Batten down the hatches.....

Orange_Ena

ChicaBonita wrote: »

Hi Ena, just popping in to say you're still doing really well, I look at your totals for money made and I'm in awe! Need to step up my game!

As for the big life decisions, you seem to have been unhappy in your job for a while, and that is such a crushing thing (to some extent I feel the same way, so can empathise). I think you need to think about what's good for you at this moment in time, and all roads seem to lead to your hometown. Think about exactly what's stopping you from making the jump? Everything that's worth having is difficult, as they say I hope seeing the GP is beneficial for you!
(I hope I don't sound patronising! :eek:)

Ah thanks CB. I keep saying it but little bits do add up. I was telling family over the weekend that they might save £5pm on one bill, which might not seem worth the effort, but they could do that with 10 bills and before they know it that's £50pm saved or £600 a year. :T

Not patronising at all, thank you for posting. I'm so miserable in my job that I've started getting a bit snappy. I don't want to be that person but I'm frustrated with it all. Definitely need to get out. I've thought about nothing else for the last 2 days but you're right, it all leads to my hometown. I haven't told anyone yet as I don't want to be swayed but I do feel warm and fuzzy when I think about moving back. Just got a lot of things to sort out first.

Thanks again

Orange_Ena

BettyBones wrote: »

Awww.... Ena... come and live by the sea with me. I too hate flies (more than you could ever know) and I'm not averse to the odd little trip to Tesc0 on a Saturday for sweeties either I'm sorry to hear that you've been struggling lately but making an appointment with your GP is a good move. Definitely better to get on top of it now and not let these feelings fester. Maybe spend some time visiting some seaside places too. It doesn't hurt to window shop. Are you close enough to the sea to be able to go exploring for the day on a weekend? Although I live by the sea already I do like to go and explore seaside towns further afield. I haven't yet found one that I'd like to live in more than where I am now but thoughts of moving to a little seaside town further along the coast in Dorset, Devon or Cornwall do occasionally cross my mind. Maybe go on some day trips and try some on for size. Pick up the local papers and see what jobs, entertainment, social life etc are like. I do that when I go down to Devon & Cornwall for work. I get off work asap, visit the beach, have a nosey round the town and the estate agents windows and pick up the local papers to take home with me. At the moment I'm quite liking Lyme Regis in Dorset. Who knows? Maybe one day...
x

Thanks Betty, when can I move in? :rotfl::D

Haha I love sweets, they weren't all for me on Saturday but I did have quite a few W3rthers

I live in the Midlands so the sea isn't that close but it's not unachievable. I'd sort of pinpointed Somerset or Devon but they are a bit further. I think I'd like a couple of nights away to explore like you say, put the feelers out. I've been mostly looking at rightmove and ruling places out due to the cost of housing! Any cheaper places have gone on the list then I've had a quick look at job sites. I think I am leaning more to moving back home which is easier really but I've got half an eye on the seaside for the future.

You never know what will come up on your little jaunts. You might find the perfect place and accidentally put an offer in somewhere! Ooh Lyme Regis is lovely from what I remember when I went as a child

Orange_Ena

Good evening and thanks again ladies for your lovely posts x

Tuesday 2nd August
* £10 redeemed from Luc7y Ph0ne, it's taken since February but got there in the end :T Transferred to my overpayments account
* £30 for fuel
* £3.63 on spuds, biscuits and chocolate
* £4 in Wilk0 on cat litter and washing up liquid
* £30 on curtains for my bedroom from Wilk0 online via TCB, £1.26 tracked
* £54 on wallpaper from Bee&Q
* i-S@y survey
* VO survey
* 118SB earned and July bonus of 115SB

Today
* £21.55 in T3sco on a few groceries and health care things
* £185.88 for a years line rental with Plusn3t. From August payday I'll be saving £16 per month again into one of my savings accounts as that has worked so well......when I needed the money, it was there!
* 140SB earned and a £5 Am@zon voucher redeemed


I had a flurry of action today while I was quiet at work today so I've arranged for:

* oven, hob and extractor to be cleaned, no way am I doing it myself! 10% off for new customers :money:
* a rail to be put in a cupboard in my bedroom to turn it into a wardrobe
* a quote to get my jungle garden cut back and stones put down
* a new deal with Plusn3t, £4.99 unlimited for 2 years (half price) and paid my next year's line rental in advance!


It's looking more and more likely that I won't be staying in this house forever, even if I don't end up moving to my hometown, I'd still like a flat. So now I need to get it up to scratch without spending loads. I don't regret any of the improvements I've made in the last few years but I'm not going to go to town too much for someone else's benefit. I am all up in the air still but I think I just need to get my bedroom decorated, which is already budgeted for and will be done at the end of the month, tart the garden up a bit, get the hall, stairs and landing decorated and do something with the bathroom. I think I've been super critical of the bathroom when it's not actually that bad. All it needs is a good scrub,!a new blind and shower screen, the floor levelling and new vinyl. If I was going to be staying long term I would like a swanky shower cubicle but I think it's best to keep the bath to not to put off buyers. And I'm sure that'll work out cheaper :money::p It feels more achievable having written it down :T

In an ideal world, if I could choose how the next few months go, I would like to spend the next few weeks decluttering yet more stuff, get my bedroom decorated, then get a lodger for 6 months, get that Christmas job again in the supermarket, push on and save as well as getting the above jobs done and then hand my notice in and put my house on the market in February, sell it immediately (wishful thinking ), find my perfect flat in my hometown, move, find a nice little job, a nice man, get another cat and live happily ever after :rotfl::D Going to cosmic order the sh*t out of this! :D:D:D

doingitanyway

See, I knew you would emerge with a plan. Sounding good

lcc86

Hi Ena, sounds like a plan! Sometimes I think we have to follow our hearts, after all we only get one life and if it's achievable, go for it!

Orange_Ena

Thank ladies. I hope in a year from now I'll be able to quote Hannibal from the A-Team....."I love it when a plan comes together" :rotfl::D

Today
* NSD
* P0pulusLive survey
* Pinec0ne survey
* 82SB earned!
* 94p sweep into my overpayments account

I had a look for a job today with the supermarket I worked for at Christmas and they do have a permanent weekend job in the petrol station. I am half tempted but the thought of working with only one day off a fortnight isn't that appealing. I have got bits of leave so I could do it for a little while but the good thing about my Christmas job was that it was only 8 weeks so it made it easier to work weekends knowing the end wasn't too far away. The hours were Sunday evenings and alternate earlies (4.30am start :eek:) and lates on Saturdays. I don't know, if I did get it, and I knew I could drop a Monday at my day job quickly, I would go for it. But even if work agreed to that, it would take months to organise (it took over a year to get my alternate Wednesdays off) and I couldn't work everyday indefinitely. I've got a lot going on with the house too so I just don't think I can do it. So I'll wait a few weeks and hope that the Christmas jobs get advertised again.

So glad it's Friday tomorrow

Orange_Ena

Yay it's the weekend, what a relief. Face pack Friday has rolled around again

Today
* £1.96 in Bee&Q for a clothes rail. It was £11.96 in total but I had a voucher
* £4.44 in T3sco
* £10 at the vets for the first payment of the complete care thingy
* i-S@y survey
* VO survey
* 21SB earned but I raised a ticket for completing a 70SB survey but then it said I didn't qualify. When I complained before they paid up so fingers crossed........I don't do surveys for fun! Time is money :rotfl:

I've sold 2 more items on Shp0ck which should be collected tomorrow and will net me £4.50. There's a few items still listed but if they haven't sold by Wednesday I'll take them to the charity shop but I WILL NOT buy anything while I'm there. I won't, I won't, I won't *

* ok, I might

I'm hoping to do some more tidying and decluttering this weekend but I'm very tired so I could just end up laying on the sofa and starting another of my gazillion books purchased in a charity shop

Go Team GB!

crazy_cat_lady

Hi Ena
Keep going - you're doing a fantastic job. I really hope that the counselling helps you. I got a few sessions through work as well and they've been great.

Orange_Ena

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

Hi Ena
Keep going - you're doing a fantastic job. I really hope that the counselling helps you. I got a few sessions through work as well and they've been great.

Thanks CCL. Yeah like those old BT adverts, it's good to talk Hope you're Ok.

Orange_Ena

Evening. I've not broken my arm again so I'll have to go to work tomorrow

Saturday 6th August
* NSD
* £3 received for a Shp0ck item, the other item is being collected next week
* Youg0v survey
* 36SB earned
* £1.56 sweep into my overpayments account

Today
* £29.03 in M0rrisons
* 11SB earned
* £1 sweep into my FD savings account
* £1 sweep into my overpayments account


Meal plan for the week......this is new territory for me

Mon - left over spuds, chicken, with half roasted pepper and courgette
Tues - red pepper, mushroom and onion omelette
Weds - whole pepper stuffed with courgette, onion, philly and halloumi
Thurs - sausage and croquette potatoes
Fri - whole pepper stuffed with courgette, onion, philly and halloumi

I've got 3 peppers in the fridge which will be eaten this week but I forgot to buy more courgettes so I'll need to get another 1 or 2, depending on size. I never really have a meal plan but I'm really going to try and cut down my grocery shopping cause I end up buying what I fancy and not eating what's in the fridge! I have quite a bit of control over other outgoings but groceries always seem a bit out of control so a meal plan is my first step. I was going to try using cash for food spends the other week but that never happened so I'm trying it this way, have a meal plan and therefore not over spend

I'm hoping to get a few NSD's in this week, hopefully Monday, Thursday and Friday. Tuesday I'll need fuel, courgette(s) and milk and Wednesday is my boiler service day so that will be £65. Smug old me has put £6pm away in one of my savings accounts so that's covered Honestly can't recommend that doing that enough. YNAB has been such a help with that too, and then actually saving the money separately. I used to put money away in my savings accounts, but before every pay day it would be needed because I was massively over spending and not budgeting properly. I might try and get my paint for my bedroom sorted on Wednesday too so that'll be £26 (26 tins of Du1ux) but again, already have money in the house fund for that. Smug central here! :rotfl:

I've done a bit of sorting today, done a tip run, and I've moved some boxes of stuff from my bedroom into the spare room ready for when it's decorated. A lot of it is childhood mementos but I'm not in the right frame of mind for getting rid of it. Maybe at some point but not yet. I've have found a pair of trousers, sandals, scarf, ornament, clock and necklace for my sell / donate pile so I'll deal with that soon. I've been lucky enough to go on a few cruises and I've kept a whole box of stuff including tickets, postcards, daily activity newsletters and all the menus with all the delicious food! I never look at it so goodness knows why I kept it. I've been through it and chucked all of it except the itineraries so I can remember where I went to! A whole box of stuff down to a few sheets...........much better. I need to sort boxes like this regularly cause it's too overwhelming otherwise.

I've watched nothing but Olympics this weekend which I love. Four years ago I was off sick with stress for the whole of August so I watched all of the Olympic coverage and gawd, how I feel like going off again. The Sunday night doom feeling hit me about lunchtime so I'm proper dreading tomorrow. Tuesday will be ok as I've got counselling and a meeting then I'm off Wednesday. Just got to get through tomorrow and then I can relax until Thursday