The jubilant July NSD challenge

IF

Afternoony :hello:

Doing the Friday ~ Wiggle ~ me :dance:






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!

marmiterulesok

Another spend day today.I might manage two more this weekend,but one more only is more likely,as I didn't have the energy to get cat litter today.A little chore for tomorrow.

Thanks spoon for the update.I worked Wednesday and Thursday.It was ok,but I'm taking it easy.

A bit chuffed,as I'm managing to lose some weight despite the steroids.

Have a great Friday night folks!

AlyBaly

Managed another NSD after such a hectic day at work I am too tired to do anything tonight !. This will be my final one for July but happy that I beat my target . See you all in the August thread xxx :beer:

11/9

Nargleblast

kerri_gt wrote: »

This was Seri*usly Str*ng - I do like a nice mature cheddar

Mr T has that on offer at the mo - buy one and get 2 free!

Needless to say, living in a family of cheese hounds, I have availed myself of their most generous offer.

beanielou

Totally cheesed off today.
Fell into a fireplace and look like my left hand side of my face had done a few rounds with Mike tyson.Bah.

Nargleblast

Natty - sorry to hear of the loss of a "friend". However, look at it this way - someone you thought you could trust has finally shown their true colours - so you can dispense with their services - you have had a lucky escape! You do not need anyone in your life that you cannot trust. Celebrate that point!


Spendy day yesterday, and today too! Cupboards now groaning with food - I have the princely sum of about £30 left to spend on food until the next payday (without dipping into savings) so the meal planning challenge is on! If I can cut down spending as much as possible then it will not be such a pain when I have to renew the car tax and get DS new school uniform stuff.

Car tax-wise, I have decided, though it pains me to do so, to pay out the extra for a six month renewal rather than the whole year's worth. That way, not only is it more affordable with my other commitments but also my renewal date will shift to end February, which is a more civilised time in my financial world, to buy a year's tax disc.

School uniform-wise, DS is really very inconsiderate in that he always puts on a growth spurt in the summer hols. I keep threatening to chop his legs off.

Hope everyone is ok!

Nargleblast

Drunk again, Beanie?:beer::D

cw18

Nargle - i shifted mine 6 months as well. Now lands with breakdown cover in January rather than service, MOT and insurance at end of July...... and also means the other stuff is all updated on computer systems so I can get my road tax on-line and don't have to find lots of bits of paper at the same time to take to the PO

bottleofred

A spend day for me today, as I had to buy liquid gold! I'm hoping for 1 more day before the end of the month though!

kerri_gt

Beanie - I hope you're ok, what have we told you about chasing Santa up the chinmey

Nargle - yep, I got my cheddar in Mr T, had cond spend coupons for 2 x £2 of £2, and the other items i had whcih took it over £20 will be going back - so cheddar basically £4.29 - £4 :j

Natty - sorry to hear about your so-called friend. Sounds like it's their loss rather than yours though :grouphug:

Well I am pooped, have tidied out the spare room (errr still some boxes not unpacked from when we moved in ) made up the spare bed, tidied out the other room, hoovered and stocked up in Mr A and Mr S on snacks, wine, beer and soft drinks for our guests arriving on Sun. Totally pooped and exhuasted at the thought that we have a wedding reception to attend tomorrow too.

Thanks to some APG vouchers, plus a £2 gift card (due to a refund and replace where i didn't initally get the refund bit), plus another £10 gift card i took our shopping down from £70-odd to £50-odd - still enough but not so bad (had about £8 in APG :j)

I did but 30 cans of Coke for £7 ...which was the cheapest per ltr...except for the fact I don't generally drink fat coke... and OH doesn't drink that much (just with vodka)...it could be a 'bargain' that will last some time.... only positive is that when OH buys bottles half gets left and goes flat so the cans do make better sense overall - I don't think it's gonna go off

Wombled a bunch of receipts so fingers crossed for those results - was leaning into a trolly to get one and i managed to flick it away from me instead of towards...was balancing over the handle and honestly had visions of me falling head first into the trolly ..bet if anyone saw it on CCTV it would've made £250 on You've been Framed :rotfl:

On the up side, the food came out of the H'Hold budget, so NSD 14 for me and TARGET MET :j Tomorrow deff won't be a NSD - in fact it will be the opposite, but fingers crossed for Sun