The problem with spending the weekend resting and trying to get better is that when Monday comes, it feels like a complete waste of time.

It has been 12 days since I got the flu, and I’m still feeling meh. My fever and overall sickness is gone, but I still have a nasty cough and I’m getting pain in my ear. Yay, me.

Being sick for about 10 days has resulted in me neglecting my Granny Workout, like a lot. I’ve tried some stretching a couple of days, and that’s about it. I have my next appointment on Wednesday, and I’m going to disappoint Ian, but what can I do? Maybe if I work out three times a day it’ll make a difference, but chances are I’ll only make it worse, so I’ll come clean on Wednesday and accept the judgement.

This week, and all the way through January, I need to be on saving mode. Between the trips to Paris and and having been paid one week earlier, January is painful. No wonder everyone gets depressed this month! Since this is a long month, I’m already struggling a bit (and I still have the rent to pay on the 17th!), so I’m trying to come up with ways of saving some money.

For example, I’ve decided to only buy a train ticket for the whole month, which is significantly cheaper than a travelcard, but that means I am not able to use bus or Tube this month. I guess I’ll be walking to and from the station, and avoid any travelling around London. I don’t mind at all, only today I’ve already walked a lot (weirdly enough, at the time of writing this, I’ve still haven’t reached my daily goal of 10,000 steps, which I normally reach on my way back home). I walked this morning to Lewisham centre and to the Royal Mail delivery centre, so I could collect a parcel, and then to the station. From Blackfriars, I went to Costa and back to the office. On my way back home, I walked to Waterloo and then from Lewisham home. If I do something like this everyday, I should be increasing my steps considerably (if I get moving in the office too). The only thing is I will need to be careful with travelling everywhere else in London.

Only tomorrow I’m going to Sadler’s Wells to see Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty with Su and Mel (another friend from work), which is a bit farther North from the office. I hope they don’t mind walking, or taking a bus in worst case scenario. I thought the ballet was at the Royal Opera House, which would have been a breeze for coming back home, but it’s not. There goes my saving, since I will probably need to take additional transport for the way back!

As I said, on the pros column, I’m going to save some money and I’ll get more steps on mt Fitbit. On the cons column, I already feel the pain, since I already want to go to places outside my travel zone (like Clapham!).

The main problem when you don’t have enough money is what to do with your free time. Sure, there are plenty of things that don’t require spending any extra money, but they all involve becoming a bit of a recluse and not socialising with people, since normally people just want to spend money on food and drinks.

Just before the holidays, and as my Christmas present to myself, I did my first purchase at Wool and the Gang. I’ve been receiving their newsletter for ages, but I’ve always thought their products were a bit expensive, even though I think their business model is great (when they had shares to buy, I pretty much jumped into it!). I think I’m just cheap when it comes to buying knitted products and supplies… I understand something handmade and of good quality, made with wool is going to be expensive, I just can’t justify it myself. On their sale, I saw this carrie on tote bag, and I fell in love with it. It’s still on sale as of today! I quickly bought the pattern and yarn, and waited for the delivery (that’s the parcel I picked up today at the post office). The only problem is that I don’t have a crochet hook big enough for this project, so I can’t start on it yet. I don’t know why I didn’t buy one when I bought the pattern, I thought about it and then I didn’t, and now I want to start crocheting, but I can’t. It serves me well!

In the meantime, I can work on other projects that I still have pending, like finishing the scarf I’ve been knitting for over a year, fixing my beanie (which is too wide), and crocheting a couple of amigurumi items I have in the queue. As usual, I have some projects that are meant to be presents (like the Yoda hat I’m supposed to knit for Sam).

Thanks to the Book Club at work, I’ve been reading quite a lot lately. We’re currently reading Catch-22, and previously read Before I Go To Sleep (for which I never wrote a review here, by the way). We’re trying to find the next book to read, even though I haven’t even finished Catch-22 yet (more on that on the review, if I write it!). I have Felicia Day’s book also in the queue, and I’m looking into reading some books about fashion and blogging, but those will have to wait until payday!

Another thing I can do is to make the most of my Unlimited Card. Last film I watched was Star Wars, which I loved by the way! There are a bunch of films I want to watch at the moment, and it would cost me only a couple of bus rides to the cinema, so not a massive problem, I guess.

Finally, I should work out again. Going to the gym at work would make it easy and cheap, and even if I’m there just doing my Granny Workout, at least it would keep me entertained for a bit.

These past few days I’ve been mostly sleeping, and weirdly enough, I could fall asleep right now if I closed my eyes. I’ve been going to bed before 10.30pm, which is very rare for me, and I’ve been waking up at 5.30am. Now I’m not crazy enough to get up that early, but I’m thinking maybe I could just get up, have breakfast, and then make my way to the gym so I could get it out of the way. Maybe if I slept in my workout clothes I wouldn’t feel so lazy about getting changed in the morning, or so cold and stiff.

It’s only day 11, and I’m already going crazy. The temperatures have dropped a lot as well this past week, which is making me want to hibernate even more, but if I want to keep active and work on my goals this year, I can’t feel lethargic.

How else can I spend my time and be entertained that doesn’t cost a lot of money? Any ideas?