It's About Time.

So, finally I can talk more openly about my health issues, as I have now reached the magic number of 13 weeks pregnant 😊 It has been a bit of a rough ride, especially in the early weeks, but now I'm feeling great and have a relatively-clean bill of health. And I'm really starting to feel excited 😊

I have been fiercely resisting accumulating most baby items, especially since I was so worried about miscarriage in the first few months, but there are few items I've seen in my travels and I had to make sure I didn't miss getting my hands on them. The first item I scored for free was this:

Posed by models - but I have this exact set.

Mine hasn't got the canopy (and it has plain bedsheets) but it's in lovely condition and I'm really pleased. The same lady gave me a white baby bath as well. I then got my hands on the real score:

Again posed by models but mine looks almost as immaculate as this!

It's convertible and adjustable from birth right up to four years, which is brilliant and will save me a lot of hassle. For lots of assorted reasons I'm quite sure it's not very old and hasn't been in an accident, so I am really chuffed at getting my hands on it for free. I am now on the lookout for a pram in good condition.

Spendy McSpenderson: well this month I realised there was too much due and not enough in the bank (surprise/as usual) so I've been pushing the odd pounds around. Today I walked up the post office and exchanged my leftover Australian dollars, then went to the bank to deposit the cash. I also stopped in at a couple of charity shops and found two plain t-shirts which will fit me as I get bigger - but so far, no luck finding maternity trousers or reusable nappies. I also stopped in at Favourite Supermarket and spent eight whole pounds on essentials. No, on actual essentials this time, no pizza went into my basket and I actually behaved. 😁

Applied: for two part-time cleaning jobs. One is in the morning, and the other is keyholder at any time over the weekend. I am hopeful.

Saving: coins and £5 notes, as I would like to do a car boot sale while I'm still able to lift and carry all my unwanted stuff in and out of my car!

Summer Treats

So my gardening efforts in the black freebie flower tubs (from last year) are now looking very sad, dead and tired. Today I successfully chose £10 worth of plants, which gave me six decent-sized pots of colour. I then went to the DIY store, located a really big plastic pot for £13 and brought it home, thinking I'd get to bin two of my black buckets.

Turns out that it took the soil of FOUR of my dead black buckets. Which is even better. I now have a respectable-looking flower pot in the shared backyard and in a few weeks the colours will look amazing. Very pleased.

I also spent my £10 voucher at Old Favourite Supermarket. Then accidentally went to the wrong branch for my eye test. Oh well, I remain blind a little bit longer. Doctor's appointment coming up on Friday, which will hopefully be a clean bill of health. 👌

Currently eating a 90p pepperoni pizza which was in no way part of my shopping list but somehow jumped out of the freezers and into my basket. #noregrets

Vehicular Protest

So on my first day of work I climbed into my trusty Pronto, turned the key, stepped on the accelerator, and... nothing. The engine whirred, I felt the car trying to move, but it wasn't going anywhere. When I forced it, the car dragged one tyre across the driveaway instead of the wheel, you know, spinning, like a wheel is supposed to spin 😔 So I sadly called work and told them I'd be late. When I finally arrived after catching the bus, Blondie said my car was jealous that I went on holidays without it and was just getting its revenge 😂

Turns out the back wheel's brake was seized into place which is apparently common after sitting still for ten days. It also turns out that my stupid insurance's breakdown service does not cover me within 1/4 mile of home. SEAT were quite helpful in giving me tips to try to free it myself, but none of my home attempts were successful. And joining the AA on the spot would have cost me £150 for today plus signing up for road service for a year for another £200, which the dipsy phone rep did not seem to understand was very expensive for what was probably going to be a 30 minute single call-out. So after many phone calls I found a very nice local mechanic who came out and freed it for me, for the divine price of £119.

Which of course is money I can't afford to be spending, but here we are.

Lately I've just really wanted sandwiches for lunch, so I went into Fave Supermarket yesterday because it was beside the bus stop, and bought tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, pickles, sliced cheese and ham. (I made an INCREDIBLE sandwich for lunch today and was very pleased with my shopping effort.) I successfully resisted all ready meals, snacks and junk food ✔ mainly because I was conscious of spending money at all, and that I have a voucher for Old Favourite. Since Mr Nice Mechanic told me I should give it a good drive to get the brakes nice and hot, I am considering driving down today and spending part of that voucher.

Also in work news we will be switched over to four-weekly pay instead of weekly. I am really displeased about this development. There is no date set for it just yet but it's a matter of time. Blondie could see how worried I am about this, and tried to tell me I should opt in now so that I get a choice on when it starts... and he is right in theory, but it really won't make a difference, because no matter what day they start it, I will have three weeks of not being able to pay bills at all. I simply don't have the cash cushion there to cover bills for a month while my pay is not coming in. The best I can hope is that it's not for a few months and I can possibly do a money transfer off a credit card to tide me over (£££).

In the mean time I'm doing surveys...

Bleeding Wallet

I have now returned from my trip to Australia - apologies for the lack of updates but it's been quite a busy time. My poor wallet has taken a hammering. I am now very close to my limit-limit on credit cards, that is, they are all almost maxed out. Since one of the cards decided to stop functioning right before I left, I had to spend on my most expensive card, so the game is back in play where I pay that one off asap and use a cheaper one for my day-to-day expenses.

It was a battering time physically, my legs ended up huge from the long hours sat in the plane and coach seats, and the ten-minute walk up the hill to get home at the end of all that was like a marathon. I've put on several kilos 😔 which given my health issues right now will be very difficult to undo. I must try to find the energy to get back to the gym.

I am back to work tomorrow and my sleep schedule is still very messed up. Fortunately I haven't been sleeping whole 8h chunks, but more like 4h then being awake for 6h, over and over. I should be ok in a couple of days though.

Frugal things that we did manage: we cooked most meals at home. When I say frugal, I should say "more frugal than eating out" because my dawg, the cost of groceries in Australia is eye-watering. I even packed us sandwiches for our trip to the zoo. We did overshoot with the food slightly and there was an entire meal's worth of supplies left over, which we gifted to my parents before we left. We did still manage to treat ourselves, eating a chicken takeaway, a lovely Chinese in the city, an amazing Oporto burger meal and a tavern lunch with all the relatives for a catch-up.

Pride: I didn't buy a single thing during my 36h of travel over, nor on the first 30h back. Then I caved and really just wanted a sandwich, so meal deal it was for my coach home (I was absolutely sick of crisps and fruit, and far too tired to behave myself and leave my wallet alone). It was possibly the nicest sandwich I've ever eaten 😁

No Mortgage For Me

Apparently there are no lenders prepared for both my circumstances and also a studio flat. Oh well, same old, same old, I'll have to try again once the debt has reduced a bit. On the plus side I did manage to give away my dressing table, which has freed up a bit of space for the chest of drawers and small table I that I have recently acquired. Next up I will try to offload my sofa, but that can wait until after my trip.

Money is actually really stressful right now and it's been a long time since it has played on my mind like this. I have just paid out another huge amount for the trip to Australia and it took some work to make it happen. I have already delayed paying my maintenance on the flat (and I give no fucks about making them wait) and have had to move money around the place to free up space in the right places. On top of missing three days of work, the timing is just awful. I think (hope) I will be ok for bills for the next two weeks, but I hadn't wanted to be a tightarse during this trip and I'm going to have to. 😔 Achievement unlocked: I only put £15 of fuel into my car instead of filling it up. I have never done this before, ever.

Summarily disgusted at the new mega-charity shop which opened up next to work because it had TWO whole pairs of trousers in a size 16, neither of which was any use to me, and no jeans at all. Very crap indeed.

Tomorrow I have sooo much to do before leaving and I am not looking forward to fitting it all in! 

The Penny Drops

I am 99% sure I've had Covid again. The coughing is gravelly (but mostly faded away now). I realised after posting my last message in here that food wasn't awful, it was... flavourless. And I'm getting out of breath just walking (although I am nowhere near as tired as the first time I had it).

I am sort of getting my taste and smell back now but pretty much all I've eaten for a week is whichever carbs looked edible. At work yesterday I decided on a chili pot noodle, which was a silly idea because the only detectable flavour was "mouth on fire" but at least I ate it. I am now making myself a fakeaway chicken burger because it might smell nice? We will see.

Swagbucks has given me the credit "as a courtesy" which leaves me slightly miffed but at least I will get the payment. My doctor has finally deigned to call me (whoa) and in even more surprising news was quite pleasant and has some FREE medication which was unexpected - but I'll take it. Especially since having needed three days off work, my finances have taken a great big slap in the face.

I am currently speaking with a mortgage broker to try to refinance my debts. I have always assumed I can't get one, but he didn't seem to see any reason why not. If he's able to find me a lender who'll take me on (most will not lend on studio flats) then it will be an incredible relief, and cut my repayments in half.

Fingers crossed.

The Timing is Awful

...for my latest challenge, that is, because I have come down with the flu. Today I drove an hour for an unrelated routine medical appointment, but apart from that I have spent the entire day sleeping and it's now 4am. So far today I have eaten one "cheesy bacon flatbread" breakfast thing from McDonalds because it was on offer for £1.19. It was awful, but I had felt like I should probably eat something before my appointment. Since I haven't otherwise eaten for the whole day, I just forced down a peperami stick for a bit of protein and really did not enjoy it in the least.

I'm now eating an apple because it felt like something I could eat.

Some Surprises

I was over the moon to find something free that I really needed on Facebook last week. The lady said she was on holidays for the week and would keep it for me to help me out. I went over to collect it today and she says: It's only the attachments, I've sold the main item.

She clearly thought that was what I had wanted so I smiled hugely, said it was perfect, and left with my useless bin bag full of attachments for the product I don't have 😂 Why am I like this?

On the plus side, my lovely neighbour knocked on my door to hand me a gold bunny for Easter. I opened it just now to find it's hazelnut. 😍 What a fantastic yummy treat!

Addendum

I realised I hadn't updated about my fight with the NHS, so here it is. I did manage to get into the Women's Health Unit and was seen by a really lovely lady. And things seem to be ok. She prescribed one of my medications, and I found a pharmacist who will do the others for me providing I pay privately (£££) but at least I will now have what I need. This is a real relief. In the meantime I've filled my bosses in and they have been wonderful, changing my duties and my work hours to suit. I am blessed.

I am still angry at my idiot uncooperative GP though and the WHU lady suggested I make a formal complaint in writing to the practice manager. We'll see if I find the energy.

The Swagbucks game did not credit so I've appealed and now have my breath held for my missing 4000 points. Fingers crossed.

Slip-up Or Two

So I've mentioned health challenges of late and one of them is I'm not always feeling great. This week has been a bit of a struggle for me and I haven't always eaten properly, and when I have, it's been bread-heavy. Yesterday I felt like rubbish all day and finally felt slightly human at home-time... and I bought myself a cheeseburger on the way home. What can I say, I just needed to eat something I'd be able to stomach!

Anyway, here are some of the other meals from the past few days. First... a typical lunch salad for me on work days. As I'm quite lazy, the mushrooms are just torn up and thrown in, and the carrot is whole. The beetroot was a sliced jar (from Food Club a while back) and I just diced it inside the jar by throwing a sharp knife about in the liquid. Today it features lettuce and cucumber from a supermarket, but I often use pickles or sweet corn or beans instead, which I can get from Food Club.

This is a chicken tikka curry thrown in a bowl. I had the tin lurking from a previous Food Club visit, and since it's open three days a week and I can do a mini-shop there as often as I like, we're going to pretend I picked these items up in my second shop. The bread needed to be eaten. It was edible curry like this, but far too much food and I was absolutely stuffed.

There also happened to be a day I was unexpectedly held up at work and hadn't brought lunch with me, so I bought myself a reduced chicken sandwich for my lunch, and didn't need to bother with protein at dinner. Behold, again from the imaginary second Food Club visit, here is chicken soup with bread. It was really, really delicious. Usually with soup I cook some plain pasta in the microwave and throw it into the soup, but this time there was the bread, so I didn't.

The promised hot dogs. Using baguette as it's what I had. You can't see clearly but there are three hot dogs in this construction. It didn't really work and had to be reassembled as two separate breads-with-dogs-on but it tasted amazing. I bought the shredded cheese from work as Food Club doesn't sell it.

Not pictured: yesterday's lunch, which was frozen veg thrown into a cous cous packet mix. I ate it all, and regretted it all afternoon. Hence the forbidden cheeseburger. I also did try the chocolate gingerbread and it's underwhelming, but edible. I don't think I'll be buying any more of it, even if the other packets sit there in Food Club looking sad for another six months!

Remaining in my stash: all the potatoes, three "meal tins" to go with them, another Irish Stew cheat tin, tinned fruit, custard, crisps, biscuits, pasta, pasta mixes, cereal, and lots of odds and ends. While I do have frozen protein, I will try to stick to Food Club staples this week for dinners, since I'm doing this as a challenge. I've also got tinned veg, pasta sauce and kidney beans, so maybe I'll make something of those if I find some energy!

Food Club Challenge

I promised a new food challenge, in which I show you the meals I make from Food Club for two weeks, and here is the first entry.

Food Clubs are the new breed of help for households; unlike food banks, they aren't free and you don't just get handed a parcel and wished on your merry way. You do still need to qualify for them by being of low disposable income. I am someone who works close to full-time, but as my lovely club will tell you once they saw my bank statement, there is not much money left in the tank each month. Mine is funded by my local council, but also gets some of the food donated by local supermarkets - as I will explain with my pictures.

Here's what I picked up this week. This shop cost me £5 and consisted of 30 points. Each item has a point value - for example, tinned vegetables are only one point, but a box of washing powder is three points. There are certain things which I don't usually get here, like fruit, salad vegetables, yoghurt, cheese and some frozen foods. But I think it's fair to say that I now spend half as much on my food and the Food Club has really helped me tremendously. 💗

This first picture is what I like to think of as my "go to" dinner bases. Particularly if I have worked a late shift, these are really easy to put together when I am tired. I simply microwave the (small) potato for four minutes, break it up with the spoon and throw on half a tin of one of these. Delicious. I also tend to add a good handful of frozen mixed vegetables, or whatever fresh or tinned vegetables I happen to have at hand. This week I've got carrots (which appear below) and also some left over frozen mixed veg and stir fry veg (around 80p-£1 a bag from ASDA) so I will probably use up some of those. Potatoes are also great with half a tin of beans, or tuna mixed with mayo, or even a chicken curry tin. 

This second picture is a mix of lunches, potato-swaps and cheater's meals. Tonight, for example, I got home late, and when I don't feel like standing around in the kitchen I treat myself to Irish Stew. If I don't have salad fixings or I feel like a zombie in the morning, I sometimes take a cous cous or pasta packet to work, with or without some frozen veg to make it a bit more interesting.

There are some hot dog rolls in my freezer and I also got a lovely baguette today, so that's why I picked up the hot dog tin. As you can see there was also a delicious pecan plaît (that was my breakfast, along with a croissant). The three-cheese bloomer has featured with lunch (tomato soup - hot tip, add a dash of ketchup and salt & pepper). Bread is a bit tricky, it takes up a lot of freezer space and since it's donated, it's all free, but this also means it's best by yesterday and needs to be eaten quickly.

The three-cheese bloomer also starred in my dinner for this evening with my cheat meal, because tonight I treated myself (for the first time in a year!) to a night out seeing a show at the theatre, and I arrived home late, tired and soaked through. I would like to now apologise for just how un-photogenic Irish Stew is in general. In fact, many of my dinners are some variety of beige, so I will do my best to describe them rather than take multiple ugly photos of the latest slop-looking food which is actually delicious. 

This is a pic of some basic cupboard staples I picked up. I am butterly disappointed in the fake butter (did you see what I did there?). It's got a weird, margarine-y off taste that I associate with some of the awful brands I've bought in the past. It's the first time I've seen them stock this particular brand, so maybe the nice brand will return. If not, I'll go back to buying it from my work, which has the massive 1kg tubs that taste nice.

The pineapple tin does double-duty. I try to eat two servings of fruit every day. Usually that's a banana with breakfast and some other fruit either as a snack or after dinner. So that large tin is four desserts and I also save the juice to add a dash to my water bottle for work - it's delicious and actually makes me drink water.

Everybody needs a treat, right? The crisps were a no-brainer, the biscuits I am not even sure will get opened (I've still got a pack of custard creams from two weeks ago) and the chocolate gingerbread just looked sad and unloved. It might, even so, sit here in my cupboard for another few months being sad and unloved. We'll see. And although crisps aren't the healthiest thing in the world, I tend to take a pack to work with my lunch. It somehow stops me looking at my salad-lunch in disgust and walking out to buy something else!

Mostly free, left: the carrots were one point for the bag, but the rest was free as it was donated. I have some lettuce and cucumber in the fridge, and some tinned beetroot, so that's a few salads for work this week. I'm really grateful for the bananas too as I haven't been able to get any in the past few days and they're so much nicer than apples (controversial, I know).

All the packets and tins here were free as they are past their "best-before" dates and I think you know exactly what I think of best-before dates. I have some pasta in my cupboard from my last visit, and kidney beans work well in salads too. The stuffing balls are also a lovely change from the usual potato or rice with a meal.

Not from Food Club: a few salad bits, fresh fruit, jam etc, condiments, coffee (although most of these are actually available - I just didn't need them this week). I haven't completely emptied my kitchen in preparation so there might be a few things here and there that I eat seemingly from nowhere. For instance today I ate a chocolate brownie while sat in the the theatre and I'm not ashamed to say I bought it from Bargain Shop last week. It's realistic to say that this haul only provides about half the food for an adult each week. While it'd be possible to live on Food Club alone, if money were that tight I would be heading for a food bank so that I had a few pounds spare each week for, say, fruit.

So that's the starting point. I will try to update each day on what I prep for food, although I might space the posts out so that you don't fall asleep 😛

Cash Register Noises

I re-joined the gym. I'm having some interesting health challenges right now and I think it would help if I were to increase my fitness. Feeling good there so far, just walking at the moment but I'm hoping to also get my weight loss to continue.

I cashed out on another three survey sites, so that's another £10 to spend at Old Favourite supermarket and a few pounds into my PayPal. 👍 I also finally finished that Bingo game on Swagbucks - but the offer has disappeared - so I really hope it credits and I don't have to specially request my 4000SB. I got another £100 in Household Support from the local council - having been tipped off by Food Club that they had to spend their yearly allocation before the end of March. Very pleased as that's going straight onto a debt repayment. Council has said their applications may re-open in April, so I will check back then and apply for 2023.

Currently fighting with my local GP office which refuses to do any kind of medical care for me whatsoever, declaring that I am now a private patient. Here's the thing: I am not, anymore. After two weeks of arguing they finally did a blood test (which I had to pay for myself) and I must now use Doctor Google to assess the results, decide if I seem to be ok, and then adjust my medication as best as I can guess. They're also refusing to prescribe a critical medication and just say they can't do it - I have about a ten-day supply right now and am desperately hoping that I can get in to see a local women's clinic next week. In the mean time they say that a pharmacy "might" accept my Spanish prescription, so I look forward to a week of traipsing from one pharmacy to the next with my best begging face on. Ok, I say, can I have an appointment about my knee, which is totally unrelated? Oh, we don't deal with knees, that's physiotherapy. Ok, so can I just have a medical note about it to give to work, so that I can avoid heavy lifting? Sure, we'll request it, the next medical note day is in two weeks' time.

Did someone say the NHS was great? It's fucking awful. And right now it's failing me big time. And it's making me angry. I am extremely well-educated about my specific health issue right now (to the point my specialist asked me if I have a medical background) and I know that the average patient would not be. And they would face terrible, permanent, life-changing consequences if they did not understand what they needed and why it is urgent. Sorry to get political but the Tories are a disgrace and need to go. 👉

Regrettably

...they drew the wrong winner so I am not £45,000 richer from my raffle ticket. I did, however, get an extra day of work yesterday to cover an ill colleague, so that's something.

Today I did the usual financial housekeeping and moved money around as best I could. My aim right now is to clear the most expensive credit card, and after that it will be to clear the overdraft. I'm equal parts disgusted about being in overdraft and pleased because it's cheaper than the painful credit card 😫 which is a terrible thing to acknowledge but at least there is a game plan on tackling them both.

I have received a £25 payout from one of my survey sites so that was a nice bonus.

I batch cooked last night and tonight is my remaining lasagne, so Operation Use Things Up is in full swing. My freezer desperately needs emptying, as I have too many things stored which aren't special enough to take up that much room, so I'm attempting to concentrate there.

Five weeks until Australia trip!

Re-Livenation

Photo posed by models.
Plates not included.

I have decided to re-livenate my flat. Yes, I invented that word. Right now the furniture is not functional and much of it does not get used yet takes up valuable space. So there are two major pieces which will go: my huge click-clack sofa bed, and my dressing table, neither of which ever gets sat on/at. The former is merely a repository for clean clothes and the latter has plants and junk on it.

Today I've driven out 45min into the countryside and bought myself this fabulous tiny dining set. Over the moon with it. I've been toying with the idea for ages and then one came up on Facebook Marketplace for £25, so it would have been rude not to. This is all the more impetus for thus removing a piece of furniture in return. Next, I will figure out if I have room for a better clothing storage solution (either another chest of drawers, or another cupboard).

As for my promised new challenge, it is being delayed. In essence, I have too much food in the house which needs eating and which was not bought from Food Club, so rather than cheating every second meal, I'm going to whittle down what I have (starting with the frozen lasagne now defrosting in my fridge). But watch this space.

Magical Wins

The good part about little wins is that when they're unexpected they still put a smile on my face, no matter how small. I went to Old Favourite supermarket early in the week, with a £5 voucher from doing surveys, to grab things I can't get at Food Club. I loaded up my basket and knew it was going to go way over. But at the till, I opened my loyalty app and apparently I also had another £5 worth of points, so, bam, I also used that. In the end my shop only cost me 86p and I left the shop feeling good about it all. Even though it contained a value pizza, which is not at all healthy nor was it on my shopping list, but was very nice indeed thankyouverymuch. And we won't mention the six hot cross buns which were eaten within two days (however, I did still inexplicably lose weight this week, which I don't understand).

I'm now attempting to reach payout again to get another voucher for the same supermarket, hopefully by the weekend. It's been two weeks since I've been to Food Club and tomorrow I will pop in on the way to work. I am tossing up whether to do a Meal Plan on here based on what I buy. It's been a long time since I did a challenge, so maybe I should!

I also sold my bitcoin today and earned £12 which is quite acceptable since I bought it five days ago. Same as always, I'm not adding any cash to that "play money" but just doing it for entertainment. I will probably lose again next time!

I have been watching news of the budget today and have seen that the energy cap will remain at least for a little while. This doesn't affect me as I'm well in advance with my power bills, but it will help others. Nothing else in the budget seems to give me anything to write about, though. Ho hum. Oh, and I bought myself a RevComps raffle ticket with the odd few Euro I had left from my last trip to Spain. I look forward to receiving my £45,000 cash when I win 😁

Like Sands Through The Hourglass

So Too Are The Coins Of My Bank. I mean, they fall through my hands like grains of sand? I don't know.

Expensive medical trip: done. Hopefully the last one. While I was there I still managed to spend a lot of money thanks to a missed flight, a cancelled flight and a third flight with a very late landing (grrr, why are convenience stores so horrible?). I also, erm, bought a ticket to go and see Kasabian at The Eden Project. I think I'm fed up of never leaving my house, which was basically the entire past twelve months, so I've decided to live a little bit. But this also reminds me, they just sent me a reminder that it's coming up time to renew my yearly pass and I still haven't been! I'm tossing up going tomorrow, we'll see.

Good Boss still didn't fix my hours for last week so I intend to do overtime this week... what's he really going to say? I don't think I should have to ask a fourth time. He's jeopardising his name here.

I am currently very pleased by the extension to the NI-top-up deadline (which was coming up on April 1st). Having not worked here many years I am only in line for a small pension, but I can top up the first year that I was here, and this gives me several months before that money is due. 👌

Dinner: who has the energy for that?

Scuppered

I snuck in and did a few extra hours on Sunday (that was fine, they needed me) but when I logged in on Monday, I couldn't pick up any overtime at all. Good Boss even said no when I called and asked. Blow it all, I was even dressed for work and everything 😖

So I spent the day doing surveys, which I wasn't in the mood for, but this is life.

My next door neighbour-owner has decided to sell up, and asked if I could tidy up my plant pots, so I've assembled my little greenhouse out the back and relocated the uglier pots around there. I'm also washing clothes, since tomorrow I have another medical trip.

Currently annoyed at leaving my lunch in the work fridge yesterday! 😖

Spring Springs

The sun has been out lately and I have spent a little bit of time in my garden, pottering about. I have a few empty pots and I'm just waiting for the right time to plant something cheery.

Work has finally confirmed my payrise and while it will be over the minimum wage, it's by the exact same amount as before... meaning it's an effective pay cut in real terms, because of inflation. I have mixed feelings because they at least went over the minimum, but I have to admit I was hoping for a little bit more. I haven't been successful so far at the cleaning jobs I've applied for. I will have to keep at the applications as soon as my trip is over.

I knew it was coming, but once again (this is a broken record) it's almost time for my loan repayment and there isn't enough money in my current account. Le sigh. I've cashed out three survey programs for a total of £27 and need another £40 in the next six days. As always, there are places I can round it up from, a bit like the virtual forgotten coins in a sofa, but I have to admit it's tiresome, and the recurring issue needs to be fixed... with... more income.

So I am eyeing the overtime website like a hawk and wondering how daring I can be considering I know that Good Boss's March budget is already blown. He played a practical joke on me this week (he, Blondie and Big Boss all told me I was two hours late as I arrived at work on time... I was horrified to think I'd misread my rota and let them all down!) so maybe I deserve to get back at him by sneaking into work for a few hours on my day off. 😏

Both Cheap and Expensive

My spending for the past few days, that is.

I popped in to Food Club and spent a fiver on my regular bag of tins and packets, plus got a couple of nice pastries and some bread rolls. I then spent an absolute fortune in the afternoon on flights to Australia and my bank balance is crying. But it can't be helped and was a necessity.

It was also my one-year anniversary at work during the week and I was going to buy a nice-ish cake to share with everyone. Turns out it was only £3 for three bags of donuts, so donuts it was, and I still had some money on my voucher so it cost a grand total of 30p.

Good: My time off has been approved for The Green Gathering festival in August 👏

Dinner tonight is chili con carne and a baked spud. With gourmet vegetables, ie they came from a tin 😁

Playing Pretend

So this week Lidl had a deal where if you spend £25, you'd get £5 off. I didn't think I could spend £25, but then I remembered my decaf coffee. Anyway, I did buy 16 jars of coffee 😂 so basically I'm the random kid in your maths problem, like when you wondered why Tommy had 18 watermelons to begin with.

I also had a freak win at work, namely, a free loaf of bread and free hotdog buns. Very timely and appreciated (I ate hot dogs for dinner in celebration, since I had a tin of them from Food Club).

Spendy McSpenderson: I finally got a car wash for Pronto, since he was looking very salty and dusty. It was also an expensive fuel morning as I drove 40min for a medical appointment, but at least it's done with now.

Pipsqueak is doing my head in right now, having had a taste of running service but not particularly knowing what he is doing. He believes he will now be promoted. He's hallucinating. Bluey is moody because Pipsqueak is so confident of success. I think I'm also moody because I am constantly being given the same task for my entire shift and it's a tad annoying doing the same thing for nine hours straight. Must remember this is a good place to work.

Something to be grateful for: Bluey gave me different tasks every chance he got today and I was also rewarded with the privilege of cleaning the loos 😂