Why I'm doing a No Spend Lent

Every year I try to give up something for Lent -with varying degress of success, but this year I’m joining Barbora (@herinternest on Instagram) in #NoSpendLent2019.

Jessica Rose Williams wrote about this a while ago on her blog and it really made sense to me. A bit of a financial reset is a good thing to do from time to time I think. I’m fortunate in that both my husband and myself work and we have a reasonable household income. It’s easy to spend money on non-essentials like takeaway coffee and food without really thinking about it.

Not only does this lead to the inevitable confusion at the end of the month when I wonder why on earth I’m skint again, it also contributes to my guilt around trying to be more aware of environmental choices. I’ve been doing my best to ditch the single-use plastics and takeaway coffee cups and I do have reusable cups, but I’ve yet to fully embed this in my lifestyle and often myself lacking one when I need it.

The rules of #NoSpendLent2019 are simple: No spending on anything that isn’t essential, although of course it’s entirely up to you what you define as essential. Life doesn’t stop and kids will still need dinner money and school supplies (I think they eat bloody Prit Sticks and pens - the rate at which we seem to go through them) but anything that doesn’t fall into your essential category is off limits.

For me, my essentials are:

• An outfit for an upcoming work event in April

• Kids school stuff, and classes

• Sports payments & classes

• Groceries (although making an effort to shop from my freezer/pantry too)

• Basic toiletries (again, making sure to use up what we have first)

Non essentials:

• I’ve pretty much given up buying makeup and posh toiletries anyway as I try to reduce plastic use.

• Takeaway coffee and takeaway meals

• Books and magazines

• Yarn and needles - I think I have enough to last me a month or so

• Patterns - again - I think I have enough for now

The idea isn’t to live in a state of monastic self-deprivation. And if I come across a book that I really, really want to read I probably will buy it. It’s more a case of trying to be more aware of those small purchases every day. Those little £3-5 items which you buy almost without thinking about it. And really considering “Do I need this or do I just want it”.

Fancy joining me? If you do decide to have a go - however you want to define it please do let me know. Either use the comments below or tag me on Instagram with the #NoSpendLent2019 tag and we can cheer each other on.

Staying small

Precious Metals Socks KAL starting soon

I saw a really interesting statistic yesterday which really gave me cause to think, and also crystallised a few thoughts which I’ve been mulling over for a while. The ever-fabulous Casey from Ravelry ran and published a report into the income made by designers through Ravelry pattern sales. January was the best month for pattern sales and his figures showed that only 300 people made more than $1000 in sales. It goes without saying that sales for the summer months are a whole lot lower.

With figures like that it’s pretty obvious that pattern sales alone are not a viable way to make a living - and that’s the reason that most designers either have more diverse income streams or who work other jobs in addition to their designing.

For the purposes of comparison I checked my figures and in January I made just short of £660 in pattern sales (approx $860) - not bad - and probably about in line with my monthly average.

It goes without saying though, that this is not my sole source of income. I work a full time job and I’m married with a husband who also has a full time job. And of course there are the overheads to be deducted for tech editing, website hosting, software and the dreaded tax return.

My designing and pattern sales are a useful source of secondary income but more importantly for me, it’s fun and that’s why I do it. If I were to give up work to focus on this full time I’m not sure I would inherently be any more productive, or that realistically I would be able to convert that free time into actual income. There are only so many patterns people are willing to buy and hours in the day in which to knit them.

So much business advice is gearing towards growing your business, to “slaying it” and to building your income. Sometimes it feels as though it’s wrong to say “I’m fine where I am actually, thanks”. I’m never going to be a crusading business woman, and I’m fine with that.

I’m just happy, doing what I do. And I’m eternally grateful that I’m able to do it.