Random joyful moments from last month -
- I'd forgotten how nice it is to cycle in a t-shirt (the cooler temperatures mentioned before feel like nice AC, but wearing fewer layers is lovely too!)
- I discovered small woods not too far from where I live, maybe 3km away. The entrance is not obvious, and treacherous in winter and after bad weather. While on a morning walk inhaling spring, I bumped into an elderly gentleman and his elderly dog, and he ended up taking me on a tour through paths I hadn't explored yet while sharing copious amount of recent and past history, especially for the ruins in there (this used to be private land for some lord or other)
- A friend came to stay over for a week, and we didn't break the bank for it. I mostly cooked but didn't feel like a prisoner of the kitchen, she was very up for a picnic at a park near a lake in another town rather than eating out. She even said she'd like to try riding a bike there next time (what I usually do) because the only downside of the trip was the buses, excruciatingly loud after the paradise of quietness and pockets of nature I'd invited her to!
- Cool-to-me cycling milestone: after spending a couple of weeks around people, I was yearning to go on a long ride again. I decided to go to BigTown to trade secondhand books (yay decluttering) in exchange for store credit, so I could get a book I had my eye on without spending money. I cycled 14km there, ran my errand in 20 minutes, and hopped back onto the bike to head back home. The first time I cycled there 3 months ago, I wasn't even sure if I'd have the stamina to cycle back home at all later in the day, and now I'm cycling nearly 30km without a blink. Proud and happy about this.
- On a particularly lovely day, I decided to combine cycling, walking and writing by cycling to a library by a lake and forest. Lovely picnic and tea from my flask by the water during breaks.
- I mentioned a small fix in the DIY thread, nothing much but I learnt new things, and built some more confidence in understanding how things work. I enjoy that.
- Cycling to a neighbouring town to meet a friend and spotting hares relaxing in the sun on the side of the road.
None of this cost anything beyond the meals I prepared for myself, and the bus when I wasn't travelling on my own. I enjoy this pace.
Somewhat negative -
My family and their friends make the world feel smaller. If I mention I'm walking or cycling somewhere, they only tell me to stop because Murderers and/or Kidnappers. Obviously, I'm not going to stop any of what I'm doing, I enjoy it better (and I'm not stupid if I see something or someone that seems unsafe). I'll just talk to them less about it, I suppose.
I had a few weird days of weakness I couldn't explain and temporarily had to cut back on everything outdoor. I was tired, but it didn't feel like lack-of-sleep exhaustion. More like the way I feel if I've been sick and haven't eaten for a few days, when I'm starting to recover but am still weak from the lack of food. Except I was eating a ton. I tried to switch up my meals a bit but in the end, just splurged on a chunky multi-vitamins supplement, and I'm starting to feel better.
I'd like an income that covers my living expenses. I signed up for casual pet sitting, and helping a shop with their food market stall on an as-needed basis during the summer. This all sounds fun, especially when ad-hoc. I still feel incredibly burnt out and don't want to step back into a corporate environment again yet. Ever, if I figure out a sustainable to cover my expenses. Speaking of which…
Financial stuff -
My 12-month trailing expenses are under €12k. I'm still hoping to get under 10k, but I don't think it'll happen for another year now. My health insurance will renew this month and I will likely pay annually (there's no discount for doing that, but I guess I'm used to understanding my monthly expenses without it so I wouldn't mind yanking it out of the monthly stuff). Still considering.
As I expected/feared, insurance got more expensive while covering less. I'm trying to figure out a good plan that focuses more on my actual needs, but they're expensive. It'll likely come to €2k (yearly, still expensive for here). Even before getting a lodger, I used to earn around €2k a year from hosting temp workers or students for a single term. This kind of evens out the health insurance, so I'll tell myself the guest room covers that, so I "just" need to figure out how to cover the entirety of my living expenses
Expenses this month remained at 3 digits, juuust about. 60% is health-related due to the prepayment I mentioned last month. Regular bills were health insurance, Internet, Giving, Phone.
Irregular expenses that wouldn't fit in a Buy Nothing Year:
- My travel card automatically refilled after the bus trips with the friend.
- Ate out once with the friend at the place she'd wanted to check out the last time she came over (we actually both got sick afterwards… but even if we consider the meal to cover 4 meals for the 2 days we were too sick to eat, it still comes out more expensive than home cooking!)
- Bought some online conversation lessons in a foreign language so I don't lose the ability to speak
- Bought an early bird ticket for a local con. I want to fly less and make the effort to attend local events more often instead, even if they're smaller than the big European ones I used to go to. It's 40km away… I'm definitely going to try to cycle there a couple of times over the summer to see what safe paths I can find, but I'm not sure I'll do it for the actual event. That's nearly a 3h cycle for me, and in winter it'll be mostly/entirely in the dark in probably shit weather… We'll see.
- Bought a pack of 5 cheap notebooks for journalling. I'm going through them in 3-4 months at the moment, when they used to last me 3-4 years!
Groceries did more or less add up to €25/week, plus a bit for the guests. Cost per meal a bit higher at €1.31. I expected the difference to be higher. When I'm just feeding myself, I often get stuff from the "reduced to clear" shelf which can be hit or miss in terms of tastiness, but I wanted to make sure my friends had a good time so bought fresher, more expensive ingredients. Also I was hungrier while I felt unwell.
). I'm glad I went because I was trusting the bike less after that happened. Now I paid closer attention to what things should look like when they're right (I didn't even know what that cable was at first), and maybe I can look at a bunch of videos to figure out how to sort things like that out by myself in the future.