Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Smart_Mart

Managed to get pretty much everything done yesterday,I think.

Morning courier job, back for breakfast then wrote two articles for the website. Off out and delivered 340 newspapers, back for lunch then a player interview plus two more articles in the afternoon / evening with the late courier job booked too.

Spent £35.00 on diesel today as myself and two friends are off to Carlisle at 10.30am this morning to take in tonight's match!! Staying over in a hotel and driving back tomorrow.

Smart_Mart

Been a long 36 hours since I last posted and an expensive one but I have come out of it okay...:T

Left Bristol yesterday at 10.30am and arrived in Carlisle six hours later having stopped at Strensham for brunch and Lancaster for a quick coffee. Went to the hotel, then off to a super pub with gorgeous food for tea before going to the game which we lost 1-0. Back to the hotel then across to a pub for two drinks (was bought them).

This morning went to the local Wetherspoons in the town for a slap-up breakfast then check out of Travelodge. Got home at 4.30pm having had a pot of tea at Moto then a medium portion of fries at Strensham to fill a gap before tea.

Put £19 of diesel in yesterday to fill the tank (WTC went in a day early) and another £20 today. Altogether, spent £23.26 on grub / drinks / refreshments over the two days but should still be in profit... see below.

CARLISLE TRIP OUTGOINGS - £152.00

Fuel - put in £74.00 but only used around £62.00 as still have some left.
Hotel rooms - £67.00
Food etc - £23.00

CARLISLE TRIP INCOMINGS - £192.50

The other two people that went with me gave me £53.50 towards the room and £40.00 towards the fuel cost. The football club will pay my fuel expenses at 18p per mile which adds up to £99.00 though I will have to wait around a month for that.

Admittedly I could have saved on the food maybe but I chose a reasonably cheap alternative where possible. My breakfast this morning was a fiver for two eggs, two sausages, two bacon, three hash browns, tomato, mushroom, two toast and a pot of tea. My evening meal last night was breaded mushrooms with dip followed by fish & chips with peas for £5.50 (two for £11 deal).

Tomorrow is a paperwork catchup day plus two rounds of papers need to be done.

Smart_Mart

It's been a NSD here today, prinicipally because I haven't even gone out the front door today...:eek:. Got up at 8.15am and have been in the front room, kitchen and bathroom all day - nowhere else...:p

So tired from yesterday that I decided to make today a day of paperwork. Wrote eight articles for either the website or the programme, sorted out my intray, updated the diary, made a few phone calls, tidied the house up and generally got myself organised. Feel much better for it now and can concentrate on doing the papers tomorrow and Monday with the weekend in between.

Smart_Mart

Made up for yesterday's NSD by having a SQABD (Spend Quite A Bit Day) today...:p

Went shopping this morning at my local Asda and got a decent shop in (£49.37) plus bought myself a polo shirt for work (£6.00) and a pair of deck shoes (£6.00) that were desperately needed. Stuck £10 on the gas card, posted the stuff I sold on e-Bay (£6.55), bought some stationery (£4.37) and a while ago I promised the boys that we'd join the Eddie Stobart Fan Club when I got paid so I did today...£15.00:eek: but I don't spend all that much on them really...

Did two paper rounds this morning, picked them up from school this afternoon and we've just chilled this evening watching Sport Relief. Tomorrow is football matchday with a local derby so we'll be down there then they have a match themselves on Sunday afternoon before the quiz on Sunday evening.

Have a good weekend folks.:T

Smart_Mart

Not the greatest of days today as the team lost 3-0 at home to our local rivals, a team from the city where I've lived for the past ten years...:(. The results affect me more emotionally than ever they did when I was "just" a fan as I know a lot of the players personally....

Spent a tenner on diesel and £2.00 on a Golden Gamble ticket. Been raining here most of the day and more forecast tomorrow so the boys football match must surely be in doubt by now.

Smart_Mart

Much better day yesterday all round. The boys football match went ahead after some morning sunshine and they won 4-1 which makes it seven games unbeaten now... :T

Went to the quiz last night and came second after winning a tiebreaker question about Marvin Gaye. Won ourselves eight drinks tokens, four of which we've used and the other four will keep till next week.

Spent £4.07 in Tesco's, £7.80 on a round at the pub plus a pound on the quiz entry.

Today have done the courier morning job already and now off to do two paper rounds before the lunchtime rain. Housework and paperwork then till 3.50pm when it's parents evening at school for the twins. Evening courier job tonight and preparation for the next football programme including approaching three or four celebrity fans who support Millwall FC...:eek:

Smart_Mart

Haven't seem to have stopped since yesterday's update which is good, I suppose....;)

Money went in yesterday which enabled me to sort a few things out. Paid two weeks rent as per normal, paid TV licence (£23.75), £20.00 of diesel and £11.84 in Wilkinson's ( two drinks bottles plus some cleaning stuff). Did courier job last night and he booked me again for today's jobs meaning an extra £40 into the monthly pot.

Went to parents evening yesterday - teacher says the twins are doing really well and settling in nicely. They only moved there in September after living in the village for eight months and I half thought they'd want to go back to their old school after a few weeks but it seems not. Both of them are marked down as gifted in maths and science and often do extension work to keep them interested. They also do year 6 work as well in those subjects which considering they're still year 4 is quite something.

This morning have found myself spring cleaning the house ready for my oldest two children and a friend each to visit tomorrow night. They are all going to a concert in Bristol so I've smartened the house a little for my special guests. Bathroom, toilet, front room and kitchen are all done, just the hall and bedrooms to do later on.

Need some bits and bobs later on for tea tomorrow night so will pop out on the way to the evening courier job later on.

Smart_Mart

Just got back from picking up some more household stuff from Asda (£8.32) so tomorrow, the spring clean will be finished after I've changed the bedding and hoovered all around the house. Leaving to pick the children up at 11am so will have to be up sharpish tomorrow morning.

Paid £85 to one of my creditors today by debit card which means I only owe them £85 now, two-thirds of the debt gone...:T. Topped up the phone with a tenner as well.

Tomorrow is another busy one, will update late evening if I can.

Smart_Mart

Been a long day today and still not over by a long chalk yet. Not the best of days either...:(

Finished the housework this morning, had a shower then went down to Dorset to pick up my kids and their friends and brought them back to Bristol. They're at a gig in the city tonight and staying over so after I'd collected one of the twins from their home, I brought him home, fed him and took him to football training before taking the older ones to the gig (not scheduled to finish till 11pm at least).

You'll notice that I've said one of the twins. The other one fractured his wrist playing football at dinnertime and is now out for the rest of the season. He's never missed a match in almost three years now and is devastated at such a freak injury. His twin brother has been really kind to him tonight but he's so upset I could cry for him.

Today I spent £20.00 on diesel, £1.00 on a car vacuum, £3.00 on a car wash, £8.00 on gas and £4.20 on sweets (not all for me, I must add).

Tomorrow I'm dropping the kids back in the morning then straight off to the football club for a few hours work. Back home for 7.30pm with luck.

Smart_Mart

Was too tired to update last night by the time I got home...:p

Kids left their concert at 11.15pm so poor old dad had to pick them up. DD1 met the lead singer and the rest of the band but had to wait till they came out after the gig so by the time they got some food, it was 2am before we went to bed...:eek:

Up at 8am and dropped them all home by 11.30am before going across to the football club for work until 6pm. Some of the team signed a "Get well soon" card for Ryan and I got a couple of coaches to autograph it too.

Got home last night and had some tea and was in bed well before 11pm.

Got up, had breakfast and delivered 250 papers this morning before going shopping and spending £44.00 in Asda. Started shopping a wee bit more sensibly - for instance the squash the boys drink is 2 for £1.50 now so got four bottles and I love those Go Ahead bars which are reduced to 2 for £2 so bought four boxes of them...saved nearly £9.00 in total on the bill.

Picking the boys up from school at 3.15pm then chilling out today. We were due to play golf tomorrow which will now have to be postponed so we might take a picnic down to the harbourside, something we always loved to do before Saturday work got in the way. Might also go plane-spotting as we haven't been for over a year now. Sunday will be hard, especially for Ryan, as I have to get his brother ready for football when Ryan will be missing....:(

Edited to add spends: Diesel £16.00, car wash £2.00, McDonalds (yes, yes £6.57) and £5.00 sponsorship for the boys at school.