The jubilant July NSD challenge

IF

Evening NSD'ers :hello:

beanielou wrote: »

Lost 2 1/2 lbs this week.

Well done Beanie, that's really good


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!

butdoineedit?

kerri_gt wrote: »

Well done on recycling the canes BDINI. I bought some (for the total of £1) a while back for one of my plants that was a bit wonky donkey, then found two in the garden holding up a very very dead plant (I know it's deff dead since it's not changed in 18mths since we moved in, that and the mosquito fossilised in amber on it :rotfl:)Sadly my toms don't quite need any support yet.

They'll get there kerri, there's time yet! Did i mention i actually have a cucumber too :j it's honestly the most exciting thing thats happened to me in a long time!! There's only one thats grown, but it's looking fat green & shiny & i can't wait for it to be ready to pick & eat!!

Well done Beanie on your weight loss, thats fab!!

Frodobaggins

Evening everyone, hope you all well. I have had to spend today but yesterday was NSD#7.
Hopefully tomorrow will be no 8, on call until 8am friday morning so should be able to do it!:D

cw18

Oh well - the lure of the Whoopsies proved to be just toooooo strong

Got myself a birthday cake (no it's not my birthday, but it's one that's decorated with buttercream rather than roll out icing - and I'm a tad partial to it), a bag of 'everything' bagels, a bag of 5 batched rolls, a bag of 5 croissants, 3 tubs of cherry toms, a mango, and 3 bags of sliced meat from the deli - breaded ham (160g + 175g) and silverside (180g). Total came to £4.36 before staff discount (£3.93 after), which I though pretty good given the meat should have been £6.82 and the cake should have been £6.89

strawberriesandcream

Hi everyone,
Just popping by to say hi... I've not been on here for a while, mostly because I haven't been doing too well with NSDs lately! But I do have NSD 5 and 6 to report, so i should be on target, I just need to behave myself for the rest of the month!

beanielou

Pass some cake Cheryl

Kerri~is this toothpaste any good then?

kerri_gt

beanielou wrote: »

Pass some cake Cheryl

Kerri~is this toothpaste any good then?

I honestly couldn't tell you Beanie, I haven't used any of mine yet (and it would have to be pretty special for me to ever pay full price). I've read mixed reviews but generally it seems to have a more gritty texture (like the polish dentists use I guess) than normal toothpaste, although people seem to say once you get past that it does leave a nice clean feeling for longer then normal toothpaste.

After my stash from the SD sale, one tube I already had, a diff 0ral-B one that's 60p in SD atm and these, I don't think I'll be buying any more for a Loooooooong time

suzitiger

solventsoon wrote: »

:hello:Hi suzitiger and welcome to MSE, DFW and the NSD challenge (that's a lot of initials, sorry:o)

If you'd like to join us, you'd be very welcome. All you have to do is let me know how many days you'd like to aim for between now and the end of the month and I'll add you to the front page. If you make your target, you get a "prize" - see the front page:D

Hi, sorry I have taken so long to get back to you. Yeah I would love to join. O.K, we haven't got long left in July so hmmmm, I'm going to aim for 5 and see how we go, if i beat it easily, all the better and i will make august's target extra hard I think this will really help me buget, does anyone else find that NSD have helped their budgeting?

suzitiger

kerri_gt wrote: »

I honestly couldn't tell you Beanie, I haven't used any of mine yet

are u guys talking about the new winter fresh oral b toothpaste? i've heard it is really good is it expensive though?

kerri_gt

suzitiger wrote: »

are u guys talking about the new winter fresh oral b toothpaste? i've heard it is really good is it expensive though?

It's the new Pro-Expert range - so prob what you've heard people talking about as it's on various promo's in stores and there's a lot of tv advertising. Here's a link to one of the one's I got today

http://www.boots.com/en/Oral-B-Pro-Expert-All-Around-Protection-Clean-Mint-75ml_1215839/

In short, yes it is expenisve at full price - over £3 :eek: B**ts have the best off atm with the £1.99 plus 3 for 2, but Superdr*g has better than half price offers (£1.64 I recall) if you don't want to buy 3 tubes.