Underpayment Corrected

Faster than I expected, so top marks to my work. I am enjoying the weekly payday while it lasts (I think I will be switched to four-weekly any moment now). The scheduling software, however, is haywire, and right now I have no overtime lined up. But I have a market research interview set up for tomorrow for £50 so that will be a nice bonus.

I have ditched all food collections apart from my local and I'm even thinking of letting that one go. We will see.

On Telly: both Bridgerton and Sanditon releasing a Season 2 in the same week. I have obviously been indulging in both. Both have gaping holes without the major stars of the first series... Bridgerton doesn't even mention the missing Duke, and Sanditon just announced the main love interest dead and moved on as if nobody would notice or care. But they are still enough to keep me entertained, so there's that.

One of the directors in our building's company is refusing to contribute to its upkeep. Well, more accurately, he's just ignoring all requests and not responding to communication, just doesn't answer emails or phone calls, three weeks and counting. Sigh. It's slightly frustrating since I paid my bit by a credit card and have only just managed to get on top of that.

Happy thing: bunch of roses from Olio!

Work Shenanigans

I accidentally turned up early for my shift, by an hour. Because nobody realised, I don't get paid for that hour 😭 It didn't cost me anything though so life could be worse!

Another time I had two short shifts, and the supervisor asked would I rather just get paid for my break? Yes please. But that meant a 5h 15m shift, and I went home afterwards and fell asleep. Lesson learned, five hours is still a bit much to ask of myself. Slowly slowly catchy monkey, etc.

They've also had an IT meltdown at head office and I didn't get my first weeks' pay (I only got my second week's pay (!) of exactly four hours 😁 plus all that tax refund). Boss Man was incredibly apologetic and has promised it will be fixed, but since I didn't expect to get paid at all until the end of March anyway, it's not a big deal. All up, I still love this place, it is relaxed and not stressful and nobody expects more from me than I can give. 😍

AND! Universal Credit tell me I no longer have to attend job coach appointments, providing I stay over 12 hours of work per week. I am not quite there yet but she has given me a temporary exemption and I will take all the overtime shifts I can manage, just to avoid that place. Victory!

Bumper Pay Day

Or not. I checked my bank and have way more than expected, which should be cause for celebration (and it is) except that most of it is a tax refund (YAY!) which will also mean I get no Universal Credit. Again. Because of tax I have already paid and which belongs to me and which already caused me to get no Universal Credit at the time I earned the money and paid that tax. I mean... is it any wonder that people find this idiotic system excruciating and depressing?

I have picked up a work shift which clashes with the park open day so looks like I am not going. That suits me fine. They have my CV so if they actually are keen, they know where I am.

The week after next is a Pain.In.The.Arse for work, as I am scheduled for a four-hour "shelf filling" shift, and there are no till shifts available. So I took a one-hour shift immediately before my Olio collection, reasoning that hey, I was already out and might as well save the fuel. But after seeing tonight... which yet again hasn't really got anything besides bread and salad... I will give up some of my Olio slots for sure.

Good girl:I've eaten salad nearly every day for a week. I am sick of salad now.

Great Interview

...which has now made me really annoyed. I mean, I walked in and aced it. They've already filled their reception roles and probably their admin roles, which is a bummer because they are part time. But I am, on paper, a perfect fit for a senior park administrator role which is full time, and not yet advertised. Someone who knows how most of the other roles work (chef, bar, housekeepers, receptionists). I've done all of those things. I was up-front that I can't do physical work and he was understanding and still told me loads about the role.

Then unfortunately he wrapped it up by saying that when things get hectic they shut the office and all muck in, and that might mean we all go out to a caravan and turn it over ourselves. After I had told him that I'm not up for doing physical work. This was the very question I had wanted to ask. It's a deal-breaker for me.

In the end he made no binding promises but invited me to come to their open day on the weekend. I said I'd go, but I don't really want this role. Today's interview-not-interview was in my official Universal Credit must-do list 😒 but there are no such requirements in there for turning up on a Saturday or taking on an unadvertised, unsuitable job.

Considering dropping some or all three of my regular Olio collection slots. The new store I pick up from now has basically been an entire box of bread, an entire box of pastries, and three or four minor things like sandwiches or a salad. Sure, free food is nice but I'm pretty sure I spend more on fuel than I could spend on shopping wisely and making my own meals. I'll give them a couple of weeks but if this is normal, I'll let it go.

A Good Type of Day 😊

Upstairs neighbours gave me a bunch of flowers for keeping an eye on their flat 😊 absolutely unnecessary but a lovely gesture.

Nice dude on Olio told me that picking up free blueberry muffins, pink donuts, salads and bread rolls has made his day. 😊

I have successfully resisted four packets of Oreo donuts. 😊 There is no way I need to keep stashing so many pastries and junk food and I've decided that from now on I only get to select one treat a day!

I managed to swing some overtime shifts at new work for next week and also the week after that, and they're all marked "Till" so I'm very pleased. 😊 Tomorrow I will need to call Boss Man and arrange some hours somewhere for this week. I have an interview tomorrow for another position that I'm not even sure I want (at a holiday park), but I will go along and play nice and see what they have to say.

I got my £30 cash from Swagbucks for playing the silly Dragon game. 😊 Currently playing an absolute dumpster fire of a game for another £7, but here we are.

The Roof, The Roof, The Roof is On Fi-

Well, no, it's not on fire. But it's moving along like a house on fire. Oooh, poor choice of words. The roof is finished, all but the fascias and guttering, which are being completed as I write. It is SO GOOD to be on the final stretch. I am fed up with vans parked in my driveway, debris across my hallway floor, doors being left open, building materials being piled up in front of my letterbox, skips full of rubbish, and mostly, having my curtains permanently shut for privacy! I cannot WAIT to move all my plants back where they belong, and get started on weeding them and potting up some new things for the summer. And being able to look out at the sea while I sit at my desk.

Unrelated: Refuelling hurt today. My little baby 35-litre tank took in £53 worth of fuel, which is insane when you drive a shoebox. Anyway, I decided to spend some Nectar points. I'm calling it half-price fuel.

Also painful: I've got to come up with £1000 in the next couple of weeks, to top up our building administration fund, because things like water bills and insurance need to be maintained. It ain't going to be a comfortable few weeks financially. Looks like I need to get more hours at work! Speaking of work, I am now officially "in the system" and can pick up extra shifts as soon as they appear - just gotta find the ones that I can physically do. Also to my surprise I'm getting a pay rise in April, beyond the minimum wage. Not a king's ransom mind you but still nice.

Playing: the world's shittiest gym game, which so far seems to be to click on a character and tell them to do sit-ups. But it's paying a few pounds so there are worse ways to pass time.

Salad is Weird

I never feel like making myself a salad. Usually the free salad stuffs in my fridge only have a 50/50 chance of even being opened before being thrown away. But tonight was quite lean for my food collection and I am eating a prepared packaged salad, with some rocket and cherry tomatoes thrown in. And it is absolutely delicious.

Because I was hoping for protein tonight, I didn't cook anything for dinner. Murphy's Law of course, I got 16 pints of skim milk but no meat, so it's almost 10pm and I'm still waiting for my frozen sausages to cook. That'll teach me!

I am in the process of updating alllll my survey memberships to let them know I'm now part time with a lower income. (If I don't do this, they'll ask me during a survey and my answer won't match my profile, and boom, disqualified.) While I am at it, I'm nuking the ones which aren't worthwhile, some of which are sites that I "gave a second chance" to and they have bombed it by still being crap.

Covering my bills will be tough this month thanks to this whole "waiting until pay day" thing (that's life) so it is hard to give much to the Ukraine effort, but I have decided to keep one survey site refreshing whenever my pc is open and doing every survey on there I can catch, then donating that lot to the Red Cross. Please cross your fingers for lots of studies in the next few weeks.

Lovely: the fresh scent of clean washing hung on the airer to dry beside the radiator 😊 I still usually smell weird things 24/7 like stale engine, burnt toast and so on (thank you Covid) so although it's not nearly as fresh a scent as it used to be, I am just grateful for being able to sort-of detect it. That, and garlic in my bathroom, which is my neighbours' favourite cooking ingredient and which comes through the wall behind my water heater! Ah well, there are worse aromas to have in a bathroom 😂

Insanity Is: This

I now have a third collection slot, this one is another evening collection, at a slightly bigger store. Yay! It's also at a shop I have never seen listed before. I don't know if it's usually any good, but I am hopeful, and if it turns out to be decent I can let the local morning slot go. Yes, I'm insane.

I am wondering whether it's socially acceptable to bring day-old pastries in to share in my new work.

Speaking of new work, I went in during the week for my third shift and learned that it was Employee Appreciation Day. What a lovely unexpected surprise. The staff room was decorated with banners and balloons, and a table was laid out with snacks, drinks and cakes for us. Currently enjoying my free Coke and have some crisps and sweets for the stash box 😁

Still don't know my schedule yet, which is a bit frustrating, because the market research invites are piling up. I just binned about 30 of them today as they'll no doubt be filled, but there's plenty more waiting as soon as I know when I'm free. BUT! By pure chance, Work Bestie and also another old colleague both came into my work today. I didn't really get a chance to chat (I'm not allowed to serve people I know) but we did say hi and it was a nice surprise.

Spendy McSpenderson here has splashed out 59p on a little lap desk thing with the beanbag underneath, for watching telly on my netbook while sat in bed. I've been using a cereal box for ages 😂 but I've nearly run out of my other cereal so I'll have to open the second box soon! I had £5 in Amazon credit from some survey site so I figured I might as well use it. I also broke one of my cheap plastic earrings and could I find any of the spares that I know I own? No. So I ordered a 20-pack off eBay for a couple of quid. No doubt I'll use one pair and then when those break I won't be able to find any of the 100 or so pairs in my possession 😁

New Beginnings, And All That

Induction day at Bargain Shop went well. The people are nice, they've given me a 4 hour contract, I reminded them that I need light duties and was more than happy to cover till, and all seems well. I go back for my till training and floor training over the next few days. I was very interested to see my contract, which as expected says I can't work for any competitor. I brought that up with my manager and he actually stated that they don't consider supermarkets to be their competition. This is great news, on the off chance I can get a part time role back with Old Chain in future. While I will get a staff discount at Bargain Shop, the yellow sticker bargains are far better in Old Chain.

I treated myself to McDonalds today, and it's probably been more than three months since I bought a takeaway meal. For a while I wrestled with the idea, knowing that I certainly had the self-discipline to eat a snack from my bag then go home and make lunch. But you know, I'm also a little worried that I'm going ever-so-slightly batty with what most people would call extreme frugality (showering using only one bucket of hot water is actually where it occurs to me most, although that's more to do with not wanting to replace the system just yet). I don't want to end up eating cat food on toast and stuffing my clothes with newspaper when I do have enough money to buy the basics. So I allowed myself this indulgence.

Cranky because a website where I downloaded a game "for £30 reward" claims to have no tracking of it and won't pay me. Wankers, it took me ten days of graft to reach the reward level. This particular game has a similar offer from a different cashback site, so I've installed it on a different device and we will see. It's a good thing I enjoy the game itself or I'd be way past cranky.

I have had to pause doing market research as I don't know my work schedule yet! Hopefully I get that in the next few days.

Currently playing: that pleasant little time suck game again 😁

Why Are We Waiting

Everything seems to be a waiting game right now. What is Space Cadet Putin doing and what will he do next? So it seems heartless to even have local, or personal, news to report in here. But I am still waiting for my induction day at my new job. My super duper job coach called today and sent me a voucher for my "interview expenses", £100.00 which I can spend at Old Supermarket chain. I'm over the moon. Grocery bill sorted for another few months. 😍

I also picked up a second permanent collection for Olio. It's a morning one 😕 but it's my nearest store and I am hoping they'll just let me swing past late in the evening to collect it.

Running out of options for protein so tonight I'm cooking the last of my roast joints, which has sat in the freezer far too long. After that I have salmon, sausages and veg sausages. I might need to actually shop for meat for once 😂

February saw me earn about £250 in surveys, and I ran out of enthusiasm after about two weeks, so that's fairly impressive. I'm going to be more selective on which ones I bother with, and the market research is far better-paying (about £130 this month for about 6 or 7 hours of work - 4 hours of actual meetings, and a few hours of applying for projects).

Moving furniture around this week and planning to do a mini spring clean. Fed up of not having proper bed and storage, so the carpet replacement is going on the backburner and I'm just going to get my storage unit emptied and my flat organised. It's also March, so it's time to think about starting to visit the beach. New horizons.