Focus on the positive #5happythings

What a week. I am still limiting my exposure to the news, because it seems relentlessly negative. However, I want to know what’s going – I just don’t want to feel overwhelmed by it. So I listen to the headlines once a day and leave it at that. Otherwise I end up shouting at the TV! Still, we have had several reasons to be cheerful this week, so let’s focus on the positive. It might be pushing it a  bit to say they are five frugal things, so let’s go for five happy things!

Job news 1

Getting a job in the current climate is tough. My youngest daughter has just graduated, and what a time to try to kickstart your working life!

She is a tryer though. She applied for almost 200 jobs and got just 3 or 4 interviews. One of them was allegedly a receptionist job, taking calls and booking appointments for local businesses. In reality, it was the most awful call centre. She took one call after another from angry and abusive customers, who weren’t getting a good service. They were understandably furious that she could only pass on messages and couldn’t really help. She lasted four weeks before the stress of it overwhelmed her and she left.

This week, after only a fortnight of trying, she managed to get a job in a large department store. She worked for them as a student, and as they knew her they didn’t even make her go for an interview.

She is crazily over qualified, of course, but hopefully things will settle and she will find employment related to her degree at some point. A job is a job, so she can focus on the positive for now.

Job news 2

My eldest daughter has also had a rocky time and has been unemployed for a while. However, she also managed to get a job in a new Starbucks. It’s a drive through as well as a café, and seems to be doing very well. Maybe the coffee shops are the new pubs?

She is loving it so far and enjoying being busy. This is exactly the sort of environment she likes, surrounded by people and with plenty to do.

Starbucks are happy for you to take your dogs in. This meant that we had to take Archie had his first puppacino, and loved it! This was basically a small cup of whipped cream, so he can’t have too much of that.

I have been surprised to find it so busy there, with many people working remotely on their laptops. I guess if you have small kids or other distractions then home working can be a bit of a trial. 

Anyway, if it keeps her employed, I am delighted!

Wildlife watching from the window

There are a lot of urban foxes where we live. We think one of the neighbours has been feeding a particular group of youngsters, as they are all fearless and healthy looking.

They seem to enjoy looking at Archie through the window, and are often found sitting on the front lawn. He goes crazy, barking the house down and wagging his tail. I really think he would love to go out and play.

I know that they are considered vermin but, apart from pulling the bins to pieces, they do little harm. If I still had chickens I would feel quite differently, I am sure!

Look at this one’s cute little face though. We are enjoying their visits.

Charity shop haul

Because of the awful cold and wet weather, I haven’t made it to any boot sales recently. My plan was to stock up as much as possible in case we had another lock down.

Regular readers will know that I buy to sell on eBay, so having nothing to sell is a little inconvenient!

Anyway, I have hit the charity shops quite a lot this month and found some amazing bargains. There are three in particular where I know I can pick decent stuff up cheaply.

It involves going through a lot of rubbish to find the gems, but I love a treasure hunt. 

My favourites this month have been a Joe Brown’s coat for £2, some brand new suede boots for £3.50 (RRP £89.99) and an Adidas padded men’s jacket for £2. For that £7.50 outlay, I hope to make at least a £90 return.

Soup season means a cheap lunch

After using my unwanted bag of frozen mixed veg to make soup last week, I decided to finish the last of the frozen broccoli to make some stilton and broccoli soup.

Although it’s always handy to have frozen vegetables, their tendency towards sogginess means we don’t enjoy them nearly as much.

Another fave soup from frozen ingredients is my mum’s easy pea soup. I just love soup – it is quick, cheap and nutritious.

In these dark times, it’s good to focus on the positive and find some light. All we can do is control what we can control, try not to get too stressed and do our best with what we have.

How has your week been? Do you feel overwhelmed by the bad news or are you trying to focus on the positive too?

I’m linking up with this Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Frugal Friday’ linky.