Hello again, and I hope that January 2022 is being kind to you so far. It’s a month when many of us are getting stuck into all kinds of resolutions and new projects, and more power to you if you’re one of those people.

Personally, I find the first month of the year far too chilly and a bit grim, so I like to make mini-resolutions to last until the end of January, rather than to last a whole year or even stretching off into infinity. It feels more manageable and it can be a real boost to be able to get something done in that 31-day timeframe and tick it off the to-do list.

Normally I’d be doing at least one money-saving challenge such as a Tenner Week, but I’ve committed more than £10 per week in total to my newest mini-resolutions this time around, with the general theme of ‘being healthy’. The pandemic has probably sharpened my focus on that side of life, I suppose, and my priorities are a little different right now.

I think it’s important to be completely honest and open about my current commitments, as I don’t want anyone to feel misled in any way. I’ll still be doing a budgeting challenge next week – more on that in a moment – but my personal spending baseline is set higher than it might otherwise be due to other arrangements.

My 3 current mini-resolutions

1. Healthy eating

I was thinking about doing Veganuary but decided it was going to be too tricky to juggle around other people. Eventually I settled on a slightly different plant-based goal: to have at least seven portions of fruit and vegetables, ideally every day, but at least five days per week during January. Haven’t missed a single day so far, and genuinely do feel a bit healthier.

We’ve been getting a small vegetable box delivered weekly for the last few months as part of a general attempt to be healthier, but I particularly didn’t want to suspend delivery during January. That’s because although we do grow lots of our own veggies here, very little can be grown during January apart from kale, cabbages, a few salad leaves and some herbs.

My share of this is about £8 or so, which I’ve prioritised over doing a £10 week challenge just this once (although I might not in future). There will still be a challenge next week though, and everyone else can have the option of doing the budget too if they feel like it.

2. Fitness classes

Keeping fit is a priority as well, so the second mini-resolution here is to attend a particular yoga class during January. It works out as seven yoga classes in total, as there was a festive break and it didn’t start right back after New Year. We’ve ended up doing those live online in the end, as there’s a choice of attending in person or via Zoom.

They’re very reasonably priced, but it’s still over £10 per week – again, I want to be completely open and honest about that, and not mislead anyone on here.

3. Exercise bike and a whole TV series

For some unknown reason I was raring to get out of the starter gates with the fitness stuff, and wanted something else to get on with before the classes started back. It’s been horrible weather so I decided to put our folding exercise bike in front of the telly while I watched a set number of TV shows.

In the end I plumped for watching all the episodes of Yellowjackets S1 from the bike by the end of this month. It was a bit of a guess after recommendations from a couple of other people, but it’s perfect (lots of action, a bit of comedy, a little horror and an excellent soundtrack). About to start on Episode 8 of 10 today so no spoilers please!

The upcoming end-of-January challenge

Next week, from Monday to Sunday, there will be a Tenner Week budgeting challenge with a self-care theme and something new to try every day. As so many of us are skint right now these activities are all going to be free, although there will be a few optional things here and there so that you can treat yourself to something nice if you wish.

You can also follow along with the daily activities even if you aren’t doing the budgeting, if that makes things easier for you. I’m not doing a £10 budget myself this time because of the January commitments mentioned above, but I will be keeping personal spending as low as possible over those seven days.

Hope you can join in, and stay tuned for the Self Care Week schedule.