Smolly's Stumblings to Sanity - the next Chapter...

Smolly · 3 December 2016 at 10:15PM

Thank you Bobarella and Swash for the good wishes and thank you Username for popping by! I am feeling much better thank you. I'm still not eating properly but that's not such a bad thing - I could do with losing a bit of weight! What has been strange is this insatiable thirst I've had. I feel so thirsty most of the time and am craving orange juice mostly.

I am back at work Monday anyway and then before we know it it'll be the weekend again and I will be off to see my friend! I am so excited. I would head up Friday night if I could but OH won't hear of cancelling his social night out so it will have to be Saturday morning when I leave. I could set off when he gets back but I probably wouldn't get there until about midnight and I'm not doing that!

I'm still keeping up with GoodBudget and all is ticking along nicely, although I will need some further serious cash injection soon from somewhere as my wages alone won't carry me through the month.

I have a few things finishing on 3Bay tomorrow but nothing which will make a significant difference. I did go over to see my Mum today and my brother was there so I asked him to venture into the loft where I knew I had a few bits and pieces from my more affluent days. I don't know why I ever kept them and when I look at them now I don't see things I admire - I just see wasted money. I think I was hanging onto them to try and remind me of the past but there's no point. I need to look forward, and being stuck up in the loft isn't going to remind me of anything. So I will try and get some of it on 3Bay tomorrow.

I have signed up to a couple of other mystery shopping agencies and have already started work with one. In fact I've racked up a bit of work throughout December to do with them. I need to finish my profile with the other though as I keep seeing these opportunities but can't apply for them and I think it's because not all of my details have been entered.

Right I am off to check if there is any more work I can schedule in. I had to unfortunately cancel an assignment today because there just wasn't time to do it. As my brother was at home with his daughter when I went I decided I would rather spend the day with family as it's so rare that we all get together, and there are so few of us so it really does matter when the opportunity arises. I feel bad about cancelling the assignment but I had a better day in the end, and brother bought my lunch

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, take care xx

EssexHebridean · 4 December 2016 at 12:27AM

Glad things have improved a bit at home since earlier in the week - your OH really is quite "special" isn't he! That trick with your post was bang out of order though - I'm not surprised you were furious! :mad: Glad you're feeling better from your bug too. Guessing the orange juice thing is related to your body telling you it needs to replace vitamin C.

Well done on managing to pay your brother something although it sounds as though you probably shouldn't bearing in mind you reckon you're going to struggle to get through the month? It's done now anyway, and that he finally apologised is brilliant!

Fingers crossed for the bits You're selling doing well. It's a good time of year for it!

-taff · 4 December 2016 at 2:49AM

Feeling really thirsty all the time can be a symtom of diabetes. Get a blood test done.

MistyMountainTop · 4 December 2016 at 2:08PM

I'm glad you are feeling better Smolly! If the thirst lasts I'd second taff's advice but it's likely that you are still dehydrated after your illness. I often crave orange juice or even those effervescent vit C tablets in water after an illness.

I'm glad your brother finally apologised, even if it was by text.

Good news about the loft finds too. I keep coming across more things I bought when I felt affluent (rather than actually being affluent!:eek:) so am slowly listing them on classified sites. I'm getting some very silly offers, e.g. 10% of the asking price, so I may just put them on ebay and hope the hassle is worth it.

I wish your hubby would treat you better, he sounds like someone who has not grown up - the selfish stuff could be understandable in a teenager but he has a wife and family who seem to be low on his list of priorities. The situation worries me a bit, I know how demoralising it is to feel trapped because of your financial situation. I may be reading things that aren't there and I'm sorry if I've got the wrong idea!

I hope the rest of your weekend is going well xx

System · 5 December 2016 at 5:19PM

Hey chick, just caught up and wow, you had an awful week last week!!! I hope this week is better for you xxx

Smolly · 5 December 2016 at 10:34PM

Hi and thanks EH, taff, Misty and loopy for checking up on me!! I'm still quite thirsty but haven't yet fully got my appetite back so I think I'm still a little under the weather. I did go back to work today and my boss has been exactly the same - just drinking juice as that's all she fancied. Apparently the bug has been working its way around the school and several others including children are off or have been ill with it.

Well the week didn't get any better unfortunately - it fact it ended in an almighty descent into depression, bad feelings and anger. It had been coming for a while I guess after the week I'd been subjected to and this just tells me I still have a very long way to go. There were triggers - the obvious one being the OH but a few other things too. After Christmas I am going to contact the Counselling Service at work and see if someone will see me. I thought I didn't need it but I do.

Anyway, after the weekend I cancelled a mystery shop I had planned for today as I was still feeling slightly unwell and to be honest - I think I need to be kind to myself this week and not give myself any more stress. Since I've gone back to work which has only been a few weeks I've thrown myself into all these mystery shops and I think I'm just feeling quite overwhelmed by it all.

I'm just going to concentrate on doing my main job, and taking lots of excess stuff to the charity shops - stuff which is too much of a faff to try and sell, or likely not to sell, or likely to fetch very very little. I dropped 3 bags off today. I have another one tomorrow and will try and take something each day as I pass various charity shops on my way to work.

And then....it will be the weekend and all being well I am off to see my friend up north! I just can't wait.

Hope everyone is ok xx

Bobarella · 6 December 2016 at 12:22AM

Hope you can get counselling soon Smolly.

MistyMountainTop · 6 December 2016 at 12:02PM

I hope you are able to get some counselling Smolly, and from someone who is more helpful than the last lady.

I am doing the same as you with the charity shops - donating everything that won't make at least £5 or more if sold. At the moment I can't be bothered with all that selling entails. I feel lazy and disillusioned and maybe I am... I've listed a couple things on ebay and already had a problem buyer, which is what made me quit in the first place. I just want the stuff out of the house by the quickest and easiest means possible. I may regret my decision when things are really tight and I have nothing left to sell, but at the moment I don't care. It's not a great attitude to have but I don't know how to change it, it feels like I'm tired and grumpy most of the time. There used to be a service where you could take your things to someone local who would sell them on ebay for you and take a percentage, that would suit me but I can't find any info on it so maybe they no longer exist.

I had a decent mystery shop, counting cans of a drink in a local petrol station. It was very easy, I just had to take notes of what was being sold and I was even allowed to tell the people why I was there. It took about 20 mins and paid £20, so I was happy about that at least.

I hope you're feeling better, and it won't be long now until you are off for a little break! :j

EssexHebridean · 6 December 2016 at 12:25PM

The thing with the selling stuff on the Bay of E etc is that you have to think it right through, Yes if you sell 102 things for 99p that's over £100 made...but when you think through the time each of those things takes - from the photographing, to the listing, to the checking for questions being asked and replying if they are, to the packaging,k to the taking to the post, to the leaving feedback....I bet that totals at least 20 minutes for each thing, no? So for those 102 things, you're "working" for 34 hours, if my maths is correct? (Which it isn't, in fact, as it doesn't take account of fees) That's not a great hourly rate... I think MMT's £5 "deadline" is a great way of dealing with it - at least for anything that's a little more complex on packing - it's different for things that can just be slipped into an envelope, for example.

You're right about being kind to yourself. As for the counselling thing - why wait until after Christmas? You may not be able to actually arrange an appointment sooner than the New Year, but is there any real reason to not at least get the wheels in motion? Learning to spot your triggers for the black dog arriving is a key thing too - but still, spotting them is one thing, managing to deflect them is another. Recognising them is a good starting point though.

Smolly · 7 December 2016 at 10:04PM

Thanks guys - I am doing ok but finding that by the evening I have no motivation whatsoever to do anything and just long for my bed. It could be the time of the year - it's a little sad, correction very sad for me that my Dad is no longer around and some things still feel very raw but each year it will get easier.

Misty and EH - I completely agree with you both on the 3Bay thing - no more daft little sales. I have quite a few of DS's toys I would like to try and sell for his benefit but I will concentrate my efforts on local fb pages for those - a) because I am rapidly running out of time to sell them on 3Bay; b) because I hate the packing of odd shaped objects; and c) because I can't be bovvered!! :rotfl:The last couple of days I have just gone around the house filling up bin bags and then dropping them off at various charity shops - it's been such a lovely feeling. Really liberating. Part of me worries that I am giving away stuff I may be able to sell but your posts Misty and EH put things in perspective, plus I just don't have the energy at the moment. I have managed to get through the last 4 months without the use of a credit card and I've managed to survive and I haven't been selling loads on 3Bay through that period so I know I can do this.

One thing I have always enjoyed selling though is clothes - I may have mentioned it before. They are so so easy to pack and you don't need much packing either. I always use tissue paper when wrapping though - clothes arrive very similar to how you packed them and it looks like you took care when you packed it. I don't spend much on tissue paper - I buy the cheapest acid free I can buy in bulk and it lasts ages.

Now....I started selling clothes on 3Bay years and years ago when I sold a few of my own clothes and saw how well they did. I used to buy a lot of N3xt clothes for myself and these do tend to sell really well. I noticed that clothes sold better if a mannequin was used so I bought one of those mannequin torsos which are hollow and flat at the back and can be hung up. Sales went up! I then started getting excited about selling clothes and started an 3Bay business and bought a new mannequin - this was more of a dressmakers dummy one but couldn't be adjusted and just kept falling over, so I sold it on.

I then bought my most exciting purchase ever - it's really sad but it's a full size proper mannequin - the sort you get in retail. It's a vintage one and was such a bargain. It's quite hard though finding a space for a spare body in our little house. I used to have her stood by the window until the postman started waving at her to try and get her attention! :rotfl: I used to watch visitors come to the house and get the shock of their lives when they walked in and saw her standing there in a corner. After a while she was upsetting too many people so she went upstairs and got lost in the 3Bay room. The OH decided to finish clearing this room at the weekend and now we are reunited so I am looking forward to listing a few more clothes on 3Bay now using the mannequin. This is the sort of 3Bay selling I like. It's like playing dress up with dolls - rather big dolls though!:D

Misty your mystery shop sounds brilliant! I need a few like that and the pay is really good. I have started doing a few jobs with a new company and I'm undecided as yet if they're going to be worth it. The first one was supposed to take 45 minutes but I ended up being in the shop for 2 hours (slight underestimation) and I only received £12 for it. The second job was supposed to take an hour and only took me 40 minutes and that was me really stretching it out and waiting on the manager to come and see me, and I got £10 for that. Swings and roundabouts. Doesn't beat your £20 for 20 minutes though! Well done!

I have no spare money at the moment for anything including Christmas presents but I am waiting on a cheque to clear which hopefully should be by Friday so that I at least will have a little spending money for the weekend. I have my presents though for my friend to take with me - all bought during the year in sales so not a lot spent but some lovely gifts.

Right that me's done - another essay. Loads more to say including something which happened to me a few days ago which is still giving me palpitations but I'll save it for tomorrow, or Friday! The CLL was in her element today by the way - yet another story for another day!

Take care all xx

Smolly's Stumblings to Sanity - the next Chapter...

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