Battling Debt and Mental Illness — and (hopefully) Winning!

Orange_Ena

AspiringButAnxious wrote: »

Thanks Bob I do try to do that, but often end up beating myself up if/when I don't tick off anything/enough. Maybe I should make a chart and track my progress — I already do that for my debt and savings, but could use the same strategy elsewhere.

Quiet day again, but I watched LOTS of SBTV to get 114SB so I could order another £5 Amazon voucher. Got 50SB back, too.

Brilliant sw@gbucking ABA. Been a a slow SB day for me.

Sometimes when I'm at work, it's so busy that I never tick anything off my to do list. It was getting so frustrating so I started writing things on my list such as go to the toilet, have lunch, have a drink. Things that I was definitely going to do anyway! Even if I never get my real work done, I've achieved something. It gave me a massive boost :rotfl: Maybe worth a try!?

AspiringButAnxious

Thanks Ena I almost lost the will to live, but I was desperate to get the next voucher! I have been known to put "shower" on my to-do list, but never going to the toilet... I drink a lot of water, so it will be a pretty long list if I included every visit! :rotfl:

Ordered a £10 Amazon voucher from MobileXpressions this morning, so that's good I have been trying to use up the toiletry samples I have amassed over many years, so made some progress on that over the weekend. Also used the last of my patchouli incense sticks (my least favourite scent of the incense sticks I collected during my teens) and am now to 3 vanilla after burning one to rid my bedroom of the smell from my brother's kebab. He got me chips for dinner last night and said I owe him £3, but I'm hoping he will forget/let me off, since he works full time and has far more money than me... Doubt he will, though!

My only plans for today are to hit my SB target (not going well so far) and go out with the dogs.

AspiringButAnxious

My mood has improved: spent most of the day feeling depressed, but perked up late afternoon/early evening. S emailed to say she's given my sample pages to her CO and they will be in touch re next steps, so that's eased my stress a little because I know she received them okay. Still worried about whether the CO will like them, but nothing I can do about it...

Received my SB Amazon voucher, bringing my balance up to £14.17 Also got a survey on SB, so I hit today's target with relatively little effort.

Got vegetable curry from the freezer with wholemeal pitta for dinner

Feeling slightly more positive!

AspiringButAnxious

New Amazon balance: £12.18
An ebook by one of my favourite authors had dropped in price, from over £6 to £1.99 so I decided to treat myself

Feeling better today than I did yesterday, which is a relief. Old phone number has transferred to new (cheaper) sim with no problems, so that's good. The plan for today is to focus on reading — I haven't touched the business books I borrowed from the library a couple of weeks ago.

misstara

Good to hear you sounding more positive - what's the plan for today?

AspiringButAnxious

Hi Tara Plan for today is: go to appointment at Working Links. Feeling nervous and I don't know why. It's just checking in with my advisor. Trouble is, it's a 50 mile round trip and I don't like driving. It's exhausting and I always have a headache when I get home. One of the many reasons I want to come off benefits...

Later, I will go shopping and try to find YS items to stock up on. I like having bagels and crumpets every now and then, so it's handy to buy them cheap and put in the freezer. I will buy 4 bottles of Tesco value cola and maybe some hair dye, if it's on special offer.

Apart from that, the only "plan" is to read some more of the library book and a self-improvement ebook which I'm hoping will inspire and motivate me.

AspiringButAnxious

:mad: WL didn't have any petty cash today, so I'll have to wAit until I go in next week to get travel expenses. Had to pay for car park with my debit card, since I only have about 7p cash in my purse! My advisor saw that my anxiety is worse; wasn't helped by traffic being more horrendous than usual because a roundabout exit was closed. I have an appointment next Thursday with a life coach (think it's the man I've seen before), which I hope will give me some direction and motivation.

AspiringButAnxious

Shopping went well: hair dye was 2 for £9, plus I had a coupon for 50p off The only food/drink I bought was Tesco Value cola and I found some YS products to save my mum money — including 5 packets of 8 crumpets for 25p each and some veg.

Received a free sample of face cream in this morning's post. Was going to use it myself, but now wondering if I could use it as part of my BF's birthday present. I've ordered a few other samples, so could put them together with a few bought bits and create something better than I could buy. Considered getting Marie Claire for the free hand cream (2 for £6 in Tesco), but would rather get something with vouchers or my Boots advantage points than using money I could save or put towards debt. Found out recently that I have £9.24 on my Boots card, so need to figure out how to make that go as far as possible.

Today's focus is on reading and thinking...

AspiringButAnxious

Okay, so a little research on Boots led to me getting my BF's birthday present! I got a flannel, body puff, shower cap, bubble bath and shower gel — all with my points. Getting it delivered to my local store, so no delivery charge either. Found a wash bag and body lotion on Amazon to add to it and will keep an eye out for other ways to make it a little more special.

crazy_cat_lady

That sounds like a fantastic gift ABA. I'm busy gathering lots of little bits together to try and make some special presents for Christmas. Everyone is getting a bag or box full of small and important things. I hope that people will understand that loads of thought has gone into getting them something that's really well suited to them.