Whoever said Sunday is the day of rest?

Today feels like the longest day ever which is a good thing really as I've been able to cram loads of things in. 

Firstly, we'd organised a trip to Cheshire Oaks outlet village early on in the week as we are due to go on holiday shortly for Hands On 40th birthday.  Hands On, like myself, is not a great fan of shopping and don't very often buy ourselves new clothes.  Yet with the holiday looming, going away with silicone stained work wear is not going to be a hot look.  We decided on Cheshire Oaks as we went about 8 years ago, and at the time seemed a good place to get decent clothes.  But they were the days before thrifty frugal mindset had taken hold.  We traipsed the shops, gasping  how expensive things were, got annoyed at the over-crowdedness of it all, and yawned through boredom of trying to find summer clothes in winter. After 2 hours of this, Hands On managed to buy 3 t-shirts and pair of boots. Mini A got a couple of t-shirts and a hoody.  I, on the other hand, could not even be bothered looking for myself.  I shall be taking what I've already got. 

However, I did come across a kitchen shop and suddenly I wasn't so bored.  There were so many things I would have liked to buy but asked myself, do I really need it?  Beautiful cake stands, fabulous pans, etc. No, I don't need them.  I then spotted a steak knives set.  It was crying out to be bought.  Do I need them? Yes!!  Saturday night is steak night (takeaways are out, so the cost of a few pieces of frying steak from the butchers still works out a lot cheaper) yet trying to eat steak with a blunt table knife is pretty hard going, so I indulged.  They are rather pretty.  Hands On couldn't see how knives and forks could ever be pretty.  I have to disagree!

Back home, it was still early enough to make the most of the rest of the day.  Hands On pottered about and I set about clearing some more junk.  I've started looking around my house and asking myself :

A: Do I need it?
B: Have I used/worn it recently? 
C: Can somebody else make use of it?
D: Can it be upcycled? 

These 4 questions are helping me not only declutter my house but also my mind.  Sorry if I'm sounding a bit weird but when my house is organised I feel organised in my head. I've got a firm grip on my finances so now one of my next challenges is this.   I've given myself the task of doing a little each night and bit by bit I'm getting there.  It's almost therapeutic in a way.  One thing that did get the chop was the television in the bedroom.  We couldn't remember the last time we watched it and it's only purpose was to gather dust.  That will be put on Ebay and that's another electrical item less in the house.

After doing that I've prepared tomorrow night's evening meal, Beef and Guinness Stew.  So simple and I already had the ingredients in so that is simmering away nicely.  Peeled the potatoes to accompany it so that is all done! 

Now I'm off to bed to finish Northern Lights by Philip Pullman otherwise known as The Golden Compass in film form but a lot more exciting, and surprisingly deep, for a young adults book anyway.  Another challenge of mine is to tackle my enormous book collection (books are my weakness) and then I can pass them on and make room on my poor overloaded shelves.   So I read a little in bed each night and not only does it help me unwind but I'm also still doing a little bit of tidying up in a way which ensures me a good night's sleep.

What do you do to unwind?