January 30, 2024
Are we nearly there yet?!
<said in a whining annoying voice>
Oh My Goodness. January seems to have lasted about eleventy thousand million days and it’s NOT EVEN OVER YET. Wowzers.
But to encourage the time to go faster, I’m giving you my month end update. Living life on the edge I really am. Strap in kiddiwinks, it’s about to get exciting. (It’s not. Sorry)
Pantry challenge shopping or not shopping went alright but we were not very well prepared this year and had a distinct lack of cheese to survive on. So yes, we had two occasions where we went shopping for the allowed cat food and milk and ended up with a few more things. It was a max of £25 though which I’m not angry about. A household our size (without the furry hooligans) spends on average £45/week so just £25 in a month was a bit fab. Obviously Olio helped massively with that and our indifference to cooking too. I dislike cooking and I find it such a chore, honestly, I’d rather iron than cook.
I sewed things and read things and wrote birthday cards and letters and tried to keep busy. No gardening as it’s too muddy. Lots of chicken refereeing too. Sigh. But we have eggs again finally which is very lovely.
My needle count for the month is at four. My migraine count for the month is at more than four.
My personal no spend went ….. okay. Of course, we have things that we cannot totally quit on and so I did spend £61 on (ahem) personal care. You don’t need details on that. And exante – my meal replacement company of choice – has decided to close down and move into protein stuff – so I spent £39 on shakes which is essentially food so maybe not so bad? I spent £20 on birthday gifts for an 18th which is entirely allowed I’m sure we would all agree. I had to spend £5 on some ‘undertray shield car clips’ which are bright orange and needed for the repair work that will happen next month. I still have to buy three more bags of clips for the panels or something, it’s just words about the Smart that he’s telling me.
I spent £8.50 on crafting materials and I KNOW. I know. This was most definitely a banned item but I can justify this I promise. I was going to make a *thing* out of some *items* for Christmas last year for someone. When I came to make it, I found Diesel had taken umbrage at the *items* and had wee’d on them. As only Diesel does. But in a big fat sale in a shop that I had ONLY gone into to shelter from the rain, I found a starter kit for this *thing* at half price. So I can now make it, and it will not smell of cat urine. And I think they’d appreciate that more than a stinky version.
And then I failed last weekend quite spectacularly. I fell into an ebay black hole and just … lapsed.
When I was at uni all those decades ago, I started collecting Pocket Dragons. And looking at them now, I can understand how I’ve become a bat lady. These little green figures were a treat for exam results or a gift from himself for events. When I had hospital stays or life events, there was a dragon. I found a photo of my dragons from my first uni house and to see the collection now some 25 ish years on is … impressive … We even had these dragons on our wedding cakes.
But the actions of the weekend and the way my brain behaved made me realise something quite scary. I am obsessive about my hobbies. I want ALL the dragons I’ve found I’m missing and I want them RIGHT NOW. When I was introduced to the gorgeousness that is Black Toast crockery by Emma Bridgewater I went mad for a few months buying Every Single Piece I didn’t have. Popsy dresses were a similar project and the El Camino steps too.
My rule for myself this year is that I can only purchase EB, Popsy frocks, Amazon items and El Camino bits with vouchers I have or earnt or get given. It’s working quite well so far, there is nothing I’m desperate for as yet. Although this holiday will trigger a required El Camino step that could, okay, probably wait until birthday. But ebay is a huge problem. I spent £53 on dragons; four dragons only. However. In my watch list thing on ebay I have 87 listings saved under ‘decorative collectables’ which will be mostly dragons and a couple of York Ghosts.
I would happily, without second thought, without remorse or thinking or conscience buy them all. Just. Like. That. I want to set a limit of one a week or two a month but I wouldn’t stick with it. I could make a wishlist but I don’t want to wait until August and December and no-one but me believes in the importance of half birthdays that fall outside of bat season!
I miss that dopamine rush. I miss happy post. Our postie thinks I died because of the lack of mail landing for me. I don’t want to go shopping in an actual shop, I don’t want to interact with real humans (other than our lovely postie) but I do, very much, want happy post and boxes of green joy.
I am very aware that spending less than £200 on ‘stuff’ is probably blinking marvellous in the grand scheme of things, but when half of that could have been avoided if I’d been stronger is a tough pill to swallow. But ooooh shiny, ooooh happiness, oooooh need/want/desire.
February is a reset. February is the month I recover from a two thousand plus pound tax bill, it’s when I spend three thousand pounds on getting my car less colander like and more solid. February is the month I have a half birthday, I go on my summer holiday (in advance of bat season summer) and get some sunshine and vitamin D and celebrate the foolishness that was leap years day. It may be short but it’s the month where my outgoings are more than seven times my income!
I. Must. Try. Harder.
January 24, 2024
The good balances the bad. Apparently
I was dreading January 21st this year. And the horrid thing about this date is no-one knew it was a tricky one for me and I couldn’t talk about it either.
Last year, on January 21st I learnt that my husband, everyone’s favourite boy wonder, had lied to me spectacularly. And I found out via a piece of post which is not ideal. It was a truly awful day and of course, it being a Saturday last year, he wasn’t even home to see the breakdown. Instead, as his sister was coming for tea that night and I was in the beginnings of an awful UTI, I kept it to myself for 36 hours.
I do not advise mixing a UTI with the end of your world.
Things were not resolved last year and neither have they been resolved since. So the anniversary of the date was a painful reminder of what a pathetic case I am, that I can be treated in such a way and yet still hang around without wanting better or insisting on a change. I did try and discuss things, I did try and explain how I felt, how I wanted different and all that. He made promises, I set a deadline in my brain and of course, nothing changed, nothing got sorted and instead, I sent a text to someone which seven months later was screenshotted and sent to the vicar who removed my authorisation to ALM. No context, no explanation, no warning.
So January 21st is a bad date for me. It holds so any negative memories and thoughts of how things could have been different ‘if only’. I don’t want to live in the past but these dates and lack of change make me wonder if I deserve a bit better? Or should I just put up and shut up?
This year, the 21st saw the arrival of my four rescue chickens which were a christmas gift, they are called Trifle, Pav(lova), Cupid and Vixen. Proper festive names. We also went out for a meal with his family to celebrate his Mum’s 80th birthday.
My good bit for this week was that I got to do a hibernation count of bats at my favourite site. The human I do this with is a joy to be around, always has the right thing to say, the best treats and chats afterwards. I am lucky to have them in my life.
The end of the month is only about 500 days away now, not that February ever seems shorter but we can hope! The snowdrops are looking magnificent in the gardens and the storms make for an excellent excuse to sit in front of the fire and read. It’s these simple things I need to dwell upon. The small, simple things that should have my brain and my gratitude.
January 18, 2024
Bah blah resolutions smevolutions
I guess in the interests of being honest and getting support from y’all, I should share my goals and aims and motivations for 2024. I don’t like resolutions or the word because it implies so much pressure and forced standards. Maybe the word could be removed from society and instead everyone just says ‘I’m going to be a better human being this year by not doing this or trying to do more of that’
So my targets for this year are fairly standard.
* Spend as little as possible so I’m not cluttering my surroundings.
* Sort out what I’ve already got (clothes/books/crafting stuff) and make the most of them.
* See a real life mole.
* Keep losing weight until the diabetic nurse is happy.
* Craft more with what resources I have. Sell or gift the stuff I make. No new hobbies!
* Stop being upset about being on my own so much, learn to love my own company and be content with doing free stuff like reading, crafting, housework, sorting the boxes of doom, gardening, litter-picking, writing happy post and notes.
* Get off social media (specifically facebook but keep twitter) blog more instead.
* Stop worrying about others’ opinions or lifestyles. I am me, I cannot be anyone else and start recognising my physical capabilities rather than being upset by what I ‘can’t do’ in comparison.
* I want to be less dependent upon hubby to have a social life, I need to find things I can do on my own or have friends be willing to do ’em with me or be happier to hermit.
* I’d like to go to a live rugby match again as I miss it massively.
* I’d like a cheeky win at Cheltenham Race Week.
* I want more solo theatre.
Making more of Olio has been fun. I made butter out of cream which went in the freezer and I’ve processed veg for freezing too. It all helps
Last week I had my carpal tunnel jabs (as you know) and it didn’t quite go to plan. Unfortunately, between wrists, the doctor went to put the cap on the syringe and the needle stuck him through the cap. Cue much paperwork and drama and me needing to go back for blood tests to ensure I hadn’t poisoned him and all sorts. Not fun. He’s since rung me to say I don’t have any blood based nasties that I was tested for which is a relief. He is also referring me to the hand surgeons at Worcester to see if they’ll actually operate on the CP rather than just surviving on jabs.
But we are half way through the month finally. Only another 800 or so days to go until February!
January 9, 2024
Send positivity.
At 11.30am I’m having my carpal tunnel jabs. I desperately want them, need them really, but they’re so ouchy that I’m gonna have huge regret for the first three hours or so.
if you have any spare, send positive thoughts please.
January 8, 2024
A whole week in.
After the drama that was NYEve, I really needed January to be smooth and gentle with me. I forgot though that January has eleventy billion days in it.
I have survived one week of 2024 without any personal shopping. Yey me. I did have to buy batteries for the office though and that was tough because the website had so many lovely things to look at and it <winge> wasn’t fair and ebay keep sending me offers of 15% off and Emma Bridgewater have a 70% off selected items and I absolutely NEED to buy things I didn’t get for Yule.
However. I have resisted.
I don’t feel happy or smug though. I’m just miserable that the reason I’m having to do this is not for personal challenge or a big fat reward but for the scary car fixing issue. Hey ho. Maybe I’ll find a biscuit tin in a cupboard stuffed full of notes that I’ve forgotten about – even though I would absolutely not be rummaging cupboards looking for biscuits. No.
There was a question from my previous post about burning stuff, so I need to elaborate on that and just clarify that I am not a dodgy pyromaniac. We have three open fireplaces in the house, one is used almost every day, one used occasionally and the third is just used by stupid pigeons when they fall down.
Every bin point in the house has two bags one brown paper and one bread bag usually b’cs why pay for bin bags?! Everything that cannot be eaten, reheated as left overs, composted, fed to the chickens, recycled via the council or reused as quiz night scrap paper somehow will fall into those two categories – burnable or not. Not burnable is usually food packaging or vomit filled tissues b’cs we have learnt that cat vomit stinks when burnt. Everything else – thin cardboard, tissues, wipes, ice cream sticks, receipts, old shopping lists, post appointment wax strips, quiz night notes etc etc goes into the brown bag and is forming what we call ‘burnable bags’ and these are laid in the bottom of the open fire grate as starters. Through the summer we build up a stash alongside the wood and in the winter we get through them. Simples. It means we put out very little in terms of black rubbish to landfill. On bin night we would put out maybe half a bag and this is usually 3/4 cat litter and 1/4 plastic food wrapping.
The food wrapping comes from Olio, we have no control over that unfortunately. But avoiding food waste is a huge positive in our eyes. Last week we scored an absolute major Olio haul – a WHOLE DUCK from Tesco, formerly £37 and not purchased even when reduced to £16. It lasted us three nights combined with Olio egg noodles and veggies. Three nights of free food and blinking delicious it was too. Oh my days, it’s a high bar to ever match in the future.
Last night we had out of date Angel Delight made with Olio unclaimed milk. Not quite as amazing as a whole duck but pretty good in the grand scheme of food satisfaction. And so far this year, the pantry challenge has required us to only buy milk and cat food – the authorised things.
How is your experience with Olio going? Have you signed up yet? Found you need to never buy bread again but do need a second freezer for all this veg and fruit that pops up? Do share peeps.
January 3, 2024
Be careful what you wish for
Goodness me I should keep my words to myself.
‘No spend challenges are easier with a target’
What an absolute plonker. Really, I should be tarred and feathered and dragged through the streets behind a horse. Ugh.
I finished temping on the Friday and I like to reward myself for not stabbing anyone so I had a little ebay splurge on the Saturday – things I absolutely need to improve my life – slipper boots, a jewellery tree, a stand thingy for my EB hoard, some felt leaves for an idea and maybe a little piece of sparklyness too. You know, essentials.
Sunday was apparently NYEve, lets face it, none of us have any idea what day it is, other than an eternal cycle of tuesdays and wednesdays for the next seventy thousand days. Anyway, I was frantically cleaning aka hiding stuff in the dining room because his little sister was coming round for a cheese and pineapple feast and the boy wonder came into the kitchen and just blurted out ‘Your car is absolutely fc***d, I cannot fix it’
Now what am I supposed to say to that? I don’t think I used words, just a series of noises and strangled moans. Turns out, he’d been treating some rust on a door and then took the colourful panel off and found the door panel was more like a colander than a door panel. He then foolishly took more panels off and took photographs.
So. I have an MOT in mid-March. He says, if they can’t see the rust, they can’t fail it. But my car is now 22 years old and it’s struggling on the emissions targets. I need to save 10k for a new car it seems because of course, I used ALL MY SAVINGS ON A NEW HOUSE. Except new cars aren’t just 10k anymore and if I’m investing in a new car, is this when I go EV? And as technology is changing so quickly, should I lease not buy?
Sunday was a huge shocker. Huge.
I did not shop on Sunday. Or Monday. Or Tuesday. Or so far today. I need to stick with this big time. Your support is very much appreciated peeps in the internet. Scary start to the year indeed.
January 18, 2023
Another New Year
Is it really only day 18? It definitely feels like day 307 or later. January drags doesn’t it?
I’m busy, that’s the crazy thing, I’m busy but the month seems to last forever. I don’t understand how time can feel so drawn out when it’s a fixed object. Oooooh, deep.
So far, this month has been full of death it seems. I was chatting with a local funeral director and he says we’ve had a ‘green winter’ which isn’t very cold and it means bugs and viruses make their way around loads more. At one point you couldn’t get a slot at the crem for over four weeks which isn’t nice for families. I’ve been involved in some beautiful services for some smashing humans. I’m lucky that families that don’t know me are willing to let me be part of things, we laugh and cry together and it all mixes to build me into the funeral celebrant I want to be. Alas, there is this pre-conception that CofE funerals are very black and grey and text book and I wish I could scream from a high place THAT’S NOT ME! But instead, I just need to let FD’s see me in action and make their own decisions. I am loving this new chapter of my life.
I finally saw the MaxFax doctor in early January. He admits there’s nothing they can do about my jaw because of the other issues I have but he is requesting an MRI for some reason and has hinted that instead of an operation to ‘flush out the TMJ jaw joint’ I could be considered for botox. Bring it on I replied, add it to my headache botox please and thank you. Of course, it’s not that simple but hey ho.
My carpal tunnel jabs are still working well. I hope this is a medical miracle and they’ve fixed my hands forever.
My botox jabs for the migraines are flipping MAGIC. Yes, that first two and a bit weeks was proper evil but to be like this now, ohmydays, I cannot put into words how transformative they have been. I just need them to last as long as possible until March 6th.
Of course, with it being January, it’s pantry challenge month. Which feels odd because we definitely carried it all through last year and often went a couple of months with just buying milk and cat food. Very lovely. Yes, we were lucky that we grew an absolute tonne of veg and fruit that we’ve been working through and have plans for next year too. I’m trying to convince himself to dig up the dining room floor and build a root cellar like what we see on Alaska programs but he is yet to be persuaded. You know I’ll keep trying though haha.
I’ve also now got an app called Olio which is a food waste prevention / food sharing app. Brilliant it is. You can give away gluts from the garden or something you bought a multipack of but the kids won’t eat half of it. I also collect from shops and list too. Of course, if I’m going to join something I jump wholeheartedly into it. Won’t lie, listing over 150 items from Saturday evening and Sunday morning Tesco collections was totally stressful but so many people collected and shared, so it was okay in the end.
I’ve heard that someone else has started the pantry challenge for this month as a trial. It might not have been me that inspired them to give it a go but I’m going to selfishly assume it was my input that has encouraged them. It is quite amazing how much food we all have squirrelled away without realising it. This year I’m attempting a ‘cook once, last twice’ kinda approach. So for example, last night we made cauliflower cheese (with Olio cauliflowers) and it made tea last night (with Olio bacon and spring onions) and tonight half will be reheated to have with sausages out the freezer. I don’t get any pleasure out of cooking whatsoever, so only having to do it every other evening is something I need to attempt more. Making food last so we enjoy it more and spend less has to be a good target to aim for.
January is always tricky. It lasts too long and money is short. Just be kind to yourselves, be patient. Enjoy the mountain of cheese you’ve found and snuggle under a fleecy blanket. Send happy post and use up your non-barcoded stamps to make someone else smile too. Random Acts of Kindness work miracles upon others, you have no idea the power of happy post until you’ve sent some.
January 24, 2022
Pantry Challenge, week three
I am now totally embarrassed by the amount of food we appeared to have squirrelled away in the freezers. It is disgustingly bonkers. And just throw salt in the wound, I was planning our seed calendar this weekend, working out what I need to get started when and if I need to invest in any new seed packets (just two, not until February) or if I can seed swap with my neighbours which we did last year, or the year before? I had thought I wanted to plant my veg garden entirely with flowers this year but I don’t think I’ll have room. So I’ll have to secretly somehow sneak someone into the back garden to dig off some turf for me so I can have a new flower border……
Today is Monday and all the meals for this week are planned. All the meals for next week are on a list for hubby to allocate to days when he’d like to eat them or even volunteer to cook them <gasp> as well. That takes us up to the second week of February and I know we have enough food for a good fortnight then. My target would be to get through February too but maybe relax the rules a tiny bit for February.
For example, Chinese New Year. February 5th in our household. Normally we’d get a takeaway and make that last two evening meals – any excuse eh?! This year I want to use what we have in the freezers and I’ve found some duck burgers loitering. Himself will have them in bread with his hot chilli sauce. I’d rather wrap them in lettuce leaves with hoisin sauce and maybe some spring onions and cucumber. However, no shopping means no salad bits and definitely, no hoisin sauce sachets.
I’m arguing with myself that by February, I’ve proved my point and I could relax the rules and buy some salad bits. Three quid spend maybe versus a twenty-five quid takeaway? But for those of you that know me, you know I get a teeny bit OCD about rules and seeing things through and if I can eat out the freezer for two months rather than just one, then why the heck not?
Hubby is not playing along. We went to get milk and cat food the other week and I wanted to leave the house so we both went to the supermarket ……. He announced he was off to get crisps. I pointed out that 1, we have crisps in the house and 2, which part of no shopping did he not understand? He sulked and said he wanted *these* crisps, not the ones in the house …… I wanted to have a meltdown but instead countered with rather than one pack of posh crisps, for less money would he be happy with a six pack of crisps? And could he please remember I had only brought a ten pound note and the cats were our main shopping focus. He thinks I’m being super unreasonable. He won’t take me shopping now, last week he said he’d get milk on his way home and bought squash (for him) and granola (for him) and a tub of mushrooms (for me, apparently) and the bottle of milk.
Don’t get me wrong, spending just £15 total these three weeks is far better than the £45 average per week we would normally spend. And once I can empty one of these three blasted freezers, we could save more on electric too. I know I shouldn’t lose my mind over a bag of crisps.
But. My mind is not being kind. I have organised myself so much that I have a huge amount of empty thinking space. I’m not doing the whole ‘arrrrrrgh panic, what’s for tea?’ or ‘oh heck, I’d best scrub the floors before it’s just mud not laminate’ because my calendar tells me what we are eating and what chores are allocated for the day. I have so much spare time to think that I’m now falling down a horrible rabbit hole of loneliness. I’m not keeping busy, I’m not feeling useful, I’m not filling my time with faffing. I don’t want to read or craft. It’s too cold to garden. I am just sitting, being lazy and being greedy.
I foolishly decided last week as well that I needed to attempt to form a more normal day. So I’d set an alarm for 10am, have to be out of bed by 10.30am. Get up and be normal. So not only am I NOT sleeping the day away, I’m also wondering how to fill time when napping isn’t an option.
After all that hard work, I’ve regained half a stone in about five weeks and I’m not even bothered because biscuits are my friend. Last week, I was left home alone on Thursday to recover from my horrid diabetic eye appointment. I was left home alone on Friday and Saturday too whilst his lordship went you-know-where. I’m lonely and miserable and sad. I can’t message peeps to ‘just call round’ because they’re busy with their lives, their families and shopping / housework / birthday trips / panto outings. They’ve made plans and I can’t because I never know if I’m going to be vertical. Plus, if someone came round – even for an hour max – I’d try so hard to be cheerful and happy and normal that I’d exhaust myself to the point of falling over. I cannot win.
The pantry challenge is not an issue. The no spend rule is not an issue. My mind however, needs to shut up and cheer up and be nicer. I cannot keep feeling like this for too much longer, it isn’t healthy.
January 17, 2022
A rather scary admission.
Some of you already know this as I sent out a ‘should I be ashamed or proud?’ panic message. Most of you have said proud at being organised, so that’s okay.
Basically, I got a bit obsessed with this Pantry Challenge thing and I’ve turned it into something a bit bigger. When I was off between Christmas and New Year, I would set myself a task to do each day so that I wouldn’t descend into a cheese and tv lump. It would be a pairing of one big job and one small job, designed to keep things ticking over and me a bit active and the house slightly tidier than the bombsite it generally is. A big job would be laundry or the dishwasher or sweeping and moping the kitchen floor for example. Mostly because I hate these three jobs and they exhaust and hurt me the most. Smaller jobs are designed so that nothing piles up and I don’t feel like on a weekend I have to turn into Aggie and Kim and do a ‘How Clean is Your House’ Blitz.
A very lovely pal gave me this very gorgeous Emma Bridgewater calendar and it was perfect for planning the meals on. And then I decided that my small tasks should be on there too. How very organised of me. It means I can’t get away from the little things and hubby cannot say he doesn’t know what is for tea.
Anyway, I digress.
One of the jobs was the fridge shelves. I hate this job because I’m not tall enough to reach the top shelf but if I stand on a chair I’m too tall. The whole stepping up and down off a chair is also, not one of my key skills. I’m always forgetting the cleaner or the cloths or where I put something and I invariably leave my phone in a tub of butter. I had asked him indoors if the shelves and drawers came out of the fridge, which would make life sooooooo much easier. ‘Leave it with me’ he said, and disappeared down his workshop. (I’m still waiting for an answer)
So, instead of doing the fridge shelves that day, I figured I’d really crack on with the meal planning. I cannot tell you how much I am LOVING not going to the supermarket. I did not realise how much those places stress me out, even though we go to a smaller shop, later in the day when it’s less people and less noisy etc.
So my proud/ashamed moment?
I can meal plan with the contents of the house not only for all of January but also for the whole of February too. Yep. And this is based on the meals having a central protein source, not allowing for crash days when it will be soup or scrambled eggs or just gallons of tea and emergency meds.
Initially, I was super embarrassed that we had so much food in store. Yes, the garden is plentiful and we make protein last as much as we can but even so, fifty days plus?!!
The no spend challenge is going okay, I had an emotional wobble last night when I realised that it wasn’t that I liked spending money (far from it, I am a Newbury by DNA after all) it was that I like getting post. I like feeling connected with the outside world. So maybe I need to send more happy post to get some back during these no spend days? I have to confess, I have bought one thing that was not a birthday gift, but it is an investment purchase for all the years of my life and I’m very pleased with how bargainous it was. Other than that, every shopping thought is going on my Jan/Feb wish list and I shall review how much I really do need these things in a few weeks time. Have a mooch, what do you think?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/hz/wishlist/ls/6GK9JTJYR56F?ref_=wl_share
This week I have my dreaded diabetic eyes check up. I hate this more than anything in the world and of course, haven’t had one for over two years, thanks to covid.
In more positive outlook news, I’m hoping to return to NTLive theatre transmissions on the 27th. Eeeeeeek, so excited. Then we have the RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch and I finally return to my natural purple hair colour. So much to be looking forward to, fun times in amongst the fridge shelves.
January 6, 2022
Pantry Challenge week one
Since writing the meal plan, the pantry challenge has been really very simple indeed.
We had a roast that lasted two evenings and a lunchtime sarnie. We had a treat steak and chips meal for New Years Day. We used up bread buns that were a bit freezer-burnt and looking rough. I made a lasagne for two meals which has turned into two meals for now and two meals for the freezer. It’s been almost – dare I say it – fun.
I’ve had lovely helpful inputs from peeps – I picked up a tub of ricotta which was short dated and learnt this could go into the lasagne, so I balled it and froze it before the date ran out and that went between the layers and was delicious. I’ve never used ricotta before but I will absolutely keep an eye out for it now.
I’m under no illusion that this fun and excited feeling I’ve got will wane soon enough. Probably closer to week four when I’m fed up of planning and/or ploughing through four tonnes of french beans out the garden. I have put in the diary that Saturday 22nd is my new audit date as I imagine clearing the stores could continue into February with a small relaxation of the rules.
I want fresh mushrooms and coleslaw right now. I don’t miss anything else just yet.
The no-shopping element is trickier. I’d not realised how much I liked the instant ebay/etsy/amazon experience. Or how easy it was to think and buy and not consider whether I really need or want it. So making the wishlist for Jan/Feb purchases that I’m not allowed to buy has been eye-opening and frustrating. I will be interested to note which items still call out to me in February.
viewfromthisdesk 