January round up

Expensive start to the new year, to keep under £1000, I have on average only £83 per month, so I'm well and truly over spent this month. £42.99 of the wool spend was on my loom and shuttles, which is an one off purchase. So in January I've already blown my budget, mainly on wool, but I have enough to make myself a couple warm items, and loads of socks. Or maybe  I should admit to having a yarn stash problem.  I got a good deal on crafting card, the 3rd pack free, plus £10 off.
On checking last year, I notice I didn't purchase yarn, sewing and card making every month, and I spent nothing on gardening in December, infact I spent only a small amount on fabric in December, so whilst my spending to over this month, I expect to have months where my spending is under.
One of my yarn purchase, I had a voucher from my sister, so the amount added to the list was just the extra I paid for.  I did not add my new loom to this list.

I purchased no clothes or shoes, did not expect to, never visited the sales, my Christmas crackers and room scent has been added to Christmas, and some reduced battery coloured lights plus a couple of books 2nd hand from Amazon.

I have been thinking regarding recording my yarn spend, this year I have loads for making warm clothes for me. So this year, I will record on my stash spend all yarn purchased, but once it is made into a garment I can wear, I will add the cost to my clothes list and remove the cost from the yarn list. I will not do this for socks, as I purchase the yarn for the pretty colours and the joy of knitting, rather than the need for socks.

We counted our saving jars, just for interest, we saved £222 in two pound coins, plus £60 Christmas money, so we have booked 3 nights away in Liverpool in March, it's a city on my list to visit. In our bottle we had £62.70, this is all other coins except one pound coins which we do not save, this we have put back, the jar is only half full, so we will empty once it is full. Saving takes longer as we do not shop as much, so we don't always have loads of small change.

We were still using Co-op vouchers for our shopping, they lasted 3 weeks, we did one shop from Lidl for a fridge restock, we still have loads in cupboards and freezers.

It was interesting to see on the news, how the scientist believe we should eat, including factors such as environment, health, and the need for a balanced diet, they suggest small amount of red meat once a week, chicken and fish each twice a week and two days plant, which is almost to our diet, we often have lamb instead of beef, but it's the pattern we try to follow. This year we are looking to reduce the amount of meat we serve,  our portions have always been a problem.

We were good and managed not to waste any food after Christmas, we did eat some strange meals, but no waste, which we were pleased with, but we have to stop purchasing so much in just for Christmas, which is always ate in January.

I'm not recording any steps, my fitbit broke and I'm not replacing it, I know how much I need to walk each day, January started poor, but we are now walking through the park when we can.

On a totally different topic, I have decided to give up chocolate for February, hubby is joining me, I eat far too much chocolate, it will be hard, but it's only 4 weeks.