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.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 44 Mile in November 185 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £165 at work (£51 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, these are combined thoughts today, of Friday and Saturday. The weather was better, cold but dry so I got the walking in to work. I do genuinely feel bad if I don't get a days walk in. So it was good to only miss the one day.

As for my real thoughts, well it is the mulling over of the past few days, I had gone to work on Thursday having had a strong start to the month sales wise, thinking it would fairly easy to kick on and get more sales and potentially get myself one of my best bonuses for the year. Thursday, fell flat on it's face, Friday was dire. It wasn't until Saturday that things improved. One thing I put this down to was the more relaxed attitude from myself, Thursday/Friday was jump on every opportunity, Saturday was plant the seed and see if it would grow.

People on Saturday actually sold the products to themselves, which made it all the stranger to comprehend when on the previous 2 days you had observed the need, advised how your product would help them, get agreement from the customer that you were right, but still not get the sale. Yet on Saturday I would just say you could get this product if you like, and the customers would then talk about how it was good for them or if they bought these two it would be the same price as one really good one. All my lines of sale, but I just had to sit back and let them have the discussion with them self.

It can be frustrating as you feel you have worked harder on the previous 2 days and got nothing, and sit back and simply reap the rewards. I then got to thinking about this blog, I would like it to be somewhere folks would come have a look, pass comment, share and so on. But my come see me approach doesn't work, my best sharing has been for random things. What has worked is adding the cartoons at the bottom. The message folks might not be interested in, but the cartoon may have made them chuckle so they share it.

As for if I get folks to to come and look or not, I would be happy to hit my goal and no one see it then have everyone watching and miss the goal. 

Anyways thanks for reading if you have done so, and feel free to comment.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 34 Mile in November 175 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £147 at work (£33 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 one away from the half century which I will gladly celebrate on my next post, today is thoughts on day 48 and 49, Friday and Saturday. I didn't do a blogpost for 48, as life does keep on coming and just didn't have the time.

Yet Friday I had one of those light bulb moments for me. Now for some they may have thought it quite normal and why hadn't I thought of it before? But what may be a simple thought process for one may well be a land of illusion for another. As I was walking to work I was thinking about the shares that I am buying, and the thought at the time was to get to the end of the 5 years, and if they are worth more than the the 6 grand I have put into the scheme, sell them and save the money or if they devalue then just get my 6 grand back.

But you do get dividends from the shares, paid twice a year, for the amount of share I would be getting and even at this years dividend pay out that would mean £350 twice a year. A gift which keeps on giving. It is what amazes me about governments and councils when they sell off what belongs to them and then have to pay to hire it back. Anyways lets not get all political. The thought about selling the shares was to say it's better to have the money than have something which may devalue, a bird in the hand and all that. 

Then I thought, if I then keep the shares I still have that money which I can access by selling the shares but twice a year get a dividend. The shares actually only made up of the third of my goal, two thirds were liquid assets (cash) there is me talking as though I am a professional. Then I did a little bit more thinking, walking to work is a great time to think. I thought about how I get a 20% discount on the shares I buy, if I buy them over 5 years. I can invest up to 300 pounds a month at any one time (currently £100 a month) So next year when the scheme opens again invest another £100 a month the year after set another scheme going having reached the full £300.

As each investment scheme matures, depending on the price of the shares at the time. I would keep the first one and see how the dividend payments go, then when the 2nd and 3rd ones mature I can sell them at least making 20% which I get as a discount, hopefully anymore from the increase of the shares (fully aware they may go down) and then invest that money into another set of shares. then keep the process going until I have 12 sets of shares. Now this does have risk, shares can go down as well as up. I would only deal in FTSE 100 companies. Even then monitoring whats happening. But I did feel this is the best way to ensure an income when I retire. It does involve not actually fully retiring at 50 but semi retirement so I can continue with the work share scheme. But this was the basis of my thoughts.

Will dreams become reality? Well its another slow burner, but it can't but help to dream.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 28 Mile in November 169 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £141 at work (£27 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

It has been over 2 years since the EU referendum was held in the UK, now I don't mention this as something to bang on about the rights and wrongs of it, but more to do with timescale. I remember talking to folks about it, I am remember the results morning, all very clearly, as though it was this summer, and if pushed I would say it happened last year but would have struggled to grasp as I do now that it is over 2 years ago,

Now the point of all that? Well it is the concept of time, at the moment I am still in the very early stages. Looking forward to the future, looking forward to future targets. Still with the nagging doubts, of will I achieve my goals? Will I get anywhere close? The answer comes from experience itself, and to simply take each day as it comes, as I do now by writing these blog posts. Complete one each day. Note down what I have added to the total and move onto the next step. At some point in the future, I hope at least, I will look back and say "Wow!" I remember when I had only collected £141 and now I have over a grand or two grand.

It is all step by step moment by moment, your goal sometimes arrives without warning and surprise and when you look back you don't always realise just how far you have travelled.

Will my share investment play it's fair share?

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

The link above is a link I put on a lot of my posts so you can easily get to my scores on the doors, so you can see the latest totals as I work towards achieving my goal. Now the share investment is the 2nd biggest part of the target, with a projection of £15,000 only surpassed by my own 1p challenge saving. It does however have the possibility of doing the whole £50,000 goal by itself.

As share schemes go, it as safe as you can get, I invest £100 per month for 60 months giving me a pot of £6,000 if the shares at that point are less than the value I have an option to buy them at I ask for £6,000 back. So don't lose any money other than say the value of £6,000 over 5 years. But at least you get your money back.

My option to buy was 20% less than the value they were when I started the scheme, so I get them for £1.70 they were valued at around £2.09 so if nothing changed I make 3,529 (shares I will get if I choose to buy) times 39p = £1,376 profit.

for every penny the shares go up by I get £35.29 profit.

So looking at historical data the highest the shares have been over the past 5 years is £5 in their life time they were over £10 in 1999

If the price after 5 years was £4.26 I then make my projected goal of £15,000 which is not a big ask, as it is below the the figure high of the past 5 years and well below its highest ever.

Obviously this basket only has a few of my eggs, and I am well aware you could have a profits warning the month before I sell my shares so all the previous 4 years and 11 months mean nothing, but similarly they could be talk of buy outs and the shares may sky rocket. It is certainly something I am watching, with the safety of knowing I will get my money back, but the dreams of it could well make thousands.

It's always good to have a dream.

I found this cartoon, lets hope it's nothing more than the chuckle it is meant to be.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 19 Mile in November 160 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £135 at work (£21 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

It is good to know you are not alone with your thoughts and actions, and yes I knew it but it is good to get replies like the one below.

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We've started tracking what we spend, made me aware of what I was spending, this weeks savings alone for my lunch/breakfast is £41

— PaulSres (@PaulSres) November 10, 2018

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It reaffirms what you are doing, also got to thinking that am I being a little under representative of what I spent, by only saying £3, I had a quick check of a bank statement from a few months ago, totalled then divided by the time in and it was actually nearer £4 a day, so as I like things to be whole numbers and not oddments. When I get to £150 which is on day 50 which will make it all neat and tidy. I will be upping the savings to £4 a day.

As for yesterday, it was a rare day at work, it flew by. I think I will frame it and store that memory. 

Now lets have a laugh, hope the cartoon makes you chuckle as well.

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?

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 10 Mile in November 151 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £126 at work (£12 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

Mondays are long days, 12 hour shift up at 5am to prepare for work and then the walk to work.
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Less than 3 miles each way that is not much of an effort

— neil mclaughlin (@neilmclaughlin2) November 4, 2018

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So it is funny when you put up your stats and someone says that a 3 miles walk isn't much of an effort. What constitutes an effort? I have a neighbour who gets in her car drives around to our local supermarket, the route is longer than the cut through you can walk along, and then she comes back, not normally with a weeks worth of shopping but normally one or two bags at most.

So to me any effort is good effort, I would / could walk to work and back but on long days it would mean leaving the house at 6.30am (I get up 5am just to give myself a slow lead into the day) then back at 9.30pm. So our lass picks me up. Now if our lass couldn't pick me up, it would have to walk back home, but this project is not about torturing myself it is about making little changes to improve myself.

I know I need to diet, but by cutting out the sweets and biscuits at work, I know I haven't added to what I eat at home. That is my next step, but everything is done step by step.

So now I have completed 42 days and I feel good. Not cost me anything, not damaged or harmed others, but it does give you that warm, and at times smug feeling inside. (we are indeed human). We all have our faults and mine is smugness in certain situations.

Anyway, who will be the first to dare to leave a comment? Will it be you?

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.

Supercharged 1p challenge update

So far so good with my supercharged 1p challenge, for those who don't know how a 1p challenge work it is quite, simple each day you save 1p more than the day before, so day 1, you put away 1p, day 2 you put away 2p day 3 you put away 3p and so on in a year at day 365 you would be putting away £3.65. This works out to over £667.

So I worked out as I had nearly 6 years until retirement, what would happen if I carried that on for the 2,165 days and it would be over £23,400. An amazing figure with such a simple concept. Noe to me, getting a penny, then two pence, and so on seemed a bit of a chew, also I wanted to see results quickly as we all do. So for the first 50 days I have put a £1 a day away, totalling £50 now. With the intention of working out a way of upping the amount per day at certain times.

Below is a table I have worked, out and if I can keep to it, it shows the results of my actions, now come next year I am more than likely to keep it at £10 a day as that is £300 pound a month on average plus other savings I am making such as not spending money at work. It is great to see your goal, but it is no good setting one which is unachievable.

Would love your thoughts folks.

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end of month	days in total	money saved per day	Total saved	comparative 1p challenge	How much ahead of the standard challenge
up to the end of Oct	50	£!	£50	£12.75	+£37.25
Nov	80	£2	£110	£32.40	+£77.60
Dec	101	£3	£203	£51.51	+£151.49
Jan 2019	132	£4	£327	£87.78	+£239.22
Feb	160	£5	£467	£128.80	+£338.20
Mar	191	£6	£653	£183.36	+£469.64
Apr	221	£7	£863	£245.31	+£617.69
May	252	£8	£1,111	£318.78	+£792.22
June	282	£9	£1,381	£399.03	+£981.97
July	313	£10	£1,691	£491.44	+£1,199.56
August	344	£10	£2,001	£593.40	+£1,407.60

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

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.