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.

Go West

I've spent so much of the past two days in tears. And I'm in a safe place. That's if anywhere is actually safe these days - there are no guarantees.

My family aren't in immediate danger but as we've learned things can change in a heartbeat. They have the same advice from me that I'm sure so many people have given to their loved ones in Ukraine: if you need to go, just go. Go west.

One Hour Of My Life

Gone. I want it back. And actually, it went over time. Seventy-five minutes of absolute information overload on Zoom, on how to use the government's careers site and the minutiae of do's and don'ts in an effective CV. Formatting, fonts, spacing, blah blah blah.

Can I just note that Ronald was concerned that he couldn't see himself in the chat room, Des couldn't figure out how to mute his microphone and Eric had his video switched on the entire time, so we got to watch him look utterly baffled for the entire hour, with his mouth open and staring at the screen? I do not think that anyone really learned anything from this information spewage, certainly not the ones who were technology-challenged.

I am most disappointed at not being invited to give feedback on the seminar.

Someone made this. I approve.

The two research sessions went well though and I quite enjoyed them. They were both one-on-one which is new to me, but both people were receptive and it wasn't taxing work. One of them was even for a company which I hate (and they knew it) but to his credit the researcher was still very pleasant and in the end he asked for my rating out of 7. I rated it a 6 without having to lie in any way. It was certainly much nicer than having to deal with that company in person.

It did remind me of that splendid Facebook exchange with Brendan though. Here it is, if you need a brilliant laugh.

Mystery Not-Shopping

New thing: mystery shopping tasks where I had to buy and then review each product for £1.50 plus the items would be reimbursed, so ok, why not. I've chosen not to state the app because overall, the experience was so mediocre that I just can't recommend it at this point.

Buy certain products, snap 1,000 pics, do so incognito and not look like a creep or stalker... erm ok. In the end I was only allowed to perform two tasks (booo) and the second one wasn't even sold at the store (booo). So I've come home with a tiny pot of custard and I have a part payment of £1.00 and am waiting for the other £1.50 and reimbursement for my custard. Very mediocre. I think I now see why these tasks aren't snapped up in seconds.

Life is a learning thing, isn't it? 😁 And I got out of the house for a while. I have several of these apps on my phone and am checking them every day, because occasionally the tasks look ok and pay over £5, they just need to be a bit more local before I'm willing to drive for them. There was one for £9 today but I was scared I'd not have the stamina to complete it.

News: successful at the Bargain Shop role. Induction is coming soon.

Research: banking interview paying £30 and train travel interview paying £45.

A Light Shower and a Breeze

Storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin have all hit us over the course of the past week. Verdict: One liberated electrical cupboard door, one neighbour with a piece of our scaffolding in his living room. Fortunately nobody was hurt, fortunately for us the scaffolding company is paying for the repair, and fortunately for the neighbour there's a roofer currently in the neighbourhood 😁 the same one which will be paying for our electrical door to be repaired, since it was them who left it ajar to be caught by the wind...

Honestly, I know Eunice was a 30-year storm and bigger than usual but every single time a storm comes along, people are surprised when trampolines fly across town, recycling bins go on a self-guided tour and outdoor chairs visit the neighbour's car windscreen. 

Went for my interview at Bargain Shop, I think it went well. Had an absolutely fantastic natter with the deputy manager (well over an hour) and we got along like a house on fire. I just have to hope that he wasn't put off too much by me being a manager-y type or being candid about why I left the last two roles. We shall see.

Collection from Big Sister Store this morning: Honestly, I should have known that morning collections suck, and I shouldn't have gone. I drove too far for three boxes of bakery. Having said that, it included my two fave pastries (my breakfast) and the absolutely delicious olive bread that I just had for lunch. Lesson learned overall, I won't be doing morning collections in future!

Flush

Not with money, but with food (which tbh doesn't sound great). But hey, if you find yourself in need of sixteen leeks and fourteen packs of spring onions, hit me up. Fortunately I also got some veggie sausages (the good ones), some pesto pasta, spiced potatoes and the usual bread-type glut. I bought milk, and have an ad-hoc morning pickup from Big Sister Store during the week, so I can probably skip the supermarket for another week. Frighteningly, I am running out of crisps and chocolate, last bought in bulk from Hell Supermarket in mid-December. This might be a cause of evening stress, since I'm now in the habit of munching something while watching Britbox in bed. Last night I tried taking grapes instead. I am not sure if it's an acceptable substitute though because I gave up on telly and went to sleep to catch up on a lack of zzzz.

Clown was running the shop last night (wtf), and has been running Big Sister Store (wtf) and was not at all surprised to hear that they have a hiring freeze because he is exhausted and now demands a case of beer for any favours 😂 He was earnestly telling me last night how he doesn't want to get a formal promotion, he prefers to be a standby so that he gets to call the shots on when he works. So, my message got through even if he thinks it was his idea 😂

He also says that some new manager named Softie is running Big Sister these days. Softie 😍 what a lovely man, he was the one who chose me over Annoying Face way back when, he one who said some people will progress and some won't, and then looked in AF's direction and rolled his eyes. The one who tried to get me to come out to work in the Nowheremäki store with him to help me progress, offering to be my mentor. So, if they would just end their hiring freeze I might reconsider my vow never to work at Big Sister Store.

Interview at Bargain Shop on Monday... annoying... hoping for a small contract if I really must go, to get Universal Credit off my back with their stupid meetings and extra coaches. 

Thank you, Benevolent Freecycle Lady.

Also! I am flush with Good Things™. A lovely Freecycler gave me two lamps, and I should have sorted one out ages ago, because lately I have sat by candlelight every evening with my Britbox. The candles smell divine but my allergies hate me. So, lamp is good. She also gave me a huge empty picture frame, which will be great for hiding my less-than-perfect walls.

Dinner: Salad of rocket, baby plum tomatoes, iceberg and mushrooms, plus roasted spiced potatoes. All free. I also had a small tin of tuna with some mayo and sriracha (not free... but since I can't remember how long they've been in my kitchen, let's call it free).

Unimpressed, now in plain font

I looked up the bargain shop in question once I got home, just to ignore the Shank's Pony suggestion from the other day, aiming to apply directly through the website. There on the front page was a declaration that employment applications are only accepted online. This is standard in 2022 so why that lady wanted me to print my CV and apply in person, I'll never know. I searched for the store in question and there were only two roles available. One is a senior management role (not the one she implored me to apply for) and the other is a fixed-term cashier role with a firm contract end date of Christmas Eve, last year. And they don't mean this year, because they even included that it's a Friday, which was 2021. I am trying to decide whether to apply. It allegedly closes in three weeks' time, so there is time to think.

Honestly I'm irritated as all hell but have no emotional energy to argue anymore. Mostly I'm pissed at all these things costing me petrol money and time away from doing actual paid work, like the £10/hour research work I did on Prolific Academic just before writing this post.

Now I've got myself into a Mood™.

Update: The super-duper job coach, isn't. Quelle surprise. She was very nice, but essentially just paid to read me their privacy statement and tell me about all the programmes in their portal thing. I'm to be contacted by yet another job coach type person, who will discuss some kind of programme to... honestly I can't remember what magical things this person will apparently do because I've received nothing but a wall of information about programmes lately, and my head is spinning. I don't have high hopes, particularly when it was noted that I probably wasn't in need of any assistance...

She did have a cool tool to tell me about which calculates how much better off I'll be in work. I plugged in my info and it has predicted that my Universal Credit payment will be £0.26 per week. (Where's my 26p? I want my missing cash.) It also told me that if I were successful at the role the 18yo had told me about, and taking my transport costs into account, I'd be effectively earning £2 an hour.

Unimpressed.

So I went along to a second appointment for Universal Credit, and to my utter annoyance she has booked me for a third next week. These are a pointless waste of time. She has also given me "feedback" on my CV which as far as I can ascertain involved changing the font from my standard Calibri to

some kind of shitty serif font thing
and destroying all the tidy formatting

She did absolutely nothing else. Is this some kind of moronic pretence that she's doing something constructive? Should I mention here that last week we had shared a laugh over people who hand in CVs written in the childish scrawl of Comic Sans, and wrecking my font is possibly the last thing I expected this human to do to mine?

There are so many Comic Sans memes,
I didn't even have to make one.
And I needed to caption this in the actual Comic Sans font
- but Blogger has more taste than to offer it -
forcing me to hand code it in for you,
so that you can enjoy it.
You're welcome.

I noted that my online account says my only obligations at present are to check my account regularly and update it if my work situation changes. She said she was going to change it, and reinstated my old obligations despite me noting that I would prefer not to have those obligations since they are not necessary. That got me nowhere.

She then announced that a local Bargain Shop representative was in "the other office on the next street" and that perhaps I'd like to go and chat with them. I walked up the hill in the pouring rain only to be told, no, the Bargain Shop rep is in the office I just came from, so back I went. I was so out of breath I could barely speak, wet, in jeans and a jumper, and expected to sit with the supermarket rep in a sort of interview. The shop did not have an email system by which to receive my CV, nor any means to receive it electronically in any way, and the lady told me I should print it and deliver it to the shop in person. I told her that I had been previously invited to her store to interview for a management position, but I am not really sure that info will help me anyway.

Before leaving, one of the office-worker randoms standing around the room stopped me and asked me if I'd like to speak with one of the specialised trainers who was also in the office. I asked what it was for and got a shit-ton of enthusiastic gobbledigook about the fabulous hints and tips they have for how to write your CV and look for jobs. She must have seen the look on my face as I told her that I also have a phone appointment this afternoon with a specialised job coach who, I think, is going to discuss my CV with me and tell me how to look for work. At that point she said it wasn't compulsory so I thanked her and left. I got the side eye from all the other office-worker randoms - I counted seven of them in the room plus six security guards. Considering there were only about 3 clients, I can't decide if there are frequent violent outbursts in here or if it's just another way for the Job Centre to waste money alongside with making me attend weekly pointless meetings. Maybe the violent outbursts have been caused by previous clients' CVs being converted to plain text.

Anyway, all these things I'm required to do, and in return for this my payment this month was £0.00.

The Quorn Meat Substitute Secret

Vast amounts of ketchup, sauce, gravy, mayonnaise, curry or any other strong seasoning. Basically anything that obliterates its original "flavour". You're welcome.

Yes, I am currently "enjoying" Quorn cocktail sausages for dinner. Honestly, before I armed myself with the barbecue sauce, there was more flavour in my plain, cold, leftover boiled potatoes than in these warmed-up sausagey... things.

For once, it was a really good collection. I listed more than 70 items for people to come and collect, but only got one person who wanted to come... it's honestly ridiculous when people are allegedly struggling for money. My neighbours took a few bits and pieces. I wish there was no stigma attached to accepting free food. This stuff would go in the bin anyway, people might as well.

Salad, mushrooms, croissants, Belgian buns, coleslaw, bread, peppers, new potatoes. Yes thanks. Not protein this week, but that's ok, I still have some in my freezer. There isn't really anything else I should need for at least a week, apart from milk. Feels good.

Got my last pay from Ugh-Supermarket and it was better than expected because clearly I had misjudged my owed holiday pay. This will keep me out of receiving any Universal Credit, which is good, since I'd rather not need it. I'm doing ok with the surveys, just have the occasional dose of the I-don't-wannas, which I knew would happen.

British Gas sent me an estimated bill which hurt, and I stupidly looked at my electric meter and did the maths. I wanted to see whether it's in my interests to correct them. Safe to say, it is not. BG say I'm on this tarriff until July, and since I would clearly owe them a substantial amount of moolah, I shall say nothing and continue to pay their estimates until the end of June. I'm currently using more than their estimate, but when it's warmer I expect to use less than their estimate. Touch wood I will catch up before the next price rise.

Way Overdue: Survey Master List Update

I realised how out-of-date my Survey Master List was, so I've just spent some time updating it. You can see it in all its goodness here with info on how you can cash out, which ones offer PayPal, and which ones are the best paying. Since I am now spending half my days on doing surveys at home for cash, and coming close to supporting myself this way, you'd think I would have sorted that out a bit sooner 😁 but hey ho better late than never. Also, I discovered one that I'd forgotten about. Yay?

There are a couple of other bits and pieces I'm trying out too in my quest to monetise my side hustle (I think that's what the young folk call it these days) including a couple of phone apps that offer mystery shopping opportunities. So far I've been offered for browsing a technology shop, going to a car wash and photographing chocolate displays at a supermarket. Unfortunately none of them are (yet) a great fit for me in terms of locality but I'm trying to be patient for some closer to home.

Universal Credit appointment was terribly routine, she's a nice lady and didn't expect any miracles, so there's that. She has offered me job coaching help, which is ridiculous but which I said yes to because otherwise I look uncooperative. She has also noted that the job coach will help "fix" my CV, kind words from someone who hasn't seen it, but hey. I can nod through his advice then mentally shelve it.

Another Rubbish Collection

It sounds there like I'm a bin man (or a bin woman?) but no, I mean my regular Olio collection, which was mostly bread and herbs. I knew nobody would travel for this stuff. Surprise, not a single request. Positive: potato salad is lovely. I really wish I could get a pickup closer to home! But people aren't stupid and they rarely give their collection slots up. I did a one-off at sister store and it was just as bad. Sigh.

Walk: I went down the first level of the cliff path. My leg muscles certainly felt it. I still came home feeling exhausted, but I wasn't shaky. I am hoping to manage two levels next time, although the second one will be a steeper climb back up.

Money: I am, in theory, earning enough from surveys to cover bills, although the payouts are often slow to show up or sat in systems under the withdrawal threshold. I continue to sign up for traditional market research, since those pay more promptly. Caveat: the only way that you can earn enough to survive on surveys is to work long hours and spend money on absolutely nothing non-essential 😂 it doesn't bother me for the moment since I wouldn't be buying clothes, makeup or takeaways anyway... but the strict spending ban and the lack of ability to relax is going to get very boring, very quickly!

Tomorrow: £25 Zoom interview about... microworking. Oh the irony.