The jubilant July NSD challenge

cw18

Manchester's nice and sunny too - as is Huddersfield (had to go over and empty out friends flat, as he was on the way back into hospital yesterday but has handed in his notice on the flat and his lease with the council ends on Wednesday). All I can say is thank heavens I had the spare key to his flat, and that most of the security chaps recognise me well enough to buzz me into the building I just quoted his name and flat number, said he'd ask me to clear out some of his stuff, and told them I had a key to the flat but no fob to get into the building and I was promptly buzzed in.... no request for the password he had to set up in case he lost his one and only fob, and no visit to check up on me or get my personal details in case there turned out to be a problem later. But they do have CCTV so no doubt have pictures of me and my car, so I guess they could trace me that way if I'd not actually had his authority to be there and cleared him out without his knowledge!!

Now got to unload my car and find space for his stuff here until I know what's happening with it

Off to see my chap tonight - he's been working all weekend, but offered to cook tea for me tonight..... and pretty much promised he'd cook steak (yum, yum), so will have to wait and see if he does

As such today is an NSD (number 9 I think? yep, just checked back for my post from last night ) for me, as I've just been too busy to get near the shops - and still have a few things to do before I shower and change prior to leaving the house in about 2 hours !!!

IF

Afternoon all, too much 'Moonshine' was drunk last night eh!!

Lovely weather here......sorry Spoony xx

BDINI, big hugs from me :kisses3:



Written by solventsoon aka Spoon our inspirational mentor:-

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!

Nargleblast

kerri_gt wrote: »

Morning all! Well I'm not sure what happened last night - I seem to remember standing on the bar (although I didn't know the tardis had a bar :think:) dancing to the timewarp:dance: just as we passed Venus, but after that it's all gone a bit fuzzy...I didn't shame myself did I? :whistle:

No more than usual, kerri!

Nargleblast

And sleeping off last night's excesses, plus doing 2 loads of washing and mucking out the chickypoodles means I am now on


(drum roll please!)

10 glorious NSDs!!!!!

elfen

NSD no 17 for me please...had a spendy couple of days with my new fella....

fedupandskint

NSD 10 today - didn't quite go to plan this weekend on the NSD front however at least I got one in today!

butdoineedit?

Thanks everyone for the good wishes, gran seems a bit better today, still in intensive care but awake & talking a bit more....

I'm shattered after a weekend of travelling, was going to do the ironing, but have decided to be lazy instead & have an evening on the sofa finishing the cross stitch i'm making for my friends baby, he's just arrived 4 weeks early, so i really need to get a wriggle on!!

Sun here too, so really chuffed that i managed to wash & peg out my sofa covers before i went today, they are nice & dry now & i do love a clean sofa for snuggling up on!

Anyway, to the matter in hand 2 more NSD's to declare for yesterday & today, thats 7 now please Spoon :j think i might just hit my target this month if i'm good all week!!

kerri_gt

Glad to hear your nan is on the mend BDINI - don't blame you for hitting the sofa this evening.

Well after doing the washing, hoovering, washing the floor, ironing and making lunches for tomorrow, oh and changing the outside tap I can declare NSD 11 :j (just as well given that I spent quite a lot last night, well, what I took out as a budget..but still a bit :eek:)

Having a bit of a quandry, I had a look under the bath today to see about changing the taps and it doesn't look like it's going to be an easy job. I am not sure whether it's really something (for the sake of my sanity) I want to do myself, but I don't want to pay a fotrune getting someone in to do it (if it was our house there'd be a new bathroom in by now ) I have one number to call tomorrow to get a bit of a quote from and can weigh up our options. They still have the taps in stock so I could return the ones I have and do a repeat order to give me some more time to decide.... :think:

rising_from_the_ashes

Hello everyone, hope all hangovers well and truly gone!:D Sounds like a good night was had by all (sorry I missed it).

Spoon hope the sun arrived, it's been totally gorgeous here today as well.


Well, this week has been a bit topsy turvy, usually start off well and then go downhill (when I run out of lunch stuff) but it's been totally back to front - managed to redeem myself towards the end thank goodness as I spent a FORTUNE on Wednesday:(

NSD on Thurs, Fri, Sat & Sun :jwhich makes 13 and 4 in a row!

Have a great week everyone!:D

slowlyfading

Number 14 for me today. Sorry I haven't been around much, my grandma is in hospital so have been away visiting.