I hope that you are enjoying the Early May Bank Holiday weekend. Although it’s a shame the weather in Four Oaks has been a bit cold and wet, after a dry April, we did need a spot of rain. Sorry, I switched back into work mode for a couple of seconds then! I can’t believe it’s May, that my birthday has been and gone, and that parkrun will hopefully be returning next month. I’m looking forward to being reunited with my parkrun family.

If you read the three personal challenge posts I published at the beginning of the year, you’ll be aware that I set myself some money-saving challenges for 2021.

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If you haven’t read these posts, please do check them out Challenge 1 | Challenge 2 | Challenge 3.

Challenge 1: Will I be able to get through the year without buying any new clothes and shoes?

During April, I spent an unhealthy amount of time checking out the Tall range on the Dorothy Perkins website. Luckily for this challenge, they were completely out of stock of jeans in my size. I very nearly bought some second-hand jeans on eBay, but I reminded myself that I didn’t *need* any more jeans. The truth is that I need to lose weight so that I can fit into the five pairs of jeans I found up in the loft.

Ah yes, the loft, I keep talking about the loft in these challenge posts. I finally spent a couple of hours up in the loft going through the boxes of clothes I’d got stored up there. I managed to replace all of the ‘everyday’ clothes I’d taken to the clothes recycling bin and was reunited with some of my rather impulsive lockdown purchases.

I’m not convinced I’ll ever be brave enough to wear these Fat Face dungarees in public.

Not the best photo, but I’ve genuinely got no idea what was going through my mind when I bought these last summer. To add insult to injury, Fat Face emailed me in March to inform me of a recent(?) security incident which involved some of their systems, including those that potentially held some of my personal information. Awesome. Thanks for that Fat Face.

Challenge 2: Can this shopaholic get through the year without entering any races and without buying any more running clothes?

During April, I found this challenge easy. Once again, I think that spending less time on social media helped as did a brand very kindly sending me a couple of long-sleeved tops to try out and review when I start the Couch to 5k.

Although I didn’t enter any races or buy any running clothes, I did buy quite a few what I’d describe as running-related books.

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I’ve been reading a couple of books a week so when my £50 Amazon e-voucher appeared in my work inbox, I’d already done my research and knew exactly what I wanted to buy. The day after my Amazon order was delivered, I braved my local charity bookshop and came away with copies of A Life Without Limits and Why Mummy Drinks.

So, I think I now have enough books to keep me going for a couple of months. At least reading is a relatively healthy obsession.

Challenge 3: Can I make £2021 in 2021 through a selection of side hustles and other sources of income such as cashback websites?

And finally, how much money did I manage to make through my various side hustles and other sources of income during April? In an attempt to keep things simple, I’ve listed each side-hustle and source of income separately.

Selected side hustles

• Prolific Academic surveys – £47.86
• eBay sales – £0.00
• Facebook Marketplace sales – £0.00
• Sponsored blog posts – £0.00

Other sources of income

• Overtime at work – £0.00
• Share dividends – £139.70
• Interest from bank accounts – £1.49
• TopCashback cashback – £0.00
• Vouchers from points and gift cards – £50.00
• Competition wins – £0.00
• Freebies – £174.99
• Roadkill finds – £0.00
• Random – £2.20

April total: £416.24

Rolling 2021 total: £1060.74

April was an amazing month and I’m now well on course to reach my target of £2021 by the end of the year. Prolific Academic continued to be prolific and I completed £12.00, £6.50, and £6.00 studies. These more than made up for the large number of 25p studies I completed. My other side-hustles weren’t successful, but after spending time up in the loft, my pile of unwanted running gear doubled in size. Once the Bank Holiday weekend is over, I’ll list some bits and pieces on Facebook, I’ve decided that eBay is too much hassle.

As for my other sources of extra income, it’s clear that the success of this challenge depends on my share dividends. It’s looking increasingly likely that I won’t be keeping my shares for much longer so I may start to struggle to meet my monthly target. I was sent couple of long-sleeved tops and a month’s supply of a collagen supplement to try out and review, so I added the value of these items to the ‘freebies’ category. I included the value of the Amazon e-voucher I was sent to the ‘vouchers from points and gift cards’ category and £2.20 to the ‘random’ category. I’ve now reached the bottom of my pile of Ocado carrier bags.

I’m trying to be more positive, I have a feeling that May will be an epic month. I hope that Prolific Academic continues to treat me well and that I find new homes for at least some of my unwanted running gear. I’m aiming to restart the Couch to 5k, let’s hope that the pavements of Four Oaks are covered in roadkill.

And finally, I hope that you enjoyed reading this quick update as much as I enjoyed writing it 🙂

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