I haven't posted for a couple of months on the subject of my budget and spending, I missed posting last month on account of us being away on holiday at the end of the month.
April has been just a regular month really, no big expenses to accommodate, so I used it as the opportunity to finally place the order with Ecco Verde, that I've been wanting to place since before Christmas.
I posted about the items I bought and have tried some of them. I was a bit disappointed with one of the items in particular (Benecos lipstick), which didn't have the pigmentation I'd hoped for. I would place another order with this company though, as they do have a really good range of brands and products.
The above order did bump up my toiletry/household budget for the month and unsurprisingly I went well over my budget in this area, but food budget wise, I only just went over the regular £400 monthly budget by about £20, which was pretty good for me. I have really cut down our consumption of red meat and I think this has helped.
I did also purchase a few other small things from my wishlist, such as some Marseilles soap for making washing powder, a mount for a photograph that I've wanted to frame for several years, some more Eden perfume, as I'd nearly run out and a few other small but necessary purchases. In addition, I stocked up on Easiyo sachets from Lakeland, to take advantage of a voucher, and because we use them regularly, which should keep us in yoghurt for quite a while.
This month, I also purchased one small Christmas present for a family member and got a couple of stocking fillers free with a My Pure order, so I'm slowly working towards cutting the expense of Christmas, as the year progresses.
Working at the charity shop two days each week this month, although stopping me going shopping and spending time online shopping, has incurred some expense in terms of travel costs and I've probably spent £20 plus on topping up my travel card this month, which I wouldn't normally have spent, but it isn't a major expense, so it's no big deal.
On the voucher front, last month I managed to save £47.53 cash using vouchers, voucher codes and loyalty points, but this month I had less supermarket vouchers, so only managed to save £20.35 this way. It's still worth having though. For May, however, I've got a whole new bunch of Tesco money off spend vouchers, so I am hoping to save quite a bit more from the food budget this month. I'm also intending to bulk buy some whole foods, such as dried fruits, seeds, grains and cacao powder, which should boost the store cupboard for a good while, and allow me to make home made granola and granola bars on a regular basis.
May is going to be a slightly more expensive month, as OH's birthday falls within the month, which means a bit of extra expenditure. He needs some new club cycling shorts and that's going to be my present to him, along with a few other small items. Other than this though, I don't think there's anything major to budget for this month, so I'm hoping to fare better than last month. I'll keep you posted.
Friday, 29 April 2016
Five Good Things
After my previous post (and rant) about volunteering in the Charity Shop, I thought I'd write a much more positive post about my experiences so far. So, here's five good things I've experienced by volunteering to work in a charity shop.
1) It helps a charitable organisation and allows me to do something with my time, that aligns with my values in life. This is generally very satisfying.
2) It makes me travel outside of our borough in London. Having lived in London for nearly 20 years now, I have somehow slipped into the habit of not venturing very far from home.
Although in the early years of living here, I travelled around London a lot and visited lots of tourist spots and places of interest, in the last few years when OH and I have both been working from home, we have found that it takes a lot of mental effort to go out of our comfort zone and get out and about.
Having to travel to the other side of London for my volunteer work makes me get out and about more and experience life in a different part of London. I'm hoping it will make me more willing to get out and about on weekends sometimes too.
3) Getting out of the house and working at the charity shop two days a week has also made me realise and appreciate how much I like my home.
That feeling of coming home, especially on a Friday, has returned and I also appreciate weekends a lot more too, as when I set off for home on a Friday afternoon, it signifies and feels more like the start of the weekend.
4) Working in the charity shop is a very social activity, meeting and serving customers, chatting about everyday things to people I've never met before is a very positive thing.
I'm enjoying helping customers find what they might be looking for, keeping the shop looking tidy and inviting, sharing a joke with colleagues, learning new skills.
5) Finally, there are some other personal benefits of working in the charity shop.
I've been making more effort with my appearance, wearing clothes that have been sat in the wardrobe for months unworn, gaining confidence in talking to people, snacking less as it's not so easy to graze during the day, getting a bit more exercise through being on my feet all day and starting to get more organised and proactive in an attempt to keep on top of everything at home, despite spending less time there.
So, I'm enjoying all of these benefits of my volunteering work and am hoping that they will continue.
1) It helps a charitable organisation and allows me to do something with my time, that aligns with my values in life. This is generally very satisfying.
2) It makes me travel outside of our borough in London. Having lived in London for nearly 20 years now, I have somehow slipped into the habit of not venturing very far from home.
Although in the early years of living here, I travelled around London a lot and visited lots of tourist spots and places of interest, in the last few years when OH and I have both been working from home, we have found that it takes a lot of mental effort to go out of our comfort zone and get out and about.
Having to travel to the other side of London for my volunteer work makes me get out and about more and experience life in a different part of London. I'm hoping it will make me more willing to get out and about on weekends sometimes too.
3) Getting out of the house and working at the charity shop two days a week has also made me realise and appreciate how much I like my home.
That feeling of coming home, especially on a Friday, has returned and I also appreciate weekends a lot more too, as when I set off for home on a Friday afternoon, it signifies and feels more like the start of the weekend.
4) Working in the charity shop is a very social activity, meeting and serving customers, chatting about everyday things to people I've never met before is a very positive thing.
I'm enjoying helping customers find what they might be looking for, keeping the shop looking tidy and inviting, sharing a joke with colleagues, learning new skills.
5) Finally, there are some other personal benefits of working in the charity shop.
I've been making more effort with my appearance, wearing clothes that have been sat in the wardrobe for months unworn, gaining confidence in talking to people, snacking less as it's not so easy to graze during the day, getting a bit more exercise through being on my feet all day and starting to get more organised and proactive in an attempt to keep on top of everything at home, despite spending less time there.
So, I'm enjoying all of these benefits of my volunteering work and am hoping that they will continue.
Wednesday, 27 April 2016
Allotment Tales
It's been a long long time since I did a post about my allotment, mainly because I haven't been there over the winter and have visited just once since last autumn. Today, I had to go, because I think there'll probably be inspections this weekend, and any uncultivated plots will likely receive a warning letter.
Today, was my only window of opportunity now that I'm volunteering at the CS, as on Thursday, I have an appointment to attend with LB. I decided to combine it with a dog walk and drove to near the allotment, took the dog for a walk from there and then headed up to the plot once we got back from the walk.
I noticed as I walked to my plot, that quite a few people on the site hadn't really started cultivating their plots yet, which made me feel a little better. I took my spade (which I don't leave at the plot) and my chitted potato seedlings, which have been tucked away in the boiler cupboard for a few months. I also took a variety of seeds that I needed to sow to get things moving finally.
The plot itself wasn't too bad when I got there. I had dug most of it over on my one and only visit this year, sowed some broad bean seeds and some parsnip seeds. As is often the case with the parsnips, they didn't germinate, but the broad bean seedlings were doing okay.
The main job that needed doing was to dig over the main bed, spread some potato fertiliser and then plant the chitted tubers. Before I began though, I had to clear some forget-me-nots that had self-seeded and were choking my gooseberry plant and I also needed to remove some problematic weeds that were encroaching from next door's plot. (An ongoing saga!)
Anyway, eventually I got everything dug over, weeded and then began digging the trenches for the potatoes.
It was a pretty tiring task, one which I sometimes get OH to do for me, but in recent years he hasn't been too accommodating in this regard, so I've just done it myself. I then sowed various salad, spring onion, beetroot, turnip, kale and spinach seeds. The seeds themselves were mostly pretty old ones that I wanted to use up, but if they haven't germinated by my next visit, I'll sow some newer ones and throw the rest of the old ones away.
I didn't take a before picture of the plot, as I just wanted to get stuck in, but here's an after picture of what it looked like once I'd got the potatoes in.
I planted most of the seeds in these two side beds. The rhubarb in one of these beds doesn't seem to be doing too well this year. I think I may have over-harvested it last year, so I might give it a rest this season and let it build up it's strength again. I removed all of my strawberry plants last year as they were all very old and I wanted to give the soil a rest from them. I may grow some more somewhere else on the plot at some point.
There's just half of the bed on the other side still to dig over (where the dog's laid out) and sow seeds into and then I think I'm done with cultivating for now.
There is some clearing work to do around this edge and at the rear of the plot though, as a big bush that was there and this big tree on the corner of my plot had been cut back dramatically by tree surgeons organised by the site committee since my last visit.
This will allow a lot more light to the back of my plot, so I'm going to try to clear the area at the back and maybe even grow something there. As I've never actually cultivated this part of the plot, it will be interesting to see if I can do so now. At the moment it's covered in ivy, nettles and bindweed.
It will have to wait for another visit though, as I was too tired this time around. It felt really good to get the work done today, as this was a major item on my current to do list that I can now tick off and has got the growing season off to a good start.
Today, was my only window of opportunity now that I'm volunteering at the CS, as on Thursday, I have an appointment to attend with LB. I decided to combine it with a dog walk and drove to near the allotment, took the dog for a walk from there and then headed up to the plot once we got back from the walk.
I noticed as I walked to my plot, that quite a few people on the site hadn't really started cultivating their plots yet, which made me feel a little better. I took my spade (which I don't leave at the plot) and my chitted potato seedlings, which have been tucked away in the boiler cupboard for a few months. I also took a variety of seeds that I needed to sow to get things moving finally.
The plot itself wasn't too bad when I got there. I had dug most of it over on my one and only visit this year, sowed some broad bean seeds and some parsnip seeds. As is often the case with the parsnips, they didn't germinate, but the broad bean seedlings were doing okay.
The main job that needed doing was to dig over the main bed, spread some potato fertiliser and then plant the chitted tubers. Before I began though, I had to clear some forget-me-nots that had self-seeded and were choking my gooseberry plant and I also needed to remove some problematic weeds that were encroaching from next door's plot. (An ongoing saga!)
Anyway, eventually I got everything dug over, weeded and then began digging the trenches for the potatoes.
It was a pretty tiring task, one which I sometimes get OH to do for me, but in recent years he hasn't been too accommodating in this regard, so I've just done it myself. I then sowed various salad, spring onion, beetroot, turnip, kale and spinach seeds. The seeds themselves were mostly pretty old ones that I wanted to use up, but if they haven't germinated by my next visit, I'll sow some newer ones and throw the rest of the old ones away.
I didn't take a before picture of the plot, as I just wanted to get stuck in, but here's an after picture of what it looked like once I'd got the potatoes in.
I planted most of the seeds in these two side beds. The rhubarb in one of these beds doesn't seem to be doing too well this year. I think I may have over-harvested it last year, so I might give it a rest this season and let it build up it's strength again. I removed all of my strawberry plants last year as they were all very old and I wanted to give the soil a rest from them. I may grow some more somewhere else on the plot at some point.
There's just half of the bed on the other side still to dig over (where the dog's laid out) and sow seeds into and then I think I'm done with cultivating for now.
There is some clearing work to do around this edge and at the rear of the plot though, as a big bush that was there and this big tree on the corner of my plot had been cut back dramatically by tree surgeons organised by the site committee since my last visit.
This will allow a lot more light to the back of my plot, so I'm going to try to clear the area at the back and maybe even grow something there. As I've never actually cultivated this part of the plot, it will be interesting to see if I can do so now. At the moment it's covered in ivy, nettles and bindweed.
It will have to wait for another visit though, as I was too tired this time around. It felt really good to get the work done today, as this was a major item on my current to do list that I can now tick off and has got the growing season off to a good start.
Tuesday, 26 April 2016
A Tiring Tuesday
Today was pretty full on. The day started with the arrival of a telephone engineer, to install a broadband connection we hadn't ordered. A router had been delivered a few days earlier and sent back, as it was addressed to a person who doesn't reside at our address.
We'd been getting a few automated telephone messages telling us about an installation appointment, but had assumed they were a wrong number and in any case there was no number left to call to cancel the appointment, so we could do nothing.
A letter then came asking for payment for the installation, as the direct debit hadn't been honoured and when OH called the telephone company, they wouldn't tell him anything, as he wasn't the person who was fraudulently using our address and he didn't have the security code to get access to the account. It's come to something when companies would rather protect a fraudster than a genuine home owner.
Despite having been told that the person did not reside at our address and that we didn't need the installation, they still didn't call off the engineer, who subsequently had a wasted journey.
The company concerned then said they would contact the person who'd ordered the installation, which means we'll probably receive another letter from them. Talk about useless. Anyway, OH promised them he'd be contacting the Offcom regulator if they didn't resolve the situation, so we'll see what happens.
The engineer arrived just as I was setting off on my journey to the CS. I was asked to do a slightly longer shift today. It was pretty full on all day, as apparently the previous day they had been inundated with donations, plus some other deliveries and had had to close the shop early, due to being completely overwhelmed.
So, today, it was a case of making some sense of the chaos. It didn't help that most of the regular staff were attending a volunteer conference, hence why I'd been asked to stay a bit longer, and the fact that two new staff members were starting work. As a consequence, I got to learn and do more new to me jobs in the shop and get a little involved in some staff training, which was all good.
We all managed to get through the day without too many problems, despite it being crazy busy in the shop too, so all in all it was a good, but extremely tiring day.
When I finally got home at 5.45 pm, it was to the lovely sight of our newly stripped doggie, who'd been to the local pet shop for some doggie grooming in my absence. Here's a picture of her before
and after the chop. She looks a bit grumpy here but she's not, she's just a bit sleepy and doesn't like having her photo taken.
Anyway, I then took her for a walk through the park. On the way there, I was verbally abused in a very serious fashion by someone I suspected of being high on drugs, so I kept my distance and didn't retaliate. Sometimes you know it is just not worth it. It was the one day I didn't have a phone with me, to call the police or OH if I'd needed to, as it had run out of charge. Typical. Luckily, it didn't come to that, but I do always like to have my phone on me, because you just never know when you might need it.
Tonight, once back from the dog walk, OH cooked supper, which was greatly appreciated and then I caught up on watching a few YouTube videos. Once I sat down, I couldn't get up. After writing this post, I will be hitting the sack, probably to read in bed for a while first though, as I'm completely exhausted. Tomorrow is another day, one that I will happily spend at home and I will tackle the big pile of washing up then I think!
Saturday, 23 April 2016
What Is The World Coming To!
I'm enjoying my time working at the charity shop, but I've been very surprised at the behaviour of some of the customers over the last couple of weeks and at the number of people who complain needlessly.
I don't mean genuine complaints, where there are genuine grounds for complaint. I mean unnecessary complaints, that just waste time and sap your energy and positivity. Are we a nation of complainers or are people just rude or have nothing better to do?
As a non-paid volunteer or intern, you do your best and try to be polite and friendly to people, and you would think that this would be enough. But no, some people must think that they are entering Claridges when they come into the shop.
As the manager succinctly put it the other day, people expect exceptional customer service everywhere these days, and volunteers and interns are trained on the job, without degrees in customer service or lots of corporate training courses and of course can't always meet today's exceptionally high expectations.
A small example is that being completely new to working with a till, I do sometimes make mistakes and take a little longer to carry out a transaction whilst I'm training. It really doesn't help aide my confidence when a customer is tutting and looking disgruntled that the transaction doesn't take just two seconds. Don't people realise that everyone has to learn sometime.
I've also heard tales of unnecessary aggression towards staff which concerns me, not to mention shop lifting from the charity shop. I know it goes on everywhere and why should we be any different, and yes, some people are probably desperate and we are a charity after all, but really?
Every shift I am ever more surprised by things that happen in the shop. If this is a microcosm of the world outside our home, I'm quite pleased that I've been cocooned from it all this time, although I realise that this is not necessarily a good thing. I feel like Kimmie Schmidt coming out of a bunker after 15 years and finding the world changed beyond all recognition.
I think I'm just a little shocked and it will subside, as I get used to working there a little more. It's taking me a while to readjust, and I do find it very tiring at times, but hopefully I'll get used to dealing with the more difficult customers eventually. I'm sure it will become easier with practice.
Having had this little rant, please don't misunderstand, the vast majority of the customers are lovely, it's just the few that make me wonder what I've let myself in for.
I don't mean genuine complaints, where there are genuine grounds for complaint. I mean unnecessary complaints, that just waste time and sap your energy and positivity. Are we a nation of complainers or are people just rude or have nothing better to do?
As a non-paid volunteer or intern, you do your best and try to be polite and friendly to people, and you would think that this would be enough. But no, some people must think that they are entering Claridges when they come into the shop.
As the manager succinctly put it the other day, people expect exceptional customer service everywhere these days, and volunteers and interns are trained on the job, without degrees in customer service or lots of corporate training courses and of course can't always meet today's exceptionally high expectations.
A small example is that being completely new to working with a till, I do sometimes make mistakes and take a little longer to carry out a transaction whilst I'm training. It really doesn't help aide my confidence when a customer is tutting and looking disgruntled that the transaction doesn't take just two seconds. Don't people realise that everyone has to learn sometime.
I've also heard tales of unnecessary aggression towards staff which concerns me, not to mention shop lifting from the charity shop. I know it goes on everywhere and why should we be any different, and yes, some people are probably desperate and we are a charity after all, but really?
Every shift I am ever more surprised by things that happen in the shop. If this is a microcosm of the world outside our home, I'm quite pleased that I've been cocooned from it all this time, although I realise that this is not necessarily a good thing. I feel like Kimmie Schmidt coming out of a bunker after 15 years and finding the world changed beyond all recognition.
I think I'm just a little shocked and it will subside, as I get used to working there a little more. It's taking me a while to readjust, and I do find it very tiring at times, but hopefully I'll get used to dealing with the more difficult customers eventually. I'm sure it will become easier with practice.
Having had this little rant, please don't misunderstand, the vast majority of the customers are lovely, it's just the few that make me wonder what I've let myself in for.
Friday, 22 April 2016
Homemade Granola
Yesterday, when I got back from the gym, I decided that I would try and make some home made granola for OH. Why, you ask? Well, next door to the gym, is a really good little grocery store that I often pop into, as they sell the most divine avocado and humous dip that I just can't resist.
This week, we needed some toilet rolls, so I popped in and got them, plus the dip I love and I always stop to look at the huge bags of chia seeds, dried cranberries and blueberries, dates, cacao powder, etc. etc. that they also sell. I have a long list of things that I want to buy from there next month to stock up.
By way of excusing my future haul, (which I'll post when I finally do it) I got to thinking about what I could use all of the ingredients for and decided that instead of buying OH granola ready made from the supermarket, which he often complains is too sweet, that I would start to make it myself.
I already had plenty of ingredients in the cupboard at home, so I set to and started straight away.
I'd seen videos on YouTube before, which showed you how to bake granola in the oven, but when I got in I found a recipe which was so quick and easy and was done by a stove top method, roasting the ingredients in a large frying pan using coconut oil. I tried it out as it looked so easy and only takes 5 or 10 minutes to roast off the dried ingredients, which I added melted butter and agave syrup to.
Here's what it looked like after I'd pan roasted it and was waiting for it to cool down so I could add the dried fruit.
Here's what it looked like after the fruit was added. (I probably added a few too many sultanas, but never mind). I just need to find a jar to keep it in now.
This recipe included the following ingredients all of which I already had:
3 cups of Oats
2 tbsp Wheatbran
2 tbsp Flaxseed mix
1tsp Cinnamon
80 ml Agave syrup
1 tbsp Coconut oil
2 tbsp Melted butter
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts
1/4 cup Pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup Sultanas
6 Dates chopped up small
Hopefully it should keep OH going for a while. It's also good as a snack to take around in a small container in your handbag.
I'm looking forward to adding to my store cupboard so that I can vary this recipe every time I make it.
This week, we needed some toilet rolls, so I popped in and got them, plus the dip I love and I always stop to look at the huge bags of chia seeds, dried cranberries and blueberries, dates, cacao powder, etc. etc. that they also sell. I have a long list of things that I want to buy from there next month to stock up.
By way of excusing my future haul, (which I'll post when I finally do it) I got to thinking about what I could use all of the ingredients for and decided that instead of buying OH granola ready made from the supermarket, which he often complains is too sweet, that I would start to make it myself.
I already had plenty of ingredients in the cupboard at home, so I set to and started straight away.
I'd seen videos on YouTube before, which showed you how to bake granola in the oven, but when I got in I found a recipe which was so quick and easy and was done by a stove top method, roasting the ingredients in a large frying pan using coconut oil. I tried it out as it looked so easy and only takes 5 or 10 minutes to roast off the dried ingredients, which I added melted butter and agave syrup to.
Here's what it looked like after I'd pan roasted it and was waiting for it to cool down so I could add the dried fruit.
Here's what it looked like after the fruit was added. (I probably added a few too many sultanas, but never mind). I just need to find a jar to keep it in now.
This recipe included the following ingredients all of which I already had:
3 cups of Oats
2 tbsp Wheatbran
2 tbsp Flaxseed mix
1tsp Cinnamon
80 ml Agave syrup
1 tbsp Coconut oil
2 tbsp Melted butter
1 tbsp Chia seeds
1/4 cup chopped Walnuts
1/4 cup Pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup Sultanas
6 Dates chopped up small
Hopefully it should keep OH going for a while. It's also good as a snack to take around in a small container in your handbag.
I'm looking forward to adding to my store cupboard so that I can vary this recipe every time I make it.
Thursday, 21 April 2016
Loving Lately
Recently, I've got right back into watching Netflix for some reason and I have been enjoying a couple of shows on there.
The first is a series I enjoyed, but have now finished, and was a comedy series called LOVE. The show was about a geeky guy and a crazy girl who meet by chance in a grocery store and become friends. It's a kind of romantic comedy, set in LA and was pretty entertaining. I binge watched series one of this over a weekend.
The second show I've been enjoying is The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, which has returned for a second season. I've been sitting down to watch this with LB, as she likes it too. We're about a third of the way through this series and it's nice to watch something together.
Talking of which, OH and I have also started watching series two of scandi crime drama The Killing on Netflix, which is giving us something to watch together of an evening.
Away from Netflix, I've also been enjoying The Durrells on ITV on Sunday evening. I love this show, largely because of the setting in Corfu, but also because I enjoy watching Keeley Hawes, who is great in her role as Gerald Durrell's mother, who has uprooted her family of five and is trying to start a new life with them on the island. I've been to Corfu and it is a beautiful place. This is a fine example of great Sunday evening television.
I've also been watching crime drama Marcella on ITV on Monday evenings. This series is written by the same writer who wrote The Bridge, another scandi crime drama, and as it is progressing I can see some similarities when it comes the to the complexity of it. I'm enjoying seeing Anna Friel on TV again, although her character in this show isn't altogether a likeable one to begin with.
Finally, I'm loving the return of Scott and Bailey on ITV Wednesday evenings. I think I've probably watched every series of this show since it started and like the rapport between the two main characters.
Away from television, I have been watching some good YouTube too. My current favourite is Sophia from My Great Challenge, who is doing a 30 bags in 30 days decluttering challenge. She's attempting to donate or throw away at least one bag of stuff each day for 30 days, which is not an easy thing to do.
The bags in question, can be the size of a carrier bag or larger which helps though. I find this series very entertaining, mainly because Sophia's numerous collections and house bulging with stuff reminds me of myself before I started decluttering 18 months ago. In addition, her addiction to sticky notes, which she constantly keeps finding in various places around her house, amuses me. Definitely worth following if you're trying to get some inspiration to declutter and you like to watch YouTube.
So, as you can tell, I've been spending quite a bit of time in front of one screen or another, which is just what I need to relax when I get home after a busy day at the CS. Why when the weather starts getting better, do there seem to be more things to stay in and watch? Makes no sense.
Is anyone else watching any of these programmes and also enjoying them?
The first is a series I enjoyed, but have now finished, and was a comedy series called LOVE. The show was about a geeky guy and a crazy girl who meet by chance in a grocery store and become friends. It's a kind of romantic comedy, set in LA and was pretty entertaining. I binge watched series one of this over a weekend.
The second show I've been enjoying is The Unbreakable Kimmie Schmidt, which has returned for a second season. I've been sitting down to watch this with LB, as she likes it too. We're about a third of the way through this series and it's nice to watch something together.
Talking of which, OH and I have also started watching series two of scandi crime drama The Killing on Netflix, which is giving us something to watch together of an evening.
Away from Netflix, I've also been enjoying The Durrells on ITV on Sunday evening. I love this show, largely because of the setting in Corfu, but also because I enjoy watching Keeley Hawes, who is great in her role as Gerald Durrell's mother, who has uprooted her family of five and is trying to start a new life with them on the island. I've been to Corfu and it is a beautiful place. This is a fine example of great Sunday evening television.
I've also been watching crime drama Marcella on ITV on Monday evenings. This series is written by the same writer who wrote The Bridge, another scandi crime drama, and as it is progressing I can see some similarities when it comes the to the complexity of it. I'm enjoying seeing Anna Friel on TV again, although her character in this show isn't altogether a likeable one to begin with.
Finally, I'm loving the return of Scott and Bailey on ITV Wednesday evenings. I think I've probably watched every series of this show since it started and like the rapport between the two main characters.
Away from television, I have been watching some good YouTube too. My current favourite is Sophia from My Great Challenge, who is doing a 30 bags in 30 days decluttering challenge. She's attempting to donate or throw away at least one bag of stuff each day for 30 days, which is not an easy thing to do.
The bags in question, can be the size of a carrier bag or larger which helps though. I find this series very entertaining, mainly because Sophia's numerous collections and house bulging with stuff reminds me of myself before I started decluttering 18 months ago. In addition, her addiction to sticky notes, which she constantly keeps finding in various places around her house, amuses me. Definitely worth following if you're trying to get some inspiration to declutter and you like to watch YouTube.
So, as you can tell, I've been spending quite a bit of time in front of one screen or another, which is just what I need to relax when I get home after a busy day at the CS. Why when the weather starts getting better, do there seem to be more things to stay in and watch? Makes no sense.
Is anyone else watching any of these programmes and also enjoying them?
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