Save money and get some exercise
Welcome back to "Just One Small Thing". My aim is to share short and simple tips that you can implement straight away to start improving your small business today. Would that be useful?
Do you ever have to catch a train from your local station? I do frequently. The cost of rail fares is high enough but if you also add the cost of parking your car that can make you wonder whether their is a good return on your investment in making that journey.
There isn't much you can do about the cost of the rail fare. If you travel frequently like I do it's probably worth getting a Rail Card. Because I'm an old fart I qualify for a "Senior" Rail Card which gives me 30% off. Other than that you just have to pay the going rate.
However, you can remove the cost of parking if you're prepared to walk a little further and be organised enough. Parking can cost up to ￡10 per day so this could be useful. The other benefit is that walking is really good for you. Even just 30 minutes of brisk walking every day has shown huge health benefits.
I use two local train stations. If I'm going south towards London I travel from Bletchley Station . If I'm going north towards Birmingham I travel from Milton Keynes Central Station . So, I did some research on Google Maps using the satellite view. I looked around the stations for places I could park my car for free within reasonable walking distance of both stations.
For Bletchley I found three locations, the nearest being three minutes walk and the furthest being six minutes. Each time I use these places I'm saving at least the ￡4 off peak parking charge at the station. By the way, it would also take between one and two minutes to park in the car park and walk to the station.
For Milton Keynes Central the nearest safe legal parking I could find is 10 minutes away and there's also another one at 11 minutes. However, the nearest paid car parking that is available when I want to go is at least 5 minutes walk and costs between ￡7:50 and ￡10. So, it only costs me an extra 5 minutes to park for free and I get 20 minutes of total walking time.
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Lastly, just to show how keen I am on getting some exercise whilst travelling I don't stand on the platform waiting for the train. I walk up and down the platform continuously until the train arrives.
Let me know what you do to save money and get more exercise.
Regards,
Mark Orr
07903 655 169
"Spreadsheet Engineer" | Save you time using Excel | Rescue/Convert your old spreadsheet for less grief | Show you how to improve your spreadsheet layout (including for the new Dynamic Arrays).
1 年Not a commuter but I do believe in exercise. My mobile office (motorhome) had a long suffering bicycle (not electric) on the back. If I am going into a town I park on the outskirts and cycle into town. Not able to walk far these days but my poorly knee will cycle all day.
Director Of Finance And Operations at Action4Youth
1 年I always prefer to walk whenever possible. I often choose a 20 minute walk over a tube or bus once I get in to London.