Spoke Too Soon

My little motor failed its MOT this morning... after making me late for work because the mechanic wasn't sure whether it was ready yet (four hours after its appointment time at the other garage). It's something about corrosion, I'll find out more tomorrow. And they couldn't adjust the clutch. So... I'm looking at maybe £600-900 worth of repairs.

But there's little choice other than to go ahead, because this is a £1500 car and without those repairs it's a £0 car. Even if it's January before I can manage to book the work in.

I'll walk back up tomorrow to face the music. Here's hoping that the failure isn't a "do not drive" because I'd quite like to have one more day where I actually have a car. The bus is a bit of a pain. I was fortunate tonight because Blondie insisted on driving me to the bus stop, and the bus came straight away, got me home in 50 minutes, which is a lot faster than usual.

It was an otherwise good day 😊

Assorted Treats

I am struggling to enjoy coffee anymore, so apart from my morning cuppa to wake up with as I read the news, I don't really drink it. I found a nice and also cheap soft drink from Cheap German Supermarket and I'm having that instead when I get the afternoon yawns. That'll be my goal for new year, to switch over onto just soft drink, somewhere in January.

Speaking of work I hit 49 hours last week (not for the first time). To the point where Nice Boss was worried about me and attempted to cut my last shift short. But I felt fine, so I stayed, knowing I need to stash the pennies while I can. Today I've had a relaxing do-nothing day - housework can wait. My car is currently in with the mechanic and it took me two hours to get home last night, after that 11-hour shift that I'd thought would be fine, well after negotiating icy pavements in the dark I was very ready to hit the sack, and I slept pretty late. I did treat myself to a bath today though. Imagine that, a world where baths are expensive and only for a special treat.

And speaking of the car, when I dropped it off I expected only to need the exhaust repaired, but the lovely mechanic is worried about my clutch. And he's right, because when I did the maths, the car has indeed started showing signs of clutch slip, that is, the bite point is almost at the top of the pedal release and the revs are sometimes rising in high gear for no reason. I am incredibly fortunate that it's so subtle and he noticed right as it went in for its MOT. I am really and truly hoping he can sort it out just by adjusting the cable. But if not, it's going to be New Clutch Time in the new year, an expense I wasn't really hoping for. All in all though, this hasn't been an expensive car, that clutch has lasted 120,000 miles (which is incredible) and of a car that age I think it's reasonable to expect a £300 repair bill every year or so.

Spendy McSpenderson: I finally caved and bought myself Strange Horticulture on sale, and I've been playing in the evenings as my wind-down after work. I highly recommend it, as do nearly all the other people who've played it. You don't even need to particularly like plants. It's just the kind of nice mystery game that you can play in short bursts and you don't need to be a scholar to understand it, and you don't need mad-shooting-skillz, and you don't need a fancy computer to run it.

An Abundance Of Victories

While not having visited the gym nearly often enough to justify its expense, and while also being more active at work, I have lost another two kilos. I also managed to bag an exercise bike for £10 👍 and it's even a folding one, and I managed to adjust my shower so that it's no longer scalding and thus quite adequately functional, so I've quit my gym membership. 👏👏👏

I took myself off to Cheap German Supermarket today and came home with £35 worth of groceries. I also finally received my Australian passport after fighting with ridiculous delays and weeks of postal strikes.

I've had a months' worth of fantastic overtime and although I'm tired, I reconcile this with knowing it helps to claw back against debt. January will be very lean for extra hours and I can relax more then. Right now I reach my 10,000 steps nearly every day.

Next week my car goes in for a repair to its exhaust, as right now there's a small hole somewhere close to the engine. It's hitting zero outside lately and until that repair is done I can't really use my demister, plus it's like sitting in a fridge without that functioning heater. They are also going to replace my wiper, and the globes on my registration plate. My MOT is also booked later in the week. Touch wood that will turn up nothing new. Frugal: I haven't bought any de-icer, I'm just using my trusty plastic scraper to remove the ice from the car windows. Five minutes of workout while the engine is still warming up anyway!

Speaking of cold, both heaters are on, ouch. But since I'm hardly home, I figure I can splash out on them one day a week 😁

Cruisy Day

Coffee with a workmate (and her little angel!) which was really lovely.

For once in her life my manager Ratty was not in a ratty mood tonight. I suppose nothing will be normal for another few days and then the old habits will creep back in for everyone. I also got the chance to have a catch up with Good Boss, he's so great to have a laugh with and I really do appreciate how much he treats me like an equal.

I also had the choice between extending my hours tomorrow or biting the bullet and taking an extra day... I'd rather have had Sunday off work BUT it's better to lose a day off and spend seven tiring hours with Blondie than add three extra unpredictable hours with Ratty tomorrow afternoon. 💁 

I splashed out tonight on a micro spag bol (it was peppery, too sweet, rather expensive and very underwhelming). I was also too lazy to open the bottle of coke I had bought to go with it. Now I'm sat here shivering because I really ought to get under the covers rather than keep the room toasty.

Insanity

Yesterday was THE insane day to top all days. Our colleague died yesterday morning in the carpark, someone well-loved, and it hit so hard that everyone went home. We opened the store entirely with other stores' colleagues, none of whom knew how things work or where anything is, so it was a day of being their support, just me and Blondie, plus a team of borrowed cashiers with the line of Christmas shoppers never-ending.

Seeing him choked up as he had to tell me what had happened... and yet he then had to go and smile at every pissy customer who wanted a refund, and then he had to have that same sad conversation again as each colleague arrived and most of them opted not to stay. I couldn't go home and leave him with that on his own. Life is unfair, but there's nobody to blame and you realise that this is just the way things are.

I stayed home today even though they probably would have appreciated me there today... and I think I needed it, because I didn't even wake up until lunchtime. 😴

Four phone calls to main bank and finally got someone to process a withdrawal from my loan overpayments. I'm done with messing about to save interest, it's bitten me in the arse with that repayment-order fiasco... not a huge expense in the scheme of things but complicated to keep on top of. So I'll just revert to being boring, paying as much extra as and where I can. My passport is allegedly in transit to me and soon I'll look at booking the tickets for my trip.

Dilemma is an idiot (this is not news) as she has spent money she did not have, leaving us unable to pay for an urgent repair and requiring everyone to send urgent funds. This is embarrassing, and we're lucky the contractor didn't just up sticks and go home. These urgent requests aren't easy for me to jump to, either, because I don't generally keep any real savings in my account - I prefer to just keep bill money aside and have extras sat in my loan until I need to redraw it. Sigh. I'd love to oust her and I've offered to take on the management next year, but it remains to be seen whether all the owners will agree.

Banking, Basket Weaving

Or: doing busywork which serves no actual purpose but pays a reward. Today I moved money between accounts six times to get my £175 switching bonus, because it had a minimum deposit requirement, and as far as I know there's no rule against moving the money straight back out again. Once I get that switch bonus I'm switching that bank for a further bonus. I have also arranged another switch elsewhere, which should net me a further £200.

Domesticity: I used up mushy peas, leftover frozen veg and other assorted bits of scratch and made a large batch of chunky chicken soup. It is not a taste sensation, but it's healthy and edible and filled me up. I have also procrastinated on the clean laundry which desperately needs sorting and putting away.

Coffee is planned for next week with one of my old workmates, for a long-overdue catch up 😊

I feel slightly guilty today as I've opted for another day off work instead of working six days this week. I really shouldn't feel this way with the mammoth hours I put in last week, but here we are. As penance I am doing some surveys and playing Yahtzee for cash. Except someone should have slapped the developer as they've added so many weird and bizarre changes to this game that I can barely follow how to actually play 💁

Facepalm

The reason that bank chopped down my available credit is thanks to an idiotic "order of repayments". In theory the bank puts repayments onto the most expensive debt first, but in this case, they wiped out my long-term interest free account instead of the one about to expire... leaving me with interest-bearing debt. So for two months I've been paying interest on that entire amount and paying only the minimum on the card automatically. Kicking myself right now. But hey, at least it's the card with the reasonable interest rate compared with all the others, and so far it's only cost me about £20 in total.

Anyway, onwards and upwards I suppose. I cracked the magical 48h mark last week at work and the first thing I've done with that pay packet is to establish my £500 buffer, which hasn't been in place for a while. The second was to throw every extra penny at interest-bearing debt. Next week should let me throw quite a bit more at it. I am grateful all over again that I get paid weekly.

I am considering ditching my gym membership as I've used it so little over the past month. Mainly this is down to me getting more exercise at work. It's lower-quality exercise though and my heart rate isn't as good as it was... I am toying with the idea of buying an exercise bike, but first I need to tidy up my clean clothes and get rid of the sofa, which takes up far too much space and only gets used for, well, clean clothes 😁

Day off today after a 50h week and my boss actually tried to get me to work tonight... somehow, I managed to politely decline.

Lunch: sausages and vegies in spring onion and garlic sauce, with rice. Amazing comfort food.

It Awakens

The Australian Passport Office, that is, just to tell me my photo isn't suitable. I dutifully took a new one myself, as instructed. (Why did I bother paying a shop to take them professionally when both the APO and the Finnish Embassy said it was both poor quality [meaning that the auto gates won't work for me at passport control] and in the case of the APO, it doesn't even pass their specs?) They have now replied a second time and said it's still not suitable because the image is reversed due to being a selfie. FFS. I flipped it and sent it straight back, not sure why they couldn't do that their dang selves, but we'll see if they now complain that I've used an "edited" image.

I am currently disappointed in my body which is not cooperating with what I want it to do, mostly thanks to being old. 😂 Part of the annoyance is that my right ankle still gives me trouble after a long workday on my feet, and it's been like this for two months. I am quite sure that the cure would involve staying off my feet... so I guess this is my new normal, since I'm working six days most weeks right now and it's heading into Christmas. Sigh, I'm sure I put in an order for a new body about six years ago! 😏

Duh moment x3: I left the house too late for the library (needed to print a document) then still didn't arrive at the second library in time 😒 so I decided that since I'd used the local shop's carpark naughtily for nothing and driven for nothing, I'd buy myself a lottery ticket. I get home and it's not the ticket I wanted 😒 so I had better win several million pounds this week... on the upside I did get a shop refund done successfully, so at least I am partially adulting.

Devastated: one of my card issuers has just knocked a huge amount off my available credit. 😞 I just... this is going to throw so many plans into the bin. Ugh, ugh and double ugh. I had wanted to use that card to book the tickets to go to Australia. Ugh. I'm going to need to completely rethink how I finance it now. Beyond frustrating. 😞😞😞 It seems like I'll need to cross my fingers that overtime doesn't suddenly end 😞

Doing the Sums

I had my first day off in ages (I slept twelve hours, thankyouverymuch) and when I woke up my first thought was that I wanted to figure out my exact current debt.

My memory is a bit hazy of the time I bought this flat because, honestly, money was flying in all directions at once. There was also the enfranchisement cost. But if I figure it correctly...

£40k purchase price - from a £25k loan and approx £15k in savings
£5k legal and moving fees

£45k total (position: -£30k)

and since then

£12k enfranchisement and re-roofing
£57k total (position: -£42k)

Current debt: -£28,600

This means I'm £13k ahead on the debt over two years. Not quite the earth-shattering achievement I had hoped to see, but this is where we are (especially since the ongoing maintenance is not in these totals and still needed to be paid). I am still calling it a win. The flat has gained in value, it's currently worth about £23k more than I have spent and would be about £58k more than I've spent with a few completed improvements.

Also done today was to actually look at all the cards and sort out when the interest-free offers end and what spending on the cards actually costs me. I have a little bit of some balances currently attracting interest and that's my first priority when the "overtime paycheques" come in. Bonus news: based on my maintenance contribution being correctly (re)calculated based on the size of my flat, my contracted hours are now sufficient to cover my minimum expenses. So once I get on top of the latest budget blowout, all my overtime will just be a bonus to pay down the debts faster 😎

This afternoon's goals: finish level 15 of a game that pays me £25, clean my kitchen and sort out my clean clothes. Let's see how those go 😁

An Alexander Day

My day. Today this was me.

I am being dramatic, of course, because I didn't have nearly as many things go wrong as went wrong for poor Alexander in the storybook. But I got to the end of the night and thought... blechhhhh. A volatile customer got very shouty for no reason at all, and instead of just letting Blondie handle her complaint, I tried to apologise to her, and then she shouted more.

I am fortunate that two other customers witnessed everything and told Blondie what had actually happened in the beginning (I was blameless) but he didn't need rescuing, he's a damned good manager, and now it's going to investigation. I know I'll come out of it ok, but I let my colleague down. Sigh.

On the plus side, it reminds me to recognise peoples' achievements and to speak up when they have done well. It is so easy to forget, or to only speak up when something needs improvement.

A direct debit came perilously close to bouncing this week. It was loan repayment week, which is the biggest bill I have, and there wasn't the funds. I had to grab bits from all over (mostly from survey programmes which had reached payout) and I made it, just. But still, not comfortable, so I will keep doing as much overtime as I can, to try and get ahead of expenses again properly.

I did buy more staples during the larger staff discount days though. Lots of loo roll is now stashed 😁

Extreme Laziness

I carefully wrote up all the things I wanted to achieve over this past week and in total, I have only cleaned my kitchen. I have excelled in my laziness and that includes eating. I did eat all my prepped salads, I just ate other things with them, and I haven't been to the gym in a week.

Dilemma is being as shit as ever, wanting to pay out thousands more on a third temporary roof repair (we have one apartment which is an annex and wasn't covered by the "whole new roof" which we just completed on the main building). The owners revolted and we're now arranging a new roof for that annex. Dilemma also didn't bother to redo our slabbed back patio, which we requested in March, so we had it done ourselves. All up this is £700 for my share which I hadn't reckoned on needing. So I've put in lots of extra work hours lately.

Blondie thinks I've gone insane because I'm there more than he is. He's my new favourite supervisor now though, he trusts me do what needs doing, I look after things when he's on break, and he doesn't glue me to the till.

Sixteen weeks now waiting for my Australian passport 😞

Back In The Saddle

...sort of. I've been snacking less, but after an exhausting really-busy week with lots of cheat meals, I know I didn't do great. I have a new resolve to behave myself this coming week. There are four salads prepared in my fridge, to take to work. I'm also playing catch up financially, so I've just booked myself in for some overtime and that will help cover bills.

Work has a bonus week coming up where we get a larger staff discount. I've been trying to mentally tick off all the things I should stockpile (and the things I shouldn't). I still have hand soap left from last year when my old work did the same, so clearly, I bought too much of that. But at the very least I'm going to stash a few mega packs of loo roll, get myself some more face cloths, and think about which non-perishable food is worth buying. Some grocery items at my work are still cheaper elsewhere because we don't carry the rock-bottom "price match" items like unbranded baked beans or tinned spaghetti.

Battling yet another cold. It's just getting annoying always coughing and I would like a refund! 😁

Whelp, That's Annoying

My favourite crypto platform has increased its fees. I can no longer play with the market to earn five pence each time! 😁 Ho hum, it was interesting while it lasted. I'll keep the £40-odd that I have in there, but I doubt I'll add anything to the fund.

I coloured my hair this week (long overdue) and used a pack I'd had since forever, so I'm calling it free.

After four days of the magic weight loss product, I have gained one kilo. Annoyed is not the word, because I have been INSANELY good with what I eat. I won't bother buying it again. Dinner: half a tin of value spaghetti hoops on a slice of toast. And it was delicious.

Got paid - this happens every week, so not that exciting of itself - but I had enough to chip away at some of my bills. Felt good! Financial adulting 💪

Budgeting Fail

My stoopid Good Boss asked me today if I wanted a plant.

He knew I'd been eyeing them off and (successfully) resisting them for more than a week. And it was the last one. And he reduced it to just over half-price. Sigh. So there goes £10 of this week's grocery cash on a magnificent Dracena for my living room 😍

I also bought a loaf of bread for 10p, even though I'd just bought bread. It's stashed in my freezer for next week, along with a reduced pie.

Despite the fact there were six of us doing the close, four of the boys were being absolute wankers to poor Blondie (the supervisor) and at 9pm all four said they were done and were going home. I volunteered to be the one who stayed while he did the last five minutes in the office. When he emerged, we saw the mess they'd all left in the warehouse... and the two of us had to make it right. Well, at least one of us is getting a few dregs of extra pay 🙋

I then realised I'd forgotten to buy an essential medicine that's nearly run out 😕 so I made a mercy dash to Favourite Supermarket and discovered that... it's cheaper there than at Boots. But as I didn't have any grocery money left, it's gone on my credit card. (Slight guilt there, not sure whether to deduct it from next week's allowance.)

Dinner: pork steak, mixed vegies, yoghurt.

Resolution: I am not buying favourite supermarket's value yoghurt again. It tastes like value. 😖 The one from local cheap German supermarket is miles nicer... and to be honest, it's possible I might switch allegiances to this as my new favourite supermarket.

Megaspend

Well... mega by my standards. I just spent £40 on a ticket to see Russell Howard next year. Very excited and it's still six months away 😂 so hey, I'd better be on my best behaviour and make sure I've earned it by then!

I also have more bills to pay and lately I feel like I am haemorrhaging cash. 😩 I have to travel next week to an important appointment, so there's more money going kaput. Not planning to do anything touristy except maybe walk around and take pictures. Being the frugalist that I am, I'm staying in a hostel and will be enjoying pot noodle!

Incidentally I did manage to scrape together enough for the loan repayment before it was taken automatically. There is not much left in the tank, and I'll have to make some extra repayments here and there to replace what I moved, but I made it (phew).

I am now 82kg and have three to go to reach the "overweight" BMI range, my first target. I looked at my "weight loss journey" and since I started the most recent serious attempt, it's clear that it slowed dramatically over the past few weeks (with a few too many cheeky sandwiches being to blame). I have bought a magical weight loss product which is supposed to make you feel full and am giving it a go for five whole days. So far, it's... not doing much, because I don't generally overeat as a consequence of hunger. I eat because food is nice 😂

First world problems. Oh well, it was worth a try. Hoping to get down to 80 over the next ten days. Wish me luck willpower.

Want-essity

I suppose this is not really a necessity, but a want: My Bluetooth wireless headphones have bitten the dust and now refuse to recharge. I can still walk and cycle using cheap corded ones, but they're just so awkward and uncomfortable. I found a gift balance I'd forgotten about on Amazon.com (ka-ching!). Even better, I have actually found a set of headphones which will deliver to the UK. Free headphones, that's a win. There's a chance I'll have to pay a customs fee, but I think it'll still be less than replacing them over here.

Today I cashed out on PaidViewpoint so that money is on its way to my PayPal, for a little bit less cash-stress this week. I've cashed out a fiver on Shoppix and that should also arrive shortly. I also realised I had another programme at cashout level (£25 for sharing my tv viewing habits, thank you) and I have cashed that out too. Plus, I got a survey invite in the mail for Sport England, who are apparently sending me a £5 gift card for a mystery store. Not a bad day for being productive!

Heating hack: I was thinking about how I sometimes got to enjoy the faint aroma of spag bol, or casserole (etc) in my bathroom thanks to the fact there's a paper-thin wall there next to my neighbour's kitchen. Well this morning I checked the temp in there, and it was 19 degrees at 8am. Hello, warm neighbour with their gas central heating! I'm leaving the bathroom door open from now on to warm my whole flat 😂

So far I have not used the main heater this year. I have that small one that I bought, it's right in front of my knees as I sit at the PC, but even that one doesn't get turned on much (I'm trying to be brave). Here's to more bravery as the temperature drops. Oh, and I spent £2 on some cheap slippers 😁

Passport Shenanigans

Australian Passport: Your passport will cost the equivalent of a newborn panda, and it will take about eight weeks. Twelve weeks processing so far and still waiting...

British Passport: We'll do your passport for a nice low price. But we won't process it unless you send both your others to us with the application, we won't discuss alternatives, and we won't tell you how long we'll hold on to all three of your passports. Probably ten weeks. Possibly ten months.

Finnish Passport: We do charge a little bit extra because you're overseas. And this might take two weeks. I hope that's ok? (I got it back in my hand, including international postage, in six working days (!!).)

It just goes to show you that if a country actually gives a toss about its citizens, it actually delivers proper public services... even abroad.

Not So Great This Week

Another moment nobody enjoys... realising that even after pay day, there won't be enough money for the loan repayment. Cue more of the "pushing money around in circles" malarkey. Oh well. This shall pass. And perhaps it'll enthuse me to work an extra day.

My work hasn't had fresh milk deliveries for days... the day before yesterday I took home a bit from the work fridge, in my drink bottle, to use in my coffee the following morning. But yesterday I had to bite the bullet and go to Old Work on the way home. Found a yellow-stickered Organic Milk for 71p and also treated myself to 11p crumpets 😀

I also bought myself a hot water bottle (from my grocery cash) and gleefully filled it last night. It was... weird, since it wasn't really cold last night, and it wasn't long before I stripped off my top jumper. Maybe I'll appreciate it more in the colder months 😁

Since my ankle still sucks at being a functional ankle, it doesn't appreciate the treadmill for more than ten minutes at a time. Lately I've been doing most of my time on the exercise bike instead. This doesn't burn half as many calories, which is annoying. So my weight has just stood still, as I'm not about to spend two hours on the bike with my arse going numb. Sigh.

Oh! First-ever freebie from my new work: five bottles of bleach which have the wrong supermarket brand on them. Yay! Even though I'll use most of it washing the cleaning rags from work, hey, it's a win 😂

Too Much Month

Too much month at the end of my money.

This hasn't happened in a while, but I did a quick count of everything coming out before my next pay from work and... the sums don't work out. This is basically big bills all catching up at once, combined with missing work due to being ill. The timing is bad, as it's too late to stop my direct debit, which is more than £500 as it's set to always "pay in full". Which is good, because you know, paying in full is good, except when the money isn't there!

Long story short I've had to do a money transfer off two credit cards and half of it wasn't interest-free. Sad face goes here 😞 I am currently doing surveys and trying to scrape together a few pounds more. I'd rather not have to buy next week's groceries on credit, since I was so proud of myself managing £20 cash each week 😁 Still, it is nice to know that I have options to sort this out. There are a lot of people who just don't have those options, who would just go hungry or have no heating. I am fortunate, I am nowhere near the bottom of the barrel.

It's meter-read day, so I dutifully submitted a reading. I do hope that the promised credits go onto my power bill this month.

Fifteen-Hour Day

Not enjoyable, not cheap and not recommended. Renewing one's passport for a certain country requires a trip in person, meaning Pugsley guzzled about £60 worth of fuel while tootling across the country. Me being me, I was willing to walk an hour if I found not-£20-parking, so I researched it last night and selected four streets that seemed to have little or no restrictions - and yes, this took well over an hour of looking on Google Maps. Well! It turns out that I also had to (1) figure out the difference between the London Congestion Charge, the Low-Emissions Zone and the Ultra-Low-Emissions Zone, and (2) try to avoid getting an extortionate corresponding charge, all while navigating stupid London traffic and (3) getting lost and going the wrong way over and over again. It turns out that I just had to stay out of the ULED (easier said than done) and which meant I was actually an 80min walk from the consulate. Fine! Oh yeah, in the rain. And parking the car just 80 minutes before my appointment.

I walk/skipped/ran the entire way and made it in the nick of time, and my typical ankle reaction was I now hate you and I'm not playing this game anymore and so by the time I was walking back to the car it was stiff, sore and uncooperative. While I was getting rained on. And busting for a wee.

I decided my three hours of walking earned me a takeaway and I'm not even sorry. ULEZ + parking would have set me back about £30-40 so I don't even care that I threw £5 of my £20 weekly food money on one meal. I had also intended on paying for priority processing, but it turns out I saved myself another £20 because the current wait time is super quick.

At least there was lovely scenery walking along the Thames. Still, it was really not worth it 😂

Vile Illness

I was forced to actually miss a day of work yesterday, thanks to being incredibly snotty and cough-y. It also meant a trip to the supermarket for cold medicines. And from the state of me, it looks like I'll be missing another day tomorrow. Unimpressed.

Had myself a pork steak for dinner last night, which I haven't done for about a year (see what shopping in budget supermarket finds you?). I couldn't really taste it, mind you, but here we are. I also had the "delicious" potato salad with it, again, which I couldn't taste. Planning to eat flavourless toast this afternoon just to top off the food enjoyment 😂

18 degrees in my flat right now and I am stubbornly refusing to turn on the heating. This is Not Fun. But it's reality now, I suppose, with how much power is going to cost us all.

Currently contemplating the merits of a walk...

Accomplished

✔ returned yarn for refund

✔ collected a dozen apples

✔ did grocery shopping

✔ bought far too much food

I also have an annoying cold, which is not an accomplishment. It made me skip the gym twice, too. Boo.

I spent the yarn money on food, and also spent my airer money from last week on food, and now have £2 cash left for the week (but there is absolutely no reason I should need any more food, since I went overboard on treats and snacks). I have chopped the bruises out of the windfall apples and dunked them in lemon juice. I also ate my second-last sickening protein bar tonight... hopefully I'll have enough food money next week to buy some more SlimFast shake mix.

Now at 84kg, four more to go for my first goal.

I Sold Some Plants!

Ok, so it was at a knockdown price and took two months, but today I sold seven potted Begonias to a lady who was over the moon to have some instant colour for her back courtyard. Now I, too, am insanely pleased to have that little bit of cash in my hand. I have put it straight into my food money for next week.

Neighbours #8 have given me a little pot of African Daisies, they're lovely. I have put them into a larger pot with a little trailing vine, and parked them in the sunshine. Hopefully they make it through the winter ok.

I'm a little bit annoyed at having a day off AND all the shops are shut though. I have yarn to return for a refund since I bought more appropriate colours for the baby blanket I'm making. I can hear hymns coming from someone's tv outside. I have decided not to watch the funeral. I didn't know her, and there are enough mourners invested already, I don't think she'd have minded me not watching.

Speaking of the blanket, it's looking nice, although my cacky wrist doesn't cooperate for more than an hour a day. That's what I get for probably breaking several bones years ago 😁 I overdid it the first night I was making it and then couldn't figure out what I had done to my hand. I am not the brightest woman on the planet!

Set off for my long walk but no, my ankle has decided it would prefer not to, not today, thank you. Sigh. On the upside, I found a couple of windfall apples outside the fence of a neighbour, and they are lovely. One eaten, one in my fruit bowl. If I am feeling brave I might use my broom to reach a few more later this evening. Or even (gasp) sneak into the yard - it's a church, so I'm not convinced they will mind someone collecting apples off the ground anyway.

The Beer Garden

Neighbour #8 referred to our backyard as "the beer garden" and I am ridiculously pleased that it has been renamed. We had drinks outside this week with Tenant #2a and it was lovely. They have added some garden lights and we've resolved to bring table lights next time and keep our meetups going into the winter.

Winner: I had been tossing up buying a second clothes airer, to dry my clothes without the tumble dryer. Me being me, I kept putting it off. Until today, when a customer returned her airer as faulty (it had one broken rail out of 24) and I have now brought it home for a reduced price of £7.20 (down from £12). A liberal dash of superglue and the rail is repaired. Winner. I have paid for it out of my £20 cash weekly food allowance too so I can almost count it as free, or something.

Currently: feeling guilty that I'm not doing one extra hour today at work. Ridiculous, but here we are.

Hmmm, oh yeah

What's frugal lately? Well, I managed to get three packs of "hot and spicy chicken" this week for 50p each. They are now in my freezer. I've also realised I have no idea what I normally spend on groceries, mostly because of random spontaneous purchases such as the chicken (and long work days where I wobble and buy food for lunch, which I shouldn't be doing, either for economy or weight reasons). So at the beginning of the week I withdrew £20 in cash, and we will see what gets spent. I'm walking over to LIDL today so maybe it'll all get blown in there...

Currently washing my trusty old backpack which I bought in 2017 and which seems to have collected a layer of mould. I am hoping it comes out looking new.

I used the petrolprices app to find cheap fuel last night in my area. When I got to my chosen place, the price was higher. Sigh. Well, I tried.

Fail: Totally Shit Bank emailed me to nag that I hadn't viewed my monthly statement. I hadn't viewed it because I don't use their rubbish services, it just has an interest-free debt that's automatically paying off the minimum for another year and a half. But I log in, and my credit card account has completely disappeared. Same in the app. Well done, Totally Shit Bank, take a bow. If they never find it again, that would be a bonus, and to be honest, not all that surprising.

Fail/win: work offered me an extra day today, and I turned it down, because I'm so tired. I'm annoyed at myself, but I think it was the healthy choice. I did calculate, however, that if I manage to get fulltime hours for six months, I can save more than £2,000 (or, put it towards bills/debts/flights). Something to keep me motivated, I guess.

Wheee

Head Office has now given an official statement that they are granting an extra day of leave for the Queen's funeral day, not forcing us to use one we accrued. That'll do, Donkey.

I am now tossing up whether to work an extra day.

So Much Work.

Not really a complaint, since I do want the hours, but I will be absolutely shattered by the time I emerge from the current nine-day stretch. However, I'm going to use it as ammunition to ask for a bigger contract. Maybe. If I'm feeling brave enough (since I also want to ask for fixed days). Unfortunately Big Boss is being a bit annoying and fiddling with my overtime, deleting the odd hour off here and there (and not telling me... so I only see it by checking each morning). So I will have to go back into Stealth Mode and sign up for the overtime right before my shifts again so that he doesn't have time to see it's there before I start. Annoying. If he doesn't want to offer any overtime he shouldn't make the shifts available 💁

On the flipside I will be forced into taking a day's holiday on Monday for the Queen's funeral. Not really fair that we have to take it but hey. It's a day to relax.

I've been a little bit wobbly with the weight loss this week, skipped the gym a few times after tiring days at work where I'd already reached my 10k steps, and had a few extra snacks. Unsurprisingly the weight has barely moved, even though I still stayed at about 1000 calories. Sigh. I knew it would get harder but it's still annoying. I am at 85 now and have 5 more to reach the first goal.

The passport office has just told me that it has not yet sent my application for assessment and the wait time is a further 8-10 weeks from now 😞 I suppose it gives me more time to save up.

Dilemma did not even bother to reply to the email about the long list of maintenance issues. But she has sent out the survey report and asked if we wanted to apply to the tribunal... Jesus, woman, it's only what we instructed you to do six months ago!

Since It's Raining Today

I decided to tackle fixing That Oil Heater. As far as I can tell, the thing was only actually glued together in the first place. So, well, I gathered my trusty Super Glue and poured it on liberally. (Yes, I got some on my hand. Yes, I googled to see whether super glue is heat-resistant, and it is, at the temperatures this tiny heater will reach.) I am testing it today just to see that it behaves, but so far, so good. I am hoping not to use my larger heater until it gets really cold.

Owner #2a sent me the alleged "accounts" that Dilemma gave him and holy cow, we seem to be paying a student accountant just to make a complicated spreadsheet which makes zero sense. I do not have high hopes for her completion date later this month. These accounts (and also the tribunal ruling that we're waiting on, in order to redistribute the share each flat should have to pay), they're delaying us in giving her the boot. 😑 Which, in turn, delays me in trying to refinance onto a mortgage.

At this point I assume it's going to be so far away that I'm coming to pin my hopes on a lower-rate personal loan instead, which would make my repayments £300 per month (instead of £400). It's still a far cry from the £150/month mortgage I'd been hoping for, but hey. I then tried to do some Future Mathematics™ and got annoyed.

A bit sad about the Queen. Monarchist I am not, but I think she was a remarkable woman, and she did dedicate her entire working life (and then some) to what she did.

Antsy.

Even though I'm antsy and impatient, the weight loss is right on target and is all I can reasonably expect. I have now lost 5kg in three weeks. And I should be over the moon about that, but I'm just wishing it was faster. 😁 On the plus side I am half-way to my first goal of 11kg down, at which point my BMI crosses back into "overweight" rather than "obese".

I did the maths again on my living expenses, and including all my repayments, I now need to work 34 hours per week to break even. This is a fair bit above my contracted hours, so I can't rely on this always happening. Fortunately, £150 of the debt repayments are "optional", as in, if I can't manage them in the long run I can roll them back into my loan and make life more comfortable (even if becoming debt-free takes longer).

I have now waited eight weeks for my passport 😑 with no word at all, which is highly annoying, on the chance that something was wrong with the application. If they send it back I don't want another ten week wait! Or longer... since there is no guarantee it'll even magically appear in two weeks' time to begin with.

Neighbour #8 has called and grilled Dilemma on the progress so far and apparently got no answers, as he's now emailed all directors asking her to give us updates on the entire list. Included is the missing electrical cupboard door which blew off six months ago in a storm, and the fact that there's been two missing smoke alarms for more than a year, facts that Dilemma has known about since March. No sign of the accounts either, which she "started" in March too. Jeopardy Music goes here.

Eating: a diet shake for dinner, while pretending it's a burger with fries.

35 Pounds Lighter

But unfortunately it was my wallet and not my weight. I returned trainers which don't fit me (and paid £5 extra for a different pair). Then of course I needed to "just have a look" in Rival Bargain Shop, Sister Supermarket-Bargain Shop, LIDL, oh and Another Rival Bargain Shop.

Most of my spending was food but I did pick up two balls of wool so I've now had to buy a crochet hook off eBay (in my defence it's for a workmate about to have a baby, I'm making a blanket).

The kicker was that when you're carrying shopping bags, the fitness tracker doesn't even measure your steps because your wrist is still! 😭 But since it took me two hours of traipsing about, I'm calling it my 10k steps for the day.

Weight is just sitting still, which is highly annoying, even though I'm watching what I eat carefully, and doing tons of walking 😑

New DilEmma

Our resident halfwit has outshone herself, booking and arranging the surveyor but not giving a shit whether tenants knew he was coming. She just fired out a single email as notice. And of course, some didn't know, being old/vulnerable/non-internet. When asked about it, Dilemma just said they should all have received an email from her office telling them to be home.

I've let Mr Nice Surveyor in to three flats and made sure another two are ok for his visit, but Jeebus, we pay HER to manage the block, and I shouldn't have to do it. When I called Owner2A to let him know his flat was done, he expressed annoyance that Dilemma constantly asks HIM to organise things. Sigh.

Now at 4kg down and feeling good. I'm in the habit of drinking those weird diet shakes instead of lunch when I'm at work, and thankfully, I now have a good routine as far as timing my meals, so I don't get shaky. I've noticed that although those shakes don't make me feel full in any way, they do keep me going for another four hours of work + an hour at the gym. So that's quite a good thing.

I spent a good part of work on the shop floor yesterday, then walked 80min at the gym, so 18,000 steps yesterday! I'm certainly feeling it today as my legs are really tired, even had to raise them half-way through the night. Down another kg though so this will all pay off. My resting heart rate is down to 60bpm which is great. I feel good and the numbers show it.

Reality Check

I need to weigh myself less often due to the disappointment of it not going down before my very eyes. Right now I'm reminding myself that no matter what I do, it simply isn't going to go down by a kilo a day 😁

I will be putting in big hours this week at work so the challenge is to keep up my enthusiasm for the gym. It's easier to make excuses when I've been at work for a long day. Must keep strong. Feeling a bit less sluggish now so perhaps I'm adjusting to the diet?

Almost ready for the surveyor. It is nice to feel a little bit organised.

Currently playing a rummy game for £12. It'll work out at mere pence an hour, but I'm enjoying the game!

Stumbling Block

I am definitely 3kg down (which is great) but I'm also being attacked by cold sores. This is despite the multivitamins, four different tablets a day. I have ordered some l-lysine from the pharmacist near work, and will pick it up tomorrow. Yesterday at the gym didn't go so well, I ate the usual amount of calories for the day but I timed it badly, and after one mile I started to get wobbly. Stuck it out to reach the second one but then sent myself home early. I'm a bit disappointed, but every day is a new day and I'm still enthusiastic about getting the weight down, so that's a plus. Got my 10k steps in today though, walked along the sea front, past the carnival at dusk. My legs felt like lead from the first five minutes, but the atmosphere was lush!

I have (finally) had my booster vaccine, feel good so far, touch wood. 😏

I tried to start the process of renewing my British passport, but the online service said I would need to send all three of my passports in to apply for it. 😧 There is no way in HELL that I would trust them not to lose all three of my passports, nor do I even particularly want to be without all of them for three months (or longer) so now I'm waiting to find out whether I can make an appointment and drive half-way across the country for them to check the passports in person...

This prompted me to check the process for renewing my Finnish passport, which, you guessed it, requires me to drive half-way across the country to apply in person. Touch wood I can at least do both appointments on the same day. Right now I am slightly gobsmacked that the Australian one has been the simplest of the three... talk about a turnaround for the books. Let's hope it gets issued without any problems (been waiting six weeks now to find out).

Currently: tidying up and going through a mountain of "stuff".

Bootscooting

One kg down. I think. Or maybe it was just the scale deciding to be kind today. Great workout (or... walk-out). I've decided to aim for 10k steps on gym days and so far it's happened, bit of a hiccup when I missed gym twice in a row due to leaving my gym stuff at home! 😒 Dinner: Chicken salad with paprika seasoning. Checked off: Sweet & Sour Chicken with green beans is now portioned up and in my freezer. Several sandwiches prepped and stashed so that there's absolutely no reason to buy a delicious calorie-laden version at work instead. Feeling more organised than usual 😂

I know what comes next though... impatience. Wanting to move on all those items I listed the other day. (Checked my passport application... I am supposedly now half-way through the waiting time of ten weeks, providing nothing goes wrong, or they don't send it back saying a form is incorrect.)

Got approved for another card and it arrived today. I don't actually need it, but, it's a small increase in my overall available credit, which all helps in the long run. The only thing it will do is buy fuel each month, then will be paid off in full. In time let's hope for balance transfer offers.

In ten days' time there is a surveyor coming to measure all the apartments. I'm annoyed, because it means having my flat in a state where I would want to let someone in. But hey ho, I'll clean and tidy the place, and be embarrassed by my mismatched furniture and unpainted walls and shabby bathroom. Must remember how great it is to have a flat of my own.

Nobody seems to want to buy my plants. I'm considering taking some into the backyard and maybe hanging the baskets from the trees.

New Toy

I researched and ordered myself a fitness band this week. It got good reviews and was £25 with delivery included. Something I didn't see in the reviews was that the display text is tiny! And as a consequence of me not ordering my new glasses yet, reading it is a real struggle. But so far it seems to have some cool features that I hadn't even expected, so I'm still calling it a win for now. I'm planning to wear it to work and the gym today so we will see if it collects some interesting data for me.

Adulting: I prepped and froze five portions of Chicken Curry and when I had the first one I realised it's insanely hot. Greek yoghurt has been purchased for my feeble mortal mouth. 😁 I am planning to buy, prep and freeze some other meal tonight after I get home from the gym. I haven't decided what just yet. Frustratingly, my work doesn't sell green beans, so that might mean a trip to a dreaded supermarket.

Had an enquiry today asking to possibly buy some of my plants. I hope they follow through, I'd like to clear some space. Backyard drinks with Neighbours #8 tonight, I'm really looking forward to it and hope we manage to keep meeting up for Socialisation™ (we discussed fairy lights this week... we might need to add patio heaters to our wish list).

Healed.

Healed, completely, plus an extra day just in case. The awful part of this is that there is no longer any excuse for avoiding the gym 😂

I have been doing some heavy-duty thinking about what I'd like to achieve in the long term and have made some decisions. Not all of it is new, but I think I was deluding myself if I thought that simply wanting something would make it happen. So...

• My weight down by 11kg by end of year, to get BMI under 30. Ideally even better, but I will aim for that and maybe shoot the moon.
• Visit my Aussie family within six months. Yeowch, expensive. But it's important to me.
• Get my bathroom replaced by the end of 2023.
• Visit Spain or France for a week, by end of 2023.
• Have partition walls built in my flat to make it 1 bedroom, by end of 2023.
• Refinance to a mortgage by end of 2023! This is not really dependent on me but on how the management of the building goes, but here's hoping.
• New carpet by mid-2024.
• Visit Finland again by mid-2024.
• Buy a campervan by end of 2024.
• Own a camping plot by mid-2025. Not too fussed on what, just a small plot somewhere that I can camp on and disconnect for a weekend.
• 2026-onwards, think about upsizing to a bigger flat... and then think about fostering.

These are all things that I daydream about alllll the time, but mostly people get caught up in the day-to-day and it's not a real surprise that nothing happens if all I do is dream. For the first two, at least I have made some moves towards them. I also saw a plot I wanted last week (£8,000 starting bid) and it has fallen through at 10k, and is back on offer again next week. Even though I know the time isn't right, you can bet I'll be watching that auction.

A lot of the expensive things depend on refinancing, because right now I pay a lot off on borrowing, and a mortgage would dramatically free up cash. It's a road block. I know that people will be shocked by the fostering idea, but I have been thinking about it for years and haven't had the space or finances. There's a kid out there who needs a home, and after upsizing, I could do that. But we will see.

Winner: Neighbour #8 fitted a new tap near my plants 😍 I can now actually fill my watering can OUTSIDE! This is brilliant. They've invited me for drinks on the weekend and now the challenge is to think of something I can buy them as a thank you gift. I might just default to chocolates.

As Was Alluded

I was forced to do my balance transfer not onto the card that's actually ending its 0%... but onto the card with the smallest limit. I'll get it "refunded" to my Main Bank and then put cash onto the card I'd wanted to use in the first place.

Pushing cash around in a circle is ridiculous, but here we are.

Electric bill paid... and yowee that hurt.

My fruit crumble is very edible! I score myself 7/10, not bad for a first try and for ingredients that would otherwise not get used.

FINALLY feeling ready to go back to work tomorrow. I will be walking like a stiff robot, but I will be there. A week off is definitely not recommended, financially.

TWO AND A HALF HOURS

On. The. Phone. Man, Totally Shit Bank is so incredibly bad. I am counting down the days until I can bin it off; I keep it (for now) because it's my oldest account and that's really important for credit scoring. The day that another card reaches six years, BOOM, Totally Shit Bank is in the bin.

Me: Dials bank. Sits through horrible voice prompts and requests "balance transfer" which is repeated perfectly by the robot. Clears security with eleventeen 16-digit card numbers and questions.
Hold music of death. It's so loud it sounds like a 1920s radio with a knife through the speaker... and every 30 seconds it's interrupted to tell me my call is important
Them: Welcome to Totally Shit Bank.
Me: Hello, I'd like to do a balance transfer. It doesn't work in your internet banking, it has an error page, but I've been told I do have a BT offer.
Them: Yes you do. Let me transfer you.
Long-arsed voice system again. Clears security again. Hold music.
Them #2: Hello, balance transfer team
Me: (explains whole situation again)
(disconnected)
Redial and long-arsed voice system again. Clear security again. Hold music.
Them #3: Let me transfer you.
Hold music...
Them #4: Hello transfers
Me: (explains whole situ. Pass security again. Chant 16-digit cards a few times. Check them all again just in case.)
Them #4: The card has been blocked with a fraud alert. Let me transfer you to Fraud to get that released, and then they can send you back here.
Longgggggg hold music (Why does it take so long to get through to a service that's usually quite urgent?)
Them #5: Hello Fraud Team
Me: (start explanation again. Pass security again. This time, they ask me about landmarks in my suburb.)
Them #5: It was blocked just in case, a few minutes ago, but it's to protect you.
Me: You blocked your own team? (Laughing)
Them #5: Dumb explanation on why they need to block themselves for my safety
Me: ......
Them #5 Ok, done, back to the transfer team now.
Hold music
Them #6: Yeah hi, Half-Asleep Dickhead speaking.
Me: (explains whole situation again)
Half-Asleep Dickhead: Let me transfer you
Me: Nooooooo
HAD: (Lazily mumbles about trying)
Me: (goes through entire security again. Gives 16-digit card details over and over. Confirms amount.)
HAD: It says your address is wrong.
Me: (Confirms address to HAD. Reconfirms it, because HAD does not understand what "it's flat number one, in building number two" means. Checks a third time. Confirms address with both banks is 100% correct, and correctly formatted, in the correct order - the two bank statement addresses side-by-side are a carbon copy)
HAD: Yeah I'll try again
(same shit for another ten minutes)
HAD: Yeah uhhhh I'll ask someone
The fucking hold music... again... 
HAD: yeah it's not working because it says the address is wrong, so yeah, you'll have to talk to customer service to fix your address, or something
Me: the address is correct!
HAD: yeah it says it's wrong address or wrong card number
Me: (Thinking it might be the fault of the destination bank) Ok. Can you check, do I also have a Money Transfer Offer, because I could try a different card if I do?
HAD: Yeah this offer is forever, it doesn't end, you're allowed to try next week.
Me: What?
HAD: Just maybe try in like, an hour? Or ring back next week?
Me: What? I want to know if there's a Money Transfer option instead.
HAD: wait lemme ask someone
HOLD MUSIC
Them #4: Hello, you're back with me at balance transfers!
Me: Can I try a different card?
Them #4: Sure!
(goes through first try)
Them #4: Success!

Total telephone time (today): two hours, thirty minutes.

This is not even the worst "service" that Totally Shit Bank has provided.

Deflation

I have done something to my neck. I don't know how, but all the muscles are so sore that I can barely move. 😒 5h of waiting in A & E, crying in pain, then a two-minute consult with a doctor who said I had no infection and no swelling and there was nothing they could do for me. I was just so stunned, I'm saying, you can't hear that I can barely speak and you can't see how swollen my neck is? She told me to go to my GP. Who is 2h drive away. And I can't do that, because I can't turn my head.

Anyway. I came home and slept about an hour sitting up, then a few hours of broken sleep lying down. Not really eating. Drinking ends with choking about half the time so I don't really bother with that either. Just feeling very deflated and sorry for myself right now.

Since I'm off work I decided to at least do some studies, and I've done £30 worth so far, so that's something. And my new card arrived in the mail, so tomorrow I'll call the bank to do the balance transfer.

Cheer up surprise: My car insurance automatic renewal failed 😠 because I completely forgot that stupid Barclaycard had reduced my credit limit, and that limit is now below the cost of insurance renewal 😠 so the payment was rejected 😠 and by the time I saw the email, they were closed 😠 and that meant my policy had lapsed by the time I could call them this morning 😠 so when I called them they had to generate a brand new policy, which was £61 more than my existing one 😠 so I asked why it had gone up, and she investigated whether she could find any discounts... my new policy then came in £11 cheaper than last week's renewal quote 😃👏

Currently cooking: apple crumble (4x softening apples, flour bought during the first lockdown (!), butter frozen two years ago (!), mixed dried fruit that I think was bought around four years ago (!)). All these things were unopened and seem fine. I am also using sugar that I think came home free from Old Work. There's a certain satisfaction that my freezer is almost empty of "stuff I saved from waste" - the only things left are the butter and three packs of chopped mango. Maybe there's a mango crumble in my future!

Reeeedraw

So I enjoyed a lovely hour on the phone today getting an old credit card reissued (it's one I never use, from Terrible Service Bank). I was getting it reissued because, surprise, I had never received the original card. Why it takes an hour to tell them their "card replacement service" isn't working on their website... I don't know. But now it's done. I also called Main Bank to redraw £5,000 from my loan. All done and landing in my bank any moment.

My total debt is just over £28,000, £12k of which is not attracting any interest. As much as I would have liked to be under the magical £25k this year, I know I have a few huge bills coming, so it's more realistic to say that I'd like it to still be at £28k by end of year. I guess it's just plod, plod, plod and chip, chip, chip away...

Today I am enjoying next door's roof replacement. As they throw the old roof pieces into the skip next door, chips are flying up and hitting my window. I am secretly hoping they break the glass. It will be nice to have brand new triple glazing which someone else pays for.

That Moment, omg

I was SO LOOKING FORWARD to a Two.Day.Weekend. SO excited. Saturday morning my alarm goes off at 8am and my first thought is: YAY NO SCHOOL. (So I'd been dreaming, ok, just forgive me this once.) Then I look at my planner and no work Monday! Three-day-weekend. Best thing ever.

Today I discovered an unopened box of cereal in a box of unsorted "stuff", opened it, and it tastes exactly like it should have, even before it passed its best before date two years ago. I might be a little bit disorganised. Just a little.

Watched School of Rock again today and bawled right through it 😂

Weirdness: I got another 0% money transfer offer on same credit card where my 0% offer is ending... so it seems as if I just redraw my loan, pay off the credit card in full, and then the next day take another 0% money transfer with the same card and put the cash back on my loan? I mean, yeah, I will, it just struck me as odd. So that's the adulting admin plan for this week.

Un-Sustainable

I found the matching bag.

I have just laughed my way through a Guardian article that told me all about how I can get my sandals for this summer. They had three options: Buy, Rent and Thrift. The "Buy" section suggested I spend £194 on a pair of ugly "sustainable" black sliders. (What?) I could, alternatively, rent a pair of Gucci gold sandals for £66, or for £49 I can borrow a pair of Dolce & Gabbana sandals that look like someone's six-year-old attacked them with a Bedazzler.

The last option, to Thrift shoes, is more my thing. I got a nice pair of sort-of-fancy sandals last year for £7 from a charity shop, so I was excited to read on and see what they suggested. Sadly, I was invited to consider a £110 pair of mule heels. They might as well suggest that people save money on shoes by throwing £100 into the nearest bin.

I am really not sure on what planet £110 is considered thrifty. And it's tastelessly out of touch considering the current economic climate.

Related: a customer told me today that it was her first visit to Bargain Store and how exciting it all was to see all the cheap items. She had chosen a lemon fudge cake which she planned to serve for dessert in the afternoon, as she hadn't been able to afford to go out for lunch (it's not even a particularly cheap item even for us, this is a fancy cake). She was telling me how difficult money had been for her lately. This is a very common refrain, I hear from people all day, every day, that money is tight and they are having to rein in their spending. I commiserate, and nod, and tell her I really do understand what it's like.

Keep in mind she has just walked up and down a huuuuuge bargain shop, which features five aisles of traditional grocery/food/drinks and two large fridge & freezer aisles. The only way to the tills is to walk past all of that.

But then she told me she's off to Marks & Spencers to do her weekly shop.

Facepalm...

Play Toy

For about eight or nine months now I have been buying Bitcoin each month (as a curiosity). I just set up an auto buy of £4 each month as I figured it had gone up over time and might be interesting to watch. The cash for this comes from my Testable Minds earnings, which pays into my Revolut account, so it's easy to do and money I don't miss in the first place (plus, it's actually made me pay attention to my TM page now and then to do a few studies for a few more pounds).

Needless to say I started at the peak and it has dropped like a stone over those months. It's worth a grand total of £25, and I think I actually spent about £40. This is the thing with speculating on share markets or crypto. You have to assume that the market will sometimes fall, and you can never put in money that you're unable to afford to lose - completely.

Eh, it is an experiment in the first place. I'm watching the price a little bit more often from now and I'm going to start actually trading it. Right now I could sell to recoup 25p in lost profit... I'm going to keep an eye today and hope for 50p 😂

In between doing a few more surveys on Prolific, which I should have been doing anyway...

Things that are odd: I was just doing a study and part of it involved doing a search for a flight. I unexpectedly saw flights to Spain for £17 each way. Somehow, it seems bizarre that I was pondering local amateur theatre tickets last week for £13 and not being sure that I wanted to go at that price...

Ho Hum Same Old

Sometimes I log into my internet banking, hoping that there's some admin to do, but really, there's not. That's kind of the standard reality when things are ticking over, nothing much to do but sit and wait out the months while the balance goes down bit by bit, as it should.

I did another hours' worth of mud-slinging today and actually took pictures for selling my hanging baskets. For some reason I had an uncharacteristic loss of confidence, what if nobody likes them? Are they good enough to sell? Eh... I suppose at the right price they will be, even if that means I don't make any money. Note to self, next year do them earlier and shove more seedlings in to make them look more full, sooner.

Stop Press: Dilemma finally received the "alleged" 2021 accounts from the outside accountant... it had been delayed by him "attending his graduation", leading me to suspect they've been dumped on a trainee. I have not seen them, however, his English is rather poor, so I don't have huge hopes for the accounts themselves. Neighbour #2a has looked them over, and says they are nonsensical and he doesn't understand them (and he is probably the most knowledgeable of all the directors when it comes to the accounts). He has asked Dilemma if she thinks they make sense. Stand by for some more Dilemma Blathering.

Dinner treat: home-made hotdog and a premixed can of mojito. 

Unwanted Surprises

I am still getting (unwanted) surprises when it comes to Long Covid. I can smell more things nowadays, but there are still a bunch of things I simply don't detect, and I miss subtle scents completely. As an example, I bought some "Jasmine & Coconut" scented tea lights from Rival Bargain Shop a few weeks back, and I finally decided to burn them this morning. I know that in the shop I'd thought it smelled ok (without looking at the name of the scent) and today I couldn't detect either coconut or anything floral. What happened instead is that I began sneezing. I love hayfever.

Anyway, today I was not in the mood for yet another piece of fish or chicken, so I decided on a baked potato with beans and cheese. I was remembering how much I'd enjoyed it during my £10 Grocery Challenge. But my dinner was completely tasteless. And I'd been telling myself it was a treat! 😂 Since I still have three baking potatoes (and 5½ tins of tasteless fancy beans) I might try a dash of ketchup and a bit of salt next time. Or tuna & mayo instead of beans.

Trip Hazard: If you remember, I had decided to eat fewer protein bars and reintroduce ordinary snacks of 100-150 calories. This week I was restrained while shopping, I went home with sugar-free fruity water, low-cal marshmallow bars (7/10, would buy again) and some discounted fruit. I also grabbed a pack of small muffins. Big mistake, the energy info was unreadable so I thought "meh" and figured I'd look it up online later. Each muffin was a whopping 400 calories. A third of my target daily allowance. Well, I won't be losing weight this week.

Especially since I skipped the gym four times, before finally forcing myself back today! 😮

The Busywork Dilemma

Dilemma has done it again. She had a new assessor attend to do the fire risk assessment, and he has also done a general risk assessment. Ladies and gentlemen Dilemma has now run off to get quotes on 1,001 ridiculous small things that are honestly, well, ridiculous. Included are a safety handrail (for two steps!), a barrier rail beside our driveway in case someone falls 30cm to their death, a fence around the roof (it's not a place people should be in the first place), remedial work needed for a 10cm wide drain which is not completely level with the cement, it goes on and on.

I get that certain things are important but the number is sheer lunacy.

Also, I'm in a mood, as I dropped my phone this afternoon and despite its builder's case, it has hairline cracks radiating up from the bottom corner. Grrr. No loss to functionality that I can tell, but still, grrr. It's ten months old, so I am grrr. Screen replacement would be the same price as replacing the phone, so... I've ordered a new glass protector sheet for it and hopefully the phone lasts another year (and an extra glass sheet is coming with it, just in case, since it was only a pound more for two).

One Chunk

One of my cards has given me a limit increase and allowed me to do a balance transfer onto the one about to end. This is good, meaning I only need to redraw £2,000 off my loan - which is currently down to £11,000! I am very pleased about that mental boost, and I gave the computer screen a hearty middle finger when they quoted me 29.9% to extend the loan. I personally think the current 11.5% is extortionate enough, thank you.

My car insurance is up for renewal, and like a good frugalist I have done a comparison search. Fortunately, my existing insurer is the cheapest. Unfortunately, it means planning for having £360 in the bank to pay for it. I could pay by the month except I object to paying an extra £56 for the privilege, which is definitely higher interest than my loan costs, so it isn't worth it. Right now I'm going to remember that I am on my fourth year of insurance, and that in 2018 it was more than £800 due to being a "new driver" (in the UK at least). Yeah, this year's quote isn't so bad after all 😁 and since I'm putting it on an ordinary credit card, that statement won't fall due until September 👍 and I will clear the balance in full so I get no interest charges. 👍👍

New work contract: done. 👌

Precarity

That's it; that's the word I have been looking for, the one that describes what it's like to live on constant watch, always careful, always on alert. I saw it this week in an article that (to summarise) points out how much more often it is women who end up with little pension and living hand-to-mouth.

Most images of "teetering" seem to be of men. Ok.

Generally, my risk-taking is actually well-thought-out and meticulously planned. What I didn't count on was the joy of Long Covid (and to be honest, I didn't expect my previous job to be a complete dumpster fire that I needed to escape).

I was telling a friend yesterday that my game plan was to be debt free on this flat in seven years. But as I did the mental sums, I realised that if nothing changes, I will get there in around four. This assumes no large spends. Then I remembered that I actually have three possible game plans in the making - the "renovate and upsize" plan; the "buy a camper and AirBnB my place" plan, and the "buy a second property" plan. The nice thing about precarity is that since I can't afford to move on any of them, I don't have to choose which one I go forward with. The annoying part is feeling like you are well-and-truly stuck in one spot, and barely moving on the debt treadmill.

And so you default to the only real plan you can move on. The one where you pay bills, buy unbranded food, hope that nothing unexpected happens, and repeat again next month. Fortunately, if something unexpected does happen for me, well, meh, I'll just sigh a bit and add another year to the debt repayments. Not everyone has that flexibility.

Another friend once said that their parents had lived so close to the bone all their lives, they retired not knowing how to spend money.

I think that will be me. First world problems, eh?

Good thing: my flowers are starting to look lovely 😀 Cheap thrills!

Almost Enough

In what is hopefully good news, Big Boss asked me today if I would like a bigger contract, and says he will sort out the paperwork. 👍

That will be a nice relief, assuming it all goes forward. I have mostly been getting close to the income I need, but having a contract which will cover bills is going to make things less stressful. It should kick in by the end of August.

I have come to accept that simply eating expensive protein bars will not reduce my weight by magic. So I have decided to cut them down. In their place I will arrange other snacks with slightly fewer calories. Wish me luck and wish me discipline.

Unease: There's another interest-free period ending in a months' time, and I don't have a new interest-free arrangement lined up to switch it to. I am not thrilled about redrawing from my loan, but that looks like the plan. Mainly I just liked the psychological boost of seeing it down to only 13k owing. I must remember that it will be down there again eventually.

Adulting: currently eating ancient frozen vegetables to use them up. I am also armed with small containers of Nesquik for work, as I realllly need to stop buying flavoured milk for my workday lunches, even if it is yummy.

Supermarket Lasagne Hack

If (like me) you purchased two frozen lasagne dinners from Big Supermarket and were dismayed to discover that they taste like cardboard, never fear! I have the perfect hack for you. Simply take a little bit of ketchup, and spread it neatly across the top of your cardboard lasagne. Just like that, it's edible!

Hack #2: Brown sauce on your chicken makes it taste like you're not eating the same dinner twice in a row.

It turned out that I did get a few extra hours this week. Enough to cover essentials. But I'm tired of working over five separate days, and never getting two days off together. It's been like this for six weeks running when I could be doing the work over three and having proper time to myself.

Waaah, I sound like a complainypants! Must remember that I'm lucky to have the hours that I've got.

I have received my shiny new card and made transfers about the place, which have not actually landed yet because it's the weekend. Lunch today was a cheese omelette with vegies, and was really tasty. Adulting: rinsed off my car and put air in the tyres for once.

Because I Am A Child

I have bought myself a battery-operated mini fan which comes with a water squirty spray. It is awesome and was worth every penny of its £2 price tag.

Because I am not a child I have also bought two frozen margaritas, in peach and in passionfruit flavour, as there is an important piece of scientific research to be done, namely, which one is nicer when imbibed in the back garden from a 50p reduced mason drinking jar which was missing its plastic straw (don't worry, I've got a stainless straw I can use).

Today I've been a little bit lethargic in my thinking. I feel a little bit like life is passing me by while I quibble over saving two pence on something, or that I'm never going to escape this era of perpetual financial fear. I maybe brought it on myself, when Poppet (broke as always) had no interest in using her staff discount card, or working a few more minutes "because that's only a pound". I heard myself saying that every pound matters but I felt like Ebenezer Scrooge.

Here's hoping that I can snap myself out of it tomorrow on my day off.

Adulting admin done: Cancelled my Britbox before the free period ends. Unpacked and set up new micro. Actually fixed vacuum to make it suck, and vacuumed the carpet, which now looks grubby rather than filthy (it's awful carpet, with stains and just generally shabby; however, it stops the floor feeling cold, and its replacement is very low on the spending priority list). Flung some dirt about, ie, repotted some plants.

New Microwave

So my previous lovely red number has bitten the dust. I know I am to blame, it rusted under the turntable because I just didn't wipe it out when I'd cooked really steamy food. I knew this was coming for a while, but yesterday it decided to start with the sparks, so that's it, unplugged and decommissioned. The lovely recycling men happily took it off my hands as they did their round through my street today 😀

I went out to buy one from Facebook Marketplace but it had the same tell-tale rust! So I'm not throwing cash at something which will do the same thing in a few months. In the end I've ordered one from Argos and used a free £10 voucher from SnapMyEats to lessen the blow a bit. Hey, not bad to get a few quid off for free right? I'm also going to get 50p or so from TopCashBack for the purchase. Win-win.

Drinks in the newly-cleared back garden with neighbours from #8. Including a butterfly which sat on my shoulder more than once! Lovely way to pass a few hours on a warm summer's night 😀

Almost Annoying

One of my interest-free credit card periods comes to an end next week. And me being me, I just procrastinated on it and paid every spare cent into it, vainly hoping it'd somehow magically be knocked down to zero in time on my pauper's wage 😄

Spoiler alert: it has not.

Anyhoo, last night I got a notification that I was 100% qualified for a new 16-month balance transfer card. So I started the application, waiting for my denial, but no! I have a brand new shiny card arriving in the mail and I shall use it to transfer my balance again and concentrate on chipping away at the loan.

Bonus info: right now I am about £8k ahead in repayments on the loan, and having parts of it on interest-free cards instead is projected to save me a whopping £17,000 worth of interest over the life of the loan. Because this loan has fixed repayments, the other way to look at it is that it would be paid out four-and-a-half years early. Get in 👌

Spending Accuracy

So I went back the Big Shop in my third attempt to burn through my voucher money, and I had success! My very balanced shop contained twelve deodorants, a full freezer, four jars of coffee and a pack of flower seedlings which I definitely did not need. But I spent my voucher balance exactly. Booyeah.

I then took a 3 mile detour for some insanely cheap fuel only to learn that it was closed. Notsoyeah.

My work is next to a large pharmacy-gift-shop-thing and twice this week the whole shop was closed, with the pharmacist just using the drop window to fill prescriptions. Lack of shop assistant staff, apparently. This is bad news (the pharmacy attracts customers to come into our shop) but also good news (scarcity of workers pushes wages up overall). It's all a little bit odd in the world right now, there are definitely worse jobs than in showing customers through the perfumes and bandages, but hey all the rules went out the window when Covid landed.

New rota has (yet again) five days of 4-hour shifts. Not my favourite thing, so I'll just try being grateful to have a job, and maybe attempt an extra gym session.

Freebie: I came out of work and discovered an unopened apple & mint drink in the carpark. Yes thanks. I downed it on the way home from the gym, and it tasted like summer 😀

This And That

I got off my behind and tidied up my plants. Not all of them, but some.

I also did a few surveys for a few pennies into my PayPal.

This weeks' pay was a good one and affords a little bit of breathing space (not much, but, it was 10 hours of overtime and I need four each week to break even). Next week will be decent too. The following week is five days of 4h shifts, none of which end at closing time 😭 This is bad. 4h shifts have no break, so I can't shave time off my breaks to get extra pay, and the closing-time shifts always run into overtime. Sigh. I will have to hope I get called in to cover a sick call.

I unexpectedly met DilEmma in person, as she showed up unannounced to get a new fire risk assessment done. This sounds like DilEmma is considering doing her job, but realistically, we'll see whether anything actually gets fixed.

I sorted out my DIY tumble dryer sheets today. My flat smells absolutely lovely! Eight cheap facewashers were procured from my work for the tidy sum of £2.09, which happens to be only ten pence dearer than ONE box of tumble dryer sheets. And considering I've had three huge bottles of softener from Old Work for ages, I'm not even going to count the cost of the liquid for at least a year.

DIY Tumble Dryer Sheets

Handy drying chair.

So we all know that line-drying is best (and mostly that's what I do) but there are times I just can't, especially when it comes to my bedsheets. I've often been annoyed that the washer spins most of the fabric softener straight down the drain - some washers even rinse it out! - so I was thinking that dryer sheets might be better value than liquid fabric softener, until I saw the cost! 😭

So in my travels I have read about a dozen sets of instructions for making your own tumble dryer sheets. I've tried several of them myself and most are terrible or would actually be flammable. Never fear, I've culled the bad ideas and collected the smart ones, and here's a DIY for tumble dryer sheets you can make at home, that actually work and smell divine.

You will need:

• cotton facewashers (an unusual colour helps keep them separate, or use old ones)
• fabric softener
• a small container or bowl
• a few minutes of your time.

Method: Using the normal cap measure for your fabric softener, pour half a standard dose. Use the same amount of water. Then put one facewasher in to soak up all of the liquid. Squeeze it gently to spread it through the fabric then hang it up to dry indoors. Repeat with the rest of the facewashers. Once they are dry, you can keep them in a basket near your dryer. Between uses, you should put them into a normal wash (without softener).

Tips and hints:

Never use sponges! They're flammable and could cause a fire.

Old torn towels will fray, but if you've got an old towel or pure cotton shirts, you could hem the pieces. 

Don't use microfibre, or anything cotton-blend, they don't actually absorb well - synthetics repel liquid and are not technically "wet". 100% cotton will pick up the steam from your wet clothes and release the softener evenly.

When Statistics Suck

80% of Lloyds bank customers (or, almost 21 million people) have less than £500 in their accounts.

Two million Britons have been late paying at least one bill every month this year.

One million people have cancelled their gym membership this year.

The Trussell Trust has given out 2 million food parcels in the past twelve months.

Just for something nice: Boris Johnson has resigned.

There is hope.

Cakes

My work celebrated its birthday during the week and I didn't get to see the party... not to worry, I made up for it by eating two cupcakes left over. Also, in trying to use up things lying around in my kitchen, I made a cake from an old packet mix I've had forever. I added in some protein shake mix. Also some powdered skim milk, which I realised later on doesn't really have much protein, but here we are.

The end result? Not a taste sensation. Drowning a slice in icing didn't help. Today I'm trying it with butter and it's only slightly less awful. Won't be making this mistake again!

I realised I had a few pounds sitting in my Revolut account this evening, and actually fell prey to a reminder to buy a ticket in the next car draw... considering it's a car I was thinking of trying to buy, hey, you never know. I also need to enter more postal competitions since I only have a little while to use up the stamps.

I Took A Trip

...out to Big Supermarket to try to use the rest of my voucher. I mostly failed. I had figured I could buy protein bars, but owee, they were £2 each. That's just disgusting, to be frank, and even though using a voucher makes them "free", I'd rather not spend it on that out of principal. (My own work sells them for 89p - £1.15, which is still a lot of money for a single snack, and surely you would think that a Big Supermarket could offer decent prices...)

I forgot to get coffee and I came home with still £40 left on the voucher, so it really wasn't worth the drive.

Also, I bought a frozen pizza, which is definitely not low-carb. Demolished it last night then fell into a food coma.

At least today I got a good walk in, with the incline turned on and for an extra half hour 👍

Reeee-calculating

Now that I have a better idea of how much my housing (freehold) expenses are, it's more apparent that my work contract doesn't cover my bills. Sigh. Today I am pondering the world where people on social media fire abuse at the "entitled" people who own their own home, as if we didn't sacrifice and work hard for the roof above our heads (and also, for the roof above theirs).

At this point I turned off Facebook for the day 😂 and spent an hour signing up for market research projects. Well, half an hour. Presently procrastinating about doing some more garden work (it's overcast, so I shouldn't risk getting wet in my front garden, right?) and generally avoiding doing a few £2 surveys.

Today's frugal thing: I didn't drink the iced coffee-milk that I made at work yesterday, so I brought it home and have been using it to make my hot coffees. That's at least five pence saved 😂 it's also a little bit cold today, but I've thrown a blanket on and have so far ignored the heating.

Amazing Surprise

So I told Good Boss that if he deleted my extra shift I'd be under my minimum contracted hours. Big Boss piped up saying he'd already deleted it but gave me an extra day to get my hours up. I come home and check, and surprise! No extra day in sight and again, I'm under hours. It's getting seriously annoying now. This penny-pinching to the Nth degree with nobody working a single hour extra... I have messaged them to let them know, but if they don't do anything, I'm tempted to just turn up for that missing shift and advise that since they'll have to pay me whether I work or not, they might as well let me work...

They keep blaming "the system" but clearly it's misbehaving because they keep messing with things.

In an actually amazing surprise, I tried one of the lemon flapjack protein bars today and they are absolutely delicious.

Also I went to the gym but then bought a chicken burger from McDonalds... so, not a great day. Since I had starved myself most of the day, I haven't exactly eaten too many calories, but you sure as heck do not lose weight when you eat burgers.

For Something Different

...the new rota is again under my contracted hours. I have picked up an extra shift and this time I'm going to tell Good Boss that if it disappears, he'll need to put it back for me so that I stay over contract. I have no idea whether this will work. I also added a few hours this week (also don't know if this will work either).

My Amazon delivery arrived of protein and nut bars. I'm going to try one for breakfast tomorrow. I also bought a meal replacement shake product thing, it tastes ok, but to be honest I felt like I'd just swapped my meal with a glass of milk. And clearly, a glass of milk doesn't keep you full until the next meal. I suppose it's more about getting into the habit than anything else. But with my track record at sticking to things, let's see whether I can even manage to empty the tin 😁

I got a bunch of empty plant pots from Freecycle this week and have transferred some begonias today (this is very impressive as I just worked eight days straight). I also potted up two more hanging baskets, and I'm hoping to sell the lot once they settle and look nice. I have three more hanging baskets to put together later this week.

Rota Meltdown

Last weekend I accidentally showed up to work "early". Turns out that it wasn't me making an error. This week two shifts of mine have been changed and two have been deleted completely for next week. 😑 This Just.Aint.Funny while trying to get on top of hideous bills... sometimes I think systems worked better as a pen and paper.

Very Dramatic™: I had a £10 promo voucher to use on Amazon that required me to spend £30 to get it, which should have made my purchase £20, only it was THE MOST DIFFICULT THING TO QUALIFY FOR IN THE WORLD because they exclude all the best-priced sellers. By the time I actually made the promo appear I was fed up and not going to search to the ends of the earth to find the best deals again so long story short: just under £35 worth of protein bars arrive at my place next week 😂 I mean, I had gift vouchers just sitting there too, so might as well spend them on something.

I really don't like Amazon and wish I didn't get paid in Amazon vouchers from so many websites!

Day 1 of trying to go low-calorie, high-protein (again): handful of cashews for breakfast, handful of grapes. Lunch: protein bar. Dinner: omelette, small noodles and mixed veg.

Then I got hungry and ate another protein bar... oh well, will try again tomorrow. 

Title Semantics

I couldn't decide whether I actually went swimming, when mostly I just stood waist-height in the water and then dunked under a couple of times. So... being 26°C, I "went to the beach". I had fully intended on being a bit more active than merely walking down and getting wet, but despite having eaten lunch before I went, I felt too wobbly to be much use. Even still, it was lovely to be down there and I'm glad I went.

I collected some shells which no doubt will sit around, useless for eternity 😁

There were vague ideas of planting out my hanging baskets, but did I? No. I opted for a rather long nap instead.

Back to work tomorrow (and I am told that my upcoming ridiculously-long warehouse shift is likely to be corrected shortly... I wait with baited breath).

This Week's Top Comments

1. Customer: Do I want a bag? No, I've got dozens of them in the back of my car. The place where plastic bags go to die.

2. Customer1 (while the sun is in full scorch mode and the day is looking glorious): It's so lovely outside. What time do you finish, love? Me: 6pm. Customer: Oh, the weather is awful outside. Customer2: It's raining. Customer3: It's terribly cold and windy. Customer2: I wish I'd brought my coat.

3. (Customer's daughter chats happily to me during the transaction, then runs off and presses the "sad face" reaction smiley at the store exit.) Mother: Why did you press the sad face? Kid: Because I miss my friends from school. Mother: It's been a day and a half. Me: What did I do wrong? Now my boss is going to ask me what I did wrong to make you sad! Mother: Oh no, you'll get her in trouble! Go, quick, and press a happy face before she gets in trouble! (Kid pelts full-speed to go and fix her feedback while the mother and I laugh.)

4. Customer: I only came in for one thing! Oh, I bet everyone says that. Me: And then they tell me they've left their bags in the car. Customer: I really did leave my bags in the car! (Pauses...) You just have so many things that I think, ooh, I need one of those. Me: Imagine working here! Customer: I'd have no wages. And I didn't even get the thing I came in for. Me: Bingo! (She managed all five of our top-heard comments in one transaction.)

5. The "ping" system for opening new tills was broken, and we no longer heard the "PING, We'll be opening till three in a moment, till number three will be opening shortly" over the PA system. I resort to using the headset, which only staff can hear: Ashton, could you open till 3 please? Ashton: You didn't ping me: Me: The pinger is broken. Ashton: Say "ping" then. Me: What? It's broken. Ashton: Say "ping". Me: PING, Ashton could you jump on 3? Ashton: PING I'll be opening till number three shortly.

6. Elderly lady, who has already bought her neighbour's few things, and is now ready to pay for her own small bag: Now, be gentle with me when you tell me MY total. Me: That's four hundred and seventy-eight pounds twenty, please. Lady: laughs uproariously and says she's going to use that when she knocks on her neighbour's door in a few hours.

7. Customer acts like an absolute dick while his quiet & polite friend was shopping and I can see he's "one of those" who needs the whole shop to hear him talk. His first item comes up as "unknown". Customer: Oh, it must be free, then. Hahahaha! Me: Haha. (I grab a £2 pack of cans with a torn box.) Customer: Can I get this half price? Me: The contents are fine, so we can't do that sorry. Customer: Well how about a better price? Me: Eight pounds. Customer: What? Me: It's a better price for me! Customer: How much for your phone number? Me: Eight hundred pounds. Customer's friend: (hysterical laughter at full volume)