Have an outstanding October with the NSD challenge

IF

solventsoon wrote: »

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

Great result Spoony :j

SillyBlondie

Another NSD for me today please Spoon, taking me to 16

solventsoon

jintyb wrote: »

Good morning all!

Thanks for the update Spoon - you got there eventually! I thought I spied a cloud of blue air floating around!;)

honey wrote: »

Morning all,

ISpoon - 3 times to update :eek: what a nightmare!!
honey x

chris81418 wrote: »

Hello everyone! :wave:

Spoon - How annoying with the updates :mad:, at least you were 3rd time lucky ... who knows what would have happened had it not worked! ...

fedupandskint wrote: »

Hope the next update goes better for you Spoon! Good luck!

Thank you everyone, I have to admit I was getting more than a little exasperated:o:o I think the cloud was every colour including blue, jinty!!!

Yesterday's update went fine, so fingers crossed for tomorrow's and no more naughty words!!:o:D

xx

solventsoon

butdoineedit? wrote: »

Wow, well done you, 100% is fab!!

beanielou wrote: »

Great result Spoony :j

Thank you lovely BDINI and beanie xx:A

LittleMissHappy_2

jintyb - well done for NSD number 14 :j:j:j - hope you nabbed 15 today
honey - well done for NSD number 8 :j:j:j - hope you enjoyed the cinema and had a lovely time at the park
The Dragon - well done for NSD number 15 :j:j:j - has your ‘cleaning fever’ gone away yet?
elfen - well done for NSD number 11 :j:j:j - good luck with your essay..I was joining you doing my own today :cool:
SpendSpendSpend - well done for NSD number 12 :j:j:j - fingers crossed for you for a lottery win
jaffacakegal - well done for NSD number 11 :j:j:j - keeping my fingers crossed it will be an NSD
chris81418 - well done for NSD number 19 :j:j:j - and huge well done for reaching your target :beer: spoon will increase it to 22 when the front page is updated x
fedupandskint - well done for NSD number 12 :j:j:j - good luck with your budgeting...unfortunately mine aways goes out of the window around this time of year until January
QueenB. - well done for NSD number 13 :j:j:j - and :beer: for reaching target! Hope you get your computer sorted soon x
Nargleblast - well done for NSD number 12 :j:j:j - you’re doing really well keep it up
bottleofred - well done for NSD number 15 :j:j:j - you’re doing really well, keep it up
beanielou - well done for NSD number 17 :j:j:j - you’re doing really well, keep it up
BDINI - well done for NSD number 12 :j:j:j - Jamie doesn’t do it for me but his food does
SillyBlondie - well done for NSD number 16 :j:j:j - you’re doing really well, keep it up


spoon - bless you losing 3 updates I probably would have chucked my laptop out the window the first time And 100% in a test :beer: That is great :T
Keiss - I just want to echo what everyone else has said x Glad you are better x
Hello chezabelle :wave: - I think spoon will set up the thread in a few days

Once again no NSD for me....more xmas shopping I will have to seriously rethink my target next month!

greenanne

managed a nsd today by taking the dog for an extra long walk and then going to work.
so thats 13nsd for me.

just two more to go to reach my target.

rising_from_the_ashes

Morning all, haven't read for a couple of days (sorry):o but just about caught up now.

Have had a few spendy days:

Sat - cat carrier. There was a lady on the pets board whose cat had escaped and got lost for several months:eek: due to a dodgy clip - which spurred me into action. Fantastic news on Sunday was that someone had managed to catch her cat and she's now safely home:D and recovering

Sun - online grocery shop @ Mr A

Mon - small spend at the chemist

Tues - online chemist (and had to pay for next day delivery to get the stuff today:() as having a bit of a problem with a horrible lip


So.... today will be a NSD - won't delcare yet tho' ..... just in case:o

Have a good day everyone:)

wannabehermit

fedupandskint wrote: »

Tomorrow and Thurs will also be NSD and I'm thinking hard about a Nov target and now to spread out the spends and NSDs. I need to budget very hard in Nov/Dec/Jan and Feb. Have MOT due, holiday deposit, save up for holiday, finish off christmas shopping, save up for car tax, pay for holiday, save up spends for holiday. Attempt to pay off some more cc's.

Looks like not much treaty spends for me then for the next year as I pull my belt in even more and cut back again.

I know that feeling fedup! SOunds a bit like us.

Well done to everyone reaching your targets :j:beer::T

I'm declaring today as NSD6. Thought I'd get in early then it will stop me later if we do go out .

Yesterday was day2 of half term, boys had a multi-sports thing in the morning run by the council which was free :j so did my MrT shop then, also had to get some bits for the Guinea Pigs & from Lidl, but that should be me done for this weeks shopping with maybe a bread top up on Friday, so fingers crossed should get plenty of NSDs in and hopefully get my target.

day3, the plan was to go up into the local high street for ds1 to spend his book tokens but looking at the rain I think we'll give that a miss , baking cakes etc it is then! :j

QueenB.

It will be a spendy day today and for the next few days:o.
As the half term is here i have taken the oppertunity to really get focused on my Crimbo shopping, plus had to stock up for Halloween and then we are away at the weekend so spendy days for most of the week, however it is organised spending (for the most part ) and it has to be done, i just hate spending I get the same kind of thrill from achieving a NSD now as i did before from shopping. Lets hope it stays that way:cool: