First Thoughts

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Thoughts

Over the first few months of writing this blog, I have wandered from subject to subject, had differing ways of putting across what I was wishing to do. I had created tables, as that helped for me to see how the money was stacking up, It showed if I was on target, it had projections and showed just how possible the target of getting 50 grand saved in 6 years could be.

Now an idea had been to save the money from not spending money at work and I had tied that in with walking to work. Just recently I have fallen off the wagon, buying packets of biscuits, crisps and sweets. So what do I do? do I stop saving that money? It seemed a falsehood to write every day about walking to work, when occasionally I got a lift as that made life easier, It would also be misleading to say I was saving £5 a day by not spending on food when I had actually spent the money.

I did however still put the money to one side. so since starting the project I had saved £305, I still aim to not spend money at work, as it is false economy, but I could do without the guilt trip if occasionally that is what I want to do, I will be walking to work as much as I can because I want to get fit, or at least stop the weight going upwards.

So that leads me to this, my thoughts, I have plenty, they always escape me when I am sat here at the keyboard and return when time is scarce. But I have them, and I will share them, each time I have something to say, this way it will also take the pressure off, which was a self inflicted duty of I have to report on each day I am at work. But instead it will be each time I am reporting on money being put away or something of interest which is part of this great goal.

I have merged the money with selling items and others, and increased the target by more than both were combined anyway. this in itself gives a target projection of an extra £600 which I am already ahead.

My main focus will be the SUPERCHARGED 1p CHALLENGE in which I will be saving money in regular increments which you can find out more about at the link.

It is freeing, but not in a way in which I will lose this project but in a way I can focus on the goal of saving money, I was nearly at the point of why bother because I did start breaking one cycle, so I got rid of it and concentrated on what is working well. Things will evolve, and more than likely other things may crop up in the future, folks talk about the journey not the destination for me, I am not to sure of how the journey will be but at all costs I have to get to my destination.

Supercharged 1p challenge update

You can see from the table below how I am hoping/expecting to save money. Now a 1p challenge works on the basis of day 1 you save 1p, day 2 you save 2p, day 3 you save 3p and so on. Now where that can be a great way to save, I am always the impatient type. So I supercharged it. I have saved a pound a day for the first 50 days then from November on wards have upped the money saved per day by a £1, this month I have added January to the pot which was £124 making a total saving of £327 compared to if I had just done 1p + 1p and so on it would have been £101.53 so I am £225.47 ahead of schedule. My aim is to keep ahead of the schedule because if I hit or stay ahead of this schedule then in 6 years time I would have saved at least 23 grand.

Follow the red link at the bottom to see how that has contributed to the grand total.

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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	£1	£50	£12.75	+£37.25
Nov	80	£2	£110	£32.40	+£77.60
Dec	111	£3	£203	£62.16	+£140.84
Jan 2019	142	£4	£327	£101.53	+£225.47
Feb	170	£5	£467	£145.35	+£321.65
Mar	201	£6	£653	£203.01	+£449.99
Apr	231	£7	£863	£267.96	+£595.04
May	262	£8	£1,111	£344.53	+£766.47
June	292	£9	£1,381	£427.78	+£953.22
July	323	£10	£1,691	£523.26	+£1,167.74
August	354	£10	£2,001	£628.35	+£1,372.65

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

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 31 Miles in January 259 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £280 at work (£40 of which in January) 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

Why, when I have four hours spare yesterday do I not write this blog post, but leave it for a grasped five minutes today? I was never good with deadlines, whether they be for home work or things promised for folks. I could always do the work in situe, but always struggled away from the place where the task needed to be done.

Yet I can put money aside, well I do that in one lump sum at the end of the month. Pay day tomorrow so that is when everything will be divvied out.

Part of this exercise though is to improve myself, make me a better person, one thing I don't like about myself, is the ability to put to one side any task. I would be the sort of fireman to say "It is only smoking at the moment we will get onto once we can see where the flames are coming from." I always seem to have an excuse against doing the job in hand.

But, I do like the feeling of getting a job done, ahead of schedule, it opens up all the time which is filled with guilt and angst of having to get it done and fake relief for finding an excuse to schedule it for the next day. Whilst I have tried to grasp onto the memory and feeling of getting the job done ahead of time, it frees your mind and spirit, unburdened by thoughts of "I must get this done" normally at which point you rush it and very rarely get it done as you wish.

I do work better though when I don't think about things. A painter can sometimes to be said they don't know when to stop, a dash of colour here, a wash to represent reflection here, until it gets to a point of bilge. For me it is over thought, sometimes a blurting out is the best way then just go back and quickly refine it. Now I ramble, but task in hand is complete another blog post, another recording of Mondays effort. Also let it be known me and the good lady have now completed four early morning swims, two this week and two last. I have myself transformed from a tentative one length after several half lengths there and back to the shallow end, to ten lengths yesterday spread over an hour, but still ten lengths more than a slumber in bed would have produced. I am proud of that.

If you do pop by an read my ramblings, why not leave a comment about what you are proud of doing?

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 28 Miles in January 256 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £275 at work (£35 of which in January) 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 thoughts are few and far between, enjoy the Sunday with our lass then get back to work for Monday, have two mornings swimming Tuesday/Wednesday, also have grand kids Tuesday, Wednesday afternoon to myself Thursday thru Saturday work. Then repeat.

How boring you may say. I may even have agreed, but boring also means peaceful, something without structure could mean panic. Something without routine may leave you lost upon a map, not knowing which direction to go.

The same routine happens within this blog, go to work, next day or before the next walk to work, write a blog post. Continue to save the money, make a record of it in this blog, watch the savings grow. Unlike day to day life where as the same routine ends with the same results at least the same routine of this blog will record the travel upwards to a target. At which point the target will also break the cycle of the life we lead currently as the option for work will be taken out and replaced with adventure.

I hope this makes sense, live, die and repeat, does not have to be a concentration on the dying, but a repetition of the living.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 25 Miles in January 253 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £270 at work (£30 of which in January) 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
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You have me considering a scooter to go 8km of my commute to avoid the tube, but it’s a little bit too far to make it work I think.

— TPO (@tpomanners) January 19, 2019

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I may have my first convert, although I was never looking for disciples. The above was a Twitter response to what I do each time a put a blog post up on here. I have had folks deride that it was only 3 miles and they do more et cetera. But this one was more positive, it would be great to think that someone else may have changed their habits for the better, thanks to something you yourself was doing.

It is quite a boost for me as well, as I write that this is something just for me, but who, but mad people talk away into their surroundings, knowing they won't get a response but keeping them self comforted by the tones of their own voice. I am here tapping away feeling as though the inner thoughts are just me rambling, for these words never to be seen, and just the comfort of the tapping of my fingers on the keyboard being my only comfort or reward for what I am doing.

Maybe, I just think too much.

I have replied too the tweet, will ask them how it goes on, scootering in London would be adventurous though, and may well test the resolve and nerve of the UKs finest. But still, if it is one less on a crowded tube, and they get fitter and a little bit of money saved, then that is one more positive a result. Lets see what we have to report in the future.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 22 Miles in January 250 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £265 at work (£25 of which in January) 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 going to start off with a rambling rant, but lets address some good news. I have now totalled 250 miles walked, I may well have done more, but those are the recorded walks to work, or when I have gone out to get some exercise. Not too shabby a figure. Having read yesterday about a woman who did over 250 miles in four days walking on a challenge from Derbyshire to the Scottish borders. It may well not be as fantastic as mine is mostly in 3 mile stints with added extras in between and has been over 4 months. But all the same it is a good distance.

As for my rant, well, have you ever noticed that people only want your opinion until you give it? Now I could rant on, describe in detail, but you don't know my job, and work would more than likely bemoan me having said owt in public. Just lets to say, they asked, I said, they were hoping folks would just have said nothing.

It does seem to be a day of people not being allowed, or finding it difficult to ask questions. Prince Phillip has over turned his car. It is serious, you hope he is well. But then you get to ask. Should he still be driving at 97? What speed do you have to go at to overturn a range rover? How were the other people involved in this accident? Was Prince Phillip breath tested? Why did someone report being on the scene and helping Prince Phillip out of the car? As his body guards should have been there first? What if this had been a planned attack? Ram his car and hurt the royal?

We only get blandness, people enjoy bland, much as magnolia is top selling colour paint, as it is as adventurous as folks will get if moving away from the very top seller white.

Why don't folks challenge life more? Is there a fear that if you speak out, then where as you were witness to the crime against society that you would then become the victim.

This is a very big part of why I want to raise the money to go a long way to retiring, it is so I can escape society with our lass, bunker down and live out our lives at a safe distance, sad but a true reflection of how we look upon society.

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

Stats. 

So far I have walked 19 Miles in January 247 miles in total since starting this blog

I have stopped myself from spending £260 at work (£20 of which in January) 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

If you ever want to know how much you truly weigh, then go swimming. In a drive to get healthy, which is part of the retirement plan. Well, it's no good being retired if your body is too knackered to enjoy it, is it?

So, for the past two days we have been swimming me and my wife. Up at 6am out at 6.30am and to the pool just before 7am, we did an hours swimming, well, for me an hours being in the water, Our lass is the swimmer I am the splasher. But by the Wednesday morning I had managed to complete a length our lass had done 20. I refer you to the point that our lass is the swimmer I am still not that confident. But on exiting the pool I was then to realise the true weight of my body, as I nearly froze on the step, trying to lift my bulk out of the water. At one stage I could imagine having to call out for assistance or simply just fall back into the water. The first option was never going to happen "fatty needs a pull out of the water" is not going to be announced over the walkie talkies. Option two was an option as no one was behind me, apart from my wife laughing. But I did need to get out, so you stand for a couple of moments and then carrying on.

It led me to thinking about how many things in my life I am blind to, or how many things I just don't realise the weight of the situation? But rather then get down, I did focus on the positives, swimming has given me and my wife something else to talk about other than a "how shit is my day at work" competition. It has let me see my wife laugh more, and us be closer together, we are always close, but there always seems to be so many barriers between us, family, work, life, history. 

We now have a focus, lets get fit together, which is the whole point of the retirement plan, I want to be there for when my wife fully retires, so we can have more moments together like the swimming.

I am now knackered but happy, the swimming comes at a monthly membership cost, but as a certain credit card company would say "somethings are priceless"