Changes on the horizon
I have my fingers crossed that life will be changing shortly. Our Area Manager has been discussing the possibility of creating a Deputy Manager post at out store, which will mean one of our Assistant Managers will be promoted, meaning an AM post becoming empty. Neil, one of our current AM's asked me if I was interested so I said I was and he's passed my name on to the Area mnager. Another good thing is Pets at Home only employ AM's from current staff, so I just have to cross my fingers that no-one from another store fancies it.
If I do get promoted it will likely mean going back to full time hours, which means something has to give - which will be the piccies. I may well give them up, at least temporarily if this doesn't happen. I am finding it hard to fit everything in and it would be nice to come in from work and do what I want, rather than draw other people's pets. As I have been so busy with them, it's become a bit tedious over the last few months, so some time spent drawing what i want would be good. The more I think about it, the more it seems a good idea....
Just means I have to control my finances better - as the piccies are a valuable source of extra income.
The OU stuff needs more time too though and I do feel that is very important - possibly another future changing thing at a later date. I've submitted two assesements, both at the last minute and I'm about a week behind on the study, so less time drawing means more time studying. I'm enjoying the study and not finding the science concepts too difficult but still struggling on the Maths.
My budget hasn't been going well at all - it's only February and i've already failed. This month I must try harder, though it's going to be tough due to the state I got in last month!!
Labels: career, Open University, resolutions, spending
The Budget begins...
Not sure if going shopping in the New Look sale was good for it though! But I did get a cardigan, pair of jeans and a top for £16! I bought a new mobile yesterday too. A Sony Erricson Walkman phone - was £80 in the Tesco sale. My Christmas money is paying for that though.
I thought of two new resolutions:
Groom my dogs more often: I have two Springer Spaniels which have long hair and like to swim in the sea and crash about in the undergrowth and generally get filthy. I gave them both a brush on Tuesday and ended up having to trim Jerry's ears - they looked such a mess after i'd cut all the knots out. I am ashamed of myself.
Get to work on time: I start work at 7am and live 5 minutes away. I also hate getting out of bed - I am bad! I have been bad lately for getting to work either bang on 7 or a minute or two after and I just really feel that I should make the effort to get their a little bit early. I used to manage it, i've just got lazy recently.
I've already broke the second one - got to work at 7:02am this morning. Must try harder!
Labels: my pets, resolutions, spending
Happy New Year!
Ok, I know it's a bit early, but who cares! I've been fairly busy of late hence why I haven't been updating this regularly but now my life is my own again I can start 2008 the way I mean to go on!
I could write a list of resolutions as long as my arm (involving doing more housework and boring rubbish like that!) but I know I won't keep them so I'm going to stick to a few that are either
- really important, or
- things I want to do
So... in the really important category we have:
Sort out my Finances (*shudder*). I am fairly bad at managing my money and have managed to have a rather large overdraft and a largeish credit card bill. None of it's really horrendous compared to the debts you hear about on the telly, but it's a lot when you work part time for not much more than the minimum wage!!
So, to overcome this I have made a budget. Every 4 weeks when I get paid I'm going to take out my money for the month in cash so I can see the actual money going down and how much i'm spending, rather than randomly using my debit card for everything. I am going to stop ordering books I don't need from the book club and Amazon (*sob*) and make lunch rather than buy it on the days I work all day. I have also applied for a new Credit Card with 6 months 0% interest on balance transfers so I won't have to pay interest for a while on the the credit card balance.
The Big Plan is, if I can pay all my outgoings out of my wages (which I should be able to) any extra I get from the pet portraits can go in the Savings account, which is looking Very Sad at the moment. Wish me luck!!
And now on to the fun ones:
Learn to knit. I have been wanting to do this for several months now but haven't had the time. I have been inspired by several blogs and websites and have decided I would love to be able to knit some things for myself and other people. As of yet, there is no definite plan on how i'm giong to do this but it is likely going to be self taught from books. (I love books.)
Make more cards. I'm not really sure if this counts as a resolution but I'll add it anyway. I've really been enjoying the card making and am planning on making all my cards from now on. I am also planning on making some for sale using my own dog drawings. I need to get some more money coming in from the drawing front and this seems like a good way to do it - handmade cards, but totally original as they'll have my own artwork. And i've seen some great paper with doggy paw prints down the craft shop!
Do more crafty stuff. How marvelously vague that is! I spend a lot of time wasting time on the internet. This year I'm going to put my time to good use and make some stuff. When my card making course has finished, I'm planning on doing something else - either scrap-booking or jewellery making probably. By next Christmas I want to be able to make all of my Christmas presents!
So, there you have it - my plans for next year. I also have a training course for work to do and would love to find the finances to do an Open University course, but that's definitely only a maybe - depending on time and money. Hope you all have a fantastic start to 2008 and long may it continue!
Labels: card making, craft class, hobbies, resolutions
