Tickety Tockety

Ho hum. I am waiting for my new debit card to arrive, so that I can start spending (what - no - it's an account where you have to make enough separate transactions each month to get a £5 bonus - so I'll use it on very inexpensive things like single bananas and 19p cans of spaghetti hoops).

I have cut the last of the lettuce and whacked the plants down to the dirt. No ripe blackberries at all - the week of heat must have hurt them, but plenty of red ones, so perhaps next week. I also got fed up of looking at my pile of tinned vegies and lamented the fact that I really don't get enough of my five-a-day, so last night I made a hamburger (last beef patty on the last of my freebie tiger bread) and had a bowl of mixed vegetables, mushrooms and kidney beans, all from Food Club.

I've been for my Covid jab and touch wood, no problems. As a reward for having driven that far and enduring the stabbity, I treated myself to a takeaway lunch. I then unexpectedly got given a free cake afterwards. Which came home and is now sat in my kitchen for another time.

Paid: £5 from Prolific, £3 from Pinecone.

Folly

So today I needed to go and get two new tyres fitted... a slight stress-moment in the car park at home as I felt and heard that familiar "one brake is locked!" situation, that growly, gravel-popping, dragging sound as one tyre fails to spin. And this time after only six days undriven! Suffice to say I was very relieved when it released as I did my three-point turn. Being "good", I went to Food Club to make use of the trip, then popped into work, where I returned about £25 of wool that I absolutely do not need, and came out with £26 worth of stuff I do need, so I was very pleased with that one-pound purchase. (Had a lovely natter with Good Boss while I was there, too, so that's a bonus.)

Then I decided to "just buy milk and cheese" from the supermarket and unfortunately it's next to Rival Bargain Shop, which I knew had the child-sized hangers I need. There goes £15, thanks to the silly mistake of Just Having A Look Around. And did I stick to the two grocery items in the supermarket? No I did not. Another £25 spent. So all up, I spent £46. I never learn! At least a couple of items were yellow-stickered. Points for that.

I sliced up my first tomato yesterday and had it on a cheese toastie - it was beyond delicious. (Even so, I grew so few and they arrived so late in the season, I don't think I will plant any next year. Not enough sun in the back garden.)

Paid: £10 from PureProfile

Supper: tomato soup with crusty tiger bread from Food Club 😋

Shocker, Joe Cocker

I've been waiting for an easy/simple switching offer for another bank, to get the bonus, so today I opened a "throwaway" current account with an existing bank, to use for switching. The best switch bonus right now is from Lloyds, it's a £175 offer, but would cost me £3 a month (because I don't earn their minimum deposit requirement) so I'm still toying on whether I will then switch to them, or hold fire and wait for a better switch offer.

Lunch: a packet of cheap pre-cooked Peri Peri rice with some chicken thrown in (and I ate a handful of green beans while it was cooking). It was nice, it was fast, it made two portions, and I'll buy it again.

This evening I listened to The Martin Lewis podcast, which was quite interesting, and I might listen again next week if I remember. I'm always game to learn new money tips.

Booked in: two new tyres, and the other two will happen asap. In the meantime I'm driving as little as I can and making double duty of journeys - look at me adulting with my fuel spending! (Funny how "needing to watch your pennies" will do that for you. 😉) I will pop into Food Club after the tyres are fitted and also visit the supermarket for a few bits and pieces, and touch wood I can burn through some of the food already in my kitchen. I always seem to buy "easy" food instead of cooking from scratch with what I have!

Yet Another Day Has Passed

...and I have not miraculously ended up rich at the end. I have started playing a new game, which I'm quite enjoying, but I can see it's going to take AGES to reach the payout levels.

I have picked two tomatoes (plus a small one which had just fallen off the plant) and they are ripening inside. I also picked two "snack peppers", one looks snackable and one just looks sad. There's also a bit more lettuce, which of course has to be shared with the snails 😑 and is becoming more bitter as the days go on. I might hack it all back next week and call that the end.

I did manage to move some stuff around, the goal is to extricate my sofa from its trapped existence and get it towards the door, where I can fix the legs and then give it away. The flat has been rabbit warren-ish for a while, too many things and not enough space, so this monster item is going. Realistically my flat is plenty big enough, I just need to be more selective with "things". Otherwise, the amount of stuff will expand to fill the space available! 😁

£5 out from Prolific, £5 from Opinion Outpost.

Pro tip: remember that you left boxes all over your bed before bedtime.

Plodding is the Word

Today I've done a bit of financial housekeeping on my spreadsheet, and although there's a terrifying amount of total debt, I was pleased today to see one card fall out of the "red" zone and into the white, that is, under 90% of usage. Sounds awful overall, but I'm pleased with the small step, it's going in the right direction. The bad part is that two cards are coming to the end of their 0% interest deals soon, so we'll just have to see how things go after that.

Spent only £2.50 at Food Club today which I think is a first (I really just needed toilet roll, so I made sure to get milk, snacks and pastries as a reward for making the trip).

Spent a nice evening this week with the neighbours, out in the garden.😊

Cashed out: £5 from Opinion Outpost, £12 from Prolific, £5 from TopCashBack.

Good: Car service done for less expense than expected. I now have a shiny happy car.

Bad: Car needs four tyres. 😭 And looking at the quote for them, I don't really have the funds. It looks as though I'll do the worst two (so that it's at least driveable) and then do the others as soon as I can. So much fun. What did I say about my spreadsheet? Back to the red it is.

Doing Something For...

In an effort not to be completely rudderless, and because the nesting instinct has kicked in, each day I'm attempting to do something for myself, something for the house, something for baby and something for money. Right now my bedsheets are in the washer and I'm reminded all over again how glad I am to have a washing machine. The "something for myself" will hopefully be me doing some more kitchen tidying and preparing a meal or three. Money, well, I have optimistically opened my top-priority folder, which contains my top 10 survey & offer websites to earn cash from (I usually run out of steam half-way, but it's something). For baby, I haven't decided yet, maybe look at more baby names and shake my head a hundred times!

I stupidly went to the Big Supermarket yesterday and spent £25. Well, I had a £5 voucher, but anyway. I need to reign this in, she says, while slurping on her fizzy drink. I bought some peanuts and crisps as there's going to be a Garden Soirée during the week with Owner #8, neighbour #2a and new neighbour #3, and one must have snacks... on the other hand, I will be chilling some assorted useless alcohol from my cupboard and gifting it to anyone who wants it. I also gave my car a fancy car wash this week, which was a waste of time, as it didn't get rid of everything anyway. And then the birds had a huge laugh at me and messed it all up again. This week, before the service, I'm going to do a cheap wash (maybe two cheap washes) then park it on the street away from the trees!

Good: I sorted my cupboards a bit and discovered weight loss shakes I'd forgotten about. Obviously I can't go on a diet right now, but I can sure mix a half scoop into a milkshake and use it up bit by bit. I made a large, lovely decaf coffee, toffee & vanilla concoction, drank it and promptly fell asleep...

Watching: documentaries on Netflix and YouTube. Some of them are cool stuff, some are "How could this have happened to people?" - type. One was a movie I cried through because some people are just such kind souls. 💗 It's called The Bank of Dave and I recommend it.

Off to play the silly bingo game for a bit longer!

Melancholia

I'm not sure why. I finished at main job and this really odd feeling of sad washed over me, when I had expected to feel relief. I haven't completely ruled out returning, but as all the various systems stand right now, I'd be earning £2 an hour at best and that just isn't worth the effort. So it was anticlimactic, to say the least.

Today I've cleaned the toilet, washed up some dishes, cooked my lunch, and cut some lettuce. All things that I certainly had time for even around my work, but often got neglected. I've also done a few surveys and played the crap online phone game (which has gone pending for another five pounds). All while procrastinating about going to second job tonight 😁

The idiot agency which DilEmma was working for has blocked my email address, they've locked our communal electrical door, and even one of the other owners trying to contact them has been fobbed off for five days. The poor lady upstairs has a key meter and can't add credit to her meter. I've advised all owners to stop paying them any money. Maybe they'll deign to contact us when they realise we're not paying them. We still have 2½ months before the new agency can take over. Counting down the days.

One nice thing is that it's pleasant to have the freedom to do whatever I like and to think: yeah tomorrow I might wander down to the supermarket and buy bananas. Because I can, and there is no time constraint on what time I need to be anywhere else. And I can walk along the beach if I want to.

Financialling: I've reasoned that Main Bank, looking at my transactions, sees not much else apart from constant credit card repayments. It's no wonder they never approve me for extending my loan or restoring my decent CC limit, since it looks like credit is my entire life. So anyway, I've now moved the two most expensive CCs over to direct debit my other bank and have set up a regular cash transfer over to that account of £70 per week. Hopefully once I kill the most expensive debt I can move other cards over too and start to make my main current account look more tidy.

Planning to take one last bump pic in the full-length mirror at Job #2 this week. 😊

And The Beat Goes On

(La-di-dah-di-dah.)

Big Boss agreed to sign off my completed supervisor training. Only the system's glitched - great, another email tug-o-war with stupid tech support. Sigh. It seems like second job hasn't got a replacement for me yet, so it'll just be a case of handing the keys to the temp cover.

Car is booked in for a service - free, but I'll have to pay a bit for the bits and pieces it needs, like wipers, globes and the handbrake adjustment it really should get.

Still playing the hateful boring bingo game, mostly because they've credited me for the first tier (five pence! woo!) so there's every reason to hope they'll pay the serious money if I continue to level up. 

Got another supermarket voucher for £5, this one an old signup, happy with that 😊

Mixed Newses

I went for my growth scan at the hospital - all looks good with baby and she is an ok size, small but no panic just yet. They estimate she now weighs about 1kg. 😊 I had a meeting with the consultant afterwards, and he is not concerned about her placement just yet (breech). He told me to do lots of walking and we'll see if we need to shove her around later on.

He also listened to me, really listened, about the previous doc railroading towards very large amounts of medical intervention. He said that I have to consider my own health and recovery as well (bingo!). Right now the plan is to try to get things started at 38 weeks and I'm reasonably happy with that. We just have to hope that baby cooperates.

Boss of #2 job did my risk assessment and was very kind, also scolding me for not telling him during my interview 😂 I mean, his heart's in the right place but the reality is, not all managers are fair like he is and they still often discriminate (they just don't say it out loud - you merely don't get the job and don't get told why). He might have a permanent replacement and if this person is a go, I'll have them on-site with me for my last two days. I hope so, because I'd like to show them how to set themselves up for a relaxing role. 😁

I'm giving myself a time-out from surveys for a few days in the hope that a rest period will make me more enthused once I need to actually earn enough from them. I will drop in income next month and further drop in the two months following that (thank you, Universal Credit, for your "poverty month" of waiting five weeks for first payment). So right now I'm not putting any leftover cash onto credit card debt - I am paying the minimums and building up a bit of survival cash so that I can ensure essential bills are paid on time. Despite the survival cash plan, I'll still have to earn a fair chunk myself to keep afloat. There's already £30 in my PayPal to start with, from various games and surveys.

Plus point: less driving will save me money. 👍