Scuba's Saving the Ha'Pennies

scubaangel

Managed to get three loads of washing done, and about 1/3 of the washing up. Moved enough stuff around that I've filled a recycling bag which is by the door ready to go in to the cupboard for next weeks pick up.
I also cleaned the fish tanks as they're both looking a bit grubby. I think I've killed two more of my succulents, if I have I think I'm going to give up on plants again - clearly my neglectful care isn't working for them and frankly the pots are clutter on surfaces.


Not sure what nights I'll be home again this week but I've got a short to do list written for my next day home.

scubaangel

Happy New Year!


I spent it not at work which was rather lovely, went with the male to a party at his friends sisters house with most of his friends. Much fun was had, awful as it sounds one guys wife wasnt there and the atmosphere felt so much friendlier.


Saw his parents for a take out last night which was nice as I didn't get to see anyone outside of work on Christmas Day.


I'm now on leave until mid Jan although I plan to pop in to work tomorrow evening as we're going out for a team dinner at a venue near to work and I forgot to put my out of office on (also need to cheekily do some printing).


Depending on when my landlord is planning to come and try to fix my roof I might see if I can get flights to see Mum and step Dad or drive up to visit my Dad.

scubaangel

So three weeks later....


Went to see my Mum, cost me £150 flights, spends while I was there was carefully eeked out of the 120 euro I had taken with me.


Back at work for a week now and I'm struggling somewhat with motivation - not hit sb target since before holiday and hardly using insta at all. So think I'm going to let the rest of this month slide then try to refocus in Feb.


It's currently raining and my bedroom ceiling seems to be dry which is nothing short of a miracle - fingers firmly crossed it remains dry!


Although I haven't been earning much I have been trying to be a little more focused on decluttering, two full bags of recycling are ready to go in the outdoor cupboard ready for next weeks collections.


I have a reasonable number of books added to the ziffit/webuy pile so will see if I can offload any on my days off later in the week.
I've a fair number of bits to try to add to shpock and gumtree as well. Although lately those both are just throwing out time wasters, I just don't feel like I can commit to getting to the local post office if I went back to ebay, but it might be the best option for some of the stuff - although its been so long since I used it for selling I dread to think how many rules have changed. Again day off reading perhaps.


Also once again my betta fish is unwell, I've treated him with general medication and a more specific one for the problem dr google suggests it might be and he's not improving, at this point I'm actually sad when I come home from work and he's still alive. He's barely moved for at least a week, lying on his side or virtually upside down and other than his gills "panting" and his eye watching when you get close to the glass there's no other movement going on. If/when he finally stops fighting I'll pack up that fish tank and possibly sell it.

scubaangel

Got home from work today and red fish has finally stopped being a stubborn little swine and died. He's been suitable buried and the tank is unplugged - I'll empty it out and clean it on my days off.


Other than that today I achieved nothing and did nothing except work.

scubaangel

Two days off almost over.


Yesterday I overslept at the males place so didn't get much done beyond shopping - should have been enough to last me both days until the male decided not to go running so what should have been my dinner for two nights became dinner for two on one night. Popped in to Mr L's today as I needed some store cupboard stuff (ground coffee, food caddy bags) and bought tonights dinner. Between the two shopping trips I've spent about £35. But I've got all I need in the cupboard to last me a couple of weeks, just need fresh stuff for my days off next week.


The small fish tank has been emptied, I'll let the sand dry out then box it up to add to the bigger tank next time I add plants to it. I'll clean the silk plants and caves and store them too. Then I have to decide if I need to sell the tank with its original equipment - I'll keep the upgraded filter and heater as spares for now regardless.


I hit my target on SB easily today thanks to a high value survey and even better a 20% bonus from swago. I can submit the swago board as late as possible for the 50sb towards that days target.


Insta has been slow lately, I'm hoping that the updates to engage.me will mean more points from that passively.



I cashed out a £5 amazon voucher from a reciept app, and £1 from qmee.

scubaangel

Swago cashed out, as I didn't get online at all yesterday due to work and then a party.


Swago spins rewards mean I need to earn as much as I can on there over the next few days to use the swagups for 80sb rebates of which I have 5 to be used before the 31st. If I can I want to use them for £10 mastercards (1300sb) and I can cash out twice a day so thats two tomorrow, two on Wednesday and one on Thursday if I can earn enough sb. Currently I have 2300. While I know it'll be nearly impossible to earn 4200 in the next three days I have two days off so can at least try. I have plenty of survey bonus and search bonus to use as well which will help.


In the meantime this means I've waiting for a £25 and two £10 mastercards from sb.

scubaangel

Only managed one more £10 cash out last week, all the mastercards were sent in the last couple of days and have been bounced in to and out of my paypal.


Today has been lazier than I wanted it to be, but I've got my work washing done and had a sort out of my toiletries box - thrown out 5 unused indeterminate aged moisturisers.


The male wants to go to the cinema later but as he hasn't said when he wants to go nor what he wants to see its a little difficult to get organised.....

scubaangel

The male and I did get to the cinema, we saw Glass, better than I expected given the reviews.


Since then work has been busy, I looked after a regular client and now understand why the team member who normally looks after her events is usually stressed (I knew from seeing it but experiencing it was totally different). In incredibly good news I finally got the pay rise I've been working towards since I started my current job. I now earn more than I did in my previous job, and more than I have ever earned from one job in the past. I need to redo my budget but currently the plan is to use the extra towards debt.



The pay rise plus money from having paid off the card, plus the upcoming couple of months no council tax, should put a dent in the debt - although it also means I have the wiggle room to potentially fly out to Canada for my friends wedding this summer. It might mean a short term increase in the overall debt but one of my best friends getting married is worth it as long as I have a solid plan to repay it.

scubaangel

Got a few days off as I'm using up my holiday allocation, so the plan is weekend being "girlfriend" also doing a run event and a swim, then the male is away for a few days on a work course so I'll have a few days to concentrate on rejigging my budget given the promotion and having paid off the car loan last month.


In the meantime I went in to town today, spent a little more than I intended - popped in to The Works and they had two of the books I'm missing from a series in the 3 for £5 offer so £5 spent there, a couple of bits for the open water swim plans - a neoprene headband to protect my ears on cold swims, and a fabric swim hat as a couple of people recommended them to make swimming with long hair easier - a practise run at putting my normal swim hat over the fabric one it actually is much easier, just remains to see if the fabric hat will stay put under the silicone one.


Also need to do some studying next week, my training person is nagging me for the apprentice work books that I've started but not finished (sort of).

scubaangel

Weekend with the male is over, he's headed off to the other side of the M25 for his three days of training. I'm curled up on the sofa with washing in the machine, a chocolate cake defrosting, and a small pile of books to be read over the next few days.


While I was out and about earlier in the weekend I dropped off three bags of clothes to a charity bin, I've put two more in the car ready to drop off at some point soon.