For the best part of January I thought that I'd have nothing to share with you in this post. I hadn't intended on going shopping at all, but late in the month two appointments took me into town, with an hour to spare between them. Naturally I had a little rummage in a few of my favourite charity shops and came home with this, a green cable jumper originally from Tu for just £2.00.

It has buttons on the cuffs, which I really like, I just don't like the buttons. So, inspired by Ann, who regularly swaps buttons, I'm switching them for a random selection from my button box. Watch this space.

LAST YEAR

All of these items have been worn, and remain in my wardrobe. The red skirt is definitely the favourite and has been worn 25 times so far. I've had to mend it, more than once, but it's still going strong. The green dress, as much as I love it, has only been worn once. This needs to be put into a capsule to ensure it gets the use it deserves.

Total for January: £2.00

Total so far for 2019: £2.00

Total at this time last year: £55.49

Left of £500.00 budget: £498.00

Items purchased: 1 (pre-loved: 1) (new: 0)

It's a great start to the year. My goals are to buy less overall, and for more of my purchases to be pre-loved, so I'm definitely on the right track.


For the fourth year running I'm taking part in A Buyer's Archive inspired by Elise (who sadly doesn't blog anymore but can be found on Instagram), to keep track of my spending on clothes and accessories. Over the years my spending has reduced and changed, I think, in small part, because I keep this record.

8am. Waking up with this little chap is always a delight, unless he's trying to dig his claws into my scalp so I'll get up and feed him. He's so cute, I just want to pick him up and bury my face in his fur.


9am. New book underway. Page 18, Sunday 20 March 2005 had me giggling so much I woke the cat. He wasn’t amused.


10am. Still reading. It was a very easy read. I really needed to get up soon, I was going out and I still needed to eat, shower, and decide what to wear... but I figured a few more pages wouldn't hurt.


11am. I was wondering if it would be possible to eat toast in the shower? Because I didn’t just read a few more pages did I? No, I read several chapters and was running late. And why won’t toast toast quicker!?

Noon. Driving to Felixstowe to meet my Mum.


1pm. Vitamin Sea, deep breaths. I had a few spare minutes to see the sea before I met Mum.

2pm / 3pm. Charity shop rummaging with Mum, I forgot about #PhotoAnHour altogether. I was very restrained and didn't buy anything for myself but I did find a few brand new soft toys that will be perfect for tombola prizes. We're having another craft sale in February and always have a tombola too, people seem to love them.


4pm. Adulting. Asda. Yawn.


5pm. I’d got my hands on my Mum’s embroidery silks for a project. I couldn't decide whether to get started, read more, finish a knitting project that was very close to being finished, or have another cuppa. I had a cuppa and pondered it a while.


6pm. The embroidery silks won the battle of What To Do? This is on it's way to becoming a keyring.

The evening consisted of supper and watching several episodes of The Americans boxset with Andy.


I ended the day how it began, in bed with my book, I couldn't put it down. I stayed up late to finish it, 1am is way past my usual bedtime... last time I was up this late was on the the last Photo An Hour.

Thanks to Jane and Louisa for hosting #PhotoAnHour. 

It seems a little late in the season to be sharing this list now, but it's been written for a while, I've just been posting other things.

I find the new year to be the perfect time to hunker down at home, get stuff sorted, clean the slate for the year ahead, as well as cosying up with a good book, some knitting or such. And after the Christmas period I always feel the need to be kind to myself and my over indulged body.

Everything on this list taps into my word of the year - Better.

Sort the bedroom after redecorating
Aim: Declutter
I moved everything out of the room before I started sanding, painting and glossing, and I promised myself that nothing would go back into the room without being considered. No clutter or pointless item would be put back, nothing that I don't love or don't use.

When, and only when, the bedroom is finished, complete little DIY tasks in the downstairs toilet
Aim: Focus on one thing at a time
I have a list of small DIY tasks for each room, in previous years I've bumbled around from room to room doing a little bit here and there, but this has left me feeling that no room is finished, that we've haven't made progress, even though we have. So my new plan is to go room to room, do what needs to be done, and then move onto the next one.

Get listing on ebay, at least 3 items a week
Aim: Declutter
The pile I have of things to go on ebay is verging on the ridiculous, if I can do at least 3 listings per week it'll be a start, and maybe seeing the pile diminish, and my earnings grow, will inspire me to list more.

Start and finish the embroidery kit I purchased months ago
Aim: Focus on one thing at a time
I think I've had this kit for six months already...

Do a 30 day yoga challenge
Aim: Take better care of myself
The last half of 2018 I got into the habit of doing at least ten minutes of yoga everyday, and I felt better for it. I stopped over the festive period and haven't found the motivation to start again.

Mend my green skirt so I can add it to my spring capsule
Aim: Reduce the mend pile
The zip broke, and now the skirt won't stay up without six safety pins. It's such a faff to get it on and off I just haven't bothered wearing it.

Design a new logo and website for work in time for the new financial year
Aim: Stop faffing
This is something I've been meaning to do since I got married almost four years ago. It's time.

What's on your winter to-do list?

I tend to think of January as the buffer between the new year and the previous year. It's a time I spend recovering from the chaos of the festive season, a time I slowly ease myself into the new year.

I spend January looking back over the year just gone, and deciding on what I want the new year to bring. Come February the looking back stops and the new year, with all my good intentions, has my full attention.

I read somewhere that by the time January 5th rolls around most people have failed or faltered at their New Year's Resolutions, I had to chuckle as I was still pondering mine.

I don't feel the need to make huge changes in my life. Life is pretty good, but I do think there is room for improvement. So I thought about the ways in which I'd like life to change, it didn't matter how small these changes were, I considered anything that would enrich or improve life in some way, big or small.

I came out the other side with a word for the year. And that word is Better.

Better at:
(in no particular order)

meal planning

making plans to see friends

cooking from scratch

keeping on top of the housework

finishing projects (and doing one thing at a time)

listening

taking care of myself

meditating regularly

regularly practicing yoga

money management

decluttering

gardening

parallel parking

reversing

forgiving

communicating

asking for help

sticking to a routine

not buying books

resisting impulse purchases

using less single use plastic

remembering birthdays

focusing on one thing at a time

getting something out of the freezer for supper the next day

being grateful

The plan is to come up with ways to make these changes stick, to implement new routines, set aside time for specific things. I'll tackle each one, and try to find a better way of doing things.

One of my stumbling blocks is that I crave routine, but when I get it I get bored and want more freedom and flexibility. That's when things fall by the wayside, routines get forgotten, stuff doesn't get done, and then life feels hectic and I feel like things are getting on top of me.

I need to learn to rest and not quit. It's an on going thing. Can anyone say "I don't need to change anything about myself or my life. I'm perfect"? Except, of course, every cat that ever lived.

I really enjoyed having a reading challenge in 2018 and decided to put together another for this year. I thought I'd use the Bookshelf Scavenger Hunt as inspiration for prompts. As I want to buy fewer books this year, using my TBR pile as my hunting ground seemed like a perfect idea. Here are 23 prompts that should make a significant dent in my bookshelves.

Find an author’s name or title with the letter Z in it
Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert

Find a classic 
Any one of my Jane Austen collection.

Find a book with a key on it
I currently have nothing on my shelves. I'm thinking that I can read Moving by Jenny Eclair, as when you move you get a new set of keys. It's the best I can do without buying a new book! That said, I can always rely on Andy to buy a book or two for my birthday...

Any recommendations gratefully received.

Find a book with a girl on the cover
Before I Fall, Lauren Oliver

Find a book with a boy on the cover
The Last Wild, Piers Torday

Find a book that has an animal on the cover
When Bad Things Happen in Good Bikinis, Helen Bailey

Find a book with a male protagonist
How To Stop Time, Matt Haig

Find a book with a female protagonist
The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood

Find a book with only words on it
The State of Grace, Rachael Lucas

Find a book with illustrations in it
The Shock of the Fall, Nathan Filer

Find a book with gold lettering
A Weekend in December, Sebastian Faulks
Given my most recent reading challenge was to read a book with the month in the title each month, I can't help but feel I have to read this in December.

Sleigh Rides and Silver Bells at The Christmas Fayre, Heidi Swain
And as this is obviously a Christmas book, I'll be saving this for December too.
  
Find a diary (true or fictional)
This Is Going To Hurt, Adam Kay

Find a book written by someone with a common name (e.g. Smith)
Two O'clock Boy, Mark Hill
The Red House, Mark Haddon

Find a book that has a close up of something on it
A Wedding in December, Anita Shreve (another one for December. I hope December 2019 isn't going to be too busy, I'm going to need plenty of time to read!)

Find a book on your shelf that takes place in the earliest time period
The Diary of Samuel Pepys, 1660


Find a teal/turquoise colored book
I have four options for this!

Find a book with stars on it
When God Was a Rabbit, Sarah Winman

Find a non YA book
Call of the Wild, My Escape to Alaska, Guy Grieve

Find the longest book you own
The longest book I own is in the Twilight series. I've read the first two, and a bit of the third...

Find the shortest book you own
If Cats Disappeared From The World, Genki Kawamura

Find a book with multiple PoVs
The World According To Bertie, Alexander McCall Smith

Find a shiny book
Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell
Ink, Alice Broadway

Find a book with flowers on it
She Dies at the End, November Snow, Book One, A. M. Manay
1,001 Ways to Save the Planet

Of course I've already started reading. I've finished two and am almost at the end of the third. 

Have you read any of these?

This capsule marks the start of my fourth year of seasonal capsule wardrobes. I briefly pondered whether to bring it to a close but as I've found them easy and enjoyable, so I decided to keep going.

The jury is still out on whether they'll remain seasonal or switch to monthly, but until I make up my mind here's what I'll certainly be wearing in January, and possibly for February and March too.

I've only included 30 items this time as I found I had a few things that I didn't wear last season and a few items that were only worn once or twice. I have more summer clothes than for cooler weather so having fewer items in this capsule seemed like an obvious choice.

I find it interesting to see what gets worn the most, I obviously reach for my favourite items more often than not. This info will come in handy if I ever get around to clearing out my wardrobe and actually removing some unworn clothes.

I've been living in jeans and jumpers recently, with a skirt thrown in once in a while, so I've stuck to that for this capsule, why fight the inevitable?

I've got some old favourites and a few new-to-me items, some colour and plenty of stripes. What more could I possibly wish for?

No.60 on my Day Zero Project list was to photograph a landscape across 12 months and turn it into a calendar. This view is what I see from my office window at home. The field adjoins our back garden and I chose this to photograph because it's a view that's so familiar to me. When you see it day after day it always looks the same but I knew it changed and wanted to capture it.

January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November


December

My resolutions for 2018 were mostly made up of Day Zero Project goals. Some of which don't sound very exciting but ticking things off my to-do list makes me happy, no matter how mundane they might seem.

My 2018 Resolutions

Most importantly I wanted to spend more time with my favourite people. I both failed and succeeded. Some people I saw a lot more of, others not nearly enough.

The Day Zero goals were as follows:

Put all posters / pictures / paintings I have into frames and get them on the walls!
Falling at the first hurdle, I don't think there was a single photo or print or painting hung. This will soon change when I start to put the finishing touches to our bedroom now that it's been redecorated.

Buy / make shelves for the kitchen, kitchen cupboard, bedroom, and bathroom
My Dad made a gap filling shelf unit for the kitchen but the other shelves are still on the list.
Read a book every month with that month in the title
Done. I started with The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith and ended with December by Elizabeth H. Winthrop. I'm planning a review post soon.

Finish decorating the entrance hall
Done! It was the gloss work that needed to be finished and I just kept putting it off. I'm so relieved to have it done and off the to-do list. Now I need to finish it by finding and hanging a coat rack.

Decorate our bedroom in a gorgeous deep bluey green
I had the paint ready and waiting. Then changed my mind and spent ages choosing a different shade of green. But when I told Andy I was painting the bedroom green his face expressed the fact that he wasn't keen on the idea, so we agreed on a different colour and the redecoration was finally completed in November.

Decorate the downstairs toilet
Done. I didn't stray far from what we already had, I just refreshed the walls using a similar colour (creamy beige), stained the mirror frame as it had faded, and added a pot plant. I have a print that I want to hang but I want to get it professionally framed.


Buy a printers tray, hang it on a wall and fill it with mementos
Done. It's on the wall, and has a few more spaces filled but I don't see it being completely filled any time soon. I'm in no hurry, the idea is to fill it with memories over time. The latest addition is a small Christmas bear.

Spruce up the front door
Nope.

Kondo the kitchen
Nope.

Kondo the pantry
I made a start but failed to finish the job properly, and now I need to start all over again.

Kondo the cupboard under the stairs
I made a start early in the year but it still needs to be finished. The Marie Kondo method calls for the process to be started and finished in one day and I can see why, once started it's so easy to keep putting it off, for clutter to creep back in.


Sand and repaint the side entrance door
Done! After fitting a new door and painting it a delicious shade of green in 2017 I was gutted when the paint was scratched, so one day in the summer I sanded it down and repainted it. And yesterday I noticed another scratch...

See a psychic
Done.


Photograph the same landscape across 12 months and make it into a calendar
Done. I'll pop all the photos in a separate post. I don't know if I'll turn them into a calendar as I received two for Christmas and a third seems wasteful but it is lovely to have this record. I think I'll do it again this year with a different view.


Visit seven restaurants in seven days
Either for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner, or even just for dessert. This is how I decided to celebrate my birthday. In reality I had two days of eating out and that was more than enough. I needed to pace myself. Maybe this year?


Read a book set in my hometown
Done. The book I chose was 22 Britannia Road by Amanda Hodgkinson. My friend used to live on this road, so I know it well. It was really enjoyable to be able to picture the house and garden, and the town being described in the book.

Host afternoon tea
Nope.

Eat battered pizza, followed by battered Mars bar. Just once.
Nope. I mentioned this to Andy and he agreed, we just didn't make it happen.

In addition to these Day Zero goals I added the following;


A ban on buying books (with the exception of those needed for my reading challenge).
Fail! In January I spent 59p on a book for May (Bertie, May and Mrs Fish: Country Memories of Wartime by Xandra Bingley). I didn't even read it as it turned out I'd already purchased One Day in May by Catherine Alliott for the challenge back in December '17, but I'd completely forgotten that I'd done so.

In April I found three books in a series I've been reading; 44 Scotland Street by Alexander McCall Smith. They were the next three in the sequence so I justified the purchase by telling myself it might be a while before I come across these books again. It doesn't take much to convince me to buy books.

As we got to the middle of the year the ban went out of the window completely. In total I purchased 36 books in 2018. I read 40, of these only 5 of them were books I purchased during the year, the others were already on my shelves. Clearly I need to buy less or read more.

Make the most of my weekends
I wanted to avoid the feeling of a weekend wasted and vowed that I would have a plan for the weekend in place by each Friday evening. It worked pretty well, although sometimes my plans weren't very exciting, it gave my weekends a focus. I now have a set of Weekend posts to look back on.

With Andy working almost every weekend throughout the year, and being self employed myself, the days of the week seem to blend into one and the weekends had lost all meaning. Doing this helped me to create a little more structure to my week.

As predicted I didn't do everything on the list but that's fine, there are plenty of other things I did do instead. It gives me a good start for my 2019 resolutions, which I'm currently pondering.

What do you have planned for the year ahead? I'm still pondering my resolutions...

Back in January of 2018 I decided that my word for the year would be Thrive.

Thrive. To grow or develop well or vigorously.

I can't say that I succeeded. I wrote that post, decided on that word, when I was still in a state of shock. I hadn't started to grieve, I wasn't even close, the sadness, depression, and loneliness were still a few months away. 

It was chosen before I discovered all the things that went wrong before, during and after my stay in hospital. Before discovering all the ways I had been let down by my healthcare providers. The things that should've been done but weren't, the things that were done, that shouldn't have been. The things I'd been led to believe that weren't true.

These things hurt me, held me back. Some of these things I can't forgive. Some of these things will stay with me until my last breath.

So I didn't thrive, but what I did in 2018 was heal.

Now I look back over it all I wonder how I coped, I wonder how I didn't lose my mind.

I had counseling, which helped me a great deal. I had a few friends that I could turn too, and their love and support blew me away, kept me going. And slowly I began to move forward. But I wasn't thriving, I was healing, day by day, bit by bit. Slowly feeling more like me.

I'll never be who I was before, I'm changed by it, all of it. I'm not sure I can call it growth, but I'm definitely not the same.

I will remember 2018 as the year I stood up and said 'this is not OK', and fought for my right to be heard, whilst grieving, whilst changing. Whilst healing.

Here's my annual breakdown of spending on clothes and accessories for 2018. I've been keeping track since 2012 and for the first time I've included figures from previous years for easy comparison.

Spending total?
2012  £1,751.00
2013  £1,188.00
2014  £745.65
2015  £1207.87
2016  £742.39
2017  £663.03
2018  £546.18 the lowest yet, something I'm really pleased about

How many items did I buy?
2012  138
2013  131
2014  76
2015  74
2016  63
2017  83
2018  71 not the lowest, but not bad

What percentage of items purchased were pre-loved?
2012  42%
2013  58%
2014  46%
2015  41%
2016  37%
2017  52%
2018  69% Woohoo!

What percentage of items purchased are still owned?
(at the end of the year they were purchased)
2012  90%
2013  65%
2014  ??
2015  75%
2016  85%
2017  85%
2018  97% I'm pleased with this, only three items didn't stay in my wardrobe, and one of those was sold on ebay and recouped some money

Total of discarded items
2012  unknown
2013  £240
2014  £91.47
2015  unknown
2016  unknown
2017  £88.14
2018  £21.17 this is minus the amount I sold one item for on ebay

What percentage of items purchased remain unworn?
2012  33.3%
2013  13%
2014  ??
2015  5%
2016  12%
2017  19%
2018  22% some of these are in my new capsule wardrobe so this percentage will soon be reduced, and of what hasn't yet been worn I can't see anything that won't be worn at some point soon.


What was the most expensive item?
2012  £105.00 (half price) Kurt Geiger shoes
2013  £35.00 each for a pair of Toms and Next ballet pumps
2014  £64.00 for my very first pair of Irregular Choice shoes
2015  £85.00 on a dress worn for my Mum's wedding
2016  £95.00 for a winter coat
2017  £25.60 for my green skirt
2018  £66.15 jeans (full price £105)

What was most expensive pre-loved item?
2012  unknown
2013  unknown
2014  £45.00 French Connection maxi dress  
2015  £34.99 Irregular choice frog shoes
2016  £18.00 ASOS floral wiggle dress
2017  £24.99 burgundy leather knee high boots (sold in 2018 on ebay for £22.00)
2018  £12.00 black knee high boots

What was the cheapest of both categories?
2012  unknown
2013  unknown
2014  New grey vest top £2.00. Pre-loved scarf £1.25
2015  New blue pants for my wedding day £4.00. Pre-loved cork purse 75p
2016  New I purchased several items for £4.00. Pre-loved bracelet £1.25
2017  New flip flops for 90p. Pre-loved maxi skirt from ebay 99p
2018  New flip flops for 90p. Pre-loved £1.00 each for a pink scarf, and red summer top
I won't be purchasing the flip flops again. Although both years I wore them almost daily, until they fell apart, I know that if I don't pay much for something that someone, somewhere will be paying.


My 2018 Resolutions
My resolutions don't change much year to year. 

Reduce the number of clothes I buy overall.
I purchased 12 fewer items than last year, and I really feel like I made good purchases with very few that where discarded.

Buy more pre-loved clothes than new.
This one gets a big fat tick, and it's something I'm pretty happy about. 69% is much closer to where I want to be.

Reduce my overall spend again, I'll try for £600 and see if I can make it this year!
Yes! I came in £53.82 under budget. You can see everything I purchased here.

Alter / mend all items that need it.
The mending pile is smaller but still exists, so I have some work to do here.

Sell all the things that don't fit or I no longer wear. Anything not sold by the summer will be donated to charity.
This simply didn't happen. I did sell a few things on ebay during November and December and it has encouraged me to sell more, so maybe 2019 will be the year I get listing and start making some money back?

Reduce the percentage that I buy and then donate / sell / pass on.
Definitely. I still have 97% of the items I purchased this year. I'm really pleased with this, and unless any item is irreparably damaged I don't see anything leaving my wardrobe anytime soon.


My 2019 Resolutions
Pretty much the same as last year but to just keep on improving.

Reduce the number of clothes I buy overall. This is simply because I want to wear the clothes I have more often, adding new items, as much as I love doing so, makes it harder for me to really make the most of what I have. The lowest number of items purchased is 63 so I'd like to be below this.

Buy more pre-loved clothes than new. And only buy new if absolutely necessary. I'd love to be somewhere above 80% for 2019.

Stick within a £500 budget. That means spending £46 less than 2018, that's gotta be achievable, right?

Alter / mend all items that need it. Perhaps I can put this on my 'things to do at weekends' list?

Sell or donate all the things that don't fit or I no longer wear. Ebay or Instagram sales are beckoning...


Links to previous years - 2012   |  2013  |  2014  |  2015  |  2016  |  2017

Happy New Year! I hope 2019 is treating you well so far. This post marks the start of a series of 2018 round up posts, I love putting these together and looking back over the year.

Here's my complete Buyer's Archive for 2018, every item of clothing and every accessory I purchased in the past 12 months.

This first image shows purchases up to the end of June. Almost everything here has been worn, the delicious summer we had meant that my summer clothes were worn a lot.


There are a number of items in this image that haven't been worn yet but some of them have only been in my wardrobe for a few weeks, and have yet to appear in a seasonal capsule wardrobe.

I'm really pleased with my purchases this year. I've bought more pre-loved than new and I think I've got fewer duff purchases than ever before. A breakdown post is in the pipeline.

There are so many purchases I made this year that I completely adore.


Red floral skirt. This was my only January sale purchase. I can't believe I've only had this for a year, I feel like I've been wearing it for years. This skirt never fails to make me smile.


Floral maxi dress. I did only wear this once, but I loved it. It's perfect for summer, it's light, airy and easy to wear. I loved the mustard bag too and used it a lot in the weeks after I bought it, but now it needs mending, and you know me and my mend pile...


Orange maxi skirt. I paid a fiver for this and it has pockets.


I have a bit of a soft spot for anything with a blue floral pattern, add a rara skirt into the mix and I'm smitten. This was £6.00 well spent.


Khaki cropped jeans. I had an inking that I'd quite like a pair of cropped jeans, and ebay obliged offering these up for £10.99.


Yellow jumper. Having convinced myself that I couldn't wear yellow and avoided it for years, I thought I'd give it a go. Turns out, I kinda love it.

I also love the knee high boots I purchased in November, and the long winter coat I bought in December, but these have yet to be photographed. All in all it's been a good year of shopping, I've added so many amazing items to my wardrobe this year, that I'm considering drastically reducing my clothing budget for 2019. I know that complete spending bans don't work for me, but I would like to wear the clothes I have more often, and constantly adding items to my wardrobe makes this harder.

What things have you purchased this year that make you smile?