The Marvellous May NSD Challenge

butdoineedit?

Welcome to the challenge selfsufficient

Wow LMH & Freeby i'm in awe of all your studying. I'd love to do something to stretch myself again, but must get on with the debt busting if i'm ever going to be able to afford OU

Small spendy day today. Couldn't find a cucumber plant already started, so went for seeds i reckon if i'm quick it won't be too late to plant them & also couldn't resist some savoy cabbages as they really are my favourite sort of cabbage.
Also took advantage of the Mr M offer on water filter cartridges (after having to hunt through 3 different stores to find them :eek:), but used the belated birthday money my gran gave me at the weekend, so didn't have to work a miracle with my budgets, & think i now have enough to last me to the end of the year

Quick pint tonight with my little old men to round off a productive bank holiday weekend :beer:

rising_from_the_ashes

ModestyB wrote: »

Thanks Freeby, had a lovely meal. It was a celebration as I had good news at the hospital. I don't have the Big C that my doc was worried about.

Awwwwww a big sigh of relief from everyone I bet ... a very much deserved celebration Modesty - so glad everything's OK

freebyfifty wrote: »

Hoping for another today as I have got great plans to go nowhere and do nothing. I have an OU essay to submit and it is driving me crackers :eek: I just can't seem to 'get it'. I'll be relived when it's done.:o

I used to have 8 weeks / unit and worked on the "theory" of 3 weeks to work through the unit, 1 week / each assignment (4 / unit) and 1 week off ..... I'd sit for 3 weekends and write around 100 words (total) if I was lucky going "I can't do this .....", "I don't understand it ...." etc and then sit and write all 4 in the last weekend :mad: never managed to break the habit - don't know if it's because I've always had to work to strict deadlines at work for years that I need the pressure to produce anything :rotfl:

freebyfifty wrote: »

I have completed:- K101 An Intro to Health & Social Care (60 points, distinction :j)

Ohhh I did that one many years ago when I was thinking of doing SW - gave up in the end as it would've meant starting from scratch again & no exemptions & was too costly.

However, currently on a "break" (probably long term) as need approx £4k to finish :eek:

Not been online much - Maisie's keeping me busy and has finally gone for a sleep after having great fun in the woods with a young springer spaniel and a rather deep, muddy puddle :eek: - she's filthy but happy:) (cats still in hiding)

No 4 today

mooomin

NSD #4 here, really needed it too after a very spendy weekend

kerri_gt

Well (another) busy day for me, long lie in but then off to boot camp (in the rain!), home showered and then proceeded with the hoovering and mopped the floors (my goodness they needed it), picked up a few bits in town (bread and the like) then home and ironed OH shirts for the week. Oh and a bit of work too (bank holiday my a**e). Can't beleive it's Mon evening already

Rising - lovely to hear that Maisie is settling in well (the cats will stop sulking eventually) and sounds like she had a lovely walk.

Good luck to all those studying, I can't say it's something that I miss, even though I was / am quite academic, so hats off for having the motivation to keep it up :T

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!

IF

Evening all :hello:

freeby, LMH and BDINI got my 4th NSD thank you all xxx:A:A:A

bottleofred

Evening folks,

As expected, declaring NSD5 for today please:beer:

LittleMissHappy_2

Heres todays round up


freeby - well done for NSD 5 :j:j:j hope you got somewhere with your essay - I did

OodNood - well done for NSD 3 :j:j:j fingers crossed for number 4 today

DFF - well done for NSD 2 :j:j:j how was Bang goes the Theory? Hope you enjoyed your meal too!

Barbeduk - well done for NSD3 :j:j:j sometimes beer and crisps are essentials Bargain pack of donuts!

ems - well done for NSD2 :j:j:j great going, keep it up

Karb - well done for NSD 4 :j:j:j a no spend week-end, thats great!

The Dragon - well done for NSD 5 :j:j:j the 5 in a row will come and if it doesn’t you will save lots of money trying

donna - well done for NSD 2 :j:j:j hope you had a fabulous time at zumba Good luck with your saving!

stripy - well done for NSD 5 :j:j:j Happy bank holiday back

rising - well done for NSD 4 :j:j:j sounds like you are having great time with Maisie

flying - well done for NSD 4 :j:j:j hope you have been spending on something lovely (was it you who was spending on bravissimo? Lovely underwear in that shop!)

if - well done for NSD 4 :j:j:j thanks, as always, for posting the guidelines so regularly x

red - well done for NSD 5 :j:j:j hope you enjoyed the day off, we had a bit of sun in the morning so I finally managed to mow the [STRIKE]meadow[/STRIKE] garden!

And hello to


BDINI - I know what you mean about the OU prices, but they are still cheaper than brick uni’s - I am lucky that I get transitional funding so I am not affected by the price hikes implemented recently (or I wouldn’t be able to afford to finish my degree!)

kerri - hope you enjoyed the bootcamp - lucky you getting to iron OH’s shirts, I get that hideous job too, I hate it!

And I am on NSD # 6 today although it was a near miss as I saw some lovely tops on Am*zon today that I really liked the look of (they are still in my basket.....:cool: )

Head stuck in books again today but I think I have had enough - got about 2/3's of the way through my essay so will give myself a break and start again tomorrow :A

mooomin

Yup it was me who was spending there *shakeyfist* to whoever mentioned the online shop though as I spent more there too and it's getting delivered tomorrow :rotfl::rotfl:

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

NSD #4 today:beer: