Historically, January has always been a miserable month for me. The jolt of reality has always been a real downer after Christmas, despite embracing the return to normal at other times of year. As a kid who usually loved school, I really dragged my feet back in January. And as a student who loved uni, I dreaded packing up my stuff and leaving the cosy sanctuary of home for my shared house.
This year, however, something’s different. The weather has been awful, but for some reason January hasn’t felt so blue. Partly this is because I started the month with some exciting plans, which have helped to distract me from the neverending rain.
Eighteen days in and January is still running fairly smoothly, although there was a hiccup on the Dry January attempt after a particularly difficult day of mum life last Thursday (sick child off school, toddler practising Free Running off the furniture etc). So I won’t go polishing my halo just yet.
One of the reasons I’ve always hated January as an adult is because I’ve always been skint. I’ve not had cash to burn in the sales or to blow on a “beat the January blues” holiday. This is the first January in as long as I can remember when we haven’t noticed such a huge drop in spends and this is down to two big factors.
We were more organised with Christmas, meaning we spread the cost out a bit more. Plus, we’d already saved up some money for our summer holiday next year, as well as booking it all too. (I’m going to write a post soon on how we saved money on our family holiday abroad next summer, as there are a few things I did which you might find useful if you’re looking at ways to save cash on a holiday.)
All of this has meant January hasn’t been such a bleak month after all. TSB have some useful advice on saving cash this year in their New Year Money Resolutions guide and, unsurprisingly, two big areas are saving and budgeting.
Using a savings account to put aside a little money every month has meant we’ve been able to gradually spread the cost of things like holidays and Christmas without feeling a huge dent in our pocket. It’s not rocket science, but it’s never something I’ve managed to do up until recently. We’ve also got into eBay the last few months and made a bit of extra money on some of the things we no longer want or need – all of that cash has gone straight into the savings pot too.
My mum also has a big part to play in helping keep the drudgery of January at bay. Before Christmas she booked tickets to take me and Frog to the theatre to see a beautiful play (Elouise and the Curse of the Golden Whisk by the incredibly creative Wardrobe Ensemble – look them up, trust me) which gave us something fun to do on an otherwise rainy and miserable Saturday. And then, last weekend, she entertained, fed and generally looked after us all while my dad and the NLM started phase one of the bedroom renovation (building a new wardrobe).
We spent Saturday at soft play, before heading to the seaside for fish and chips and a play on the beach. Baby Girl is obsessed with my mum and follows her around like a little shadow, which is rather sweet (if rather tiring for my mum).
So far the month has had just the right amount of busy days in between calm ones. We’ve got on with house projects and my big work project of 2016 is well under way too, which is pretty exciting (as well as being daunting and scary).
One of the hardest things I often find about being a mum is that balance between getting stuff done and accepting that sometimes it’s enough just to make it to the end of the day with everyone fed, warm and happy. I often get frustrated if I haven’t ticked anything off my To Do list on any given day, but so far I’ve somehow managed to keep the balance so things have got done but I’ve been able to carve out time for the kids too. Not sure how I’ve done it, so of course it could all go wrong at any moment. Still, it’s nice while it lasts.
How’s your January going?
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Thanks to TSB for working with me on this post. For more information about how I work with brands check out my Work With Me page.
That’s very organised of you. I really wish we’d saved some money so we could book a summer holiday right now. Would be great to have that to look forward to. Well done! xx
It does help with the Jan blues for sure. Just hoping the organisation continues as I find things SO much easier when I’m not chasing my tail all the time!
January hasn’t really kicked in for me so I’m kinda looking forward to sliding into feb, also savings is such a god idea as then we can use it for treats when having a blue day x
Hurrah for treats!
This is what I want for next January. We really tried this year but not enough in advance so wound up over-spending at Christmas (easily done with extra people staying) but we cannot do this again. I am so done with January being about recovering. Worse, it always spills into February and two of our family birthdays are in that month and I hate not being able to really celebrate without worrying. Well done on spreading the cost and saving for your holiday. Looking forward to hearing about the latter. x
I know the feeling exactly – every other January for the past few years has been like that in our house too. x
It’s November that does it for me. The moment at the end of October when it’s suddenly getting dark at five in the evening – ugh! I cannot bear it any more, and it’s definitely got worse as I’ve got older. January, on the other hand, always feels relatively fresh – I’m always amazed how that end-of-year feel at Christmas is magically transformed into a clean slate every New Year. The power of calendars, eh?
Glad you’re having a better time of it in 2016. We’re pretty much skint all year round, so it’s quite nice for us to have a break from monetary demands like Xmas and birthdays and summer holidays for a few weeks.
Enjoying the blog. Thanks for posting.
Thank you! What a lovely comment. And I know the feeling about the November lights. I’m really looking forward to some lighter evenings soon!
I’m a bit of a weirdo and like Jan, I always feel refreshed! We were super strict with ourselves at Christmas and it’s so nice not to feel the dread when our credit card bill drops through the door 🙂 Hope you’re excellent life balancing continues xx
I know exactly what you mean about the January slump. This is the first year I haven’t really felt it. After nearly 4 weeks off at Christmas I skipped back to work, eager for some me-time away from the toddler (bad mum?) also, we were super frugal and planned Christmas well so money wasn’t quite as tight as I expected.
All in all a good Janaury
Ah it’s so nice to read a positive January post! I wish I could say the same but I’m really struggling with it, I can’t take being cold, I’m owed money from three companies who won’t pay up and the greyness is really getting to me. Roll on the spring! x
Ahh glad to hear you’re having a lovely Jan! Mine has been OK – better then December, which for some reason I always find tough? I’m looking forward to summer now, is it too early to do that? Oh, and I have also not done so well at dry January. Dry April instead? Dry June? Dry October?
January is going busily and expensively for us, with lots of things to buy for our new house. But, we have a spreadsheet, and a budget (my husband is much more financially wise than me). I love the little flashes of fun in your photos, and the colour. Happy January!
my january is going pretty good thankyou 🙂
I’m kind of loving January this year too! I don’t really know why though!?! I’ve been loving dry jan but I did have a minor blip at the weekend when my sister announced her first pregnancy – I had to celebrate 😉