Finally I have a mortgage I can start to pay off!

themadvix

Hmmm, that does sound strange!!

themadvix

Have just got back from my regular Olio collection (was covering for a friend yesterday). 97 items today… I’ve sorted them but having a cuppa before listing. The waste makes me so cross!! And problem is, people can only make use of so much bread! (My efforts to recruit some Olioers don’t seem to have achieved much - too much of a connotation that it’s charity, despite being really clear that it’s not!)

At least my mum and sister are on board - and will help me with my allocation today. I’m allowed to keep 9 items (10%) of what I collected… but there’s only so much bread and pastries we can eat (see my post on Cheery’s diary apropos weight gain!🙄).

 In other news, I have some work to do, another eBay sale to post (for a £10 item 😊), housework to do and then I’m going to get down to ironing and stitching bunting with my new iron. DH is in the office today, which means I don’t have to worry about noise! 😊

MS things:
* eBay sale
 * PA surveys - quite a few little ones yesterday
 * 2x YG survey
 * won some free spins on my clicks yesterday that converted into about 60p 😊 

Gratitudes:
* steady trickle of eBay sales is surely clearing cupboard
* walk to the park with sis and Niece yesterday 😊 
* Chard in my diver from the garden last night, and there’s french beans, tomatoes and a courgette coming on! (Plus raspberries, so many raspberries!)

 have a good day all!

Cheery_Daff

Ooh, well done on the ebaying! 

What happens to the Olio stuff you're not allowed to keep? I agree it all seems such a shame to waste it. I guess there's a fear of not making enough and customers getting cross 🙄

themadvix

Thanks Cheery!

So I can keep 10% of the stuff collected. I have to list all the rest, which people can request and come and collect. At the end of the day the listings expire (definitely if it's an evening collection and they are Use By items, probably if they are BB items as there's a limit to what people will want). I (and other people near me) take them to the town's homeless shelter where they are gratefully received, however, there's no way of knowing if all of it is used (probably, but...). Olio has a hierarchy of how to get rid of leftovers not requested through the app - distributing to neighbours and charities, down to giving to a farm or composting. If you distribute to neighbours etc. then you should encourage them to use the app (Ultimately Tesco are paying Olio to remove their waste, so Olio want to have a trail to show how effective this is and that it's not ending up in landfill.).

Cheery_Daff

Interesting! It sounds far better organised than I'd imagined! We didn't have it here last time I looked (and quite frankly if a lot of it's pastry I'm better off avoiding right now 😮)

themadvix

It is quite organised, but yes, lots of pastries... although I feel I'm now getting the point of saturation (is that possible?!) and enjoying the crumbs from the collection bag is almost enough! 😂 Should I not admit to that in public?!)

themadvix

Morning all,

I got the ironing of the old fabrics done yesterday - new iron is amazing compared to Tesco value jobby! This means stuff is taking up less room in the cupboard and also means I'll be able to get on with stitching even if it's a hot day (the thought of ironing heavy linens in the heat does not appeal!). Not sure whether I'll do any more of that today as I may go and paint a couple of fence panels (had I mentioned we're painting the fence? It's going from dilapidated dark brown to a willow green and looks great). May also pop to zero-waste shop for a top-up of a few bits.


Most of the bread did eventually go, including to two newbies who I've recruited! Nothing exciting, just the neighbour and BIL, but hopefully they'll get the hang of it now. And another newbie messaged at 21.50 (my collection times were 9-9 and I was about to take the listing down) and then didn't reply till 22.30. I wasn't overly impressed as we were about to take the stuff to the homeless shelter. Fortunately we took them, left what she'd requested and she did come and collect about 22.40 (by which time I was in bed). Hopefully next time she'll have got the idea a bit better.

MS things:
* Spinach from garden with our dinner (also using up veg box bits)
* Used up 3 brown bananas in a banana loaf (and some mistakenly bought sugar-free chocolate - eurgh!).
* Kept two loaves and a couple of pastries (in freezer) from collection. Am stashing pastries slowly to make this for when we have people round
* Clicks done
* Ebay parcel posted
* Beans and raspberries picked from garden (red currants need picking...)
* Paid my evening class dues for September, which freed up ~£40, so transferred £30 to various savings pots and the leftovers will go off the mortgage once second Ebay payment arrives.
* Comps entered

Gratitudes:
* Raspberry snacking
* New iron! (Never thought I'd say that!) 
* Family quiz night last night - first we've been to in a while so it was good fun (and we won!)

Have a good day all!

Kittenkirst

Wow Madvix you get so much done; I’m in awe of all that you get accomplished.

Ive completed all the Olio training to become a food waste hero; Planning to have a go when we’ve moved so i have more room to store it whilst awaiting pick-ups. How much time do you think you spend on picking it up, listing and then sorting the item out?

Also, thanks for the recipe for the croissants and the lettuce, pea & mint soup- we got loads of lettuce from Olio two weeks ago that’s still good but I can’t face anymore salads Going to try making that at lunch as I’m sure we’ve got some frozen peas in! 

themadvix

Remember KK, I don't have a full-time job at the moment (or even much of a part-time one currently!). That makes a big difference I think. And my work is project based, rather than time based, so once it's done, it's done, rather than me having to spend a specific amount of time on it. Lots of my list is also very quick to do! But my day does feel like it's filled with bitty-bits all the time, which isn't ideal.

I'm afraid to admit that the unasked for lettuce has just made its way to the compost heap - never did get to make the soup. We do still have the end of a bought one in the fridge though, so may yet make it (I did put a few of the wiltier leaves of this one in my stir fry on Tuesday - it worked fine!)

Well done for completing the training! It depends on whether it's a morning collection (mostly bread) or evening one (everything) as to how much time it takes (and the size of the collection can vary hugely too). Evening ones, collect about 8pm (Olio says 8.30, but the store I do it for wants you there 8/8.15), and that's pretty much the evening gone* (until late too as people have to collect by midnight). Morning ones** are more variable, if it's small then an hour/hour and a half maybe, totalled up - there's the collection, the sorting, the listing (copy and paste is your friend, esp for bread items - evening collections are more varied and take longer to list) and then the compiling/putting out of people's orders. Yesterday's was bigger and definitely took up a bit more time, but I also felt like I was faffing quite a bit (not enough work!), so probably would have taken less time if I'd got my act together!

* This is my experience with a full-size store. If it was an Express, it might well be quicker.
** My regular morning one is an Express

Hope that helps!

Karmacat

Wow,  I'm glad KK asked that question, I'd no idea there was that much involved.  Good for you.