The Solvent September NSD Challenge

squeeeek

Well still no NSDs for me this month....needed milk on Saturday, bought the car we have been waiting for yesterday and today Gritish Bass have taken the payment they should have taken on the first today, tomorrow is car insurance,7th is loan day....surely the 8th has got to be a NSD:question:.
I haven't spent on anything we didn't need or wasn't meal planned/on the shopping list yet though so thats a plus

positivelypurple

sparklysaver wrote: »

Right, am tempted to pop to the supermarket because I'm making jammy dodgers and I've just realised that I've eaten all the raspberry jam

Oooh, my DC love jammy dodgers. Can I ask for your recipe please?

IF

Morning all :hello:






Hi NSD'ers Could I ask you please to highlight your number of NSDs in a colour and in bold so that BDINI can see them easily, thank you :A



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!

sparklysaver

positivelypurple wrote: »

Oooh, my DC love jammy dodgers. Can I ask for your recipe please?

Hello! :wave:

I just use the basic shortbread biscuit recipe:

4oz softened butter
4oz caster sugar
8oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder
1 egg
pinch salt

Cream butter & sugar, add beaten egg & mix some more, sift in flour, baking powder & salt, combine the dough then wrap it in clingfilm in the fridge for half an hour.

Take it out & roll out to about half a centimetre, then cut out into whatever shapes you've got cutters for. When you've cut all the biscuits out, you then cut small holes out of half of them - I've got a little round cutter for this, I got it in the pound shop as part of a kids baking set years ago :rotfl:. You could just go a bit rustic and do it with a sharp knife though, or an apple corer would work. You'll usually get another biscuit out of the scraps too.

Bake them at 160 for about 10 - 12 minutes until they're just going golden, then take them out, cool them a bit, then sandwich them together with jam while they're still warm. Dust with icing sugar if you're being fancy!

Dead easy, good fun to bake with kids too.

elfen

They sound lovely sparkly

NSD no 4 for me please....eBayp arcel used eBay money for...so all is good!

Tixy

Hello no spenders.

So far this month, so good - 1st, 3rd and 4th were NSDs - so I'm up to 3 so far, and looking promising for adding another today as I've brought lunch to work, and its raining so I don't plan to go anywhere.

So declaring 3NSDs so far please

solventsoon

jintyb wrote: »

Good morning chums!
Really worried about OH as I think with his birthday coming up he's really feeling the loss of his Mum. Her birthday was also in September so he's finding it hard. That, together with the fact he's knackered from work and got some kind cold virus does not a happy boy make. He broke down a bit on Saturday and admitted that he's struggling a bit but, typical male, he's bottling it all up. I feel really helpless! Sorry to offload all that! I'm hoping that our upcoming holiday will help hi, to unwind.

(((hugs))) jinty. It's never easy trying to get men to talk about their feelings and admit they're feeling a bit down. It's hard to live with when you know something's wrong and they won't talk about it - and I don't suppose the virus is helping either.

Hopefully he'll relax during your holiday and feel able to talk to you about it.

You come and offload any time you need to, lots of hugs and sympathy available for you here if needed.
xxx

jintyb wrote: »

Spoon, I'd gladly declutter your spare room, I love doing that! I could easlily do it for a living - life laundry and all that!

Right... I'll take you up on that then:D - when are you free?

jintyb wrote: »

Have a lovely day all and thanks for listening to the rant!:)

Take care and hope you have a lovely day too.
spoon xx

Lily_The_Legend

solventsoon wrote: »

:j:j:jLily_The_Legend - for no 1, and off the starting blocks now, woohoo!! Keep going!!
Hope your first day back at work isn’t too bad

Thanks Spoon, it's quite busy as it turns out my boss was off sick then on holiday Wed-Fri last week, plus no one was in on bank holiday Monday, so things have got a bit behind at work! So I'm trying to get things up to date.

Should be NSD no 2 today, but I'll confirm later on.

I popped out at lunchtime to get some money out for the month, but haven't spent any of it yet!

jaffacakegal

Hi,

NSD 2 yesterday - grandad gave me £20 petrol money for driving him to a concert we did so actually made money. I'm glad he did - it was flippin miles away and we got lost twice on the way

JCG x

iwanttogoonholiday

im declaring already today as home early from work - today was 2nsd..wooo hoooo!:money: