Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Smart_Mart

Had a half-decent day today really. Delivered 110 papers but the weather got so bad that I left the others for early next week....:o

Picked the boys up from their house at 2.30pm for the weekend and we've just been chilling out ever since as the weather is still gruff. Tomorrow we will be off down to the harbour for a picnic if its bright then back home for the football on the radio as I have to do the match report.

Their grandparents are coming to visit on Sunday so they're going back an hour early but I've got them on Monday all day as its part 2 of the Easter football weekend....:T

Spent a fiver on a big Easter egg, a tenner on gas and £20 on diesel today.

POSITIVE_AND_FOCUSED

Am impressed with your figures Smart Mart. I too keep a spending diary. Yet to finalise March spending. Will do so this weekend. For me, its the childcare and petrol that are the "killers". Food is coming down as I become more of a MSE. Well done so far and have a nice weekend break. Happy Easter.

Smart_Mart

You too, PaF, and anyone else reading / contributing / lurking on this diary.

I'll see what happens in April then set a budget loosely based on the averages of the last six months though I may drop them slightly to account for the fact I know I could reach the lower figures.

Smart_Mart

Nice day today although it has been somewhat dictated by the weather which has swung between lovely and warm and tipping it down, often in the same half an hour.

Went to the airport this morning but it was a wee bit cold and most of the planes we saw were already in the book so we only stayed an hour or so. Called into the harbourside buttery on the way back (I was good, I only had the coffee and rock cake combo again at £2.60) and I'd done a mini picnic for the boys but it started throwing it down as we were eating so we were home by just after one.

Got home and did the match report from the radio which was handy as didn't fancy travelling to Essex today with all the traffic about. Bought three small Easter eggs to munch on today (£3.00) and they're all gone (we had one each).

Going to enjoy a lazy day tomorrow, just for a change, then off to the club on Monday for one of the biggest games of the season.:T:j

Smart_Mart

Weird day today - so out of routine that it barely feels like a Sunday for some reason. No boys' football match, they went home an hour earlier than normal and I did the quiz tonight on my own....:eek:

Boys grandparents were over for Easter so their mum had them back at 4pm instead of 5pm and it felt like the weekend you move the clocks all over again with everything (tea, my shower and my other stuff) being finished an hour ahead. The other two guys in the quiz team are away on holiday so I went on my own. Bearing in mind that we normally score between 25 and 45 points, scoring 29 on my own tonight was an achievement of sorts.

Spent £4.33 in Tesco's earlier and £3.21 on the quiz and a pint.

Tomorrow the weirdness continues with no work planned plus a football match to go to as well. Will be glad to get back to normal next week.:p

Smart_Mart

The team lost the football match 2-1 today, spent £1 on a Golden Gamble ticket and £12.01 on diesel and that's all to report.

Back to work tomorrow and routine and normality hopefully.

Smart_Mart

Back to reality today and a steady, quiet day. Been home for most of the day and managed to get two articles (total 1,600 words done) as well as catching up with some housework at the same time. Been eating way too much and struggling to keep control on the finances again.

Paid rent today, bought a loaf of bread and some cakes in Tesco and put £10 on the gas card.

The boys are around tomorrow :j after I've delivered two paper rounds. My local team are playing tomorrow (at the bottom of my garden literally) so I might take the boys around with a football and get some fresh air with them.

Smart_Mart

It's been a busy four days so I'm going to do a mini-update for now.

Wednesday - picked the boys up at 2pm but they didn't have football training as the coach was on holiday. Did a mini shop (£2.43). Went to watch the local team in the evening before retiring but had to do a sad story as one of our former players has been diagnosed with bowel cancer (he's only 31)...:(

Thursday - went down to the club all day. The media officer has also had some sad news about his wife so I had to organise the press conference in his absence. Spent £2.00 on lunch and a tenner on diesel.

Friday - went shopping in the morning and spent £31.54, then £40.00 on diesel for the football trip on Saturday. Had the club's youth development officer staying overnight as he's on a course so we bought the kids a McDonalds (£13.06) and went halves on a few buckets of balls on the local driving range (£4.35).

Saturday - annoyingly, the media manager hadn't rung the opponents to let them know I was coming so had to pay for my ticket as well as the boys (£31.00 total). Spent a total of £16.74 in the services on brunch and supper though I did pack some lunch / tea.

The CDO is staying again tomorrow night and he may fancy the quiz with us. Before that, the boys (well one of them) has got football in the afternoon and we're just going to chill in the morning to recover from today's exertions.

Smart_Mart

Struggling to do the updates at the minute for some reason....:(

Sunday - boys won their football match 7-1, went to the quiz and came nowhere. CDO stayed overnight and went back on Monday morning. Bought a round at the quiz (£11.88) and put £25 of diesel in the car.

Monday - work morning and evening. NSD.

Tuesday - football team I work for drew 1-1, bought a Golden Gamble ticket for a pound. Went to visit my older two children earlier in the day.

Wednesday - just got back from the team's reserve match which they won 2-0. Met up with some mates there and took DS3 as DS2 went football training. Bought a hotdog and a coffee each for myself and DS3 (£3.00) plus a pound for the programme and £6.00 admission.

Smart_Mart

And another two days without an update....:o

Thursday - delivered 240 newspapers in the morning then went straight into town for a haircut. My hair has been the point of discussion before on this thread regarding how much I pay for it, normally £12.00 including the tip. This time I didn't tip the barber so it was a straight £10.50 plus the £2 for parking. Nipped into Ikea on the way back as ex-wife looking to redesign her front room this year and needed some ideas picking up from there. Failed to resist the Ikea meatballs (sorry) and a large slice of Daim cake (£6.00) plus some of those marzipan green cakes at £1.60 so lunch was taken care of. Got home then straight out to do the weekly shop at Asda (£39.73).

Was a little bit naughty/good in the evening as well. Did have a hunt around for the Killers live album on CD/DVD and looked around the shops. No-one had it so bought it online from Amazon Jersey at £9.95 inc delivery.

Yesterday had to pop into Asda to pick up some chicken and sweetcorn pasta, a notebook and some rolls (£5.73) and into Sports Direct to collect some golf balls ready for Monday's celebrity golf tournament. The weather was nice so took the boys for a round of golf at the local pitch and putt which set me back £10.55.

A lot of spends this week, some necessary, some not so. Two weeks today is my birthday and I vowed to have my money and my budgets sorted out by then. I will certainly have the budgets done by then but barring a miracle, not sure my DRO will be completed by then as I'm still waiting for a couple of statements from creditors. I may switch intermediaries to try to get it finished quicker then maybe I can sort stuff out once and for all. Not overly comfortable with doing things that way but I can't carry on with worrying.

Have also got my JustGiving page populated now ready for two weeks time. Basically, I'm aiming to lose seven stone two pounds (a hundred pounds) in a twelve month period starting from May 1st, my birthday, till May 1st next year. I'm going to raise money for charity while doing it for Childrens Hospice South West, a local hospice where children with life-limiting conditions go for respite care for both them and their parents. They have three sites across the South West and I've been fortunate enough to have a tour around two of them, in Barnstaple and Wraxall. Truly inspiring places but left each time with a lump in the throat.

This coming week I'll receive a decent bit of income so I'm going to get a different washing machine, will look for a good second hand one. Also will look for a cheap bicycle as I have a cycle path, a picturesque one too, 100 yards from where I live. This path takes me eight miles to Bath, I think I could live with that two or three nights a week. The cycling plus the walking I do delivering 712 newspapers plus a decent healthy eating plan should see the weight drop off.