may have to wait until March to spread the cost.

We did have a lovely week away in Lanzarote in January, which we both enjoyed, despite the not so good weather.  We didn't spend a whole lot whilst there, eating out just once per day. Since getting back, I've been trying to keep spending to an absolute minimum to get through the month.

I did treat myself to a book from an exhibition I went to, which cost £10.99. I'm currently reading it and am happy to report that it is a very interesting read. I'm currently reading about the social history of the cotton growing, processing industry, which is an eyeopener.

I didn't buy any clothing at all in January, which was progress for me. I have way more clothing than I can actually wear, I don't know why I continue to buy more all the time. It's madness.

I did spend £50 to join a new gym this month. Paying for a monthly membership isn't ideal and is painful financially, when I've been spending a quarter of the cost to go to the gym for the last two years. As my local gym closed recently, I'm left with very little choice, if I want to continue exercising regularly. I have been enjoying the classes at the new gym though and getting a few more steps in walking to and fro.

I did also spend about £30 on various bits and pieces this month, i.e. gifts, bits for the house and a few small crafting items, but otherwise I kept it strictly to groceries and household products. I was underbudget for food this month, but this was more due to being away for a week and using the grocery budget as spending money, than any economies on the food front.

I spent £150 on LB's birthday this month, but this money came from the birthday/gift fund, which I continue to contribute to, as it's the only way that I can afford Xmas presents when I'm not working, without delving into longterm savings. I have a few expensive gifts to save for this year, i.e. a 21st birthday and a wedding gift, so I've got a separate sinking fund to save up for these. These funds are thus limiting the cash I have available to spend on anything else, making it a super frugal year for me.

I'm planning to continue in a very low spend vein going into February. There is slightly more room in the budget, due to it being the shortest month, but there isn't really much I need, so there's no point buying things needlessly. I would like to keep within my food budget this month, whilst still stocking up the pantry a little, as we have eaten it down pretty much to nothing. 

I'm continuing to enjoy trying to stay within my means, whilst still keeping myself occupied, as I consider it a challenge and I do like a fiscal challenge. I have been very demotivated in terms of making or doing anything useful this month, save for renovating my shopping trolley, but I'm hoping my motivation comes back at some point and I get more productive. I think that the abysmal weather has contributed, but I can't put all the blame on that, as I am to blame for the most part.

I hope that you've survived January and like me are looking forward to a new month.

Working Through My Stashes

Well, we're almost through January, and I can't say I'm sorry. It's been a bit of a meh month here and it has felt so long. We've been lucky, in that we've had a holiday and a few other events to look forward to, but otherwise it's been a bit financially restrictive.

Having said this, I do think that I'm finally getting used to having a much lower budget each month. I've definitely been using up things we have in the house, particularly toiletries, freezer, pantry and food cupboard items, and craft items in my stash, and in particular, some things that have been hanging around a long time. 

There is now quite a lot less food just kicking around waiting to be used. I've been slowly working my way through the pantry stash and also using other things in the freezer and food cupboards that have been there a while. I do probably need to work on the baking drawer though, as there's stuff in there that I could easily use if I put my mind to it. 

It does make me feel slightly vulnerable not having a food stash, especially in the midst of current world chaos, and knowing what happened when covid hit, but I can't really afford to overstock at the moment, especially not with things we don't eat regularly, as it just sits there. Having said this, it's not empty, I'm just trying to buy things as I need them, so that I don't unnecessarily tie up money in unused items.

Toiletry wise, I'm still on Project Pan and trying to use up items in my toiletry/makeup stash. I'm using up small gifted shower gels, skin care and makeup products that I had way too many of and making my own deodorant is working well and I'm intending to continue doing this. I did stock up on some toothpaste that I use, as it comes from the US and is not sold in stores here, so I'm concerned about it going up in price due to tariffs in the future, but otherwise I'm just buying as I need, with no extras going in the basket. I'm going to do another Project Pan update soon and see if there's less items than in my previous post.

I'm also trying to use up household products I've got in the undersink cupboard, before buying more. There's still quite a few products to work my way through. In fact, I just realised that I've been needlessly buying bottles of washing up liquid, when I have a 5l bottle in the cupboard unused. Madness. I'd like to simplify and reduce the amount of products I use, partly to reduce the amount of space they take up and partly just to make life simpler.

I haven't bought any clothing this month, for the first time in I don't know how long. In fact, I've not bought a single thing from a charity shop this month either. I'm hoping to keep spending extremely low in these categories going forward and maybe try to make some items using my fabric stash. I have been donating some clothing items to the charity shop, that I don't reach for, or that I don't like the fit of, as they are taking up precious wardrobe real estate. I want to simplify my wardrobe, so that it's easier to make choices about what to wear each day.

In terms of my sewing stash, I did use up quite a bit of leftover denim renovating my trolley bag in January and hopefully the remainder will get used at some point. There's very little left, mostly just small pieces, but I do kind of have a plan for these, I just need to execute it or try to at least. 

Other decluttering is happening very slowly, but I do have plans to go through a lot of stuff stored in various parts of the house and have a thorough declutter of it. Hopefully in the next few weeks. I'll keep you posted with progress in this respect.

One good thing about this January, is that as a consequence of it being quiet and uneventful, I've been doing a bit of reading and have finished reading 3 books this month and started another one. I'm going to try to get through some of my stash of unread books this year and then I can donate the ones I've read and don't want to keep.

Keeping on Track - W/E 25th January 2026

This week began with what has commonly become known as Blue Monday. I didn't realise, but it's a name conjured up by advertisers in 2005, to try to coax people into buying a holiday. It usually falls on the third Monday in January and is typically the day when, due to the overindulgences of Xmas and the long month of January that follows, people have very little money to spend and probably feel most depressed. I think the last thing you might need when you're feeling broke after Xmas, is to blow a whole lot more money on a holiday, but as I've just been on one, I'm not really in a position to comment.

Anyway, for me, so far, I'm keeping on track with my plan to try to just get through January as unscathed as possible. My spending is being kept to an absolute minimum, with spending being solely focused on food and household stuff, avoiding going too much over budget, despite buying a few things on offer when I saw them. It was the same story again this week, with regard to yellow stickered items, they were few and far between.

When I got home and updated my finances, however, I realised that I actually had £50 more than I expected in my account, I think due to a miscalculation in relation to the Xmas Gift Fund I'd saved up and spent over Xmas. I'm not going to spend it for now, just in case I'm wrong, but at least it gives me a bit of a buffer this month. Even without it, I should have enough money to do the grocery shopping next week and get to the end of the month within budget. Anything left over, I will put aside for Xmas next year, just in case I don't find a job in the interim. Needs must.

Tuesday, was a much more productive day. In the morning, I was booked into a Zumba class at the gym. It was the regular teacher this week and the class was good. It passed pretty quickly, which is a good sign to me. 

When I got home, I finally decided to get my sewing machine out and machine sew some bits for my trolley bag renovation. I continued working on it for the rest of the day and got it almost finished, save for a couple of smallish bits I still need to do. It felt like progress anyway. 

In the evening, I binge watched Harlen Coben's Run Away on Netflix, which was good and kept you interested all the way through. Ruth Jones was great in it too.

I was late getting up on Wednesday, due to the Netflix binge watching into the early hours of the morning, so I had a bit of a lie in before getting ready. LB and I were going out to an exhibition at the Barbican, called Dirty Looks - Desire and Decay in Fashion. It was the last week of the exhibition and it was one that LB really wanted to see, so OH generously bought the tickets for us, as they were £20 each, which was super kind of him.

I'm going to try to go to at least one exhibition or show (i.e craft show) per month this year, as there's a few I am wanting to go to, including the The Stitch Festival in March, the Marie Antoinette Exhibition at the V&A and a Liberty print exhibition at the William Morris Museum. Some of them cost £20 ish per ticket, some are less and just ask for a donation, but I think it would be a good challenge to try to get out more and see more of what is going on in London, especially when I'm not working. It doesn't have to be hugely expensive, especially when there are so many free museums to visit here in London too.

Today's exhibition tickets were for 2.15pm, so we were able to have lunch at home before heading out and the only cost was bus fares, which wasn't expensive, as it cost £3.50 for a return fare.  We did set off a bit late though, as I underestimated how long it would take to get there, but it wasn't a problem. The exhibition itself was good. I did come away with this book from the shop, which was a bit of an impulse purchase, but it looks really good. I spent £10.99 on this, but I've been pretty good this month, so I'm not going to give myself a hard time over it.

We called into a new to us charity shop on the way home, and I was sorely tempted by some sewing patterns, which I resisted the urge to buy. I kind of regret it now, as at least one of them might have been really useful, but never mind.

On Thursday, I was booked into the (Soca) Aerobics class at the gym which was really good. I was, however, told by another gym goer that the company that runs the gym which runs quite a lot of gyms in London and other parts of the country, is planning to stop instructors using Zumba or other music for classes and are going to issue a generic playlist for all classes as they don't want to pay the license fees for the Zumba music which is apparently £4 per class. I'm very disappointed by this decision. I think there has been some sort of petition forwarded, but I'll just have to wait and see what happens. Yet another cost cutting measure in our current climate. There's no end to it.

LB got some good news this week, i.e. the chance of some freelance work with a local artist who she worked with as an intern. I'm hoping she'll enjoy it and it will be good experience for her.

I finally finished renovating my shopping trolley today and have posted separately about it. I'm very happy with how it turned out and it was fun to work on and used up more denim scraps which is all good. I now need a new project to work on next.

The rest of the week was pretty uneventful. I did go out on Friday to meet some people for coffee, but the venue was a bit noisy, so it wasn't easy to hold a conversation. When I left, I walked home, which was quite a long way, to get some steps in.

Saturday was quiet, spent at home, having a lie in, chilling, watching TV, having an afternoon nap, reading. I then watched a film on Netflix with OH.

Sunday morning I spent at the gym again, having a good workout and then chilled in the afternoon. I didn't do a whole lot this weekend. Most weekends are like that, just homey, which is how I like them. The weather doesn't help either, as there's been a lot of rain. Mentally, there's a lot going on in my head, thinking about the things I want to do at home, but I didn't get started on any of them just yet.

I hope you've had a good week.

Making/Upcycling Things Every Month - January - Renovating A Shopping Trolley

This year, I want to try to make something or upcycle at least one item every month, just as a way to keep me being creative throughout the year. In addition, I have so many craft supplies, that it will be a good excuse to use them and reduce my stash.

The first project of 2026 was to renovate a shopping trolley I bought for £5 from the Tip Shop, when we were last in Yorkshire. I'd been thinking about buying one for a while, with the intention of adding my own twist to it, as a new Lidl store is opening this year within walking distance of our house and I wanted to do some of our shopping there and thought a trolley might be useful. 

I don't know exactly when the store will open, as it is being built on the site of a petrol station, so there will be lots of decontamination work to do before it can actually be built, but it will be built at some point this year and when I want to shop locally, it will be my store of choice.

Anyway, as a consequence, when I saw shopping trolleys for sale in the Tip Shop for £5, I decided to buy one. The one I bought was a bit boring and a bit grubby. I machine washed the bag a couple of times, to get it as clean as I could, but I still felt like it needed a bit of jazzing up. Here's a picture of the original trolley:

I had lots of denim fabric left over from making LB's pouffe, so I decided to use it for this project, as I thought it would be pretty hardwearing and I enjoy working with it.

I began by making a hexi patchwork piece to cover the front and sides (excluding the zipped pocket). I hand stitched the large hexies together, having made them out of different coloured pieces of denim. Once I'd finished covering the front and sides, I was able to stitch them to the original trolley bag.

I then stitched some other pieces of denim together on my machine to cover the pocket on the front of the bag and also added a jeans pocket to this, just to use it up really and to create an additional pocket for my bus pass or shopping list.

Once the front was finished, I could turn my attention to the top flap and the back of the bag. I found  strips of different denims and machine stitched them together before hand stitching them to the loops that go around the frame of the trolley. I then covered the back of the trolley bag with a jazzy star print denim piece that I made into an extra deep pocket on the back and added another jeans pocket for added interest. 

I also needed to cover the flap at the top of the bag and I used  the same stretchy star print denim fabric I had in my stash for this job, as it was a little more funky. 

I decided not to line the bag, as it was currently wipe clean and I wanted to keep it that way, in case of any spillages/breakages. I did cover the board in the bottom with more star print denim, but otherwise left it as it was.

I was pretty happy with the finished trolley bag, as it looks a lot more individual and it was quite a fun project to do. Here's a picture of the finished bag:

I'm now looking forward to using it and may just have to do a shop locally to give it a trial run.

Swedish Death Cleaning and Other Things

The current book I'm reading is about Swedish Death Cleaning, or removing things from your house and life as you get older, so that your children don't have the weight of all your belongings to deal with when you die. It's a book that's been on my want list for a while and I was given it for Xmas by OH. 

It's a small book, very easy to pick up and put down, with short chapters about different aspects of clearing your stuff, who to pass it on to, how to downsize/simplify your life, etc. It's written by a Swedish lady, a widow, who describes herself as being between the ages of 80 and 100.  It's quite thought provoking. 

Lately, I've been trying to wear things that I don't really reach for in my wardrobe, to give them a chance and see if I still want to keep them. It's helping me to decide whether to donate certain items. 

I no longer have the patience to keep items that are synthetic (unless I really like and wear them often), uncomfortable, or just look unflattering when I put them on. I'm less bothered about how long I've had them or how much they cost me, as most of my clothes have been thrifted, I'm more bothered about whether they are worth giving wardrobe space too, as the more things I have in there, the longer it takes and the more difficult it is to see exactly what I have and make a decision about what to wear.

This week, for example, when we went out to an exhibition, I wore a top that I've not reached for in a long time. It was one that LB was throwing out, but I decided to keep as it's leopard print. It's just a long sleeved, crew necked top, but it is made from a sythetic mesh fabric, which is all the rage amongst youngsters, but not so comfortable as you get older and less tolerant of synthetic fabrics. This particular top is cute, but it chafed my armpits and made them sore, this could be because it was a touch small, but I think it was also because it was synthetic, so when I've washed it, it will definitely be leaving the house. Hopefully, it will find a new home.

Various other things have been donated too. I'm slowly working my way through and only keeping those items I actually enjoy wearing. Life is to be enjoyed, it's too short to wear things that make your skin chafe or feel at all uncomfortable.

Talking of the exhibition we saw at the Barbican, it was also very thought provoking, especially a film about how western fabric waste is being shipped out to Africa to be recycled, flooding the market there and then much of it being dumped in landfill and rivers.  It's criminal how we are happy to send our waste to another country to be disposed of. Shameful. I know it's common knowledge, but how many people actually change their shopping habits as a consequence. I'm glad that I rarely buy any new clothing, as it would weigh on my conscience. There is so much second hand clothing available in this country to buy. 

Some of the clothing in the exhibition was made from recycled textiles and other recycled materials. These were the bits of the exhibition that resonated with me the most. Some of the exhibits were quite humorous or challenged your perceptions about stains, bodily fluids, etc.

Thankfully, my charity shop purchasing of clothing has ground to a halt this month and I'm glad. Unless I see anything that I really like or need, I don't really want to buy anything else for a while and to be honest, I can't really afford to buy much in any case. I think I'll concentrate on whittling down my wardrobe to only my trusted favourites, making my own clothes from fabric in my stash or adjusting things I already have to make them more wearable. It will keep me out of the shops too.

Another area that I need to attend to is definitely my (costume) jewellery. I did donate some necklaces the other week, when the hook they were hanging from fell of the door of my wardrobe. To be honest, I hardly ever reach for costume necklaces any more, but there are a few old favourites that I'm not yet ready to part with or have sentimental value, so I kept them. Earrings, however, and brooches are a whole other area I need to focus on. I do occasionally wear brooches on jackets and I do like them, but I think there may be some in my collection that I can part with now. 

I also have way too many earrings and only tend to reach for a favoured few that more often than not are sterling silver, so there is probably a whole raft of earrings that I could donate if I put my mind to it. Obviously, I will clean any I do donate with surgical spirit, as I do when I buy them second hand.

These are just a few tasks to be getting on with, especially whilst I'm not working. I just need to get started. I'll keep you posted with progress.

First Normal Week of 2026 - W/E 18/1/2026

This week marked the first normal week of 2026 for me. OH needed the car to go to a meeting on Monday, so I wasn't able to go shopping. I then couldn't go on Tuesday, as the car had an issue with the 12V battery being flat and OH had to go and get another one fitted. It was a bit annoying, as it was only a couple of years old. The new one has a 3 year warranty, lets hope it last at least that long.

As a consequence, on Monday I walked into our local town centre to get some cash out for LB's birthday. When I came home, I wrapped all her presents in readiness too. The rest of the day was pretty chilled, just doing  a bit of laundry and some work on my shopping trolley bag. I also finally joined the new gym and booked a Zumba class for Tuesday morning. The price had gone up £2 per month since I last enquired, which was a bit annoying, but I'll just have to suck it up.

Tuesday, was LB's birthday. I headed out to the Zumba class for 10am and it was pretty good. I've not really done Zumba for a few years, but I enjoyed it. The teacher was standing in for the regular teacher, so I'll get to try the regular teacher's class next week. I'm hoping to improve my aerobic fitness this year, as it has really declined since I stopped running.

When I got back from the gym, LB opened all of her presents, which she seemed to like. Later, we headed out for lunch with OH at a local Italian restaurant to celebrate, which was nice. Afterwards, we'd booked tickets for the local independent cinema to see Marty Supreme, a film starring Timothy Chalamet. The film itself was a bit stressful to watch. It caused both myself and OH to feel quite anxious. LB enjoyed it though, which is the important thing.

By Wednesday, the car was running normally again, so I was finally able to go out and do the remainder of the weekly shop and LB came with me. I did my only bit of sale shopping at TKMaxx, when I checked out their final clearance. I spent £16.70 on a few items including a few gifts/cards/wrap for later in the year plus the odd home/garden item that was on my list to look out for.

The only other shopping I did was for groceries and I managed a get few yellow stickered items, although there were noticably fewer of these available.

On Thursday, I'd booked an Aerobics class at the gym so I headed there for 10am. OH came with me and went in the gym. I recognised the teacher, as I'd done her Soca Aerobics class before elsewhere. This class was similar and was enjoyable, as it was quite energetic.

When I got home, I had some lunch and then didn't really do a lot for the rest of the day. I was quite tired and ended up going back to bed for a nap and not waking until 5pm, which was a bit crazy, but I must have needed it. I think perhaps the new exercise classes were more tiring than I realised and came as a bit of a shock to my system, especially after not exercising for 3 or more weeks.

On Friday, I decided to get up and go out for a walk in the morning. I managed to get over 8,000 steps in, so I was happy enough and it was nice to get out and get some fresh air. I had another chilled afternoon, doing some laundry and pottering. 

In the evening, OH and I had been invited to a fashion show, by one of his cycling buddies, who designs menswear. It was over in South London, so it was a bit of a trek, but we decided to go on public transport, which wasn't too bad. The show itself was good, and was held in the chapel of an old Asylum, which was interesting, if a little creepy. There were quite a few of OH's cycling buddies there, so we had a chat to them and ended up going to the pub after the show and getting back quite late.

As a consequence, Saturday was a bit of a lost day. I didn't sleep well and stayed in bed until late. Then after lunch, I ended up going back to bed for a few hours to catch up on sleep. I think I'm way too old to go out drinking these days.

When I eventually surfaced proper, I watched a new three part Agatha Christie drama on Netflix called The Seven Dials, which was quite good. I then later watched a movie on Netflix with OH.

Sunday was a better day. I was more or less back to normal. I got up and ready and cycled to the gym in the morning. It was my first gym session in the new gym. I'm trying to get used to the new environment and equipment, but it might take a few weeks before I settle in. It was good to finally do a gym work out though after more than 3 weeks absence. 

In the afternoon, OH and I drove out into Essex to retrieve a bike belonging to a friend of his, who had had an accident whilst out riding. He'd been quite badly injured and taken to hospital and had to leave his bike behind, so OH volunteered to bring it back for him. On the way back, we picked up some manure for the allotment from some stables. It needs to rot down a bit before we can use it though.

In the evening, we watched the last episode of the current series of Landman, which was good. I almost feel back to normal after this week, but not really very motivated. I'm hoping that I'll be a little more productive next week.

Settling Back Into Normal Daily Life

It's lovely to be back home after our holiday. There's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed, showering in your own bathroom and relaxing in your own living room. We had a great time, but it's now time to get back to normal.

One good thing about the holiday, was that I didn't spend money on any stuff to bring home with me, bar an umbrella, which we needed for the rainy weather, but which will always get used in the UK.  The only other purchase was a postcard of some artwork by a famous local artist, bought for 1 euro when we visited one of his homes on Lanzarote.

Back home, OH and I walked up to the library on Satuday morning, to return my overdue library book. I was shocked when I was charged £1.76. I didn't think library fines were still a thing and it seemed a bit steep, but luckily OH had some loose change and paid it for me. I won't be making that mistake again. We then walked home the long way round to get some steps in and get some fresh air.

I needed to do a smallish shop for some needed food items on Saturday afternoon, so I went to our local Lidl. The traffic in our area was really bad though. I don't normally go anywhere in the car on weekends, as traffic can be really heavy and it was. I got enough food to last us at least until Tuesday, when I will probably go out of town and get the remainder of the weekly shop.

I have just enough money for the bare essentials this month, i.e. food and household items. There's still a bit of food left over from Xmas, but there's not a lot left in the freezer. We won't starve though.

I will be joining my new gym this week, which I'm quite looking forward to. I've not exercised for almost two weeks now and weight has gone on as a consequence of Xmas and the holiday. It will cost me £57 for the first month, including the joining fee of £12 or so. 

I will probably also book a dental appointment this month, as it is is now overdue, and this will cost at least £120, as I am required by the dentist to have my teeth cleaned too. This will have to go on my credit card, to be paid off next month. I'm just hoping I don't need any treatment this visit. I haven't really got any other expenses, save for LB's birthday, which I'd already put the money aside for, so it should be managable.

I'm still settling back into being at home. We tidied a lot of things away, due to LB having a birthday party whilst we were away, so I still need to get everything back out and the house back to normal. I also needed to do my laundry from the holiday, as we didn't have any laundry detergent when we returned. I've now unpacked everything, and done the laundry.

Today (Sunday), I've had a very chill day sewing, working on renovating my shopping trolley. It's coming along and I'll post separately about my progress. I enjoy staying home in the cold weather, working on a project and not spending any money. I think January is definitely going to be a month of doing such things.

I've decided that this year I'm going to keep a wriiten record in a small notebook of all my makes as I create them. I wish I had done it last year, as I made quite a lot of things last year, but better late than never. It will be interesting to look back on at the end of the year. Although I document a lot on my blog, I don't document everything and this way it will all be recorded in one place.

Looking Forward to 2026

With the festivities over and having just got back from a lovely week's holiday in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, I'm now turning my attention to the new year in 2026.  I love New Year. I like fresh starts. I don't really make New Year resolutions, but I always have an idea of things I want to pursue in the coming year.

OH booked us the holiday in Lanzarote and it was a lovely way to start the New Year and we seem to have missed some very cold weather here in the UK, although the weather there wasn't great. It was pretty cloudy and rainy for the first 4 or 5 days. Anyway, he needed a break and his sister and her husband were going there, so we decided to join them. Since booking, his sister had to shorten her holiday from 3 weeks to 1 week, as her husband had been fast tracked for an operation and couldn't fly for at least 4 weeks before. He didn't go and her daughter joined her instead, with her 4 year old daughter. It was a nice week of relaxing and spending time with family we don't see too often. The little one was lots of fun too.

I couldn't really afford it, of course, but I did have 75 euros left over from last summer's holiday and I added a week's household spending money to that. We don't spend big on holiday, we just eat out maybe once per day, eat in our apartment the rest of the time, don't shop hardly at all and go for days out in the hire car. The accommodation OH booked was very reasonable albeit very small and the car hire and flights super inexpensive, so it was probably the least expensive holiday we've had for a while. We had a lovely time though. LB didn't come with us. She's had friends round for an early birthday party instead and no doubt enjoyed having the house to herself in our absence.

I couldn't really think much beyond this, but now we are back I can focus on the year ahead, This year, it's mainly all about continuing with intentional/sustainable spending, surviving on a reduced income, keeping fit, healthy and strong (reducing my weight if I can, although I'm not putting pressure on myself), continuing to work on the house and garden (there's always jobs we need to do to make improvements, including decluttering), slowing down and being present every day. Simple things to focus on, nothing too ambitious.

I am led to believe that this year is the first in a new 9 year numerology cycle. You may or may not believe in such things, but it was 9 years ago I started working in retail. Maybe that was my retail era and this coming 9 year cycle I'm hoping that I'm destined to do something else. I loved retail, until I didn't. I feel a lot more relaxed and at peace since I left my job. 

It will soon be LB's birthday. I've bought almost all of her presents already, I just need to wrap them before the day and get her some cash out of the bank.

Financially, I'm just looking to get through January, as unscathed as possible. I'm still due a dental appointment, which I now need to book. I will also need to join the new gym and start exercising again. OH has already joined and has been for his first session. He liked it. I'm hoping I will too.

I also want to get my sewing mojo back, as it has been put on the backburner since before Christmas. I'm looking forward to getting creative again and have a few projects in mind to work on, one being to pimp up a shopping trolley I bought at the tip shop when we went to Yorkshire for £5. I'm intending to use it for walking to a new Lidl store opening near us next year, and do our weekly shop there some weeks. I've already washed the bag a few times to make sure it's clean, but it will be covered inside and out by patchwork or other fabric before I actually use it. I may use the denim remnants I have left over from LB's pouffe on this project. 

What plans do you have for 2026?

Twixtmas 2025

The Monday after Christmas, things were back to normal and I headed out of town to do the weekly shop, with LB accompanying me this time. She hasn't come with me for a long time now, but on this occasion she had reason, as she wanted to buy some things for an early birthday party she is planning on hosting.

I didn't need to get much shopping this week, as there is still so much food in the house. I just needed to get the usual bread, milk, some cold meats, fruit and snacks. I managed to get my usual expensive mouthwash on offer, with over £3 discount on each bottle, which was good as I'd run out. It was great for the shopping to come in at under £50 for once. I will probably do a small top up shop later in the week.

Towards the end of our outing, we had a bit of trouble with the car, as the boot would not lock shut and kept alarming. In the end we had no option but to drive home with it like that and hope it wouldn't fly open on the way. I was concentrating so much on keeping my speed low, that I missed our turning off the ring road and had to come home by a different route, which was no bad thing, as the roads that way had lower speed limits, making it safer. OH has subsequently resolved the issue for now, which is good.

On Tuesday, I had a lie in and read for a while. I needed to return the book I'm reading by New Year, but when I later walked to the library, it was closed until then and so I may have to go overdue. I don't like to, but they didn't tell me when I renewed the book that the library was closed between Xmas and New Year. I think the council have done away with fines, I hope so anyway, but even if they haven't, it won't be much.

After walking to the library, I then walked into town to get some bits I needed. I considered buying a magazine, but £6 - £7 was too much to justify. Luckily, on the way home, I looked in a Little Free Library and found this one which is current:

A perfect example of serendipity, if ever there was one.

I picked up a few birthday cards for January birthdays on my travels and also collected a prescription from the pharmacy and then it was home. I'd done over 7000 steps, so I was happy. When I got back, I treated myself to a toasted baked bean sandwich for lunch. I'm not loving salads at the moment. I'm just listening to my body and giving it a bit of variety from the norm.  The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and packing away a few Xmas bits.

On Wednesday, I took down the bulk of the Xmas decorations. They come down much more quickly than they go up, that's for sure. This is OH's favourite day of the year. He loves it when the decorations come down. The house looked a bit bare, but at least it's done. I did a quick trip to Lidl to pick up a few bits and then pottered, doing more laundry, housework and more packing away of Xmas bits and pieces in the shed.

We had a very quiet NYE. LB went out with friends, we stayed in as usual. We did watch a really good film on Amazon Prime called Jeanne Du Barry about Louis XV of France's mistress, starring Johnny Depp. Worth a watch if you ever see it on TV or Netflix. I then watched Pretty Woman for the first time in years and really enjoyed it.

2026 started with a lie in and almost finishing my current book. Just the postscript few pages to read. Today's chapter was all about basket making. I found it really interesting to read about this ancient craft. I don't how many baskets I have in my house, but there must be upwards of 20, which I use for various purposes. I decided to count them and was shocked to get up to 34, without venturing into the shed, basement or LB's room, where I know there are more. I also have 5 pieces of rattan furniture, which is kind of basket ware. You can't beat a good basket for storage and they compost too, when no longer useful.

OH is cycling in South London today, so I am spending the day vacuuming and mopping the house after taking down the decorations yesterday. It will be good to have a reset for the year ahead. I hope that whatever you are doing today, you have a lovely New Year's Day.