Making Our Home Homely

We live in rented accommodation and have been here for over a year now.  We had thought about looking for somewhere else to live, but now with all that's happening at the moment we'll probably be staying here for a bit longer.  The problem is that as it's rented, including the furniture, we can't make any changes to the property to make it suit us and that includes adding hooks to the walls to allow us to put up picture, which is what I normally do to add colour to a space.

There are a few things we have done already, such as the pictures I added to the wardrobes, perched some pictures around just sitting on desks and book cases, and some homemade crafting like my crocheted coasters.  However, I still want to add a little more to our home.  I have to admit that we did buy some stuff from IKEA including a table lamp that nods to a gas lamp and some flower pots to house our ever growing collection of cacti.  However, I would like most of the items we get for this to either some from charity shops or homemade.

Before

We've already brought a table cloth to go on the coffee table with matching napkins, but we don't have any napkin rings at the moment and I'm thinking of trying to make some out of the jute thread we have left over from the wedding.  If that doesn't work out I'll just look for some next time I'm in a charity shop.  We also got a wonderfully weird tea pot that we'll use for spare change.  

After

At the moment we have a throw to cover the sofa which I've had for over 20 years now.  However I feel like I'm getting a bit bored of it now so I'll keep a look out for another one in the future and, as Ed still quite likes this one, we'll just rotate them.  We also have a cushion that was a present from a family member, but it's falling apart in a way that I don't think I can fix.  So I've decided that I might just make a cushion cover to replace it, probably out of all the wool I have left over from previous projects I've made.

I'm almost done with making all the clothes I want to get my wardrobe looking the way I would like it to, though there are still a few more items I'd like to make just for the sake of it.  This means that I will then have more time to make things for the flat should we need them.  The one thing I don't want to do though is cover every surface there is with something as that'll make things a little bit too busy.  In fact, I'm hoping to get rid of more stuff as time goes on.

Who knows how long we'll be in this flat for, but even if it turns out to not be much longer I would still like to make it feel as 'homely' as possible and a place that it ours.  And I'm glad that I've learnt the skills I have over the last few years that now means I can make a lot of these things myself. 

Walking: Horseshoe Ridge, Brecon Beacon

We decided that during our week off in August we would do some walking in Wales, specifically the Brecon Beacons which are the closest mountains to us.  After having a look at what walks there are we thought that the most interesting one would be the Horseshoe Ridge as it's right in the centre of the Brecon Beacons, is a good walk that is challenging but not really difficult, and it includes the two highest mountains in the Brecon Beacons (and south Britain).  

I was having a look at some of the recommended ways of doing this walk and decided that the best one was the one recommended by my Ordinance Survey app.  It also meant that I could check where we were on my app and my husband could carry the physical map and compass in case anything happened to one of us.  We started at the Taf Fehan car park (which is literally labelled on Google Maps as the Brecon Horseshoe Walk car park) and followed the path that takes you up the reservoir.  It did take a little while to get to this car park (and there's no public transport to it) and there aren't any facilities there, but it's definitely worth doing the walk from this starting point.  When you get to the reservoir you get a really good view of the glacier valley you're in and all the peaks you'll be heading to during this walk.

At the reservoir we followed the path left (which got a little bit confusing around the buildings but we found our way in the end) and then headed up the very steep climb to the Graig Fan Ddu ridge.  This definitely gets your heart going, but also means that you've done most of the climbing right at the start making the rest of the walk a bit easier.  I also wouldn't want to do this part near the end of my walk.  Once we'd reached the top we turned right and heading along the ridge to Corn Du.  This bit of the walk is really lovely, easy on the legs after the straight up climb, and you get a really good view of the valley with all the birds flying around the area.  There also wasn't too any people at this point, unlike the peaks we got to later.  

Corn Du is the second highest point in the area and has a Bronze Age burial cairn at the top of it.  There is a little scrabbling section just before you reach the top, but otherwise this is a pretty straight forward hike to the top.  Then you drop down into the saddle and straight up again to the top of Pen y Fan.  There were a lot of people at the top of this peak and, even though the views were pretty amazing and I usually enjoy pottering around the top of mountains when I reach them, I really didn't want to spend too much time there this time.  For me, going out into the wild is about being away from other humans so meeting lots of people there is never particularly enjoyable for me so I dragged my poor husband down the other side pretty quickly. 

It's a pretty steep climb down Craig Cwm Sere and an almost similarly steep climb up to the top of Cribyn.  The top of this peak was much quieter and we did stay a little bit longer before turning right and carrying along the path down the other side.  It was at this point that we past an 80 year old lady practically skipping past us up the mountain, making us feel very unfit.  This walk down is a double descent, where you descend half way down quite steeply and then get to walk for a little bit along a flat ridge, which I would imagine would be quite boggy normally but as it had been pretty dry over the summer was actually quite easy to walk on.  This is where we decided to stop and finally have our lunch as well as reapplying some suncream.  Then we dropped down again to the cross road with Gap Road.  This is labelled as a Roman road, but I couldn't find any archaeological evidence for this.  However, it was one of the first horse and cart roads over the Brecon Beacons.

As we wanted to hit the five points on this walk we crossed over the Gap Road and headed up the last climb to the top of Fan y Big.  You can get very close to the edge here and get a really good view back across to the peaks you've just climbed.  We then climbed back down the route we'd taken up to get onto Gap Road and headed back to the car park.  I was hoping this last section was going to be a gentle road back to help us cool down before we had to get into the car, but unfortunately this path ended up being a complete foot destroyer with loose stones all over the place.  It was almost nice to get back to the tarmac road which takes you to the car park.

On the day we had originally planned on doing this walk it was meant to rain with thunderstorm warnings for up on top of the mountains.  Even without the storm it was going to be very foggy, which isn't the safest way to climb a mountain or the best way of seeing the views.  So we decided to put it off until the next day where we got clear blue skies and views across the whole of the Brecon Beacons.  It wasn't the most difficult walk we've ever done, but it was still quite physical and gave us a pretty good leg work out.  Pen y Fan is obviously a very popular destination, to be expected on a good day and a peak that is close to good parking spot on a main road, but the rest of the walk wasn't too bad when it came to the number of people you come across.

We did really enjoy this walk and it was nice to get back out into some mountains again.  It would have been nice to have done some more walking when we were there, but we didn't want to push it too much seeing as we haven't done this type of walking in a while and we were already aware that our fitness levels aren't as high as they use to be.  I would definitely recommend this walk if you're in the Brecon Beacon area and I'm glad we came here to do it.  We want to come back to the Brecon Beacons again as it's beautiful and very close to us, so we'll be looking at what other walks we can do in this area for the next time we come. 

August 2022 Budget

I have to admit that I didn't really want to write this blog as we haven't done particularly  well this month at all.  We were already starting this month on the back foot we hadn't been able to build back up the baseline of our joint account to £1000 which covers our regular bills.  I also lost one weeks pay as we went on holiday this month.  Thankfully my husband still got paid for the days he took off, but it still made a noticeable difference not having that one payment.

The other thing was that, even though we knew that this month was going to be tight,  we still spent way more money than we should have done.  Ironically this wasn't actually during our holiday, as we had expected, but mostly on items that will allow us to do more free activities in the future.  Theoretically this is good, but maybe not for this month.

As I knew that the money would be low during our holiday I didn't pay one weeks pension or pay off some purchases I had made with my credit card.  Then there was the week I was off and not earning to I wasn't able to pay these again on that week.  I will need to find a way of catching back up on these two items and if I could do that by the end of September that would be very useful.

That being said, we haven't done too badly on the groceries and eating out spending which I was expecting to be much higher as we were on holiday.  Obviously the fuel was quite a bit more this month from all the driving we did when we were away.  We have still had to move money over from our savings again to help pay our standard bills, but this is a habit we really need to break.  However, by the end of the month we were able to bring the balance of our joint account back to where we want it and put just over £200 back into our savings.  Have to take the wins where we can.

Despite all this I don't regret us going on the holiday as we needed the break and we got to go to a place that I love and have a family connection to, but which Ed has never been to.  We also got to get in a great walk as well, but more on that in a future post.

However, it's now time to get serious again about our financial situation now.  We've known for a while now that it is pretty unlikely that we'll reach our savings goal by the end of this year and, if I'm being honest, that did dishearten me a little bit and put me into a 'why bother' mentality.  I did try and fight it, but sometimes you have to sit with those emotions for a bit to actually get through them.  Now the time for wallowing is over.  We may not reach our savings goal, but we can get closer to it and that's still a good thing to hold onto.  I also now made a visual representation of our savings that I can look at on a daily basis and that should also help.  So, bring on September and whatever that month has to throw at us.

Unplanned Tidying and Decluttering

You know that thing were you have a whole lot of things you should really be getting on with, but then you suddenly have an indescribable urge to declutter and organise some areas that, up until that moment, you've been doing a very good job of completely ignoring.  Well I had that recently and normally I would just push through it to get on with what I was supposed to be getting on with, but this time I decided to just go with it.

I wasn't entirely sure how much I would actually find to declutter as I had already done a couple of big purges and I tend to go through my things as I clean.  However, I was nicely surprised by the number of things I was able to add to the decluttering pile.

The first big category was a number of electronics that no longer work or don't work well particularly well anymore no matter what I do.  I have been keeping a hold of them thinking I might get round to fixing them, but I won't and I know that so I've decided to just let them go.  Though I now need to go through them, move any of the documents I want to keep and wipe their hard drives.  I might try and get some money from them, but I can't imagine it'll be much.

I also pulled out these shoes that I brought for my wedding but which ended up not going with my outfit at all.  I love Irregular Choice shoes, but I don't really see myself ever wearing these now and there is a part of the shoe that rubs the side of my foot even though I've only worn them indoors.  So I should probably enjoy how pretty they are one last time and then sell them.  A little bit of extra money would be good.

Then there was this book that I keep holding onto because I like the idea of being able to use it, but which I know I won't.  At least not until I actually have a garden of my own and who knows when that will be.  I also finally went through my socks and pulled out all the ones that had holes in them.  I'm not entirely sure why I've been keeping onto them, probably because I just couldn't be bothered to get rid of them.

Lastly were all these little things that I found here and there.  Some gloves which, amazingly, were too small for me.  A little clutch bag I've used but which I actually have a nicer one I want to use more often.  A travel jewellery case which I do still like but don't actually need or in fact use most of the time we travel.  It's time someone else got some uses out of these.

Weirdly once all of this was done I was able to get back to all those others to-dos I had and get through them pretty quickly.  It took away the distractions and I was able to concentrate again on what I needed to get done.  Maybe I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind, that those things were there and needed to be dealt with.... and now they are.  Next time I won't ignore it.

On a side note, I was watching a documentary on cats and it talked about how, a long time ago, there were women who were known as wise women who knew that keeping your home clean, tidy, and free of vermin ensured that you remained healthy.  So they brushed their home with broom sticks and owned cats to kill the rats and mice.  However, the men in the church decided that there was something bad about these women so they persecuted them as witches and killed vast numbers of cats.  And then we got.......the black death.  Keep your homes clean and tidy people.

Secondary Income Ideas and Tests

Part of my goals for 2022 was to find at least one secondary income to help boost the money coming in and give me, someone who is self-employed, a bit more financial security in the long run.  With all the things that are going on at the moment it feels especially important now.

I have to admit I've been a little bit slow with this as I'm not sure which direction to go in and I'm worried that there are some things that might put a spanner in the works, such as my dyslexia.  There is also the question of finding the time to fit these in around all the stuff that I already doing.  I have had a few ideas though and at the moment I'm having a look to see if they're actually feasible.

One thing I would really like to see if I can do is earn an income from recording things like audio books and articles.  I feel like it is something I'd really enjoy doing, but this is definitely an area where I'm worried that my dyslexia might play a negative part in.  There's also the initial outlay of either getting good recording equipment or finding somewhere to record to produce high enough quality samples which would make people want me to record for them.  I guess I'll just have to have a go and see but I would like to do a little more research on it first so I know what I'm getting into before I start.

I have also been thinking that it might be good to do something that actually uses the more creative side of my brain and is a little more hands on.  I have a few ideas but there are two specifically that I want to give a go.  The first is making jewellery from the sea glass I've collected over the years.  I've never made jewellery in this way before, with wire, but I think it's something I should be able to do.  I'm mostly worried about them not being neat enough to warrant charging for them.  I also need to do some research on how much I should be charging as well.  First things first though, can I actually make them.

The second one it to make t-shirts with my own designs.  It would basically be a cartoon which makes fun of myself, but obviously I need to see if I am able to draw the designs I have in mind first.  I use to draw quite a bit, but that has gone to the wayside over the years and I need to see if I can still actually draw and in the style I would like.  Of course, I could get someone else to do it for me, but that would involve spending quite a bit of money on that and I really want to see if I can do it myself.  So I'm going to practice this for a bit to see what I'm capable of and I also need to do some more research on where I'd sell these items once I was done.

With both of these there is going to need to be quite a bit of practicing before I can even begin to start looking at earning anything from them.  There also needs to be a situation where people can afford to buy them and that might not be the case at the moment.  However, they could end up being quite a steady earner.  That's all my realistic ideas at the moment and I have to admit that I'm a little nervous about giving these a go.  However, even if I fail at them, at least I know I've tried.

Walking and Wild Swimming: Woodcombe Sands and Ivy Cove Circular

In keeping with our plans to walk and wild swim more we decided to do one of the walks recommended in the Wild Swimming Walks: Dartmoor and South Devon book.  I won't go into a long description about the route as it's written in this book and, for once, we did actually keep to the recommended route instead of our usual getting distracted and wandering along different paths.  I will say though that this walk was really good and we will probably do it again, or at least a variation of it.  It has the perfect amount of walking (a good mix of easy and a little bit more challenging, which is exactly what you want for a Sunday walk) and swimming.

It definitely helped that we lucked out with the weather, which was clear skies, lots of dryish heat, and the right amount of cool breeze to make it bearable.  However, that is perfect weather for burning if you're not careful and one of us may have gotten a little red from it.

We were worried that as it was a Sunday during the summer holidays this route would be a little busy, but thankfully we were able to find a parking space in the village that you start and end at (East Prawle) without getting in anyone's way and the beaches we swam from were pretty quiet too with only a handful of other people.  As for these beaches (Woodcombe Sands and Ivy Cove), they were a great find as they are clearly not used very often, probably because you do have to go kind of far on foot to get to them, you can swim out quite far without having to worry about boats etc being a problem, and they had very clear waters.  Unfortunately we didn't see too much wildlife when we were snorkeling, but the visibility was still really good.

We wanted to travel quite light and so didn't take our heavy wetsuits with us instead, I just took my swimming top and went with the knowledge that I might not be able to spend too much time in the water.  It did feel very cold when we first started to walk in, but I actually got used to the temperature and was able to stay in much longer than before.  The distraction of snorkelling at Ivy Cove really helped and I floated around until I noticed the beds of my nails started to go a little blue - a pretty good indicator it's time to head back out.

Both of us have had Covid and we're both having to deal with a prolonged cough so we weren't sure how easy we would find this walk, but both of us were pleasantly surprised.  It did highlight some fitness issues we need to work on before we do any multi-day walks in the future, which is good information to know.  However, I do feel that the swimming did actually help with my cough, at least for a day, so more wild swimming can only be a good thing.  I would definitely recommend this walk if anyone is looking for a nice way to spend a few hours.  The book recommends that you take about 2 - 3 hours to do this walk, but once we had taken our time and done all the swimming and relaxing on the beach it actually took us about 4 hours.  We also followed it up with a relaxed drink at the cafe in East Prawle.  Definitely one of our favourite ways to spend our days off together so we'll definitely be doing more of it in the future. 

Making a Mood Board

Over half the year has gone now and, I'm not going to lie, I'm losing some motivation now to carry on working towards our 2022 goals. I've heard many people talk about doing a mood board to help with inspiration and I thought it might be worth giving it a go. 

One decision to make was where to put the mood board. It's great having it on your tablet or computer but I wanted it to be somewhere where I would see it regularly, especially in the mornings and evenings which is when I normally think about these things.  It occurred to me that the best place would actually be the front of our wardrobe.  It has a good surface area to put things on and as it's located in the main living area we'd see it all the time.

This does mean that the pictures have to be relatively big to be able to see them easily, though not necessarily of good quality which makes things a little bit easier.  I don't have any magazines or anything like that to use and I couldn't find anything in the charity shops that we could use, so I decided that I would need to print some off.  We don't have a printer at home so I just put some pictures together on an A3 size page and send it to a printing company. Might be a little excessive, but it didn't cost too much and if it helps me get motivated I'm up for it.  That should be available to collect at the start of next week and I'll add them then.  For now I've added a picture I love but which the frame broke on and some of my old drawings to remind myself I was alright at doing that type of art and of which a possible secondary income could stem from.  I've also put up a tracker for our four months savings so we can have a more visual show of how we're doing.

I decided to use some of the washi tape I have quite a lot of to put the pictures up rather than blu-tack just to add a bit more colour and to tie all the different elements together.  So hopefully this'll give me the boost I need to keep working on our goals this year. At the very least our wardrobe is much more colourful. 

Little update - this is what it looks like now. 😊