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.
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