Marching on in March - The NSD Challenge

IF

Bumping for any Newbies joining us xx

butdoineedit? wrote: »

Hi lovely NSD gang:A
As you can see there is lots of activity on this challenge at the moment and it's difficult sometimes to see how many NSDs you're all declaring on posts.
Could I ask you to highlight your number of NSDs in a colour and in bold so that I can see them easily when I whizz through the posts - red would be best but I don't really mind as long as I can see the numbers easily.

Some helpful suggestions and ideas to follow below from our sponsor and godmother, BigMummaF :A

NO SPEND CHALLENGE.

1. Have a good, long think about what YOU want to include in your Spend & Excluded categories.
Some of us count everything from Direct Debits & school expenses, while others do not include things like essential Bills or emergency medical costs. If you plan what is or is not a Spend for you now, it will help you decide on a realistic Target.
2. It is NOT a race!
We all have very different demands on our time & bank balance, so please do not think you have to buy everything on 1st January & make it last till 31st December! A few of us have been following this Challenge for a long...long...LONG time so have developed plans & ploys to help us along the way
3. Most important of all, WE..DO..NOT..FAIL!
Sometimes we can't quite reach our Target, but that is fine Everyone knows how Life will try to trip us up, & that is when you will find us here to help you back on to your feet.

OK, an idea of how some of us do things.
1. What you will or will not include as a 'Spend'.
Some people are doing other Challenges too, & don't include the money spent on those for this one.
Some will try to shop for other bits on the days their direct debits etc go out of their bank accounts; they're the real hard core of the bunch & have been l-o-n-g time Nsders so don't panic
Some won't count those annoying last minute demands from school & collections as you can't plan for them in advance, likewise emergency prescriptions or visits to the vet
Personally speaking & providing I don't buy anything else, I don't count parking for hospital appointments.(..but then I usually do my shopping because I'm already out :whistle:)
General thoughts on €bay sales is the buyer has paid P&P so no cost to you
2. It takes Time to reach mega-numbers!
The First suggestion is the first, because a bit of planning will work wonders on your road to your Target. Have a look at Solvent's (aka Spoon:rotfl:) first posts each month for a hefty list of other Threads that may be of help. For example, there's a few giving ideas for packed lunches so you can avoid standing in the queue at the bakers for 45mins of your lunch hour! A good incentive to tweak your healthy eating & the pounds you save will show in your bank balance AND your waistline
It helps to have various 'money pots' for the different costs that happen like Scouts, dinner money, yoga, window cleaner etc etc. The idea is you "spend" all that money in one hit by..:think:..let's say **putting the week's bus fares into the pretty coffee jar, Jo's tumble tots SIZE=2]Weds mornings[/SIZE in the cracked teapot & Ben's £1 coin for the gym locker SIZE=2]Friday lunch[/SIZE in the pocket of the changing bag, on Tuesdays every week when you've got some change from doing the food shop, so an already spendy day. At least four 'spending days' condensed into one (**mine's jam jars for windows, milkman & a bit towards the bills!)
3. Any day the money stays in your pocket is a bonus!
If you look at it as a day you beat the system, you can't help but :j so don't fret it--ENJOY! If nothing else in here, we do manage find something to make us smile

We have virtual outings to wonderful places that never cost us a bean :rotfl:New York, Edinburgh & Brighton have been a couple & Spoon usually pilots the Tardis but you can use your own transport; my personal favourite has been a sit-on lawn mower borrowed from the cricket club The only thing to be aware of is Hubert the donkey who is partial to anything remotely edible but is not yet house-trained

And Remember;
there are no silly questions, so don't be afraid to ask us anything!

Decluttering

NSD #6 today, I'm not well at the moment so I'm not as hungry!

solventsoon

Quote:
Originally Posted by solventsoon
That's the attitude, lauzellen, well done you:T:T:T
xx

lauzellen wrote: »

I have a date on Saturday :rotfl::beer:

Today was a spends day as I got a ticket for tonights lotto and Fridays Euromillions

And even more "well done you" for that, hope it goes well, don't forget to let us know x

solventsoon

jaffacakegal wrote: »

I hate T£sco - all supermarkets are evil :mad::mad::mad:

I go in there with a list of a few things and come out spending over £100 - with nothing to actually make a full meal with, just snacks and fruit juice and frozen stuff! How?!

JCG x

I'm founder member of the "I hate Tatco" club, jaffacakegal, want to join? I loathe the place:mad::mad::mad: for the same reason as you.. drives me crazy every time I go in there:mad::mad::mad:

3Dogs

Hiya everyone - Monday was a spend day for me with grocery shopping top-up but I managed NSD's on Tuesday and Wednesday which were NSD's NUMBERS 5 & 6 so I'm happy with my progress

I haven't had time to catch up fully but did notice quite a few people with ailments so (((((hugs))))) to them all

Soooooo glad that Izzy is home LittleMissHappy - your home is complete again

chris81418

Hello everyone! :wave:

Working very late, so just quickly checking in to report that I was too busy to spend yesterday so am up to 8 NSDs now! Yay!

Off to bed now! Sleep tight everyone!

castri09_2

4/10 so far for me aimimg for another one today

skaps

Up to 6 NSDs so far. Another 11 left.

jintyb

Good morning everyone!
Well I'm not a happy Jinty this morning, courtesy of my ebill from €DF €nergy. In Dec, they lowered my monthly payment to £63 per mth. I've just submitted my readings and my bill is £60 in debit but they are increasing my DD to £90 per month:eek: Then at the bottom of the bill they have included an estimate for the annual usage from Mar 2011 to Mar 2012,which is £670 for the year! When I went to school, works out at @ £56 per month - lower than Im paying now! :mad::mad:
Have any of you guys had any experience of this? I just dont see how they can justify charging me another £30 per mth!:mad:
I'm going to be on the blower at 8am!
Anyhoo, yesterday was a lovely day, had a great lunch with my new team. Good food and a good laugh!;)
Today I dont have much planned, certainly no spends I hope.
This morning I am off to the library and this afternoon Im getting the Mac and dark glasses out to do a Mystery Shop. Could end the day in profit:rotfl:

Have a lovely day everyone:)

cw18

jintyb wrote: »

Well I'm not a happy Jinty this morning, courtesy of my ebill from €DF €nergy. In Dec, they lowered my monthly payment to £63 per mth. I've just submitted my readings and my bill is £60 in debit but they are increasing my DD to £90 per month:eek: Then at the bottom of the bill they have included an estimate for the annual usage from Mar 2011 to Mar 2012,which is £670 for the year! When I went to school, works out at @ £56 per month - lower than Im paying now! :mad::mad:
Have any of you guys had any experience of this? I just dont see how they can justify charging me another £30 per mth!:mad:

They'll also want to get back the £60 you owe them, so that's another £5/month over the year. But this still only comes in at £720/year or £60/month.

I recently had a similar thing with Sc0ttish P0wer, and a phone call to them saw my payment being left where it was.

I did promise to monitor my useage more closely again (had been doing 4-weekly readings, but the last bill covered 85 days), which means I should really have submitted readings last week and I haven't. Must get it done in the next week I suppose