Smart Mart - Health, wealth and happiness

Smart_Mart

Have decided to ditch the papers before I even start, preferring instead to reduce the outgoings and attempt to get some more writing work. The papers come on a Wednesday around noon which gives me three hours before the school run to try to get them all done as they have to be done by 7pm on Thursday. This will be impossible during the football season as I go to the football club on a Thursday.

Added to that, you have to insert leaflets into the papers each week. The leaflets used to come on a Saturday giving you four days to sort them out (there's often 6-7 leaflets per paper) but yesterday the papers and leaflets came together. This means that the three hour window will be spent sorting leaflets and not delivering papers.

Anyway will have a damn good cull of my outgoings tomorrow as need to get financially sorted. Considering spending a few pounds extra upgrading my Sky Talk deal to include free calls anytime as at present, I just have free calls during the evenings and weekends. The extra fiver (I think) means that my mobile phone bill and home bill should both drop, hopefully by more than a fiver.

Football training was postponed last night so sat home and watched the cricket before taking the boys home at 7.30pm. Then picked up the football kit for next season which needs sorting out today or tomorrow. Another job for this morning will be to finish the housework as Social Services are coming round today as part of a core assessment on the twins mum re her recent issues.

Smart_Mart

Did the early morning DX run then after breakfast, decided to completely clean virtually the whole house. Had Social Services coming this afternoon so thought that would be the ideal spur to get the long-delayed spring clean finished....:o. Nipped into Asda to do a mini-shop (£16.53) on the way back.

He came at 3.30pm and left just before 5pm and since then I haven't really done a lot to be honest. Just chilling on the boards and wondering how I'm going to earn an extra £100 a month without impacting on the other jobs!

Eager_Elephant

Hi Mart

Just wondered if with the insurance excess money you could pay your DRO fee to get that out of the way?

EE

Smart_Mart

Eager_Elephant wrote: »

Hi Mart

Just wondered if with the insurance excess money you could pay your DRO fee to get that out of the way?

EE

Yes, that's a good shout actually. The cheque should clear on Monday and I'm thinking of sticking it aside - as long as I don't leave myself short elsewhere in life. Need to get ringing CCCS as soon as possible on Tuesday morning to get it off and running.

Went to do a big shop in Asda at lunchtime after this morning working on the website and doing the DX run. Old trainers were falling apart so bought a new pair (£8) and a pair of smartish trousers (£6) as well.

Picked the boys up from school and sorted out the football kit when they got home as the new kit has arrived now. Football training tomorrow morning and we might try to fit in a round of golf on Sunday if the weather is good.

Eager_Elephant

My reason for suggesting it is that your debts have been about for a long time and by getting rid of them it is one less thing to worry about.

Hopefully then you will be able to concentrate on everything else to get your life 100% sorted.

EE

Smart_Mart

Been giving what you suggested quite a lot of thought over past couple of days and I think I'm going to have to do it regardless if I live off beans on toast for a month. You're right, debt affects so much else in my life, in other people's lives, that an opportunity to sort it comes along so rarely, you have to take it...:o

Today was a NSD - didn't really do too much really aside from football training this morning. Sorted out a lot of the paperwork for next season today ahead of tomorrow night's AGM.

And that was about it!

Smart_Mart

Not much of interest to report from yesterday really. Took the boys out to golf yesterday (£7.50) and had a decent enough round.

Took them back at teatime then went to the football club's AGM last night which cost me £6 in drinks.

Smart_Mart

Bit of a nothing day today again. Ex-wife and DD1 were going to see Bon Jovi play tonight and were meant to come up this morning but a combination of bad planning and missing a train meant they didn't arrive till 4pm and the gates opened at 5.30pm...:eek:

She bought a car from a friend of mine who I do courier work for each week so she picked that up and, being a little nervous and not knowing the road, I drove 15 miles back to show her where to go....:A . Just waiting for the phone call to let me know they've got back okay now.

Smart_Mart

Had a reasonable night's sleep last night and woke up in time to ring the boys before school this morning.:D

Rest of the morning was spent crunching football stats for the website work and preparing for a couple of articles to be released on Thursday morning. Did a load of washing then got a call to do the evening DX tonight which pays an extra £25 on top of my normal monthly rate. Should be paid £260 next month which is almost £100 more than normal...:D

Tomorrow the boys are coming around for football training so I'm picking them up from school and giving them tea first of all. The weekend is already looking busy with T20 cricket on Friday night, a football tournament on Saturday morning and I've blagged a free ticket for a comedian's DVD record on Sunday night at the Hippodrome.

Smart_Mart

Did the early morning DX run this am but his van was only partly loaded so I had to wait for nearly an hour for him to come.

Rang boys on the way home and nipped into Asda to do a mini-shop ahead of the boys coming round tonight. Spent £13 then went home and paid Sky Bill, T-Mobile phone bill and started a payment plan on TV licence so getting organised at long last.

Picked boys up from school after sports day and had a chat with caretaker and headmaster... trying to smooth a possible passage into working there next academic year coaching the year 5 and year 6 pupils at football. Speaking of which took them to training tonight and actually got threatened by a parent whose son I dropped from the squad this year. It was a good job the chairman and secretary were there otherwise he'd have definitely hit me.

Tomorrow is a trip down to the football club to sort a few things out ahead of a really busy weekend.