The diary of Martin Mac...

Martin_Mac

Sorted out tomorrow's leaflets to be delivered with the papers; organised another 85 catalogue envelopes for next week; morning and evening post runs completed and wrote a letter regarding my council tax arrears. Tonight I wrote a 900-word piece for the football programme and packed up my old mobile phone to send it back to Sony ( it has a keypad problem )....

Tomorrow is my oldest's seventeenth birthday. His new girlfriend has bought him an I-pod nano which I'm afraid outdoes my present of a DVD box set of Oceans 11/12/13 and an XBox 360 game....:eek:

Childrens' story

I have four children. A is seventeen and currently studying in his local sixth form doing Maths, Physics, IT and Chemistry. G is thirteen and is at the same school that A left in June. They live with their mum in Dorset. H and R are identical twins of seven, eight next month. They don't live with me either, they live with their mother about five miles from me here. I see the oldest two once a fortnight - it's been that regular since their mum and I split up in 1996 but the youngest two I see on Wednesday evenings and from Friday 3.15pm to Sunday 4.00pm.:D

Today's spend. £1.00 on dinner, £1.44 on stamps and £1.53 on some milk.

mickey_mouse

well done on all your delivery organising:T :T

Don't worry that eldest's girlfriend is spending more on his birthday pressie - he will still love yours and I am sure values the time you spend with him when you see him.

Martin_Mac

Just got back from Dorset and visiting my oldest on his birthday with the twins....:D

Morning post run and first 115 papers done this morning, sorted out tomorrow's leaflets ( another 120 to do tomorrow ) plus did some shopping, bought some cards and wrap before picking the boys up from school. Had tea down there and got back about twenty minutes ago...

Today, spent £20.01 on petrol ( not concentrating :mad: , but got twenty Clubcard points ), £4.18 on birthday cards, a pound on wrap and £1.98 on two tubes of Toblerone Fruit & Nut for him....:rolleyes: , also put a tenner on my Gas card!

Tomorrow sees me doing the morning post run, 230 papers to be delivered but that's pretty much it work-wise. I've got to write at least one article for the programme, have the guts of it ready. I had to ring an ex-player in Latvia yesterday to get an interview with him....:eek: but otherwise will just be chilling.

Fingers crossed, I'll be meeting Sir Ian Botham on Friday morning as he starts his twelfth sponsored walk in Taunton. I did a story on him in the programme last week which got me an invite to the first day's walking...:T

Martin_Mac

Did paper rounds two and three today plus the morning post run this, er, morning too.

Bought lunch out which wasn't very DFW but once in a while won't hurt. One of my customers paid up ( £35 ) so paid the balance off my holiday ( £23 ).

Holiday story

Went on holiday with the twins and their mum three years ago now just after we broke up ( already booked ). Enjoyed it so in the October, I took my life into my own hands and booked a holiday for just the three of us to Weymouth. As a lone parent ( sort of ), money was tight so booked through the Sun's £9.50 holidays scheme. Had a great time so booked the following year for Poole. Another great time so last year we went to Devon Cliffs, the flagship camp in Exmouth. The boys and I always have a fantastic time, just the three of us.

This year we went to Devon Cliffs in early July and late August too for three and two nights respectively. This next break is at Haven's camp in Burnham as our favourite one will be closed for winter. The three breaks this year will have cost me £150 in total, not bad for nine nights in three separate breaks.

Today's spend. Haven Holiday £23.00, lunch £2.17

mickey_mouse

your hols with the boys sound great fun and very mseing:D

what are you up to this weekend? I guess footie will be involved:D

Going to my in-laws tonight in Somerset and tomorrow hubby and I are meeting up with our competition friends:D

[Deleted User]

Your holidays with the twins sound lovely and it's good to hear that you were able to see your eldest for his birthday. Your presence is so much more important that your presents.

I wonder whether you're actually making any money from these deliveries? You seem to spend a lot of money on petrol and wonder what you earn in real terms after costs. I've only read this thread so appreciate I don't know the full story. In addition, I'm confused as to how you can get Housing benefit as your earnings on paper (ignoring costs) seems pretty good!

I hope you don't mind writing. Of course, you don't have to answer, but these questions have been in my head since I first read this thread and I need to get them out of my head :rotfl:

Good luck to you
Hiphouse

Martin_Mac

Hi hiphouse,

I don't mind answering, not at all...:D . The housing benefit assessment is done on a six-month period and the catalogues only happen twice in those six months so my income is a series of peaks and troughs. I notified the local council who are aware of this and they set my rent so they must know what they're doing, I suppose... .

As for the delivering, yes I do make money. The morning post run and the evening post run are paid at £15 and £25 respectively and involve me driving about 55 miles in total or just 20 miles for the morning run... say I do both on one day, it probably costs about £10 in fuel to earn £40. The paper round costs minimal fuel, one of them is my own road so I walk round it while the others just involve a drive of about a mile. They pay 11p a paper which on 344 papers is £37.84 for virtually no outlay.

Mickey - football training tonight, no Yeovil game tomorrow and the twins have a match on Sunday afternoon so I get to keep them until 4.30pm...:j :T

Martin_Mac

Had quite an enjoyable day today...:D

Did the morning post run then straight down the M5 to Taunton to meet up with Sir Ian Botham's sponsored walk team. I wrote an article in the football programme last week regarding his latest walk so they invited me down to the start of his walk. Met his daughter, saw his son but his media commitments meant he didn't have time to talk.

On the way back, nipped into Asda to do the weekly shop before going home for a coffee then back out to pick the boys up from school. Took them football training tonight, bathtime then bed....:D

Spent £58.84 in total today. That was £22.00 in fuel, £18.94 on shopping, £10.00 on my gas card, £6.00 football training fees and £1.90 on lunch.

Martin_Mac

This will be a short update... we didn't even leave the house at all today!:eek: The boys are quite often tired after a week at school and football training on a Friday night so we chill out every other weekend when Yeovil aren't playing.

They were amusing themselves earlier so I started organising the envelopes ready for next week's cataloguing. They asked if they could help ( it's basically just putting them into road alphabetical order ) but they loved it. We finished the remaining 700 envelopes in two hours or so and they did the last 165 themselves which was a massive help...:T

I've promised to get them their Match Attax books this week as a reward, after all they've saved me three hours work.:D

Today's spend is obviously nil, the first NSD this month...:j :T

Martin_Mac

As much as yesterday was a no-spend day, today was a day when the money fair flowed out of my wallet, not all of it necessarily, I'm afraid.:mad:

Went to football with the boys ( they won 6-0 ) and also went to the quiz tonight where our team came second after a tiebreaker so won vouchers for eight free pints...:beer: , or should I say :beer: :beer: :beer: :beer: ....:D

Today's spend then. £15.00 on petrol, £10.00 on electric on my key, £3.28 on shopping, £8.96 on a McDonalds and £8.94 at the quiz tonight ( which was a round for £7.94 and the pound entry fee )....:eek:

Back to normality tomorrow.:D