The jubilant July NSD challenge

marmiterulesok

jintyb wrote: »

Not sure if I will capture one today. Our kettle is on it's last legs so we are going to investigate a new one. Hopefully OH will cough up for it!

Have you considered heating water in a pan on the cooker?This is what I do,as I have a tiny kitchen and a tiny food prep space and the kettle took up so much of the room.I have a ceramic hob cooker,so the water heats up really quickly.The extra space is most welcome.

It'll also save you buying a new kettle...

marmiterulesok

Decided to take the bull by the horns:#15!!!

The cat litter can wait a few days.....:o

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

IF

Morning all :hello:

Big hugs to Beanie and Spoon

Jinty your pics are so good, you made me smile :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!

beanielou

Oh Spoon that sounds so painful
Hope you can hobble about today.
Jinty~Love your pics :j

Happy saturday all.

chris81418

Good morning everyone! :wave:

Another NSD rounded up yesterday, so my running total is now up to 24 NSDs! :j

Beanie and Spoon - I hope that you're not feeling too sore after your accidents! And I hope that you enjoyed your night off Spoon - you deserve it! :starmod:

solventsoon

jintyb wrote: »

Owwwwwwwwwwwww! Hope you feel better today!

Me too, beanie, hope the bruises are going down a bit xx

jintyb wrote: »

Spoon, I feel your pain! Hope your tootsie is feeling better today!

Thanks jinty, that made me smile:D

Thanks everyone for your good wishes, you're all lovely xx:A

The toe is definitely less painful today, hopefully it'll stop complaining before too much longer, fingers crossed.

It's a beautiful day here today, would have been nice to go out for a walk in the sunshine but no chance of that as I can't put a shoe on, so I'll just have to sit in the garden instead with my book!!:D:D:D

Have a lovely Saturday everyone and I hope you all have some of this lovely sunshine.

spoon xx

And PS: Thanks, I did enjoy my night off xx

jintyb

marmiterulesok wrote: »

Have you considered heating water in a pan on the cooker?This is what I do,as I have a tiny kitchen and a tiny food prep space and the kettle took up so much of the room.I have a ceramic hob cooker,so the water heats up really quickly.The extra space is most welcome.

It'll also save you buying a new kettle...

Darn it Marmite - just caught your post - OH has sprung for a new kettle. Its a thing of beauty!;)
However,the old one is in the box to go to FreshStart. It's a local charity who make up starter packs for folks who have been homeless and are starting out in their first home. They collect second hand household items such as crockery, cookware, bedding etc ect and they also have a team of volunteers who test and refurbish small electricals such as toasters, kettles etc.
I have a load to take down next week - assorted crocks, glasses and towels.

solventsoon wrote: »

.

It's a beautiful day here today, would have been nice to go out for a walk in the sunshine but no chance of that as I can't put a shoe on, so I'll just have to sit in the garden instead with my book!!:D:D:D

Oh that's a shame Spoon,;) you will HAVE to rest now!;)

cw18

declaring yesterday as NSD #11

The only thing I shelled out for was my PT session, and I'd pulled the money for that on Thursday (which was a spend day) and put it to one side.
Nearly ended up shelling out for a take-away (didn't fancy anything here for tea and ended up going to my chaps quite late on - left home at 9:20pm - to watch some DVDs with half a notion to get pizza in, but in the end I decided I wasn't hungry/couldn't be bothered/didn't fancy shelling out over £6 for one pizza)

either today or tomorrow will be a spend day, as I need to get veg for tomorrow's tea (he's coming here), some bread and sandwich fillings and possibly some bananas if I see any nice ones.

but I'm hoping the other will stay an NSD, which means I should just manage to make my target for the month

laura2481

Oh dear- epic fail for me this month with only 4 or my target 8 NSDs achieved... unless I somehow manage one tomorrow, but unlikely. Oh well, Monday is a new month. I shall aim for 8 NSDs again, I think and then increase the target when I've actually achieved it! Going to start a proper spending diary on Monday too, in an actual notebook to make me look and think about what I'm spending. Hopefully will make me aware of my potential NSDs, and spend less on the spendy days! Have agood weekend everybody, hope you all have as nice weather as I have here... lovely and sunny! x

kerri_gt

omg omg omg omg...our guests who had planned to arrive sometime mid-afternoon tomorrow (giving us the morning for final spruce of the house) had just texted to say they're leaving at midnight so will be down early a.m :eek::eek: on top of that I should really be getting ready for this wedding reception which we're already gonna be late for......ARGH!!!!!