Chillin ...DFW style of course!

In_Search_Of_Me

Ok folks I've noticed that people are struggling a bit with how to treat themselves without spending a bomb so thought I'd start a nice thread so we can all give each other ideas & hopefully cheer everyone up a bit as peole generally seem a bit glumb (?sp!) at the moment and going through some tough times...Ok so heres my suggestions for chillin, some more DFW than others...

1) Alcohol...surprisingly I'm actually going to say DONT! I used to drink quite a bit & my rockbottom with debt came soon after I stopped drinking, probably because I felt able to tackle it & felt stronger generally. While I do still drink I have noticed that when I do for more than a couple of nights I actually feel quite low if I have more than the odd one....Have also lost weight, feel healthier & more able to cope so if you're drinking loads, stop & see what a vast difference it makes!!

2) bubbles - cheapie bubble bath from tesco est is just as good as the posh stuff I've discovered but for a real treat get the gold one from LUSh - feels like you're bathing in gold. Pure luxury!

3) Spend time with friends

4) Host a DFW party

5) Read a good book

6) Hunt for bargains online or in old mags - finding vouchers etc is fab!!

7) Have an early night! Now depending on your interpretation there could be numerous interpretations of teh benefits of doing this!!

8) Have a hunt for a hobby that you enjoy...doesent have to be expensive but in the long haul that is DFW land you need to have some YOU time that doesent include doing a spreadsheet or adding up pennies!!

Thats all for now...what ways have you found that help?

scottishspendaholic

Hey fishy

Great idea! Here are my suggestions:-

1. Take up knitting/sewing - a useful hobby and so satisfying

2. Get your OH/kids/someone off the street (!) to give you a lovely free massage with baby oil

3. Take up one of the 3 for 1 magazine deals somewhere on MSE (link please someone!) and enjoy while in fishy's gold bath (well, not fishy's bath, but you know what I mean...!)

4. Change your bed linen and put on lovely fresh ironed linen, dried outside if possible

5. Do your hair and put on make-up (girls!). I am VERY LAZY when it comes to my appearance but when I make more effort I feel so much better

6. Enter some competitions - I won a great competition last week, someone's gotta win!

7. Spend time on quidco/ipoints/Pigsback (or equivalent) looking for new and fun ways to make money (free DVD trials, free ipoints and piggypoints etc)

8. Spend a bit of time looking on the net and making a collage on your goals for when you are debt free - i.e. if its a house in Florida - mae a collage with lots of pictures from the internet, some quotes, some dollars (if you have any) and pin it up somewhere you'll see it every day.

Hope these help!

scottishspendaholic x

jessicamb

raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens.....

FF are we twins? Those are all my favourite things.

My suggestion is to dig out your favourites DVDs (which cost nothing because they are your favourite and you've had them for ages and you couldnt bear to sell them on ebay with the rest)

Splash out on a cheap bottle of wine (if theres just one of you you can always leave half until tomorrow) - or better still the cooking sherry you've had since last Xmas - to keep it DFW.

Make one of the yummy OS puddings/cakes from all your store cupboard ingrediants.

Hey presto - chillin DFW stylee.

Oh and ScottishSpendaholic - a tip on top of your tips. If you do opt for 'an early night' remember - babies are not MSE :rotfl:

In_Search_Of_Me

hehe laughed at both! Thanks for the song jess! By the way tesco are doing a 1/2 price chardonnay - normally 7.99 now 3.99 so I got 2!!!! As for making babies...contraception is free from family planning clinic!! (chance would be a fine thing!) Not sure about dragging strangers off the street...you might get done for something!!

MCBIRNIE25

I think the most important thing is to not spend every waking moment worrying about money. Apreciate your family, go to walks, to museums and art galleries which are free,take long bubblebaths with the music on full blast, oblivious to the neighbours knockling on the wall, you can apologise next time you see them.
Watch Eastenders, it's so damn depressing it makes you realise our life aint bad after all. Picnics in the parks when it's sunny. Going the beach, oh and copious amount of alcohol sorry, i work hard, enjoy a drink of a friday and stuff, and somerfield are clearing all their discontinued bottles of wone today for a quid. How could i resist? I bought 18 bottles. I used the pretext it was for a party ;-)

In_Search_Of_Me

hey MCB next DFW party at yours on sat then eh!! Great advice & I thought I got it cheap (wine!!) at 3.99!!

kathfisch

Best cheap treats - learn to appreciate small things! I'm not kidding... go for a walk somewhere green and marvel at how amazing nature is.... how lovely things smell after its rained. Or walk through town and watch everyone going about their business, hurried and stressed, whilst you are an oasis of calm cos you've got nowhere to be you're just enjoying a walk... marvel at how amazing society is.... get some perspective and think about life. Challenge yourself to find something to appreciate - even in things you can't imagine liking.

Ok... reading that back it sounds cheesy as hell but you get what I'm trying to say I hope :rotfl: Half an hour spent walking round the block always seems like a boring prospect but actually feels like quite a treat - its 'me' time, away from everyone, I can think about whatever I like or think about nothing Or if you're not a 'solitude' person.... having a friend round is free, or going to bed early as mentioned preferably not on the same night i guess

Oh heck... I dunno! Sometimes it actually feels like quite a treat to do something I've been putting off (usually for no good reason) cos then the weight's lifted off my shoulders - that's a treat.

What the %*@^ am I rambling about?!?! apologies for the stream of [STRIKE]consciousness[/STRIKE] !!!!!!!:rotfl:

Don't worry I'm leaving now :whistle:

Imelda

fishface-69 wrote:

1) Alcohol...surprisingly I'm actually going to say DONT! I used to drink quite a bit & my rockbottom with debt came soon after I stopped drinking, probably because I felt able to tackle it & felt stronger generally. While I do still drink I have noticed that when I do for more than a couple of nights I actually feel quite low if I have more than the odd one....Have also lost weight, feel healthier & more able to cope so if you're drinking loads, stop & see what a vast difference it makes!!

ff you are so right. I am a self confessed party girl, my work involves a lot of socialising and I can always be guaranteed to be there till the bitter end. I also dread the next day at work because of a) the hangover and b) the humiliation of finding out what drunken antics I got up to and c) finding out that I had got yet another taxi home (company don't pay for this so I would have to pay them back on pay day). However in the last couple of months I have cut down on the drinking dramatically, I allow myself to go out one night during the week (the food and drinks are free from work so DFW) and at weekends I try to drive as much as possible. In the last month I have drunk just 6 glasses of wine (no work functions as most people are on holiday) and I feel so much better for it, I used to feel down for days after a big drinking session and I have lost some weight. I am going out tonight with 2 friends, one just got engaged so we will be treating ourselves to a bottle of champagne (half price in happy hour, so £5 each- bargain!). I just feel so much more in control when I haven't had much to drink. The test will be when the work functions start up again next week......

LJD1_2

Borrow a small child (with permission only!) and go for a walk with them, wellies, puddles the lot. You see so much more though I did have difficulty when my 5 year old asked me how snails are made!

My other tip is smile. When you're really had enough make yourself smile. It's really does help to cheer you up especially if you do it with someone else.

lynzpower

Join local library/ borrow from freinds- dvds, cds, books

Make cakes or other treats, some cheapie options on the OS board

DVD tart, getting cash back from quidco for doing those free trials

I find the best DFW chilling solution is some calming music and a nice long sleep

And of course getting your moneys worth out of your broadband connection by spending as much time surfing on the internet as possible Chatting here, elsewhere, MSN etc

Daydreaming is free, and I can do that and nothing "productive " for hours, FAVOURITE TOPIC? being debt free of course!!!

cantcope

I have the whole of next week off work but as i cant afford to go anywhere i'll just be at home relaxing.

Any ideas what i can do cheaply to stop me from getting bored?
I have a few things to do, chores etc and am meeting up with friends one day but the rest of the week i'll be at a bit of a loss.

I'm thinking of getting a few dvds out to watch with the blockbuster tokens i got from my tesco deals but other than that i can see myself spendinga bomb on sweets and magazines....

have read the suggestions above and will be doing a few of them.