Financial Roundup - March 2026

 March has felt like a long month in some ways, especially with all the doom and gloom in the news every day, but we got through it. Financially, it's been a bit more challenging, mainly due to my own spendthrift ways.

I didn't keep as tight a rein on my spending in March, hence why I struggled towards the end of the month. I spent much more in charity shops, around £50 or so, which was in excess of what I had budgeted for. I was happy with everything I bought, but paid the price as I got toward the end of the month and had to use April's budget for the last weekly shop.

As a consequence, I need to really keep a tight control on spending in April, with very little room for any purchases other than food and household items. I just need to focus again.  Luckily, I don't have any birthdays or major expenses on the horizon this month, which is good. All the Easter eggs and food have been bought.

One positive from March, was that I did get my eyes tested and didn't need to buy new glasses, as my prescription had changed very little. I think I am going to take OH up on his offer to pay for some new lenses in some old frames I have, which is kind of him.

My dental check up is still overdue. I just can't face it and I will need to pay an additional £75 for a clean, as the dentist has said this is necessary. (I personally don't want it or feel it is necessary) I'm also concerned that they will find additional treatment to prescribe, although I don't currently have any issues. It's not good when you start putting off health checks because of financial concerns, it's a slippery slope.

Anyway, I'm hoping to receive some interest payments on some savings accounts this month, so if I'm desperate, I can always dip into those, although I'd much rather leave them where they are if I can. I'm also hoping to hear from some pensions which are due to start paying out later this year. I'm led to believe that they usually contact you six months before they mature, but we'll see if this happens. It would be good to have some updated figures with regard to what I can expect to receive on a monthly basis when I turn 60 later this year.

For now, I'm just plodding on, trying to keep things moving. whilst continuing to enjoy life without spending too much. I'm very fortunate that I have everything I need and don't want for anything.

Clock Change and Life Getting Back to Normal - W/E 29th March 2026

This week got off to an early start on Monday. For some reason, I woke at 6am and didn't really get back to sleep, which is unusual for me. I stayed in bed reading for a while, before showering and getting ready to go out and do the weekly shop.

There was quite a lot of stuff that I needed to buy this week, partly because of all the cleaning I'd been doing, I'd run out of a few household things. I also needed to spend £50 at Tesco to take advantage of another £5 off voucher. I managed this by buying a few regular items a little early and on offer. It increased my expenditure this week, but will even out going forward. I ended up saving over £20 in total and got a joint of lamb half price for Easter.

I also had a 10% off voucher to use at Lidl by way of the Lidl Plus app, so I saved another £5 here. It hasn't left me a lot for the final fifth shop of the month, but I will probably borrow a bit from next month's budget for that.

I did visit the charity shop this week, as I hadn't been for a couple of weeks. The sun was shining and I decided to see if there were any nice summer clothing items in store. I ended up spending £17 in total, on a pair of wide legged light denim jeans £3, a pair of denim shorts £2 and a pair of brand new sandals £7. I also bought a cotton summer dress, which was for LB, but if she doesn't like it, I may keep it for me, or take it back. It cost £5.

By the time I came home it had turned a bit chilly. I was absolutely shattered, I think on account of waking up so early. I had intended to do some more cleaning in the evening, but I just didn't have the energy. OH was due back on Tuesday evening, so I still had time to do a bit more.

On Tuesday, I woke up early again, read in bed for an hour or so and then got up and ready to go to my class at the gym. 

After lunch, I started to do some more cleaning, starting with the hallway, living rooms and then worked my way downstairs to the kitchen, which needed more work. It took me the rest of the day, but it felt good to get most of the rooms looking a bit fresher. The only room I didn't get to was the bathroom upstairs, but I'll tackle that another day.

OH got back just after 8pm after unexpected flight delays. It was nice to see him and he'd had a really good time, although he'd not been well for a day or so. I think a few of them had caught a virus that had made them feel unwell, nothing too serious though.

Wednesday, I decided to take a day off from the cleaning. After lunch, I took myself off for a walk. I hadn't been for a walk in a couple of weeks, so it was nice to get some fresh air.  It was certainly a fresh walk. It was quite cold and windy and then I got part way round and it started hailstoning, followed by blue sky and sunshine and then a little rain. Talk about wild.

I booked an appointment online to go for an eyetest next week, which I'd been meaning to do for a while. I've gone back to ASDA, as I received a reminder by post last week and their eye test only costs £24, as opposed to £30 elsewhere. I realised recently, that this will be the last time I will have to pay for this test, as I'll get it for free from October when I turn 60, which is a plus.

I also ordered some recycling bags from our local depot, as we were running low. We used to get free food caddy bags, but now have to supply our own. Anyway, that was another small job done. For the remainder of the afternoon, I sat and watched some TV, whilst sewing the binding on the rug I made. A very chill day.

On Thursday, I went to my usual class at the gym in the morning, which was good.  In the afternoon, I felt really tired and retired to bed for what I thought would be an hour's nap, but turned out to be a four hour nap, which was a bit self indulgent, but if my body needs it, then so be it.

When I woke up, I did a bit of reading and then came down and did some rug binding  in front of the TV. LB returned home later tonight. It was lovely to see her. OH and I watched a movie on BBC 4 based on a Julian Barnes novel, which was quite interesting.

Friday, was another fairly quiet day. I didn't need to be anywhere today, so it was nice to have a slow leisurely start to the day reading, showering, etc. I did some financial housekeeping in the morning, as it was virtually the end of the month. In the afternoon, I binge watched a Turkish series on Netflix called the Museum of Innocense, which was okay, whilst finishing the binding on my rug and then working on my hexie EPP project. Later, after supper, OH and I watched the movie I Swear on Netflix, which was really good.

Saturday morning, I had to get up earlier than normal, as our neighbour knocked to drop off their dog for the day. OH had gone out cycling, so I had to get up and get breakfast and spend time with the dog, who likes attention and cuddles. LB and I took it in turns to keep him happy, whilst I got dressed and later did some household tasks and a bit of blogging.

Later, after lunch, OH came home and we took him with us to the allotment and for a walk. Whilst at the allotment, OH spread some chicken manure pellets and sowed some peas and beetroot, whilst I spent my time weeding more of the paths around the plot. I got most of the paths done, just half of one path to do. In the second photo I left some self-seeded flowers in the cracks in the path, as they are pretty, but the weeds were taken out. I've just got the half of the path nearest to the camera left to weed, which shouldn't take long. Here's a couple of photos:

You can see the dog at the top of the first path. He's a sweetie. We had a nice couple of hours out in the fresh air though and got more of the plot cultivated which was good.

In the evening, OH and I watched a couple of episodes of a documentary about the Murdoch family on Netflix. It's interesting.

I was a bit thrown out by the clock change on Sunday morning, especially as I didn't get to sleep until well into the early hours of the morning. I read in bed for a while, finishing another book, this one about global food waste, which was sobering.

I then got up and ready to go to the gym, albeit a bit later than usual. OH came to the gym with me which was nice and we both had a good workout.

In the evening, I binge watched the last 5 episodes of The Other Bennett Sister on iPlayer, whilst OH was tinkering with his bike. It was so good, I really enjoyed it and it made a for a nice end to the week.

Monthly Makes - March/April 2026

This month's post is quite a long one, as it's been a pretty busy month on the making front, and I've continued with my quest to keep trying to use up fabrics in my stash. As mentioned in my last post, my main aim this month was to complete a woven rug in greens, creams and browns, to put in my sewing room, when I hang some new curtains in there. 

I had previously made quite a lot of fabric yarn to use in this rug, but still needed another 15 metres or so of yarn to have enough to complete it, so at the beginning of the month I made the remaining yarn required. I hoped that 100 metres or so would be enough, as the rug, I estimated, would be about 1m in length and 90cm in width, which was the area provided by the clothing rack I was using to weave it on. This project was going to be a huge stash buster and as it was going to be woven, I could use up lots of fabrics that weren't particular favourites and which I couldn't imagine using for anything else. 

My intention to weave the rug whilst OH and LB were away later in March, meant that I had a couple of weeks in between to fill with other sewing projects. As a consequence, I decided to make a new patchwork ironing board cover.

Just before Christmas, whilst making fabric (paper) chains, I accidentally ironed some fusible webbing onto my current ironing board cover, and whilst it didn't really prevent it from functioning as normal, I couldn't peel it off. I'd had a patchwork ironing board cover on one of my Pinterest boards for a few years, so I decided I would finally get around to making one.

My fabric choices comprised of quite a few fabrics that I have had for a long time and really like, but have kept saving them for some unknown future project. They are an interesting mix of prints, vintages and origins. I decided that it was silly to keep saving them, as I should be using them and seeing them in every day use, and this project was a good one to start using them for. The pallate is pale and mostly pastel, with a mixture of ditsy and other prints and plains, but I think the fabrics blended well.

I used a large hexie shape for the design, as hexies are my favourite shape to work with in EPP, but I've done lots of small hexie projects and wanted to try a larger design this time around. I was quite happy with how it turned out, and I didn't even really need to use much of each of my favourite fabrics for this project either.

I used the original cover to create an extra layer under the top layer, partly to make the cover a bit thicker, and partly because I didn't think I would use it for anything else and didn't want to throw it away. It worked well enough. I re-used the original string tie from the old cover too.  Here's a picture of the finished cover on the ironing board:

In between doing this and starting work on my rug weaving, I also made a trivet or table mat with the seams I cut off jeans and another sewing scrap bag for the craft table from jean waistbands, belt loops and pockets. Both projects were hand sewn and used up lots of scrappage from the jeans, which was all good.

The remaining free sewing time I had left this month, I decided to continue work on one of my all-time favourite EPP quilt projects. I hadn't picked it up in probably a year or more, but I want to finish it this year. It's been a mammoth project, as it's king sized and made from 1 inch hexies. The main thing I need to do is to add navy hexies around the edges to even up them up, so that I can add wadding and backing to it and then bind it all together. It is going to take quite a lot of work still, as there are some big gaps to fill, but I'm slowly working on it in the evenings in front of the TV, so I'll get there eventually. 

Here's a picture of where I'm currently at with it:

Once LB and OH went away on their travels, I got out the clothing rack that I was going to transform into a loom and cleaned and assembled it. I then started to tie the warp chords to the frame. This turned out to be a bit tricky, as it was difficult to get the warp threads and tension tight enough. I was using macrame yarn for this purpose, which was thick and strong, but even so, I struggled at first until I got into an efficient routine of tying all the tops first, cutting the chord to the correct length and then, whilst sitting on the floor, I moved along tying the bottom chords and trying to create as much tension as possible. 

Another issue I faced when I got out the rack, was that it was actually taller than I'd measured previously, as I'd measured it when it was dissembled!! It could actually make a rug of approximately 125cm in length, as opposed to the 100cm I thought I was making. I was unsure if I had enough fabric yarn, although the width was slightly narrower at 75/80cm, as opposed to 90cm that I'd previously calculated. I figured I could always make it shorter or make more yarn and proceeded to go ahead as planned, with what I had made.

Once the warp chords were secured, all 46 of them, I could then proceed to start weaving. I'd created an order in which I wanted to use the different fabric yarns and tried to follow it, so that the weave wasn't too random. It took an afternoon to weave the rug. I had more than enough fabric yarn in the end and still have some left to use in another project potentially.

Here's a picture of the rug whilst it was on the loom. Once woven, my next job was to hand stitch the edges of the rug together, before tying off the strings and taking it off the frame.  I then machine stitched the sides to secure them, before binding the edges.

Here's a picture of the finished rug and a more close up look at the weave:

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, for a first attempt. It ended up being 115cm by 75cm. I will probably make another, possibly in blue, as I have some blue macrame cord for this purpose and lots of blue fabric to make yarn. I'm not sure when though. I need a break before embarking on another one of these. Hopefully the rug will be washable, as it is made of cotton fabric. It has been very satisfying to use up lots of my stash on this project. The only thing I did purchase was the macrame cord, which cost around £6 online, so it was a pretty frugal make.

That just about sums up my progress in terms of sewing and weaving projects this month. I'm happy with the progress I've made and several items did get completed, which is good.

After a busy month of making, now the weather is warming up, next month I am aiming to make some cushion covers for our outdoor furniture. We currently have cream coloured cushions from IKEA, which are very impractical for outdoor use and not easily washable, so I want to make covers for them that can be removed and washed.

I'm going to be making these covers using patchwork and making them with offcuts from denim jeans and other bits of denim I have. I'm hoping they'll look nice in the garden in the summer months and will be hard wearing. I'll keep you updated with my progress in next month's Monthly Makes post.

I'll also be continuing with the hexie quilt and hopefully making progress on that. I may also think up and start other projects in between, which if I do, I will post about in next month's Monthly Makes post.

I hope you've had a crafty month.

The Home Alone Half of the Week - W/E 22nd March 2026 - Part 2

On Thursday last week, OH headed off early to catch a plane to Spain. He was going on a cycling break with some friends, for a long weekend. I got up a little later and got ready to go to the gym for a class. I decided to cycle there. It was another lovely sunny day, we had great weather last week.

When I got home, I did a bit of financial housekeeping and paid a couple of bills. I also got out my stack of bank statements going back 15 years. I managed to windle it down quite a bit. It will take a while to shred everything, as my shredder is hand operated and only takes one sheet of paper at a time. It was a bit of a trip down memory lane, seeing the payments that went into and out of my account this long ago. I'm glad to shred them to be honest, for most of the period I lived in overdraft, not any more thankfully. (It was a free overdraft!)

Anyway, after lunch LB headed off for her week away too. She was flying to Northern Ireland with a couple of friends, one of whom lives there. I felt a bit sad after she'd gone and I was left home alone. It didn't last long, as I decided to just keep myself busy. I shredded some of the paperwork, cleaned out the fridge and made some fruit jellies using up a few strawberries left in the freezer.

I then decided to make something completely new for supper. It was a Dopiazeh Persian Potato Curry. It was a very simple recipe that I'd found on Pinterest, using just a couple of potatoes, an onion, half a tin of tomatoes and I threw in a few french beans from the freezer too. All the other ingredients were spices or herbs. It was very nice. I just had it with the last remaining slice of bread. 

I am currently seeking out new recipes, preferably vegetarian, as meat is very expensive, and who knows what will be available in the future. If there are food shortages, recipes like this will be useful for making the best of what we have and what we grow at the allotment.

After supper, I decided to water all the houseplants downstairs, as I'd been meaning to do it all week and they were getting a bit dry and frazzled. I then got out the clothing rail that I'm going to weave my rug on. It was a bit dusty, so I cleaned it down and assembled it. I'm hoping it works well as a loom. Fingers crossed. I just needed to set up the warp threads before I could get started.

On Friday, I got up late after lying in bed reading. I started a new book from my TBR pile called 'Wilding' by Isabella Tree. It is the story of how a historic farming estate in West Sussex, was completely re-wilded, after the family farming it for over a decade, failed to hardly make a profit. I'm only two chapters in and I'm loving it.

Eventually, I surfaced and got ready for the day. Today, was the day that I was going to make my rug. The process took all day. Firstly, I needed to attach the warp threads to the frame and then weave using the fabric yarn. I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. I still had things to finish to complete it, i.e. the binding, but I was happy with what I'd done.

As a consequence, Friday passed pretty quickly. I didn't set foot outside the house, save to go into the garden and feed the birds, but that's not completely unheard of here, especially when I get engrossed in some project or other. OH called in the evening and seemed to be enjoying himself which was good.

Friday evening, I started watching The Other Bennett Sister on iPlayer. It was excellent, so excellent that I binge watched all 5 episodes (They were only 30 minutes long). 

On Saturday, I had another lie in.  Why not? I finished one book, that I'd already part read, but had left in a drawer and forgotten about. Hence, why I bought the same book again earlier this year, (from the CS) which was super annoying.  Now I need to donate two of the same book. The charity shop will think me a little crazy, which I am.

OH called for a chat and to tell me that his brother is going home from the hospital, which was good news. He was enjoying himself in Spain, but had injured his knee, accidentally bumping into a piece of furniture in the villa where they were staying. 

When I got up, I decided to change some bedding, then went downstairs for breakfast. I spent the morning cutting up some old t-shirts and other clothes, that I no longer want, but which are too worn to donate. I will probably make them into fabric yarn, as we already have way too many cleaning cloths.

After lunch, I decided to continue with making the rug. I needed to stitch the fabric yarn strips together along the edges, before taking it off the loom and then cut the warp threads and tie them. Once I'd done that, I machine stitched the edges to make them more secure.

I also intermittently pottered around putting away laundry, putting on laundry and doing other small jobs. I was determined to eat properly whilst everyone was away, so I made a chicken hot pot to last me two nights. Whilst it was cooking in the oven, I pinned some binding onto the rug, so all I need to do now is stitch it on, which I'm going to do by hand. I'll post a picture of the finished rug in my Monthly Makes post next week.

After two days spent at home, on Sunday, I needed to get out of the house, so I headed off to the gym in the morning for my usual gym session. The weather continued to be lovely, which was a bonus.

In the afternoon, I decided to put aside all making and sewing for the rest of the day and do some cleaning. The house definitely needed a spring clean and whilst everyone was away, it was an ideal time to set about it. I decided to start upstairs in the main bedroom and work my way down through the house, just doing the basics in the living rooms, as I needed help to move the sofa and switch the rooms up a bit for the warmer months. I'll probably do those rooms properly later in the week when OH is back.

I managed to thoroughly clean the main bedroom, and did a quick job on the sewing room. This room will be cleaned properly next month, as we have a visitor who will be staying in it, so it wasn't essential for it to be thoroughly cleaned and then done again a few weeks later.

I then vacuumed and mopped the stairs and landings, before it got a bit late to use the vacuum cleaner, so I stopped for supper. I went back and wiped down pictures, skirtings and bannisters on the stairs and landings after supper and then decided to spend an hour or so thoroughly cleaning down the worktop on one side of the kitchen, doing the washing up, sweeping the floor, cleaning the dishwasher with citric acid and then cleaning some powder puffs from upstairs, before calling it a night. It felt good to get started on the spring cleaning, which will be a mammoth job and will probably take me most of the week. 

I have to say that I've made good use of my time home alone this week and lots of small jobs that I've been putting off have got completed. There's still more to do, but hopefully I'll get some of them done before OH comes home. It did make me wonder why I'm not so productive when everyone is home.

A Week of Two Halves - W/E 22nd March 2026 - Part 1

Monday this week, I was up a little earlier than usual and headed out to do the weekly shop. OH gave me some money to fill up the car with petrol, just in case prices start rising in the near future. They don't appear to have gone up much yet, but who knows what will happen in the coming weeks.

I needed some of my usual and very expensive mouthwash this week and was fortunate to find that Boots were offering it at 30% off, bring the price down to £5.70, so I stocked up on three bottles to keep me going for probably the next month or two.

I also had a £5 off a £50 spend at Tesco to use. I don't usually spend this much in store, but bought some things I would normally get at Lidl to make use of the voucher. I don't think I overpaid for anything as I shopped carefully and stocked up on a few things we were out of. I also bought a few yellow stickered items for the freezer, breakfast items and meat mainly.  The remainder of the shop I did at Lidl, plus a few odd bits elsewhere. 

Tuesday morning, I went to my usual Zumba class at the gym. It was a really good class this week. I felt like I got a good work out and there were at least twice as many people in the class, which was good. It was a lovely sunny spring day, so the walk there and back was much more enjoyable.

I treated myself to some turkey bacon this week, so for lunch I made a bacon sandwich. It's not something I buy often, in fact I don't think I've had it for a couple of years, but I enjoyed it, as it is very low calorie.

I spent the afternoon making another sewing scrap basket for the craft table using some of the leftover waistbands, beltloops and pockets from the jeans I've recently cut up. It's quite a nice little hand stitching project and is a great way to use up these bits. I made this one slightly bigger than the previous one I made, but it still had pockets/loops for a needle case, snips, seam ripper and a little pin cushion to hang on the side. The one I have by the kitchen table I find super useful, especially to hold all the small fabric scraps and bits of cotton ends that I snip up. It just corrals everything I need when sewing and having a second one means I don't have to keep traipsing the first one I made between the kitchen and the craft table.

On Wednesday, I had a free day, so I spent some time making a trivet or table mat using the seams that I'd cut off the same jeans. More scraps used up for something useful. I've previously made mug coasters in a similar way. This mat is slightly bigger, although not quite as big as I'd like to have made it, but I had no other seams left to add. I think I'm done sewing for a while, save for gradually working on the hexi quilt I started a few years ago. For the rest of the month I'm going to concentrate on weaving the rug that I've made fabric yarn for.

On Wednesday afternoon, I just needed to walk up to our local library to return some books. I got one book out, which looks like quite an easy read. Here's a picture:

I wouldn't say I'm a reluctant environmentalist, but it might make interesting reading and it's the kind of book you can pick up and put down easily.

On the way back from the library, I noticed that someone was getting rid of a garden bench and had left it out on the street with a bunch of other items. I took a photo and put it on the allotment chat asking if I should get it for our little site. I got a positive response, which was a win, so I messaged Matthew and asked if he could come and help me carry it to the site, which was only 100 yards away.  We sat it behind the new shed for now. It looks pretty good there.  We needed somewhere to sit and chill inbetween spells of gardening and free is preferable to buying a new one. Here's a picture:

Hopefully, we'll all get some good use out of it.

This concludes this half of the week, I'm posting separately about the second half.

A Week of More Sewing, a Photography Exhibition and A Garden Tidy Up - W/E 15th March 2026

This week, I was glad to get back to my normal routine. On Monday, LB decided to come with me to do the grocery shopping out of town, so it was nice to have company. I managed to buy most of our Easter eggs whilst out, as the supermarkets all had offers on small/medium sized eggs this week, which saved me some money. 

I did visit the charity shop and I bought one item of clothing for £5 and a couple of word search books for 50p each. The 'Clever kids' version is not by any means full of easy puzzles and I've been timing myself as I do them, just for fun. They are good to keep my brain ticking over.

The item of clothing I bought, was a knitted black dress. I know we are now coming into spring, but this dress is a lovely loose fitting one from Kit and Caboodal, which is a UK company that imports Lagenlook clothing made in Italy. The website isn't currently active, so I'm not sure if they are still in business, but this dress isn't too lagenlook and loose, it just fits nicely without being too tight and will look nice worn with knee high boots. (Except I do need to get mine re-heeled, so I may not wear it this year) I think it probably will have been quite expensive new, so I was very happy to buy it for £5. I'll post a photo in a monthly clothing purchase post at the end of the month, as I have bought a few bits of clothing this month after a couple of months not buying anything.

We got some bad news on Monday, that OH's brother had been admitted to hospital, which was a bit of a surprise, as we'd seen him only a few days before.  He had a bit of a health crisis after we'd come home and is now receiving treatment and undergoing some investigations, which will hopefully help him going forward.

On Tuesday, I was due at the gym for my Zumba class as usual. Fortunately, the music for this class was okay, which was good. When I got home I ended up going to bed in the afternoon for a 3 hour nap. I had slept very badly the night before and just felt so tired. I felt much better for it and then spent a while reading in bed once I'd woken up. As a consequence, Tuesday was a bit of a write-off, but such is life sometimes.

Wednesday, I didn't need to go anywhere or do anything, so I decided to have a day at home sewing. I managed to finish the ironing board cover project, which I was very happy with and I will post about this next month in my Monthly Makes post. I then deconstructed a pair of my old jeans to use for some future projects. They weren't really in good enough condition to donate, so I'll use them to make something else instead. It was nice to stay home and get at least one project finished.

On Thursday, my usual class at the gym was cancelled, as the teacher was unavailable. As a consequence, I decided to take myself off to a free Women's History Month event in the Docklands. It was a talk at a local library about the Women Gardeners of East London, who created parks and garden spaces for all to enjoy. I was really looking forward to it. I had to take two buses to get to the library, but when I got there, it was closed due to staff shortages. I was very disappointed and left a message on the library answer phone asking if the talk had been rearranged.

In order not to waste the day, I decided to stop off at another event on the way home, namely a photography exhibition by a lady called Joyce Edwards. It was in a small gallery and it consisted of a series of photos of a community of squatters in the 1970's, who occupied a small area of houses that had been compulsorily purchased by the GLC (Greater London Council - now disbanded) and were due to be demolished in order to build a motorway through the East End of London. Thankfully, the motorway never got built, and the squatters, who were a varied bunch of artists, actors, musicians and other young people, eventually formed a housing co-op, which bought the houses and refurbished them, with the help of the local council. I believe many of them still live there today. 

It was a very uplifting story about how group action and protest can have positive results. There were a few films showing as part of the exhibition, where members of the group talked about their experiences.  It was super interesting and on the way home, I walked down a couple of the streets and saw the results of their efforts. I was glad that I didn't just go home defeated and went on to learn something about this period of London history instead.

On the way home, I dropped into a nearby Buddhist Centre Charity shop. It's not a shop I've ever been in, but it was a lovely little shop, with lots of really good items in there. I have to say that I did buy a few things. Firstly, I bought a 100% wool sweater, which cost £18. This is a lot more than I would normally pay for anything in a charity shop, but it was very colourful and it is rare to find 100% wool sweaters anywhere nowadays. I'll post a picture of it in another post. I just hope that no moths get to it.

I also bought two large pieces of denim fabric. They are not heavy denim, but the kind of weight that will be easy to make into clothing. One piece was 4 metres long and I paid £7 for it and the second piece was 2m long and cost £4. I really don't need more fabric, but if it's natural fibre and can be made into clothing, then it is worth picking up, as denim usually costs at least £8-£10 per meter. I'm looking forward to making some items of clothing with them. I'll keep you posted. Here's a picture:

Finally, I also bought another non-fiction book, which is right up my street. This cost £3.50.

As a consequence, I have very much overspent on my thrifting budget this month, but as I'm so happy with what I bought, I do not care. Sometimes, you just have to buy certain things when the price and quality is right.

Anyway, I walked all the way home with my bag of charity shopping, which was no mean feat, as it was heavy and the distance was almost 3 miles. I did get 10,000 of steps in though, which was all good.

This week, we've started watching the new adaptation of A Woman of Substance. It's many years since I watched the original and I can't really remember it in detail, so it's quite like watching it from scratch.

On Friday, I was going to try out a new class at the gym, but decided not to in the end and had a lie in reading instead. I felt a bit lazy this week. After lunch, I took a walk to the allotment to bring the bins in after they'd been emptied and stayed for a while to start clearing weeds from the path. Here's a picture of the plot at the beginning of the growing season:

The fruit bushes are starting to sprout, OH has planted the potato tubers, but there's very little else happening at the moment. You'll just be able to see the very small bit of the path that I cleared towards the top left of the photo. It's quite time consuming trying to dig out dandelion roots between the pavers. I've got six weeks to clear the paths around the plot, so I should have time to do it all, even if I only clear a few rows each visit.

I've decided that this year I'm going to try to weigh all the produce we grow, which I've never done before and just see how many kg of food we produce on this small plot. It should be interesting, providing I remember to weigh it all each time we harvest.

On Saturday afternoon, I finally felt motivated to do some work in the garden at home. I just haven't felt like getting out there, even though we have had some good weather days. Anyway, I began by tidying up around the decking, pruning a few plants around the edges, then moving and sweeping under all the pots on the decking. Most are on rollers and easy to move around.

By the time I'd done that, OH came out and helped me, by removing all the cat excrement from the borders in the paved part of the garden. Sadly, it's a cat toilet every year, despite various efforts to put them off. He managed to fill 3 dog bags this year. TMI I know, but a fact of life in a small London garden, where it seems like the majority of people in the neighbourhood own at least one cat and some more than one. It's been worse since we lost our dog, as she kept most of them out. It felt so much better once that job had been done. 

Whilst OH was doing that, I focused my attention on the narrow border on the other side of the paved part of the garden. We created this border last year and it's not really very mature. I weeded, cut back some plants, planted a few bulbs and also transplanted some self-sown foxgloves underneath the cherry tree. It's a bit adhoc and the planting has not really been designed, but I like to garden this way. It doesn't currently look like much, but should improve as things grow bigger. I could do with buying a few plants for this border, but my budget doesn't really stretch to it at the moment, and besides, it's not a very sunny spot, so we're limited in what we can grow here.

It felt lovely to get out in the garden again and progress with making it a space we can enjoy.  We still need to move some wood in the middle of the paving, which OH is going to do once he's managed to do the damp proof course around the outside of the kitchen, then it can all go back down the side return and I will then be able to properly clear the paving of moss and weeds. I'll post again with photos once this has been done.

Later, on Saturday evening, I made some sultana scones.  I'm trying to use up items in my baking drawer and I had an abundance of plain flour that needed using. They turned out okay and it was nice to have something sweet to eat for a change, as I don't tend to buy or make sweet baked goods very often.

Sunday was Mother's Day. OH was out cycling and I headed off to the gym mid morning. I hadn't been for a couple of weeks and I could feel it. I felt very tired when I came home. I stopped off on the way home to watch a heron on the canal. It had a small fish in it's beak, wiggling around. It took a while for it to actually swallow it whole. (Poor little thing)

When I got home, LB presented me with this lovely handmade card and a very lovely smelling soy wax candle for Mother's Day. I was very impressed by her creativity. It is such a beautiful card. It made my day. OH offered to take me out, but I wasn't too bothered. I find places too busy on days such as these. I'm quite happy to stay home. He did treat me to some wine, chocolates and a bottle of gin later, which made me very happy.

The week came to an end watching a disturbing Louis Theraux documentary on Netflix about the 'Manosphere'. I do sometimes wonder what the world is coming to and feel sorry that LB has to navigate some of the atrocious attitudes out there right now. Luckily, she's on it and is well aware of the misogyny and other horrible prejudices spouted by certain individuals online. It shows a very dangerous side to the internet that I am happier knowing little about, but we all should probably be aware of it for our childrens' sake, in order to try to protect them from it.

A Visit to Yorkshire and Settling Back In at Home

On Thursday of last week, OH and I were heading off to Yorkshire to visit family. I was booked into the gym at 10am, so I headed off there on my bike, so I could get back as quickly as possible and pack in time for our departure.

The class was good, but the new music wasn't so good. I'm hoping that eventually the instructor will be able to find good enough music on the new system to enable her to continue with her regular class, otherwise we might find ourselves doing step routines, which I'm not that keen on, as I damaged my knee doing these classes many years ago. We'll just have to see how it pans out. It's early days.

When I got home, I showered and changed, packed and had some lunch before we headed off up the motorway. The journey wasn't too bad, although we did pass a car on the opposite carriage way that was engulfed in flames. Luckily, I think the passengers had got out, as there were a few people stood a distance from the car.  The fire brigade hadn't yet arrived, but we were surprised how close cars were passing the scene of the fire.

Anyway, we continued on and got to OH's mums around supper time. She had kindly made us some food, which was appreciated and we spent the evening chatting and catching up on news, inbetween watching a bit of Crufts on TV.

On Saturday morning, OH went off on a run and I drove to his brother's to meet him there, via the local charity shops. I haven't really had a look in a charity shop for a few weeks, as I haven't really had the budget, so it was nice to have a little browse. One of the shops had a half price sale on, and I ended up buying a 100% viscose dress for £3.

It's a flattering style, so I'm quite happy with it. I have made a small adjustment to it around the neckline, as it had two lots of ties. I removed both of these and stitched the neck slit closed, as it looks better on this way. I really like it and hope to get a lot of wear out of it. It's the first item of clothing that I've bought this year, which is good for me.

OH and I then visited his brother and his partner. Unfortunately, his brother is still not recovered from a major stroke, so is housebound. It was nice to see him and he seems okay in the circumstances. I took his partner out to do a bit of shopping whilst OH sat with him, as she struggles to get out of the house and it made a change for her.

Later, when we left, OH and I went over to Boyes to get a few bits we needed before stopping off at a pub for a drink on the way back to his mum's.

We spent the second evening at OH's mum's again. She had kindly made us supper. It was her 83rd birthday on Saturday, so we spent as much time with her as we could this visit.

Saturday morning, we got up and whilst OH's mum was at church we headed out to get a few extra bits for her birthday and to find a cake. We all later met at his brother's house, along with his sister who had driven over. It was nice to see her too and catch up with her family's news before heading back to London.

The journey back was quite good, with not too much traffic on the roads, but we were glad to get back to our house and settle back in. It was lovely to see LB too, when she got home from work.

I spent the evening working on the ironing board project. I miss my sewing when I go away and it was lovely to get back to it. It helps me stay calm.

On Sunday morning, I woke late, as I'd stayed up late watching a couple of movies on TV. I had a lie in reading for a while. I decided not to go to the gym today. I just wanted a day at home settling back in, making my shopping list for the week, unpacking, doing some laundry and catching up on jobs. I'll start back at the gym on Tuesday when I go to a class.

Later on Sunday, OH and I went to the allotment. He to plant out his potato tubers and sort out the new manure bin, that we need to store some fresh manure in to rot down, and I to do some weeding of the plot as a lot of small weeds were starting to surface now we've had some warmer weather. We took some spare York Stone pavers with us to sit the manure bin on. It was an enjoyable couple of hours pottering on the plot and it looked tidy as we came away. We probably won't be doing much else on it for the remainder of March. I may go down and do a bit more weeding of the paths, but only if I feel so inclined and the weather allows.

When we got home, I made some banana muffins from some overripe bananas that I had in the freezer. They'd been there a good while and needed using. I found a recipe on Pinterest and just gave it a go. They ended up being very tasty. I would definitely make them again.

We watched the best in show final of Crufts in the evening. We've enjoyed seeing all the lovely dogs.

A Return to Reading

For a few years now, I've done very little reading. I always used to be a voracious reader, especially as a child, but in recent years I've felt very distracted, and found it really difficult to sit down and pick up a book. I don't think the advent of smart phones and other online activities (i.e YouTube) have helped. Recently, however, my enthusiasm for reading has returned and it's wonderful. It's like being reacquainted with an old friend.

Whereas it used to take me months to work my way through a book, I've read half a dozen in the last couple of months and I am really enjoying myself. I tend to read in bed, in the morning when I wake up, as there are no distractions and I'm snug and comfortable under the covers. (I know I'm very fortunate that I can do this, due to not working at the moment) I do sometimes read at the kitchen table or lying on the sofa, but not often and only when I'm really engrossed in a book.

I've just recently finished an engrossing book and have now started reading another from my TBR (to be read) bookshelf, which has accumulated over the last few years. The book in question is called 'Feral' by George Monbiot, who is a writer and environmentalist and it concerns itself with re-wilding the land and sea and our human instincts for wildness. It's very interesting.

I've also lined up a couple of other reads on a similar subject, which seems to have become a favourite genre in recent weeks. Living in a big city, it is so easy to become estranged from nature, yet I find it very important for keeping myself sane and grounded in a chaotic and difficult world.

Reading is such a wonderful activity. It doesn't have to cost much, if you use your local library or buy books second hand, yet it can provide hours of entertainment.  I have to admit that, in general, I'm more drawn to non-fiction, which I know is not everyone's preferred choice, but it can be so interesting and enlightening about our world and our experiences in and of it.

I'm hoping that I continue to enjoy this hobby going forward and don't get too distracted from it again. Do you read much?

Monthly Make - February/March 2026

For the duration of February, I continued with my make for the month, namely to cover one side of a chair cover, using left over denim. It was a very slow and quite frustrating process, stitching each small piece using a zig zag stitch. Eventually by the end of the month I'd got to the bottom of the fabric I was attaching them to. I have to say that it was a relief, as it was a lot of work just to use up fabric scraps, but such is life. Here's a picture of the patchwork piece I created:

Before attaching it, I had to make a small repair to the velvet side of the cover, as a small hole had worn in it, but this was easy enough to do and it looked much better for it. I also washed and dried it, as I don't think I'd done that for a while.

Once it had dried, I could attach the patchworked denim backing and put it back into use. It was, however, March by the time I completed this, so I didn't actually complete this project in February as I intended, but here's a picture of the finished item anyway:

 

I'm happy enough with the result and at least it is now back in use and should serve it's purpose for many more years to come.

In between continuing with this make, I did also start a project to make a new ironing board cover and also made some fabric yarn for a forthcoming weaving project. I always like to have a few projects on the go, so that when I tire of one, I can distract myself with another, until I'm feeling motivated again.

My monthly make for March, however, is a slightly different project for me. I am intending to finally weave a reasonable sized rug for the sewing room. It will be in different shades of green, brown  and cream, to go with some new curtains I am going to put up. I have now finished making the fabric yarn for it and will weave it together later in the month.

I'm intending to weave it whilst OH and LB are both away, as I will have the space and lack of interruptions to set up a clothing rail as a loom in the living room. I'm hoping to get it finished, for the most part, whilst they are away and then maybe bind it by hand. It's a big new project for me, and I'm not sure how it will turn out, but it should be fun.

In between, I will also work on other existing projects and I'll update you on how these go next month. 

Have you got any interesting creative projects on the go at the moment?

A Short Week - W/E 8th March 2026 - Part One

This week was going to be a short week, as OH and I were heading up to Yorkshire to visit family on Thursday. LB was working, so wasn't able to come with us. As a consequence, I could be a little conservative with regard to the weekly shop. Some things I forgot to pick up, some items I couldn't find and a few items I decided to leave until we got back from Yorkshire. I still spent a lot this week though as some expensive items needed replenishing, i.e. xylitol and shampoo. (I use Alpecin and it's almost £9 per large bottle and Xylitol is £10 for a large bag)

There were lots of yellow stickered goods available in Tesco, but they weren't very heavily reduced, so I didn't buy many of them. I just bought some veggie bean burgers and some pork loin steaks to put in the freezer. I did also get some tangerines reduced, but nothing else, which was disappointing.

I did manage to get some crumpets reduced in B&M and Aldi and these just go into the freezer for my breakfasts, so they should last me a couple of weeks. I also had a 10% off voucher on my shopping at Lidl, so that helped me save £6+ pounds this week. I did probably buy more than we needed, but it will all get eaten at some point and I still needed to make sure there was enough food for LB to eat in our absence.

On Monday evening, OH and I continued watching a new drama series we found on Netflix called Dark Winds, it's set on a Navajo reservation in Arizona and it's quite interesting.

Tuesday, started off with an Aerobics class as usual. I was concerned that the change in music would make it less enjoyable, but it didn't this week at least. As it was a nice, bright, dry day, I took a much longer route home though a nature reserve, which was enjoyable and got me a few more steps in.

I did a bit of fabric yarn making for my weaving when I got home. I've almost made all the yarn that I need now. I then watched a couple of episodes of Silent Witness on BBC iPlayer and found a new series to watch on Netflix, which was quite funny. It wasn't a very productive day today, I have to admit, but some days are like that and I like not being busy rushing around and instead taking time to do things that I enjoy. 

On Wednesday, OH was out in the morning. I sorted a bit of laundry, did a bit of blogging/blog reading and then decided to do a bit of sewing in the new craft corner. I stitched the last 15 metres of fabric yarn together for weaving.  I was surprised at how little time it took, less than an hour. All the fabric yarn I need is now gathered together in a basket ready to weave. I'm looking forward to it.

I decided today, that my next weaving project, after the green rug for the sewing room, is going to be to make a colourful scrappy woven rug for the shed. It should be a good way to use up lots of colourful scraps of fabric I've accumulated. It will probably take a while, as it will take time to make all of the small scraps into fabric yarn and then weave them into a rug. It will, however, keep me busy and make good use of otherwise not easily usable fabric.

After making the fabric yarn, I finally finished stitching the seat cover, my February make. I attached the denim patchwork piece to the back of the old cover and trimmed up the edges. I had to hand stitch it closed as it was a bit too thick to machine top stitch, but it looks okay and will at least last a bit longer now. I've posted separately about this.

I then began working on the ironing board cover project that I started last month. I laid the EPP pieces I'd made on the board and then proceeded to hand stitch them together. I just need to add a few additional pieces around the edges so that it can be folded under the board, bound and strung. I'm liking the overall effect so far though. As a consequence, it felt like a much more productive day.

It's been quite a sewing heavy half of the week, which is all good, as I love progressing my projects.

Financial Round Up - February 2026

I love February, from a financial point of view at least, as it's a very short month. This said, I only just managed to eke it out through the month in spite of my spending being the least it has been in a long time, more than two years to be exact.

I'm now down to my last two months existing on what I saved from my last job. It should take me to the end of April, which isn't bad, as it will have lasted 8 months by then. OH does, of course, help out with food and other necessities, so I must give him credit for that, but it is surprising how little you can exist on if you put your mind to it.

From May, I will be using some savings as income, until some pensions mature later in the year, after which I'm hoping to use those going forward. Fortunately, I had a boost to the savings I will be using this month, when some dividends were paid out early and this account should now see me through until my pensions start paying me, give or take a few pounds. With a bit of luck, more money might appear between then and now, what with interest payments on savings due in April and possibly another dividend at some point. It is, of course, not ideal to eke out each month in this way, but until I find a job that resonates, which sounds very selective I know, I am happy to do so.

Spending this month was, as I've mentioned much reduced, probably by at least £150 on even the lowest months in recent years. I'm not quite sure how I did it, but I hardly bought anything other than food and household essentials. I did need to buy a few things on eBay for the allotment (potato tubers and seeds), some toiletries I can't get elsewhere and I spent £8 on a new fitted cotton sheet at Tesco using a £4 off voucher. 

The only other non-food/household expenditure was £5 on some books, £6 on various bits and £2 on some denim jeans for fabric, all bought from charity shops and well within the £20 per month limit that I allow myself for thrifting, so I'm fairly okay with these purchases. 

No items of clothing were bought this month, save for a couple of small accessories. Having got out of the habit of buying them, it does make me wonder why I was compulsively buying so many items when I did work and earn money.  I also bought a few consumable Valentines gifts, but these probably cost around £10 in total.

I didn't book a dental appointment, as I'm still on the fence about whether to move practice and I didn't book an optical appointment, as I didn't get a reminder from ASDA, but I'm intending to do that this coming month, as it is important and can't be left indefinitely. Not sure where I'm going to go for that though, possibly another optician's practice, as ASDA have in my experience, always been very slack on reminding me when I need an eye test.

Apart from this, I don't have any big expenses coming up next month, although Easter is approaching and I will need to buy some chocolate eggs for OH and LB. Also, it is OH's mother's birthday next month, so a present for her, which OH and I will take up north with us when we visit family this month.  It will be nice to have a change of scenery. 

OH and LB are also both going away at the same time later in March, so I will be home alone for a while, but I am intending to use this time to weave a rug using a clothing rail, as I need space to put up the rail and take my time using it to complete the weave. 

Once the weather warms up a bit, I will be able spend time on the allotment and in the garden, both of which are very inexpensive hobbies that I enjoy. I've also earmarked a few free events for Women's History Month that I'd like to attend in various parts of East London, so that might be interesting.

I didn't make it to an exhibition this month, as the weather put me off going out and I wasn't really feeling motivated to do it, but I'll try to do something next month. I was thinking of going to The Stitch Festival in Islington, but at £20 for a ticket, plus nearly £5 booking fee, I've decided not to bother, as I'll only want to spend money when I get there. The booking fee does seem particularly expensive too.

I hope you've had a good month financially in February and have lots of nice things planned for March.

Ekeing Things Out at the End of the Month - W/E 1st March 2026

The last week of February started with a lie in. I finished reading 'Worn - A People's History of Clothing' by Sofi Thanhauser. It was one of those books that I was sad to finish, as I have enjoyed it. I relished delving into a new chapter every time I picked it up. 

Anyway, I then read the first chapter of another book, which is essentially about food waste. It was written in 2009, so it is probably a little dated, but hopefully I'll enjoy reading it. I think perhaps there is more done to prevent food waste these days, as lots of supermarkets now seem to be on board with distributing their unsold items to charities or foodbanks.  There is, however, probably still a lot of food waste happening in the world, so it is still worth reading. We try very hard not to waste any food in our house, but occasionally we have little option than to throw out or compost some items that are beyond redemption.

After getting up and ready, I headed out to do the weekly shop. I had a limited budget this week of around £82, which I knew wasn't quite enough to get everything I needed. I did put £13 worth of stuff on my credit card, which will be paid off next month, and the rest came out of the £82 budget. I managed it just, with 8p to spare. Hopefully, I won't need to spend any further money this week, but if I do the credit card will have to come out again.

I managed to get quite a few yellow stickered items again this week, which was good and the freezer is full, so we've got more than we actually need for the week. I seem to have overspent on food this month by £60, which is probably on account of stocking up on quite a lot of things. It's fine though, it will all get eaten.

LB made use of the new crafting table on Monday afternoon, which is good. Talking of crafting, I started a new patchwork project on Monday evening, using some of my favourite fabrics in my stash. I've been saving them for something special for years, but I figured why just hang onto it, I need to use it and see it in daily use.  

Whilst making some fabric chains in the lead up to Xmas, I ironed some interfacing on the wrong side, sticking it to the ironing board, which was very stupid of me, so I've decided to make a new ironing board cover. It's an EPP project (English Paper Pieceing), so I've cut out some pieces, which I now need to baste and then start sewing together. As usual, I'm jumping from one project to another, but I like to have several projects on the go. I can't help myself.

Tuesday morning, I headed out to Zumba which was good. When I got back I spent a couple of hours sewing on my machine at the new craft table. It was nice to have a big space on which to sew and one that was in a different location in the house. LB was working in the afternoon, so I had the space to myself.

I then spent most of the rest of the afternoon working on other hand sewing projects, hanging out some laundry, etc. I finished a couple of small projects I'd started last week and did a bit more work on the new EPP project.

In the evening, I finished watching the Irish version of The Traitors which was good. No spoilers here though. Then, OH and I watched this week's episode of Industry.

Wednesday, I had a lie in in the morning and read a bit of my current book. It was a beautiful day, the best so far this year, with blue skies and sunshine, so I decided to finally get myself outside and walked into town to visit our newly refurbished library. I had a couple of other errands to do whilst out, so I did those too. It feels like it's been such a long wet winter, it was so lovely to feel the sun on my face again, whilst getting nearly 7,000 steps in.

It was very busy out and about. The sunshine had obviously had the same effect on many people. At the library, I found a few books to take out that sounded interesting. Here's a picture:

I also decided to order a particular book that I want to read. It's on my eBay watchlist, but rather than pay £12 -£13 for it, I thought I'd borrow it from the library for free instead. Although I'd like to own it, it isn't necessary to own every book I read. I also picked up a leaflet about London Open Gardens for charity and also one for Women's History Month, which takes place next month. There were a few events that I wouldn't mind attending, many of them free.

When I got home, I had a couple of hours on the sewing machine at the new craft table again. I'm trying to finish my February sewing project before the end of the week. LB was working again today, so I got to use the new crafting space, but for most of the rest of the week, she'll be using it herself.

The evening was spent watching another episode of The Lady on ITV that we'd recorded and then we watched a programme about painter L.S. Lowry which was interesting.

On Thursday, I was up and out to my class at the gym. It was the last class before the music changes, as the company that run the gym are refusing to pay license fees for Zumba and other music from March. Apparently they will have their own playlist of presumably non-licensed music. Sounds horrendous, but I'll just have to see how it pans out. OH came along with me today, to use the gym, but went home before I'd finished my workout, so I joined him at home later after taking a longer than normal route home, making the most of the weather being dry.

I didn't do a lot in the afternoon. I started watching a new drama series on BBC iplayer called The Walsh Sisters, which was about an Irish family with five daughters. It was good and I ended up binge watching 3 episodes before doing a bit of reading of one of the books I got from the library, called 'Homesick - Why I Live in a Shed' by Catrina Davies. I'm really enjoying it. It is well written and informative and talks a lot about rural and urban housing issues and poverty, which is very pertinent today for young people. It's taken priority over my current book, due to the fact that I will need to return it in a couple of weeks.

Friday, was a totally free day, with nothing planned. I had a long lie in reading the above book, which was enjoyable. After lunch I did a bit of financial housekeeping, as it was the end of the month, wrote a couple of blog posts and then made some deodorant, air freshener and a reed diffuser from some ingredients I had to hand.  Not sure how the latter will work out, but I make the other two regularly and they work well enough.  I then took a walk to the shops to get some milk and pick up a prescription.

On Saturday, we had next door's dog again. I did a bit of sewing for a couple of hours and finished attaching the small denim patches for the seat cover. I washed the actual cover and now just need to wait for it to dry before I can attach the new backing. 

We took the dog with us to the allotment after lunch and did a few small jobs. I say small, but we were there for 2 hours. We then took him for a walk. The sun even came out for a while, which was lovely. The dog came to us having just had a bath and by the time we got home he was stinky, having rolled in something not very nice at the park. OH had to shampoo him before sending him home.

In the evening, we finished watching The Lady and then I watched a couple more episodes of The Walsh Sisters which is really good. I didn't get to sleep until late as LB was out with friends and I never really settle until I know she's home safely.

As a consequence of a late night on Saturday, I had a lie in on Sunday morning reading my library book. It is so good, another book I will be sad to finish reading. I would definitely recommend it. I dug out a few books from my 'waiting to be read' pile, that I feel in the mood to read. I really need to work on getting this pile down this year and donating any read books I don't want to keep.

I was late going out to the gym, so I didn't get home until 2.30pm. I did a bit of hand sewing and chopping up waste fabric from some jeans I'm dismantling in the afternoon. Nothing exciting. I'm trying to get my current and ongoing sewing projects in some kind of order, as they got a bit messy and were sprawling all over the kitchen table.

It's been a quiet month, mainly due to the weather and financial limitations, but it has passed quite quickly. I'm hoping things will pick up a bit when the weather warms up and I can get out in the garden and onto the allotment more. I am, however, pretty happy living a slow and self determined existence, as opposed to being at the beck and call of a large corporation, always hungry to increase their profits. Life is much simpler and less demanding and I'm slowly learning to live within my new more restrictive means without too much difficulty.

A More Positive Week - W/E 22nd February 2026

This week started with a nice day out grocery shopping with LB. She decided to come along as she wasn't working until the end of the week, so we had a nice day out together. I'd forgotten that it was half term and the kids were off school, so when we got to Home Bargains it was very busy. It was also busy because it was the start of Ramadam the following day, so lots of families were out shopping in readiness. The car park was gridlocked, which was an unusual occurrence in recent weeks.

The remainder of the shopping went fine. I had a £4 off voucher to use at Tesco, so I bought a new 100% cotton fitted sheet that I needed and used it for that, making it just £8 instead of £12. There were  quite a few yellow stickered items to be had this week, for a change, which was good.

I also had a £5 voucher to use at Holland & Barrett, so I decided to use it to buy some Xylitol granules, which I use as a sweetener. I was only able to use £3 worth of the voucher, but that was fine as it made the cost 49p, so virtually free.

LB and I did visit the charity shop, but I just bought two pairs of denim jeans from the £1 rail to use for another denim project I have in mind. Too good to miss at that price. I'm planning on making some cushion covers for the outdoor chairs in the garden.

We had a family discussion in the evening, about altering the layout in the front living room, to give LB a space to do some crafting, as she doesn't really have space in her bedroom, as her desk is set up for computer gaming and not crafting. It will mean getting rid of the small sofa in there and getting her a new desk or table, but to be honest I've always found this sofa really uncomfortable and never use it. I much prefer the large sofa we have in the back living room, that we do use. Also,  LB may be doing some remote work soon, so it will also give her a place to work that isn't her bedroom, which I think is important. I'm just happy to make better use of our spaces within the house. I don't really have any strong opinions, so long as the space doesn't become too cluttered and an eyesore.

On Monday evening, I watched a couple more episodes of the Irish version of The Traitors. The characters in this version are interesting and quite entertaining. 

I was due at the gym on Tuesday morning for Zumba and really enjoyed the class. I have to say that I am really enjoying being back doing choreographed, dance type classes at the gym. I've realised how much I missed them, when I stopped going a few years ago. I think they are improving my aerobic fitness and they really lift my spirits. I've danced or done some type of dance classes for most of my life and find it a really positive form of self expression. It's more expensive, but it's worth it. I'm not ready to give them up yet. It also helped that for once, it was a lovely bright sunny day on Tuesday. Normally, it is raining as I make my way to the gym, so it made a really nice change. It's amazing how a little bit of sunshine can change your mood dramatically.

I spent the afternoon doing a few jobs at home, mainly laundry. I finished the wordsearch book I'd bought the previous week. I looked into buying another one, but priced at £3.40 in the shops, I decided to wait until I saw another one in the charity shop.  I also watched another episode of Silent Witness and then caught up to date with The Traitors (Ireland). 

After pancakes for supper, OH and I also watched the last two episodes of Small Prophets which whas really good. 

I love Wednesday mornings, as it's one of those mornings when I'm not at the gym and can read in bed for a while. I finished one book that I've been reading for over a year probably, so I can now donate it. I also read a chapter of another book I'm reading, before getting up and ready for the day. 

I decided to do some more decluttering today. I went through my scarves/hats/accessories baskets and then I went through another set of drawers, extracting all the things I no longer wanted to keep, in part to make them tidier, as they were a bit rammed full. In total, I think I put aside over 20 things to donate, which is all good and made my life a bit easier in the process. I also discovered some glasses that I may get lenses put in, when I have an eyetest this year, rather than buy new ones. Not sure yet, but they could tide me over until I can afford new glasses.

In the afternoon, I took myself off for a walk. It was cold though and I didn't wrap up warm enough. I should have put a hat on. When I got back, I made a chickpea masala from scratch for supper. It was the first time I'd tried a recipe I saw on YouTube and it turned out quite well. We all seemed to enjoy it, so I'll probably make it again sometime.

On Thursday morning, I really didn't want to wake up. I was enjoying a deep sleep, dreaming that I was late for my class at the gym. I eventually managed to get myself out of bed and get ready and go. I wasn't late in my waking life though thankfully. 

In the afternoon, I did a bit of blogging and blog reading. I also did a bit of work dismantling the two pairs of jeans I'd bought earlier in the week. It was a quiet afternoon spent at home, which is the usual these days. 

OH has sourced a free table for LB to craft on in the living room from a cycling friend, so we now just need to take the sofa to the tip, before he can collect it. She should be able to use the room as early as next week, hopefully. I may use it myself, when she isn't using it. It will give me a different space/view when sewing.

Friday, I had all good intentions of going to our newly opened central library, but it was raining heavily and I decided not to venture out as a consequence. Instead, I enjoyed watching some of the Winter Olympics, which has been very inspiring this month. I will definitely be going to the library next week, as I now have another errand that I need to do in the area, so it's probably just as well that I held off.

On Saturday, I had a lie in reading again and then our neighbours dropped their dog off with us for the day, as they were going out. It was nice to have his company again and OH and I took him out for a walk once the Rugby on TV, i.e. England vs Ireland had finished.  We stopped off at the pub again on the way home for a drink.

I treated OH to steak and asparagus for supper. I'd bought it for Valentine's day, but he'd taken us out to eat, so we had it this weekend instead. It's a rare treat these days, but we enjoyed it. LB was out working in the afternoon and then out with friends in the evening, so it was just OH and I at home.

Sunday morning, was my usual gym session. OH wasn't cycling this week, so he came with me.  Later in the afternoon, we took the sofa from the living room to the tip. We couldn't donate it, as I think I'd removed the fire retardancy labels, so the tip was our only option, which is regrettable. OH later went to pickup the new crafting table from his friend and set it up in the living room for LB. Hopefully, she will make good use of it.

In the evening, we watched a new series on ITV called The Lady which was good.

It's been a bit of a slow week this week, mainly due to the rainy weather, but small bits of progress have been made in certain areas, which is better than nothing. I hope you've had a more productive week than mine.

Project Pan 2026 - Update 1

I started Project Pan early last year to try to motivate me to use up the plethora of toiletries and make up that I seemed to have accumulated over the years. I originally started with 241 products that needed using up. I can't say that I was very disciplined about it for the first six or so months and didn't do any updates, but then towards the end of last year I did an update and had reduced the items in my beauty stash to 214.

I've been promising an update since, but I didn't think I'd progressed very far, which I haven't, but true to my word, here is a current update on this project. Here's a photo of the total number of products I still have in my stash to use up:

I was slightly disappointed when I found that the number had only gone down by 11 items to 203, (now 202 as I have since decanted the hand wash into a dispenser I use daily, which was empty). I do have to admit that a few more items have come into my possession over the Xmas period and in addition, I have also, subsequent to the original post, included some items that weren't included before, but should have been.

The items that came in included a couple of pumice stones, that I intend to use to work on my feet. I've got a few foot products and I need to start using them, so I bought the pummice stones last year with this intention, but never got around to it. I can't say that I'm the most disciplined person when it comes to self-care. I'm pretty good at taking regular exercise, but when it comes to pampering myself, I'm useless. I rarely think to do it. Hopefully, I may get around to it sometime this year.

In addition to the pummice stones, I was gifted some toiletries for Xmas. Not all of them I will use, so I have donated a couple of items, but I kept a body scrub, body lotion, pillow spray and the bath scrunchie that came in the set and donated the other two items to the charity shop. (The charity shop has a weekly tombola, so these things could be put into it as prizes.) I am intending to use the scrub and scrunchie for exfoliating when I next apply Fake Tan, which will possibly be for my niece's wedding later this year. I also bought a couple of soaps in Portugal on holiday last year and these will start to get used as soon as my current bar runs out.

Other additions to my stash this year include the inclusion of these toothbrushes, which I haven't previously counted, but should really

and also these sleep mist products, some of which were tucked away in a drawer and forgotten about.

I also received a few facial products for Xmas which were added to the already rather large selection. They are a particular brand that I enjoy using and hadn't seen in Home Bargains for a while, until Xmas when a gift set appeared, so I got a set of 3 products, so that I could mainly use the face cream. The other products in the set, i.e. a night cream and face serum will get used too.

Recently, I also expanded my stash of toothpaste, as the one I use is not sold in the UK, but is an important part of a dental hygiene regime I follow. As I was down to my last 3 tubes, and can only buy it on eBay, I bought a pack of 6 more. These cost approximately £4 each, which isn't a bad price, considering they come from the US, but many other sellers were selling them for nearer £7 each, so I wanted to stock up, anticipating that they may go up in price at some point, what with tariffs, etc.

The final additions were a magnesium spray that I have relatively recently started using, a KIKO face powder I was given for Xmas by LB and a KIKO lipstick that OH got me for Xmas, both of which I will start to use once I have used up some of the others currently in my stash.

I did also realise, whilst creating this update, that I've once again bought a product when I already had a plentiful supply of it. This relates to some miscellar water I bought the other week and then discovered a very large bottle of it in my stash, which was very annoying. It will get used, but I could have saved myself the expense.

In all, approximately 27 items have therefore been added to or included in my stash since I last posted, which when taken into consideration, means that I have actually made some progress this last few months and used up 38 products, which sounds like quite a lot. I can actually tell that the number is going down, as the basket I keep excess products in is slowly becoming emptier, which feels very satisfying. Slowly space is being made and things are being simplified, even though it might not look like it.

One thing I can say, is that I have (aside from toothpaste) stopped buying multiples of regular favourites. I buy now tend to buy one of what I need, when I need it, unless it is on a super good offer and it benefits me to buy two (mainly only in the case of mouthwash). I am also making my own deodourant now and this means that I rarely need to buy any.

As I said in my last post, the largest number of products are the nail varnishes and nail products, which add up to 36. I was going to donate some, but I don't think the charity shop I frequent sells them and I couldn't stomach putting them in landfill, so I'll just keep trying to use them on my toes or finally throw them out when they go hard and unusable. Another large collection is lip products, of which there are 35 in total. I do use these most days, although I recognise that I do have too many. These can't be donated or given away for hygiene reasons and again, I can't bring myself to throw them into landfill, so I'll continue to work my way through them. I have for the most part, stopped buying them altogether, although I did receive one for Xmas.

I think it's going to take a very long time to reduce this stash to a managable number, but I'd realistically love to get it down to less than one hundred products, and even that is way too many to my mind. Only time will tell if I ever do, but I'll persevere and try to remember to do updates as I go along. How does someone with very little interest in make up and beauty products end up with so much? Maybe I'm deluding myself and am a secret beauty product addict.

A Night at the Theatre and a Meal Out - W/E 15th February 2026

This week didn't start as well as I expected. I had a bit of an upset stomach on Monday, but still managed to get out and do the weekly shop. I dropped another big bag of donations off at the charity shop this week, the result of my wardrobe and jewellery declutter. I took a little look around the store and bought a few items this week. One was this lovely pair of handknitted socks. I think they are wool, but I can't be sure. They look to be unworn though and cost just £1, which I thought was a steal.

I also got a couple of books for £1. The main one I wanted was this Rough Guide to Croatia. It's old, but much of the information will probably still be useful. We're thinking of holidaying there or possibly Albania this year, so at 50p this book was a bargain. I am definitely an analogue type of girl when it comes to holiday planning, so I like to get a guide book for places we visit, but I never buy them new, as they can always be found in charity shops.

As the charity shop sells books at two for £1, I picked up this wordsearch book to buy with it. I quite like doing word searches and although this one is a Christmas one, it will keep me occupied. I'm currently working my way through the 200 or so puzzles, which are split into beginner, medium and challenging. 

I also bought this animal print coin/card purse for £2, which I thought was cute. It is by Accessorize and looks unused. It just about fits all my loyalty and other cards, thankfully. No clothes were purchased this visit, which is a good thing.

The weekly shop was pretty uneventful and not inexpensive this week, as I had no vouchers to use and quite a few things to buy, some of which were expensive things that periodically run out. i.e. my mouthwash and gin. We're now pretty well stocked up though, so I should be able to stay within budget for the rest of the month.

Tuesday, was Zumba at the gym in the morning, followed by an afternoon of sewing, finishing up things I'd started over the weekend, to clear the kitchen table. I also did a bit of financial housekeeping, which I try to do a couple of times per month. OH and I are watching Industry (a drama about the financial industry) at the moment and ended the day watching this week's episode. It's quite intense, but good.

I was able to have a lie in on Wednesday, which I was happy for. I read another chapter of the book Worn, this one about the invention and manufacture of rayon or viscose. It was shocking, in that one of solvents used in the process of making viscose, is neurotoxic and has been found to cause insanity and other awful conditions in factory and garment workers. It really makes you think more deeply about the clothes/fabrics you wear. At this rate, I'll only feel comfortable being naked as the day I was born. Surely in this day and age, we can do better and make fabric/garment making safer for everyone involved. It genuinely scares me the lengths that some corporations will go to to make profit.

Anyway, I got up slowly and then tidied around a bit, putting some laundry and other piles of things that had built up away. After breakfast, I took myself off for a walk, as I needed some fresh air and I'd not been out for a walk for a couple of weeks. It was raining intermittently though, so I didn't go as far as I normally would and only managed around 6,000 steps, but it's better than sitting on my bottom all day.

In the afternoon, I decided to tackle the ironing basket which was overflowing with towels and other items. I'd been meaning to do it for a while. I combined this with watching a couple of episodes of the new series of Silent Witness, as it's not a programme that OH likes to watch.

In the evening, LB had managed to get us some complimentary tickets for the press night of the current production at the theatre where she works, which was a treat. It's nice to be able to have inexpensive nights out at the theatre.

On Thursday, it was Aerobics at the gym, followed by an even longer walk home than usual to add more steps. I didn't do a lot in the afternoon, but I did finish watching the currently available episodes of Silent Witness and watered all my house plants, but didn't do much else. Later, I had to go and meet a new plot holder on the allotment, so that they could choose a plot. It didn't take long, but it was raining all afternoon, so the site was a bit of a soggy mess.

In the evening, OH and I watched the Winter Olympics for most of the evening, which was good.

I didn't need to be anywhere on Friday, so I had another lie in before getting up and ready. I was going to go into our local town centre and try out the new library, but there were some messages on the local street chat that put me off going, because of potential stuff happening locally, so I decided to stay home. 

I did a bit of treat making for Valentine's Day in the afternoon. I made two different things that I'd seen on Instagram, which I then boxed up for OH and LB. They didn't turn out perfectly, and I'm not sure if they'll like them, but it's the thought that counts. I also wrote the cards I'd bought for them and wrapped some small gifts of sweets and chocolate mainly.

In the evening, OH and I watched the Mens Skeleton and it was great to watch Matt Weston win his Olympic gold medal.  Very exciting. I do quite enjoy the Winter Olympics, as the sports are so different.

I'm in hermit mode at the moment. I don't feel inclined to go out and do much and I'm not really doing that much at home either. I'm sure I'll snap out of it eventually. I'm just a bit demotivated this week for some reason.

The weekend was a quiet one. I had a lie in on Saturday morning and did quite a bit of reading. I picked up a book that I was part way through, but hadn't picked up in months and I'm working my way through it. I'm enjoying it and determined to finally finish it in the next week or so. 

I needed to show another potential plotholder the plots that have become available on the allotment site on Saturday afternoon, and on Saturday evening, OH, LB and I all went out for a meal at a Turkish Restaurant in Dalston to celebrate Valentine's Day. We had a nice evening out and the restaurant was very generous with it's side dishes. We all really enjoyed it.

Sunday, I hit the gym in the morning. I'd eaten too much chocolate on Valentine's day in addition to the meal out. I got into watching the Irish version of Traitors on Sunday evening, which I binge watched for a couple of hours. It's pretty good, I'd even say better in some ways than the UK version. We also started watching Small Prophets on BBC Iplayer which is good, if a little strange.

Nothing too exciting happening here, which is fine by me. I like a quiet life.