As my plan was to buy less this year, I decided to write my Buyer's Archive posts every three months, now I realise that it makes them a bit lengthy, so I might go back to monthly posts. Please let me know what you think (if you ever make it to the end of this!).



My challenge to buy just one item per month this year got off to an interesting start.

Because I purchased two items in January. Two items sold as a pair, I can get away with that, right?

I don't usually set out to buy something specific, but I wanted to wear my navy jumpsuit more often. I was limited by a lack of warm(ish) items that I could comfortably wear beneath it in the cooler months.

To avoid the uncomfortable and unflattering bunching up around the waist that sometimes happens with longer fitted tops, I decided I needed a crop top (not something I ever thought I'd say in my 40s), with long sleeves, in either white or blue and white stripes.

I typed 'long sleeve crop top' into the ebay search function, filtering it to UK sellers, and used items, and these tops appeared with a Buy It Now price of £4.00. Job done. I just need the sun to come out again so that I can wear them more.

I love this jumpsuit, but it lacks pockets. Pockets would've been lovely.



In February my one item was a not very interesting, but slouchy, comfy, and warm grey funnel neck sweatshirt for £4.49. It's a good throw-on-over-anything top that comes in handy at this time of year. It'll be worn with PJs just as much as daytime clothes I'm sure.



Early in March I found a pair of skinny jeans in a charity shop for £4.50. I'm always looking out for jeans so I decided that these would be my purchase for the month. You can never have too many pairs of jeans.



Having decided to buy only one item per month has obviously had an impact on my shopping. When I see something that last year I probably would've bought without too much hesitation, I've been asking myself 'do I like this enough for it to be my one purchase?'. Often the answer has been no, and the item goes back on the rail. It's a great way of identifying the items that I really like, as opposed to the ones that are just OK.



Then, after meeting friends, I took a shortcut to the car park through TK Maxx. I had no intention of browsing but a small leather rucksack caught my eye as I walked passed.

I've been looking for one for a few years, and I'd been hoping to find one second hand but had had no luck. I instantly loved this but I put it back on the shelf, only to return the next day to purchase it. I figured if I was willing to pay £70.00 for it, and willing to break my one item rule, I must really like it, and when I really like something it gets used a lot. It'll last for years and I'm not at all sorry for buying it. It's just a shame that during lockdown I have no need to carry a bag!

LAST YEAR

January 2019

I purchased just one item last January, a green cable jumper originally from Tu for just £2.00. It's been worn 18 times over the year. I love it worn over my blue shirt.



February 2019

I purchased three items last February. The yellow jumper (£3.50) has only been worn three times, but the gorgeous leather bag (£8.75) has been in near constant use. The ASOS boots cost me just £9.50 in the sale. I have to be honest and say they haven't been worn as much as I thought, but they're still in circulation, they haven't been forgotten.



March 2019

The cream jumper (£1.99) was only worn a few times before going back to the charity shop, as did a navy tote bag (£4.99, not pictured). The black jumper (£2.00), and camouflage t-shirt (£3.00) have both only been worn a few times.



Total so far for 2020: £82.99

Total at this time last year: just £35.73

As I'd planned to only buy one item a month I was hoping to spend no more than £200 on clothing, shoes and accessories this year. Obviously buying a £70 rucksack puts a bit of a dent in that budget!

But if I divide what remains by the number of remaining months, it leaves £13.00 per month, which is doable, even without being on lockdown, as I mostly buy second hand. With the non essential shops shut I won't be doing any charity shop rummaging anytime soon, I'm sure I can remain within budget.

Left of £200.00 budget: £117.01

Items purchased: 5 (pre-loved: 4) (new: 1)


For the fifth year running I'm keeping track of my spending on clothes, shoes, and accessories with A Buyer's Archive.

Did you make it to the end? Is this too long?

Saturday I woke up with another urge to clean, I find it baffling as normally the thought is 'I guess I should do some housework', never before have I woke up wanting to do it! I had a few tea breaks though. I phoned my Dad at 10 o'clock with a cup of tea in hand ready to join him on his tea break. He's retired but still has a cuppa at 10am everyday, a little fact that delights me and makes me smile.

Later I FaceTimed my sister-in-law and we chatted for an hour. She's now on week five of lockdown. She had laryngitis a few weeks before social distancing started, and as Coronavirus started to emerge she was advised to stay at home as she's in the high risk category. Her voice is still croaky but she remains cheerful.

Then my aunt phoned me and we chatted for nearly two hours. It's the most sociable I've been all year!

The next day I woke up to snow flurries and high winds. And a power cut. If I gotten up just five minutes earlier I'd have had the chance for at least one cuppa before the power went out, but I'd decided to stay in bed for just a little bit longer.

The wood burner was lit and the camping kettle was retrieved from the back of the kitchen cupboard. I'd never had to boil a kettle on the wood burner before, I was interested to see how long it would take.

I sat dozing on the sofa and waited for it to boil (has anyone else found themselves feeling lethargic during all of this? Some days I have no energy at all - maybe it's all that cleaning?). I tried to read but couldn't keep my eyes open.

I gave up waiting for the kettle to boil after two hours and decided to just make the damn tea! The two glasses of water I'd had over the course of the morning just weren't cutting it. The water was just about hot enough, and, my goodness, I enjoyed that cuppa!

The UK Power Networks website said the power would be back on by 11:30am. At 11am the power was back, I clicked on the kettle, plugged in my mobile phone and sent Andy a text to say the power was back on.

And then it went off again.

I sent another text to Andy and settled back on the sofa with my book. 11:30 came and went and the UK Power Networks website updated to say power would be returned to us between 3:30 - 4:30pm.

My plan for the day had been to do some work work and do the ironing, both of which required electricity. If the sun had been out I'd have happily pottered in the garden but at times the hail was almost horizontal.

My phone battery was very low and slowly counted down to switching itself off. I sat wondering what to do. I had some Ryvita and soft cheese for lunch, and realised that if the power didn't come back soon things would start to defrost! I decided not to worry, knowing that it would be short lived - hopefully.

Without power and without any form of communication I had a glimpse of the true meaning of isolation, and I felt even more grateful for all the methods of communication we have available to us - so long as we have power.

The power clicked back on at 4pm.

Did you have a good weekend?
xx

This year I'm making my resolutions at the start of each month, hoping that this will make the year a productive one. Obviously anything I do this month will be based at home.

It was hard to think of things to do this month. Whenever I thought about what I wanted to do the answer was always 'see my family'. Not knowing when I can see them again is upsetting. I imagine you all feel the same, it's hard isn't it? I know we're more connected than ever but nothing beats seeing someone in person. I'm going to hug my family so flippin' hard when I see them next.

It's a worrying time for everyone, and my worries are not as bad as for some, in the grand scheme of things I'm very lucky.

So, here's what I decided I would do in April.

1. Mend my green skirt
I'm going to give it a go, zips aren't my strong point but it can't be that hard, and it's not as if I've never sewn a zip before. I think I'm just being a bit precious about it because I like the skirt so much. My motivation is that if I don't mend it now, I won't be able to get it professionally mended for a few months and I want to start wearing it again.

2. Fill the greenhouse
I want to plant as many seeds as possible, I've already made a start. I have loads of packets, some veg, some flowers, and I want to grow more this year than ever before. Getting outside and pottering in my greenhouse is one of my favourite things to do, so I'm going to get out there as much as I can. If there is one thing that will keep me sane during lockdown, it's this.

3. Pick at least four DIY jobs and get them done
I always have a DIY to-do list, some of them are fiddly little jobs that in all honesty would only take a short time, and now's the perfect time.

What do you have planned for April?

Stay safe and take care.
xx

This week has seen lockdown introduced. At this time last week I was only just beginning to feel the effects of coronavirus on my life - appointments cancelled, trouble buying cat food, questioning if my reason for leaving the house was valid enough - and now it feels like I'm living in some kind of weird Truman Show style reality, I mean this can't really be happening, can it?

When I look out of my window every thing looks exactly the same. My husband is still going to work, I'm still working for myself, my days look very much the same but I know that beyond what I can see from my window, everything is different.

At times I feel unsettled and have moments where I feel quite upset, but for the most part it just feels very unreal.

Putting the current situation to one side, I'm going to share one happy thing that happened this week.



I know I told you about our Remembrance Tree - pictured above are the first blossoms we had in 2018 - but I don't know if I told you that in June last year, despite having a fence around it, deer stripped the bark off the lower half of the tree and chewed off four of the lower branches.

Every one I spoke to, and everything I read, told me that the tree wouldn't survive, that the bark was too damaged. But there were new shoots at the bottom of the tree, where the bark was still intact, so we just hoped that the shoots would continue to grow and we wouldn't lose our tree entirely.

I kept an eye on the shoots, and they were doing really well until they were nibbled off a few weeks ago by something that had managed to wriggle in under the chicken wire we'd added to the fence.



But yesterday I noticed buds. Lots of healthy looking buds. So maybe, just maybe, it will survive after all? The thought of this made me really happy. I'm looking forward to the buds bursting open to reveal the first blooms.

What's made you smile this week?

This year I'm making my resolutions at the start of each month, but March didn't quite go to plan. Coronavirus put a bloody great - if absolutely necessary - spanner in the works.

Here's what happened

1. Get my green skirt zip professionally mended
I'd found a place to take it but hadn't managed to do so before social distancing kicked in, and now, lockdown.

2. Get out
I'd been hibernating over winter, and wanted to get out and about a little more (Ha! if only I'd known). My plan was to visit the Ed Sheeran Exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, and the new (and only) independent bookshop that'd just opened up in the town centre. The Ed exhibition was closed due to coronavirus long before it was mandatory, but I did get to visit the bookshop.



It isn't huge but it's lovely. It has bowls of sweets, plants, and a wonderful selection of books. I might have fallen in love with the Macmillan Collectors Library, and made the first of what I'm sure will be many purchases. The bookshop has since closed it's doors for a while, just three weeks after opening.



I can still get outside into my garden of course. My greenhouse is very welcoming at the moment, it provides shelter from the chilly wind, and allows me to enjoy the warmth of the sun. It's not the same as getting out to do things and see people but it'll be the thing that keeps me sane over the coming weeks.

3. Get listing
On the first Saturday of the month I listed a number of items on ebay, most of which sold. I'd planned to list several things every Saturday morning throughout the month, but decided not to after the first week. I cancelled the listings of the things that had relisted automatically so that I didn't have to go to the Post Office again, keeping my public appearances to a minimum.

It's hard to believe that only a few weeks ago life still looked so normal, and here we are on lockdown, I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible, taking note of all the things that haven't changed. The birds are still singing, the signs of spring are still emerging, life maybe a muddle but it carries on regardless.

I hope you're all well. What are you doing in the 'new normal'?
xx

March 21st, 2020. I was supposed to be meeting up with a friend but we postponed to adhere to social distancing, so I thought I'd have a day of doing nice things instead but I woke up with other ideas...



7am
Waiting for the kettle to boil for my first cuppa of the day, Tink had a drink too. My cats have a glass of water on the kitchen window sill because drinking from a glass (or a bowl) on the floor next to their food bowls is, apparently, abhorrent. 



8am
Cuppa no.2 and a little reading. How To Be Happy? Stay in bed and pretend everything is normal (just for a little while at least). I had an unusual and overwhelming urge to get up and clean. Strange times indeed!



9am
Felt the need for some colour, this bright yellow jumper did the trick. Colour often lifts my spirits, especially in uncertain times. The day before I'd worn a skirt I usually keep for dressy occasions to the supermarket, 'Vix would be proud' I thought as I stepped into it and teamed it with an emerald green jumper.



10am
Cleaning in progress. I washed floors, walls, woodwork. I vacuumed, did laundry, wiped surfaces and polished. I have no doubt that all this cleaning is a way to have some control in these uncertain times.



11am
I took the time make one of my ‘special’ teas - Sencha Cherry Rose. I took my time drinking it too, savoring the taste. Taking note of the little things has always proven to to be a good way of keeping things in perspective. Being in the moment seems all the more important now that the future seems so uncertain.



Noon
The first time I’ve hung anything out on the washing line this year. Look at that sky! I think the sunshine is helping me to remain (mostly) positive. Can you imagine dealing with all that Coronavirus entails, and having to put up with cold, grey, windy days as well? No thanks, more sunshine please.



1pm
I had my lunch looking out into the garden and noticed the birds needed a top up. It felt like a very ordinary thing to do, the world feels like it's tipped on it's axis but the bird feeder still needs to be filled. Strange times.

I missed my 2pm photo because I was vacuuming, the sort where you move the furniture out of the way to get underneath, y'know, the kind of vacuuming I really should do more often.



3pm
I left the housework chaos for a while. Do you ever start housework and end up just making more mess? That's exactly what I did, but I'd run out of housework steam, so I escaped to my neglected greenhouse. I wanted some fresh air. It needed a good tidy up after the wind had thrown it's contents around, and broken a number of it's windows. The sun felt pretty fabulous beneath the remaining glass panes.



4pm
Of course Andy left the wrapping of his Mother's Day gifts to the last minute, he came home to ask me to do it so he could give it to his Dad before he went home for the day. I had a little ‘help'.



5pm
My greenhouse planting was cut short when I only had enough compost left for one planter. The big bags I had stored in there turned out to be bark chippings. It's good to stagger the planting of spinach anyway, or at least that's what I told myself. I was annoyed that I hadn't checked, I could've picked some up during the week, or ordered some.



6pm
I’d got to that point in the day when I just wanted to sit down, but I had to make dinner. I pondered sitting down for a bit but my hunger was stronger than my weariness.



7pm
I made sausage and bean herby stew with broccoli and mash. I watched an episode of Escape to the Chateaux, and didn't move far from the sofa again until bedtime. Andy came home not long after I took this, we watched a few more episodes of The West Wing for about the 17th time.

Before bed I messaged my Mum and brother to reluctantly cancel our lunch the next day. I'd really hoped that we could still get together, but it was the sensible thing to do. My inner toddler was stamping her foot and yelling 'I don't want to', but adult me accepted that it was just what needed to happen.

I hope you had a lovely weekend, despite the social distancing. Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting #PhotoAnHour. 

I'm going to call this Week One, as before this week Corona Virus hadn't really had any impact on my life. I mean, I knew it was going on, obviously, it was a concern but I hadn't felt the effects myself.

I work from home so I hadn't noticed the empty streets and roads, or experienced the ransacked supermarket shelves.

When it was announced that the schools were closing was when I realised shit was about to get real.

Then on the same day I had two appointments cancelled until further notice.

Then, today, I had to go to the supermarket to pick up a few bits and pieces. Normally I get food delivered, but you can't get a delivery slot for love nor money at the moment. Ironically this means that in the time of social distancing I'm going to be leaving the house more than ever!

I went to the biggest of my most local supermarkets and it was OK. I got everything I needed and, with a satisfied sigh, headed back to my car.

Then I remembered I'd forgotten to buy cat food.

Instead of going back inside (and, oh, how I now wish I had),  I drove to my local co-op. I picked up four boxes of cat food - two poultry, two fish. But when I got to the till, I was treated like I'd just spat in the eye of the woman behind the counter. I was bewildered, she was annoyed, and she loudly asked her colleague if I was allowed to buy four boxes, and then, whilst I stood there cringing, she asked the question over the Tannoy, all in front of a growing queue of people.

Apparently there was a two item maximum - although I'm not sure how I was meant to know this as there was no sign or announcement of any sort. Trying to lighten the mood, I joked that they were different flavours, but she was having none of it. I wanted the ground to open up and swallow me, I'd apparently, and unwittingly, made a dreadful faux pas, and was being made to feel like I'd done something truly awful. She was unnecessarily rude, but I guess she probably wasn't having a very good day. I certainly wouldn't want to be working in a shop at the moment.

Anyway, I drove to the other end of the high street where there's a second co-op and purchased two further boxes in there. I'm not stockpiling, I'm just trying to feed my fussy cats, whilst trying to keep the number of times I leave the house in a week to an absolute minimum - isn't that what we've all been told to do?

Anyway, Andy and I have plenty of food, the cats however might have to get used to a diet of crunchies if I can't buy enough to feed them the Purina Gourmet pouches they prefer.

I got home and phoned Andy to tell him the story of my social fail, and laughed at it all. It is a serious situation obviously, but laughing and keeping our sense of humour is how we'll all get through it. Finding the funny in uncertain times has always worked for us before.

I wonder what next week will bring? Surely panic buying can't last for long, after all as a nation we're not eating any more than normal, and only have a limited amount of room to store it. Common sense will prevail... won't it?

I hope you're all OK, and managing to stay safe and sane.
xx

In the midst of Corona Virus, panic buying, quarantine, and self isolation, all made worse by the media frenzy, I'm contemplating how to turn the situation on it's head and relish the alone time at home.

I work from home already, so my working week looks very much the same as it always has, but the constant assault from the media has worn me down. I've switched off. I know what I should be doing, what precautions I should be taking, but the constant barrage of doom and gloom I can do without.

We have a well stocked pantry so if we need to self isolate we'll be OK for a few weeks. We might not have coherent meals by the end of it but we certainly won't starve. We have been known to enjoy one of my 'stuff teas' (a random collection of food that normally doesn't go together but needs eating) on more than one occasion, usually after Christmas when left overs are becoming scarce but I can't be arsed to go shopping.

I'm thankful that we decided to buy loo roll in bulk last year - not to stockpile, but to limit plastic packaging - and have medication in the cupboard should we need it. We're sorted.

My plans were cancelled last weekend, and this weekend my friend and I have decided to postpone our meet up until another time. It's disappointing as I was very much looking forward to it but it's the right thing to do.

Andy will continue to go to work, so what shall I do with my Saturday?

I came across this post from Lena Dunham on Instagram that made me think about what I could do instead of just bumble around doing this and that, which is what I usually do on weekends when I have no fixed plans.

What would my perfect day look like?

An early breakfast followed by an hour of yoga. My first cup of tea enjoyed looking out over the fields.

A soak in the bath with my current book - How To Be Happy. Followed by some of this maybe? (apologies if you're not on Instagram).

A potter in my greenhouse, perhaps sorting through my seeds to decide what I'll try to grow this year.

A nutritious lunch - poached egg with smashed avocado and homegrown chives on toast.

And one of Lena's suggestions - try every product I have (including the large eye shadow palette that is rather more orange that I realised when I bought it), keep what I love, throw out anything out of date, or recycle that doesn't suit me.

Start that craft project that's been rolling around my brain for a while. Listening to music played loud.

Making a huge batch of chilli con carne, eating a generous portion, saving some for the following day (it's always better the second day anyway) and freezing the rest.

All the while drinking tea, perhaps brewing up some of the flavours I often forget about and leave in the cupboard, the loose leaf stuff that I usually overlook in favour of the easier and quicker teabags.

And why not do it all wearing my favourite outfit, or that dress I love but hardly ever wear.

In fact I think every weekend should be like this! Let's find the good stuff, and under no circumstances turn on the news. Let's make ourselves smile, enjoy the alone time, dance, play, laugh, relax. Take a moment. Breathe.

What would you do on your perfect day at home?

This year I'm making my resolutions at the start of each month, hoping that this will refocus my attention and make the year a productive one.

1. Get my green skirt zip professionally mended
I tried to replace the zip on my favourite skirt but made a really bad job of it. I haven't worn it for months but I want it fixed and ready for Spring.

2. Get out
I've been hibernating, it's time to get out and about a little more. At the very least I want to have visited the Ed Sheeran Exhibition at Christchurch Mansion, and the new (and only) independent bookshop that's just opened up in the town centre.

3. Get listing
With an ever growing pile of items I want to sell on ebay, I need to put aside some time to get everything listed. It's part of my plan to make 2020 a year of decluttering.


Here's how I got on in February

1. Make a start on my office blind
This is underway. The problem I had was the sun coming in through my office window and blinding me, but, being an awkward sort of person, I didn't want to put up blinds and sit in the dark. I have voile curtains that keep out the sun about as much as a fine mist would, so I needed an alternative.

After some pondering I came up with a solution.

Step 1. Buy a spring loaded shower rail (easy to install without the need to drill holes) to go inside the window recess.

Step 2. Temporarily hang a large scarf over the rail to create a panel that I can slide across as the sun moves round over the course of the day.

Step 3. Create a handmade panel, using either patchwork, lace, felt, possibly some simple embroidery, or a mixture of some or all of them.



Until I decide on how I want to construct the panel Step 3 will remain on the to-do list. As it stands the problem is solved, the solution just needs to move from temporary, to finished. For now I'm just happy that I can sit at my desk and work without being blinded by the sun.

2. Bathroom improvements
I had only three tasks on the list. Install a towel ring, replace the shower head bracket, and reseal the bath. I spent a cold a blustery weekend getting these things ticked off the list.

3. Plan eco friendly crackers
I have a collection of items to use as fillers (kept from crackers of days gone by, all collected during my decluttering in January), along with the snaps, the hats, and the jokes (all recyclable), so now I need the cracker part. I've found some on Amazon - don't judge me, I haven't found any elsewhere - that are plain white recyclable card that I can decorate according to the season or occasion.

I've copied these questions from Bev because I rather enjoyed the randomness of them.




Three things I liked about February
1. An impromptu trip to Chelmsford Cathedral to see Kezzie play in her flute ensemble, Flutista. My iMac broke so I was forced to take a few days off work (it's all fixed now). That morning I decided to just hop on a train and go. It was wonderful to see (and hear!) Kezzie play.

2. A night with friends. I hadn't seen a few of them for months and no sooner had we walked through the door, we fell straight back into our usual easy banter. It was a most enjoyable evening with excellent food, and gin.

3. The third thing is between noticing how light the evenings are getting, or taking my time over reading a fabulous book lent to me, and highly recommended, by a friend.

Three things I’m looking forward to in March
1. Going to see The Russian State Ballet of Siberia perform The Nutcracker with my Mum.
2. Coffee with friends
3. My nephews 18th birthday

Three vegetables I eat the most
1. Tenderstem broccoli
2. Onion
3. Spinach

Three grocery items I buy every week
1. Oat milk
2. Cat food
3. Cat treats

Three things we go through like crazy in my house
1. Teabags
2. Cat food
3. Hummus

Three things I always have time for
1. Baths
2. Reading
3. Cat cuddles

Three things I never have time for
1. Keeping up with the blogs I like to read. This has been more recently, I've been a bit absent from blogland, finding the time to sit and properly keep up to date has felt almost impossible at times, life has been busy and I've been making sure that I make time to switch off and step away from tech. I hope to catch up with my favourite blogs soon.

2. Housework. It's always low on my list of priorities and often doesn't get done properly, which is a shame because I love a neat and tidy house. I give everything a quick 'once over' rather than the jolly good clean it really deserves and promise myself I'll do a better job next time. I always end up doing something less boring instead. For example, I was going to roll up my sleeves and get stuck in on Sunday, and then Andy came home and asked if I would like to go for a walk on the beach, followed by a spot of lunch somewhere. I mean, there's no competition is there? The cobwebs can wait until another day.

3. Roast dinners. I love eating roast dinners, but I hate the faff of cooking them. I find it so boring, and I especially dislike the fact that you have to cook certain things for it to be considered a 'real' roast dinner (insert eye rolling emoji).

What are you looking forward to in March?