Well now, today was the day I finally got to wear that blouse I purchased, for my interview! And I am happy to say I feel it went quite well. Oh and I saw two people check out my blouse too! (Didn't tell you it was smart but eye catching did I?)
I found out that between 50 - 60 people had applied for the job and only 8 people were invited in for interview, of which I was first in. So, although I really want the job and don't get me wrong I will be bitterly disappointed if I don't get it, I feel fairly proud of myself for even making it through the door.
I was interviewed by a panel of three people who all threw various questions at me. I couldn't answer all the questions but I was honest where appropriate as nothing worse than a blagger! And they did say at the beginning not to worry if you couldn't answer them all.
Afterwards I was shown around the campus by someone else - which I think was a bit of an exercise on their part to see what sort of person I was, did I chat, was I approachable that sort of thing and without wanting to get my hopes up I do feel that went really well too.
I should know this week and if I don't get it, because it is the NHS they said they would be obliged to give feedback. So that will be useful for future applications there or elsewhere.
Please keep your fingers crossed for me! I feel so excited about having a chance to work for an organisation where my hard work ultimately goes into helping human beings rather than just making someone rich, even richer. So now I wait......hopefully I should know Wednesday/Thursday.
In the meantime my challenge is to see us through the next week with a food budget of £15 and half a tank of petrol in my 1100cc car (it's about 14 litres of fuel!) has got to get me as close to 3rd August as possible which is when next the credit card statement cuts in. Absolutely no chance of eking it out that long but I am rationing car journeys until the end of the month and at least making sure I can combine journeys where possible i.e. tomorrow I will go grocery shopping after work on the way home rather than coming home, having dinner and then going out again. I know I know I should be doing that anyway huh?
I try and set myself a budget for food & fuel for the month and I pay off my credit card bill in full every time but I use it for everything possible to collect Air Miles. You have to be filthy rich I think and booking lots of your own travel to make the Air Miles really work for you but I thought I would give it a go to at least try and get something for the money I would spend anyway. I am determined to get at least something out of it at least once! After that I think I'll 'tart' it for something that offers something a bit more realistic even if it is a small amount of cash back!
Yesterday I did an inventory of the food we have in the house and we have quite a few tinned items and some frozen stuff - enough to get us through this week and probably next week, supplemented with fresh veg/potatoes for mash and some fruit. I have £15 for this week and £15 for next week, plus some Nectar points I can use if I have to because I really don't want to spend more than that £30 combined. I'd really like to try and save the Nectar points for Christmas time though. I have been collecting quite a few through British Gas as I they offer them for submitting your meter readings online and seems I do that monthly for gas & electric I have accumulated a fair amount.
However I am changing energy suppliers. As soon as British Gas announced their latest hikes I went onto USwitch via QuidCo and changed to the best I could find for my area (Atlantic) and earned £22 from them and hopefully will save money with the cheaper tariff too, later in the year when it switches over.
I have been continuing with the short bursts of water in the shower to keep the gas boiler from firing and have started to wash my hair bent over the bath very quickly, massaging the conditioner in and pinning it up/leaving it to soak into my very dry hair whilst I then hop in for the good old scrub down! I feel much better about the resources I am using, doing it this way. Just over a week till I can submit latest meter readings and we'll see how I have done. Hoping for £18 or less for the gas and £24 or less for the electric. Feeling a bit gloomy about the electric as have had to use tumble drier once or twice in the last week due to the massive amounts of rain we've had however the forecast looks dry for the next couple of days so a good 'load' of washing will be going on tomorrow to be dried outside that's for sure.
I am off work next week (hurrah!) in which I will be either celebrating a new job offer or commiserating with some economy biscuits and a cup of tea whilst enjoying free exercise and as many frugal activities as possible to enjoy my week's absence from the office.
What are your frugal fun ideas for a week off work? Happy to read any suggestions!
My fingers are crossed for you.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I had a holiday from work I used to relish in just staying at home. Even just doing jobs around the home was heaven, taking as much time as you want to do things. So if frugal is what you want stay home and play - baking (forget the economy biscuits - make your own or what about making your own bread - that'll save you some money), sewing, knitting, cleaning, sitting and looking, walking or watching the garden grow. This is what I do now that I've finished work. The only thing against it is that time flies when you're enjoying yourself. Have a happy week off.