Ultimate Challenge. 457 days / £16600!!!

NinjaSavingKat

Abundant I am writing something for you all.. my parents are insistent on having an intellectual conversation which means I a having difficulty getting down what I want for you all..

I would seriously suggest getting a nice, leather diary.. write in it over the coming year. It would be surprising for you to read your mental state over the course of a year. Like you 2012 wasn't overly kind in one way, and superbly amazing in another... seriously write!

I am impatient to. Christmas Day is done - bring on the New Year!!!

Onwards and Upwards!!!

NinjaSavingKat

I know what you all might be thinking. But it’s not that kind of post unfortunately. What I wouldn't give to have a magic wand to give you all enough money to make your lives easier, at least for the next 6 months to make headway – but what would we learn from that?

I came across this book a few months ago and it’s lodged in my Kindle in a collection called “Planning” and I do think I got it for free from Amazon. I am searching high and low to get you all a copy for free or on pdf but for now I want to share with you a few quotes and the general idea.

It’s in my planning collection as it’s a physical aid that bolsters my already honed mentality. Although to get where my head is today, I suffered, worked hard to figure out my own mentality and where I was going wrong and I changed – this book is simply the best way possibly to explain what kind of mentality I am riding on.

“Make More Money; Secrets from the World’s Greatest Finance Classics” (Infinite Ideas) is a book which has brought together the teachings of 4 different books, narrowed down the most important parts and regurgitated them in a form that you and I can learn from.

Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth”,
Charles MacKay’s “Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds”,
Napoleon Hill’s “Think and Grow Rich” and
George S Clason’s “The Richest Man in Babylon”.

I am going to give you as much as I have read. It isn’t much but I get so excited about what I am reading, thinking “this has to go on MSE” that I don’t get a whole heap read before I have underlined something and worked on my own paper diary!...
So bullet points are easiest… here we go…

• Find Your Definite Major Purpose. Nothing of value is achievable without a definite major purpose. Napoleon Hill stated “truly thoughts are things and powerful things at that, when they are mixed with definiteness of purpose, persistence and a burning desire for their translation into riches or other material objects”. Knowing what you are aiming for is essential.

In a famous study of Yale University students, researchers found that only 3% had written goals with plans for their achievement. Twenty years later researchers interviewed the surviving graduates and found that those 3% were worth more financially than the other 97% combined. Above all be of single aim, have a legitimate and useful purpose and devote yourself unreservedly to it. James Allen – Author.

• Opportunity Can Sneak in the Back Door. Swiss engineer Georges De Mestral, while walking his dogs in 1948 noticed burrs stick to his clothing and became fascinated by the little attachments on the plants. Georges was an inventor and he rushed home to stick these little burrs under his microscope. What he found was nature’s blueprint for Velcro. His idea was met with ridicule yet he persevered and today Velcro is a multi-million pound industry.

Whilst having a definite major purpose is imperative, there is warning given to becoming too fixed on how you will meet that objective. If you are overly rigid about your plans you may miss opportunities that come disguised as misfortune or temporary defeat. When one door closes another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has opened for us. When you meet with defeat, or misfortune come up with 5 possible advantages from the changed conditions. Think harder!

• Thoughts Have Power. This is a very hard one to witter down as this book tells us about Newtonian theory and Quantum physics. At a subatomic level it was discovered that particles were found to be in more than one place. The particle could appear as a particle or a wave – depending on what the scientist was looking for – the very act of observation altered what was being observed. Not so much communication as a connection, on a deeper level. I shan’t go into this too much as I might bore you… but Quantum physics is letting us see for the first time that our intangible impulses of thought are somehow transmuting into their physical counterpart. We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we make our world. (The Buddha).

• What Does Your Vocabulary Say About You? One of the main weaknesses of mankind is the average man’s familiarity with the word “impossible”. Napoleon Hill in his book quotes Peter Ustinov (don’t know who he is ) who said “if the world should blow itself up, the last audible voice would be that is an expert saying ‘it can’t be done’”. Man’s apparent acceptance of the impossible and apparent willingness to give up at the first hurdle was the point Hill was trying to make.

Out of the 615,000 words available in the Oxford English Dictionary we only have a vocabulary range of 2000-10000 words. Words are the basic tools that we use to describe out experiences and articulate our thoughts and desires, a limited vocabulary then is going to have a direct effect on our ability to materialise those desires. If your vocab is limited then your experiences will be limited by the language you can use to describe them. Words form the thread on which we string our experience. (Aldous Huxley)

• Maintain An Open Mind. Another weakness found in altogether too many people is the habit of measuring everything and everyone by their own impressions and beliefs. In other words, too many people assume their view of the world is the only view and make judgements based on the faulty perception. Carl Jung, the noted Swiss psychiatrist stated that “perception is projection”.

In other words, what we perceive to be true about the world is actually just a projection of our own believes and ideas about life. Hill warns against those people who “know all the rules which will not work and all the things that cannot be done” Yet whether something can be done or can’t be done lies primarily in the mind of the individual. If their attitude is defeat, then defeat will be projected into their reality and defeat is exactly what they will achieve. We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. ( The Talmud ).

Happytogetdebtfree

Wow some very deep words, sounds a lot like the book the secret, I'm an avid fan of mike Dooley thoughts become things. I get my notes from the universe Monday to Friday :-). I very much enjoy deep meditation and often enjoy spiritual journeying. Life is a wonderful tool and I enjoy it :-) xx

eco_farmer

ir Peter Alexander Ustinov CBE (/ˈjuːstɪnɒf/ or /ˈuːstɪnɒf/;[1] 16 April 1921 – 28 March 2004) was an English actor, writer and dramatist. He was also renowned as a filmmaker, theatre and opera director, stage designer, author, screenwriter, comedian, humourist, newspaper and magazine columnist, radio broadcaster and television presenter

my favourite role of his was his portrayal of inspector poirot in death on the nile. Top man able to laugh at himself as well as others.

WantToBeSE

Hi Kat, glad i have found your thread
I have looked that book up on the kindle store and ut costs about £4, but you can download a free snippet to have a glance.

"Define yur major purpose" has already made me a bit stuck, as i dont know what mine is. definitely thought provoking stuff

liltdiddylilt

Hello everyone.

Hope you all had a fab Christmas. This reads a bit confusing, what with KittieJ having deleted her posts. How awful for you Kat; I'm sure she will forgive & forget in time. People tend to be overly sensitive to the things that matter the most to them. It wasn't for you to know that she wasn't joking & it was a bit of a random hijack anyway by the sounds of it, though very intriguing!!

I hope she is still reading... I'd love to know about this house. I've seen a couple built on grand designs type tv shows, & straw has much better insulation properties amongst other things.

The excerpts from the book were inspiring. I like what they are saying

Had a fantastic Christmas & it is still going as, after 4 hours work today OH has 2 days off. I spent the 4 hours cleaning and entirely moving all of the furniture in the living room to allow DD more space to fly from room to room in her walker. I do love knowing that under the sofa is clean... haha!

I am pleased to say that I was not tempted by boxing day sales, even when my friend text this morning to say get to Superdrug, the dove & impulse gift sets are 10p each!! She got 23 sets for £2. Apparently the fella couldn't count. Lord only knows what she is going to do with it. eBay maybe.

Xmas presents rundown... A 2013 1 page per day diary (woop!), thermal socks, thigh high socks (no idea why), a couple of superdry t shirts, another random t shirt, gift sets (soap & glory, vaseline, 'so...? in love' [again, no idea why, teenager I am not]), 2 x starbucks gift cards = £20, 1 Next voucher £20, asda voucher £30, wii party, mentalist box set, mountains of choc & sweets.. & printer!

Food - I can safely say that if used correctly, we shall not need to shop for 2 weeks at ALL bar milk & bread... (milk is free if I can find an a2 milk stockist!) Meat - we have decided not to buy until everything we have has gone. So February then...

I transferred my salary back into my current account, with a bit of a difference. I have left a chunk in my guaranteed tracker savings, and there is the leftovers from last month in my online savings account. We have a strict budget of overspill money above the DD's for food & bar a massive disaster we shall not be going over it. If this works (it will) then we shall be saving about £250 a month from my money and all of OH's wages.

Feb & March council tax payments will be going straight to the CC, but I am in no rush to clear something that isn't costing me anything now that I finally have something in my savings account. OH currently has £600 sat in his account only £7.50 is taken from his account each month for his phone.

I know what abundant means about being impatient for the new year but I have already begun my journey, in a fantastic year... I am in no mood to rush things. Everything is on track and I intend to enjoy my last 2 weeks of maternity leave freedom before I go back to the grind.

mayfair1985

Afternoon all!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas Looks like everyone has been having a lovely time

Mine was the usual, very lovely but a lot of driving (6 hours on actual Christmas day, 4 on boxing day!), a lot of petrol, a lot of family, not much sleep and a lot of food.

So the good news is we've hit the downhill now until new year and have managed to stick to our allotted money pots for different things. No CC usage at all. Yipeeeeeee! It's the first time we've managed to do that in 4 years. So pleased with it, I really really am.

The better news is that we came in under budget for a few of the pots. One of the things that I was going to sacrifice this year was party food. We love party food. Don't tell anyone, but it's my best bit about Christmas. I know it's terribly expensive for what it is (please don't shout at me) but we usually, in the bit between xmas and new year, forgo 'real' food for party food. Cheese and crackers and pate and mini sausages and that frozen rubbish that mainly tastes of chicken. All the little picky bits that we don't have in the year. When we divvied out the pots this year I didn't think we would be able to do it, so just planned for one party food day. Well I managed to eek out the freezer for ages before christmas, and ended up with enough in the food pot for some proper party food goodness. So it's cheese and prawn ring time and it makes me very happy.

Some other good news is that we got given some wine, baileys and other snacky bits for xmas to keep the party feeling alive.

Even better news is that MIL gave me a scratchcard and I won £50.00 on it.

Even even better news is that I hauled myself out of bed on Boxing day and got to the boots sale. Spent the above on those over priced but lovely boxes of smellies that every female I know loves. (god only knows why! There's always something in them that I don't use so normally end up selling or re gifting the ones i'm given!) So that's half of next years presents done.

And the cherry on my xmas cake is that I have just over £50.00 in my paypal ready to go on the CC, and still a few more bits that need to sell on ebay.

I'm feeling so completely enthusiastic and indescribably happy with myself at the moment (sorry to be smug, I don't feel like this often, it's a nice feeling ). I've made massive achievements over this festive period. Last year it was a mad dash on the CC for presents / food / petrol for Christmas. We didn't budget and had a horrible January because of it. This year everything was planned, bargains were had, and money has been earned. The only time we've touched the CC (bar one purchase which was paid off 2 days later) was to make payments. It's the first time EVER that the balance on the CC after Christmas is less than the balance was before. And it feels AMAZING! I just can't believe we did it. And haven't missed out on anything Plan ahead really worked!!

So that's me. Full of festive cheer even though I'm back at work. Can't wait to see the January challenge, hope it's going to be something that I can joinin and not run scared from

NinjaSavingKat

Good Morning Everybody.... or is it afternoon...:p

My plans for the day have changed somewhat and I am now awaiting transportation into town to have a cuppa with said friend who I saw briefly on Monday - then off to a home visit to another friend who is 9 months preggars and ready to pop!

I am going into every shop possible to see what the SALES really have on offer, I am going to take pictures of "so called deals" ( found a sign in Lidl last week saying a packet of biscuits were reduced from £1.79 to £1.79- I chuckled ).. and am going to see just what all this bedlam is about. Lilt I guess if your friend sold them at a car boot for £1 each she is sorted but what a load of hassle. I bought 6 packs of Weleda stuff from AP for £4 each and sold a few for £11.. Hassle, thats all I say!

But I want to wander and see what the stores are offering.. M&S are now starting to sell NUXE products - the only stuff I would buy if they are discounted... but I am intrigued as to what else is on offer....

I am also pleased to say that since I put up "I'm leaving Facebook" many of my friends have emailed me. Some say they are going to miss my pictures - fair enough - I am usually out to amuse people - but its not what I call a proper friendship. I have since had invites from friends in Brussels, British Colombia, Edinburgh, Denmark, and Switzerland to visit them properly for a catch up - free lodgings and its amazing how many of them are very happy to do a "super duper cheapo" type holiday - expecially my friend in Zurich! :T

Watching a little of "Nella Last - Housewife 49" getting ideas for my dream 1940's / 50's house..although I would like to punch her husband.."if you want to make tea just make mine" - GRR! **slap**

On another note.. was listening to Mothers radio, although I didn't have a choice as she has it so loud and I managed to get a snippet of the end of a show about money. The last guest told us he was "well off or at least financially comfortable and hasn't used his heating in 5 years".. he said he had saved enough to pay for his daughters wedding, found it easier to heat his small person than his large house and did not understand the term "heat or eat" that people use describing how a person would have to choose whether to heat their house or choose to eat..

He said to him it was a "CHALLENGE" and had a chuckle in his voice as he said if you layer your clothing properly, wear good socks, maybe a hat and a scarf for really cold days you will never have to switch your heating on!

What a genius! A proper little, elderly MSE'er.. and he was ridiculed, scoffed and talked down to by the gobby presenter who I would have liked to have slapped.

We penny-pinchers are not on our own - we are not the only nutters switching the heating off and we shall laugh in the face of those scoffers who don't know any better. In 5 years we shall be debt free, on our way to substantial house deposits and living comfortably while these scoffers huff and whinge...:T:T:T

ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!!!

his_missus

Hello all!

I've had a few days off from my laptop over the festive period but back at work now so catching up on all my MSE threads as it's quiet here today.

Apart from a new hairdryer (which doesn't smoke on top setting) and a new hot brush (which blows hot not slightly warm air) my best xmas pressie was that I convinced Hubby my plan to pay off the holiday and my CC my June is easily doable :Tthough it took a few glasses of wine:D

There isn't any scope for overtime at work (an occasional £20 for checking an email over the weekend at home) so my wage is fairly set. After my DDs go out I have £1,100 left of my wage (Hubby pays most of the household bills/mortgage etc. I'm not on a huge wage!) So even if I give us a very generous £100 a wk for groceries, entertainment and other spends, I'm left with £600/£700 (depending on if it's a 4 or 5 wk month Mar/Apr is my next 5wker) Hubby has £250 left after his DDs go out.

I owe £520 a month on CC and £300 a month to pay off hol by June. In theory we have at least £850 spare so it doesn't take Carol Vorderman to prove it is easily doable:j

I also want to save £50 a month to put away for Christmas 2013 but I should have some money spare each week to do that with.

Feeling very positive about 2013 and now I have Hubby on board too. I may just need to top up his red wine levels if he starts slipping:rotfl:

Sorry, I'm waffling on again but it's just so easy to let it all out on this thread. Thanks everyone xx

NinjaSavingKat

His_Missus.. never apologise! This is what this thread is about... you got something to break down into bits and share with us then please do! I love it when plans comes together. So a big cheer for wine laden His_Missus' HUBBY!!!