Debt and Caring

WelshmansDaughter

Thanks for the good wishes. I don't think I was successful, as usual my mouth ran away with me and managed to say exactly the wrong thing. But I'm glad to have broken the seal as it were and can work on more applications. It also pushed me into getting an outfit for interviews which cost the princely sum of £10.85.

WelshmansDaughter

Hard to believe it is Wednesday already. There seems to be a clock hanging over my head ticking away the days of my annual leave. Of course interviews have a way of sucking time out of the day so that accounts for much of Monday.

Took myself out for the day yesterday, not so much a Day Out as a whistle stop tour of various locations on my to do list. So library books returned to city library then book collected from country library. The drive out there is worth it on a sunny day and there was the benefit of a garden centre to empty my bank account into.

The book collected is called Dopamine Gardening and looks very interesting.

I did contemplate a visit to a NTS property but at £18 a ticket I decided against. This was probably wise as I went on to spend £61 in the orange shop buying topsoil, compost etc while I had the car and could load it all in.

Seemed to be infected by Day Out-itis and continued on to yet another library and a brief stop in the botanic gardens.

Unsurprisingly was exhausted by the time I got home and spent the evening with YouTube.

I foresee a nap in my future.

Cherryfudge

You are getting your money's worth out of your time off! I assume today will be spent in the garden, redistributing the compost, etc.

ETA: actually, if someone suggested that to me, it would be the one thing that would be sure not to happen, so forget I mentioned it. If you have the lovely weather that we have here, you may have other things in mind than working up a sweat.

WelshmansDaughter

Ha sounds like you have a touch of the PDA in your profile Cherry 🤣 you might like the website goblin.tools for breaking down tasks.

I have been out in the garden this morning during which time I have mostly moved things from place to place. Thankfully at least one of those places was the bin.

It is a nice day here although I found myself getting a bit hot trundling a wheelbarrow about. I am conscious of trying to enjoy myself and not go overboard doing misery inducing tasks.

My next thought is to clarify to myself what exactly this hobby breaks down to. I'm used to doing things in an exploring ideas way. Id like to have a better idea of what is project and is what is regular tasks.

WelshmansDaughter

Thursday evening and sitting in a chair after an exhausting day with the two younger nephews. I have nobody to blame but myself as I decided to take them on the bus to a local hobby farm. Twas a bit more of a trek than anticipated but worth it. I get very fed up staying at home.

Pondering whether to stay here and hang out with the boys tomorrow or go home.

Realised that although I have many many packets of seeds and 4kg of potatoes to plant I do not as yet have any fruit. Technically I don't need to buy anything just yet but I aim to draw up plans so need to remember to include space for fruit, even if it is just pots this year.

PennysIntoPounds

Plans for fruit sound good but planting what you already have sounds even better!

WelshmansDaughter

Thought I was having a bit of a lie in this morning, turned out to be 6.30. Initial plan for today was the garden however I have woken to grey and wet. I'm currently making a second attempt to cook bacon in the air fryer and have gotten the garden magazine out instead of morning book. Many things could be done indoors although after two days with the small humans it may just be a 'research' day i.e. sitting in my bed with my books 🤣

Cherryfudge

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81954496#Comment_81954496

I've been meaning to reply for a few days, sorry! I definitely see demand avoidance though I don't know if a doctor would diagnose it as pathological - that seems to indicate an extremity whereas I'd say mine is more or less predictable but not extreme. I used to work with someone who had a diagnosis of PDA, so I've seen how it was quite marked in her.

I'd not come across the goblin website before so I had a bit of fun playing around on there. I was a bit confused when it told me (quite reasonably) that a task would take 5-20 minutes. I was hoping for something like '5 minutes 35 seconds' but I think I needed to be more precise.

At present I'm working on just doing one bit of one thing if I feel overwhelmed. I can see logically that that is better than nothing, even if it's not the perfect starting point with the perfect follow-through and all of a sudden the list is fully controlled (though ot never has been before).

How is your garden doing?

WelshmansDaughter

I hadn't tried the timing aspect of it, I can be very slow these days so I'd probably be way off.

I think in current terminology they prefer the term Pervasive Drive for Autonomy which like demand doesn't really describe it for me. I do think a lot of people confuse it for adhd. Tasks are low demand tend to be less time consuming and so you look like you're doing a lot of different things when in fact you are avoiding things with a higher cost to you. When I'm low demand I tend to want to do something all the time but can't manage any big tasks so I go shopping or spend a lot of time on the computer.

Garden is a big thing for me right now, I'm struggling a bit. I want to do more but am getting tired out quite easily. Not helped by having a cold with the most irritating runny nose.

I am getting there with the garden I'm just trying to do it in a way that I actually enjoy the damn thing instead of having that Gotta Get It Done voice ranting in my head.

WelshmansDaughter

Woken up to quite a gloomy day today, weather and mental. Walked into town yesterday with the intention of doing some mystery shopping and getting myself organised only to find the jobs all gone. I did get breakfast with a voucher but found myself drawn to a raspberry and custard doughnut and ended up spending a tad over the voucher's value.

I wound up on a walk which encompassed the library and the roof terrace but found myself unable to settle to anything so wandered on and took a different way home. Bumped into a colleague and arranged to get the bookcase he was getting rid of and then wandered up the road . Thankfully I remembered a small local garden I wanted to visit so I called in there to see it and was motivated in a small way so hurried home. I did get into the garden. I managed one small aspect of the design as well as some organisation but hot annoyed at myself when I realised that I could have planted seeds last week when I got the compost. I am irritated by this as I am struggling a bit with the physical aspect of what I want to do. Oh well lesson learned for next year.

Have run low on money Again- at least I am consistent in my timing 🤦‍♂️ A friend very kindly took me out to dinner after when he saw how tired I was and drove me home via the supermarket. I had run out of the tea I favour, adding to my distress.

Today will needs be a rest day as I am sore, tired and gloomy.