2010: New Year, New Flat, New Plan.........

ehallett

Well, I tried but I cracked today and got some shopping. I have realised that I just can't compromise when it comes to food. My health and weight are too important.

I basically try and eat something cooked for breakfast (bacon sarnie, sausage sarnie, full English etc), a microwave meal for lunch (will probably change to something more exciting when I am off work as I won't be limited by the microwave!!) and a full dinner. I also eat lots of chocolate, cakes, crisps etc inbetween. I have already eaten around 25-30 Easter eggs .

When I went into hospital last October for that stomach bug, I weighed my lowest ever of 6st 13lbs. I was extremely gaunt and my team at the hospital said they could physically see that I had lost over half a stone just by looking at me!

Due to my new eating regime, and making sure that I had money for all of the extra food, I now weigh 8st 1lb! I can't believe that I have put on over a stone in the space of 5 months. I am just so pleased with myself. People with CF find it very hard to put weight on (and keep it on) but it is also very important to weigh as much as possible so that we can fight infection when we get ill. I also come from a very thin family (my sister weighs 7st 4lbs and she has had 2 children!!) so I think I find it twice as difficult.

Therefore, stuff the debts!! I am going to use my whole shopping budget and try not to shave money off of it to pay my debts quicker. If I ever try to do anything like this again, please can everyone tell me to shut up and get myself some chocolate!!

Emily xx
:EasterBun

beanielou

Excellenty hun.
Pleased to hear it
Lucky you being able to eat all those eggs.
How long to go now?
Take care x

ehallett

beanielou wrote: »

Excellenty hun.
Pleased to hear it
Lucky you being able to eat all those eggs.
How long to go now?
Take care x

Thanks Lou. Only 2.5 days to go :j:j

Emily xx

beanielou

Not long then xx

ehallett

Hi everyone

Thought it was time for an update.

Well, I have been self-employed for the past 3 days and it has quickly become clear that mystery shopping is not worth enough to keep me going. I had 5 jobs yesterday which earnt me £25 in fees and a few freebies. By the time I have gone to the shops and used the petrol for the trips, this will probably come down to £20ish. I spent all afternoon and most of the evening doing these visits and reports (one was a cinema visit so took ALL evening). I therefore only got 30 questions done in the morning.

I am therefore going to knock the mystery shopping on the head and see how that works out. Obviously my questions can be done anywhere, at anytime and I can also do other things at the same time, like Bingoport, surveys etc.

So, £60 a day from today is £1,620. From the mystery shops and some other stuff I have already done, I have a further £88.50 coming my way over this month. This type of thing is going to be for my 'days off'. I need at least 2 days off this month, for my mum's birthday and my birthday.

When I left work, they got me a £20 Argos voucher, a photo frame and a candle holder for my flat. I was going to save the Argos vouchers for my niece's birthday present. However, I bought them the other day from Tesco as they were on 3 for 2 . So the Argos voucher is going to go on eBay tonight and that is going to go towards my 'days off' fund.

So I am doing a new routine of 'question, competition, question, competiton and on and on'. I am hoping this will also get the prizes rolling in and this money can go towards my debts as my question money will be paying my bills and DMP. I will see how that goes for a while. It's all trial and error I suppose but I am determined to make this work as the thought of NOT having to drag myself into work on Tuesday is wonderful .

I also feel like setting myself some goals for 2010 as it feels like this could be the start of a new era for me.



My goals are:

1. Get my debt down to £15,000. My debt started at £33,000 and I have paid off just over £1,000 of this already. My DMP payments over the next 9 months are £6,183 so only around £11,000 to find - piece of cake!! :rotfl:.
2. Still be self-employed by the end of the year.
3. Get my passport and go on a much needed holiday.
4. Get my weight up to 9st (currently 8st 3lbs).

I may add some more to that list as the year goes on but if I can achieve all of them in 2010, it will be a great year.

Happy Easter everyone :easter_os

Emily xx

beanielou

Happy Easter to you too hun x

postingalwaysposting

Hi emily, so good to see that you are happy with your choice. One thing though I guess you are 'working' on AQA Mon-Fri? If so can you still do mystery shopping but as/when/what you want to do? ie if you see a M/S for something you want why not do it if you have already done all your AQA? It will also get you out of the house in the evenings or whatever...

Don't close the door just yet

Happy Easter

ehallett

postingalwaysposting wrote: »

Hi emily, so good to see that you are happy with your choice. One thing though I guess you are 'working' on AQA Mon-Fri? If so can you still do mystery shopping but as/when/what you want to do? ie if you see a M/S for something you want why not do it if you have already done all your AQA? It will also get you out of the house in the evenings or whatever...

Don't close the door just yet

Happy Easter

Thanks Pap. I will still be able to accept any mystery shops that I want to do myself, like the cinema one yesterday (which was basically a free night out as I got 1 ticket reimbursed and used my cinema card for the other ). However, doing them just to make money isn't working as it costs petrol to get to them and too much time to do them and the report.

Emily xx

ehallett

Evening all

I feel like today was my first proper day of being self-employed, and it was great!!

I wasn't lazy and got up at 8am, made my breakfast and sat doing some work in my 'office' (my dining room table which is in a corner just off the lounge) whilst eating it. So good to be earning money whilst sat in my pyjamas!!

I did a couple of hours work and then saw my niece for a bit, then went and worked round my mum's this afternoon. Whilst working on AQA, I have been playing Bingoport and managed to win a tourney on there at lunch so I have just over 7k in points. Now that mystery shopping is taking a back seat, I have scrapped the sat nav idea and will sell any Amazon vouchers I get from BP on Ebay. Speaking of which, my Argos voucher has got £10.50 already and it doesn't finish until Sunday.

To top it all off, I had a text this afternoon saying I have won 1,000 Tesco Clubcard points :T. My Xmas fund on there is now nearly £30.

Tonight I have to finish off 2 surveys (getting paid £25 for completing 4 surveys ) and enter some competitions.

Emily xx

beanielou

Sounds good