58 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 7 Miles in December 200 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £190 at work (£10 of which in December) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Lots of thoughts, just how to put them in order. a target of 200 miles has been surpassed that is a good thing to have to write about. I have also surpassed £1,000 pound actually saved, which is a good psychological target to have broken through.

This is the first post about activity in December, the month has the potential of setting me up really well for 2019. Because of how my fixed shift falls, I don't actually get any days off for Christmas, it means I will get 18 days in at work so be saving £90, I have 31 days of the supercharged saving which means £93 saved ( >>> link to super charged saving plan <<< ) and already I have been able to put away £140 from items sold.

Selling my old phone has been a bit of a roller coaster, initially thinking I could get £240 then being shown a fault I hadn't noticed, for that offer to slump to £24 then yesterday getting £100 for it as part of the remaining dvds being sold. So as I hadn't sold anything last month it kept me well on target. with the £100 i put into the share scheme it means I have smashed through the £1,000 saved barrier (currently £1,193.02) with the not spending money and supercharged saving this makes the end of month figure being over £1,370. A very respectable achievement and a good base to go onto in 2019.

The walking is doing well, and I admit could do better but 200 miles is not to be sniffed at. My goal for 2019 is to not just be walking to work, but having some good long walks in between especially as I have two sets of holidays coming up for January and March. This is where keeping up the pace might be an issue, short time at work and a short month in February so the first three months of 2019 maybe steady and not abundant.

That is why all signs are good to look at, and I know people would laugh at the fact of me talking about 21p interest on my money last month, but seeing that figure go up and keeping an eye on it the same as everything else. Is like ensuring the watering of a plant and making sure all the buds are fine. As that figure increases it means only a very small part to the total, but the higher that interest paid is, the larger amount I have saved.

My optimism is high, I think without this I certainly wouldn't have barely anything saved, I would certainly have eaten more at work, wasted that money and be probably down with myself. At the moment I can see a bright prospect, enjoy the thoughts of having covered 200 miles and see an achievable goal into the distance.

YAY!!!

56 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 52 Miles in November 193 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £180 at work (£66 of which in November) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Yesterday came a small way to getting the mileage up for this month, as not only did I walk to work, but I walked home as well. Now some would say how else would you get home anyway. But I am fortunate that our lass either finishes the same time as myself and works nearby or will come and get me, as it is an hour walk, and with the greatest will in the world, it's not much fun after a day at work then to walk for an hour to get back home even more knackered. But our lass had nanna duties, so it meant the grand kids had a picnic at home whilst their parents were late back, and I got to walk home. Not all bad as I am closing in on 200 miles walked, and getting fitter for it.

It is also the end of the month so I get to add up the figures, and again it is looking good as I am getting ever closer to the target goal. The next post will show the latest.

44 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 16 Mile in November 157 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £132 at work (£18 of which in November) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

I was asked the question yesterday "Am I serious about blogging?" context of the question, it was asked I think by someone trying to sell me something who seemed desperate to DM on Twitter. After a brief interchange, of saying that was a strange question, getting a reply back about how do I get revenue from my blog and please DM. I then just blocked them.

But, it did get me to thinking, just how serious about blogging am I? Not really is the reply, this is an online diary for me, just a way of hopefully improving my abilities of putting thoughts down in typed form as quick as I can think them, and hopefully make them comprehend able. The more I practise the better it will get hopefully. It also helps me log the project, and helps reinforce my efforts. But seriously, why take it seriously? Life is far too serious this could well be 6 years of me talking, well typing to myself. If I achieve my goal unnoticed, so be it, as long as I achieve my goal. Now that is something which I am serious about. 

Yesterday, was another test of resolve, I hadn't taken any food to work, I then get to lunch time, and was trying to justify how I could buy something from the canteen. Yet again the thoughts of breaking the run won out over the giving in and how I would feel if I was to do so. I did walk from my building to the one the canteen is in, then went and got a coffee, sat downstairs checked a few games on my phone and walked back. I didn't starve. though I was hungry at the end of the day. But the run is in tact. 44 days and counting. Go me!

43 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 13 Mile in November 154 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £129 at work (£15 of which in November) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Well, everything is going in the right direction, as I keep on, keeping on. The wobble for yesterday is that I had a pound change in my pocket. Normally I don't take money with me to work, just have my cards. This way I can't be even more easily tempted than usual to spend money. I was heating up my chilli and rice, and stood there thinking should I get a plate of chips, rather than just ask for a plate for my food I was heating up. This debate raged until I got to the canteen. My mind declared that it would be still breaking the rules by spending a pound, I asked for a plate and hot tailed it back to the microwave as quick as I could. The chilli was lovely as it was 'our lasses' home made one, and although I could have eaten chips as well as the rice that I had brought with it. It wasn't really necessary, so another day another batch of unwanted food not eaten.

Whilst I was off I had the CNBC channel on, (I love the numbers, and they can talk passionately about naff all it seems, an entertainment in itself) anyways, an advert came up and this bloke was talking about how he doesn't buy coffee from the coffee shops. so rather than spending $2.50 he equates it to the 18c he spends on the coffee he makes himself and he invests the rest. So the strap line essentially being "Make it and invest the rest". Which could be counter intuitive as you best not buy shares in coffee shops then... But it made sense, as I went onto think about projects at home. The garage door broke recently as the cones and wires tangled and snapped after years of wear. I looked on YOUTUBE, and checked how much the parts were (£15) but bottled it at the last minute and called in a garage repair guy, ended up spending £85 for someone to bash and crash, leave a bit of wire up which I had to ask them to take off, and thinking to myself I should have had more faith in myself. So that is a plan I am going to take into the future. I have made a back garden gate, total cost £30 where as someone wanted to charge £180. I fixed the pond pump for a £5 which would have cost £80 getting someone in. So I may live to regret this but the next job which comes along, and if it is possible for me to do it I will do it myself and put the rest of the money away to the pot which I am saving.

Have you had projects which you have done, where you have been able to make it and then invest the rest?

I have also started finding cartoons and adding them to the posts, folks like visuals, what do you think?

41 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 7 Mile in November 148 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £123 at work (£9 of which in November) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

I have played forge of empires on my mobile and PC for over 2 years now, I think a Simpsons game called tapped out I have played for 3 years but that I did take a break from. Playing those games for such a long period of time, is what gave me the idea for doing this blog, and the project which I am blogging about.

My thoughts were that if I could do something such as play a game for so long and build up a kingdom or town at level 137 why not build up my bank balance? So here we are 3 months in and around £800 saved one way or another and it feels good.

The walking is now totalling 148 miles, and it has stopped me from wasting money on taxis when I have been too lazy to walk, it has saved me eating sweets and biscuits I did not really need, although I was convincing myself it was getting me through the day. My weight maybe the same, but at least it hasn't ballooned and I have the money saved to one side as a benefit.

So the moral of these witterings? It is possible, just take it one day at a time and a few years down the line you will see your reward, and unlike the virtual level on a game, this will be real money in the bank.

39 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 1 Mile in November 142 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £117 at work (£3 of which in November) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Just before the a hurricane strikes they talk about the quiet before the storm, yesterday I were sat here at my computer, gathering the statistics for October, checking what interest I had collected, and just generally pootling. Everything going fine.

What I hadn't noticed until my wife came downstairs was the rain outside, which turned a "I can get everything done at my leisure in 40 mins" to "Better get everything done quickly in 15 mins so I can grab a lift from our lass so I don't get soaked through"

Now, and our lass will more than likely think otherwise, the paper recycling tub is kept in the garage so I am going around thinking better get a move on, go to lift the up and over door on the garage, for it to skew to one side, this had happened before it just takes a gentle manipulation, one which you may well know yourself of any part of your house, it's classed as the "knack". As in there is a "knack to doing this" and your tap, door or whatever belongs to your house only works if nudged, teased or handled in a certain way.

Unfortunately yesterday was the day the door decided to break, the wire cable had been twisted beyond it's usefulness, which as the rain came down, and time going faster than the water I could hear splushing down the guttering, it didn't wish to close, as me and the wife were set to leave soon, the thought did cross my mind of pushing down the door so far and hope for the best, sort it later. But burglar Bill loves an opportunity, and so it had to be closed. All attempts of gentle persuasion never worked, I came in to our lass and asked if she knew of a way which I didn't which would get the door to close.

By the time our lass came out, I was frustrated, wet and about to turn from gentle Mr Banner into a green monster about to rip the door off, Our lass proceeded to say "calm down", I love her dearly but our lass may as well have kneed me in the bullocks, as that just pour petrol on my internal fire. Our lass did suggest cutting the wire, and closing the door and sort later, I thought that would properly break the door so was up for manipulation. after 5 mins I went with break the wire and close the door, which our lass did have the smug feeling of I told you to do that 5 mins ago.

So day well and truly started off on a downer, no walking to work and a stage meeting for sickness to look forward too.

But how did the day end, well as we talked about it later, at least the garage door happened when we were both there, and we weren't stuck not being able to sort, I got off without going onto a stage for my sickness, and now have been set back to zero, and although I didn't walk to work, I did walk a mile around the work place during my breaks, which also stopped me from going to the canteen and feeding my unhappiness at the time, so 39 days without buying comfort food at work. Which I am sat here now smug with the feeling.

Glad yesterday is over, and today is certainly a new day.

38 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 48 Miles in October 141 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £114 at work (£51 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

I can deal with most things in life, but an icy morning when it has just rained through the night and then turned to black ice, is something which keeps you on your toes, well smaller steps at least, in case you were to fall on your 'arris. It took away one of the things which I enjoy about walking to work, you almost can walk in auto pilot mode whilst letting your mind wander, whether it be dreams of what you are going to do in the future, random arguments had in your head with colleagues or bosses because things can be done better or just a wistful look around and thinking of what it?

Yesterday though was firmly in the present though, no thoughts allowed. I have never had the greatest of balance and never quite knowing where the ice on the road was, trying to walk along the driest or least iced parts of the path, using logic of where the road works had occurred they had left a rough surface which meant least likely to slip. But as I sit here writing this, I thought maybe it was for the good even though I didn't enjoy it at the time, but for the first time in a while I really did have to focus on the present. Not be lost in future or past thoughts. I can't say it was an enjoyable way to do it, and maybe it is what added to the uncomfortableness of the situation. Bu it was a new experience, not one I am sure I wish to recreate.

In other news, I completed the 12 hour shift at work, and that was where my thoughts were always in the future, and how long until that 8pm time came around, but the anchors to the present which are my customers whom I talk to, are a much better way to enjoy the here and now, they focus you on now, and it is great to share thoughts and notions, comforting to think you are not the only one who thinks as you do, even more comforting that you don't think as some do.

Maybe I just think to much? This is October complete now for this part of the project, tomorrow is for statistics and November the 1st brings the start of a whole new month, who knows I may eventually find someone brave enough to comment on this blog.

35 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 42 Miles in October 135 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £105 at work (£42 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

You do your best to just get your head down and carry on some days, other days you feel as though you have been wired to the mains and have far too much energy to control. Yesterday had both those set of experiences for the first 5 hours I felt absolutely wired, no particular reason. On the way to work I had been thinking about How hopefully by the end of next month I would have saved my first grand. But come the afternoon all the enthusiasm, quick wit and energy had gone, it was back into safety mode. It is always more effort to be happy than be sad. Yesterdays happy spurt didn't half take it out of me.

The EBAY saga is coming to an end, just 2 more items to go and then I can close the door on EBAY Click this link to read why. It can be draining when you just want to do a simple task and it becomes so complex.

The opinion polls is one of the way forwards Click this link to read more about them . It maybe a slow way forward but every little helps.

So for today, a slightly different way of working today at work, a new system needs to be used, and as I have a formulaic way of working I am never one who treats change as a refreshing challenge, but more like an unwanted guest at a table for 8 and you now have to reset the table to accommodate them, ruining your display.

Anyways, would love your thoughts on this or any of the links above.

34 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 39 Miles in October 132 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £102 at work (£39 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Yesterday, happened to be the closest yet I have found myself to nearly breaking the run of not spending money at work. I was at the point of justification. Maybe you have had that same thought yourself. I will buy this or that, which in your mind know you don't need, but then justify it by saying you had the money spare anyway, or it will just fit nicely in that corner only for it to be used once and then forgotten. 

Yesterday I had that same experience, it was the last break of the day, morale at a low ebb, due to self inflicted thoughts and I was getting a coffee from the vending machine and looking over at the sweets machine, thinking if I spend a pound then I could say today I have put £2 away instead of £3. It is nearly the end of the shift I were thinking and it is not like spending £3. Justification after justification, excuse after excuse. I did however manage to simply take my free coffee and go back to work. Not then helped by someone eating at the desk next to me. I almost thought of committing a highway well deskway robbery of their food. But thought the HR meeting wouldn't be worth it. So carried on with my shift and felt an enormous sense of well being, that I managed to get to the end of the shift without wilting. Actually I was just glad to get out the building and on my way home. This morning I felt the "YAY" you didn't give in.

My reward was an email from someone moaning about something I had sold them on ebay, but that is a thought for tomorrow.

33 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 36 Miles in October 129 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £99 at work (£36 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Saturday was a long old shift, and over the past few posts I have been writing down my thoughts about time, and where someones mind may be, forever looking to the future, enjoying the present or living in the past. My own worry was about always being in the future, looking forward to the goal I have set in this project, but not enjoying the day, almost wishing my life away so I can get to a point, which in itself is a worry, of when I actually get to that point. What if I don't like it?

Well Saturday was a get through the day, look forward to 8pm, and I did enjoy it. and Sunday was a trip to the seaside with my wife, to have a walk along the prom and hear the breaking waves, it also means we got another 4 miles walking in so added to the monthly total.

Our lass is very good at grounding the high flying kite f my imagination, I would flutter of with my dreams, not actually checking if I was tethered and could come back down again. Our lass sees this as a bad thing, but I do try to say to her "You need a base, you need a counter weight" which can get the reply of "You saying I am fat". But seriously the future is bright and I am not trying to wish my life away but it is difficult when you don't enjoy everything you do right now and hope for the freedoms you believe you will get in the future.

In other news, another YOUGOV poll I am up to £8.80 as someone joined and had a go at the polls as well, you are free to do so as well, follow the link below.

Want your opinions to be heard? Then why not join YOUGOV polling surveys https://t.co/uUhF7D0qM0

— retireatfifty (@retireatfifty) October 10, 2018

32 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 29 Miles in October 122 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £96 at work (£33 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Day by day, week by week, month by month. That is the way I should look at this, keep to the basics. The time spent on this project has helped me get through days where I would have retreated towards food. Although I know have circumvented and cheated the system, as with yesterday it was a launch day for a new product at work so we had sweets and food galore free, so I was the pig in a muddy puddle. Well! it didn't break any rules, I wasn't paying for it. But maybe still I should show restraint.

Other thoughts crept in through the day, of how it would be like to be off with our lass, not having to work, not having to follow the regime of having to be at work, actually being a free person. This led to what I wrote about yesterday, having your mind wander to the future, and not enjoying the present. My main worry yesterday being, that if in 6 years time I hit the goal, what if it doesn't make me happy?

That is six years of anticipation, for what? I have to calm myself with the share scheme that I am in, recently the share have risen by 10%, but there is still another 57 months to go before they mature, the other day I read an article where just before the workers were going to sell their shares the company issued a profits warning and so all the money they thought they were going to get was slashed by 80%. So I think at the moment it is difficult to find which place to find solitude in, I look to the future to escape today, but then worry it might not be the future I want it to be or it may not be the future I want it to be.

Sometimes I think that I just think too much, where do you find your thoughts, in the past, present or future.

30 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work

Stats. 

So far I have walked 23 Miles in October 116 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £90 at work (£27 of which in October) on sweets and snacks, I don't really need.

Click this link to see how all the endeavours are helping to build towards the final goal. 

Thoughts

Today I have gone back to my old blog post heading for these posts, I previously thought it a bit of mouthful, my other option was simply saying day 28, 29 and so on which sounded a bit like (and create your own Geordie accent) It's day 29 in the Big Brother house. The final nail in the coffin was today I am not actually at work, I have got restricted use of my voice, which can be a big of blow when you work taking and responding to calls.

The millage has been added because I will this afternoon go and walk to meet our lass when she finishes work. I don't like putting down for items not already done, but I really need to meet our lass when she leaves work as she needs the support today. Her first day back after a lot of stress from work.

As for the money, well I haven't been at work so haven't spent the money so will put another £3 in the pot.

Completed another yougov survey and so another 60p in the pot, as with lots of sayings, such as Q. How do you eat an Elephant? A. One mouthful at a time. or which would probably be more politically correct, How do you complete a 1,000 mile journey A. One step at a time. It may seem daft that I comment on 60p but they all add up and over 6 years it is £1,000 Which is something folks would not be so sniffy at. So today there will be a few more posts around things I have done, such as a book I have read, and the Yougov surveys why don't you try it as well?

If you have any thoughts on ways to make money, then feel free to comment.

Day 28

Stats. 

So far I have walked 20 Miles in October 113 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £84 at work (£21 of which in October) on sweets and snacks I don't really need.

Thoughts

Yesterday I was full of cold, and the weather was miserable, the situation today hasn't changed much, voice just about there, kind of need it as my job is talking on the phone and storm Callum or the remnants of, is causing the rain outside. So our lass loves us, so will get another lift to work, it means the mileage hasn't changed but the money not spent will as you see have gone up, I am closing in on a £100.

In other news, I have revised the opinion poll income stream upwards from £50 a year to £150 a year. Based on the fact it seems you get 50p a survey every day, so if this continues over a year that is over £180 as it won't be all the time I have factored I should get £50 every 4 months. This is from just doing one, if the Yougov one slows up then I have at least 5 others I can join as well. As I have work, and I want this to stay fun and not monotonous I am just doing Yougov for the moment.

follow the link below 

Click this link to see how close to the target I am

27 Days of walking to work and not spending money at work.

Stats. 

So far I have walked 20 Miles in October 113 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £81 at work (£18 of which in October) on sweets and snacks I don't really need.

Thoughts

I really need to change the title of these blogposts where I keeping the diary entry of what I do, 1, It seems a but long winded and hardly a snappy to the point title. 2, Today I won't be walking to work, I could press on and get drenched and make my cold worse, But why do that?

So I need a I am going to walk as much as I can to work, and other times and keep a tally of it. whilst also monitoring what I am not spending at work.

Any suggestions in the comments section please, whilst I have a think between now and the next blog post.

Update on how selling my items on ebay is going

I was making this month of October #Gotober.

It was going to be the first full month of being at work, so the walking to work and saving money which I used to spend at work, would have a full month so should match what I had done in August and September combined.

To add to this I had decided to sell some Dr Who DVDs and figurines, and a few other bits and bobs which were literally just gathering dust on shelfs or out of site in the garage.

link to the items I were selling

I sold 10 out of the 38 items and raised £115 which is over half way to my £200 target. I have not included postage in this and will cover any shortfall with fees etc, and boy do those fees add up, so you have paypal who charge you a fee for every payment you have received, you have ebay who charge not only a percentage for the item you have sold but a percentage towards the postage you have charged.

Now I will hold my hand up, just about every item bar 1 (and that is because I hadn't notice the ebay system drop the postage costs) were charged more than the cost of actually posting it, but if I am selling an item, why must I then take out of what I was getting for it, the packaging to send it, the fees, a 5 pound item can quite easily be whittled down, and don't even think of getting rid of that small item which you thought wasn't worth more than a pound but someone would like it. (doctor who keyring) lucky if that broke 50p in the end.

So be savvy, also watch for the auto renew of listings, it seems ebay can auto relist your stuff up to 7 times, and if you run out of free goes they will charge you 35p a time.

The whole experience seemed shady, it made the money but I think in the future if I have anything to sell I will explore other ways to sell it. I have now a few bits and 3 job lots to go. when they sell I would have easily burst through my £200 target, it seems despite not because of any help from ebay.

Also walked a couple of miles to the post office and back so that was a bonus

So now I have walked 17 Miles in October 110 miles in total since starting this blog

p.s.

Oh and if you do finally get your money once it has been rinsed by paypal fees and 2 lots of ebay fees, you might find they put the money on hold, for no apparent reason. So you have to factor in a 21 day wait for the money they have left you with.