NST October Finding Your Inner ferret

greent · 30 September 2016 at 10:20PM

NSDs - am not setting a target for these - Xmas shopping will probably happen at random.

Extra Cash - have been reasonably successful with ebay this past week and have more items to list. I also have several boxes of items priced up to sell at a NNS mid month. And cashback for any online purchases where possible.

Food budget - shall set again at £350 - food for us and the guinea pigs

Eating out etc - OH's bday will involve a meal out - or at the very least a takeaway. We also have a voucher for an afternoon tea (was a birthday present of mine back in first half of year)

Lunches - not an issue for me. If OH is out for the day his lunch is claimable.

Travel budget - any travel OH does for interviews is - thankfully, as it often involves a train trip to London - claimable. Half term may increase petrol usage if we go out anywhere with small ones (cheaper than a week away!) OH is als likely to drive DD back to uni, so there will be a Sev Bridge toll too.

Children's budgets - need to pay for DS3's guitar lessons. Also have subs to pay for DS2's scouts and 2 army cadet trips for DS1. Also committed to give DD some money for uni

Healthy eating - need to eat less, as well as improve the quality!

Food bank donation - school will be collecting for their harvest festival so I will donate items then

Exercise - I need to make sure I do this. Am at my heaviest ever

Mini- challenge. OH needs to book himself a flu jab and I need to check if I am eligible for a freebie still. We are stocked up on paracetamol etc.

Lauralozzle · 1 October 2016 at 8:48AM

Here we go, all ready and set for October!!!

Set Budget - Payday arrived yesterday. Money has gone into joint for bills and emergency fund (£700) and £50 into Wedding fund. (Tom put in £50 for Wedding fund too! - so £100 altogether). I've allocated budget for food shopping etc - and budgeted for day out to celebrate my friends birthday. I've got £10 a week 'spending money' which I will try and not spend!

Learn - I will try out a new recipe from a cookbook every week - every Friday - That should make no takeaway rule a little easier!!!

NSD - target is 15!

Extra Cash - I have a few bits I will attempt to sell on eBay. I've never sold anything on it before so that should be interesting!!

Food budget - Set at £250. This covers 2 adults and a very fussy dog. Also includes all dog food/household cleaning products. This month I won't go over!

Eating out - Friends birthday includes a meal out - this is all planned. I'll veto takeaways this month! And no posh Costa/Starbucks Coffee for a month. (This will be tough! It's my downfall!)

Lunches - I'm getting much better at this. Usually take packed lunch. Brought some new lunch-boxes too yesterday as the old ones were broken and just generally knackered!

Travel budget - allocating £40 for my petrol this month. I am also allocating tram fares as Goose Fair is setting up so usual park and ride I use (where I just walk into town!) is closed. So altogether - £60. I hope to God it doesn't come to this!

Healthy eating - I need to eat more Veg. I'm pretty good with fruit (cause it tastes nicer) but would love to limit this a little!

Food bank donation - Will to this towards end of the month.

Exercise - Again, my goal is to hit 10,000 steps a day.

swimminginaseaofdebt · 1 October 2016 at 10:22AM

Morning everyone,

Can I please join in? I fell off the wagon in August and September, hopefully do better this month!

crazy_cat_lady · 1 October 2016 at 10:39AM

Good morning all :wave:
Bring on October. :j I'm trying to show a new wave of enthusiasm for the month ahead even though I'm full of cold and feeling quite rubbish. I'm hoping that October will be the start of new things for me. I have my thyroid scan on Wednesday and some blood tests to get done and I'm hoping for answers to my continual tiredness.
As for hoarding for the inevitable winter colds I'm well onto that already. Just need tissues and we're there, or I may need to restock after the past 3 days.

My focus this month is to try and get back in control of the food budget. I've been terrible with this over the past couple of months and have to get it back under control before I end up spending my PPI on pointless food that I don't really need. I can't taste anything anyway so this weekend really isn't an issue.. I'm going to do the big monthly shop today and hope I can control myself for the rest of the month.
Other than that, my handmade Christmas gifts are still ongoing...

ljaneyr · 1 October 2016 at 2:20PM

Hello everyone - can I join again this month please?

September was a month of ups and downs and I need all the support I can get in October! I had a bit of an emotional meltdown last week and need something positive to focus on. I'm not in debt except for the mortgage, but we are renovating our house and have just had to buy a new car :eek: so my emergency savings pot has been wiped out so I'm feeling a bit vulnerable financially. On top of that, at the back of my mind I know we also need to be saving for fertility treatment which is really stressing me out!

So, my unofficial goal for October is to calm down and try to lift my mood (I think I'm a bit depressed) with gentle exercise and fresh air.

I'll pop back later to have a proper look at this months rules,

Janey x

NeverUnderestimate · 1 October 2016 at 3:08PM

Hello, I'm new to these challenges but decided I'd like to join in for something to motivate me throughout October.

October is one of my favourite months due to Autumn arriving- I love the crisp cold days and nights ahead of us. I also love the events ahead of us such as Halloween and Bonfire night!!

Here's to October!!

Set Budget- Payday arrived last Wednesday of September and all money is set aside for October. It's a tight month this month due to a wage error from work. I'm not happy about this as leaves me little surplus however there is not much I can do about it except move on and live within my means. I do not want to dip into my savings if possible. All areas should be covered hopefully and I'll update this over in my DFW diary.

NSD- I'm going to set my target as 15. In regards to NSD's, things I have budgeted for will be exempt (I.e. Petrol spends within budget).

Extra Cash- I usually earn extra cash from working overtime. However due to ill health recently this is going to take a back seat- health over wealth and all that. I have a few things I could possibly eBay, we'll see how I'm feeling.

Food budget - This is set at £40. As I live at home, my food budget comes out of what I pay in board. I realise how lucky I am for this and the small amount above is for any extras now I'm on a mission to lose weight.

Eating out - I've no plans of such or upcoming events where I plan to eat out. However we know this can always change.

Lunches - I tend to go home from work on my lunch now and eat there. This may change soon due to relocation of workplace so will make sure I take lunch with me! I'll prepare it the night before.

Travel budget - I've allocated £80 a month here. I roughly use £20 a week on petrol due to the nature of my job. I try to drive economically and plan my work so I do less milage then required however this is not always possible.

Healthy Eating - I recently joined a slimming club to motivate me to stick to something. I've done this in the past and lost weight and kept it off. Due to unforeseen circumstances I went through a rough couple of years and comfort ate lots on the wrong foods. So I look forward to this month of re-educating myself and rediscovering my love of cooking from scratch. I've already lost 4lb. I hope to lose a further 10lb by the end of October (4 weigh ins to go!!). In total I'd ideally like to lose 4 stone 9lb.

Food bank donation- My sons school have sent a letter home in regards to harvest and donating items to our local homeless shelter. They've sent a list with some interest things. Ilk make sure I either send food to value of £3 or 3 items to this value. We've been asked for items of clothing/personal hygiene items from school. They're very specific.

Exercise - I'm going to aim to go for a walk 2 or 3 times a week. I do quite a bit of walking in my line of work already. However not as much as I used to!!

That's all from me, I'm off to get ready for my sons show which is later on tonight however he has rehearsals at half 4

NU

Eager_Elephant · 1 October 2016 at 4:23PM

Thanks mothernerd for a great October challenge - looking forward to being a ferret this month!!!

Set all budgets - before the start of the month, think ahead for any birthdays, outings etc. Am currently stressing as my paper version of my budget which covers a year at a time is missing, presumed chucked L. Luckily had kept the Excel spreadsheet so have just redone it. I also use YNAB but I do like a paper copy in front of me. Now is the optimum time to redo budget as income has changed with DS going to Uni.
Have a few outings this month, one is a local Harvest event and the other is a visit to a brewery but that should be paid for.

Aim for 15 NSD 15 NSD’s seems doable.

Extra cash – share any ideas which work, trawl the other threads for something you haven't tried recently. I do RM postal survey and gets stamps every month which I don’t use so I keep saying I will put them on ebay but never do so this month I will get them all on ebay.
Will also try to keep up to date with surveys etc

Learn something new. Ooh interesting, need to think of something to learn.

Food budget - Should be set realistically. Base your purchases around basics range and yellow stickered items. Budget is £350 per month for 2 adults and a hungry teenager!!

You will NOT use any of the following; restaurants, cafes, work canteens, vending machines, takeaways, Starbucks, Costa, Nero or any other chain cafe! I tend to keep away from coffee shops generally so not to hard I hope. No takeaways…..eek!!

Lunch to work everyday and plan for appointments and days out. This shouldn’t be too hard as generally I take lunch 19 days out of 20. It’s so hard to buy decent gluten free food on the go.

Travel budget – petrol or public transport for work, leisure, hospital appointments. Can you walk/cycle? Can you combine journeys – shopping/ work/ gym? We allow £200pm for petrol/diesel which covers 2 vehicles. Sometimes I use public transport but later this month DH is going to start working 4 longer days so he will be there at home time saving on buses which is just as well as fare has gone up.

Healthy eating – Up your fruit and veg. I definitely do not get enough fruit and veg. My veg intake is better than my fruit intake but now is the right time of year for clementines so I will be visiting M&S for these on Monday.

Donation - Make a food bank donation (3 items or £3) or alternative charity if preferred Next time I am in a big supermarket I will donate to food bank.

Exercise - 5 times a week. Have to walk the dogs and sort animals so each morning I do one or the other and in the evenings we do both together so that is about an hour a day.

Poppy3008 · 1 October 2016 at 4:48PM

Well we did the car boot sale and made £75 - spent about £10 on tea, bacon sarnie x 2 and a cake. Pointless! Def not an NSD. Popped to shops to look at curtains for house, nothing there but went to garage to buy logs as house cold and got chocolate too! Big delivery of logs tomorrow so can count this weekend out of NSD. Eating badly! But enjoying it! Walked dog but not much else. Must try harder!

Lauralozzle · 1 October 2016 at 5:05PM

So, today has been a NSD so that's 1/15! I've also hit my daily exercise goal today which I'm pleased with - had a lovely walk around local country park which covered my 10,000 steps plus some.

swimminginaseaofdebt · 1 October 2016 at 7:28PM

Evening everyone,

Thought I’d check in for today before heading out for some cocktails. Not had alcohol for over a year so I’ll probably be a goner after one!

I completed a few surveys on swagbucks today which took me to the 800 SB required for a £5 paypal voucher so I duly ordered one of these.

I had a banana and am counting that towards my healthy eating target for the day

Took the wee one for a 1 hour and 45 min walk around the park so a fair bit of exercise done too.

NST October Finding Your Inner ferret

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