My father had his last day of work last Monday before the Christmas and they held a raffle. The top prize? Yes you’ve guessed it, an iPod Touch!! He doesn’t know how to use it and would never get the hang of it. It was down to either my brother, sister or I that would have gotten it. My sis was getting an MP3 player for xmas, so it ruled her out (her suggestion). So it was between me and my brother. We chatted and decided that it was me that got the iPod
I have spent most of christmas day checking it out and see what can be done with it. I have bearly scratched the surface with it. This thing is amazing. Get one!!
The day in Enniskillen was well worth the drive. I use to hear people complaining about the price of things here and that it is sooo much cheaper up north, but i though that it couldn’t be that much of a difference, well how wrong was I?
We got so much shopping for so little money. The one thing that saved a lot of money on was the alcohol. It is a lot cheaper there and with the recent tax reduction that the UK government has brought in by reducing the VAT rate from 17.5% to 15%, it made the savings even more.
Here in the republic of Ireland, things are priced quite dearly. Fortunately for us we have a border with the UK, Northern Ireland. There are a lot irish travelling north this christmas to avail of the cheaper shopping. I have heard of a crate of bear costing £10.99 up north and it costs €34.99 here. The Euro equavalant is roughly €15 or less. Don’t know if this is exactly true, but tomorrow myslef and my sister will be finding out the truth and doing our christmas shopping for a lot less this year.
It’s been nearly two weeks since I posted a blog. No weekend projects for two weeks!! I’ve been very busy of late. I have now got into the full swing of college and working evenings at the same time. It can be very hard at times. My day starts at 9 am and finishes at 2:15am, not leaving me much time for anything else.
I was lucky today as one of my classes got cancelled and it gave me the chance to finally publish a post. Todays post is more of an update as to where I am and what I am doing. I in college during the day and working an evening shift from 4:30pm until 2:15am, not leaving me much time for sleep or anything else for that matter.
I do still have my weekends but these are now taken up by getting things done that I use to get done during the week, such as shopping, cleaning the apartment, etc. It’s not easy but I am focusing on the end goal, which is my qualification. With the way the global economy is at the moment, it has become very important that I gain a qualification to help keep me afloat.
Not only am I doing all of the above, but I am also trying to partake in Ed Dales and Dan Raines 30 Day Challenge. This is very interesting and is set-up for anybody that does not have a clue about internet marketing. They have it set-up in a step by step programme that anyone can follow. Make sure to pay a visit to the 30 Day Challenge Website.
Well that is all for now. Talk to you again in the next post, which hopefully won’t be as long away as the last one was. Mike
Having started college late due to the college loosing my application I have a good big to catch up on. This just happens to be a bank holiday weekend, so I’ve now got an extra day to catch up and get some where with this.
When I started each class for the first time I went to each tutor and told them that I was just starting and if they had any handouts or materials that I could get to help me catch up. So I now have a nice pile of college work building up.
With all of the talk lately of the global depression and the credit crunch there have been a number of blogs that suggest doing a budget and cutting out the crap and saving the few pennies where possible. I agree with these blogs, as we do need to cut down on our spending and start to save for the hard times ahead, but not at the expense of one of the most valued traditions that has been set in stone. It is been suggested that we should give up the odd cup of tes or coffee!!
Well I say no! The “odd” cup of tea or coffee is the basis of a lot friendships. It is the basis of circular news, gossip. It is the basis of relaxation before or after a streesful day or activity. I say no to giving up my tea and coffee. I regularly have tea and coffee with friends that I don’t get to see too often as it allows us to catch up on events in our lives. Without these cuppas a lot of friendships would not be as good and strong as they are or might not even exist anymore.
So for the sake of a few quid, have your fill and enjoy your cuppa.
Here is the first of the weekend project updates. This weekend sees the 4th of the weekend projects and so far they have been quite successful. The original idea behind me starting these weekend projects was to give me a helping hand and a much needed kick up the arse to get things done. So far I have covered sorting out my emails, a household budget and a desktop cleanup. These are things that I needed to get done. To help me in my personal life and give me both a clear mind and the clear space to get things done. So onto the first update:
Email Clean Out:
When I started this project I had over 4,000 emails to get through and to see which ones where junk, which ones I could unsubscribe from and which ones I wanted to keep. I am now glad to say that my inboxes are now only holding the emails that I want and as they come in, I delete the ones that I don’t want. A great way to keep on top of things and have another area sorted.
Household Budget:
I have setup a household budget that has yet to take effect, for the simple reason that I get paid montly. The budget is designed for my whole months salary as I had already spent a good bit of my salary when I started the budget, so this will come into effect next week when I get paid. I have enough money leftover after my expenses to be able to save a bit and live comfortably, which was the main aim of the budget. It only remains now to see if I can stick to the budget.
Desktop Cleanup:
This one is the one that is holding me back. I didn’t think that this one would be so difficult. I cleaned up my desktop and got rid of some of the items that where that I did not need or use. I am looking for programs that will help me in my tasks and see what will be benifical to me. Also I need a nice desktop wallpaper.
So it’s back to work I go on the desktop and see what I can find and what is helpful. Will give you all a new screen shot when it is done and list the software that I am using and what each does.
Mike
