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!!!

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.

Yougov 0 v 0 Populus

Being paid for online polling, now this may not be for everyone, as you have to click buttons to say you don't care what you do with me my information. Now to me, it seems folks collect your information all the time in the back ground and don't pay you a penny for it, so why not answer a few questions and get a £50 cheque every so often for the trouble.

Yougov

They work on a 100 points equals a £1 you reach 5,000 points you can claim your £50 which is then paid into your bank in 4 weeks. You get a 100/£1 on your joining survey and all the other surveys I have done have only been 50 points so 50p a time. You get an extra 10/10p for answering do you like / dislike well know people or products. You also have something populus don't do which is refer a friend for this you get 200 points / £2 for that person joining and completing 6 surveys.

Populus

Are known for being the most generous with their polls, My first one got me £2 on the bounce they work a scheme of a £1 a point then when you reach 50 points they send you a cheque for £50 they automatically do this unlike yougov where you have to claim it. Your 50 points is dependent on what you have at the beginning of each month it also takes them 4 weeks to send the cheque out to you.

This is all a slow burner. But has the potential to gather some revenue, as I am sure the pollsters will be busy with brexit and any up coming General Election. I have been reserved on prediction saying 50 pound every 4 months making £150 a year making £950 towards my goal, I think that could be double, but we will see in the future.

As I write about the polling experience I will use the header to show many £50s I have received from each one. Currently it is nil nil.

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

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

— retireatfifty (@retireatfifty) October 10, 2018

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 26 Miles in October 119 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £93 at work (£30 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

One thing which does get me down is spending your thinking time in the future and not enjoying the present. With this project I am always mindful of the goal I am heading towards, which is gathering the £50,000 I try to help me stay focused by monitoring how much I have already gathered and how well the projection is doing, or what I might need to do to improve it. But it always means I am steering more away from the here and now and starting to wander of in my mind to the future, what will it be like when? Always thinking of the end of the month, next month when I increase the saving on my 1p challenge, a year from now when I have been saving that long, 5 years when the shares mature. always into the future. 

I put a lot of it down to the fact that maybe I don't enjoy today, and this wanting to gather the money is to keep away from the moment which I don't enjoy. When ever I feel weak and think lets have that gamble, lets buy that choccy bar. I think of how I feel and why I am going for the goal. 

Now if it brings happiness is another matter, and a fear of when in 6 years I hit the goal, will I be looking to the future or will I enjoy that here and now of reaching my destination?

DAY 29

Stats. 

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

I have stopped myself from spending £87 at work (£24 of which in October) on sweets and snacks I don't really need.

Thoughts

Annoyingly the mileage has stayed the same, due to storm Callum, well due to me not wanting to walk 3 miles in the rain and already having a cold and sore throat. About an hour and a half into my shift, my voice wasn't getting any better, I had a sudden bout of sickness, a quick glance to the team leader, a text to our lass and I am home again.

It is so annoying to have thoughts but not be able to just burst out with them, maybe I should learn from these days of making every word count, as they are so difficult to utter. I will more than likely not be at work on Monday, so again no more mileage but will add the £3 regardless, need to keep that going. When pay day comes around I will be add all this to the total. I think that will cheer my spirits when I see everything building up again.

Another day another survey and yes it may only be 50p but every penny counts that is over a grand by the time I am 50.

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

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

— retireatfifty (@retireatfifty) October 10, 2018