The jubilant July NSD challenge

chris81418

Hello everyone! :wave:

Checking in to report that yesterday was NSD number 15 :j However, a food shop is on the cards - if I don't do it today, I'll definitely need to do it tomorrow!

solventsoon wrote: »

Awww.. thanks, that’s lovely and I had a lovely evening off

Glad to hear it Spoon!

Have a good week everyone and good luck catching more NSDs!

jintyb

Good morning all!

Well, #6 in the bag for yesterday as I was glued to the telly all afternoon.
I was delighted for Darren Clarke - I'm not a huge golf fanatic, but I do enjoy watching it! He seems such a nice, well liked guy and his winning his first major after 20 years of trying just proves that you should never give up on your dreams! Truly inspirational! :T

Have a lovely day everyone!:)

beanielou

Glad that you enjoyed your evening off Spoony :j
If you need to have a break please just say.
I hate to think of you thinking that its a chore for you :sad:

jaffacakegal

Hi,

Nabbed NSD 7 yesterday! Gonna have to try harder if I wanna get my target.

JCG x

solventsoon

beanielou wrote: »

Glad that you enjoyed your evening off Spoony :j
If you need to have a break please just say.
I hate to think of you thinking that its a chore for you :sad:

Hi beanie
Yes, I did, thanks:D

I really don't think of it as a chore, honestly, I like catching up with you all once a day, so don't worry about that.:A I probably will have a break in a month or two, I'll shout when I'm ready, don't worry:D

Thanks for your concern, it's much appreciated x

Take care
spoon xx

LittleMissHappy_2

No NSD for me today as we desperately needed a food shop (haven't done a big shop for 3 weeks and usually I do them every week we were using up what we already had). Anyway, even though it was a big shop it still came to less that I normally spend and I had a £9 off a £60 spend, so not an NSD but a good spending day :money:

I second what everyone has said about having a break spoon - if you need any help I can spare some time.....you'll have to bear with me as I get used to everything, though

ETA - I'm glad I went food shopping today as the window cleaner has also been round so I had to pay him this month and last months money so saving another NSD (probably!)

Natty68

Woohoo I have a NSD, so that brings me up to a total of 7 NSD yesterday I didn't count Saturday while at the show, although I didn't spend that much in the end. I actually came back with change

Not sure if it will be a NSD today unfortunately I have to pop into Asda for a couple of things, although I might be able to leave it till tomorrow. I'll see how the day progresses..

Just updating signature now

IF

Afternoon all :hello:

Spoony got my 11th NSD yesterday, thank you :A




Written by solventsoon aka Spoon our inspiration:-

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!

bottleofred

Evening folks,

Declaring NSD12 and target reached:D
Can I please increase my target to 15 solvent. I want to be conservative as I'll have to get liquid gold soon and also have a wine warehouse to visit:j:beer:

cw18

and today takes me to NSD #7 :T

But it was another tough one

After a lot of digging on the 'net, I've decided my bedroom's going Duck Egg - with the bedding etc all coming from Arg0s. Problem is that all but one item are in the sale, so not all of them were available to order on the internet (which didn't really worry me) and I went to check stock in local stores.

Of 6 stores only one had the quilt cover in my preferred size (I like a king sized quilt on my double bed), but they were totally missing another item and only had 1 of the 2 I wanted of another. The one they only had one of (the additional pillowcases) was only fully available in 1 of the other stores. But between the 2 stores I now had to place reservations with I still couldn't get the fitted sheets which were only available in 2 of the 6 stores, with one being a fair drive from anywhere else I go!!!

Last night it was only letting me reserve until close of today, and I wasn't sure whether a D/debit was due out of my bank or not - so I waited until today to do the reservations which means I can pick them up after work tomorrow. No D/debit out, so I preserved a D/Debit by doing this even though I was itching to go and collect it all tonight anyway

Not altogether sure there's one due out tomorrow either, but at least I didn't spend today just to find there was and I'd lost an NSD without a good reason But I'd have really been kicking myself if I'd missed out on any of the items just to try and preserve one - especially as I want all the remaining stock of some of the items, and if some had sold I'd either have not been able to get or would have had to drive to even more places.......

Have seen a couple of possible wallpapers on the Orange DIY site, but one definitely looks like it will pull the room together better (instead of a pure Duck Egg, it has Duck Egg coloured flowers on a cream background - which means my cream carpet and headboard come together with that). Only papering the headboard wall, but they also have a Duck Egg paint for the other walls. So this means a trip to one of their stores which isn't even near any of the 3 Arg0s branches I need !!!!!

Going to put some miles on my car tomorrow evening picking up all this stuff :rotfl:

This is the quilt cover I'm getting



and to 'girly-fy' the room this is the lightshade (the only item not in the sale)


and these are the bedside lamps


The wallpaper I want to check out first is this one, with this being the other possibility