I had another clear out of my wardrobe the other week and managed to fill 2 bags with clothes that no longer fitted me or I no longer wore. Having run 3 miles for Sport Relief last weekend I felt able to overcome my guilt of depriving charity shops of my unwanted stuff and decided to list 5 items on ebay taking advantage of one of their free listing days.
£30.74
Whilst I may only blog about my adventures as I seek to become a millionaire, I also believe doing your bit for charity is important which is why this morning I joined thousands of people around the country running for Sport Relief.
Having done the mile last time out I thought I had better move up to 3 miles this year which I successfully completed in the rain earlier today. If you don’t know what Sport Relief is about then head over to their website to find out why it makes such a difference.
The total amount raised this year looks like it will be over £20m, which includes a single donation of £5.5m from a mystery donor during the live TV show on Friday.
I took advantage of a free £5 matched bet offer from Betfair as part their Cheltenham festival coverage. Knowing very little about horses as proved by my experience at Ascot last year I chose to bet on football instead.
I bet £5 of my own money against Portsmouth winning the FA Cup as I believe they have a tough draw against West Brom and within 24 hours Betfair had credited my account with another £5. I used the free £5 to back both Chelsea and Arsenal to win with £2.50 bets each, winning on Chelsea and losing on Arsenal leaving me with a £1.27 loss. However if Portsmouth fail to lift the cup I’ll receive my original £5 stake back plus £4.75 winnings.
I also had a small bet against Man Utd beating Derby which lost me 66p as United scraped a one nil win. Hopefully my betting form will pick up soon!
£1.93
I had planned to write a long post today on what effect the budget has on my MillionaireAdventure but this years dull budget really doesn’t give me much to say.
I estimate that I will be £8.88 per year worse off due to tax on beer going up by 4p per pint, and wine by 14p per bottle. I don’t drive a big car so escape the so called green taxes introduced and the previously announced 2p rise in fuel duty was postponed until October.
Ok so I gain a bit from the reduction in basic-rate income tax to 20% but what the chancellor gives with one hand he had already taken with the other by raising the National Insurance earnings ceiling by £100 per week.
So in summary it’s business as usual for me after the budget.
Annual food product inflation has reached 8.4% - the highest since records began in 1986 - according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The main driver behind the soaring costs is the rising price of meat in reaction to the increasing cost of animal feed that farmers have incurred this winter so it’s bad news for us non-vegetarians!
According to research from the price comparison website mysupermarket.co.uk a typical family of four will have to spend an extra £572 this year to buy the same food items as last year.