A sign of the changing season

 Month 9 - Bite 28

Just recently there's been the usual round of fairs, goose fairs and carnivals that proliferate locally at this time of year. Many have ancient roots and most are only just making a comeback after the great lockdown and its aftermath.

I had a lovely time with my spinning group demonstrating at a local fair near to where we meet and it was good to get back to showing all comers how we convert fluffy, tangled stuff into useful items with wheels, looms, needles and so on.

It did make me think about a lot of the odds and ends I've still got stored in the loft that need using up so today I'm starting to make a list of how I can turn some of them into Christmas presents to save them going to waste and me spending money when I don't need to.

There's also a number of crocheted squares up there I know that will come in useful for one of my ideas for next month, so I need to track them down.

Month 9 - Bite 29

While concentrating on not wasting, recycling and such it occurred to me while I was emptying the bin that I'm wasting far too much time, effort, paper and printing ink when using the computer. I don't need most of the things I print off and even then I should be using both sides of the paper. For instance, I changed credit cards and renewed some insurance lately. I was about to click on print when I noticed one of the documents ran to 17 pages. It's been emailed to me so I can keep a digital copy, I've saved it to my portable hard drive too and I can access it through the company's website - so why was I printing it? Pause over the button time. We're pretty good about using scrap paper for notes and lists, but there's a lot still wasted so today's the day to track down where I don't need a hard copy and start the habit of not printing anything unless it's really necessary.

Month 9 - Bite 30

Time now to look at that revised spending list started at the beginning of this month. It needs to be compared with the one made at the beginning of this process. A number of the items just don't seem to appear now - through the season in some cases, but largely through the slimming down of spending that became a habit until I didn't miss them. One item that seems to have crept back in is the occasional hot drink out. I'm allowing myself to keep that though as it's a particular treat rather than a regular routine and I do enjoy it a lot. I also tend to use the 'sit down with a drink' time to plan or think things through and it's been truly valuable, especially when deciding on what to do next, including a new project for next year!

And so onto Month 10!