Goals 2021: Update #4

I wanted this to be the last blog of 2021 as what I've learnt from attempting to achieve it this year will help me plan for my goals in the next.  To say that my 2021 goals didn't exactly go to plan is probably a bit of an understatement, but I did still manage to achieve some of them and I've decided to see it all as a learning curve.  As this is all about finances and not achieving my goals I thought I'd disperse it with nice pictures, mainly for my benefit.

1) Keep my emergency fund

Thankfully I've managed to do this one and my emergency fund is still intact.  There's something very reassuring about knowing that you have a backup if you need it and I know that I've been very lucky to have been able to save this up and keep it during this pandemic.

2) Paying off my credit card

I did manage to pay this off at the start of the year, but then life took over and I had to buy a few things before I had originally thought I would need to, which meant not getting to save for them.  One of these was my mobile, which I had thought I had a year to prepare for.  Unfortunately, that wasn't the case and my old phone decided that functioning properly was no longer a requirement.  As the phone I wanted to get, a Fairphone,  isn't supplied through my service provider I had to buy it outright.  That added around £500 to my credit card.  Then there were my work wellies that suddenly stopped carrying out a pair of wellies primary function and had to be replaced.  I have to admit that I did also buy something that wasn't necessarily required but was on sale and that I have wanted for a long time to help with the hair side of having PCOS - an IPL hair removal system.  So whilst I did pay it off, goal achieved, I then manage to put money back onto it.

3) Save up four months worth of emergency fund

This one ended up being a bit more difficult.  Though we did manage to save around £2400 the goal was £5200, making us £2800 short.  This was quite an ambitious goal, but it probably would have been achievable if we'd been a little bit more careful with our money.

4) Put around £2000 towards my student loan

I'm not going to lie, this one didn't happen at all.  It just wasn't on the front of my mind this year and it's difficult to priorities it when I know I'll get more from saving the money than paying off this loan.  At least at the moment.

5) Be ready for Christmas 2021

Now let's get onto a good one.  The amount we wanted to put aside for the sinking fund was £700 and we achieved this before December.  This meant that we were able to buy and send all the presents we wanted to, and get it all organised pretty early on.  Obviously, this will be a yearly sinking fund and any money we didn't spend this year will go towards starting the 2022 Christmas sinking fund.  £700 was a good amount so we're going to keep this for next year.

6) Build a car repair sinking fund

This one we set as £500 based on the amount the car has cost us already.  We managed to achieve this as well but ended up having to use up £100 of it during the cars last MOT.  We'll need to add that back at the beginning of 2022, but it does mean that this sinking fund is pretty much covered now, ready for when we will probably.......definitely need it.

7) Put £200 a month into my pension

This one I got very close to achieving, managing to get 10 months out of the 12 covered.  Obviously, it would have been good to achieve the full £2400, but when it comes to pensions every little pay in counts and I'm happy that I've a least managed to put some money in.  

So, though I didn't achieve everything I had planned, I did still manage to get a few of them done and tracking our budget throughout the months has taught me a few things.  Firstly, whilst we're not frivolous with our money there are still a few things that we do spend our money on which we could probably do without.  And by probably I mean definitely.  Secondly, food and drink are where most of our money goes.  We love our food and drink, and whilst we're pretty good about how much we spend on our weekly groceries shop, it's the take-aways, treats, and snacks that we go a bit nuts on.  More recently we have been eating out or getting a takeaway around two to three times a week, and we've been getting fizzy juice, crisps, and chocolates practically every day.  All of this adds up and can lose us up to an additional £200 a week.  Definitely, something for us to think about next year.  I'm not disappointed I didn't achieve everything I had planned this year, but I will be disappointed if I don't learn from this and do better next year.

Project Pan 2021: Update 4

This is going to be a very quick blog as I only have one product to talk about and I am no were near finishing it. 😂

That product is The Balm highlighter in Mary-Lou Manizer.  This is a very beautiful highlighter and I also use it as an eyeshadow.  It suits my completion well and, despite how it looks in the pan, is actually very subtle on my skin.  It's also cruelty free.  Last time I wrote about this I wasn't sure if I was going to keep it, but actually I really like it so it's staying in my makeup bag for now.

And that's it, my last project pan is now over.  I can't believe how many products I actually had when I started this a few years ago, but now I'm down to just a small bag of makeup, no nail polish at all, and one of each for all my toiletries and other beauty products.  I may still get rid of some products here and there when I no longer enjoy using them, but that's it in the active using up of my items.

Crafting 2021: Update 4

This is a very late blog after a period of no blogging at all for quite a few months.  The truth is that I've been feeling pretty low recently and lacking in energy and decided that, instead of trying to force myself to carry on doing everything and making myself worse I would actually just give myself a break.  So I've done no blogging, had no real interaction on social media, and just concentrated on doing my job well, attempting to be a decent human being, and a few things that I really enjoy.

One of those things turned out to be crafting.  I only got into crafting properly again at the start of this pandemic but it has turned out to be something I love and a great stress reliever.  I may pick patterns and crafting that are difficult and real head-scratchers, but there's something about working them out and the final piece emerging that makes me feel better.  Probably just the satisfaction of working out a 'safe' challenge.  These are what I completed in this last quarter.

Clara Bow-Panel Sweater

This was meant to be just a side project I did now and then but ended up taking over everything else and I actually completed it pretty quickly.  It's from the Knit Vintage book by Madeline Weston and Rita Taylor that I had used for the cardigan previously and I used the Rowan Baby Cashsoft Merino yard they recommended but in the colour Turquoise.

I did slightly change the pattern as I wanted to knit it in the round instead of making separate panels I would then need to sew together as I really dislike that part of knitting.  You think you're finished, but no you now have to do a whole lot of sewing.  I love how it's turned out and I've actually worn it quite a lot over the last month.  It's actually a very warm jumper and the yarn is pretty soft on my skin so it's a perfect winter layer, though there have been quite a few times when it's been a little too warm.

Dottie Cardigan

Because apparently, I can't have a period where I don't have a knitting project on the go and because the cardigan I have already is a little bit too hot to wear sometimes and I wanted an alternative, I decided to start making Dottie by Martin Storey that's featured in the Rowan magazine 69.  You're meant to make it using Rowan's own Cotton Glace yarn, but I wanted to use a wool yarn instead so that it wouldn't just be a summer type cardigan.  I also wanted to try out Holst Garn that I'd heard a lot about it and you can get their yarn by the cone rather than just the skeine or ball.  In the end, I went for their Supersoft Wool in the colour maize and I really like the quality of it so far.  It knits really well and I swear the cone isn't actually getting any smaller.  I'm now worried I'll have lots of it left.  

The yarn is slightly thinner so I've had to slightly change the number of stitches that I use, but apart from that I've just kept the pattern as is and have knitted the panels separately.  This has actually come together pretty quickly as well and I really just have the two sleeves to do now.  I won't finish this by the end of 2021 but I hope to get it completed pretty early on in 2022.

The Lord of the Rings Cross-stitch: The Shire

I had basically put this to one side for the last quarter of the year as I just didn't feel like doing cross-stitch, but it is now finally finished.  I'm not going to lie, there was a moment when I wasn't 100% sure about it, but now that it's complete I'm really happy with it.  It was actually quite enjoyable at the end, filling in the last of the white sections and watching it finally come together.  It does need a frame now, but I can't decide if I want them all to have exactly the same frame or if I want them to have their own unique frame.  So, for now, it just sitting on my crafting bench waiting.

Christmas Cards

I finally did it.  I finally got myself to sit down and paint the Christmas cards in time to have them printed and sent off to everyone.  I'm not going to lie, they weren't great and then converted even worse to actual cards.  However, it is entirely my own fault as I didn't practise doing watercolour work like I was supposed to this year and I didn't really research how you need to do the painting so that it transfers well into card form.  Oh well, there's always next year and, now that I've finally bitten the bullet and started, I'll hopefully be able to convince myself to practise more in the coming months.  Next year's pictures might be amazing.  Unlikely, but you never know. 😂

The Fantail Skirt

I still haven't moved very far on this, but I have finally cut out the pattern and dyed some of the material I'll be using into this very beautiful light blue.  All I really need is one good weekend and I should get through it pretty quickly.  I do want to research adding a pocket as this will be useful to have and should be quite an easy addition.  Maybe this weekend coming as I'll be in the flat on my own.  No distractions, just a lot of sewing.  Though looking at the material just now I've realised I don't have the right colour thread, need to buy that first.  Hopefully, it'll appear in my next crafting update.

And that's it.  That's all the crafting I've done this last quarter.  It's not a large amount but I'm happy with it and the results I've gotten out of it.  I have a lot of things planned for next year, including another four jumpers, some tops, a dress, a skirt or two, and maybe another shawl.  If I do manage to get all those done my wardrobe will be exactly where I want it and then I'm not sure what I'll do in 2023.  I'm sure I'll find something.  There is all that leftover yarn and fabric..........

Eating from the Redwall Cookbook: Summer

This will be a very quick blog as I only cooked one recipe from the summer section of this cookbook.

Hotroot Sunsalad 

This was the only savoury recipe I could find in this season, the rest was either a pudding or a sweet of some form.  I did have to make one change to this recipe as I couldn't find any Jerusalem artichokes, so I swapped them for broccoli instead.  It's definitely not the most exciting recipe I've ever cooked and if I was to ever make it again I would definitely add much more hot sauce to give if more flavour.  However, it's pretty unlikely I'll make this one again as boiling vegetables isn't my preferred way of cooking them.  I always feel you loose all the flavour, no matter how short the cooking time.  It's a shame as this was one of the recipes I was really looking forward to making.  

The other recipes I left as I'm not really into sweets, at least not when it's as hot as this summer has been.  Though I have now noticed that there is one recipe that I thought was a sweet, but looking at it again is actually a savoury so I'll probably just add it to the autumn recipes.  I do think that I will have another look at the sweet /pudding recipes again as the weather gets cooler as that tends to be when I start craving that type of food.  So you may see them cropping up in a later post.  But that's it really.  Now I just have autumn left to go and then I'll have cooked most of the recipes I remember reading about in my favourite childhood books.

September 2021 Budget

As I've already written a goals update in the last post, which is basically all about trying to get ourselves financially fit, I'm going to be very quick with this post so that I'm not just repeating myself.  I wasn't really expecting September to go particularly well financially, but actually, we did manage to do a little better than I thought and I'll take that.

Our lack of credit card debt and personal emergency funds have remained the same and I'm actually quite proud of the fact that we've managed to keep them like this throughout this entire year.  We have also managed to start reducing our food, household, and takeaway bills, and I'm hoping to keep this downward trend for the rest of the year.  We did have one expensive week for eating out, but that was when we went on a trip out with my Mum and I wouldn't want to change that.

I did also manage to put some money aside for my pension again this month as it was something that I had decided I was going to prioritise for the rest of the year.

However, we still weren't able to put any money into our sinking funds and our four months emergency fund.  While this was disappointing I knew that it would probably be the case as there were some big, unplanned expenses that came out right at the start of the month.

And they all circulated around the car, which needed over £200 worth of repairs and two of the tyres changed, and we didn't use our sinking fund to cover this.  I suppose in a way I could say that we did actually put around £400 pounds into our sinking funds in September, it's just that we had to take it back out again right away.

We also both needed to replace our walking boots, getting replacement walking poles, and my partner needed a high vis top for when he's cycling home now as it's so dark.  Perhaps the outdoor gear isn't strictly 'needed' but walking is important to both of us and we couldn't really be happy without it so it wasn't something I wanted to comprise on.

So, whilst the big expenses on the car did have an impact on what I had originally planned for this month, it could have been far worse and I'm very grateful that we have the money coming in to cover those expenses without having to put ourselves into debt.  On that front, we have been very lucky.  And now we're starting a new month and I have plans on how to start catching up on where we fell behind, such as only eating out / having a takeaway once a week, so October should be a good one.

Goals 2021 Update #3

As I expected, especially with the way that August went, this quarter was definitely a bit of a flop.  It's to be expected really, what with the loss of two weeks earnings and added expenses for our holiday (which I spoke about in the August budget blog), and the additional expense of having to get the car fixed and then two of the tyres changed.  It also probably doesn't help that I just lost the will by this quarter and couldn't be bothered to worry about where the money was going anymore.  I guess we might as well get on with it - I'll keep it short.

Starting with the positives.  The plan to not accumulate any more credit card debt and to keep our own personal emergency funds has remained this quarter.  I have had to use my credit card on purchases, such as when I had the tyres replaced, but made sure that I paid off the debt straight away.

The Christmas and car repair sinking funds have unfortunately gone to the wayside these last few months, without any payments not only in August but also in July and September.  To catch up we will need to find £310 over the next two months for the Christmas fund (so that it's ready for December spending) and £230 for the next three months for the car repair.  We decided to not use the car repair sinking fund when we got the car fixed in September as we had enough to cover the repairs that month and decided to just use that instead of basically starting the fund from scratch again.

We also didn't put anything towards the four months emergency /expenses fund over these last few months.  It's unlikely that we'll be able to make up for this over the remaining year and so I think the best thing to do now is to concentrate on getting the two sinking funds completed over these last few months and move this goal over to next year.  The sinking funds are a bit more pressing right now.

Lastly, my pension.  I didn't put any payment into it in August but did manage to contribute in July and September so I am happy about that.  The last time I missed a payment I then spread it across the remaining months of the year, but I don't think I can manage that this time.  If I can carry on with the same contributions over the last quarter I will be happy.

I completely dropped the ball this quarter and lost the momentum that I had built up in the first two quarters.  I'm not that surprised really as it's not that unusual to have a blip now and then when you're building on your goals, but I do need to make plans for the last quarter to hopefully end on a high. The aim for this last quarter is to complete our two sinking funds, carry on paying into my pension on a monthly basis, and keep the credit card debt to nothing and the emergency fund at £1000.  Oh, and I need to look at life insurance, always a joy.  

I think I'll calm myself now with some beautiful scenery.

Project Pan 2021 Update 3

And then there was one.

As I had hoped in the last update I have managed to completely use up the Cien eyeliner pen in Black, mostly by wearing smoky eye looks every weekend.  I've looked everywhere I can think of but haven't been able to find anything on Cien's cruelty free status so it's not really a product I would recommend to anyone.  I also found that, on my eye lids at least, it transferred quite easily, though it was very easy to put on.

So that just leaves The Balm highlighter in Mary-Lou Manizer to go.  The chance of me using this product up by the end of the year is unbelievably small and right now I'm in two minds as to whether or not I want to keep it after the end of this project.  I'm not going to lie, I do really like the look of it as an eye shadow in conjunction with a blusher, but do I really need a highlighter in my make-up bag.  I'll keep using it until the end of the year and then maybe take a little break from it before I make my final decision.  It is a beautiful product though.

And that's it, a very short post as there really isn't much to say here.  It's just as well I'm going to do a 'what's now in my make up bag' with the next update otherwise it would just be a paragraph.  Bring on me highlighting absolutely everything for three months.

Crafting 2021 Update 3

It's been another three months of crafting and, if I'm being honest, I really hadn't expected to get that much done this quarter.  However, it has turned out to be the complete opposite.  In fact, I've done so much better than I thought I was going to do I'm almost proud of myself - almost.  Admittedly the two weeks off I had in August with more down time them originally planned probably helped.

The 1940's Trousers

Not only have I managed to start and complete these trousers, but I've also managed to make the top half the overalls pattern which I plan on adding attachments to so that I can either wear them as trousers on their own or the full overalls.  There was a lot of fiddling I needed to do to this pattern to make it actually fit my figure, but it's been worth it as I now actually have a pair of trousers that fit me properly and which I don't have to wear a belt with.  Unfortunately I haven't actually had much wear out of them yet as the weather's been far too hot, but as soon as I can I'll be putting them on.  I'm actually going to be writing a more in-depth post of this so I won't add anymore here.

Christmas Cards

Oh look at the year zooming past and I still haven't gotten very far with these Christmas cards.  I have given doing watercolours another go when we were in Lundy, just not with much great success.  I just need to put aside more time to practice really and stop being so lazy about it.  Definitely a most do better here.

Lord of the Rings/ The Hobbit Cross-stitch - The Shire

This is at least coming on nicely and I'm pretty close to finishing it now.  I finally got around to removing that dark mark at the bottom of the fabric and am expecting it to be done by the end of the year, if not quite a bit sooner.  It's probably coming along so well as I'm finding it quite a nice way to wind down at the end of the night.  It does look really good and I can't wait to see it on the wall as I work my way through the next one, which I've already brought all the thread for in preparation.

The Fantail Skirt

I have brought all the fabric I need to make this skirt now (as well as the top I plan to go with it), as a mock up and as the real thing.  It's sitting in a big pile on the side of the desk just staring at me.  Whilst I haven't started this yet I have finally cut out the pattern.  The biggest issue was not really knowing how I wanted to final skirt to look and so what changes I needed to make to the pattern, but now that I've finalised it in my head the process can now begin.  I can see this taking quite a few weekends.

Two Pairs of Paper-bag Shorts

I wasn't originally going to make these, but I didn't really like the shorts that I have already which either don't fit properly or were falling apart.  I also have this problem where the waist band rises up to the small part of my waist, taking all the shorts with them and making them a lot shorter than I actually want.  So I decided it was time to make myself a pair and brought the Ellen Woven Shorts pattern which was the closest to the style I really like.  I had planned on making just one pair using the goldfish African fabric I had made the culottes out of, but I liked the outcome so much that I've made another pair (mostly for walking) using fabric that has the map of Middle Earth on it.  I absolutely love this fabric and just couldn't resist getting it.  The pattern didn't quite fit my figure and I had to make some changes before it fitted the way I wanted, mostly heightening the waist line and bringing in the leg width a little, but I love this altered form and am definitely keeping the pattern for future use.

Harry Potter Nightie

I've already written a post about this so won't put in too much about it here.  Only to say that I could no longer use a nightie that I loved the shape of, so I made a pattern from it and have used that to make another nightie using fat quarter fabric in a Harry Potter pattern.  It's turned out pretty well and I've already used it quite a lot.

Ed's Project Bag

After making my nightie I still had quite a lot of Harry Potter fabric left over and, as my partner is the real Harry Potter fan and has no where to put the hobbies he's working on, I decided to make him a project bag and corresponding case with lining to fit all his smaller items.  I think they turned out pretty well, even if I do say so myself, and it was actually the first time I had properly put in a zip - which was an interesting learning curve.

Clara Bow-Panel Sweater

As I apparently always have to have a knitting project on the go at any time I decided to start one of the jumpers I've been wanting to knit in a while.  It's another pattern from the Knit Vintage book I have and where I had originally gotten my cardigan pattern from.  Add to the fact that I found the Rowan yarn I needed in the colour I wanted on sale and it seemed like it would be silly to not start it right away, despite the heat we're experiencing at the moment.  I do love knitting.  There's something so calming about it.

And that's it for this quarter.  I still can't believe just how much I've managed to get done, especially as I really didn't feel that I would have the time to do it all.  It'll be interesting to see how much I manage to do this quarter, but mostly I'm just hoping that I get the Christmas cards completed - that's my main aim for these next few months.

Starting the Coast to Coast/ Two Moors Way

This post was meant to be part 1 of our Coast to Coast / Two Moors Way trips that we attempted a couple of weeks ago, but things didn't exactly go to plan and we had to end it before it had properly begun.  I still wanted to write about it, however, as it's good to talk about the bad as well as the good, and you can still learn something from it.

We knew that this wasn't going to be one of the easiest walks we'd ever done as we were attempting to cram the sensible eleven days trip into seven and we were having to bring more food than I would have liked as our itinerary meant that we couldn't guaranteed we were going to be near any of the shops when they were actually open.  We had managed to get the rest of our gear quite light, with the main weight coming from the food and water.

We started pretty early at the beginning point, Wembury Beach, and completed the Erme-Plym Trail part of the trek in the first day.  The distance was quite a long one, just over 17 miles, but the terrain of fields and country lanes was a pretty good one to start the walk with.  Unfortunately the views were pretty much obscured by the weather for most of the day.  In fact, it rained so much and so hard that I didn't want to take my phone out very often to take photos, and our guide book has taken quite a beating.

Despite the wet and windy weather wild camping on Dartmoor turned out to be a pretty good experience.  The food we had brought was enough to fill us and quick to make, and our tent (the Lanshan 2 which many people have said in reviews that they didn't think would hold up to wind and rain) worked very well giving us a sheltered but condensation free night despite all the rain.  The only issue I had is that I've now noticed that my hips have started hurting after a night camping, so I'll need to find a ground mat that gives me a little more support for future trips.

Day two was meant to be one of our longest days, just over 20 miles in total, and would see us travelling over Dartmoor, past Holne, and then back into Dartmoor again for another night of wild camping.  However, it turned out that this wasn't meant to be.  I have to admit that we didn't get up and as ready as early as we should have done, but the main issue was that the little niggles my partner had experienced the day before hadn't alleviated over night.  Instead, they got progressively worse as the day went on, mostly in his knees, and it got to the point where we had to call it quits on the walk.

Thankfully we had made it to the Avon Dam Reservoir, which meant we could take a nice slow walk down to the nearby car park where we could call in the cavalry to take us home.  The walk up until that point had been very, very wet and windy again, and shrouded in mist, but still beautiful in it's own right.  There's something about Dartmoor in the fog that is so attractive, maybe it's the added danger of getting completely lost.

So, what have I learnt from this incomplete trip.  Firstly, our choice in tent turned out to be a real win.  Light weight, capable of protecting us from some pretty bad weather, and the fact you need to bring your walking polls to use in junction with it turned out to be a win as my partner really relied on them in the end.  Secondly, I need to find a way of making our packs even lighter as I'm pretty certain that the weight along with the cold played a key role in the knee issues.  Thirdly, I really need to change my walking boots.  I love the boots I have.  They're sturdy and take quite a beating, but my feet are just too wide for them and no matter what I do I can't get them to fit.  On the plus though, I'm a lot fitter than I thought I was and my body actually took really well to the walking with the heavy backpack.  By day two it felt like my body had already gotten into the rhythm of it.

And the plan moving forward is this - we don't want to give up on doing the Two Moors Way, but doing it in one go probably isn't a good idea at the moment.  Instead, we're going to break it up into stages with shorter sections than we had originally planned to act as training for other longs hikes we have on the radar.  It was also great being back up in Dartmoor again and, once the knees have healed, we plan to spend a lot more time there in the future.