NST Super September Scrimping challenge

Tjzdazz · 30 August 2017 at 3:57PM

I'd like to join please

.

First challenge and looking forward to it. My budget is already planned out - only spanner in the works is that it is my birthday in September lol.

thriftylass · 30 August 2017 at 4:17PM

Tjzdazz wrote: »

I'd like to join please .

First challenge and looking forward to it. My budget is already planned out - only spanner in the works is that it is my birthday in September lol.

Welcome. We're a friendly bunch but can be strict if need be

. As long as you birthday spends are planned for maybe with a contingency I don't see a problem :cool:.

thriftylass · 30 August 2017 at 4:23PM

1LuckyLady wrote: »

*You will aim for 18 SFDs!(Spend Free Days). If purchases of “yellow sticker delights” are made without full price items this is an SFD. Medication and normal monthly DD’s or CC payments are exempt and you may class these days as SFD’s also. I'll aim for the 18 nsd's - will try to not spend at all mon-fri That's my plan too, need to avoid the Friday night treat shops.

*You must bring your lunch to work every day. No coffee shops, no work canteen, no cafes, no sandwiches – NOTHING. You will waste SO many precious £££’s when something better can be created at home. If you think it doesn’t matter and I won’t find out – you are right. But you are cheating yourself. DH & ds2 will take lunch every day, I'll have whatever left overs we have at homeThat's one bit where my DH doesn't fit in as I can only get him to take homemade lunch when he's skint at the end of the month , DS and DD get lunch in school and nursery luckily.

*Plot the course of your social life now before the beginning of September. Make sure you have a budget planned for meals that can’t be wormed out of and birthdays etc. Money placed aside for holidays can be classed as “no spend days” – anything over the budget will ruin that SFD!! Cancel something you really don’t want to go to –you HAVE to start making sacrifices now.
Just two regular coffee/catch ups planned for Sept, if the weather is nice on the day then I'll suggest taking a flask and meeting in a park instead of the usual coffee shop. We don't have any other big plans this month thankfully! Very MSE planning.

*You will accomplish some sort of exercise per week, 3 sessions of 20 minutes anyway you want. Walk someone’s pooch, walk to work, walk around your block 5 times… anything!
Gym class Mon-Fri and trying to run 3 times a week also Impressive, are you training for sth or just to keep fit?

*Beauty spends are not allowed to exceed £10. That includes you boys as well. Use up all that you have in the house BEFORE spending anything more on beauty bits – seriously how many body moisturisers do you need ladies? working my way through a use up box in the bathroom already currently using a nivea for men moisturiser that dh stopped using for some reason (we have another 3 bottles of it in the cupboard too!) I'm finding it really nice although not good if putting make up on but great for bedtime! If beauty includes hair cut, I'll go over the £10 but my hair hasn't been cut since about February so its in dire need! Oh haven't considered this as I cut my own and DD and DS. So of course that's excluded in your case especially since it's only once in a while. I was more meaning potions and lotions, make up etc

*Make time for yourself this month. Even if it’s only 10 minutes a day do something for yourself whether that is going for a walk, having a bath with loads of bubbles or sitting outside with a drink – we need to make the most of the evenings.
This comes in with the exercise above, this is my time just for me Haha, same here:rotfl:

See notes in green

determined_new_ms · 30 August 2017 at 4:49PM

thriftylass wrote: »

Did my Asda order for tomorrow. Had my inventory and my shopping list in front of me and looked out for deals etc. Might have saved a wee bit in ALDI but then I would have probably had unwanted items in the trolley. Catered also for the BBQ on Sat (3 for 10 offers), got DH some beers and pizza for Friday when he has mates round (as he does when I'm out and so he doesn't have to go out to the shops with the kids after work and spend even more) and stocked up on some HH essentials like toilet roll. Hopefully that'll be me till I need milk mid week. That came to £70. That times 4 should be ok then if I can avoid top up shops and going with kids or DH.

Also some food for thought :money:. I would've as usual treated myself to a payday sushi and smoothie at lunch tomorrow, thinking oh it's a bargain as it's yesterdays sushi at reduced price and a small smoothie. But it was still usually 7 quid, for a lunch :eek:. So obviously I won't be doing that tomorrow :T

EDIT:

Just amended my Asda order and added some very cheap cuts of lamb, and a leek. As I have scotch broth mix that needs using up, carrots, swede, kale etc in the garden I'll stick a big batch of scotch broth in the slow cooker this weekend and make a big batch of lunches/soups.

make your own sushi

very easy and cheap! that could be your fancier meal :money:

Kerry_Woman · 30 August 2017 at 4:50PM

Can I please join in as I need to rein in my spending. I am not in debt and paid off my mortgage 4 years ago. Want to save even more as I want to move out of the area that I currently live in. I do temp work and care for my elderly Mum who lives with me in my flat. Will try and sort out what the aims for September are.

thriftylass · 30 August 2017 at 4:58PM

greent wrote: »

*You will aim for 18 SFDs!(Spend Free Days). If purchases of “yellow sticker delights” are made without full price items this is an SFD. Medication and normal monthly DD’s or CC payments are exempt and you may class these days as SFD’s also. OK. I personally am going to also add a mid-week shop where if I only buy milk it counts as NSD (can't fit a week's worth of milk in our fridge and neither OH nor myself are a fan of UHT)
Back in Germany we only had UHT, no idea how I managed to drink that. prefer fresh too. Your milk-only NSD is granted :cool:

*Try and eat everything in your cupboards and freezer BEFORE buying any more. ... but would like to see how much we can get eaten - this is actually easier when OH is working away, as I will happily eat leftovers/ weird combos and he won't)
[/COLOR] My food budget would be sooo much lower without OH as I'm the same, would eat much cheaper and weirder things alone

Comment is green (sorry need to write sth otherwise can't post this :rotfl:

thriftylass · 30 August 2017 at 5:00PM

determined_new_ms wrote: »

make your own sushi very easy and cheap! that could be your fancier meal :money:

Will actually look into that. Always thought that would be quite expensive too- fish, seaweed leafy things, special rice?

Kerry_Woman · 30 August 2017 at 5:14PM

*This challenge starts on the 1st September at 00:01 and closes on the 30th September at 00:00.

*Try and check in once a day with your progress ! Will try my best.*Get a little notebook that you can fit in your bag, or a slip of paper! Write down everything you spend - good and bad!! Already put spending into a notebook at home. Got the notebook free.

*You will aim for 18 SFDs!(Spend Free Days). If purchases of “yellow sticker delights” are made without full price items this is an SFD. Medication and normal monthly DD’s or CC payments are exempt and you may class these days as SFD’s also. Will do.

*Pay you debts and bills first, budget to live off what is left! No debt, but put money into savings account and the bills account(which covers the electric, water and mainline phone).

*You must decide on a budget for food now. This must be stuck to rigidly until the last day of the month ! Consider how much you REALLY need to feed your family, make meal plans, limit snacking with the kids or tell them “when it’s gone that’s it until next week”. Mine is £350. The budget is £150.

*Try and eat everything in your cupboards and freezer BEFORE buying any more. Money spent each week will be for essentials – bread, milk and fruit & veg before buying more. Get right down to the bottom of that chest freezer, get out those nearly out of date packets of rice. Stop stock piling for Armageddon and wasting money. I don’t care if you are prepping for visitors or a “just in case” situation! (note to mainly myself: STOP SPENDING SO MUCH ON FOOD!) I need to defrost my freezer and clean my fridge so this rule will help Will need to keep checking what is in each week before I shop on Saturday. Always do a shopping list. This is the area that I need to cut back on. I suffer from depression/anxiety and when I am not too great it affects my spending by buying junk food for me.

*You must bring your lunch to work every day. No coffee shops, no work canteen, no cafes, no sandwiches – NOTHING. You will waste SO many precious £££’s when something better can be created at home. If you think it doesn’t matter and I won’t find out – you are right. But you are cheating yourself. Usually do this when temping and tend to bring a flask of tea with me as I do not know if there is tea available where I will be working.

*Plot the course of your social life now before the beginning of September. Make sure you have a budget planned for meals that can’t be wormed out of and birthdays etc. Money placed aside for holidays can be classed as “no spend days” – anything over the budget will ruin that SFD!! Cancel something you really don’t want to go to –you HAVE to start making sacrifices now. Already booked to see a play at a local theatre, did save some money as I got the theatre membership. You save money if brought ticket a week early.

*Decide on your DFD!– when do you want to start doing what you want to do??? Do not have debt, but want to increase my savings so that I can move out of the area where I live. Want to try and achieve this within the next 4 to 5 years. Sooner if possible.

*You will accomplish some sort of exercise per week, 3 sessions of 20 minutes anyway you want. Walk someone’s pooch, walk to work, walk around your block 5 times… anything! Try and do this do depending on how I am feeling as I have arthritis.

*Beauty spends are not allowed to exceed £10. That includes you boys as well. Use up all that you have in the house BEFORE spending anything more on beauty bits – seriously how many body moisturisers do you need ladies? Am trying to use up things in the flat before I buy anything. I think I have enough for September. Some products I get are either organic, natural or fairtrade which tend to be slightly more than £10.

*Make time for yourself this month. Even if it’s only 10 minutes a day do something for yourself whether that is going for a walk, having a bath with loads of bubbles or sitting outside with a drink – we need to make the most of the evenings. Must try and do mindfulness each day amongst other things.

*Keep the heating off as long as possible, put a jumper on etc. We live in the north of Scotland in an 80s bungalow with metal windows. So it might be a challenge Unfortunately will be unable to do this as my elderly Mum lives with me and needs the heat on.

greent · 30 August 2017 at 5:55PM

Originally Posted by greent

*You will aim for 18 SFDs!(Spend Free Days). If purchases of “yellow sticker delights” are made without full price items this is an SFD. Medication and normal monthly DD’s or CC payments are exempt and you may class these days as SFD’s also. OK. I personally am going to also add a mid-week shop where if I only buy milk it counts as NSD (can't fit a week's worth of milk in our fridge and neither OH nor myself are a fan of UHT)
Back in Germany we only had UHT, no idea how I managed to drink that. prefer fresh too. Your milk-only NSD is granted

*Try and eat everything in your cupboards and freezer BEFORE buying any more. ... but would like to see how much we can get eaten - this is actually easier when OH is working away, as I will happily eat leftovers/ weird combos and he won't)
[/COLOR] My food budget would be sooo much lower without OH as I'm the same, would eat much cheaper and weirder things alone

thriftylass wrote: »

Comment is green (sorry need to write sth otherwise can't post this :rotfl:

Thank you - my recycling box this week has 11 x 4pint cartons in - so I really can't fit that amount in the fridge in one go!:rotfl:

FurryBeastOz · 30 August 2017 at 8:35PM

I'm in please. This month has been desperate - I crashed and burned after some news, and my Fat budget went sky high. I gave up caring about the diet and exercise and have managed to put on a stone.

I went for some help on Saturday and am going back to counselling. I can't do the high to depression cycle again.

So on Sunday I picked myself up - daily exercise for the mental boost and diet for the weight loss. I'll be back with plans.

NST Super September Scrimping challenge

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