Monthly Roundup - July

It's been a busier than usual month, so expenses have been a bit higher than I would like, but there have been some compensations such as actually being paid to work at the CS (although I haven't received any wages yet).

Anyway, here's the damage, which is quite a bit worse than the last couple of months:

The Food budget went over by £9.39, mainly on account of my not being very careful on my last shop of the month and throwing a few inessentials into the trolley. They will get eaten, even if it's not this month.  I haven't, however, bought much to go in the freezer, as it was my intention to empty and defrost it before we went away at the end of the month, which I did.

The Household budget was well overspent this month by £47.16. This was mainly on account of my stocking up on natural makeup and beauty products via a My Pure order this month and also due to stocking up on a few other toiletries in Home Bargains at the beginning of the month.

The Miscellaneous budget was also overspent by £50.25. This was exclusively due to travel expenses for my new job, which amounted to around £60. I will be factoring these into next month's budget, so it shouldn't cause the same problem next month.

My personal budget was overspent by £16.15. This was mainly due to unplanned expenditure on a few clothing items for my new job.

LB's budget was over spent by £27, as I treated her to a new blanket for her room from the CS, I got her fringe trimmed and I needed to buy her a shortie wetsuit for an up and coming trip away with some friends.  The amount I'd actually budgeted, was all spent on a new school bag for September.

Finally, the Home budget was also overspent by £6.70 due to ordering some new ice cube trays from eBay, which I'm still waiting for and a little unplanned splurge at TK Maxx on some new kitchen towels. They were both on my wish list though, so I'm not too concerned.

In spite of all the overspending I did still manage to put £135 towards my overdraft, which was £15 less than I'd hoped.  The reason I still managed this, yet was overspent everywhere, was that this month I received two child benefit payments, which was just how it fell, as it is paid every 28 days, so I received a little more income than I expected. I had also, for the first time, allowed a bit of room in the budget for overspending. Nevertheless, a sizeable dent has been made in my overdraft debt, which you can see on the update to the diagram I made last month. There's still a way to go though.

I'm still not sure if I will receive my wages at the end of this month, if I don't, OH is lending me the money until I do and then I'll pay him back at the end of August when I do finally get paid.

Next month, I have some extra expenses, namely more school uniform to buy for LB and a 21st birthday present to buy for my niece. Other than this, there's just the added travel expenses for work to factor in.

As we are spending a week in Yorkshire, I will probably spend a bit of money on booking a few classes at local leisure centres and I will probably also spend some money in one of my favourite local shops (Boyes), as I'd like to get some underwear from there and maybe some more skinny jeans, which I've bought there in the past and like the fit of. I also want to replace the umbrella that I left and lost in the Nike shop the other month, as this was originally purchased from there. Other than these things, I'll be buying wish list only items if I can manage to stick to it for yet another month.

I am aiming to pay at least another £100 off my overdraft next month, but this may increase depending on whether I get paid this month end and potentially have some surplus cash.

On a positive note, expenditure has gone down this month, income from investments has gone up very slightly and after receiving a pension statement for my civil service pension, my overall estimated future pension payments have also gone up, which is encouraging. I'm hoping to get monthly spending down further still over the coming months and keep it at a much lower level going forward.

I'll keep you posted of future progress.

Give Me A Break

Yesterday (Thursday), I finished a consecutive 3 day stint at the CS. I wasn't sorry to finish this week. It's been exhausting, as some (well, one in particular) of the interns have been quite difficult to manage and I am happy to take a step back and get a break from it all.

LB came to the shop yesterday, as I needed to put her on a train at Kings Cross, to travel up to Yorkshire, where we will be meeting up with her again on Saturday afternoon. She caught the bus into town and I went out to meet her at the bus stop.  I was in charge of the shop, as the manager was at a meeting.  It took only 10 minutes or so to collect her and get back to the shop. I carried on working for half an hour whilst she waited in the office, and then in my lunch hour, we headed by tube to the railway station for her to catch her train.

When I got back and tapped out of the tube station, my balance on my card had gone down from approx. £20 to £10, which is very steep when the maximum for one day's travel in Zones 1 and 2 is £6.60. Today, I called TFL and it transpires that the system got confused when I spent only a short time at Kings Cross and charged me for two unfinished journeys, even though I did finish both journeys, as I had to tap out to get through the tube station barriers and into the railway station.

Anyway, the crux of it is, that TFL now owe me £7.20, but I have to travel by train or tube again to get it back.  I explained that I use the bus and don't use the train/tube currently, but the only other alternative is to register online, giving my bank details, so that they can give me a refund.  I don't want to do this, however, as I don't feel I should need to.  I'm happy topping up with cash or a card at the station and don't want them to have my details online.  It's just more risk to me. As a consequence, they are holding my money until I travel by train again, then I have to ring them the day before and get them to action the refund when I use the card to travel by train. I told them it was completely ridiculous, but they don't seem to get it and are holding my money hostage. Talk about frustrating.  It just seems like a scam to me, to get you to register online.

I think you can tell that I need a break from London.  I'm feeling stressed by things here.  It will be bliss not to have to negotiate such complicated systems and people for a while. To me life is simple, go to work, do some actual work, come home and spend time with those I love - but others seem intent on making it much more complicated.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. Today, I'm trying to tie up loose ends.  I've collected a parcel that LB needs when we get back from Yorkshire.  The very next day she is heading off away for a few days with some friends.

I'm in the process of defrosting the freezer and will then be blanching vegetables from the garden and allotment, ready to freeze once it is running again.

I'm also catching up on ironing, so that I can pack for our week away. I've sorted out which books I'm taking - all five of them. It's quite a rural location that we're going to, so there should be plenty of time for reading and chilling. I just need to check out the classes at the local gym and sign up for a few online for while we're there. I can't wait to load up the car tomorrow and just go.

Flylady Monday

Today, was one of the days that I don't usually work, and after having a pretty lazy day yesterday, I decided that I'd better pull my finger out and get some Flylady cleaning done. 

This week I was working in Zone 5, which is the Living Room and I also needed to complete my Weekly Home Blessing, so after attending a class at the gym, then taking LB to get her fringe cut and after watching a couple of Flylady videos to motivate me, I knuckled down and actually got ahead of myself for a change.  I did this by cleaning the living room, dining room and hallway, as next week, whilst we're away, it will be the turn of the dining room and entrance hall and I didn't want to miss this zone cleaning out altogether.

It probably took me about 3 or so hours in total, which is a fair amount of time, but it felt good to get it done, as it means that when we get back from our housesitting in Yorkshire, it will be the turn of Zone 2 (the kitchen) and I can get straight on and do that. Besides, I don't like going away and leaving a dirty house behind, although it might be a bit dirty again by Saturday.

I'm working tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday this week, as I need to do all of my hours before we go away on Saturday. On Thursday, LB is meeting me in town, as I need to put her on a train to Yorkshire, where her Auntie or Grandma will pick her up at the station.  She's going up early to spend a couple of days with her cousins before they go on holiday. I'm a bit nervous about letting her travel alone, but she's got a first class ticket on a direct train and I'm going to put her on the train myself and ask the first class hostess if she'll keep an eye on her. She's pretty independent and sensible, so I'm sure she'll be fine.

The week we get back, she's heading off with some friends for a few days, to stay at their Grandma's house in Hampshire.  I'm pleased that she's busy with her social life and not bored this year in the holidays, especially as I'm working this summer, but I'll still  miss her while she's away. I know she'll have a great time though.

We have a family holiday planned for August, when we're going to France for a week, during which OH is competing in a cycle race.  We've hired a large house with an indoor pool and a large garden, so it should be relaxing and apart from food, petrol and taking the ferry, the accommodation will be our main expense, which means it shouldn't be a particularly expensive holiday again this year.

By the time we get back from that holiday, we will be into the last week of the summer holidays and it will be a mad dash to get everything we need for her going back to school.  It's amazing how fast the weeks go.

Here in London, the summer exodus has started already and it's great.  Traffic is manageable and the streets near where we live are virtually empty.  It's amazing how many families completely decamp for the summer.  We're not complaining though, as it makes getting around a whole lot easier. I like London during the summer holidays.

Anyway, I'm going now, to do the last job on my list before I'm back at work tomorrow, namely the ironing.  There's not a lot, so it shouldn't take too long.  I'll post again soon.

Allotment Update

As promised I thought I'd post an update about the allotment. I haven't really visited much in the last two weeks, due to starting my new job. I did manage one visit to water and harvest, but other than this I didn't do any work on the plot.

As a consequence, when I visited on Sunday afternoon the weeds had started to grow back with abandon in places. After harvesting any crops that were ready, I decided that it was time to do a bit of work and spent a couple of hours removing the weeds. I managed to get half way around the plot in that time, which wasn't too bad.  Here's a picture of how the plot looked when I left. The side I dug over is on the right.

The other side of the plot is more densely cultivated, so the weeds aren't as abundant, but I did go back to tackle them today and cleared most of them.  I also sowed salad and fennel seeds into any gaps that had arisen.


Here's a picture of the vegetables I harvested on the initial visit on Sunday:

(Please excuse my very muddy boots and leopard print hareems! - Strange gardening attire, I know)

 and the vegetables harvested today:

I have to admit that we're struggling to eat everything, so I desperately need to defrost the freezer to be able to store some of it.

I've now harvested the last of the early lettuce crops both at the allotment and at home, and although I've sewn more, none of it is really anywhere near ready to harvest.  We have one more week here before we go up to Yorkshire for a week to housesit for relatives, so I might just be able to make what we have last until then and hopefully when we get back some more will be ready.

Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 12

It's been an expensive month this month, what with starting a new job and having to pay for things that I wouldn't normally budget for. i.e. bus fares, clothing for work, etc. This has led to a number of frugal fails this post, but I'm taking it on the chin as next month, I will be able to adjust the budget to account for these expenses.

Frugal Fails this post are as follows:

1) I went further over on my personal budget this month, to buy a reusable water bottle that would fit into my handbag, for taking to work. (I only had a large one).  It has been very useful though, as it is incredibly hot in the sorting room at the shop, despite numerous fans going, so it has been helping to keep me hydrated. I never usually drink much water, save for at the gym, so it's making me drink much more, which is a good thing.

2) I also went over on my Misc. budget on account of paying out over £ in bus fares to work this month.  Luckily, I think there was some room in the budget, which should still allow me to pay as much off my overdraft as I wanted to this month.  I'll know better by the end of the month.

3) The Household budget got busted on account of my having to place an order with My Pure for some natural toiletry/skincare products that I'm running out of.  I needed facial wash, dental floss and concealer, but threw an eyebrow gel and a face cream into the basket too, as by doing so, I got the facial wash for free and they will be needed at some point in very near the future. I haven't stocked up like this recently, but I figured it will save me from having to place another order for the next couple of months.

Frugal Measures and Freebies

1) I got the free natural facial wash as mentioned above, by ordering an extra couple of items I use regularly from My Pure.  The whole order was also subject to a 10% discount with a voucher code, which saved another £3 or so.

2) I used another Tesco £4 off a £30 spend voucher on groceries this week when doing the weekly shop.

3) I got a print out of my journeys to work, just to check how much I'm paying each day in bus fares.  I was happy to see that one day, the card reader on the bus didn't charge me for my journey both ways for some reason, so I got a free day's travel.

4) I received a dividend pay out on one lot of the shares I bought a few months ago.  Not a huge sum at £11.90, but it was more than I would earn in interest in the bank and it will go towards buying some more shares in a different company, when I've collected enough money in the account.

The Halfway Point

Well, it's the halfway point of the month, and I'm halfway through my first month in my new job, so I thought I'd do a little post about how I'm faring.

Budgetwise, I'm not doing so great, as already most of the budgets are overspent, some by quite a bit, some by just a little.  I have still got money left for food for the next two weeks though and I'm trying hard to empty the freezer, so am buying as little new food as possible these next two weeks. Hopefully, I might just scrape through and still save as much off my overdraft as I'd hoped (i.e. £150) despite all the added expenses of going out to work this month.

On the job front, I'm two weeks into the temporary contract and am finding my feet a little more at work.  I still find it difficult to manage some of the younger members of the team, but am trying to be a bit better at delegating.  A lot of the time I tend to do things myself, as it is easier than standing around listening to excuses or looking at blank faces, but I know this is unsustainable and I need to get others to help with the jobs that are less popular.  It's a learning curve that I knew I would face from the moment I accepted the job.

On the positive side, the sorting room is looking a lot more organised and much of the backlog in there has been processed, so it is gradually becoming a lot less overwhelming, although the rate at which donations come in and the clothes are replaced on the shop floor is still a big challenge, as many more items have to be sorted, prepared and put out each day than I'm used to.

I find that I enjoy working on weekend days a little more, when there are far fewer volunteers and the commute to work is much quicker on the bus, due to no-one venturing out in London early on a Saturday morning. When I get to the shop I can work without the many distractions of supervising a large number of volunteers and it is the one day that I am able to make a cup of tea and drink some of it. (I never drink it all!) This does have the down side, however, that with less (wo)manpower, fewer items get put out in the shop, as you have to complete the whole process on your own .

On the home front, the cleaning has slipped a bit. I just didn't have the energy to clean the bathroom last Wednesday, so I'm carrying that job over to today, when I will be doing my Weekly Home Blessing.  I don't think rooms will be as deeply zone cleaned going forward, but so long as I keep on top of the main jobs, doing something is better than nothing. I am now beginning to understand that it's not necessarily time, but energy that is lacking when you go out to work, especially when the job is very physically demanding. The mind is willing, (sometimes) but the body isn't on the days when I'm not at work.

On the decluttering and simplifying front, I haven't really done a whole lot.  I did go through the book shelf in the sewing room the other day and pulled out a dozen books I no longer want to keep. I also went through LB's book shelf and pulled out another few books she didn't want too. I can't see there being a large number of items decluttered this month, but you never know, I might get a second wind in the latter half of the month.

With regard to the garden and allotment, I have managed to do occasional visits to water. The rain we had last week helped a lot, as it reduced the need for visits.  I did spend a couple of hours on the plot yesterday, weeding and harvesting.  I got about half way round before coming home.  I'll probably try to get back there again towards the end of the week, energy levels allowing. We've got quite a few vegetables from the plot waiting to be eaten now, which is good. I'll do a separate post about this.

We had a lovely day at Wimbledon last week. We watched a Men's Doubles quarter final and a Mixed Doubles match and then had a wander around the outside courts to watch some wheelchair tennis and some of the youth matches. We tried to get on Henman Hill to watch the end of Johanna Konta's match with Venus Williams on Centre court, but it was just too busy and there was nowhere left to stand, so we went back to our seats in Court One.

We did manage to meet up with my friend from the gym, who had tickets for the same court on the same day and we sat watching with her and her friend for the last couple of hours which was nice. Attending Wimbledon is a lovely day out, but the journey home is a long one for us on the Tube and quite exhausting. We got home at 9pm.

I hope you're having a good month so far.

Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 11

This week I spent quite a bit of money, as soon as it came my way. Most of my spending happened on account of a couple of trips to the local mall to get my hair cut in readiness for a job interview and any subsequent spending has been on groceries only. So here goes:

Frugal Fails:

1) I bought two new tops and a pair of pumps that weren't budgeted for, to wear to work at my new job.  Well, strictly, I purchased one for the interview and a similar one because I liked the first one and then saw a sweet pair of (not very comfortable when you wear them for a long time) pumps.  In total I spent £15.50, as I bought a small bottle of perfume too, for my handbag. (Yes, natural intentions temporarily on hold at the moment, as I can't afford the expense) I didn't know I'd got the job when I bought these items, but now I have, they should come in very useful.

2) Unfortunately, I may have just missed the payroll deadline to get paid at the end of this month from the new job, so it might be a tight month next month while I'm waiting to be paid at the end of August.  I'm sure OH will help me out if necessary.

More positively:

Freebies and Frugal Measures

1) I used a couple of small Tesco vouchers  to get a little bit of money off a loaf of bread and some cherries this week. I told you I had no shame when it came to money off vouchers. I also used another of their £3 off a £30 shop vouchers on my grocery shop this week.

2) I used a 20% off voucher with ASOS to buy LB's new school bag for the next school year. (More early uniform shopping!) I had budgeted for it this month too.

3) Within the Home budget, I bought a fab pair of oil and vinegar bottles from Lakeland for just £5.79, which was a great price.  These were on my list of things I needed to buy for the house and I was willing to pay up to £15 for some, but these came in well under budget.

4) I did a huge food shop the week before I started my new job, partly because I figured if I got the job I wouldn't have so much time to go grocery shopping. Stocking up meant that we were able to get through quite an intense period, without running out of food. I will be meal planning simple quick meals for the days that I work, so that either OH can make supper if he so wishes or I can do it quickly when I get in late.

5) I caught the bus to work every day, which cost £3 in total each day, as opposed to £6.60 on the train/tube.  This more than halved my travel costs and as I don't get expenses for them now, it's all good.

6) I packed my own lunches to work each day, so I didn't spend any money save for travel expenses. I intend to continue to do this for the duration of the contract.

7) I got my wristwatch mended this month.  It needed a new battery and the back had to be removed with a special tool, so I had to take it to a watch repairer.  It would have been £15 for a new battery (insane!), but lifetime battery replacement was £20, so I went for that instead and just hope the watch will last me at least another year so that I get my money's worth.

8) The allotment is finally producing vegetables.  We harvested lettuce, courgettes, a kohl rabi and some climbing beans this week. Plus more salad and a few onions from the garden too.

Fortnightly Flylady Update

Well, it's been two weeks since I did a Flylady Update post and a few things have happened in between posts. The main thing being that I was offered a temporary part-time paid job for the charity that I've been volunteering for, which I have accepted. I don't know yet what bearing this might have on my keeping up with the Flylady system, but it will be a good test.

Two weeks ago, I posted about it being the turn of the Master bedroom to be zone cleaned. I was then intending to clean out the linen cupboard, which I did manage to do one evening.  Nothing really then got done for a full week in Zone 5 (the living room), as I couldn't muster up much enthusiasm for it and the excitement around going for a job interview distracted me completely from the task in hand. I did, however, carry out my Weekly Home Blessing over the weekend, so at least that got done.

Anyway, on Monday this week, whilst still waiting to hear whether or not I'd got the job, I figured I'd best get on with it, as if I did get the job, I might nt have time later in the week. (I knew they wanted someone to start asap) By this time, cleaning in Zone 1 had come around again, (the dining room/second reception and entrance hall) so I decided to just knuckle down for the afternoon and cleaned both within a couple of hours. (They are adjoining rooms).

It was just as well really, as the call saying I'd got the job came soon afterwards.  To celebrate I went out into the garden and tidied up my veg beds, harvesting the remaining lettuce to last us through the week, planting out some tomatoes and marigolds and clearing away the petit pois which had gone over. I intended to go to the allotment too, but didn't have enough time, so that got done later in the week.

After watching Flylady Diane's video the other day, I realised that due to the beginning of a new month falling last week, two zones needed to be covered, so I'm a bit behind.  This week we are back in the kitchen or Zone 2, so I'll be trying to do some work here in my free time this week.  I managed to clean the cupboard fronts and patio door windows before heading off to work the other day. I still need to  clean the inside of the windows above the sink and the window sills, as I've been spraying the fruit flies again (which leaves a residue) and then just cleaning worktop surfaces for this month. I'll try to do these jobs when I do my Weekly Home Blessing on Sunday. I was hoping to defrost the freezer, but there's too much food in it still, so I'll have to wait until I can get everything eaten down.

Now my house is in better order, through using the Flylady system, I feel much better prepared for returning to the world of paid work, so I'm very grateful that I did all the Flylady cleaning when I did. Maybe it even brought some opportunity my way, who knows.

Whatever happens, I'll keep you posted about how things go.

Preparing to Re-enter the World of Work

It may have come as a bit of surprise to many of you, to hear that I've been offered a part-time temporary paid job for the charity that I've been volunteering for during the past 15 months and I can't quite believe it myself, as it happened so fast. As I've already mentioned, I'm both nervous and excited about this new challenge, not wanting to let anyone down is my main concern. I just want to do my best, and that is what I told the current managers at the interview.

I'm not sure when I start, but I do need to go in and see the area manager at lunchtime today, to complete some paperwork, so that I can start as soon as possible. The situation is that the permanent shop manager is being seconded to another post temporarily for three months, to cover the absence of another staff member. The current deputy manager is stepping up to cover his post and I am being employed to cover the deputy manager's post until the permanent manager returns in September.

It's going to be a big learning curve for me and although I am apprehensive, I want to do a good job and help keep the shop running as smoothly as possible. It's a larger shop though, with a lot more throughput of donations and space to display them and it's definitely going to be a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to.

The temporary nature of the job is great for me, as it will allow me to find out if I'm really cut out for working in this field or not, with no longstanding obligation. Who knows how it will turn out. I hope well, but one never knows. I'm trying to keep a level head and approach the job in a sensible, practical fashion, mainly so I don't get too overwhelmed, but what it will be like when I actually get in there is anybody's guess.

My current manager has been very supportive, putting me forward for the job, allowing me to leave at such short notice and generally encouraging me to give it a go and see what happens.  He seems to have every faith that I'm capable of the job, which is very reassuring and helps to give me confidence and is also offering me ongoing support which is much appreciated. I have learned a lot from him since he came to the shop.  He has a completely different approach from that of the original manager and I have come to appreciate his calmness and level headed approach to the work, which has been a big influence on my approach to the job. Yes, sometimes it gets stressful and pressurised, but I'm hoping it doesn't always have to be like that and it is possible to keep things running pretty smoothly. We'll see what happens.

I  have also gained valuable experience working with the original manager of my current shop, who had some very nice qualities and a very strong work ethic, which has taught me to try to work as efficiently as possible, whilst paying attention to detail and following company protocols and maintaining a sense of humour. I'll be taking the knowledge that I gained from her with me too, to help me in the new job. I feel very lucky to have had two very different, but very accomplished mentors over the past year or so, and experience that can hopefully help guide me through some of the pitfalls.

Travelling, to a completely different part of London is going to be interesting.  I was starting to feel a bit fed up of the commute to my volunteer job, but there are various ways I could journey to the new job, including multiple combinations of bus, rail, underground, bike, etc.  I could even try a different one every week if I wanted to, until I find one that suits me, but it is likely that the underground will be travelled for at least part of the route, so I've got to get used to that change, as I understand that it is very hot and crowded in the summer months. I'm hoping to minimise this mode of travel as much as I possibly can, to just a few short stops on one line.

I'm still intending to take my lunch with me daily and try to spend very little money whilst at work. I've been informed that there are some very nice small public gardens not far from the shop, should I need to get away from the shop environment on my breaks.  This might be very useful for helping me to reboot during my longer working hours. 

In addition, I will, of course, have to pay for my travel expenses once I'm a paid employee, so trying to use less expensive travel options might factor into my journeys, time allowing. The bus, although cheaper, takes a long time, so I'm not sure it is an option on it's own, but perhaps combined with cycling part of the way it may be. There are some pretty good cycle routes that take me completely off the roads for quite a big part of the way, and I'll be trying these out in the first few weeks. I really enjoy the freedom of cycling at least part of the way, which wasn't so much of an option in the past, but is now, which is good. It'll be good exercise too.

The shop itself being bigger, will also be a challenge. I am given to understand that it is very physically demanding, because of it's layout and the fact that there will be a lot of going up and down stairs with bags of donations/recycling, etc.  The fact that I'll be working for the same organisation is reassuring though, as it will make the transition easier than if I were moving to a different charity, with different protocols and rules.

I'll let you know how everything progresses, but I must warn you that I may not be able to post quite so often as I have been doing lately, although I will definitely continue blogging.

A Funny Old Week

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster of a week this last week. I had two pretty bad commutes home from the CS, one due to a broken down train, the other the result of an exchange of words with another passenger that I won't go into, but which wasn't an enjoyable encounter.
 
Anyway, after that on Thursday I hit an impasse and was having a bit of a crisis. As I said a few weeks ago, I was really struggling to enjoy my work at the CS at the moment, due to the lack of variation in my day. After a lot of thinking about it, I decided that I would have to talk to the manager and either cut my hours or see what else could be done.

I hope I'm not coming across as being a diva, it's not really like that. I'm pretty easy going, but I just felt a bit marginalised on the till all the time I'm there and it's not really making good use of my skills. It was also just killing the experience for me if I'm honest. No one probably realises how I feel, because I don't complain or moan about it, I just get on with it.

Anyway, on Thursday, exhausted by the stress of it all I took myself off to bed for a nap in the afternoon and when I woke up I discovered a voice mail from my manager.  I was a bit concerned at first, but it turned out to be a potential paid temporary job opportunity at another shop in London, that he wanted to let me know about.

After a bit of toing and froing, I decided to apply and arranged to go to said shop for an informal 'chat' with one of the managers there on Saturday.  On Saturday morning I headed off to a local mall for a haircut (it was long overdue) on account of the 'interview' and then from there headed into town to the shop.

The 'chat' lasted a couple of hours and seemed to go reasonably well, although I wasn't sure I'd get the job, as they were looking for someone full time and I stressed that I could only work part-time for a maximum of 3 days per week.  With the summer holidays coming up, I'm just not prepared to work more than that, as I want to spend some time with LB. I had to be very firm on that point, for both my sanity and for the smooth running of family life here.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I got a call today and I've got the job.  I've got to go in on Wednesday to expedite some paperwork, so that I can start as soon as possible.  It's very exciting and  nerve wracking in equal measures, but I'm looking forward to a new challenge in a much larger shop and with more responsibility. The job itself is for just 3 months, which over the summer isn't ideal, but sometimes you've got to take an opportunity where it presents itself and run with it.

Wish me luck, as I need all that I can muster.

Donated - June 2017

After the mammoth amount of donations I accumulated last month, mainly whilst doing the zone cleaning, this month, I was not really expecting to find anywhere near the same amount, but I did my best regardless.  The following are the items I did manage to declutter this month.

1. Slightly chipped, but still very usable Pyrex casserole dish - surplus to requirements.

2-5. Four unwanted items from OH's wardrobe - donated or recycled for rags.

6. One wool jacket belonging to OH - donated.

7-19. Thirteen books from the dining room - donated.

20-21. Two handmade quilts that I no longer wish to keep.

22. One recipe book - no longer needed.

23-24. Two silicone ice cube trays - replaced with more appropriate ones i.e. moustaches and penguins replaced by regular cube shaped ice cubes - a touch wasteful, but definitely more grown up and the donated ones will hopefully be useful to someone else.

25. One book donated from those in the kitchen.

26-27. Two more books - one read, one I don't want to read.

28-29. Two magazines - read.

30. One pair of flip flops.

31. One balsa wood aeroplane model - OH's!

32-33. Two jigsaws.

34. One book I'm never going to read.

35-36. Two school shirts recycled for rags.

37-50. One electronic Leap pad reader in carry case with 12 books and cartridges.

51. One battery operated remote controlled children's car.

52-53. Two packets of seeds (free with a magazine) that I'm not going to use.

54. One magazine - read.

55. One cushion cover.

56. One pack of fragranced drawer sachets - I used the matching drawer liners and they smelled very unpleasant to me, so I don't want to use these.  Someone else may like the smell though.

The final figure for this month was 56 items, which added to last month's running total of 492, means that at the halfway point of the year, I've managed to declutter 548  items, so I'm currently on course to meet the 1000 item target, that I set myself to declutter this year, if I can keep up the momentum that is.

Freebies, Frugal Measures and Frugal Fails 10

This week's Frugal Fails included the following:

Hooray! There were none that I can think of. ☺

Frugal Measures and Freebies this week included:

1) I bought myself a new ironing board cover online in the John Lewis clearance sale. At £6 it was a bargain. Only trouble was, I paid £3.50 for postage, as I didn't want to spend £30 for free click and collect or £50 for free delivery and I didn't want to visit the mall either which would have cost £3 in bus fares, unless I went on my bike of course. (but if it wasn't in stock it would have been a waste of effort)  It still came in less than the price I was expecting to pay for one (i.e. £15), so I'm pretty happy.

2) I used the £5 credit balance on my business credit card to buy a few groceries in the last week of the month. It came in very handy to tide me over, besides, it's not like they'll be paying me interest to be in credit.

3) Whilst at the Give & Take at the weekend,  I received a free sample of a product called Sugru which is a mouldable glue a bit like Playdoh that dries hard and can be used to repair things.  It comes in various colours. We picked the one called mossy green which almost matches the paint in our kitchen. There's lots of different ideas for things you can do with it on their website and in the booklet that came with it. An interesting concept.

4) More free seeds - unfortunately, two of the three I'm unlikely to use so I'm donating them.

5) I used a £3 off a £30 shop voucher at Tesco this week.

6) I had a nightmare commute home from the CS the other evening when a freight train broke down on the line, preventing all trains getting through.  As a consequence, I had to take a tube and another train to get home and when I got out of the station it was raining hard and I got soaked.  Luckily, the Big Issue seller outside  the station provided me with a plastic bag so I didn't get my bum wet.  A very kind gesture from a very nice man.

The consequence of all this was that my journey cost more money and I didn't want to pass the cost onto the CS, so I asked to be recompensed by London Transport, which they did.  I won't hesitate to ask again in the future if I face disruption again.