Decluttering Again

We were pretty lazy over the Christmas period when it came to keeping the flat clean, tidy, and generally free of stuff to the point where it did actually get a bit out of hand.  We're finally getting back ontop of it now though, with my husband doing a good general clean and me getting back into the zone cleaning.

One of the tasks in zone cleaning is decluttering an area before you start the deep clean and usually you would only do this once you'd gotten to the specific zone.  However, I didn't want to wait before getting the cleaning done and it felt like I needed to do a much more in-depth decluttering this time round, especially after Christmas.

I know this is something I've written about many times before, but I do think this is something worth doing on a regular basis.  Especially as we tend to collect things and what we need or think we need changes over time.  For me it makes sense to have our home be in keeping with how we are now rather than how we were in the past.

So, I've been going through our kitchen cupboards, clothes, my crafting box, our camping box, etc to really work out if there's anything we're really not using now or won't be using in the near future to help keep our flat clutter free.

I do find I've become more realistic with myself every time I do these decluttering sections, which means I am able to get rid of more things each time.  It also feels right decluttering in January as there's something about the start of a new year to make you feel better about getting rid of the old.  Though the same could be said about Mondays.

Free Activities for Us

As things are going to be quite tight financially this year we've been wanting to look for free or really cheap activities we can do together to still make life enjoyable.  Thankfully most of the things we enjoy doing are actually free anyway so that should make things easier.

We have until the end of January before our English Heritage membership runs out and we're not going to renew it as it is unfortunately a little out of our budget at the moment.  So we've made a list of all the places we want to try and see before that point and it got me thinking about our National Trust membership, that's a gift so we don't need to worry about that, and we've made a list of these places as well.

We also want to go on more walks and swims this year and there are, thankfully, many of those around us.  We'll need to have a look at where we'd want to go and it'll be nice to have a selection of coastal and moor walks, as well as some historic areas as well.  The added bonus is that this will also help with our physical and mental health. 

The main costs of these trips will be fuel, but it looks like the hybrid car will be helping on that front so even though we'll be travelling more it shouldn't cost us more.

We've already started working our way through these and it's been good to get out of the flat and actually see the areas around us.  Obviously we don't want to make these a list of to dos we feel we have to get through as they're meant to be enjoyable.  It's also nice and perfectly healthy to spend a day or two doing nothing at all.  And by doing nothing I mean rearrange the flat and knitting a jumper.

Crafting 2023

This year I'm not going to give myself a set amount of projects to complete.  Partly because crafting in 2022 almost became something I felt I needed to do and I want it to remain an enjoyable hobby, and partly because I want to have more time to read more and to work towards gaining a secondary income.  So this is my list of things I'd like to do and I'll get through as many as I feel like this year.

Completion and Use Up Projects

I've already written about these in a previous blog and they're mostly little projects to finish off or fix a project I've basically already completed.  A couple are also about using up material I already have.  I've actually already finished a few of these so what I have left is:

• Fixing the jumper arm
• Resizing the hat pompom
• Changing the length of the strap on the dungarees
• Adding attachment to the top and bottom of the dungarees
• Socks for me
• Making a matching tie to my dress
• Leftover fabric top
• Crochet crop top
• Knitted /crochet strappy top

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

It's time to complete this, hopefully in the first half of the year.

Field of Fucks Cross-stitch

This is a pattern I brought a while ago off Etsy from a shop called Fandom Cross Stitchery.  I think it's hilarious and want to get it completed this year so I can finally have it up to cheer me up when I'm having a bad day.

Icelandic Jumper

At the end of last year my Mum gave me a bag of wool that she had gotten to while ago but never used.  When I saw it the mix of colours made me instantly think of Icelandic jumpers so I went searching for a pattern and found this one called Afmæli by Hélène Magnússon.  Though I vowed I would never do a colour work jumper again here I am preparing to make another one. 

The Maggie and the Coddy Jumpers

Speaking of other colour work jumpers, I would still like to do these sort of matching jumpers by Arne and Carlos from the Rowan magazine, issue 69.  I've worked out that if I buy the wool recommended, and I've decided it might actually be worth doing that at least one, I need to save up around £175 which is seven of my weekly spends so I'll bear that in mind whenever I want to buy something else.

Cut Embroidery Dress

When I was watching the Korean drama 'It's Okay To Not Be Okay' Go Mun Young wears a dress that was made of either a white cotton or linen with cut embroidery on it and it made me wonder if I could maybe make that.  I'll need to find a pattern for the dress and try and find some cut embroidery patterns to go with it, but it would be interesting to give it a go.

The Jabberwocky Embroidery

This was a Christmas present and I thought it would be interesting to try as it's been a while since I've done this type of embroidery and it is a craft I was thinking of getting back into in the future.  This is a kit made by The Fabled Thread and the colours are beautiful.

 

Ankle Trousers

I love my 1940s trousers and I wear them all the time but I do sometimes think it would be nice to have a slightly fitted pair that fall just above the ankles.  I've already found the pattern I want to use, Simplicity S9376, so if I have the time and the spare cash this would be something I'd like to make.

For most of these projects I already have the materials needed and so they shouldn't cost me anything to make.  At least not for the first half of the year.  The other items I will probably need to save up for before I can make them, but that is probably a good habit to get into anyway and should stop me from spending money on other things I don't really need or want.  Regardless, it's a good variety of crafts to keep my brain and hands happy throughout the year and I'm looking forward to it.

Goals 2023

To get straight to the point, the goals I have this year are going to be pretty much the same as the goals for last year so this it's going to be a particularly long post.  However, we are still aiming for the same long term goals and this year should see us carrying on in that same direction.

Financial Fitness

• Four months emergency funds - with the cost of living going up and the added monthly payments for the car we needed to buy our four months emergency fund has now gone up to £7500.  This is going to be a long term goal and, having looked over all our incomings and outgoings over the last year, I know we won't be able to reach this in a year.  I would like us to get a third saved in 2023. That seems more realistic.
• Sinking funds - we need to build up our original sinking funds again.  The Christmas fund has been put up to £800 this year, so we'll need to put aside £75 a month to reach that goal.  Thankfully we only have to put in £50 to get the car repair fund back up to £500 so that'll hopefully be one off the list of things I have to worry about.  I've also added surfing lessons, which we want to do two more of so need to save up £240 for that.  We did however ask for money for Christmas for that so we're almost there on that also.  The last sinking fund is for sailing lessons, which I've worked out for both of us to be around £1400.  This isn't a priority though and we'll only put money in when we can.
• Pension and personal spending - to help with out financial goals I've decided to reduce my pension payments to the recommended 12.5% of your wage.  This does mean that the payments will be about half what they use to be, but at least that means there will still be some money going in.  We've also decided to budget our own personal spending to £25 a week.  That means if we want to buy anything that is more than that we'll need to save up a few weeks before hand.
• Changing my bank account - I didn't get around to doing this last year so I want to do it this year.  I know which bank I want to move to so it's just a case of sitting down and getting it sorted.  It really shouldn't take too long.
• Secondary income - if we're going to reach our financial goals a little quicker it would help if I could get us a secondary income coming in.  Unfortunately it can't just be a case of picking up some extra hours as my responsibilities have remained the same, so it needs to be something I can fit in around the other things I do.  As I'll be spending less time crafting this year I'll hopefully be able to work out what that might be.

Learning New Skills

• Skateboarding - this is still something I want to learn to do.  It's not like I want to be able to do stunts or anything like that, I just want to be able to ride along on one comfortably.  The truth is, I'm getting in my own way here and being lazy about it, so I'm going to put in a goal of skateboarding two times a month and go from there.
• Surfing - we already have some money to take another lesson and are saving up for the second lesson this year.  My brother has also said we can borrow his surf boards whenever we want so we don't have to spend money there (though I do need to work out how we're going to attach them to our car).  After that it would just be a case of getting out and doing it on our own.
• Sailing - unfortunately I don't think we'll get round to this this year as it requires us to save up enough money to get the lessons.  However, it is something we need to do before we take this long term goal any further as we might be terrible at it.  However, if we get the opportunity we'll be there.  I do want to carry on researching boats etc as well, just so we're ready when it comes.

And that's it this year.  It doesn't really feel any different from last year, though for some reason it does feel like I'm trying to fit less in.  Hopefully that'll make them easier to achieve and I am mostly focusing on finances this year.  Wish me luck or maybe just motivation - wish me motivation.