6 January 2024

Now I know that not everyone’s keen on the traditional New Year’s Resolutions but I happen to be a big fan! As a busy single mum, I actually find it quite luxurious to have 31 days out of the full 365 (this year 366!) when I routinely make time to focus on my own quests and challenges. And even more importantly, January is such a grim month that any kind of distraction is a welcome relief! So without any further ado, here I go!

1. Saving money: I found out last year that my Eldest child cannot apply for a maintenance loan for her fifth year at Medical School, because Student Finance only provide money for 4 years of any degree. Do not get me started on the injustice of this, for students from less affluent backgrounds and the sheer ridiculous notion that this will in any way help to address the UK’s doctor shortage … or we shall be here all day. It is an unavoidable reality and so I am aiming to save £400 per month for 8 months, as my contribution to bridging the gap between the £1 000 bursary that the NHS provide for the year and the £9 000-£10 000 that students usually live on. Could be a tough one in the midst of a cost of living crisis, but I’m throwing myself in at the deep end with direct debit to a savings account and … we’ll see how I fare!
2. Buying a nice item for the foodbank as part of my weekly shop: whenever you are feeling despondent about the state of the world, take a trip to your local supermarket! During December in particular, there were so many wonderful people in the foyer, raising money for the community and trying to make life a little bit better for everyone, that I was inspired to help in a small way too. So I started to add an extra purchase to my weekly shop and drop it into one of the food banks on the way out. And I am going to continue.
3. Running/walking at least a mile a day in January: this one marks a determined effort to limp back to fitness after having huge problems with my knee in 2023. Exercising daily does, however, place unusually high demands on my rather limited sportswear wardrobe. When Small boy complimented me upon my ‘cool retro’ leggings yesterday, I did have to confess that they looked vintage because they actually were! I was sporting a very old pair, dug out of the drawer, that I first bought in the 1990s!
4. Taking part in Bloganuary: at 6 days in, I am loving this one! The blogging community all respond to the same writing prompt each day throughout January, which I joined to give my writing a kickstart. It is very flexible and huge fun: sometime I write a couple of sentences, on other days I’ll write more. I have enjoyed the writing but the unexpected bonus is that I have discovered so many other great blogs along the way, such as My Tatty Sketchbook and Dan Loves Film.

And that’s me! All good so far, but I am only a week into the opening month of the year. Let’s see how I’m doing next weekend…