Can Edinburgher be debt free and a mortgage holder by 30?

edinburgher

'School' was fine after a momentary panic when I discovered that for some bizarre reason the teaching rooms were hotter than the kitchens... It's hard to look like a cool chef when you're hot and sweaty after getting lost in the maze of buildings

The class itself was fine - an interesting bunch with a cool young chef to train us all up. The first fortnight is based in the classroom before we go into the kitchen (we need to pass hygiene certificates etc.)

I'm excited, although a little daunted that 75% of the class already works as chefs and just want the paperwork to try and progress up the ladder. I'm sure I can learn a lot, however, so I'll try and be as friendly as I can

Less than pleased about the £200+ I'll need to spend on equipment:

Books £45
Chef's jacket, trousers, apron, skull cap and safety shoes £85
Knives ~£75-100 (I want to get a decent midrange set that will last a good few years....)

Managed to withdraw £45 from Dooyoo for the books, but the other stuff is going to be tricky to pay for..

Little_Maya

Glad it kinda went well :rotfl: Ouch on the equipment bill, still it'll be money well spent. Any way you could get some contribution from family & friends as "early Xmas presents"?

Oh and I completely volunteer as a taster to try out your dishes, you're not far from me lol (well Blackwall tunnel permiting of course :rotfl: )

edinburgher

Oh and I completely volunteer as a taster to try out your dishes

Not too sure how much food will be left after my GF and me tear into the stuff I bring home from classes, but will keep the offer in mind!

Knives ended up costing £118 - eep :eek:

edinburgher

Raided my savings again, withdrew some money from my free scratchies and sold a couple of vouchers on eBay - that's almost £110 to pay off the cost of my knives Now that I've trashed my Dooyoo account, too, I suspect it'll be a somewhat austere Christmas

edinburgher

A bright and early start today, despite the fact that I think there's fog between my ears at the moment

Paid in a cheque that arrived from Virgin Bingo (free scratchies, they need to send cheques as my prepaid credit card is difficult when it comes to refunds!)

Also ordered my knives (£118.08). A little annoyed that they're out of stock on the one day that I decide to order, but they should have them back in stock for next Monday. I need them for next Saturday, so fingers x'ed.

Currently waiting for my Dooyoo vouchers to arrive so that I can buy my course books. They should also arrive by Monday, but I'm not quite so confident of that. As well as the massive delays in adding suggestions to Dooyoo these days (I received an e-mail saying that they were now prioritising them and there are no assurances being made about timescales for adding suggestions etc.), I can't help but feel that the site is either troubled, or is at least taking stock of how it runs itself...

I've always tried to write decent reviews on topics that might appeal, but it's not worth my time writing 1200-2000 words if I then have to sit on them for several weeks before posting. So, that seems to be the end of that party for the moment Think that I'll be resting up for a while until they clear my 'backlog'.

Cross-posting more stuff to Ciao these days and am liking the fact that you can add your own photos, as this adds another dimension to things. That said, Ciao pays buttons and I've made £13? now...

As daily clicks are time consuming and the review sites are dying off a litle, it looks very much as if the recession is putting paid to my free sources of income. Now I'm down to the scratchies and surveys (and they were never rewarding) :eek:

My first (early) new year's resolution will be to stick to my budget and make better use of what I earn in the real world...

edinburgher

And there was me being mean to Dooyoo (voucher just turned up after less than three working days!) I have ordered my textbooks - off to buy my whites in an hour

Little_Maya

Well at least that's the knives sorted (well nearly lol). Well boo to doyoo then . I can thoroughly recommend bingoport for amazon vouchers, it's a free bingo thing, you get points for registering and for a certain amount of posts each day, you play them on bingo or slots (slots sure way to lose everything fast lol) and you win more points, once you got 8000 you can redeem for a £5 amazon voucher. I get 1 to 2 voucher a week that way cos I play when the guaranteed big pots are on in the evening (7 to 11pm) so you might want to look into it. Oh and you can auto play up to 5 games, that's about 25 minutes, no need to be glued to the game all that time lol

Little_Maya

oooops didn't see you last post... not so boo to dooyoo lol

edinburgher

Little_Maya wrote: »

oooops didn't see you last post... not so boo to dooyoo lol

Nah - still boo to the time it's taking to add suggestions.

Ciao seem to be a lot faster when it comes to adding suggestions - shame their site is so cumbersome in general. It appears to be the end of their month, as I managed to bag some money from their Premium Fund? £8 seems ok for my share of £2000 :T Have withdrawn the £13.58 I had sitting in my account, as every little helps.

I didn't have much fun buying my chef's garb last night, as the shop I went to was very traditional (no help unless you went to the counter, a general lack of humour). I did get everything I needed in the end though and my GF assured me I looked 'adorable' :rotfl:

£20 cheaper than expected (which was given back to the GF who'd lent it to me - what are these healthy savings of which you speak? etc.)) So, £35 better off than I was yesterday morning.

Onwards and upwards!

Have done my free scratchies for the day (10p seems to be the norm these days) and will try to cross post a couple of my more recent reviews from Dooyoo to Ciao at some point.

Other than that, housework to do this afternoon, studying for my hygiene certificate test at chef school tomorrow and getting an early night as I need to be up at 6am.

Little_Maya

ah well if you look "adorable" I'm sure it was worth it :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: