Chasing A Pound

It's been a real sea-change for me, this frugality lark. There was nobody worse than me for going out with £20 or £30 or even £50 in my purse and spending it all on what I thought was splendid stuff but have since realised was basically rubbish. Don't get me wrong - a lot of the stuff I bought went on to make me plenty of money on eBay or at car boot sales, but equally a lot of it is still sitting around the house as 'stock' and I can't think of much of it as 'good buys' now. I thought that everything I got in a charity shop was a bargain (not always the case, definitely) and whilst I've been lucky and caught onto things just as they became popular, thereby making a fair bit of money on eBay, I have also gone on to squander said money on things I don't need at all. In the past I've sold things for good prices, had maybe £150 sitting in my Paypal account and just frittered it away on more eBay things. I'm such a mug.

But I'm trying to change. I'm trying so very hard that it's turning into my main topic of thought...my mind is twisting all the time over ways to make money. I had a day off work today and spent the afternoon at a classroom session for the Census job. Then when I got home at 6 o'clock I made dinner and started on a phone and computer-based survey job thingy that paid £25. I finished that at 9 o'clock. I've applied to do the Returning Officer job in May for the local elections and I've got a mystery shopping job on Saturday 5/3. I could pick up a lot more jobs for that day but my lovely mum is coming for a visit and I can't expect her to sit in the car all day whilst I drive around the city buying eggs and returning sandwiches. And do you know what I actually heard myself saying to Big Man the other day? 'I could do loads of these jobs if Mum wasn't coming'. My lovely mum, who I haven't seen since December :(

What sort of money-saving monster have I turned into? I've gotta calm down.