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.
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