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

ModestyB

NSD 18 & 2ND Target met. :j

Get well Hugs to all who are poorly. Warm hugs to everyone. Take care all.

PennySaving

Sorry, a spend day again for me I had to buy Norton Security for my laptop as it was about to expire. However, the upside is I can read the forum without the worry of dreaded viruses!
So still stuck at 5

coolcats

18 NSD today for me. After all the panic of the snow it seems the roads are clear and school open again. Unfortunatly I had the oldest off sick. She has slept most of the day and been sick so no school tomorrow as well, just what I needed!
Its a good job I get free day time phone calls as thats what my day has been doing. Had to phone hopsital as 2 younger ones are due tests and the dates have been arranged. Problem is we won't know how long we are there for till the time, could be 24 hours or it could be a week or longer. Still have over a month for that to worry about the details. Ended up making about 10 calls in the end, all long ones. Included ones I had been putting off.

wildcherry

Evening all,

Today has been a hard NSD. I usually treat myself to a bottle of red on my way home from work and make it last this evening and the rest of the week but I resisted! So that makes me NSD#6 which I am really pleased about as that is my target!!
I am going to keep going though...Tomorrow will be a spend day after all as I am going to meet my friend for coffee but shouldn't be much more than that, although I do need to buy some more milk for over the weekend.
I still think that Saturday will be a NSD though and maybe Sunday too or at the very least one of those days.
Monday is going to be a spend day (but in allocated spends) so I might be able to make that a NSD too.
Hope everyone has a lovely evening.

rising_from_the_ashes

No 11 today .... still not caught up:o (going to try to have a huge catch up on threads at the weekend!)

beanielou

coolcats~well done on doing your phone calls.
I have paperwork I MUSt do before Monday & keep procastinating.

moneypenny2k

beanielou wrote: »

Moneypenny~Great great news on the credit card :j

Thanks Beanie and everyone else that congratulated me. I guess I'm just being hard on myself that it's not paid off this month. I'm never pleased

freebyfifty wrote: »

There is

129

of us taking part in the NSD challenge

and so far we have captured

1017 NSDs

:T:T:T:T:T

Brilliant well done everyone

PennySaving wrote: »

Sorry, a spend day again for me I had to buy Norton Security for my laptop as it was about to expire. However, the upside is I can read the forum without the worry of dreaded viruses!
So still stuck at 5

Sorry it's too late for you PennySaving, but AVG free antivirus has keep me virus free for years, lots of IT people use it. You can download it from the net, simple to use too.

Today was another NSD so 13 now:D

Jelly_Biactol

NSD 9 today, out of a target of 10 ... nearly there!:j

PennySaving

Thank you moneypenny2K for that tip, I shall bear it in mind for next year

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!