Teetering on the brink

EatingBeans

Thanks @cherryfudge

I am pleased to report that Child Benefit issue has been solved without even a phone call! 😁 After a bit of searching on the website I came across a link to a HMRC app - I didn’t even know this existed! I logged in and within a few clicks I saw that they have just split the payment and I can expect the top up in a couple of days. I can also see the end dates for both children and all looks good, so I am guessing it was just a short delay in processing the extension and now all resolved. 👍

Time for a much needed break and cuddle with big dog (he insists!), then on to looking for something I can most usefully do to help future me stay on track (I have finished work early for the day since I have to go in on Friday which should be my day off).

Cherryfudge

I'm glad it's satisfactorily sorted.

EatingBeans

Weight: 205.3lb - up from yesterday and a reminder to stay on track! Hardly surprised at this result as I had a left of roast dinner for lunch followed by a very yummy lamb rogan josh microwave meal for dinner thanks to Olio. 😋 

Yesterday was a good day money wise. Not only was it another NSD 🎉 but I also got my personal laptop out and completed quite a few Prolific surveys (also seem to get more on the laptop than the phone), as well as a few other surveys from YouGov, OnePoll and Isay. I’ve also joined Isay’s product testing and apparently they are sending me something to test, and I decided to finally try out testerup. 😁 Prolific is the only one that will pay out immediately but I still class that as an afternoon well spent. Oh, and I opened another account with NatWest that I am going to turn into a second burner account. Technically I already had that with my Nationwide account but I’ve decided I actually like that account so I am keeping it as my day-to-day spending account. 

Today is going to be manic with work. I have meetings back-to-back all day with only a single one hour break. Much coffee will be needed, but I’ve just discovered that I am very nearly out of coffee! I can see my first food purchase of the month coming on! 🤣

ellenvan

Even £2.50 is a start.
Job sounds awful BUT as least it is a job and I think I recall you saying it pays well.
Keep a look out for other opportunities.
Glad to see you are back with OLio.
Random items will help with the no spend September.
Hopefully September will be a positive month.

EatingBeans

Today was a challenge. 

I got a partial pay out of £11.64 from Prolific for the work I did yesterday - so that’s now a total of £14.14 or 2/20 £5’s. 🎉

But work was just as I expected - utter craziness! Lunch became a 10minute mad dash (I was very grateful for the chilli at this point!), and I didn’t finish until 6:30pm. 😞

After work I had to take dd2 food shopping. Surrounded by food but starving hungry, I gave in and bought myself a pizza and chocolate for dinner. Whilst I was there I also picked up some coffee and a fresh loaf of bread, which should keep me going until my next Olio run with the exception of lunch tomorrow at work. Honestly, I did think about buying something from Tescos, but in the end I decided that I will spend my remaining food budget for the week on lunch in the office tomorrow. Normally I would take something to microwave but we are in an all day session which is too far from the actual office to run back too, and honestly, I want an excuse to leave them all to it and go have some a proper break. If I take my lunch with me I can’t use it as an excuse for disappearing and I would have to actually say that I just want to be away from them for half an hour. Other introverts might understand but it will be a room full of around 80 extraverted senior managers - I know I am going to need a break! 

Cherryfudge

It all sounds like a break at lunchtime would help a lot. For future pressured days, could you keep a couple of frozen pizzas or ready meals to hand? My current best hunger-stopped is a yogurt: cheap and fairly good for me, and works better than chocolate.

EatingBeans

It’s a good plan @cherryfudge, frozen vegetarian pizza is my saviour when I have no frozen blocks to turn to - currently I have only got chilli prepared and I had that for lunch. 😬 Tbf, the pizza was only £1.60 and I didn’t even eat the chocolate in the end. I think what I really was is tired and craving food in a bid to stay awake. Ironically, just buying the chocolate was enough. 🤦‍♀️ Still, it defo could have been worse. Now I get to have rationed pieces of chocolate over a few days, and, thanks to all my Olio goodies, I am still on budget for food for the week even with today’s splurge and buying my lunch out tomorrow. 

Cherryfudge

It's so nice when you know you have access to emergency chocolate! Difficult, of course, to distinguish genuine emergencies, but knowing it's there if needed is a big help.  

stymied

Do they not provide food for an all day meeting away from the office?

EatingBeans

stymied said:

Do they not provide food for an all day meeting away from the office?

Originally there was a plan to provide food but once costed out they decided it was just unaffordable. I work for a university and budgets are really stretched at the minute - it is a common industry issue atm and quite a few universities are in the process of redundancies - so anywhere they can save money they are. Technically we were still on site but just a good 20minutes walk from our own office so to far from our fridge/kitchen area to store/prepare food. I can’t really complain tbh as it only happens four times a year. 

So, I did buy lunch today but I also took full advantage of the free coffee, pastries and other snacks. Calorie counting didn’t happen but I think that’s ok for the odd day like today.