Just the numbers really as I’m flat out at work and at home.

Plus I’m exhausted.

But holiday soon though, hence the ‘busyness’.

And my wrist is better, though not 100%.

Anyway, here goes for October!

I’ve sprained my wrist badly and have been in pain this past week or so. I’m not having to take painkillers daily any more so it must be getting better, but it’s still quite sore at times.  I am slowly getting some movement back but really need to rest my hand.

Typing one-handed has not been easy and I’ve not been able to face using my laptop outside of work hours, so apologies for the update delay.  Can’t even contemplate how I would have coped if I had a manual rather than a desk job.

How did I do it? I hurt it at the gym, as I was returning equipment… Didn’t think/know I had injured myself and carried on regardless, which was a big mistake. I forget I am not so young and invincible!

Not being able to drive had me wondering if I could survive without my weekly grocery shop and just live off what’s in my fridge, freezer and cupboards – of course, why not turn my injury into a FIRE frugality experiment, haha? 🙂

The answer was ‘yes’ – apart from a couple of jars which I couldn’t open (or didn’t want to risk getting the contents all over me), I have been fine and have had fairly decent and healthy meals. The only things I found I was low on was fresh fruit and eggs.

Perhaps I should consider periodically doing a no-shop week, just to use up what I have already.

Other things which happened this month (apart from the wrist injury):

• I had family visiting at the beginning of the month so it was nice having them stay a while and for them to check out my pad for the first time.
• My homebrew is still brewing, so will leave for another few weeks. I don’t drink so much these days so am glad I didn’t make a big batch!
• Wept (with joy/emotion) when I heard Linkin Park’s first new single in 7 years.
• Lost a friend – by ‘lost’, I don’t mean as a result of death, but as in they have decided to take their friendship elsewhere. Ghosted on WhatsApp, but not just me, all the other friends in our group too, so for whatever reason, she fell out with all of us/didn’t want to be friends with us any more after nearly 12 years of friendship. Very odd, except that this has coincided with her moving house to a quite well-to-do location in the countryside. We can only guess. We were all worried about her until we saw on FB that she had ‘new’ friends. Well, good luck to her – perhaps she needed a fresh start.
• Won a Fitbit and £200 Amazon vouchers in work’s charity raffle – not bad for £40’s worth of tickets bought! Am well happy with that, although would have loved to have won the top prize, which was a week’s stay in the CEO’s villa in Portugal!

Anyway, how did my numbers look for September?

Another blur of a month – busy at work, busy socially.

After it all ended, I felt like I had Olympics withdrawal symptoms; I had found watching all the different events just a great way to wind down – well done to all of Team GB for their efforts. I’m currently tuning in to the Paralympics.

Some good news for me this month was that the Bank of England’s base rate was cut from 5.25% to 5%.  As I am on a variable mortgage rate, my mortgage payment will be lower in September. The 0.25% I am now saving will be put towards my mortgage overpayment.

Green(ish) Fingers

Despite only garnering a single cherry tomato and a few potatoes as the sole fruits of my gardening labours so far this year (more to come, I hope!), overall I’ve been pretty happy with my efforts.

My flowers and shrubs have really bloomed this year and I’ve been doing a fairly decent job of keeping on top of the weeding and watering. I just stick a podcast on or listen to my favourite tunes and a pleasant afternoon passes by as I potter around the garden.

Aside from the paint I bought for the pallet, I’ve not really spent much on the garden this year; got some free seeds and plants from friends and did my own propagating (mostly successful) to get more plants.

Next year, I will need to spend on some bigger pots/re-potting, as some of the plants are fast outgrowing the pots they are in.

My indoor plants have done well too (pesky fungus gnats aside!) – got some lovely blooms on an orchid I bought nearly 3 years ago – only a few flowers last year, but it sprouted 14 flowers at the same time this year!