My story - determined

Lister_2

determined1 wrote: »

Hi Lister

Don't think I'm going to be able to take full advantage of the cheltenham offers as I'm at work 9 - 17:30 and cannot place any bets at work. I've also never placed a bet on horses and you could potentially need a float of £6k to meet all the SNR freebies :eek:

I'm going to buy a racing post on sat and see what offers are about. May be able to take advantage of maybe one and then do another at ascot maybe.

What are your plans???

I've taken a couple of days off work, although like yourself I don't think I'll have remotely enough float to do all the offers. Probably try and do BlueSQ since that requires a bet on each day, but looks like some of the others don't actually have to be on Cheltenham races, so maybe I'll sign up but complete them afterwards. Even BlueSQ could easily kill my entire float so might do like you and wait for Ascot for some.

Dunno how I'll play Thursday and Friday yet as at work like yourself. Somebody mentioned that you can get early prices early enough to place bets before you go to work, so might try that, or just ask for a long lunch (Luckily I work 5 mins from home).

I actually prefer horses now TBH. Just stay away from races with non-runners listed and you'll be fine.I've never been hit by rule 4 yet. Oh, and don't bet just before the off, the price fluctuations are insane! :eek::D

determined1_2

I've been thinkng over the last few days that I need to set myself a more medium term goal. I find it very easy to get demotivated and think "what's the point" when only concentrating on long term goals and 'this months quick wins'.

My plan was to come up with a medium term (ish) goal that is a push, but doable.

Been speaking to the OH and have agreed that my 21st bday in Nov could be a good time frame, etc.

Oct and Nov are the two months I will have to pay of one of my stoozed credit cards. That means no overpayments in those months :mad: (I can see that's going to be a bit demotivating).

Have thrown some figures around using my spreadsheet, and if I make an OP of £850 on 1st apr/may/june/july/aug/sept I will have a balance at 1 nov of £129,920.52.

Bring on the challenge

taka

Good luck!

StuartGMC

determined1 wrote: »

I've been thinkng over the last few days that I need to set myself a more medium term goal. I find it very easy to get demotivated and think "what's the point" when only concentrating on long term goals and 'this months quick wins'.

My plan was to come up with a medium term (ish) goal that is a push, but doable.

Try to set a number of goals across all aspects and review on a 12month, 3yr, 5yr and 10yr plan. Set financial and other goals (specific location to visit on a good weekend, get room decorated, target of a "dream" holiday, learning a new skill or volunteering in your community etc) to give you a range of things you are aiming to achieve, not all of which need cost money (!). Add to this your planning for savings targets to buy specific items etc then I am sure if you mark up a timeline for next 5yrs you will see a number of milestones which you can then work towards.

determined1_2

Long time no post!!!

Been very busy with work, decorating and other general life stuff of late.

Good news:

Sofa has been ordered and is arriving end of april. This cost £1.7k but is covered by the match betting profits I made. The initial idea was to take the sofa out on 0% and then put the money into the mortgage.

I have taken it out on 0%. Nothing to pay until Feb 2010 and then spread over three years.:D

However I'm not too sure I want the take £1.7k out of the match betting float as this money has been working very hard for me. Footie season ends soon so may give the match betting a break until aug when it starts up again. Could put the money in the mortgage and then put some aside for aug. Not sure yet

Booked a holiday last week. 4 nights at centre parks with loads of activities in the middle of may. Have budgeted around £500 in total. I know CP is not cheap but we thought we’d probably never go to places like this with kids as it would cost an even bigger bomb.:eek:

On MSE side, did get a 15% discount code. The confirmation email says its something to do with a kids discount. Hope that doesn’t get questioned.:p

Quite funny story about this actually. We went through the whole booking process and found a clause in the T+C saying someone in the party going has to be 21. we’re both 20, have a mortgage, house, jobs, etc and we’re told we cant go on ruddy holiday. I was not pleased about that so pinged an email off to CS and they said we can go.

Bad news:

Sofa arrives at the end of april!!! Means I'm having to go like crazy to get the lounge sorted. Not a small task. Where do I begin. Well, firstly at one end I have made a 1 foot deep false wall that has a 'hole' in the middle with a frame that houses my 42" HD plasma we got last November .:cool:

We decided we want to put down laminate flooring, cut and lifted the old carpet only to find where CH was installed, the plumbers re screeded the floor about 5mm too high after burying the pipes in the concrete. Result, unlevel floor for the laminate.

Had to hack out all the concrete aroud the pipes and then will refill next week.

My dad came round today and we changed the radiator to a much bigger one and spurred off to install a new radiator in our dining room which is an extension. As it has three external walls and is only a one story extension, it was always freezing.

Dad also done some plastering for us today. He makes it look as easy as buttering toast. I had a go. The less said the better.:rotfl:

On the mortgage front. I have calculated that if we make an OP of £1,137.13 on 1 april, we with have a nice round balance of £135,000. This is just about manageable as DGF got a bonus this month.:T

Oh, almost forgot to say. When the battery in a smoke alrm gets low, it beeps once every 60 seconds. Next doors battery is low and they’ve gone on holiday and I don’t know when their getting back. It been like it for three days and its driving me f’ing crazy.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Wow long post!!!

StuartGMC

Good to hear of your progress, and hope nothing crops up on the holiday booking.

Do remember to tell neighbours about the smoke alarm; that signal only lasts a short while and they may not realise it's failed upon return home. Small price to pay if it gets them out the house alive in the worse case scenario. However, you must have great hearing or thin walls to hear it?

determined1_2

It seems pretty loud. We can only hear it when we are in two of our rooms upstairs. One of those is our bedroom (obviously, the worst place to be able to hear it).

I put a dead battery in mine at it was quite noisy so I can see how it travels through the wall.

I've done some research and some can have the warning beep for up to 2 weeks :eek:

Will defo let them know when they get back if it has stopped. As you say, paramount.

twinklie

Just signed up to your journey. I'm in an odd position of upping mine so we can move. This means we can't start overpaying right at the moment, but are seriously hoping to start after the summer months.

Reading posts like yours though are highly motivating, so I just wanted to say thanks.

SmlSave

Well done on all that DIY!

setmefree2

determined1 wrote: »

Next doors battery is low and they’ve gone on holiday and I don’t know when their getting back. It been like it for three days and its driving me f’ing crazy.:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

Wow long post!!!

That annoying:mad: no christmas card for them this year