So, yesterday….a day of tidying up, cleaning up, more sorting and some simple time chatting in the garden…we are very lucky to have a great garden space.

It costs nothing to sit in the sun in the garden and put the world to rights. A bottle of cheap cider and a bottle of cheap gin from Lidls. The best beetroot from my sisters garden, homegrown is always the best, sausages and burgers on the little old barbeque…the pigeons playing in the trees and the cats chilling out after a busy day running around the grass which currently resembles a field.

To throw in some accountability for myself on this journey, my last three purchases were….£2.99 on book for my Kindle…this I could have avoided because I pay £7.99 a month for Kindle Unlimited, so a plan….only read books currently in Kindle Unlimited. £5.99 on clothing, I likely don’t need much more clothing so this won’t continue and it was for a pre loved item on Ebay, I can justify this one and £43.10 for food in Lidls – absolutely fine with this one, we have been checking out our food budget and we are on track. Finances are a huge part of our plans as Christopher has just finished his corporate recruiting job, a big chunk of income which is no more – it takes some forward planning and some effort, but this can be done. Our aim is to make enough money selling our things and to only buy what we need, therefore, not having to go out and work for anyone else any time soon.

In our last month our spends were up on prescription medication (Chris had some extra needs this month), clothes for me (I hardly have any clothes and it is almost all preloved, just a little restock), eating out (we went wild and had some chips on the beach and a pasty treat when the pasty shop re-opened, we spent £20 when we normally don’t spend anything) and Kindle Books (as above, an added goal for me to use Kindle Unlimited) – nothing traumatic here, all things which we can cover.

I think during this pandemic so many of us have realised how much we eat out when we could eat at home. I’m not saying don’t eat out, those catering guys need their income as much as anyone…just don’t eat out if you can’t really afford to or your cooking is atrocious, or both….or obviously when the pasty shop re-opens…nothing beats a Barnecutts Pasty!!