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

freebyfifty

There are

115

of us actively taking part in the NSD Challenge

and so far we have collected

1108 NSDs

:T:T:T:T:T

wildcherry

Morning all,
Today will be a spend day as I have to go and get petrol and I didn't factor this in to my budget this month. Mainly because I rarely use my car these days but had to use it for work last week which was unexpected and I don't get the money back until pay day in Feb.

kerri gt I was interested to read your post as I don't count any spends IF I have budgeted for them. I can see that some people work it so that their spend days are when DD's and the like are going out and try and do it all in one go. I think I would find it quite hard to do that as I have different DD's going out on different days and would still need to do a weekly shop regardless.
I guess it certainly is easier to have NSD's when you don't count the spends you have budgeted for but I budget for them so they aren't unexpected spends?

Other than the petrol, I'm hoping I won't spend anything else today.
Hope everyone has a good day!

IF

Morning all :hello:

IF

February's NSD thread - Click here

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

today will be a spend day we gave a grocery order coming later. but apart from that no other spending will be done have an expensive weekend coming up next week so need to cut back until then

all the snow has gone this morning its so different from when i went to bed

have a lovely relaxing Sunday everyone

MummyRivett

ifwisheswerehorses... wrote: »

Morning all :hello:

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

MummyRivett

Yesterday was 24 NSD for me and after the weekly shop with Daddy Rivett, I was whisked away to London for an inspiring evening without Church Leadership. So today the plan is:

Go to Church
Invoicing for Daddy Rivett's Business
Lising on EBAY
Cook the Roast
My Favourite Sunday Programmes. So annoying they are all on at the Same time, thank goodness for Sky+
Time for Bed

I'm exhausted just thinking about it. So no time to spend today, I'm going to claim 25 NSD too

Candlewick

Morning Freeby and fellow NSDers

I am declaring NSD 12 early today.

Due to the weather which is very wet and windy here (we had a little thunder and lightning during the night as well) I will be spending the day at home partly relaxing after a very busy week. Will prepare lunches for the coming week and have a small pile of ironing to do but that's my lot for today.

Happy Sunday everyone.

CW

chris81418

Hello everyone! :wave:

solventsoon wrote: »

:j:j:jchris - a brilliant NSD no 16 in the pot now, yay!!!! Good news that you’re enjoying being debt free and planning some maintenance on the house.. I hope you’ve made some time and money for the odd treat as well though?

Yes thanks Spoon! Although It does feel odd being able to have a treat more regularly now - especially with NSDs to catch! On that note, I caught NSDs number 17, 18 and 19 on Thursday, Friday and yesterday, so I've reached my target! :j

I'll see if I can catch a couple more before the end of the month, so I'd also like to increase my target to 21 NSDs please! Thank you Freeby! :A

Have a good rest of the weekend everyone!

kerri_gt

wildcherry wrote: »

Morning all,
Today will be a spend day as I have to go and get petrol and I didn't factor this in to my budget this month. Mainly because I rarely use my car these days but had to use it for work last week which was unexpected and I don't get the money back until pay day in Feb.

kerri gt I was interested to read your post as I don't count any spends IF I have budgeted for them. I can see that some people work it so that their spend days are when DD's and the like are going out and try and do it all in one go. I think I would find it quite hard to do that as I have different DD's going out on different days and would still need to do a weekly shop regardless.
I guess it certainly is easier to have NSD's when you don't count the spends you have budgeted for but I budget for them so they aren't unexpected spends?

Other than the petrol, I'm hoping I won't spend anything else today.
Hope everyone has a good day!

Hi Wildcherry - my main aim when I joined this thread was to knock all the little 'incidental' spends that i was making on the head - those £1/£2 each lunchtime (which happened often as I work in the town centre) So my original rules excluded DD and any time I handed over cash / card, counted as a spend. I've since tweaked so I don't include petrol or milk (both essential to keep this house running :rotfl:) and I've also excluded boot camp payments now. But I feel that if I start excluding any more spends then I'm bending my own reason / rules for doing this challenge in order to get more NSD. Main food shops come out of our house grocery budget which isn't counted, but I also have a budget for top ups and essentials which I do count as spends. I've prob made it all sound more complicated that it is now

Candlewick wrote: »

Morning Freeby and fellow NSDers

I am declaring NSD 12 early today.

Due to the weather which is very wet and windy here (we had a little thunder and lightning during the night as well) I will be spending the day at home partly relaxing after a very busy week. Will prepare lunches for the coming week and have a small pile of ironing to do but that's my lot for today.

Happy Sunday everyone.

CW

Was just about to say 'oh we had thunder and lightening here too' then realised I'm not so far away from you (Home counties) so it was the same storm moving across. Dry and sunny here now (and blue sky :j) but very windy - would be a good drying day as my FIL would say if it was a little warmer.