Knitted baby blankets and Mason jar sleeves
And an extra baby blanket in the making...
Well, the first month is almost over. Let me summarize it for you as a LOT happened!!!
Monthly challenge
First of, if you remember, for every month I have a specific challenge to help me tie off those loose ends. They are there to make me take a step forward more deeply into the life I want to live. My challenge for January was one of doing something good for someone I love very much. For that reason, I have set up to knit 4 baby blankets and 4 mason jar sleeves for him to use as sell items as a mean to raise money for his humanitarian trip to Africa. I have knitted 6 mason jar sleeves and 4 baby blankets. I have one more on the go and I plan on finishing it before tomorrow night and most definitely before his fundraiser event. I may even be able to throw in a few more sleeves...
On the side of that, I also knitted a scarf for myself. It was a project of creation - to do something different not following any pattern but rather my "feeling". I have shared this scarf o Instagram (it is the orange one) and I am quite content with the end result.
In the end, it was a lot of yarn and stitches for this month but I really did appreciated it. It might have given me an idea but more on that later then my idea has actually turned into something.
Financially
It is also a non spend year... the goal is to learn to direct my money into what I really care about and stay away from impulse buys or just buying because I am bored... or anxious... or the weather is bad! Ultimately, I am thinking that knowing that I already have enough money to live the life I want, there is nothing preventing me to live it - except for the fact that my money comes in but goes out just as fast... and not necessarily where I would want to deep down. For that reason, I have shared with you before a list of authorized expenses and a list of items I am not to buy.
So far, we followed our budget (a few more words on this later). We did not buy anything on the "Authorized expense list" either. No restaurants, no day trips. Nothing! Of course, there are 2 more days to the month and I will post the final picture on Instagram on February 1st.
We did go over our food budget. I started looking into it as I kept all my bills. The main reason is my son had dental surgery - removing all 4 of his wisdom teeth - and as a result, he needed food that I do not typically buy. Perhaps I could have done some of it from scratch and it would have been cheaper... but I did not. Also, it was a longer month, and overall my pantry was quite empty from November and December where I was trying to empty it. I went over my food budget by 40%. However, my pantry is now well stock and I started monitoring prices and frequency at which I buy my main ingredients (rice, oatmeal, beans, flour, etc...). I am hoping it will allow me to better plan my food budget and find "where-to-buy-what-for-cheaper". Food in Canada is quite expensive and there are not many ways around it but with minor price variation and better planning of my food shopping, I may be able to do better. I am hoping to save 10-15% in February.
As for our coffee shop budget, we did AWESOME! We only used 87% of it! I am really happy about this one!!!
As a result of us being really good with our money, we have managed to pay off 84% of our last debt. This is huge. Next month, this will be over with. And we should start seeing some emergency fund money appear! We have each opened a new saving account for that sole purpose: Emergency fund money. Yay! We also each have money in our regular savings account - that can be use as discretionary money for ANYTHING we want. Authorized or not. It is in our budget - allowance basically. But for December and this month, we both saved all of it.
Life wise
Honestly, not shopping in January was easy. The weather was not very good and I really did not feel like going out or hang out at the mall... It is not one of my weakest month. Spring and fall are. We'll see then how I handle it. Plus I am not one to shop on-line believe it or not. I rarely do. It stresses me out. I have, back in November, bought a few clothing items on-line for the first time but got caught be custom and had to pay taxes! I am not doing that again anytime soon! The only other thing I may buy on-line, from time to time, are books from Amazon, but books are off-limits for this year! Adn even then, I rarely buy them anymore since I have discovered my public library!
Also, after further investigation, we came to the realization that this project we had set our mind on for when my husband retires is actually not "legal" in Canada the way we had planned on doing it. So we'll have to look into alternatives... we identified a few but it will end up being a little more expensive and as a result my husband decided to work a few extra years... As a result, we may allow more money for vacation for the reminder years but this is all up for discussion at this point. Once we are actually settle on something I will let you guys know.
I started studying to get my driver's license back. I had let it go a few years back as driving in the city was really stressful and we no longer had a car so I did not see the point in paying for something stressful I could no longer do unless we rented a car. Plus in Montreal, it is quite easy to get by without a car. Here in Dieppe, it is a little more challenging to be car free - for example, my husband's work is not accessible by public transit and there are not apartment within walking distance, the bike if off limit about 5 months of the year - so we bought a used car which we paid cash for, and now I would like to have my license back. Not really to drive around so much, as we almost only used the car for my husband to go to work, but mostly for when we go on trips! We could cover more distance in less time being 2 drivers!
Last but not least, I did reserve our few first few camping trips for this year: One week end in June as a couple and 9 nights in July where I will be alone for 5! I am really looking forward to the start of this new camping season and more specifically for this long stretch of 9 nights. I have never spend that many nights in a row camping and I have never been alone camping! I just can't wait!!!
So this was my January.
Eventful but so rewarding!!!
How did your month go???
Please share if you liked what you read!
Chloe 💜&✌