Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Anglea

When I mentioned about being strong enough I was thinking about other ways than online as I tend to easily slip up as there is no one to actually see what I'm doing even though I sound optimistic online and it appears as though I'm busy on my goals. I usually have a 'two week wonder' then very slow progress. Of course, ultimately this approach does not help in the long run..

That's why I enjoyed reading your post when you were describing your goals in detail. I think mine are too simplistic and easy to go off on tangents.

Glad you had a good time with the children.

On the subject of working from home, apart from transcription there is something called medical coding.

Smart_Mart

We do sound very similar, Anglea. I get your point now, sorry for missing it earlier....:rolleyes:

I don't have any idea whether I am strong enough or not. I doubt it as I've had so many false starts before. Every new year I re-start things, every birthday I re-start but give it a week or two and I'm back into my old ways....:eek:

Less than an hour to go now. Have decided that I'm going to sit down on Monday and have a look at my debts and consider going for a Debt Relief Order. I have had an interview with the CCCS who suggested it may be an idea and it is tempting me. My debts are such that with my spare income, it'll take years to clear. I hate doing it as I only went bankrupt in 2005 but I may end up going down that road. I have no assets and my spare income is low enough to qualify too.

Weighed myself earlier - 21 stone 6 pounds. That sounds dreadful but I am over 6'4" tall so don't look terribly obese. My fighting weight is 15 stone 6 pounds so that means losing six stone in six months. Privately, I think that might be too hard but I'm just going to get my head down and take it a pound at a time. I'm considering buying a bag of sugar for every kilo I lose to put it into context. Bought some ready meals earlier ( not brilliant but at least its not crisps, cakes and chocolate )...

54 minutes to go. Off to bed now as tired out. Have a quiet morning tomorrow before the boys play football in the afternoon. Going to take my first day nice and gently.

SMART starts here...

Smart_Mart

Decent first day, I think. Ate pretty sensibly, took the boys to football this afternoon (they won 3-2), chilled out this morning and went to a pub quiz tonight spending just £1.00. We had some free tokens from last week so my pint cost nothing...:beer:

Total spend today then was £7.18 on some coffee, washing powder, all-purpose cloths, a newspaper and the entry fee for the quiz.


Working tomorrow from 7am - 8pm and 5pm - 7pm. This is a little courier run that I do every Monday - I don't get paid for it but I do get the use of my car, fully serviced and taxed, free of charge. It works well and I occasionally get other adhoc jobs from him too.

Am going into the bank tomorrow to pay some money in plus I need to ring the council up to chase my HB claim that has now taken six weeks to sort out...:mad:

moneymabel

A good start Mart-well done you and good luck with the council :-)

Smart_Mart

Another steady day today really ( not turing into the most exciting diary you've ever read, is it :rotfl:).

Had the normal morning and evening run today plus picked up another small job tomorrow before 9am. Car is in for service today so have a nicer one for today and tomorrow... no cost as it's part of the job agreement.:j

Spent a grand total of £4.00 today on a notebook to keep a record of my six month journey. It's a nice hardback one from Asda which, because it's expensive and good looking ( unlike me ), I'm more likely to keep it up to date.:rolleyes:

Found a 22" television free of charge on gumtree.com tonight which I've already collected. It was intended to be a TV in the front room for the twins to play their PS2 on but it's a wee bit small so it will go into their room now.

Have that delivery in the morning, collecting the car then off down to Dorset to see my oldest daughter and son. Usually have a chat, a drink then I treat them to a chip supper but tomorrow I'm going to eat healthily. have been good today too...:p

A couple of weeks ago I paid a tenner for a pre-paid Escape Mastercard credit card. Seems like a good way to build up my credit rating as I can't spend more than I have. I activated the PIN on it tonight which is a job I've been meaning to do for a fortnight...:rolleyes:

Council have a new computer system in place and it doesn't want to pay my claim for some reason. The benefits officer said that my claim is fine, told me how much I'm due ( to follow when I've done my SOA ) but the IT system doesn't recognise me...

That's about it really, going to write up my diary now then an early night methinks...:cool:

Smart_Mart

Just a brief one tonight as it's getting late...

Had a booked job this morning, lucky with the traffic and was back home by 9am. Picked up the car from its service at 1pm and went down to Dorset to see my oldest two children....:j. DS1 was working till 8pm so had some good time with DS1. Bought her and mum a chip supper and a couple of drinks too and got myself a ready meal "bubble and squeak" for myself.

Washed the car at Tesco's with their DIY car wash and treated it to a vacuum too (£4.00 in total but it comes up lovely). Put £15 of petrol in it (BP so earned Nectar points) and that was it for spending except that I paid my Virgin Media bill today (£49.49) and my month's TV Licence payment (£23.25).

Still nothing from Housing Benefit and the CSA have sent me a statement with the incorrect assessment on it. So unlike them too...

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Hi Smart Mart!!

Its your diary title that caught my eye. I actually have a folder entitled, My Happiness and Health, Success and Wealth folder! I am s/e like you, widowed so only myself to rely on, so in it I have my weekly planner, my business goals for the next 1 to 5 years, details of my outgoings/income, a month by month record of my "progress" with my debts inc my mortgage, my snowball plan, my spending diary, my eating diary, my keep fit diary, dates of lovely things Ive done with my dd who is now 6, details of extra monies raised to go towards the debt. Basically as you can tell everything is there to help me stay positive and focused as much as possible, to know what I want to achieve, to help me visualise achieving it, to know Im working in the right direction for both myself and my dd, and to know Im doing my absolute best to improve our quality of life. Good luck with your journey!

Smart_Mart

Hi PaF, thanks very much for visiting my diary. I've read through yours just now and added something to it too....:D

I've now got an A4 book that I write each day's musings in. It has headings...spending diary, general commitments, a food diary, work diary, exercise diary, my bank account records and I'll add other headings as I go along. The book, along with this online blog really helps me...

Anyway on to today. Rang DD2 / DD3 this morning before sitting down and sorting out some paperwork. Housing benefit rang this morning apologising for my claim being stopped and promised that the six weeks benefit outstanding would be BACS transferred into my account by the weekend. My rent is £600 a month and I still owe last months in full. The BACS transfer will be for £650 so I'll give my landlord the £600 owed. However the next months rent is due on Tuesday of next week so he's agreed to defer it a bit. The football club will pay me £370 around the 17th November plus the papers money will be in that week too so I should be straight by the end of the month.

Got soaked doing the papers this afternoon. Have decided that I will do the papers on Wednesdays, Fridays and Mondays to spread them out; that way I can cope with them physically (each day is around 240-250 houses) and I don't end up spending all day delivering them only to abandon the website work too. This way, I can cope much better and much steadier. The papers are really something I want to give up but £60-£80 a week for around ten hours is good money really and its paid by BACS every two weeks.

Picked up DD2 / DD3 from school, fed them and took them to football training before bathing them and taking them home. I love my kids so much it hurts sometimes; I made some mistakes with the first two and the second two are benefitting from me learning from previous errors.

On the way back from their house, decided to go shopping. I'd already set a mental limit of £30 a week on food and broke it tonight by spending £36.60 although this did include a smart polo shirt at £6.00...:rolleyes:. Don't feel so bad though and I don't have my normal rush to shop on Friday now...:D

Smart_Mart

Been a long old day today so going to bed after updating my diary...:rolleyes:

Worked down at the football club today, my favourite day of the week. Left home after ringing DS2 / DS3 this morning and got there at 10am. Left there tonight at 8pm, ten hours!! Not all bad though as it was the club's annual firework display tonight, got in for free as staff of course. Pleased with myself that with all the takaway outlets on site, I didn't buckle at all. Today was the first day I've worked down there where I've taken my sandwiches instead of buying lunch...:T

Had to adjust my signature earlier....:j

Expensive day today. DS2 and DS3 are going to be the team mascots two weeks on Saturday in front of around 6,000 fans, I can't wait. They'll love it and I've decided not to tell them until the last moment. Had to pay for the treat today but the commercial manager is doing a "buy one get one free" for me so £50 instead of £100. Bought the twins their tickets for Saturday's game (£18), some petrol (£20 and 20 Nectar points), a sandwich and snack on the way home (£2.41) and it was my turn to buy the coffee, milk and doughnuts this morning (£7.22). Here's to tomorrow being a quiter day.

Housing benefit went in this morning so I'll do my SOA over the weekend.

Off to bed now, thanks for reading...:D

Smart_Mart

Finally got the housing benefit payment in the bank this morning so trooped round to the landlord with his money, a big weight off my mind...:D

Delivered 230 papers this morning before the heavens opened which was another stroke of luck. Had a few articles to put on the website this afternoon which took an hour or so before picking the boys up from school.

We went off to a display tonight, the biggest in Bristol in fact. £11 for the three of us which wasn't very MSE but the money does go to charity which makes me feel better....:p

Other than that, got the boys some Match Attacks (£5.00) and a bottle of orange squash tonight. Last few days have yet to see me have a NSD and tomorrow will be no different as we're all off to Oxford for the football....:rolleyes: