As The Old Year Goes Away

 

The year is drawing to a close, and in the middle of the week as well. I guess it is time to reflect on what the past year brought to us.

Harvey and I both had to find a new doctor and were very lucky to find one that is so very thorough. Mind you after finding the nodule in my lung I am so glad she is so thorough. Both of us went through lots of tests this past year, and from the looks of the new year there will be still more. 

I have been managing to simplify my life a little more each month. More of a decluttering challenge to make room for what really matters. Part of the decluttering process right now is finishing off projects I started and set aside, or using up yarn, fabric and scraps to make useful items that can be given as gifts. I went through my clothing and pulled many items to either be donated or refashioned. I hate to think things I had bought would be sent to a landfill. Still have way too many clothing items, but I will be cutting those down as time passes. 

Organizing is helping me to realize that I don't need as much as I thought I would even just a few years ago. Things that I thought held sentimental value really didn't so were sent away for donation. I did take a picture of those items that tugged at my heart strings a bit. 

I worked on getting things to help me save space in my freezer. Silicon molds entered into play. I plan on popping out the frozen blocks and storing them in bags. They should take up much less room or at least be easier to stack in the freezer. I need to purchase some smaller ones in order to really be able to freeze what we will use in the correct size. 

Pantry has been a life saver when the weather has been iffy. I am planning a kind of re-stock by doing the $5.00 a week purchase especially for the pantry. But because I only shop every 2 weeks I will be spending $10.00. 

One of the things I wanted to work on was lowering our electric bill and so started using my appliances to cook more. It seems to have worked to a certain extent, so I will continue to do so as much as possible. 

Self-care wise, did not go as well as I had hoped. It kind of fell by the wayside. I tried to follow a skin care routine, but fell back to using just soap and water. Tried walking more, but always found something I wanted to do instead. I have managed to drink more water though, which I suppose is at least one good thing happening. I am also pretty much doing the intermittent fasting thing, but man it can be tough some days. 

Financially we were under total budget for the year and I was under budget for groceries (though there were a few times I went way over budget by quite a bit). The amount I was under budget in groceries paid for the dining room chairs, the repairs to my car, and our new passports. Now just have to work on paying back the money spent on the stove, and perhaps part of one of the partial plates Harvey needed this year. Mind you taking off the under budget grocery line, from the yearly underbudget I think that the stove and one partial plate could be said to have been paid. I will need to check on that a bit. Knowing that because of being frugal we made the cash back for those items makes me very happy. 

Outside we expanded the garden at the end of the season, picked up some Honeyberry/Haskap bushes, and Harvey purchased another pear tree. I gave some of my larger pots to Kris for his yard. He got them fairly late in the spring so they were not used, but I think that next spring he can use them for some more container gardening. I plan on doing more container gardening as well and finding some more medicinal plants (Kurt bought me a book for Christmas with lots of herbal recipes and ideas for plants). 

I loved having monthly goals and plans. Mostly for projects I wanted to do or complete but those did help me work through all the crafts I wanted to get done. It even helped me to finish projects that I had started and set aside. 

Learned a new craft, weaving, and I just love it. I still need to work on it, and I rather doubt I will move on from my rigid heddle loom to a floor or table top loom. So much to learn.

Now I get to think of some goals for 2026.  

Everybody have a wonderful evening. 

God bless.