Anna Aden Writes

This isn't bad for a year's long challenge which has been tedious, cumbersome and boring! The final cash savings was £1,004 and the IOUs were £374. As frequently with this long term saving projects there was some double counting - I think mostly to do mixing up weeks so I had to got by the cash savings! The Details On Boxing Day,  I went down to my mother so she could assist in the counting. To help with this count down, I asked Ma who willingly obliged as she had been keenly reading my blog posts about this. Sis acted as an independent observer. Well she was on the sofa while Ma and I counted the cash and the IOUs. At first there was a debate about what surface to use, and Ma and Sis advised it was best to use red since that represented money and wealth in many cultures, so that was taken on board. As a result we used the Christmas table runner. We poured the contents of the money pot on the table and proceed to sort out the cash in diffe...

So it's my festive effort. I was considering putting in an IOU but decided since it was penultimate week of the year it was best to find the cash. Also before I start spending on Christmas presents, I thought just to get some cash out and put it in the box. Happy Holidays 

There are only two weeks left to this challenge and I'm not even sure I'm going to pay the IOUs or the early weeks I missed. This is an insane challenge - like I said before the best way to save is to have a regular savings plan preferably an automatic bank transfer which goes straight to a saving accounts, preferably on your payday!!! This challenge is just stupid and blog-fodder, it's not realistic! Regular savings you can afford is better.  Why? Well, some weeks I just plainly forget or didn't have the cash or the time. Not sure what I can do to review, perhaps get my mother to help count. To be frank, I'm pretty bored already but there must be quite a bit of cash in the pot though. The only rule I kept to was not breaking into the tin so I guess we should count the takings. I'll ask Ma and we can both could the takings. I'll see. 

Ops, I actually miscounted the weeks and I missed out week 44 so here we go! I have a hundred pounds, yes a WHOLE hundred pounds fresh for the ATM machine and I actually managed not to break into it as well. Why? Well this month has been very busy at work, I also had to work from home for a few days due to a sports related injury this meant I wasn't spending as much money on lunch or other things. Basically the busier I am at work, the less time I have to spend money. This pays for weeks 45 and 44 which is £99 pounds but I have £1 change which I can use the pay off an IOU!  So from Week 41, I owed £11.00 and I've reduce that by £1 to make it £10. I guess that's it until next week.

Things have been very busy!  In the last three weeks I've gone on a short holiday break to Brighton, then had to catch up with others things. So yet another week passes and I have no funds to put in the money jar. Yes, indeed, no funds at all. So this week, I'm simply going go write another IOU to the tune of one hundred and twenty six pounds sterling . When I first took on this challenge, I thought it would be easy and plain sailing but so far, I've had to navigate some rough waves. I don't have the money pot in view but I shall put this IOU of £126 in it. I guess the real lesson here is if you want to save, DON'T HOP ON TO A BLOG CHALLENGE. Please note the below is not FINANCIAL ADVICE  - FOR FINANCIAL ADVICE PLEASE CONSULT A QUALIFIED FINANCIAL ADVISER The best way is to Work out how much you want to save - like your goal for the year. Even better work out what you want to save for. If it's rainy day savings that's fine. Work out how muc...

So forty pounds in the pot, and no IOU this week. 40 weeks gone and another 12 weeks to go to completion. Wow!

Week thirty three and  I can only spare £10 as my own funds are running low. So this means I'll have to owe the money jar, nothing new there. It will probably be like this until payday which is in a few weeks. Maybe I should call this the IOU game. So I went to the cash point thinking I could withdraw at least thirty pounds but I only had forty pounds left in it until payday. This mean I had to be what accountant call 'prudent'. If I took out £30 - yes, I intended on owing £3, I would only have about £10 to live on until payday. I've had a few expenses, like I decided to top up my oyster card, instead of using my bankcard. We are basically cashless in the UK. However I put on a fair amount, probably more than my monthly transport would cost. Then other incidentals which I can't remember. Also I think because I'm now in the thirties so it's a lot of money. So it's getting harder, people, harder. I have seven more weeks in the thirty pound zone, th...

I decided to start paying towards my outstanding money jar debt. So even though this week was £32, I had £35 so I decided instead of taking change back, I was seriously considering picking out £3, I should just cancel the amount from one of the IOUs. Yes, its three ten pound notes and a fiver with the money jar. So I got out the IOU which had a balance of £5 and cancelled £3 pounds leaving on £2 on the debt. I mean the debt for this particular IOU. There are a couple more IOUs in the money pot. I guess, I should be about to cancel off the entire £2 debt in the next money session, provided it's not another IOU because I forget to go the bank to take out money. It defeats at the point doesn't it. Taking out money from the bank to put in a money pot. Who does that? Oh the perils of internet money challenges!

Another week, more money and the pound had dropped. I was only going to take out thirty pounds and do write another IOU but I decided it was time to start paying. So I took out forty pounds, so at least, I could pay my thirty one pounds in full and the change will go towards my one of my debts. To be honest, I first I thought to take out nine pounds change but then thought better of it. I could I take out change when I owned the money jar some cash. At present I owe the money jar SIXTY SIX POUND STERLING in IOU notes. So I decided which IOU should I pay back? Should I go for the thirty pounds and end up with a balance of twenty-one pounds? Or should I do the twenty-two pounds? That would give me thirteen pounds left on the note. Or just scale down to the fourteen pounder and owe five pounds on that bill. There is so much suspense to my choice, right? Well, drumroll...... I went for the fourteen pounds IOU and stuffed the other IOUs back into the money pot.  So no...

I'm late again! I forget to get some money out yesterday, then forgot again when I went out so I'm dropping in another IOU for week thirty. Yes, another IOU. I guess this makes it all unpredictable but so much is going on at work and in life. It's one of the busiest times of the year in my area and I'm working to a hard deadline.  Yesterday was so the hottest day on record in the London, and I didn't leave the office until about 7pmish. It's fine, there is air con installed, so it wasn't so bad. Anyway let's talk money...or my IOU. So that's the money jar and the IOU behind it is my remote control and yes, I still have a CD Hi-Fi. You can see my taped lead, as I said before I don't think some Apple products are as sustainable as PC. This lead is fast wearing and I need to tape in again to stop exposed wires. Also the insulation tape doesn't stick properly so I reenforce it with sticky/cello tape. PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW THIS  WAY, AND IN...

It's been a funny old week, I forgot to post my 'show my desk', I wrote it but didn't publishing. My family is still coming to terms with our bereavement so things have been a bit up in the air. This week, I only have £15 cash to put in the money pot so it been £29, I've put in an IOU for £14.  Nothing much to say, other than my phone fell again, so I might put the money cash towards getting me a new phone. I'm currently on android One Plus but I miss my iPhone with all the apps. But again there is always a but, this one has a dual sim so I can have two sims cards. I don't know. At first the One Plus was a good buy until the screen broke and I had to replace it. Yes, that was where I got stung for nearly two thirds of the phone. I could have got a new phone but it's all about data...data. Which reminds me, I need to do a backup. I'm not sure how much there is, as I currently owe £36 plus the first weeks I didn't pay in. So far, I'm st...

I decided it as time to start play back my debt so the money jar so I saved a five pound sterling note and swapped it for five pounds worth IOUs. Don't get excited, I still owe about twenty-two pounds though, and there is still the first six weeks to play up. Plus this challenge is going to get a wee more difficult. Current change for week 28 of £28 So this week, I finally managed to get the right change as you can see two tens, a fiver and three coins. The top picture of one of me walking over the Waterloo bridge and the sunlight spread across the River Thames. I thought it was a nice moment to capture on my phone. Back to savings. Note this is a bit political so move on if you aren't inclined. Well it seems the pound sterling is losing its power against other world currencies which is such a pain. The exchange rate has plummeted, the politicians just seem like characters in a cheap reality show. The entire situation is bizarre, and obvious the markets have no conf...

Week twenty-five! Can you believe it? Wow! So today, I had a half day holiday from work and so decided instead of doing another IOU for twenty five pounds maybe I should just make a withdrawal. Normally, the banks are closed by the time I get home so I took this opportunity and that's the reason why I have twenty five pounds.  It was painful withdrawing the money, but it was better than owing the money jar more money.  These challenges are only fun for those who make them, and write on how to do them. The actual doing  and saving is boring. Again, if you want to have regular savings, get a saving accounts and put a fixed sum preferably on the same day of your payday and put that money away.  Look at how many times, I've put in an IOU into the pot. I think it's about three times now though I paid one off, paid a pound towards one and the larger one is still outstanding. And there has been a couple of  occasions when I needed change so I got it from ...

This week has been very busy so this skipped my mind until just a few hours ago. Things are just busy! Anyway, let get on this this. So I got twenty-five pounds but because this is only week twenty-four, I decided to put the extra pound to last week's IOU of four pounds. This means I only owe three pounds. Actually come to think of it, I think the week number was wrong. What does it matter? Really, who cares? Anyway, I put down an extra pound on the four pounds IOU note, so now it's only three pounds. Does that make sense? Probably not, however it's all in the money jar.

No change, though I managed to get hold of two twenty pounds notes, it would have been less if someone had been serving customers behind the till of Itsu - an Far Asian inspired food joint that sells mostly Japanese-ish food for the western appetite. I say Japanese-ish because it's not really Japanese food, just inspired and concoctions. Anyway I come home sick from work, and decided I needed a nice big pot of steaming ramen but there was no one at the counter, so feeling ill and irritable, I came straight home, therefore not breaking into the two ten pounds note above. I had no change so another IOU, but for the wrong amount, I guess I lost a pound to the money pot. Oh, apologies the picture is up side down but money is money, you can still the money pot and notes. I have a family house guest - Big Momma, who seems to have an interest in this money pot and savings business. So this recently she asked me when I was going to pay up the IOU for last week which was twenty-...

No money this week. Yes, the coffers are empty so I'm writing an IOU for the tune of twenty-two pounds. It's just being a very busy week, and frankly putting money in a plastic jar has been the last thing on my mind. So I just draw this up, you can see I'm feeling blue. So now I'm a debtor the money jar. Can you believe that? I wanted to quit the challenge - well cut down my number of posts, but Big Momma advised it was good to see this though. Let's hope I catch you. I'm not feeling this money saving thing you know? I mean why would I want to pay this money I owe to the jar. It's a lot of cash. I feel like telling the jar 'you snooze, you lose'. Let's hope I catch up. So it's now in the money jar. Some time ago, in the library, there were two teenage lads fighting over five pounds. Both laid claim to the money, one said he gave it to the other, and the other claimed his father gave it to him. Rather convoluted story. Anyway, eventua...

I nearly wasn't going to make it. In fact I had this cash on my counter and I was thinking of spending it. Yes, I was. I was going to spend it and put in an IOU note in the box, but somehow, I forgot. Like this is boring, saving is boring. Its not one of the most interesting things to do. I wonder how these money blogs do it, talking about savings etc. Boring. However, it's good to save for an rainy day or emergency, don't just spend, spend, spend and live in the now. Especially if you are in your twenties. Don't get yourself into a huge amount of debt, unless it's student debt. Yes, I'm using my laptop as a display. Money now in the pot. So Disclaimer, I'm not a financial expert or authorised to talk about debt, do not take this as official financial or investment advice.   In the UK folks moan about student debt, but it's really money loaned at the government at a tax-free rate. Like it comes straight out of your pay-packet before tax. You als...

Another twenty pound note in the money pot. On the note is some bloke called Adam Smith - 1723 -1790, and there is a quote about 'The division of labour in pin manufacturing: (and the great increase in he quantity of work that result). Charming. See what happens when I run out of things to say, I start looking at what's on the money note rather than spending it. Who does that? Let's do an interesting fact about me. Long long ago, I actual worked for a money printing company. Yes, I did. My days in a real corporate surroundings, not your wishy washy, 'Oh I was in corporate America' stuff....I'm shading anyone, but come on, now. I read that is authors' bios all the time, and I shake my head, especially when they live in some state no one outside the US would have heard of. Oh well, anyway mine was a top listed firm.  Yeah....it is what it is. You can actually see four twenty pound notes in the money pot if you look carefully, so I have at least  eighty q...

I'm being more efficient with the whole picture thing. I'm trying out a collage app on my phone since really it's kinda of boring just going through the whole process with a stack of same old boring pictures. Anyway the drama is another twenty quid (pounds sterling note) in the pot which meant I needed two quid (pound sterling) change. The picture should support that process. The first on the upper left hand side is my twenty, then twenty and the money pot err... a bit of a mistake in ordering so the lower left hand side has the change and my twenty pounds then I put the twenty pounds in the pot. Confused? Confusing? Probably, you can see I had this bright idea on the spot. Next time I'll plan the pictures better.  What to spend on!! I'm thinking of getting a new tumble dryer. The old broke so I'm more or less going down the laundrette/ laundromat (US), and drying my clothes there. it's not that expensive, but it would be nice to have one. Who knows...

I only had £11.50 so it was £3.50 short so I'm breaking the rules and putting in an IOU note for the balance.  So lets call it out, one tenner, one pound and fifty pence in coins all make up £11.50 plus the £3.50 on the paper note makes £15. I'm not sure when I'm going to exchange the IOU for real cash. I guess I should at some point. Why? Well I just didn't have the correct change on me for the pot. So the picture of the money pot and the £11.50 and £3.50 IOU note. I was actually thinking I needed to bank the cash soon but where? I'd probably need to open up a saving accounts. I was thinking a credit union account. Anyway let's just see how far I get. The camera used the flash so it looks different from the rest of the pictures, but you can see the sad smiley face of my IOU note plus the other monies. Yeah, I guess that's it. Finance is boring, it really is, spending is more interesting but can make you BROKE and IN DEBT. I'm thinking of cutting ...