Reflections on our year at Shoestring Cottage

We had a year of family  celebrations in 2016, which probably explains why my birthday fund didn’t stretch to the end of the year! I had one daughter’s 18th and another’s 21st, my parents’ diamond wedding anniversary, one nephew’s 21st and another nephew’s 30th.

This year I will have Mr S’s 50th so I need to plan better and put a bit extra away for that.

I managed to lose half a stone early in the year, which I was really happy about. However, I have since managed to put most of this back on! The perils of middle aged spread. I must try again as I hate it when my clothes feel tight.

We decorated the kitchen in February. It was a bit of a shoestring makeover but was a massive improvement. In September we did what was the dining room and is now the lodger’s sitting room in a similar style plus the downstairs loo. For such a small room this seemed to take forever and we have just completed all the finishing touches. You don’t have to spend a fortune on home improvements to make a difference.

Looking back, we seem to have been all over the place this year. We had a great day at the Leigh Folk Festival,  a weekend in London courtesy of my parents, a week dog sitting for friends,  a week in Wales and another in Devon plus countless walks around Essex and Suffolk. My friends on Facebook think we are a couple of gadabouts. In truth we never do anything that is expensive and you don’t see any pictures from the Maldives or any fancy hotels. But we have fun!
One daughter graduated in July, one got a great new job and the other managed really good A level results. I was such a proud mummy!

I have spent a few months decluttering, but have more to do. I really do not like clutter! However, looking through my old posts I did a lot of shopping at bootsales and charity shops. I need to make sure I don’t buy anything I don’t really need or that just becomes more clutter!

We had a lot of language students last year, which was useful extra money. However, next year I will be getting a lodger instead. I have a young lady who seems really interested, so fingers crossed.

Globally, 2016 has been a terrible year, but my reflections on our year show that it hasn’t been a bad one at Shoestring Cottage. I hope yours was good and that 2017 will be better for all of us!