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).