Play your Cards Right and Give an Opinion

 Now I know I've got some catching up to do, but some of the backlog is by design.. yes, honestly. 

With some of these tasks I wanted to have something to show for them so I've delayed detailing them to enable me to put the task and any immediate results in the same place, rather than trying to flick backwards and forwards to see how it all went... SO

Month 3 - Bite 8

When I pruned the plastic lurking in my purse, wallet and other locations I was a bit shocked to find a number of credit cards. One or two were well past their expiry dates so they've been carefully disposed of, but there were a number of others that I seemed to be using in a very random way. Today's research needs to look at what exactly each card gives me (as I usually pay them off in full so don't need necessarily to worry about APRs and all of that).

Once I'd looked into it I only needed to keep three. One I only use on holidays abroad (fingers crossed that can happen again now). It's because it doesn't add a surcharge for using it in Euros (or whatever) and the exchange rate back to sterling isn't bad at all. That left me with two. It didn't seem to matter too much when I shopped equally in both the supermarkets that issued them, as the rate at which I could earn vouchers was the same as was the value of the 'points' or 'rewards' they gave. Now, though, I use one far more than the other so it's time to use that one solely to gain the maximum value in vouchers.

Month 3 - Bite 9

In amongst the bits of plastic was an old Oyster Card for travelling in London. Not something I do anymore! I thought it still might have some cash stored on it so dug up the account details, logged on and voila! there was nearly £15 just sitting there. One phone call later and it was winging it's way into my 'extras' account. That led me to double check on the other bits of plastic that I'd weeded out only to find odd bits and pieces on other cards and subscriptions - no prizes for guessing what I've done there...

Month 3 - Bite 10

That led me onto survey sites. At one time I used to idly complete surveys while I was working away from home and browsing while in hotel restaurants at breakfast time. The next task was to track down all the survey sites along with any account details I'd squirrelled away. That led to listing what they gave as rewards, which were worth pursuing and which not to waste time on. While in the midst of this I discovered enough points to claim a cash reward of £5 and a voucher for £25 - yes £25.. how did I miss that?

Month 3 - Bite 11

Obviously that means that the next step is to reboot the survey taking to add to the hoard. I now know which sites to visit (from re-establishing contact the previous day some email invitations are already appearing. I don't use my regular email address for these. I've always had a separate one for competitions, surveys and giving out an email address in shops that can't lead anyone to my work or personal emails. I'm now going to allocate the period of time between my coffee and breakfast as survey time. A finite period that won't use too much time and yet should provide more for the extras stash.

Month 3 - Bite 12

Finally (for now), I need to award myself time to gather all the information on savings that I possess. There are a number of little sums in odd accounts scattered about - I'm talking £2-3 at a time. These would do better in one savings account with as decent an interest rate as I can find. That's that job for today's list!

None of this has proved very interesting in a photogenic way, so perhaps it's time to confess to another reason or two for not driving the keyboard so regularly of late...

There's this...

                                 

and this..

                                

and then again...

                             

Well, you wouldn't expect anything less from my distracted thought processes would you? Mind you, the last photo is of a purse for a birthday gift card so it's not quite as random as it appears at first.. really..

So Far, So Good!

My plans are always fine in principle, but often fall apart somewhat due to lots of factors.

This last Christmas I was going to scale back on what I made and start early, but then..

My neighbour kindly passed on a whole pile of dolls for my two nieces' girls. They were great dolls - however they were clothes-less... So the whole Christmas making couldn't start till I'd got them dressed and ready, especially with the little clan from Italy due over in November. 

I was quite pleased with the finished articles (I'll only bore you with one photo as there were 6 dolls all with endless wardrobes to be created obviously!) as I didn't have any patterns and so made all their collections from odds and ends and creative thinking!

Cards were next on the agenda and so I did get on pretty well with those until.....

                            

I was asked to help out by doing a craft stall at a local event. As I hadn't got much made because I'd promised myself no more craft fairs it meant a mass production of decorations, gift bags and bunting.

Sadly, due to Covid happenings and the venue not being ready, the fair didn't go ahead - still if I'm asked next Christmas I've got some stock!

That meant that I needed to crack on with presents - coasters, socks, jumpers - you name it.. Thankfully all but one pair of socks got finished, wrapped and given. The final pair of socks got to its new owner on Friday!

Perhaps this year I need to start even earlier. You'll forgive me, I'm sure, if Christmas and making stuff interrupts my elephant parade here and there. I'm determined to get ahead....

All this demonstrates how my best laid plans can go astray, but I have made it to the laptop for my second 'bite' of the new project.

Month 1 - Day 2

First Task - record spending!

Now I've got my app I've been able to do this - a very onerous task as it consists of recording 50p for inflating the car tyres!!

Now to find a box. 

Yes, I know that's two, but I haven't decided which one to use...and just like the app for recording spending they cost nothing as I found them lurking in the study; even if they'd been some random shoe boxes that would have been okay as they didn't incur any extra cost.

I have a sort of system for keeping all financial paperwork together, but it's time to restart and refine it.

The final system may not end up looking like the box I start with as it will be added to and fine-tuned as time progresses. The important thing is to have one definite home for all those bits and pieces relating to money and bills so that when the time comes to go through them they are all in the same place.

Mind you, this isn't an excuse not to open any envelopes or avoid dealing with them. If they need dealing with or paying that needs to be done as we go along and a note added to each to say how it was dealt with and when. This then gets 'filed' in the box. 

It may be that the initial box needs to be replaced with a larger (or maybe smaller) one in time or a file, but that's for later.

Now each time a piece of financial paperwork arrives there's a home for it.

 

I'm Baaaaack!

It's been a while, but at last I'm back (or baa-ck) with the blog.

So much has happened that if I were to begin filling you in I'd be here till midnight - so I'll just carry on as if I've never been away and try harder to keep up to date. That includes rejoining Handmade Monday and enjoying all the other posts there each week....

I finally gave in to sense and said goodbye to my first wheel... 

I was sad to see it go, but there's not really room to keep everything and I use my travelling wheel more so it's gone off to be used by a really nice guy who farms alpacas.

I've finished one or two patchwork-y pieces.

The first was a recycling project... The front here is made up of old felted jumpers

While the back is old worn out t-shirts...

Finally here's the crocheted mini wall hanging that I started ages ago.

It's now got a starring role on display! It's Exmouth Festival this week, so I've put it in the exhibition at the Blackmore Theatre - part of the Exmouth Art Trail. I've also got some bags, a couple of sari silk wall hangings and a felted picture down there. I'm stewarding at the end of the weekend so I'll try and get some photos to add....

More news soon.... I promise it won't be such a long wait between blogs this time!

Enjoy the Bank Holiday weekend.....