Improving my life during Summer 2010

Mags30

I've spent the last 2.5 hrs catching up with memorygirl and the MrBig challenge. Not much chance of getting any decluttering or study done when I'm spending all day on the internet but that thread is just so uplifting and inspiring. Makes me feel that anything is possible right now. Can't wait for the next instalment:)

Mags30

Retail Eyes (mystery shopping company) are making me:mad:. I've just cancelled a job I had booked for this morning because they won't stop hasseling me about the receipt for a job I did on Tuesday. The ink on the receipt is faint so when I scanned it, it wasn't very clear. I explained this and offered to post it but instead of responding to this sensible explanation they keep emailing me asking for a clearer copy of the receipt by email. I can't get a clearer copy, it's not my fault that the ink in the till was running low.

I know this is a separate issue to the job I just cancelled but every job I do for Retail Eyes seems to include problems with the proofreaders. It's just rising my anxiety levels. The pay is minimal too, it's more like a refund for test purchases, which would be ok sometimes if they weren't so annoying. The job I'm moaning about from Tuesday pays €10 and involved a test purchase of €7 so basically €3 profit.

So that's it I resign from Retail Eyes:T There are far better mystery shopping jobs out there with other companies.


Driving: My insurance disk finally arrived this morning, 3 weeks and numerous phone calls after I renewed and paid for it. :mad: On one of those calls after I gave the policy number I got told "that isn't one of our policies, did you mean to call company X instead?". Yet these same companies will never make mistakes with taking payments from customers.

See why I'm stressed?:D I'm going to use the time allocated to todays now cancelled mystery shop to go for a coffee and try to de-stress.

Study: Well I haven't done any but I've just ordered Memorygirls book about study techniques, speedreading and mind maps. Looking forward to that arriving next week. I did read a short Tony Buzan book about mind maps recently and it seems like a fantastic idea. All of memorygirls friends on her thread seem to be mind-mapping their life plans out so I'm looking forward to reading more. It's nice buying a book written by somebody you know too. Well I don't know her really, just from chatting on here!

Decluttering: 10 magazines went in the recycling this morning

Surveys: I've earned 32p on Crowdology and £1.30 on onepoll this week

Mags30

OK here's how you get a pair of Reebok Easytone trainers for €23.75. The RRP is €85 but an Irish sports shop chain that sells them has 25% off all footwear for the weekend reducing them to €63.75. I had a €40 one-for-all gift voucher obtained by writing reviews on whoseview in August so I used that and only had to pay the remaining Primark price of €23.75.

To justify this purchase I don't have hardly any shoes, I wear flip flops or Uggs most of the time and neither are suitable for walking around on cold wet winter days. The black Reebok Easytones are perfect for this.

Few problems though:p 1) They are for walking only, not running. (I don't do any running unless I'm late for a bus or my parking disc is about to expire) so if I was to take up going to the gym and running on a treadmill I'd need a different pair of trainers! The girl in the shop said they would be fine to wear for an aerobics type class.

2) I don't have any clothes to wear with them because I've never been a track suit/trainers kind of girl and I tend to wear skinny jeans or dresses. So they'll have to stay in the box until I find something appropiate and MSE priced to wear the with. But I will, that's kind of typical of my shopping style, I usually have the expensive shoes, my uggs are the real ones but I'll be wearing them with something that cost €5 on the bargain rail.

Memorygirls latest updates resemble a fairytale, somebody on here sent her very generous cheque:eek:I can't wait to read more later. So for anybody who's reading my ramblings about shopping I recommend Memorygirl's life-changing inspirational thread instead:D

Mags30

Study: The book that I haven't started yet that I need to get through by Oct 13th has 21 chapters. That's one a day Monday-Friday from next Monday onwards. I made a mind-map for the 21 chapters and I've written on it how many pages are in each chapter so I can avoid long ones on days when I'm busy.

Looks like I'll be on here at 7 every evening for Memorygirls MrBig updates:)

vasseur

I too am reading memorygirls thread. Actually she was the first one I subscribed to and really kicked my butt into getting organised. I haven't been on here every day like I used to and it's definitely having a negative effect. Really must get back into it.

You are doing really well too. I do enjoy reading your diary so keep up the good work. Well done for starting xmas shopping on such a high note.

Mags30

The early Christmas shopping wasn't planned, it just happened because I saw a bargain! Will probably be a long while before I get around to doing any more.

I'm having mystery shopping issuses again. I booked my first bank job but now I'm thinking of cancelling it because I'm not comfortable with the scenario I have to act out.

It requires pretending that I'm married, earn €75,000 and am interested in low risk investments. I would also need to know what my monthly outgoings are and dress professionally. I don't think I have the acting skills required to pull this off.

I earn less than half that, I don't look 30+ (even though I am), I don't have a wedding ring I can wear and I tend to wear skinny jeans, vintage t-shirts and converse, uggs or flip flops or dresses and boots. I know exactly what my real outgoings are but I'd need to modify them for the higher salary. Despite having a mortgage I'm not the sort of person who ever goes to the bank.

But the reason my resistance to this is really bothering me is because of Memorygirls challenge. She's aiming to come off benefits and earn £400,000. I don't feel comfortable with pretending that I earn far less than 1/4 of that amount. I feel that the staff in the bank wouldn't believe me.

There must be some psychological reason for this because I've had no problem enquiring about things for my non-existant children, pretending I have no clue about mobile phones, cameras and other mystery shopping scenarios but I don't think I can act as if I earn a lot. The Secret and lots of other books recommend that we act as if we have what we want. I want more money but I don't feel comfortable pretending that I have it.:(

Mags30

The negativity just seems to melt away when I read Memorygirl's thread and MrBig's challenge. Last time I was looking in the self-help section in the bookshop I was speculating as to who MrBig might be. Do I own any of his books? It's more idle curiosity than anything else. It doesn't matter who MrBig is.

The challenges he sets aren't anything new, they are versions of them in his books and every other self-help book out there. I own plenty of them but I've only ever dipped in and out of them, I concentrate on the bits that interst me and ignore the rest. This is different because you can't turn the page or move onto the next chapter.

The 15 minute time slots for getting things done are working great for me.

Mags30

Mr Big's Perfect week challenge: A week where the money hasn't run out 2 days before payday.

Spent the last hour watching a documentary about Jedward. You'd sort of expect them to have a huge entourage but there's only them, 2 other people and the bus driver. Felt sorry for their lovely tour manager. It sounds like a fabulous job but turns out it's an absolute nightmare (even though he was too nice to say it). Louis Walsh turns up every now and again in the middle of the madness and does a great job of pretending it's all normal. I :heart2:Jedward:rotfl:

Mags30

The challenges are making me realise that my time management is really bad. From other diaries it seems that people with children are way better at time management. I suppose they have to be but it's something I can work on.

To begin with I'm going to restrict mystery shopping to Thursday and Friday but I can be flexible with this if necessary. I've also decided to push out my comfort zone and do the "I earn a lot" bank jobs tomorrow. Mainly because I don't earn a lot and these jobs pay rather nicely.

Toxic friends: There's this girl I went to school with who keeps in touch with me. She thinks we're best of friends but we aren't really, to me she's just someone I have lunch with around once a month. The reason I don't like her much is that she's 30something yet chooses to live with her parents and get benefits (a very generous €196 a week in Ireland). She spends almost all of this money on clothes and it just tries my patience sometimes. She rang me to tell me about the €130 boots she bought today--me who has zero money until payday tomorrow. She doesn't know that of course. Yes I know I have a bit of a clothes habit too but I pay a lot of bills first.

Good Friends: Inspired by Memorygirl's MrBig I offered a self employed friend some help with his paperwork/emails, etc, (for free obviously) He's working really long hours to keep his business going in recession ravaged Ireland and deserves a little help and support.

Housework: The law of mess transference still applies. No sooner do I tidy one room than an equal and corresponding amount of clutter appears somewhere else.

Study: I've finally managed to get back to it:T and will hopefully be on target with 5 chapters done this week. These will be the 5 shortest chapters in the book but I'm ignoring that bit for now. When I have a bit of a routine going I'll work on the more difficult chapters. I'm mind mapping the notes too for the first time ever. I only know the basics about doing this so I can't wait for MG's book. I was hoping it would arrive today but it hasn't so tomorrow hopefully.

I got another Jodi Picoult book to read from a friend at work "Picture Perfect"--so happy with this because I loved the first one I read.

Mags30

Looking forward to watching the news today, with the controversy about the pope's visit to the UK and the drunk Irish Prime Minister! He definitely was drunk but I'm not quite sure why that was such a crime, even the Prime Minister is entitled to a night off. It's a PR disaster of course with the Irish having such a reputation for drinking:D At least it's entertaining and a change from hearing about banks and the economy all the time.