Reality

I think of myself as someone who doesn't really get stressed easily. And then I realised that it's not typical of me to be looking in my bank account every day to see what has gone in and come out. Normally I trust that I've set things up for the week ahead and don't need to think about it until next pay day. Ponderous. I'm not sure if it's submerged stress or merely knowing that my usual strict money management is currently slightly chaotic. 😁

But in any case, I do a lot of "it'll be fine because X payment is coming in on Y date" these days. I can't wait for my income to become regular again later in the month. Having irregular income is annoying, to say the least, and makes it hard to plan anything, like for example when I can go and buy my new bra (currently delaying this, because [1] pram expeditions so far away are un-fun; and [2] my MOT is due in a months' time and again falls right in the holiday season, meaning I have to find the money to organise it very soon). Related: I'm currently doing Prolific surveys for pocket money. 😉

Job #2 has again given me a £20 tax refund. It's weird indeed, but I certainly won't say no to it. I also got a notification that Poison-Ivy credit card was going to go over limit when the interest charge goes on in the next few days (can I just note, incidentally, that these notifications are outstanding, despite the shitty high interest rate on that account, and means that despite the fact this card has eye-watering costs, makes me think the lender is at least not a complete tosser?). This heads-up gave me the chance to put some money onto the card to prevent an over-limit fee. I'm grateful for that. 🙏

I started another mindless game for InboxPounds which promises quite a high payout and so far doesn't involve any kind of skill or attention to the game, which in my mind makes the perfect "get paid to play" activity.

Mini-spend: I managed to buy four Christmas gifts for a total out-of-pocket of less than £3, thanks to existing Amazon credit and the fact that I'm on a trial of Prime. Right now I'm deciding whether to keep Prime once the trial is over. I haven't used Prime Video at all, but that would be a potential perk. Mostly I've been eyeing whether the site in general becomes more useful once postage is free. eBay is definitely cheaper, but post can be slow and the items can be hit and miss. We'll see.