January's Big Financial Freeze!!!

his_missus

Just paid another £100 off the CC - that's £300 on top of the £234 I paid before xmas. Really impressed with myself.

Just checked my old bank account, just switched but have kept it open as a "savings" account. There's a payment for £1.94 gone out yesterday as "Debit card transaction card auth" need to chase this up tomorrow as no idea what it is for

abundant1972

Hi Everyone!

Congrats on all the Slimming World success stories - am feeling slightly guilty now as have troughed an entire layer of a chocolate biscuit tin this week and a pile of Heroes! I'm gonna take the rest into work next week to be collectively demolished!

I promised by brother I'd try and start exercising from this Friday... and I need to break the cycle of non action. Am seriously impressed with people who have already joined (and survived!) gym classes! Well done. It's inspiring!

Great to see others running their food cupboards down too! Am planning a weekend of homemade soup again, and have stuff in for a veggie bolognese. Yum.

Thanks everyone for doing the number crunching to help Mayfair1985... my brain is all melted after this week! I don't know what your budget is like - but if you are struggling financially you could write to them and ask them to suspend interest. I joined a debt management plan (but you do then get a 6 year default notice on your file which can affect obtaining credit)... but - got all my interest charges reduced to 0% which helped a lot.

Today was going to be a spend day but ended up being another shiny NSD! Hoorah! So...

Today = NSD number 6

After my rocky start to the month - have managed to secure a day's overtime next week - and stayed late tonight as we have more work on than we are able to clear. It's tiring, but make hay whilst the sun shines and all that, right?

That's me for today... Have a lovely evening and will catch with you all over the weekend! Ciao!!!

:cool:

P.S. OMG! Just realised my NSD total target was wrong for January!!! Here's me thinking we were aiming for 20 and it's 25! That leaves me... 1 spend day for the rest of the month... Unless I can utilise a flexi-day and make more money than I spend as extra! Best get my brain in gear!!!

karmachilovething

Evening everybody!

So today was a spend day, and an unplanned spend too . . .

On Monday night I got a puncture on my bike. Now I've never had very much luck repairing punctures, but in an MSE style I gave it a go on Tuesday night. And it didn't work.

So I spoke to a friend in work, who cycles everyday, and his answer was "I never bother, I just bulk buy inner tubes . . ."

And I had thought, if a second attempt this weekend doesn't work I'll have to buy a new one, and it'll be much cheaper doing it on line. And it would be good to have some stocks for the next time. So I just bought 6 tubes in the sale for £9. With 3% cashback on Quidco, so will count that toward pennies saved/found later on.

My veg box came today too, so it was going to be a food/fuel NSD anyway, so I don't feel as though I ruined a proper NSD. And they were necessary. Still *sigh*

KC

beckyboo1980_2

Morning campers!
Zero insertion fees on ebay today and tomorrow!!! Yay!!!
XXX

poodlegal

Thanks for that BB! May scrounge around the house looking for stuff later! I had a spend day yesterday, foody bits, shower gels reduced to 90p in B00ts, some training treats for the dogs and paid £17 for my flat tyre to be mended and put back on. Soooo today has to be a NSD, my NSD and food targets are looking a bit fragile to be honest, but i'm battling on, because if nothing else its making me notice more what i'm actually spending money on and how much. (Like why am I always buying food?)

Ninno820

Thanks BB for the heads up.

Last night I went to see Les Mis - fantastic by the way - and the whole event made me realise how far I have come thanks to all your support. Here's why:-

1. Its a two hour drive to meet up with friends. Pre MSE stop at a service station and buy a cake and coffee - costa points after all. Post MSE make a cofee in a travel cup and use those sweets left over from the long car journey before christmas. Doesnt matter that they are going a bit sticky.
2. The cinema is in a shopping centre. Pre MSE arrive at the cinema laden down with shopping bags of treats / new clothing. Post mse kill time in £land but feel guilty about spending anything and come out with just three items.
3. No time for tea. Pre MSE smuggle a treat justified piece of fast food in. Post MSE smuggle a couple of ham rolls and a tin of coke in. True the rolls were from the freezer and very hard but squash them down and pretend that they are crusty rolls and they will be fine!!!

What are you all doing to me ?????

Today should be a NSD according to the rules. I do have to buy some fruit and veg plus some milk - don't want to run out with this snowstorm coming now do we? will update my signature later when i get the totals. I also have to post some fleabay items later. They didnt sell for much but every little helps - right?

Good luck and keep warm everyone xx

nanell

Have just updated my signature now I have some time. My NSDs don't look good considering its only the 12th but all have been pre-planned spends and within budget. I just so happened my social calender was busy at the start of the month but only one more thing planned on the 25th now. I had an invite to the pub last night, I could have had tea at home then gone and drank soda water, but i didnt even want to use the petrol as my budget is so tight this month! I'm turning into a hermit with these challenges!

My boyfriend called me "tight" yesterday for not buying a bottle of pop and going thirsty until we got home. I'm so proud! and it only makes me think I must be better prepared next time and always carry a drink with me!

In other news, FINALLY cashed out a GTM cheque this morning eeeeeeeeeeeeee! I'm expecting around £30 with exchange rate. I'm desperate to count it towards make a fiver as ebays not going too well, but don't want to count until is physical added, which is apparently 6-8 weeks!!!!!

Right.... tax return now booooo!

mumsiemum

Ninno820 wrote: »

1. Its a two hour drive to meet up with friends. Pre MSE stop at a service station and buy a cake and coffee - costa points after all. Post MSE make a cofee in a travel cup and use those sweets left over from the long car journey before christmas. Doesnt matter that they are going a bit sticky.
2. The cinema is in a shopping centre. Pre MSE arrive at the cinema laden down with shopping bags of treats / new clothing. Post mse kill time in £land but feel guilty about spending anything and come out with just three items.
3. No time for tea. Pre MSE smuggle a treat justified piece of fast food in. Post MSE smuggle a couple of ham rolls and a tin of coke in. True the rolls were from the freezer and very hard but squash them down and pretend that they are crusty rolls and they will be fine!!!

What are you all doing to me ?????

nanell wrote: »

I had an invite to the pub last night, I could have had tea at home then gone and drank soda water, but i didnt even want to use the petrol as my budget is so tight this month! I'm turning into a hermit with these challenges!

My boyfriend called me "tight" yesterday for not buying a bottle of pop and going thirsty until we got home. I'm so proud! and it only makes me think I must be better prepared next time and always carry a drink with me!

Making Mumma NSK proud!!

Its doing the same to me too :T and if anyone makes any coments it just makes me more determined to keep going 'hardcore'

Kerfuffle

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

January’s Big Financial Freeze;
Stop the Spending & Clear The Debt!

• Embrace eBay like it’s your new friend. Invest time in your new friend, get to know your new friends, sell your tat on eBay and aim to make £5 per day of this challenge. That’s £155 for the month – if you sell two items that equate to £200 it’s a job well done! Though it’s not a race and just a good effort is requested!

• Try and get £25 together somehow through penny gathering – whether points on something, pennies literally picked off the floor, receipts wombling in supermarket car parks, doubling coupons etc.

• Have fun! See what you can get for free? Shampoo sachets inside magazines “borrowed from friends”? On-line surveys for points to prizes? Amazon book Trade-In? (I made £44 and bought a much needed motorbike cover)…O2 Priority moments for O2 users give free tea and coffee away now and then…make me proud and boast about it on here!

I thought that I would re-visit the front page to see how I'm doing with the challenges and I have to say, I'm not doing too well with the 3 points above.

Ebay isn't my friend, and I know I've got to get to grips with it and just do it but still I don't get any further.......I need to approach it like a sticking plaster and just do it! Do it! Do it! Do it! :eek:

Two days ago I saw a penny laying on the floor in the supermarket car park and bent to pick it up but it was frozen in the ice, I wasn't prepared to risk breaking my car keys to get it so I had to walk away. It still bothers me even now :rotfl:

I haven't managed to get any new free shampoos etc, but yesterday I emptied my toiletries cupboard and had various bottles turned upside down to decant the leftovers into small Body Shop bottles. The small Body Shop bottles are now turned upside down in readiness for when I have a shower/bath etc. I also sliced open an empty tube of toothpaste to get at the leftovers in there too.

The only free thing I have got so far is a well used bath mat from the hotel that I work in, it was considered too tatty for guests to use and was in the rag bin, so I requested it and was given permission to have it. So now I have a new to me, perfectly good enough bath mat. :T

Hopefully today will be a NSD but as it's still early for me I'm not going to declare it yet as you never know

Siouxsie32

Yes, I'm going to declare today a NSD as well, bringing my total to 10

Had a nice night with my friend last night and it turned into a NSD after all. I mentioned that I needed to pick up some pasta so she brought a big packet with her

Kerfuffle, I also cut the tube of toothpaste to get the remnants out - I wonder how long we can make it last?!!

Free listing weekend on ebay this weekend but a) I don't have a huge amount left to sell without a major rummage (which I don't have time for just now) and b) I think I may have to go away on a work trip next Sunday for a few days so won't be able to post anything. I hate the not knowing: if I'm definitely going I can do a 10 day listing but if I'm not going, I may have to go later in the week making it difficult to post the 10 day listing stuff. May have to give it a miss this time and have a good rummage to be ready for the next time.

Another nightshift for me tonight - that means no spending but also lots of opportunity for boredom/comfort eating! I am prepared though and have a Quorn sausage and chickpea casserole defrosting to eat before I go, and a bagful of healthy snacks to see me through the night. And a 1.5l bottle of fizzy water - I find it so much easier to drink than the still stuff. Not sure the bubbles are good for you mind you, but it's a start.

Off now to try and get a few hours sleep before tonight. Keep up the good work everyone.

So far....
NSD: 10
Spend: £14.43
Earned: £48.37
Found: 17p