The Last Leg; 6 years later, debt free in 2021

greensalad

Sarahwithlove said:

You're doing great well done. Will you have a chance to do more overtime again as it seems that would really help with cutting the cards! 

I do a week of on-call every month, which equates to £500 (though that's pretax), which is the maximum I'm allowed to pick up really. We also have "peak shift premium" which is the month from Halloween to Black Friday where we can pick up premium shifts (including overnights) that come with an extra disturbance allowance. Unfortunately all the Black Friday ones require me to be in the office, which I do not yet feel comfortable with considering London's Tier 2 (I know work is allowed under Tier 2 but I still don't feel comfortable with it) so I've picked up tomorrow evening and Sunday as they are work-from-home shifts and should net me an extra £300, so £700 in my next paycheque once I add my week of on-call.

I used to do a lot more, 2 weeks every month but they got more volunteers so now it has to be spread evenly as it's obviously a big boost! I was earning an extra £12,000 a year but now it's down to £6,000, plus extras here and there.

Sarahwithlove

All still helps though and I don't blame you for not wanting to risk it. I'm waiting for my results to come back as my brother and his fiance came back positive. 3 of 4 people in my brothers office have all had positive tests the 4th is waiting for his results and they all sit really far apart as it used to be an office of 12 of them but some have left and others made redundant. Its scary how quick it can actually spread. 

greensalad

Sarahwithlove said:

All still helps though and I don't blame you for not wanting to risk it. I'm waiting for my results to come back as my brother and his fiance came back positive. 3 of 4 people in my brothers office have all had positive tests the 4th is waiting for his results and they all sit really far apart as it used to be an office of 12 of them but some have left and others made redundant. Its scary how quick it can actually spread. 

I work in an office which (used to) hold about 3,000 people. No way I was comfortable going in during the height of the pandemic and now we're returning to new heights and my office is wanting us to come in a few days a month. I had a frank chat with my boss where I explained that just because the office has put in "covid measures" doesn't mean my train or the tube is safe! And I can work from home, so I am. I'll go back in properly when it's demanded I do but I can't see them doing that while London is in Tier 2. 

Sarahwithlove

No I think you'll be safe for a while yet. 

enthusiasticsaver

Fantastic bonus and overtime and great how that Lisa savings pot looks now. The debt is coming down nicely too. I don't blame you for wanting to avoid tubes and trains at the moment. Germ spreaders at the best of times even with masks. 

greensalad

Last night's curry was so good, I'm absolutely stuffed today!

Our groceries budget has been interesting this month/week. We have decided to start doing OMAD diet again (one meal a day) Mon - Fri. Essentially we fast all day and then eat a big meal until we feel full in the evening. The meal is intended to be about 1,200 - 1,500 calories which is huge to eat in one meal but it means we can have what we like as long as we forego in the day and drink a lot of water. We've done it before and found it worked well for weightloss but we were doing alternate days and I personally always struggled at the weekends wanting to eat when I couldn't. Hence Mon-Fri only.

This means we haven't had to budget for anything except dinner, however we've started putting more things on our evening dinner plate than we normally would as we need to bulk up the calories and macronutrients which means it's been very different to our normal supermarket shopping!  Still I'm aiming to stay in budget next week. 

I'm doing overtime this evening for a bit of extra cash and I'm nearly finished with my long catsitting booking which is worth £156! Also really hoping that this website I've been working on since god knows when will finally get shipped. They've been making changes and updates to the staging version I built for a while but it seems the end is finally in sight and that will be £250. I am going to have to declare for self assessment again which is annoying but at least it means I've earnt over £1,000 outside of my income this year!

greensalad

Finished my shift last night, had a nice lie-in to get my 12hr rest period and started work at 12

I've also picked up two further shifts for Black Friday weekend. They are in-office, and I really didn't want to do them but the money is very good. I still feel uncomfortable going into the office, but it was a case of "we can't force you to come in, but we really expect you to do your share". I figured I might as well pick up some "good" shifts before all was left was the dregs. So I picked up two evening shifts over the weekend. I get a taxi home included because the shift ends after the trains stop running, but I've pushed for an afternoon taxi in as well. Considering how much money they make during these sales two taxis isn't going to break the bank and will make me feel much better coming into the office. I'm fairly happy with what my office has done to make it COVID secure and we'll be in our own small booths, but it's the travelling in I'm worried about.

Also the two shifts are worth £880 in over time and premiums. Money I really cannot turn down right now. 

Other than that, I finish my cat sitting booking this evening after 2 weeks, woohoo! It's been a bit of a drama this time. I cat sit for this couple a lot, they are young retired. They have a 90 year old neighbour who used to catsit for them but they don't want to rely on her anymore hence why they got me in. But she is a proper busybody. She swore I was not feeding the cats and I had to go round and explain to her I was, but that the cats are probably used to being fed twice a day and I am only asked to feed them once so no wonder they are coming round hers asking for food. I gave her my phone number to make her happy and she's called me twice since then! I told the couple and they said don't worry too much about her because she's a bit of a drama queen about it all! So I'm glad to be done with the booking, though I don't generally mind cat sitting for these two in particular. 

Tomorrow is Halloween and I'm very excited. We have decided to spend the evening making a big fun feast as we can't go out and do anything. We're doing all American food. Nashville hot chicken sandwiches (veggie chicken for me!), and s'mores pie. Plus some American sweets just in case kids do come round. I've picked two Halloween films and am looking forward to a day of cooking. One of our favourite hobbies is making elaborate meals at the weekends! We've done home-made nachos before and deep fried pumpkin katsu. It does end up costing quite a bit but it's still probably cheaper than going to the cinema or shopping or the pub!

Kakiste

Your Halloween plans sound ace. We're going to do some Halloween baking in the afternoon and then watch Nightmare before Christmas whilst eating it and then go out on a pumpkin spotting walk in lieu of trick or treating (lovely idea - people in my town have made a map of decorated houses on about 16 streets so there will definately be lots of see.) 

greensalad

Kakiste said:

Your Halloween plans sound ace. We're going to do some Halloween baking in the afternoon and then watch Nightmare before Christmas whilst eating it and then go out on a pumpkin spotting walk in lieu of trick or treating (lovely idea - people in my town have made a map of decorated houses on about 16 streets so there will definately be lots of see.) 

Nightmare Before Christmas is on the list! We're going to watch Hocus Pocus, Nightmare Before Christmas and then possibly an adult scary film, though I love spooky ghosts and my partner hates anything like that so we might watch a slasher-type flick as he can handle those!

I think my town is doing the same thing with the pumpkin walk. I live on quite a busy road though not an estate so we normally get hardly any kids so I am not bothering this year. If I lived on an estate with lots of families I'd definitely get more involved.

greensalad

Got paid £156 for the cat booking this morning and popped it back into Premium Bonds to save for the tax bill. 17% of the way towards the January target already.

Fun night of cooking last night, it was really great. Though it makes me yearn for a bigger kitchen as we only have one countertop and we always struggle for space when cooking stuff.

I've had a mini splurge and bought two Google Photobooks. Figured we'll definitely not be going anywhere exciting in the next few months so might as well order them as I've wanted them for ages. They're books of photos from our previous holidays (Cornwall in 2019 and Iceland in 2018) all printed up.