I hope that whoever takes the time to read this latest personal challenges update post had an amazing weekend. I also hope that you didn’t have to spend too much time pretending you weren’t at home due to trick-or-treaters. Halloween. I made the fatal error of watching Ghostwatch last night, so I’m starting the new month feeling a tad jaded.

I’m aware that I’ve been quite quiet on here recently, so quiet a couple of people messaged me to check that I’m okay. The truth is that my blogging mojo has been non-existent, and I’ve not had anything I consider worthwhile to write about. I’ve also tried to reduce the amount of time I spend staring at my laptop screen. This month should be reasonably what I describe as blogworthy, so I’m aiming to publish a few more posts.

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.

[Source]

If you haven’t read these posts, please 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?

Although I initially failed this challenge way back in May, I decided to continue to share monthly updates. My theory was that if I continued with the monthly updates, I’d be more likely to avoid purchasing new shoes and clothes.

In September I bought a couple of pairs of jeans from Dorothy Perkins. The moment I saw that my favourite jeans were finally back in stock in my size, I snapped up two pairs. I declared that September wasn’t a month of failures as I’d managed to resist buying an expensive gilet.

Fast forward a month and I’m slightly ashamed to admit that when I saw that following some supply issues, Seasalt Cornwall had finally restocked their tall range, I treated myself to this coat (apologies for the slightly dubious photo quality).

[Source]

So, another spectacular failure of one of my 2021 personal challenges. I still feel guilty, but I know I’ll get a lot of use out of the jacket. My clothes shopping wasn’t limited to the Seasalt jacket. I made a start on my Christmas shopping, and ended up buying a jacket from Monsoon, some wellies from Joules and two cashmere jumpers from M&S. I also managed to track down some reasonably priced extra wide men’s trainers for my friend. At least my TopCashback account had a good month.

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

In previous months, the combination of being injured and unable to run and volunteering as a tail walker at my local parkrun meant that the race related #FOMO generally stayed away. A couple of weeks ago I even managed to set a tail walking PB.

Unfortunately, last month, seeing so many people taking part in #MedalMonday on Instagram left me wanting to earn my own medals. I originally thought that earning my own virtual Boston Marathon medal would have kept the race #FOMO and the medal envy at bay, unfortunately it didn’t.

I’ve accepted that my knee injury means that I won’t be able to run again this year and that’s fine. Tail walking at parkrun has made me realise just how much I enjoy walking. I was looking for an incentive to encourage me to increase the amount of time I spend outside and the amount I walk, so I entered two events; the Miles for Mind Autumn Edition virtual run and the Run up to Christmas 2021 virtual run.

[Source]

For some reason, I’ve always found the second aspect of this challenge more difficult. Last month, I failed as I treated myself to a Run up to Christmas t-shirt and bobble hat. I’m aware that I still have several items of running gear and a few running accessories to test out and review. Although my knee injury is still preventing me from running, I’m aiming to wear and try out everything I’ve been sent to review during my longer weekend walks.

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 October? Was October more successful than August and September? As in previous months, I’ve listed each side-hustle and source of income separately.

Selected side hustles

• Prolific Academic surveys – £20.04
• 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 – £168.31
• Interest from bank accounts – £0.61
• TopCashback cashback – £0.00
• Vouchers from points and gift cards – £0.00
• Competition wins – £0.00
• Freebies – £79.98
• Roadkill finds – £0.18
• Random – £2.00

October total: £271.12

Rolling 2021 total: £2988.13

October was what I’d describe as a reasonably quiet month, but I’m still feeling confident I’ll be able to meet the more challenging target I set myself a few months ago. The aims I set myself for the month were in theory reasonably straightforward and achievable. I started October with the aim of completing at least 20 studies on Prolific Academic and of selling 15 items on eBay and on Facebook selling pages. Unfortunately, my motivation completely deserted me again, so I decided to give myself a longer break from selling online.

Prolific Academic didn’t get off to the most positive of starts when a study I’d invested a lot of time and effort into was rejected by the researcher. I’ve appealed the decision, but I doubt my appeal will be successful. I completed a couple of studies at the start of October which combined with the studies I’d completed in September enabled me to add £20.02 to my October total.

As for my other sources of income, as in previous months, without my share dividends my October total would have been substantially lower. I’m aware that I sound like a broken record, but I’m not looking forward to the day I have to sell my shares. Interest from my bank accounts added £0.61 to the October total and I added the value of the products I was sent to review to the ‘freebies’ category.

What about the all-important ‘random’ category? I’m still carless so I continued with fortnightly Ocado deliveries and returned £2.00 worth of carrier bags. I thought about including the value of the Pay Award that appeared in my October pay but I decided not to.

Now that I’ve reviewed October, it’s time for me to look ahead to November.

I very much doubt that I’ll continue to use Prolific Academic; I don’t think the site is as ‘prolific’ as it used to be and the support for participants is now non-existent. Having said that, October was an expensive month as I bought a lot of Christmas presents and I suspect November will be the same, so I need to boost my income. My motivation has made a welcome return, so I’m aiming to sell at least 20 items on Facebook and eBay. I spent a couple of hours yesterday writing descriptions and taking photos of some of my unwanted stuff. Fingers crossed, some of it sells.

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

Have you started your Christmas shopping? I think I’ve now got presents for the majority of my family. I need to stop buying myself Christmas presents.

Have you entered any virtual events recently? I’ve decided that for every mile I walk this month, I’m going to donate £1 to the mental health charity Mind.

---