From -Ј1,523.00 to +Ј50,000

A question about : From -Ј1,523.00 to +Ј50,000

Hello folks!

I am starting this thread as a follow-on from a thread I started on another board here that ended up a bit of a mess due to other people's pessimism. Mods, please do not move this thread as I don't want it on the 'up your income' boards etc as it's intended as a bit of fun and I want it hosted somewhere that it will be treated as a bit of fun and (hopefully) will provide the readers with some entertainment.

Here is the story: -

I am 31 years old.
I own no property.
I share a flat with the flat's owner.
I own very little possessions. I am not a materialistic person at all.
I am a professional, earning in the Ј20,000-Ј25,000 banding.
My current finances are -Ј1,523.00

I realised recently that it was time I stopped playing around and took my life seriously. Specifically, I really needed to get some money and property.

I've always been quite a bright fellow (as many people here are), a good planner, problem solver and I am generally very analytical. In the organisations I have worked in, I have often been noted for my ability.

So, here goes - I am going to try and turn my finances around. Specifically, I am going to try and have Ј50,000 banked 12 months from now. I will do anything legal in order to get this money - financial loopholes, salary, ebay, second job etc. Anything and everything. That's it right there - if there is anything, no matter how big or small that will help me, I am going to take it. I expect the next 12 months of my life to be a period of hard work and achievement.

I also have several major goals I want to achieve on a personal level but I will not list them now. I will, however, list them at the end of the 12 months whether I achieved them or not.

My point here is not to draw attention to myself nor am I doing this out of desperation. I am doing this because I want to be occupied and I want to show to myself that I can - at last - make use of my intelligence and achieve the things I wanted to on a personal level.

If I end up with nothing much after the 12 months, I won't really care. I am not trying to get out of depression. I am pretty happy but I just know that there are certain things I need to do to make myself happier and more secure. However, I If I end up no better off because of my own apathy, I will be deeply disappointed with myself.

One of the problems I will have with reporting everything is that I am not going to go into details about many of things I will be doing. This is because the business model I will be using can be easily copied. Also, certain things will be slightly private.

Again, I am not here to glorify myself at all. It's a bit of fun. I hope I have the trust of the readers and contributors here. I will be bringing across several people form the original thread that PMed me to request updates - c18drm, pink princess, KaBlam, luverlyjuberly, Ben1982, DireEmblem. The support and encouragement you guys have offered has been invaluable.

So I may get this done, I may not. Just to save any disagreements here, I declare it can't be done. So, there - it's 26/02/10 and I have failed to achieve it.

Now, flying back in time, it's 25/02/09 and tomorrow I will attempt to change the future.

Constructive criticism, helpful comments, questions, tips, advice etc are all welcome. If you are just going to be negative about it, please don't bother - this is as much about fun and adventure as anything else.

So, with that said, tomorrow I get cracking...

Edit:

BTW I respectfully request that no arbs are posted on this thread as I don't not follow publicly broadcasted arbs. If you have one though, feel free to PM me!

Latest update 16/03/09

Total figure aimed for: Ј51,523.00
Starting finances: Ј-1,523.00
Money pooled so far: Ј 2,345.00
Current finances: Ј 822.00
Revised figure: Ј49,178.00

This week's thoughts

Not terribly much to report really. The money is still (slowly) trickling in to the pot but I realise now that I absolutely need to start a new approach to this, which I have had in mind for a long time. One of the problems I am having right now is finding enough hours in the day. Unlike before I started this, I spend all day being constructive towards my goals. Perhaps most importantly, I continue to study language everyday. I am so much happier with myself and the direction of my life now that money is not always on my mind but it's the point of this whole thing and, realistically, most important right now.

Next update will be the first complete month of this blog, and I will need to take a long hard look at the direction of this whole thing and look towards making massive changes to my income streams.

* Debt free for the first time in 5 years or so on 16/03/09

Personal objectives/timeline: -

Complete 4 mile cross country running route (date for completion - 27/04/09)

It's been a long time since I was in good shape. I used to be a health freak and would run this (extremely gruelling) route 4 times a week. I am totally out of shape now and I have been for some time. I started running again for the first time in ages yesterday (15/03/09) and I am giving myself 6 weeks to get into shape to complete this route for the first time in years. BTW one of the main reasons it is so difficult is because it is on a hellish gradient right from the start. Just to be clear here - the ability to simply complete the route without stopping is not the aim - I want to able to complete it without stopping, with a good time and not feel like hell the next day from it. I want to be fit enough that I will not suffer lasting physical stress/exhaustion from it. One major roadblock with this is that I will be have a 1-2 week holiday in the coming 6 weeks in which I will be letting myself go (not had a holiday in 18 months+) and I will be smoking and drinking heavily. I think I can still do it though.

Certified Fluency in 5 languages (date for completion - 26/02/10)

Languages aimed for - English (duh!), Spanish, German, Portuguese, Italian.

I grew up monolingual (English) but learned Spanish 7-8 years ago (for the hell of it). I have since learned bits of Portuguese and Italian and have been working hard on my German with the aim of becoming totally fluent in all of them. I seem to have the ability to learn a new language completely... like I was born speaking it. Spanish is like that for me but I do not have the versatility I need with it as I simply haven't studied/spoken it enough. I am currently studying language for 1 hour a day, focusing on German. I have a very good friend (best friend, I think) that is German and who is going to help me when I visit them and when we chat on email/MSN.

Spanish is almost done for me, it won't be long. Portuguese is right behind it (I am not anywhere near as good as I am in Spanish but they are very similar and it *should* come quickly once I concentrate on it) and Italian I have done bits of. Really simple language, very similar to Spanish and Portuguese.

It is my aim to complete official certification in all these langauges, probably through the Chartered Institute of Linguists.

Tasks ahead for me in the coming week or so: -

Ebay anything I don't need, get Nationwide account, more MBing, study languages and 1 other skill I am working on, get serious about setting up another source of income I have been researching.

Please not this is still a bit ad-hoc at the moment. I am still working on the structure. This goal was started on a Thursday so I will be looking to post weekly updates every Thursday from now on.

BTW it does look like the original goal of Ј50,000.00 is not going to be achieved but I am still going to try everything I can and I am loving doing all of this!

Best answers:

• You can do it u4ea .
  It may be handy to keep your list of tips as a rolling post.
• What do you mean by "rolling post"?
• One you keep extending,ie rolling with the tips you recieve.
• As in just constantly update the original post?
• Yeah just edit the original post with additional tips. I shall be following this - you can add me to the PM list if you like.
  GL GL GL GL
• Prove the doubters wrong!
  Good.Luck
• There will be no PMing updates now - it's all on this board away from the negative comments made on GIOL.
• Probably not terrifically exciting news but just to let you know that I am gearing up for the big push tomorrow. I am making a list of "to do" things from day to day to the long term. I will list how many short to medium term goals I have tomorrow once I have them all worked out. I will give them all a number and a date for completion. Some of the goals will be revealed tomorrow, some won't (although all will have been revleaed by the end of the 12 month project). Some will be directly related to finances/earning, others won't. But all will be related to me kicking myself up the backside and personal development.
• Good for you,
  Keep us posted, and i'll holler if I have any thoughts to help along the way...
  First thing I would reccomend is split your bank accounts into pots... does wonders for me..
  For example I figured out what I have left each month, and I setup a DD to an account I use solely as a spend account. At the end of the week, I round down the balance to the nearest Ј10 and transfer the shrapnel into a savings account, along with other savings off course!
  Obviously transfering your shrapnel from a spending pot wont add up to a lot, but say an average of Ј5 a weeks Ј260+interest, so its not too shabby...
• I'm not too clued on bank accounts to be honest. I have two right now - one for matched betting (good old A&L) and a current account. Perhaps this is something I need to review. However, right now pretty much all my cash is going into my MB float. My MBing activity will be increasing drastically over the next two days and will remain of the highest priority.
  My original challenge on GIOL still stands - clear the Ј1,523 debt faster than it would do to it via salary (8 weeks). Or, to put it another way, I aim on making Ј1,500 extra cash in a time period less than 8 weeks. We shall see!
• Just noticed you have a & l ,i would recommend nationwide flex account ,much better for mb.Only opened ours about 2 weeks ago,kicking ourselves now.
  PP
• I actually applied for a Nationwide card but they wouldn't give me one. I asked in the branch why this was - mentioning that I already had two debits cards on healthy accounts (I have never gone into the red) - and they said that it maybe a case that their credit assesors thought that I may already have too many facilities.
  One thing is that I am not listed on the electoral roll at my current addy. My idea is to batter all the Ј bookies (I've still got a few to go) and, once I am on the electoral role and have much better finances, I will reapply and see what they say. A good few months will have passed in the meantime.
  BTW I had just added "get on electoral roll" to my "to do" list.
• Also add Bet 365 as an immediate thing to do .It can be a real money spinner.
• Hey
  sounds like a brilliant idea
  i wish you the best of luck - wish i had the motivation to turn my life around in such a drastic way!
  x
• My people,
  How would you like the updates? I am thinking I will do a summary post at least once a week like Dongle does on GIOL. I will also continue to keep the first post a "rolling post". The purpose of it will be mostly to show the figures. I will try to draw up an Excel ss tonight or tomorrow that will help and maybe give some automatic stats etc that to make things a little more interesting
  So - what you say peeps? Initial rolling post and weekly diary as standard and the rest of it can just be chat, tips etc. I will try to post as regularly as possible... which is good, because it means I have got to have a reason to post!
• OK, now THIS is going to throw you all.
  I just had a phone call from my sister. My maternal Grandmother died 3 years ago. I had only met her once and didn't mourn her death. I have just found out that I have been bequeathed Ј1,048. The cheque is sitting in the glove compartment of my sister's car.
  Now what the hell was the chances of that happenening?
  That's now 1/56th of it done in day one. If I keep up this rate, I should make Ј382,520 in 12 months.
  That was so improbable, I wish it would have happened later on in the blog because, frankly, it sounds like BS.
• Thats great news ,did you get put on the electoral role.
• I've not had a chance. I was so busy at work today it was stupid, and I got almost no sleep last night at all as I was up late working on things. I got a bit of MBing done tonight - I will try and post an update before I go to bed.
  I pick up the cheque tomorrow!
• I totally understand the no sleep part,i sleep about 3 hours a day during the week (nightshifts).
  I ll see if i can trace an online link for you to do it online.
  Get the cheque banked straight away.