Have an adventure in August with the NSD challenge

jaffacakegal

Lily_The_Legend wrote: »

Thank you! I could just dive into that pile of jaffa cakes in your avatar! Start the diet again on Monday now! :rotfl:

Oh no sorry Lily - I am a bad influence ! I keep saying I must start my diet - but I've said that every week for the past 4 years :rotfl:I think food is definitely my weakness in life!

Anywho, meal was lovely. I stuck to my put aside budget - just! Meant nursing a diet coke throughout, and having to drink the wine I had in when I got home - even though I was very very tempted to nip across the road to the booze shop and buy some yummy fruit cider but I didn't so woohoo NSD 8 !!!

JCG x

Pips_Mum

Mmmmmmmmmmm Jaffa cakes!!

Number 5 here today x

IF

Hello hello hello, NSD thread police checking you don't spend too much this weekend!!





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!

karen_is_trying

Another NSD for me today making it 8/12 and hopefully another tomorrow x

solventsoon

Missed these two yesterday in my quick catchup - sorry:o

bottleofred wrote: »

A spend day for me today, as we went to a local indian restaurant for a colleagues birthday. It was fantastic though and I also took the opportunity to get some liquid gold while I was on a spend day.

Glad you enjoyed the meal, Red, sometimes it just has to be done!:D

butdoineedit? wrote: »

Off to London to visit friends tomorrow, so am expecting a spendy weekend, but i haven't seen them for nearly a year, so i don't mind one little bit. Will be straight back on the NSD bandwagon when i get back though, as that will be me very very poor!!

Hope you have a lovely time, BDINI, it will do you good to get away and spend some time with friends xx

LittleMissHappy_2

Wrote a whole essay and my computer seized up so it's lost (lucky you!) so in a nutshell, no NSD as I needed a waterproof camera and memory card. The other post was much more amusing but I'm too tired to try to re-write it

solventsoon

muffin_man_7 wrote: »

I'm late joining in this month i've been keepin track of my spends and up to today I'M PLEASED TO REPORT IN WITH 6 NSDS AND AM AIMING FOR 15 AND MY USUAL 5 IN A ROW and all the other days were low spends as i couldn't carry too much cos my back been bad and dam migraines don't help i've woken up with a throbbing head every day since beg august gave in today and took some tabs just so i could get a few things done but didnt get very far, oh well theres always tomorrow seriously though i've got to get it done by end of august just hope we get a break in the weather so the junk can go A few good things should be happening next week won't jinks things just now but i'm hoping it will be the begining of some good times

:hello:Hi mm7, good to see you back, I was worried about you and hoping you were OK.

Sorry your migraines are still bad and you're having problems with your back, I hope both start to improve xx

Fingers firmly crossed for you for next week. Keep posting to let us know how things go.

Take care
spoon xx

mrsdwhite wrote: »

Hi

Just dropping in to say I have had a NSD today....not too sure how many that is now... I think 3 or 4???


Won't be a NSD for me tomorrow as my cat is going to the vet to hopefully get his sore eye fixed (without the need for drops...)

Hi mrsd
You're on 4 now by my reckoning. If you're not sure any time you can check on the front page, everyone's totals are there. I update them daily so they should be more or less accurate (unless I have a complete meltdown one day of course:o).

Hope pud is OK and didn't complain too much at the vets today?:)

spoon xx

Frodobaggins

bottleofred wrote: »

I'm left-handed too, but didn't know we had a day when we were allowed to feel normal:rotfl:

All the best people are left handed you know!;)
But I can't use tin openers, they are a nightmare, only made for right handed people.:mad:

Frodobaggins

Twas a spendy day fo me because OH got paid today. I am on nights tonight so I went to bed for a few hours this afternoon, which meant I didn't get all my shopping in. Will do a really big shop tomorrow when I get up then will try for 3 in a row.

Really hate nights :mad:

kerri_gt

Argh! I picked up a printer from freecycle this afternoon (a handy 2 in 1 printer/scanner) not wireless (like one I was looking at online new) - all good....EXCEPT the guy I collected it from in his wisdom put the printer on its side....which is NOT a good idea when there is an ink cartridge still in the printer - I think you get the picture ....

so I have cleaned it up as best I can, and it's now sat on some boxes on a tea towl...bloomin good job I didn't just plonk it on the cream carpet ..... :eek::eek: I like the principle of freecycle, but sometimes I do end up questioning whether it's always worth it.