The Big Adventure

Karmacat

Thank you Goldie! Much obliged. I'll forward it to my sister too.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Sounds as if you have been busy! I am sure it will all look great and it will be good to have the curtains etc to look forward to after your trip. X

Goldiegirl

Weekly update

Health

• Walks achieved for February 16/28
• New glasses - this has been slightly trying. I've had them two weeks, and have been back to the opticians twice as they don't fit very well. They sort of twist on my face. I'm now at about 95% happy with them. I have to go in again next week anyway to pick up my new sunglasses.
• Mental health - due to above problem with glasses, leads to me to wonder why even simple things turn out so bloody difficult. Am I somehow creating problems for myself? reflecting on this

Mindful spending

• £99.99 unit from Argos. We thought we were going to have a coffee table or side table in this space, but opted for this unit instead. It looks really nice
• £47.74 Aldi - next couple of weeks should be much lower
• £112 Cruise tips. Gratuities are one of the costs of cruising. The cruise company advised us that this is going up from £4 to £5 per person per day, but if we paid up front we could keep the old price, so saved £28
• £132 Coach trip to see the King and I at the Palladium in July. This is cheaper than buying tickets independently and going up by train

(I always seem to have a lot of spending!)

Making Money

• £5.78 Prolific Academic
• 50pts You Gov
• When I bought my car, I took out a three year service plan at £17.08pm. I thought it was 36 months of payments, but its actually only 30, so I have 6 'free' months. so I have £102.48 more than I thought.

Enjoying life

• Coffee 'out' three times this week, including monthly freebie at Dobbies
• Further cupboard sorting in the kitchen - very tidy now.
• Recycled old curtains, cushions and poles - all too old/faded to resell. (Have saved curtain pole rings to sell later as there seems to be a thriving market)

Karmacat

Excellent! I honestly don't think its you creating problems for yourself re. mental health - I think all of us face this inability of companies to get things right. Things that they *should* get right. There's also the reality that none of us are perfect, we've all got our baggage, as the dating websites call it - but I really hesitate to call that mental illness. I hate, absolutely hate, talking on the phone to utility and telecoms companies, because so much goes wrong - and I can tell that the intensity of my reaction is partly mine, but my reaction gets triggered because these people are out to con us and out to disguise the fact that they want to con us ...

So it goes!

Have a good week.

Goldiegirl

Having reflected on it, I think I was kidding myself yesterday when I said I was 95% happy with my glasses. However much they've adjusted them, they are still not sitting right on my face. One side is a lot closer to my face than the other, so it's just not good enough. When I go in tomorrow to collect my new sunglasses (I hope they fit with no issues) I'm going to suggest they start again with these glasses, because they simply don't fit properly.

I wanted to be happy with the glasses, because I wanted to move on, as I'm sick of the faffing about!

I think I've just been unlucky recently, as some things which should be simple have turned out to be more of a pain than they should be. I was starting to wonder if, by feeling negative, I was attracting negative vibes, and causing things to go wrong! But that can't be the case - I cant possibly have caused my glasses not to fit properly! :rotfl:

KC, I also hate talking to phone and utility companies. The only reason I managed to switch to Virgin, was because a local rep came round and signed me up, so I knew, if anything went pear shaped, I could get hold of a real person, instead of having to try and sort it out over the phone.

Watty1

hope you get the glasses sorted. I have a pair I rarely wear because they just dont fit right at all and that is such a waste of money and effort! Postive vibes being sent that you attract the good fit

michelle09

That's not good - did they manage to sort your glasses out in the end?

Goldiegirl

I went back to the opticians on Monday, and told them the glasses weren't working for me. They had a new pair of frames in stock of the same design and said I could try the lenses in the different frame, or just start from scratch again. I opted to try swapping the lenses, as I really like the frames. As soon as I had them on they felt much better, but I still had to go back twice on Tuesday for adjustments. But after that, I knew they were right, as most of the time I forget I'm wearing them. Success at last, but what a palaver!

Fortunately, the sunglasses were a good fit as soon as I put them on. As we've had some nice sunny days this week, I've been giving them a test run - I think I need a slight adjustment on one side, as the frame seem to droop a bit, but they are great otherwise.

Goldiegirl

UPDATE

Health

• February weigh in - 1lb lost. I was hoping for a pound a month, so I'm pleased with this
• Glasses - 'normal' glasses now fit just fine and just a small tweak needed for sunglasses. Hooray
• Walking 23/24 days for February. Total mileage to be calculated at month end, but looking promising

Mindful spending

• £33.14 Aldi
• £36.06 Meal out at local Beefeater. We had a voucher for 40% off mains, plus a voucher from the loyalty scheme for two free desserts. Due to such large discounts we treated ourselves to a whole bottle of wine. Overall saving was £21

Making money

• £1 earned on Prolific
• £13.74 cashed out on Prolific
• £5.78 cashed out on Quidco
• 50 pt You Gov survey

Enjoying life

• Great meal out (see above)
• Walking in the chilly but sunny weather, including a walk and a flask of coffee at the Riverside country park
• Borrowing some carpet and laminate flooring carpet samples from a local carpet shop to see what we like in the comfort of our own home

Goldiegirl

We are fairly snowbound at the moment after some heavy overnight and morning snow. Fortunately, we did our weekly grocery shopping yesterday, so we have no reason to go out. I'm missing my daily walk though, as it has become a pleasant daily ritual. Hopefully, the forecast is for no snow tomorrow, so I might get out for a short walk.

Although we said we weren't going to do any more about home improvements until we got back from our holiday, we have ordered carpet for the living room and laminate flooring for the dining room. However, we don't intend to have it fitted until after Easter. It's from a local shop, and they don't even want a deposit, just pay in full after it's fitted.