The Marvellous May NSD Challenge

solventsoon

Hello lovely people:wave::wave::wave::wave:

Hope you're all well and hi to all the newbies, this is a great place to be. loads of help and advice available here.

I just popped in to catch up with you all (nosey, me, never :o) and spotted these two.

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Well ...... drum roll please ....... new dog has arrived :j:j

She is adorable:), a black lab and is 5:D

She will be getting her very own "forum name" so give me a couple of days to come up with something ..... atm, it's looking like it'll be something like "Monkey":rotfl:

Woohoooooooo.... I'm sooo pleased for you Rising. I just knew there was a doglet out there waiting for you and I'm delighted you've finally met.

She is lovely and I really hope you have a long and happy time together, keeping my fingers crossed for you both xxx

Sorry to hear about your card, what a pain

LittleMissHappy wrote: »

Heres todays round up

Sorry for the short, late update, been ill yesterday and again today I am going to spend the day in bed in the hopes that it will revive me as I can’t stand being miserable (naturally!)

Modesty - thanks for thinking of me :grouphug: I think I just get run down as I have so much on and it's my bodies way of demanding that I stop Saying that I am headed to bed with my study books :rotfl:

(((hugs))) LMH and hope you feel better soon. I think you're definitely doing too much, you need to rest for a bit.

Take care hun :A xx

donna_dynamo

Hi all NSD 1 today. First one down alot more to go. Got to try and get some money saved this month.

ladymay

Evening!

NSD 2 for me today. Was meant to be going out but it's been cancelled... Just as well, I have work at 7am tomorrow!!

kerri_gt

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Well ...... drum roll please ....... new dog has arrived :j:j

She is adorable:), a black lab and is 5:D

She will be getting her very own "forum name" so give me a couple of days to come up with something ..... atm, it's looking like it'll be something like "Monkey":rotfl:

Yeah! so pleased Rising, she looks adorable. We knew the right pooch was out there waiting for you. Rubbish about the cc though. I get frustrated when my card gets blocked and I'm trying to make a transaction, but the alternative could be a lot worse. Hope it gets sorted quickly.

Lovely to see you on here Spoonykins - we've missed you. Big hugs, and don't leave it too long - I'm sure Nargle mentioned something about Maypole dancing on the bank holiday ... :eek:

LMH - I won't lecture you about doing too much, but it's a bit of a warning to me, last night I didn't sit down at all after getting home, and I can't remember the last evening I wasn't logged onto work....:o

Well no NSD for me but not too bad - dropped off bag of food for the food bank, nothing posh but nothing that I wouldn't eat myself. Then picked up some cornish sea salt from Sainsbobs, £1.09 for a tiny tub :eek: Luckily it cost me 5p thanks to some wombled brand matches Then 80-odd pence on some bread from Tacto for OH sarnies tomorrow (debated buying it as we do have two slices left, but I think they are past their best and I don't really want to send OH to work with stale sarnies). He likes their seeded discount brand one, and 7p JTD from another womble made it about 83p

Big hugs to all who need them, off to catch up on some other threads xx

butdoineedit?

Hello lovely people, it does feel good to be back!!

Lots of NSDs rolling in today, so well done to:

magni – well done for number 1, you’re off to a great start!! :j:j

Igamogam – well done for number 2, flying start for you!! :j:j

Barbeduk – well done for number 1, your off the mark now!! :j:j

stripeyjumpergirl – yay, well done for number 1!! :j:j

Deb4 - well done for number 2, you’re off to a great start!! :j:j

donna dynamo – well done for number 1!! Good luck with the saving!! :j:j

ladymay – sorry to hear about your night out, but well done for number 2!! :j:j

And hello to:

rising from the ashes – awww she’s so beautiful, glad you finally found the dog for you!!
Horrible news about the credit card, I hope the company get it sorted soon.

hedgesparrow – keep going, you can do it!!

solventsoon – Hi :hello: Good to see you!!

kerri gt – Glad to see you are still the coupon queen!! :rotfl:

kerri_gt

Welcome back BDINI, we've missed you :beer:

yep, still queen of coupons - even did a spot of bin diving the other day when I spotted a 50p brand match in the bin next to the SS It's official.... I have no shame :rotfl:

Hope all is well with you. xx

btw, anyone heard from Jinty, I can't remember if she said she'd be away for a while or not, but noticed her absense - amongst some others, Nora, Big Mamma and CW18, :hello: if you're there xx

mooomin

Had a wee spend today. £3.99 on a storage box and 90p on chewing gum/mints.

I did buy some craft stuff too, but that was free as I sold stuff on FB earlier today

emslovesmickey

rising_from_the_ashes wrote: »

Bad news of the day is that my cc has been cancelled as someone's tried to put through a load of high value transactions - thankfully most of them were declined & the fraud team at my cc company picked it up quickly (but one has been accepted which they're now sorting out).

So ..... already difficult cash-flow issue is now a lot worse:eek:

Not from Newcastle are you? Cos my card was cloned there and so was my mates last week (her bank noticed before any transactions were put through)

Not an NSD today as i had to go grocery shopping (thankfully had some money in my purse)

IF

Evening all :hello:

Love the doglee Rising :dance:

Nice to have you back BDINI :A

Hiya Spoony xx


freeby, LMH and BDINI got my 2nd NSD thank you all xxx:A:A:A

IF

freebyfifty 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!