Tag Archives: Carers

Plastic Bottle money back scheme

I really wish the plastic bottle return scheme was implemented. There was talk of a scheme where you would get 25p or 50p for each plastic bottle returned.

My main barrier to plastic recycling at work is, no incentive to do so.

With so many other priorities for the day, and the need to keep shared areas clear of objects, mostly everything goes into one bin.

I’ve even found my use of prepared meals including plastic drinks increase, because staff are not included in food, except when leftovers are available.

Some companies I worked for as an agency worker allowed staff to eat, however the policies weren’t too clear.

One session you could be invited to join in with the meal after the clients, and other sessions you might find yourself told off for taking unauthorised foods like a banana!

The long shift patterns, and unpredictable facilities for preparing own food, means that the good intention to make something at work, becomes side lined, and more pre-packed meal deals are needed.

Finally when the day is finished, I return home, where I live alone, and the motivation to cook from scratch is depleted even further at having no one to share or enjoy fresh food with.

I wish the small cash back for plastic bottles scheme was introduced, or similar ways where recycling can be incentivised, rather than an extra chore, when other demands are prioritised higher on the to do list.

New to Newport

What I usually do is spend money in local shops and do lots of walking so I can program myself mentally about where I am.

I feel like the statue, looking around me!

Shopping from highest price to lowest price order:

Esso garage £16 for 5-6 grocery items, Local newsagent £5.50 coffee, sandwich and soap, Polish superstore bleach cleaning bottle, uht milks, yogurts, crisps and about the same price Lidl £13 on veg, fruit, snacks and meal in a box salad.

Favourite walk, across the Transporter bridge 🙂

Looking over to Newport city centre from the bridge
On the bridge

Was it easy to make friends? Was I able to keep up my eBay small business?

A hard working work mate who does care and support for adults with mental health and learning disabilities.

It is tiring having to think more about everything. It took me a long walk to reach a parcel box and I felt abit wobbly on day three at being away from my home. However the experience so far has been great and I am pleased to know Newport better.

Newport not ideal for quick shipping options with Royal Mail only about four parcel drops in the entire city.

what does paypal, topshop and hrmc have in common?

I wanted to try to bust some myths about major financial institutions or suggest some alternative news stories.

There was a huge hoo haa about how if you don’t use your PayPal account for ages, you lose your credit balance. But it doesn’t cover the insurance you effectively get on payments by using it.

PayPal offers some really great advantages as a payment method, including a 6 month ‘escalation’ guarantee on payments.

So if I brought an iPhone, let’s say a refurbished one, on eBay and after the month eBay money back guarantee ends. Well if I paid by PayPal then I have five more months to query my order. PayPal can literally place the money you sent to the supplier on hold from their account. And that’s going to be an incentive to sort the problem out with you e.g. battery failure after 3 months.

So quickly Topshop…. if you don’t use your gift cards its been commonplace for them to expire after two years. This is a fairly standard concept within retail.

Lastly HMRC…. I keep seeing these news article saying that the HRMC are bullying poor carers over tax owed.

So many carer jobs are full time around £13,000-14,0000.

That’s not going to create a big tax bill is it? So whoever is being chased up must have been in a managerial role or perhaps double that salary to be in trouble for unpaid tax.

I feel I need to write these things as there are some stories which I believe people want to believe, so when I see news articles giving examples reinforcing these narratives, I think it is really key to remember there are billions of people and scenarios. And even a coin has two sides.

house money capitalism fortune
Photo by Skitterphoto on Pexels.com

So what do these three names have in common? They are all in the news and particular types of views on them are published more frequently than others. I don’t really mind what conclusion you make but it would be good to have a choice of viewpoints.