First Normal Week of 2026 - W/E 18/1/2026

This week marked the first normal week of 2026 for me. OH needed the car to go to a meeting on Monday, so I wasn't able to go shopping. I then couldn't go on Tuesday, as the car had an issue with the 12V battery being flat and OH had to go and get another one fitted. It was a bit annoying, as it was only a couple of years old. The new one has a 3 year warranty, lets hope it last at least that long.

As a consequence, on Monday I walked into our local town centre to get some cash out for LB's birthday. When I came home, I wrapped all her presents in readiness too. The rest of the day was pretty chilled, just doing  a bit of laundry and some work on my shopping trolley bag. I also finally joined the new gym and booked a Zumba class for Tuesday morning. The price had gone up £2 per month since I last enquired, which was a bit annoying, but I'll just have to suck it up.

Tuesday, was LB's birthday. I headed out to the Zumba class for 10am and it was pretty good. I've not really done Zumba for a few years, but I enjoyed it. The teacher was standing in for the regular teacher, so I'll get to try the regular teacher's class next week. I'm hoping to improve my aerobic fitness this year, as it has really declined since I stopped running.

When I got back from the gym, LB opened all of her presents, which she seemed to like. Later, we headed out for lunch with OH at a local Italian restaurant to celebrate, which was nice. Afterwards, we'd booked tickets for the local independent cinema to see Marty Supreme, a film starring Timothy Chalamet. The film itself was a bit stressful to watch. It caused both myself and OH to feel quite anxious. LB enjoyed it though, which is the important thing.

By Wednesday, the car was running normally again, so I was finally able to go out and do the remainder of the weekly shop and LB came with me. I did my only bit of sale shopping at TKMaxx, when I checked out their final clearance. I spent £16.70 on a few items including a few gifts/cards/wrap for later in the year plus the odd home/garden item that was on my list to look out for.

The only other shopping I did was for groceries and I managed a get few yellow stickered items, although there were noticably fewer of these available.

On Thursday, I'd booked an Aerobics class at the gym so I headed there for 10am. OH came with me and went in the gym. I recognised the teacher, as I'd done her Soca Aerobics class before elsewhere. This class was similar and was enjoyable, as it was quite energetic.

When I got home, I had some lunch and then didn't really do a lot for the rest of the day. I was quite tired and ended up going back to bed for a nap and not waking until 5pm, which was a bit crazy, but I must have needed it. I think perhaps the new exercise classes were more tiring than I realised and came as a bit of a shock to my system, especially after not exercising for 3 or more weeks.

On Friday, I decided to get up and go out for a walk in the morning. I managed to get over 8,000 steps in, so I was happy enough and it was nice to get out and get some fresh air. I had another chilled afternoon, doing some laundry and pottering. 

In the evening, OH and I had been invited to a fashion show, by one of his cycling buddies, who designs menswear. It was over in South London, so it was a bit of a trek, but we decided to go on public transport, which wasn't too bad. The show itself was good, and was held in the chapel of an old Asylum, which was interesting, if a little creepy. There were quite a few of OH's cycling buddies there, so we had a chat to them and ended up going to the pub after the show and getting back quite late.

As a consequence, Saturday was a bit of a lost day. I didn't sleep well and stayed in bed until late. Then after lunch, I ended up going back to bed for a few hours to catch up on sleep. I think I'm way too old to go out drinking these days.

When I eventually surfaced proper, I watched a new three part Agatha Christie drama on Netflix called The Seven Dials, which was quite good. I then later watched a movie on Netflix with OH.

Sunday was a better day. I was more or less back to normal. I got up and ready and cycled to the gym in the morning. It was my first gym session in the new gym. I'm trying to get used to the new environment and equipment, but it might take a few weeks before I settle in. It was good to finally do a gym work out though after more than 3 weeks absence. 

In the afternoon, OH and I drove out into Essex to retrieve a bike belonging to a friend of his, who had had an accident whilst out riding. He'd been quite badly injured and taken to hospital and had to leave his bike behind, so OH volunteered to bring it back for him. On the way back, we picked up some manure for the allotment from some stables. It needs to rot down a bit before we can use it though.

In the evening, we watched the last episode of the current series of Landman, which was good. I almost feel back to normal after this week, but not really very motivated. I'm hoping that I'll be a little more productive next week.

Settling Back Into Normal Daily Life

It's lovely to be back home after our holiday. There's nothing quite like sleeping in your own bed, showering in your own bathroom and relaxing in your own living room. We had a great time, but it's now time to get back to normal.

One good thing about the holiday, was that I didn't spend money on any stuff to bring home with me, bar an umbrella, which we needed for the rainy weather, but which will always get used in the UK.  The only other purchase was a postcard of some artwork by a famous local artist, bought for 1 euro when we visited one of his homes on Lanzarote.

Back home, OH and I walked up to the library on Satuday morning, to return my overdue library book. I was shocked when I was charged £1.76. I didn't think library fines were still a thing and it seemed a bit steep, but luckily OH had some loose change and paid it for me. I won't be making that mistake again. We then walked home the long way round to get some steps in and get some fresh air.

I needed to do a smallish shop for some needed food items on Saturday afternoon, so I went to our local Lidl. The traffic in our area was really bad though. I don't normally go anywhere in the car on weekends, as traffic can be really heavy and it was. I got enough food to last us at least until Tuesday, when I will probably go out of town and get the remainder of the weekly shop.

I have just enough money for the bare essentials this month, i.e. food and household items. There's still a bit of food left over from Xmas, but there's not a lot left in the freezer. We won't starve though.

I will be joining my new gym this week, which I'm quite looking forward to. I've not exercised for almost two weeks now and weight has gone on as a consequence of Xmas and the holiday. It will cost me £57 for the first month, including the joining fee of £12 or so. 

I will probably also book a dental appointment this month, as it is is now overdue, and this will cost at least £120, as I am required by the dentist to have my teeth cleaned too. This will have to go on my credit card, to be paid off next month. I'm just hoping I don't need any treatment this visit. I haven't really got any other expenses, save for LB's birthday, which I'd already put the money aside for, so it should be managable.

I'm still settling back into being at home. We tidied a lot of things away, due to LB having a birthday party whilst we were away, so I still need to get everything back out and the house back to normal. I also needed to do my laundry from the holiday, as we didn't have any laundry detergent when we returned. I've now unpacked everything, and done the laundry.

Today (Sunday), I've had a very chill day sewing, working on renovating my shopping trolley. It's coming along and I'll post separately about my progress. I enjoy staying home in the cold weather, working on a project and not spending any money. I think January is definitely going to be a month of doing such things.

I've decided that this year I'm going to keep a wriiten record in a small notebook of all my makes as I create them. I wish I had done it last year, as I made quite a lot of things last year, but better late than never. It will be interesting to look back on at the end of the year. Although I document a lot on my blog, I don't document everything and this way it will all be recorded in one place.

Looking Forward to 2026

With the festivities over and having just got back from a lovely week's holiday in Lanzarote in the Canary Islands, I'm now turning my attention to the new year in 2026.  I love New Year. I like fresh starts. I don't really make New Year resolutions, but I always have an idea of things I want to pursue in the coming year.

OH booked us the holiday in Lanzarote and it was a lovely way to start the New Year and we seem to have missed some very cold weather here in the UK, although the weather there wasn't great. It was pretty cloudy and rainy for the first 4 or 5 days. Anyway, he needed a break and his sister and her husband were going there, so we decided to join them. Since booking, his sister had to shorten her holiday from 3 weeks to 1 week, as her husband had been fast tracked for an operation and couldn't fly for at least 4 weeks before. He didn't go and her daughter joined her instead, with her 4 year old daughter. It was a nice week of relaxing and spending time with family we don't see too often. The little one was lots of fun too.

I couldn't really afford it, of course, but I did have 75 euros left over from last summer's holiday and I added a week's household spending money to that. We don't spend big on holiday, we just eat out maybe once per day, eat in our apartment the rest of the time, don't shop hardly at all and go for days out in the hire car. The accommodation OH booked was very reasonable albeit very small and the car hire and flights super inexpensive, so it was probably the least expensive holiday we've had for a while. We had a lovely time though. LB didn't come with us. She's had friends round for an early birthday party instead and no doubt enjoyed having the house to herself in our absence.

I couldn't really think much beyond this, but now we are back I can focus on the year ahead, This year, it's mainly all about continuing with intentional/sustainable spending, surviving on a reduced income, keeping fit, healthy and strong (reducing my weight if I can, although I'm not putting pressure on myself), continuing to work on the house and garden (there's always jobs we need to do to make improvements, including decluttering), slowing down and being present every day. Simple things to focus on, nothing too ambitious.

I am led to believe that this year is the first in a new 9 year numerology cycle. You may or may not believe in such things, but it was 9 years ago I started working in retail. Maybe that was my retail era and this coming 9 year cycle I'm hoping that I'm destined to do something else. I loved retail, until I didn't. I feel a lot more relaxed and at peace since I left my job. 

It will soon be LB's birthday. I've bought almost all of her presents already, I just need to wrap them before the day and get her some cash out of the bank.

Financially, I'm just looking to get through January, as unscathed as possible. I'm still due a dental appointment, which I now need to book. I will also need to join the new gym and start exercising again. OH has already joined and has been for his first session. He liked it. I'm hoping I will too.

I also want to get my sewing mojo back, as it has been put on the backburner since before Christmas. I'm looking forward to getting creative again and have a few projects in mind to work on, one being to pimp up a shopping trolley I bought at the tip shop when we went to Yorkshire for £5. I'm intending to use it for walking to a new Lidl store opening near us next year, and do our weekly shop there some weeks. I've already washed the bag a few times to make sure it's clean, but it will be covered inside and out by patchwork or other fabric before I actually use it. I may use the denim remnants I have left over from LB's pouffe on this project. 

What plans do you have for 2026?

Twixtmas 2025

The Monday after Christmas, things were back to normal and I headed out of town to do the weekly shop, with LB accompanying me this time. She hasn't come with me for a long time now, but on this occasion she had reason, as she wanted to buy some things for an early birthday party she is planning on hosting.

I didn't need to get much shopping this week, as there is still so much food in the house. I just needed to get the usual bread, milk, some cold meats, fruit and snacks. I managed to get my usual expensive mouthwash on offer, with over £3 discount on each bottle, which was good as I'd run out. It was great for the shopping to come in at under £50 for once. I will probably do a small top up shop later in the week.

Towards the end of our outing, we had a bit of trouble with the car, as the boot would not lock shut and kept alarming. In the end we had no option but to drive home with it like that and hope it wouldn't fly open on the way. I was concentrating so much on keeping my speed low, that I missed our turning off the ring road and had to come home by a different route, which was no bad thing, as the roads that way had lower speed limits, making it safer. OH has subsequently resolved the issue for now, which is good.

On Tuesday, I had a lie in and read for a while. I needed to return the book I'm reading by New Year, but when I later walked to the library, it was closed until then and so I may have to go overdue. I don't like to, but they didn't tell me when I renewed the book that the library was closed between Xmas and New Year. I think the council have done away with fines, I hope so anyway, but even if they haven't, it won't be much.

After walking to the library, I then walked into town to get some bits I needed. I considered buying a magazine, but £6 - £7 was too much to justify. Luckily, on the way home, I looked in a Little Free Library and found this one which is current:

A perfect example of serendipity, if ever there was one.

I picked up a few birthday cards for January birthdays on my travels and also collected a prescription from the pharmacy and then it was home. I'd done over 7000 steps, so I was happy. When I got back, I treated myself to a toasted baked bean sandwich for lunch. I'm not loving salads at the moment. I'm just listening to my body and giving it a bit of variety from the norm.  The rest of the day was spent doing laundry and packing away a few Xmas bits.

On Wednesday, I took down the bulk of the Xmas decorations. They come down much more quickly than they go up, that's for sure. This is OH's favourite day of the year. He loves it when the decorations come down. The house looked a bit bare, but at least it's done. I did a quick trip to Lidl to pick up a few bits and then pottered, doing more laundry, housework and more packing away of Xmas bits and pieces in the shed.

We had a very quiet NYE. LB went out with friends, we stayed in as usual. We did watch a really good film on Amazon Prime called Jeanne Du Barry about Louis XV of France's mistress, starring Johnny Depp. Worth a watch if you ever see it on TV or Netflix. I then watched Pretty Woman for the first time in years and really enjoyed it.

2026 started with a lie in and almost finishing my current book. Just the postscript few pages to read. Today's chapter was all about basket making. I found it really interesting to read about this ancient craft. I don't how many baskets I have in my house, but there must be upwards of 20, which I use for various purposes. I decided to count them and was shocked to get up to 34, without venturing into the shed, basement or LB's room, where I know there are more. I also have 5 pieces of rattan furniture, which is kind of basket ware. You can't beat a good basket for storage and they compost too, when no longer useful.

OH is cycling in South London today, so I am spending the day vacuuming and mopping the house after taking down the decorations yesterday. It will be good to have a reset for the year ahead. I hope that whatever you are doing today, you have a lovely New Year's Day.

Looking Back on 2025

Before we hit 2026, it seemed fitting to take a little look back at 2025, good and not so good.

We started our year at the beginning of January with a lovely holiday in Tenerife, with two of OH's siblings and his mum. OH's mum hadn't been on a proper holiday for years, having nursed her husband until he died in October 2024. We never usually go away at this time of year, save to visit family, so it made a nice change to be somewhere warm in the depth of winter and spend time with OH's family to boot.

There was some bad news in late February, when OH's brother suffered a severe stroke and was hospitalised for months. Thankfully, he pulled through, but is still suffering from the debilitating effects of the stroke, although he is now being cared for at home. We're all hoping he makes progress in the coming year.

I got some good news in April, that a course I'd been wanting to do for over a year was finally being run. It was a YMCA Certificate in Gym Instruction. I was the oldest student on the course, but it didn't stop me. I attended college one day per week for a few months and although it got challenging, because part way through I was given lots more hours at work and struggled to find the time to keep on top of the college work, I did pass, which I was really pleased about. I didn't study to work in the field, it was mainly for my own personal knowledge base and the information I gleaned has been useful.

Talking of studying, LB successfully completed her degree studies this year and we enjoyed visiting her final show and graduation ceremony. She worked hard and did well. She returned to live at home with us in July and it's been lovely having her around and we've had a few day trips out together, which has been lovely.

We had a great family holiday in Portugal in July, but almost as soon as I got home, things suddenly changed at work. I had a bit of a run in with a particular member of staff and it shifted my whole perspective of the workplace. There had also been a lot of management changes and I'd been working way more hours than I wanted to for the previous three months. It was feeling way too overwhelming and the working environment was getting a little too toxic for me, so I just felt like it was the right time to make a change and resigned. I was a little sad to leave, but I know I did the right thing. Sometimes, it's easy to stay in a situation that you are no longer enjoying and I really didn't want to do this, as in my experience, once a situation starts to feel off, it often gets worse very quickly. Life is way too short for this.

I haven't found another job since, and I haven't really been looking seriously, as I wanted to enjoy Christmas this year, but I may start looking in the New Year. Ideally, I just want to work a couple of shifts/days a week and be able to develop a reasonable weekly routine, not be all over the shop and having no work/life balance.

As a consequence of my work situation, I've had to be very careful with money for the last few months. Luckily, I'd put aside money for Xmas and it didn't affect our celebrations and gift giving too much. I've gradually got used to having less money to spend and I actually find that I'm at my most resourceful in this situation. As funds gradually run out in this coming year, I will probably need to start earning again, otherwise I will be living off my long term savings, which I prefer not to do. But if I have to, I will.

I've enjoyed the final few months of the year, having the freedom to do more sewing and other craft projects and not being answerable to anyone but myself. I don't feel particularly panicked about not having a job this time around, as I'm nearly 60 now and I am due to start receiving a couple of small work pensions in the latter part of 2026, so we'll see what happens. I think my retail era might be over though, corporate retail at least.

In retrospect, it's not been an awful year, but it has had it's challenges and it has been a horrible year for some family members. We've tried to support them where we can and just hope things get better going forward. At the end of the day, family matters most and it's good to be free to travel and spend time with them, not working all the time and unable to get away to visit.

I don't know what 2026 will bring, but I will keep persevering to get the right balance for myself and my family.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy 2026.

 

Christmas Week - W/E Sunday 28th December 2025

Christmas week was a super chilled affair, once we returned to London on the Monday before. As I wasn't working this year, I could fully enjoy the lead up, main event and the days following Xmas.

On Tuesday, I needed to go shopping and buy the last of the Xmas groceries, mainly fridge and freezer items. Our local Tesco was mobbed, with super long queues. I was glad to get back home and know that it was all done and we were set for Xmas.

On Christmas Eve, once LB had finished work, we headed into town for the late afternoon/evening, where we stopped out for something to eat in Coal Drops Yard near Kings Cross. We didn't stay out late. We were going to give curling a try, as there were some lanes you could rent, but OH had injured his knee on a bike ride in the morning and didn't think he'd be able to bend down to send off the stone. It would have been good fun to give it a try, but maybe another time.

We were back in time to watch Celebrity Christmas Sewing Bee and an old Xmas Good Life episode which was funny. Sometimes the old nostalgic programmes are preferable to some of the absolute rubbish on TV these days. (I think I'm getting old!) 

Our neighbour, who's dog we sometimes look after, dropped by to give us a thank you gift of some wine, which was very nice. Our other neighbour had also dropped some home cooked biscuits around to us the night before, which was also very kind, thanking us for being patient with regard to their building works this past year.

We had a lovely quiet Christmas Day. We weren't all up and ready to open presents until around 11am. We all got lots of lovely presents and were very happy with them. Here's a little picture of my crochet nativity characters from LB:

So cute. LB was also super happy with her pouffe and later put it into good use at her desk.

Xmas lunch was lovely. It's very easy to cook for 3 people, so I can't complain. Any more and I'd struggle with our oven, although I have cooked it for 5 when OH's parents came one year. In the afternoon, OH and I dropped round to his friend's house to check on their cat, who seemed fine. He's since discovered where we live (i.e. just over his back fence) and has subsequently spent quite a bit of time in our garden, probably for the company.

The rest of Christmas Day/Night was spent watching TV and eating a picky tea. We watched the Christmas Episode of Amandaland, which was funny, but there wasn't much else I was interested in watching to be honest.

On Boxing Day, LB was working at the theatre, so OH and I booked ourselves to go see a free Xmas movie at 12.30, at our local independent cinema. It was good to get out of the house and the film was entertaining. On the way home, we went the long way round to get a walk in which felt good. 

When we got back, we had some lunch and I fell asleep on the sofa whilst watching a film. It isn't Christmas if someone doesn't fall asleep watching TV and it's hard to do this when you're staying at someone else's house. That's one of the best things about spending Christmas at home.

LB was working again the following day. OH and I decided to go out for a nice long walk. We did about 9,000 steps. It was good to clear our heads and get moving after all the Xmas food and drink we'd consumed. (There's still so much left!) We dropped in at the local gym that we are intending to join now that our gym has closed, as OH wanted to check some details about membership.

The afternoon was spent watching TV and eating too much. We did watch 'Goodbye June' on Netflix which was a good film. I'm looking forward to all the Xmas food being eaten and getting back to normal eating habits.

On Sunday morning, I completed a financial round up for the year. I'd started it a week or so before, but just needed to add December's expenditure. I've posted separately about this if you're interested. It was quite positive in many ways, which I was happy about.

Later on Sunday, OH and I ventured to the allotment to do a few outstanding small jobs. We were there a couple of hours and got all the weeding and pruning done. We just now need to buy and lay out some manure, until the spring when we will dig it in, which is a very satisfying feeling.

When I got back, I did some financial work setting things up for the coming month and writing my shopping list for the week. We don't need a lot. OH made us a veggie curry for supper which was tasty and we watched another episode of Landman. I then got watching Bohemiam Rhapsody and stayed up until midnight watching it. I do love Queen. They remind me of a time in my life, when I listened to their early albums a lot.

A lovely restful Xmas week, spent at home together. We couldn't ask for more.

A Year End Financial Roundup for 2025

The other evening, I decided to take a long hard look at my finances over the past year and see how I'd fared in comparison to the year before. In all honesty, despite leaving my job earlier this year, I was quite pleasantly surprised.

Overall, I had earned a little more over the year, than I did in 2024, but then I did get a tax rebate in 2025, some of which should probably have been accredited to 2024, as it was in this year that the tax was originally taken off my wages, so in reality, taking this into account, I didn't actually earn more in 2025, but I didn't earn much less either. The fact that I earned virtually the same, but worked 4 less months in 2025, can be explained by the fact that towards the end of my job, I worked a lot more hours each week/month, which was a part of the reason why I decided to leave. I never wanted to work 25 to 30 hours per week and found it just too much. I just couldn't get a good work/life balance. I do live in hope that I might find a job at some point where this is possible.

Anyway, I digress, in terms of spending in 2025, I spent approximately £2730 less than in 2024, which is a good thing. This reduction in spending was virtually across the board in terms of the categories of spending. I spent £152 less on food, £492 less on household items, £299 less on miscellaneous spending, £533 less on home and garden, £887 less on myself and £143 less on gifts. The only area of spending that increased, was charitable spending, which increased by £172, by which I mean donations to charity or to the foodbank. I did donate to my local food bank most weeks until I left my job, which accounts for this increase. I tried to donate an item for each day of the week most weeks. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to do this now, but I still want to give something, so I may reduce giving to just one item per week going forward, which is better than nothing.

I was quite happy with these figures and when I looked further at spending with particular companies, I spent £384 less on eBay this year and £650 less in charity shops, but I did spend a little more at the car boot sale, with spending rising by £45 here. I didn't keep detailed records of other companies I spent money with in 2024, so I couldn't really compare any other spending, but these few comparisons were also quite positive and indicated that I made progress towards being more mindful and considered in my spending this year, although there is still quite a bit of room for further improvement.

Going into 2026, and having reduced my spending over the last 4 months since I left work, I will need to continue to do the same, as I'm not currently earning money. As a consequence, I'm considering a very low buy year and as I've been building my low buy muscles lately, I'm in a better place to be successful in this regard at the moment. I won't say no-buy, as everyone needs a treat now and then and I don't think it's sustainable for me to have a no buy year, but I do want to reduce my spending further if I can and completely cut out unnecessary spending if possible. I will need to do a lot of budgeting for gift buying and dental treatment, etc., but I'm hopeful that I can do this by tweaking my spending here and there.

2026 is definitely going to be a year of prioritising what is important to me and one thing that is, is my gym membership. My gym, where I got very subsidised rates for being over the age of 50 has now closed for at least 3 years for refurbishment and I want to be able to walk to the gym and not have to catch a bus or cycle for 30 minutes, so I'm considering paying for a monthly membership at another local gym. This is going to be more expensive, but to me it is worth paying for, as I need to be able to go on a regular basis and for my gym to be near to where I live. As a consequence, the money will have to be found from other areas of the budget and that will mean a bit of juggling, but hopefully it will be doable.

There are other things that I would like to do too, such as more dance classes, but I will just have to see if I can accommodate these in the budget.  I am also due a dental check and clean and an eye test in the first few months of the year, so they will need to be paid for and I really would like some new glasses, but I may have to wait a while for these or possibly use some savings. It's going to be a challenging year, but I'm up for it and willing to try my hardest not to waste what money I do have at my disposal.

How have your finances fared in 2025? Do you compare your year on year spending? Do you have any plans going into 2026 to reduce your spending or be more mindful of how you spend your money? I'd be really interested to know what they are, as I'm always looking for tips and inspiration.