The Love is in the Air February NSD Challenge

Delilahh

Could I please try for

11 NSD's please!

FallenArcher

Can you whack me down for

10 NSDs please?

Thanks.

MissE001

Oops, posted on January thread to join the challenge last night....thanks to solventsoon for pointing me in the right direction

No idea how achievable this will be - aiming for 10 NSDs for February. DS's 21st so let's see how it works out....

Lovely to see so many familiar names on the post - this money-saving in packs is fun :T

Giggles86

Thank you to everyone who does the updates

I have a couple of planned spendy days in February...a trip to Manchester probably for Valentine's Day and a meet up of friends at the end of half term, as well as my birthday. So I'm going to aim for 10 NSDs if I may please

solventsoon

MissE001 wrote: »

Oops, posted on January thread to join the challenge last night....thanks to solventsoon for pointing me in the right direction

No idea how achievable this will be - aiming for 10 NSDs for February. DS's 21st so let's see how it works out....

Lovely to see so many familiar names on the post - this money-saving in packs is fun :T

Hi MissE001:wave:, good to see that you made it here:)

Keep updating and popping in to check on everyone's progress, you'lll get to know us all then and hopefully pick up lots of motivation on the way.

Good luck with nabbing your 10 NSDs.. you can do it:D

.. and money saving in packs is definitely fun

solventsoon

Lottie1987 wrote: »

Hi I was wondering if I could join this challenge?

I currently do the Weekly Spend Challenge the monies which I won't include in this.

Am hoping to be able to do 23/28 but know that may not be possible as there is always something so realistically I am going to say

10/28

Looking forward to it and to getting to know those I don't already know

Hi Lottie and welcome :wave:

Of course you may join in, it's good to have you on board, Freeby will add your name and target to the front page tomorrow:)

Good luck with nabbing your 10 NSDs and look forward to getting to know you as well.

spoon x

solventsoon

Hi everyone :wave:

It's great to see so many newbies joining up this month, and lots of familiar faces returning, I think we may be in for another record month

Please could you add me to the front page Freeby, I'm going to go for 20 NSDs and 5 in a row this month please. I've never tried the "in a row" challenge before, this could be interesting:D

Looking forward to seeing lots of NSDs declared tomorrow, good luck everyone, only 25 minutes to go:D

solventsoon

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!


Before we get too far down another page I thought I'd post the welcome message, hope you don't mind If

katholicos

Just want to take this opportunity to thank everyone who keeps this challenge going. Your enthusiasm and encouragement is fantastic. Doing the nsd challenge has been a huge help to me over the years.

I am going to try very hard to make february one of my best nsd months so far. Here's hoping i can knuckle down to getting 18 nsd's this month! Which means i will have only ten days of spending :shockhorror:

positivelypurple

Morning all,

February already! I've been having a bit of a think this morning about this month's challenge as half term slap bang in the middle will make things tricky. However, I love that extra element of challenge I'm going to plan and budget with military precision.

I'm going for 15 NSDs in Feb, please.

Here we go...