Avoiding the shops in April - The NSD Challenge

solventsoon

BigMummaF wrote: »

Part of me is happy for a lovely couple getting wed on Friday, but a greater part is looking at the money being spent on the extra security, tying up the Armed Forces & cancelling police leave, all those heads of state being catered for & the obscene price tags attached to the "fashions"..& I want to be sick :mad: On a programme I caught over the weekend a young female admitted she had spent £450 on a HAT she had worn once, & I'm glad she felt ashamed to realise that money would have been a great help to the soup kitchen she had been forced to work as a 'volunteer' for the show.

Sorry..soapbox ..blood pressure medication has now been administered

Don't worry, BM I nearly had a rant earlier but stopped myself in time. I agree 100%, don't mean to be a party pooper but there are so many other things this country needs atm.........

Keiss_21 wrote: »

Quote:
Originally Posted by wit40iwtwan
This week hubby and I are enjoying a stay at home vacation... we both have studies to do and I am completing a few craft projects - one which I started back in 1993!!!



Hope you having a great stay-cation...rather partial to them myself. What kind of craft projects are you completing...a few photos would be great when you're done...we're a nosey bunch here (well, I am!!:rotfl:)

Me too, wit40iwtwan, would love to see some piccies:D

Talking of which, Keiss, how's Elegant Lady coming along?:D

solventsoon

Competetive wrote: »

Thank you Kerri!!:T

Can I please join the crew and set 8NSDs for May Challenge

Hi Competetive and welcome. I'll sign you up for the May challenge when I get the thread up and running this week. If however I forget:o then please feel free to remind me, I haven't left you out deliberately but the little grey cells are a bit tired atm.... I'll post a link on here when it's up and running so that you can find it easily.
Good luck for May x

cw18 wrote: »

Spend day for me today.....

Had a quick scan of the Whoopsies as I was leaving work, and brought home a 4.1kg turkey. Should have been £20.48, but was marked down to £4.99 :T

Wow Cheryl, that is some bargain:T

cw18 wrote: »

Other news for today - I got my name into the ballot for the 2012 L0ndon M@rathon before I left for work at 6:45am this morning..... probably the most stupid thing I've ever done in my life, but only time will tell
(And I won't know if they've let me have a place or not until early October, so I've got about 24 weeks of training before I hear if I've got a race to use it for or not!!)

Quote:
Originally Posted by Nargleblast
CW - yes, putting your name down for the 2012 Marathon was certainly a moment of madness - because, if you get a place you know what will happen, won't you? A NSD gang outing will be arranged and you will run panting round the corner for the home strait to be greeted by the sight of BigMumma in her deckchair surrounded by numerous NSD gang members in various states of intoxication shouting out "Yoohooo! CeeeeDoubleYoooo!" while Igor flashes up the barbecue, Hubert does what Hubert usually does on these occasions and meanwhile, in a corner, a team of wheelclampers are trying to put a wheelclamp on a big blue police phone box but having trouble to find a wheel to clamp....

cw18 wrote: »

Now if I were 101% positive that would really happen, I'd be more than seriously tempted to apply for a charity place - which would mean working my socks off to raise a mimimum amount of sponsorship as well as training for the actual race :rotfl:

fortunately I don't expect there'll be (m)any people there who know me in real life
but there again, I don't think a sight like that would escape the interest of the national rags :rotfl:

I don't think you're mad at all, Cheryl, good on you:T:T. However, if you tell us all that you've got a place and risk the scenario Nargle's outlined then you definitely are:rotfl:.

Good luck, hope you get a place

solventsoon

butdoineedit? wrote: »

:j:j solventsoon – Woo hoo well done for meeting target, 20 is great, especially considering what a busy month for birthdays that you’ve had!!

Ahh, thanks BDINI :A

butdoineedit? wrote: »

& another one for me, so just 2 more to get now, it will be tight, but I can do it!!

And YAY!! to you, you're doing great and definitely deserve one or two of these:j:j

kerri_gt wrote: »

Ohhh...Nargle i do like the idea of a best hat competition :j

I was thinking of some kind of full size wedding cake type sculpture, complete with little cut outs of wills and kate on the top, all decked out in union flags...or do you think that might be a little over the top and perhaps block the view of people behind me? :think:

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ps is Igor going to be doing the catering again? _pale_

Hmmm.. that's got me thinking, kerri, maybe I could have a hat with a guillotine on top of it:D:D
(I am joking, honestly, I'm not that much of an anti-royalist yet, there is time though;))

butdoineedit? wrote: »

Welcome to the madhouse Competitive!!!
Spoon will be setting the May thread up sometime soon (she's definitely the guardian of this thread, i'm just her helper!!:D), just keep your eye out & there will be a link on here, but feel free to have a little practise & post on here for encouragement, we're a really friendly bunch!!

Thanks BDINI, but you're far more than just a helper, believe me:A

And, before I forget, no 21 for me today, a couple of spendy days ahead though unfortunately:(


And apologies to all, I seem to have been chatting a lot this evening, making up for lost time I think as I haven't been around much over the past couple of weeks.

I hope I haven't offended anyone with my anti-royal comments, I didn't mean to but I'm really sorry if I have:o

'night everyone
spoon xx

chris81418

Good morning everyone! :wave:

shezam wrote: »

Been a rubbish weekend. Other half got news of redundancy and i've had a sickness bug, only just back to work today. On the upside it means I've had 2 NSD;s which means I have met my target. wooo hooo.

Sorry to hear about your OH's redundancy (((hugs))), but glad to hear you put a positive NSD spin on being off work with a bug. :T

butdoineedit? wrote: »

chris81418 – well you do have to buy food every now & then, but I have no doubt you’ll get your last 3 in!!

Thanks BDINI! And just 2 more to catch as I caught one yesterday, bringing my total up to 21 NSDs so far! Woo hoo!

Have a good day everyone!

MAY1950

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to ifwisheswerehorses, I can finally post my no spend days in red, so here it goes

I have 10 NSDs

Thanks to everyone, love the thread.

Already looking forward to next month

Cheers

twistedhazel

Snaffled two more of the little so and sos bringing me to 18. Off work all this week so doing well, today should be another one but I'll not declare it so early, just incase that's tempting fate!

Have a great day everyone, take it easy
TH

Trinny

Hi Bdini

NSD 16 today - so i made it to target

:T Trinny

jaffacakegal

Hi,

Well I was wrong, I'm not on 14! But at least I underestimated! Actually on 16 NSDs

Yesterday I had a spendy, voucher from evil T£sco to use!!

Hopefully will scrape another today.

Can I increase target to 18 please? Not sure I will make it but will give it a go!

JCG xx

bottleofred

Hi all,

A spend day for me today as I have a few direct debits to get sorted and may also have to buy a new fridge!

IF

Afternoon all :hello:

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!