Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Smart_Mart · 2 January 2011 at 10:20PM

:beer::D:T:A:)

A no spend day today which is great news for the second day of a new financial plan. Took the boys to football training this morning and managed to caught a sniffle somewhere.

Gave up on the quiz tonight. Mate has got a cold, quizmistress is off with the flu and my sniffle might get worse so decided to give it a miss.

Tomorrow is another football match at home this time so no chance of an NSD as I need petrol on the way down there. Picking the boys up at lunchtime and dropping them off at supper time.

Smart_Mart · 4 January 2011 at 12:25PM

Turns out that the Virgin bill will "only" be £110 as £25 was refunded due to loss of service when they restricted it....:j

Yesterday was almost a no spend day even though it was a football matchday. Refused a Golden Gamble ticket at the ground and made a packed tea for the boys meaning my only spends was the £15 petrol to get down there....:D. Team won 1-0 which capped a great day for me.

Today will be a quiet paperwork/website day working from home. Have already put some petrol in as money arrived in account (£20) and some gas (£10) along with bread and milk (£3) so I'm in for the day now. Might take a walk down to the post office later to pick some stamps up but not going too far.

Smart_Mart · 5 January 2011 at 11:46PM

Spent nothing more yesterday which was good and even today, just popped into local Co-Op for some bits and bobs for the boys tea (£5.00)....

Football training tonight which was good; I'm taking more of a hands on role now as I'll qualify as a coach shortly (hopefully) and I need the practical experience to be honest.

Diet isn't going well at all, its to do with the money side of things again although I am aware that I'm using that as an excuse to eat what I want again...:mad:

Tomorrow, off down to the football club for work after I've done the courier run in the morning.

Smart_Mart · 7 January 2011 at 12:04AM

Pretty good day today - I like Thursdays as its press conference day and I get to interview the players....:D

Went shopping tonight and spent £47 in total although that included a hoodie for work (£7), a pair of trousers for work (£6) and a belt for £3.50, all necessary especially the belt.

Put £32 of petrol in the car so that should do me past the weekend.

Tomorrow is a website admin day after the courier work in the morning then the boys are coming around. Have some paperwork to sort out too.

Smart_Mart · 7 January 2011 at 11:31PM

Funny day today really.

Tried staying up to see the Ashes last night but managed until 12.40am before my eyes gave up. Kept thinking that I had to get up for work at 6am so went to bed. Imagine my horror when I (a) slept in until 7am and (b) found out it was all over by 12.50am.... :mad::D

Did the courier work then rung the boys before going back to bed from 8.30am till 11.30am. Worked on the website for the rest of the day until picking the boys up at 3.15pm from school.

Today's spends were minimal - three packets of sweets (£3) for the boys and I also put a tenner of gas on the card.

Off to the Travelodge website now to book a night in Sheffield in three weeks time. The football team are up there and for the sake of a £9 room if available, it will save me having to drive 450 miles in a day.

Smart_Mart · 21 March 2011 at 10:30AM

Thought I'd better have a go at restarting this blog due to public demand....:D.

It's been an interesting couple of months since I last blogged on here. Work is still going quite well and there may be a possibility of some more employment at the football club. I passed my level 1 coaching badge in January meaning I can officially call myself a qualified football coach and this in itself will open doors. For the last couple of months, I've been helping out at my son's school on a Tuesday afternoon and the PE teacher welcomes the help.

The football club that I work for have also suggested doing some coaching too. Unlike the school coaching which I do voluntarily, this would be paid albeit only £8 an hour for two hours a week but it will allow me to build up some sort of portfolio as well as experience and even credibility too. It fits in well with going down to see the kids too as one of the sessions would be held five miles from where they live.

Work's going well, still love having the kids over and had them for a long weekend this weekend as mum was away on holiday. Speaking of their mum, had some trouble in that direction recently... the thread I started is here.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3111544

Not going to say any more on the subject here.:(

Also thinking of restarting the papers again as the football club income might drop in the summer - no article writing for the programme means they're unlikely to pay me between May and July although I'm going to meet them to see if they'll split my money over twelve months so that the standing order remains the same all year round.

That's it for now, will update more later on.;)

Smart_Mart · 21 March 2011 at 10:35AM

Nearly forgot one of the other bad things that happened recently.:eek:

Picked the boys up three weeks ago from their mums and was driving back home when a car turning right stopped in front of me. I pulled up behind it as did the car behind me but the next car round the corner didn't and ploughed into the car behind me. This pushed that car into mine and me into the car in front.... still following this?:p

Anyway, we were all okay, I've had a bit of a stiff neck since which might need a visit to a doctor if it doesn't ease off soon. My car was written off as were the two cars behind me and the insurance company have offered me £990 for my car which was quite good as I bought it for £750 nine months ago.:D I'm still in a courtesy car at the moment but hopefully everything will be sorted finally this week.

Smart_Mart · 21 March 2011 at 10:19PM

Today was one of those days when your list of things to do just keeps on getting longer, in fact I think I've got twice as much to do now as what I've done...:rotfl:

Had planned to do some paperwork this morning then go down to Dorset to visit my older two children this afternoon. First bit went all right but then my toilet broke which now needs fixing and then a story we've been working on was leaked to the press hence a hurried statement being issued today instead of Thursday!:mad: Had to put the children's visit back three days but they are cool with it....

Anyhow part of the diary is to finish each day on a positive if I can so managed to get plenty done in between all of the hassle. Spent £15 on diesel at Asda then went instore shopping and stocked up on shopping, spending £41 but saving more than £3 on multi buy stuff.

Gentle start back into the blog again so tomorrow will hopefully see myself get a little more organised. Need to get toilet fixed, sort out more paperwork, pin Virgin down to a new deal and sort some housework out too.

Smart_Mart · 22 March 2011 at 10:47PM

Boys had left their trainers here yesterday so had to go and drop them off at school this morning. Back there again at 3.15pm to act as assistant manager to their school football team although my two weren't playing as they have a tournament tomorrow.

Toilet was fixed this afternoon (hooray!!) and just been clearing up a lot of programme articles really as we have six home games in four-and-a-half weeks and I write at least four articles in every programme.:eek:

Only spend today was on my rent though tomorrow I will need some gas for the meter. Tournament tomorrow afternoon, home for tea then football training in the evening.