Shiny New Year, Shiny New Start. The January NSD Challenge

MummyRivett

I had a really lovely time yesterday, the museum was amazing, I took some photos, my favourites being seeing Jemimia from Play School and Muffin the Mule.

Yesterday was 10 NSD for me and today we did the weekly shop which was £10 cheaper than last week. This meal planner is great.

ModestyB

NSD 10 today. Soon be at target, fingers, legs, eyes etc crossed. :rotfl:

wannabee_in_credit

Hi,
I'm declaring nsd 10 for today. The snow hasn't arrived yet, but I've been out and gritted our path and driveway in preparation. It was enough to put me off going out and doing anything else...

purple.sarah

NSD 7. I made hubby a packed lunch to take to work to save money.

miss_t_2

Must apologise as I have been MIA for over a week Tbh I just rock bottom last weekend and haven't had the energy to do anything up until yesterday when I finally started to like I wanted to pull myself together again. So because of this I am on NSD 10 and have achieved my 3 in a row.

One of my spendy days did go on getting myself a personalised Bach remedy mixture made up. Am not a great believer in alternative remedies but can't go down the medication route and wanted to try something - I have started to feel better since I started to use it so am pleased that it seems to be working

Can I please extend my target to 18 NSD's? I have finally saved enough money to buy myself a more economical car which will hopefully pay for itself in the next year or so that will be a spendy day in the next week - probably tomorrow (I am getting it on my 0% purchases card though just so I can get the points and then will be paying the balance off in full when my bill arrives - but I never thought I would get to the day where I actually saved enough money to get a newer car!).

Will definitely be trying to make more of an effort to update my NSD's even if it is every other day - need to try to establish a routine for myself now. Am taking baby steps, but hopefully I will get to a better place soon enough.

flubberyzing

No sign of any snow here in Northamptonshire... A hard frost on the cars when I looked out the window this morning, but certainly no snow! We had a 5 minute flurry yesterday morning, but that was it!

Didn't go to the cinema with my friend today, as she text me feeling pretty grotty. She's scheduled for her IVF egg harvest tomorrow, so I shall pop round hers later in the week on a cheer-up mission.

Missed out on a NSD today as bought my car tax online. £135! Ouch!

Currently running the washing machine on an empty cycle... It's been doing this thing intermittently where it cuts out before the cycle is properly finished, leaving clothes with a bit of a gritty feeling. I'm running it on empty, on a slightly different cycle so see if that works... It's almost finished - 8 minutes to go - so hopefully it's just that one particular setting that's dying (the Quick Wash cycle if anyone happens to know about these sort of things...)

I've been listing and re-listing some stuff on Ebay over the weekend as it's free listing. Trying to sell some dresses I've worn for weddings on there... Don't think they will sell though, as it's not really wedding guest dress shopping season, and I've set the starting price quite high... We shall see I guess!

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 thefirst 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!

couldsavemore_2

a NSD so takes my total to 9/24 not sure i can achieve my total but will try my hardest . have done full inventory of freezers and have more than enough until middle of feb so will have to do all the purchases on one day have a birthday to sort out as well

zafiro1984

Declaring 9/25 NSD's only got space for 2 spendy days or I won't reach my target, so that's just two food shopping days left - going to be hard

The_Dragon

Yippee! Number 12 safely locked away today :rotfl: