Fancy Paying off Credit Cards?!

Ok so with this post you are going to have to bear with me. You will have seen (if you are a follower of my blog or have just glanced down my list of tasks) that one of my challenges is to pay of my credit cards. Well this is the one task that is proving more difficult than the others. In fact difficult is not really the word I need...impossible fits it better! I have debts which amount to just over half my yearly salary which I have accrued by basically spending too much money on things that I see in shops which at the time look beautiful or useful (of course when buying things I follow William Morris' Golden rule of "have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." In fact I have found by having just one house that you rent it cuts down on your spending than having 'houses'). If you know me you probably don't think that I spend lots of money on myself. I don't wear glamourous clothes or own 100 pairs of shoes (just 50 pairs) and I don't go out every night of the week or even every weekend. What I do buy though are a lot of books. I also went part time at work at the end of last year due to health reasons and for several months ended up having to live the end of each month on my credit cards until I was able to sort out benefits. Ok so that's enough about how my selfish living has got me into this debt.

How I've been paying it off is like this:
I've been paying the minimum repayments which amounts to £280 a month. This is actually now an unmanageable amount and I can't afford to keep this going. I have contacted one of the credit cards and have reduced the repayment of that one by £100. This has made the repayments a bit more manageable for me but still very difficult. They are also still charging me interest so the amount is going up not down and will do for the next two months until they stop the interest.

As you can see my repayment plans is not working and it's going to take me a lot longer than two years to pay it off. In fact as it is it's going to be at least 10 years if not longer. So,

Here's how I plan to now get out of this debt before I'm 30...



By using you! You probably don't think this as a very good way of me paying off my debt but please continue reading and you never know you might just get caught up in the excitement I am feeling about this project! A colleague of mine is currently reading a book by Karyn Bosnak who basically got into a lot of debt, lost her job and then set up a website asking people to give her just $1. Sounds stupid? Yes maybe but don't laugh yet. It worked! After 20 weeks she had raised $13000 of the $20000 she needed. What I plan to do is instead of coming up with some fanciful new idea I will recycle a perfectly working plan. Afterall doesn't the saying go if something's not broke don't mend it?! If you wish to find out about the cheeky Karyn have a look at www.savekaryn.com (she's not asking for money now as the sale of her two books is probably doing her just fine!). If you wish to give me some money then please do feel free to do so. Here are the instructions how:

Log in to your Paypal account (If you don't have one go to www.paypal.com)
Click on Send Money
In the box there is an option for purchase and personal. Click on Personal
In the to field type in gouldylock@yahoo.co.uk
In Amount type in £1 (or more if you are feeling extra generous but really just £1 would be great!)
Click gift
Click on continue

You will then see my update on this blog letting you know how many other kind-hearted, generous and a little insane people are donating for the Alice Gould Charity.

Ok so you are giving what do I promise in return.

1. I will not spend on my credit cards (i have already stopped doing this)
2. I will not apply for any more credit cards
3. All money donated to me through this scheme will go to pay of my credit cards.
4. Once debt free I will buy you a pint/a cake/chocolate/a coffee (please delete as appropriate!) - in fact this means you will NOT be GIVING to me but rather INVESTING as many of these things are worth more than £1 (just in case 10,000 people do end up donating I may need to waiver this promise as I'll end up getting in more debt than I am now just buying cakes and pints for people!)

My Reading Habits

Ok so this isn't totally connected to my challenge. In fact it's not connected at all but it's something I've just seen on another blog and liked it so thought I'd steal it and where else but my blog am I going to share it?! So here goes (my own answers obviously!):


Do you snack while you read? If so, favorite reading snack?

I'm always a bit scared that I might get food on the book but I read during my lunch at work other than that I don't particularly have a reading snack. Chocolate and sweets are always good for snacking on in general!

Do you tend to mark your books as you read, or does the idea of writing in books horrify you?

Completely horrifies me!!

How do you keep your place while reading a book? Bookmark? Dog-ears? Laying the book flat open?

Laying the book flat?! Dog-ears?! NO WAY!!! Bookmarks all the way! I HATE creasing the spines of my books. I don't open them fully even when I'm reading them so I don't break the spine!

Fiction, Non-fiction, or both?

Fiction, fiction, fiction.

Hard copy or audiobooks?

Hard copy. I view listening to books as cheating!

Are you a person who tends to read to the end of chapters, or are you able to put a book down at any point?

I will try to read to the end of the chapter but I am happy to stop mid chapter if need be.

If you come across an unfamiliar word, do you stop to look it up right away?

No, I can normally work out what it means by context.

What are you currently reading?

The Scent of the Night by Andrea Camilleri

What is the last book you bought?

I buy so many I can't remember the last ones I bought but recently have bought Something Might Happen by Julie Myerson.

Are you the type of person that only reads one book at a time or can you read more than one at a time?

One book at a time.

Do you have a favorite time of day and/or place to read?

I always read before I go to sleep at night in bed. In fact bed is my favourite place to read. If I want to read in the middle of the day I will go to bed to do so!

Do you prefer series books or stand alone books?

I'm not sure that I have a preference.

Is there a specific book or author that you find yourself recommending over and over?

Patrick Gale and also "the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" just cos I love the name and it was a great book!

How do you organize your books? (By genre, title, author’s last name, etc.?)

All in alphabetical order of course!

Another Signature!

I went to yet another author interview this evening. No I'm not still in Cheltenham!! Sadie Jones, author of The Outcast, was in Winchester this evening. I bought tickets to go along as I have read The Outcast and enjoyed it. She was yet again another brilliant speaker/author! I found it really interesting. The one thing that I have picked up from all the author's I've listened to over the last week is that they all make it sound so easy!! I would love to write but it just feels all so difficult! Sadie Jones said this evening that she finds it really difficult and hates it when her writing first becomes public and that it doesn't ever get easier. But she manages to do it and I take my hat of to her and all the other great authors out there!

Signing off for the night while watching Alan Davies (man I still love him!) on The Week!

The Perfect Job!

At work today I was looking at the jobs available where I work and they are advertisng for a full time library assistant. This is exactly what I've been looking for. A lot of library assistant jobs seem to be part-time. Well the ones i've seen have been!

I have always wanted to be a librarian and I am planning on doing an MA in information and library management but to do that I need some experience! I worked for a day in the library at work earlier this year. Working in a university is great because we can work shadow in any of the departments we'd like to which is a brilliant way to get experience. The day in the library confirmed that I do want to pursue a library career. To do the MA there are a couple of different ways into it but one way is to be working in a library and study distant learning through Aberystwyth (or however you spell it!). There are a couple of library assistants in the uni library who are doing it this way. The person specification says that it's essential that the person wants a library career so it sounds like they'd support them to do the distant learning course.

The rest of the person specification fits me perfectly. I meet all of the essential skills and all but one of the desirable. The desirable point i don't meet is knowledge of library systems such as dewey and in fact I do have an awareness of it and was shown a bit about it when I was in the library for the day earlier this year. This job is exactly what I want and I'm really excited about the opportunity to apply for it. The closing date is in two weeks and the interview is two weeks after that. If I don't get the job I won't mind so much as I'm really enjoying my current job at the moment too but obviously I'd love to get it!

The job is going to be doing the general library duties such as counter work, shelving etc but it will also include specialising in the school resources. With all the different departments in the library I think the school resources one will be the most interesting as it'll be all the project packs and books etc for our teaching students to use in the primary schools they have their placements in. Anyway I'm going to try not to get my hopes up too much and do my best with the application!

What a Weekend!!

Well the Cheltenham Literary Festival has been and gone and I was there for the last weekend of it and had a brilliant time! I drove to Cheltenham on Thursday and had booked a B&B for 3 nights. On the way up I went to a mine where Iron was mined and still is to this day. It was called Clearway Caves and was pretty amazing to go around. It was a damp day and the caves really did just feel like an extension to this. Also when I got there a tour of people had just finished going round and so I ended up going round on my own! This was a really creepy experience. The dark, dripping water and just plain lonely mine was enough to make me a bit nervous without then coming across a sign talking about the old miner who haunts it!! It was fun though and a lot of the cave was great to see. I've added a couple of photos I took (they're a bit dark but it was very deep underground and lacked natural light!)











After going to Clearwell Caves I made my way to Cheltenham. The B&B I had booked turned out to be really nice. The owners were an old couple who were really friendly and they had put me in the large twin ensuite room. This meant that I had an armchair and large TV instead of just a bed! This worked out quite well as I was there on my own and were times I just wanted to sit there and watch a bit of tv! And of course the beauty of B&B's is the full cooked breakfasts in the mornings! I took full advantage of those.


Well getting to the festival itself! I went to 7 events; Kate Atkinson, Alan Davies, Lisa See & Xinran, Jack Dee, Philippa Gregory, Al Murray and finally Patrick Gale & Marina Lewycka. I was most looking forward and excited about the Alan Davies event. I have always loved Alan Davies and fancied him to bits! Ok so he's a bit old for me but still very gorgeous! I wasn't disappointed in the slightest and not only did he autograph his book for me but I also got a photo of me with him!!! I totally acted like a teenage girl faced with her favourite boyband member. So much so I could barely say two words to him!! So funny but definitely my highlight of the weekend!

The session I was most disappointed with was Jack Dee. It was obviously a book promotion event and I'm fine with that but the interview was quite dry. He literally just went through some events that he's included in the book and wasn't even particularly funny with it. I think it was probably more to do with the guy who was interviewing him than Jack Dee himself. I say this because when it was opened up to the audience for questions it went a lot better and he was really funny. Not only was the whole thing not that funny the cost of the ticket was expensive. Most of the author events were between £6 and £8 with Alan Davies being quite a bit more at £12 and Al Murray was £10. Jack Dee skyed this completely at £18. For an event where he is just promoting his book I reckon that's an extortionate price especially as they then expect you to buy the book for the same price! Don't get me wrong I did enjoy it it was just the one event that was not as enjoyable as the others and not as good as I was expecting!

Apart from meeting Alan Davies and getting to listen to him for an hour and a half the best event was Patrick Gale and Marina Lewycka. When I saw that there was an event with both of them being interviewed together I was a bit surprised. I read both of their books but could not get any connection between them at all. I wouldn't have thought that putting them together at an event would work but I was proved wrong! It turns out that the two of them know each other and they worked so well together. They bounced off each other and it was a really interesting interview. They both read a bit from their latest books and it was great to hear them read their own books. It confirmed 'their voice' in my mind! They both seem really nice people and they were funny too! I got autographs in my books from both of them like most of the other people I saw!

As well as going to a literary festival one of my tasks is to get 4 books autographed and I totally did that over the weekend! I got books signed by Kate Atkinson, Alan Davies, Lisa See, Xinran, Philippa Gregory, Patrick Gale and Marina Lewycka. So I think I am safe in saying that I have completed that task! I also got some books signed for Christmas and birthday presents for people I know.

While in Cheltenham I also went to Gloucester one day. I wasn't very impressed with the place! In fact there isn't really much I can say that's good about it. Although I didn't go in it the Cathedral did look impressive but that's as far as the attraction of Gloucestor goes! I went swimming on the Saturday morning at the Leisure Centre in Cheltenham which was good. I enjoyed the swim and to get to the centre I walked through a really nice park. There was a lot of people walking dogs and there was a pond that went right through the park with ducks in.

Going away to Cheltenham has taught me that I have got to do the things I enjoy whether I have others to go with or not. I enjoyed having the time to myself and to be able to do the things I wanted when I wanted. Not being with someone else meant that there wasn't someone else I had to make sure was happy. I was completely selfish for 4 days and enjoyed it loads! I went to bed when I wanted (including an afternoon nap!), I ate what I wanted where I wanted when I wanted, I traipsed round the shops I wanted for as long as I wanted, and I went to the events I wanted. I chatted to various people around the festival which was good too. Don't get me wrong I wouldn't want to do things by myself all of the time but it was a breath of fresh air and fun to do it for that little bit! In fact I did the one thing I never thought I'd ever do on my own and that was go to the cinema!!

Soooo excited!

I'm feeling pretty giddy generally at the moment for some reason but today I'm really really giddy! Am off to Cheltenham for the book festival later this morning. I don't know why I'm so excited but I am! I'm particularly looking forward to seeing Alan Davies especially I have now found him on Twitter and he's said the tickets are all sold out!!

At the moment I'm sitting in an online queue to register for £5 tickets to see Robbie Williams at the Electric Proms next week. When the tickets originally went on sale for it I sat on the computer for an hour in a queue to get tickets the second they went on sale. Needless to say I was unsuccessful and they sold out before they sold me any! They are now offering 10 pairs of tickets for each show for £5 and the registration opened this morning until Sunday. I'm away at Cheltenham until Sunday now so I've gotta register this morning and yet again I'm in a queue!!! I'm not hopeful that'll i'll even get them once i do get chance to register. In fact I know I won't but I can't not try. I looooooove Robbie and if I get to see him for my see a live gig task then I would just die of excitement! lol. As I said at the beginning of this post I'm really giddy at the moment! I seem to be finding life all a bit too exciting for me at the moment lol. I think maybe this 30/30 challenge is just giving me too much of a life!!!!

Cancer Research

I have decided to donate to Cancer Research this month. This is obviously a very common charity and is the biggest one profile wise that I have given to since starting this challenge. The reason I have chosen this one is that it is something quite close to me at the moment.

Last year my Gran died of cancer. It was a fairly sudden thing although she had had cancer in the past. This was obviously a big loss to my family. Last year she was diagnosed with secondary cancer and this is what caused her death shortly afterwards. Last month my parents went to visit my late Gran's husband, Frank (my Grandad died when I was 8 and at 16 my Gran remarried). When my parents got to Frank's he said that he was feeling really unwell and after talking to him my parents decided to call a dr out. The dr came straight out, examined him then sent him straight to the hospital for further tests. It turned out that he had bowel cancer. They have thankfully caught it fairly early on and he had an operation two weeks later. I spoke to him on the phone a couple of weeks ago and he sounded well. They are hoping that he won't need any more treatment but will know more once he gets some tests done next week. As well as losing my Gran to cancer I have lost an Aunty to it also.

There has been huge progress made over the years in the area of cancer treatment and I think this is fantastic. Cancer is something that effects so many people and I don't think that any charity for the research into treatments and prevention of cancer could ever get too much money! This is why I have chosen Cancer Research for my charity of the month.

2 years to go!

Well September has been a slow month in terms of my challenge but this month has a few things to work on. Yesterday was my birthday so there is exactly two years left to go until the end of the challenge!

As I September has been slow. I have done all the monthly challenges I have set myself though so at least I'm still on track. This month I am going to Cheltenham book festival. That is in a couple of weeks left and I'm really looking forward to it. I had asked for money from my family for my birthday so that I can pay for a b and b in Cheltenham. I actually received a lot more money than I was expecting - mainly down to a relative (a rich one at that!) I wasn't expecting anything from! So I will now have enough money to pay for not jsut the b and b but all the others i may want to do in Cheltenham including buying food to eat while there! As it is a book festival and I have booked tickets to see lots of authors I should be able to get some autographs for my other task! There is also an author that I like, Sadie Jones, who is going to be in Winchester later this month so I am going to try and get a ticket to go and see her and I will be able to add her autograph I hope to get in my book by her to that task!

I have yet to make up my mind for the charity to give my donation to this month. There are a few ideas going on in my head at the moment so I think I will decide over the weekend before making that payment for October. I like that task because it is making me think about more than just the 'usual' charities. It's giving me chance to think about my interests and my values and how I can contribute to helping others within those 'fields'.

So although I haven't got anything exciting to say I've done in regards to the challenge I am feeling that I'm in a good place with it all at the moment. I'm feeling good and I'm definitely doing a lot more with my free time than just sitting in front of the tv or computer which means I'm getting out there and spending more time with others. I feel that I've been working hard but also playing hard and that's what I want my life to be about!