The Marvellous May NSD Challenge

ladymay

Hmmm, pretty sure I have pharyngitis... time to get the salt water out yuck yuck yuck!! Had a rubbish night's sleep so work today will not be much fun, but I'm cheering myself up with the thought of another NSD today - must.... resist..... temptation...

mooomin

Yesterday was NSD #11

Sorry I'm not keeping up with the thread, but hope everyone is ok.

kerri_gt

Freeby - perhaps your sleepless nights are more of a habit now than anything else? Perhaps focusing on something else before going to bed, or changing your bedtime routine might help?

Well not a NSD for me yesterday (on top of prev spends admitted to) we went round to friends last night to watch the CL final (and what pants that was) Had takaway which we all chipped in for and taxi home. Lovely evening though and no where near as expensive as a night on the town

Unfortunately due to a small crisis with DM i didn't manage to do my planned internet purchases, which is going to scupper an otherwise NSD today....hey ho, can't win em all.

OH has just announced we're in for a heatwave this week - nice for the plants, and us...but not looking forward to bootcamp in a heatwave :eek:

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!

bottleofred

Good afternoon folks,

I hope everyone has had a nice weekend. Yesterday was a spendy for me, although today is NSD13:beer:.
I had far too much red wine last night and had to make a pot of soup, an olive bread and a sticky toffee pud to even attempt to get rid of the headache:o

IF

Afternoon all :hello:

This made me smile and remember not all is what it seems!!!









































:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

rising_from_the_ashes

freebyfifty wrote: »

I couldn’t get the cap open and had to call on the services of a passing man, typically he did it in about 2 seconds.:o:o

Hope this makes you feel better Freeby ...... when I was filling up yesterday there was a breakdown van with "fuel retrieval in progress" and a rather pink faced man beside his rather posh car;)

Ohhhh If :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:I was killing myself with that one - I had no idea what could've been hiding under that towel! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

No 13 for me today please:D

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

Declaring NSD #12 today.

kerri_gt

Well not a NSD for me as predicted - have done my internet shopping - one outfit (two parts ordered from diff places) for a photo shoot ordered, plus a new sports top and another dance top from the same place (don't actually need it now but been looking at it for ages so thought I'd just make the most of the postage fee IYSWIM?)

i have however been very domestic, lawns mowed, washing done, made a virtually no fat banana loaf, chilli bubbling on the stove for dinner and sandwich fillers for me and OH chilling in thr fridge. Just the ironing to do now .... *flop* I'll be going back to work for a rest :rotfl:

There's a few random house bits we need, like weedkiller, lawn edger shears etc, so going to make a list and might 'treat' us come pay day - wow, I know how to live on the edge

wannabee_in_credit

Not often I get a nsd on a Sunday, but today I have... and that takes me to 9 nsds now. Maybe my target isn't as far out of reach as I thought.