One thing this palette has shown me is that I don't really like using eye shadow as an eyeliner, I much prefer a pencil. Not the most important revelation this year, but good to know none the less. I am going to do one last project pan next year and then that should be me down to the amount of makeup I actually want to have now. I just need to decide exactly what it is I want to work on.
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Sunday, 27 December 2020
Project Pan 2020 Update #4
Wednesday, 23 December 2020
Goals 2020 Update #4
And this is it, the final update of my goals for 2020. What a funny old year it has been, but at least I have a pretty good excuse for not completing all of them. Unlike the last few years.
British Sign Language Learning
Apart from this one, I don't really have an excuse for this one. After all, I had a whole lot of extra time to work on this, but as I said in my last post I just lost the motivation. It's a shame really as this is a great language to learn, but I have time still and will probably roll this over to next year. I should also be able to concentrate on this more now that I have work, at least temporarily, and all the work that I can do on trying and get my money back from the airlines and travel agents is done - it's just a waiting game now.
Financial Fitness
I did manage to get my pension sorted out and rolled into one pot this quarter, so that'll make things easier moving forward (you can read more about that here). I also now have a job (though it's closed down for the two weeks over Christmas and New Year) so at least there will be money coming into my account again. However, we did have to buy a car for work and that, along with needing to keep aside six months rent to try and entice letting agents to rent us a flat when self-employed and with a zero-hour contract (it's turning out to be very difficult at the moment), has meant having to go back into debt. It's upsetting but fixable with a bit of grafting.Being a Tourist
I haven't been able to do as much exploring as I had hoped, but now with the car, this should become a lot easier to do. We had a nice little walk on Dartmoor, which entailed getting slightly lost in the fog, and I've earmarked a number of other walks to do in the near future. The biggest issue this last month has been getting the work schedules to match up and may mean that I just need to go out and do some solo walks in the future. I have been a little unmotivated to go outside recently, but getting to work outside again has reminded me how much I enjoy it giving me a nice little kick out of the rut.Paperless Productivity
I won't go too much into this here as I've already written a blog about it. However, it's been quite an interesting time testing out all these new apps and, after a year of it, I've decided that OneNote has been the best note-taking one for me, and Cute Notes and Teux Deux have been the best apps for keeping an eye on my tasks. I'll be making the full move next year.
That's it. This really hasn't been a great year for getting goals done, but I still managed a couple and so I'm still going to classify this as a win. It might not be a lot, but it's something. I've decided that I'm going to end this year by really sitting down and deciding on some actual long term goals. Normally I just make goals for the year, but really, if I want to actually get to where I hope to be, I need to plan a little more in-depth than that. I'll let you know how that goes.
Friday, 18 December 2020
Paperless Productivity: Final Decision
About this time last year, I decided that I would try out moving my paper-based productivity tools of a diary and notebook to a more digital format (you can see the post about that here). Other than the digital calendar I have linked to my phone it's never really been something I've tried before. I've always liked using paper and pen, as it just seems to work with how my brain is wired, and the satisfaction of ticking off the work that you've done, so this year has been a bit of an eye-opener.
After a year of testing out 14 different apps (twelve for productivity and two for note-taking) this is what I've found:
- There are a lot of options out there, so it's pretty likely you'll find something that suits you.
- Despite the variety, it's unlikely you'll find something that is 100% what you want, but then that's the same for all forms of productivity, including paper.
- That I actually prefer the simpler apps with the least amount of frills, which is not what I was expecting when I first started this. Really this should have been obvious, I've tried many complex versions of diaries, habit tracking, and task completion, and yet I always reverted back to simplest format. The other forms just made me feel like I should be busy, even when I really shouldn't.
Sunday, 6 December 2020
Getting Ready for Christmas 2020
This has been a very unusual year, but one thing that is sort of following the same route is Christmas. Of course, there have been some slight changes but on the whole, it's pretty much been as standard. So, this is how I've prepared for Christmas this year.
Christmas Cards
These have basically all been sent now, with only a couple to go with Christmas presents. As with the last few years, I've made them myself using a cross-stitch pattern. However, as I had extra time this year, I decided to turn them into sort of Christmas decorations by putting them onto fabric. It's unlikely I'll do this every year, but it was a nice way to pass the extra time I had.Christmas Presents
As before, I've tried to make my presents as sustainable as possible, though it's not always possible. I have done my best, but I did still have to buy some things from the dreaded Amazon (I know they're now putting forward their climate plan - after much pushing from outside sources - I still feel guilty doing it). I've actually made a few items this year, mostly knitting with a few bits of sewing here and there. I've really enjoyed it, but I don't know if I'll be able to do this again next year. One thing I do want to do in the future is to pay much more attention to the wool and fabric I use to make sure I'm buying the most ethical and sustainable products possible.As I said, a few items were brought from Amazon as I struggled to find them anywhere else. However, I did manage to find a few items on the Ethical Superstore and some books from Book Shop, which helps support local, independent bookshops by allowing you to buy directly from one of them or by pooling their profits and distributing this to the stores. I also brought something from a small independent music shop. It has taken a little longer for the items from independent shops to get to me, but I'm hoping I've ordered them early enough for them to arrive in time for Christmas.Wrapping paper
In the past, I have tried to get out to charity shops to buy scarves and fabric to wrap the presents in, or brought brown paper which I've made more festive with stamps. That hasn't quite been an option this year, so instead, I decided to go for wrapping paper made from 100% recycled paper and printed with environmentally friendly vegetable ink from Re-wrapped. The designs are really good and the paper is such good quality that it's almost difficult to wrap with.Advent Calendar
I usually don't bother with these, except for the one my Mum sometimes gets me. However, we decided to do things a little differently this year, basically when we saw the Brewdog advent beer calendar. Good beer, supporting a British organisation that pays a living wage and is being carbon neutral, seemed like a good idea. And then I had a hankering for something tea-based. So now we also have the English Tea Shop Organic advent calendar which allows me to try a whole lot of new teas. Of course, there's also the chocolate calendar my Mum has gotten us.Christmas Decorations
I do have some somewhere in storage, and by some I mean a couple. I'm not really sure where they are and I'm not too bothered about not having them up this year as I've never really needed Christmas decorations to feel Christmas-ie. We did get this little wooden Christmas tree, to replace mine that broke last year, so that we have somewhere to put the presents. In the long run, what I'm really looking for is some Scandinavian decorations (mostly the wooden ones) that I can keep for years to come. However, they are turning out to be quite difficult to find and may just be something I have to collect over the years rather than get this year specifically.Christmas Food
This bit I haven't thought about at all. I don't even really know where we're going to be so starting to buy in stuff that needs to be stored isn't really an option right now. Obviously, it'll mostly be vegetarian, if not vegan, and mainly made from scratch, but that's about as far as I've gotten when it comes to thinking about it. I guess we'll have to just wait and see.
And that's it. It's pretty similar to the last few years (apart from last year as I was in New Zealand), just with a few more constraints. The biggest difference this year is that I wasn't able to save up for it over the year like I did the last couple of years. That's definitely the plan for next year to make things easier. I hope your Christmas planning is going well.
Sunday, 29 November 2020
Finding Work on the Side
As I've been pretty unemployed these last few months (to say the least), I thought I would have a look at what I could do as some side work to help earn a little cash during this time, and maybe even carry it on once I'd found a job. A little bit of research showed that there are a number of things advertised as work you can carry out from home, but I was put off a number of them as I was pretty sure that my dyslexia would make them difficult to do. After a bit more research these are the ones I took more of a look at.
This seemed like the perfect side job to me. It comes in both the website form and as an app. You register your account, carry out a few tests to see if you're suitable, and then you get sent websites to review and surveys to fill out which led to a cash reward. Unfortunately, this hasn't really worked out that way for me as I never seem to fit the demographic they're looking for. So, despite having it open on my laptop almost all the time I have it on, I haven't actually gotten any money from this. However, that's probably not going to be the case for everyone.As with UserTesting, to set this up you register and then take a few tests to see if you'd be eligible for the work. It also comes in the form of a website and an app. I did have some issues at the start as my location (New Zealand) didn't match my nationality and they were worried about fraud, but a few emails later and that got sorted. There have been a lot more things for me to do on this, which have mostly been surveys, but you don't get a lot of money for each survey so I can't ever see it being a big earner, even if you do it for hours at a time. This is a dog walking and sitting app/ website that allows you to look after other people's dogs. I've looked after a few people's dogs, either in kennels, whilst house-sitting, for friends and family, and, of course, my own furry mooch, so I decided to give this a go. It was pretty easy to set up and Rover does give you some cover in case there is an accident with the dog, though I still decided to take out extra insurance for peace of mind. If I'm honest, I haven't had a big up-take and this probably isn't the best time to be starting this, but I have still enjoyed the walks and it has been a little money coming in at least.This app looked really interesting and a good way of doing odd jobs here and there that get you some money in. There are a few things that I could possibly do on it, though I don't necessarily have any qualifications and certificates the back up my abilities, just experience. I'm also not too sure how much someone will want another person going to their home at the moment and I can't actually do that right now anyway, joys of Covid. Due to that, I haven't actually finished registering with this app yet, but I will do so in a couple of months and I'll see how it actually ends up working out.
This is actually a little earner that I've been using for a few years now. It's pretty easy to set up and once you have you just scan your food shopping every week and upload these barcodes to the website. You get awarded points each time you do and, once you've collected a number of them, you can get gift cards either for online stores or activities. I usually save these up until Christmas or birthdays so I can get better gifts. This has definitely been worth it and, if you try nothing else, give this a go.If I'm honest, these haven't really brought in a lot of money and I would actually question if some of these are even worth the time you have to put into them. The Shop and Scan have definitely helped and the Rover could bring in some consistent income, especially if you could house-sit as well (which I can't at the moment). However, the income from the other side hustles is pretty small right now. I will look at other options and if I find anything worth the effort I'll let you know.
Sunday, 22 November 2020
Crafting Update - November 2020
Oh look, we're in another lockdown. If I'm being honest I would have say that, in my world of job-searching unemployment and living at my parents, it hasn't really made a huge difference to my days. I also recently got a flight refund from one of the three airlines I've been having long phone conversations with over the last few months, so that has definitely helped take away the financial pressure for now. Of course, all this extra time has allowed for more crafting and this is what I've gotten up to so far. (You can see what I originally had planned on my blog about Crafting to Come).
1860's Sontag
This is now complete, and I really like it. It's like wearing a body warmer, but closer to your body, and probably allows for the same amount of freedom. However, I actually prefer the silhouette of this. I will need to make this again at some point, with some alterations for a better fit and wool yarn for extra warmth as I've never found acrylic particularly warm. But this will do for now.
Culottes
These are completed and I love them (you can see my hap hazard method here). They really aren't the most flattering items I've ever made or in fact worn, but I love the brightness and the feel of them. The cotton fabric is still a little stiff as well so that doesn't really help, but once it's been worn and washed a little more it should flow a little better and sit more like a skirt. I am thinking about possibly making a top from the same material, but we'll see if I get round to it - probably not this year.
1930's Cardigan
I started this project in October, but then had to put it to one side to do some other, mostly Christmas, projects as I was worried about not getting them all finished on time. These are now complete and I can now get back to working on this lovely cardigan. The wool is a beautiful colour, but I do slightly regret picking the multi-coloured style as getting the two front panels to match has turned out to be a bit of a headache. However, it finally looks like the second panel is now matching and coming along nicely. There is another problem that I've noticed though. I've been looking at the first panel again, and tried an initial fitting, and it looks like it might be slightly too short at the shoulders. So, it looks like I'll need to frog to the garter section of the shoulder to then increase the length. The main problem here is that this yarn is actually quite difficult to undo as the fibres tend to stick together once knitted. Thankfully I did keep the rest of the yarn from that ball so I can just connect it up and keep the same patter going. I guess we'll have to see how it turns out.
Christmas Cards
These are now completed and most have been sent away to their respective recipients. They were a lot of work and I definitely wouldn't have done them like this had I not had all this extra free time on my hands. But it was nice to do and I like that they sort of look like Christmas decorations. I now need to work out what I'm going to do next year as I usually have to start the whole process right at the beginning of the year. Oh joy.
Face Masks
These were one of the additional three crafts I've added relatively recently. We only had two fabric masks each that we had brought off Etsy a while ago, and one each that my Mum had made for us, so I decided we definitely needed more than that. I found a pattern on line and decided to make up a few up (including one each for my parents). I got permission from my Mum to raid her fabric stash and ended up making ten in total. The pattern only called for two layers of fabric, including a opening to put in a filter, but I wanted to put in three with at least two being cotton. These did take quite a while to make, about 2.5 days in total, and were quite fiddly. Even though they are made from the same pattern, some do sit a little off and had to be re-fitted. There is one that's still sitting in my to-do pile that I basically need to redo for it to work properly. However, most function just as you would need them to. I think if I was to do the pattern again I wouldn't sew the first two layers together right from the start, but connect central lines separately and then join them at the end. It didn't help that my sewing machine didn't want to work at all this time and I think it needs to really good clean out and oil. I'll add that to my list of things to do in the near future, and definitely before I take on another sewing project.
Nightmare Before Christmas Cross-Stitch
This was my second add on project. I got the pattern from Home Decor Cross-Stitch on Etsy as the movie is one of my partner's favourite. I was going to do it as their Christmas card, but then I realised how big it is so now it's a Christmas picture instead. It did take a while to make, but I really love how it looks and the pattern was pretty easy to follow (though I did go a little funny doing all the black for the skirt). I'm more of a Halloween fan than a Christmas fan, so this was right up my alley and it'll probably stay up all year round.
Aran Jumper
Project number three and another Christmas present. The pattern for this one was Hayfield Bonus Aran 9465 and the yarn is Cascade 220 in the colour Shire (couldn't resist the Hobbit connection there). It's a cable knit jumper and definitely one of the hardest things I've ever made before, but I started to get the hang of it near the end and I think it actually turned out pretty good. The soon to be owner saw me making the jumper but didn't get to see the final piece, so I'm looking forward to them opening it on Christmas day. I'm not sure I'll ever make a cable knit jumper ever again, but it was good to give it a try at least once.
The Shawl
I haven't actually started this yet but I've finally decided on the pattern and what wool I'm going to use. The pattern is Biophilia by Mary-Ann Mace and I really like the connection to the sea. I'm using yarn recommended by lovecrafts.com, which is where I brought the pattern form, and ended up getting the yarn Fyberspates Vivacious 4ply in Peacock (and yes I know it looks exactly like the wool I got for the cardigan. That wasn't the plan I just apparently have a thing for that colour palette 😂). Looks like it's going to be quite a complicated pattern, but it'll be good to test myself with it.
Lord of the Rings Cross Stitch
Buying the patterns are about as far as I've gotten on these as I'm taking a little break from cross stitching for now. But I know I'll enjoy them once I get started.
Looking at it I actually managed to get quite a lot done during this month and a half. I've also realised that I quite enjoyed having a sewing, a cross stitch, and a knitting project going together so I could mix and match depending on what I'm feeling like that day. It's something I would like to carry on doing in the future. However, right now I'm taking a little break from multi-crafting, especially as there will come a time when I actually need to have a few project on the go at once, and am just going to concentrate on getting my cardigan finished. Especially as I think it's going to turn out to be quite complicated enough in it's own right. Then I'll get back to it, probably just before Christmas.
Sunday, 15 November 2020
Paperless Productivity - Cute Note
I decided to end the year with another fun paperless productivity app. I found this one on the Google Store and it's Cute Note - DDay Todo. It's really cute and kitsch, and could actually - ironically - be the one I'm looking for. I should probably start by saying that this one does come with adverts that pop up now and then, but you can pay a subscription to have these adverts stopped. However, the free version works completely well as it is.
It's made up of four pages. The first page is Memo and I basically used it for notes and making shopping lists, which you put on digital sticky notes. You can arrange this page in two different ways by clicking on the squares on the top right and order them based on date, etc. One of the good things about this page is that you can add folders (by clicking on the folder icon on the top right) to separate your notes into different subjects or projects if you wanted. I don't have enough projects on to make that worth my while, so I just kept them on one page.
To make a note you just click on the Create button and then type anything you want. You can use the ribbon at the bottom to change the font size, colour, etc, and, most importantly, change the character of the note by clicking on the face. I, of course, picked all the cute animals, apart from the one connected to a jumper I'm knitting which is batman.
The second page is To-Do. You can name your notes whatever you want based what the to-dos are for, such as projects, but I decided to do a sticky note for each day of the week so it was like a diary.
To get started I just clicked on one of the notes that was already there and then make changes by editing those. I deleted the old to-dos and then added new ones by typing in box at the bottom and clicking on the cross. The picture doesn't show it, but there is a ribbon at the bottom which allows you to change the character of the note. It is a lot more characters on this page, but I went for the same cute ones as the memos, because I just couldn't help myself.
To name each sticky note and add new ones (in my case, for the days of the week) I clicked on the folder tab at the top right. Once each task is completed you just click on the note and then tick the to-do circle. Then you can delete all your completed tasks giving you a better idea about what you have left to do.
Of course, they don't automatically move to the next day's note, but I found being able to just view all the to-dos I hadn't completed on one page meant I still got them done even, if it wasn't on the day originally planned.
The third page is a D-Day / Countdown page.
As with the Memos page you can create folders for different projects (though I would think you would probably want to see all the countdowns on one page) and sort them by date. To create one you just click on the Create button, then fill in the details of the day you want a countdown to. You can also change the design on this as before.
I, of course, picked Christmas Day as that's my main date at the moment, but I'm sure others will appear.
The last page is more of a settings page. You can log on, using your Google account, which allows you back-up your notes to your Google Drive. Then clicking on the settings wheel also allows you to add passcodes and set everything up as auto. This is also where you pay to remove the ads.
As I said, this is my last paperless productivity of the year and I really loved it. It's nice and simple, and has everything I need at the moment to keep an eye on all the things I need to get done. This might change in the future, but, for now, the simplicity is good. The only thing I thought would be better is if I could get habits put in as well. However, I could just add them to the To-dos sticky notes and I have gotten a little bored of keeping tabs on those at the moment, so maybe it doesn't matter too much. That being said, this is app has definitely made it to the top of my list. Not going to lie, it's probably mainly to do with the cuteness of it, but whatever you need to do to get yourself organised.
Sunday, 8 November 2020
Financial Fitness: Sorting Out my Pension
Pension are one of those important things that people regularly tell you that you're supposed to have and start as soon as possible. Of course I didn't do that start as soon as possible thing, mainly because I worked a lot of part-time jobs and didn't feel that I was earning enough to be able to afford to do so and, of course, there was that idea that I had plenty of time. However, it's never too late to start and thankfully I'm not quite at the half way point of my earning life so I decided, whilst I have some extra time on my hands, I would get it sorted now and go from there.
I am lucky to have this state pension, unless that changes in the next thirty years, and a few of the companies I worked for did start a work place pension for me, one of which I carried on contributing to when I could until Covid happened (Nest if you're wondering, and no I'm not sponsored). I decided to not go with a completely private pension scheme, it was all so complicated when I looked at it, but decided to keep with Nest as it's government based and, therefore and hopefully, government protected. I wasn't sure if these previous pension schemes still existed and, if so, how much was actually in them. Now that I had given myself an idea of how much I needed to put aside (all be it a rather large range) I needed to find out about these other private pensions and the plan was to combine them into one. When I had previously looked at this, and then run away in fear, I am pretty certain that the Government was able to help you with this by using your National Insurance Number, but this time they just seem to give out contact details for the different pensions schemes. So I went through my employment history and contacted those I knew had at least started a pension for me. I knew that in most cases these would have been closed when I left the organisation, as I wouldn't have been there long enough, and the money returned to me. However, I wanted to double-check that this was the case. There is still on company I'm waiting to hear back from, but all the other pensions have been accounted for (I hope) and consolidated into one place.
Now that I have everything in one place I can see where I am and it's not a great place, my pension pot is not large, but it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Using the Money Advise Service, and based on the idea I'd be able to pay £250 a month into my pension pot from now until I retire, I should be easily reach the £12,600 per annum which is 70% of my annual income. I also did a little checking on Nest as well and, also based on the idea that I'm able to put aside £250 a month towards it, it came up with a pension pot of £156,000. This amount is a little bit less that was I was wanting to aim for. Funny how they have both come out differently, but it's good to look at non-the-less. If I'm honest I could probably live easily off those amounts, but it would be good to have extra so that I can have a much more enjoyable, relaxed retirement and I can't really rely on the Government actually giving me the pension stated.
One thing that keeps popping into my head when I think about my pension, and which has nothing to do with the panicked thought about how little I'm putting in, is where the money is going when sitting in that pot. After all, pensions are little lumps of money we give these organisations to, hopefully, grow by investing into companies and organisations. I want to make sure that mine aligns with my ethical beliefs and doesn't support companies I don't agree with, such as arms dealers and tobacco companies, whilst supporting things like renewable energies. Luckily, my pension was quite easy to switch to the 'Ethical Fund', but I know that other pensions aren't as open or easy to select and that might be something you want to think about.
There is one other thing I do need to think about here, and that's the fact that I'm still not earning at the moment and am, therefore, not able to contribute to the pension as I would hope. This means that when I do finally start earning, and to get to the amount that I'm hoping for, I should actually be putting in around £300 per month as soon as possible. Something to really think about when I come round to trying to work out my budget for 2021. I'm wondering if I should start posting about my monthly budgets on here. What do you think?