The Love is in the Air February NSD Challenge

PennySaving

Morning All,
A spanner in my February budget today I have had to pay for 2 new front tyres on my car, £120. This has really thrown my spreadsheet into overdrive! However, best to be legal & safe I guess
Hope you all have a lovely day.

ButterflyBee

I thought that I will quickly sin in and update as I am now on No3 NSD:T and so happy about that.

NSD 3/18 (3/5 IN-A-ROW)

EverTheOptimist

Probably a spend day for me today.

Just looking through my bank statement and noticed how much we are being charged for our boiler cover. :eek: so phoned BG to ask why. And with no argument they dropped the payment by £6 per month.

I feel a small victory dance coming on.

The_Dragon

Got #6 (and 6 in a row ) yesterday - today however will be a spendy day

Jonesy88

I am declaring early that today will be a NSD. If i declare, i cant go back on it and spend!

So NSD 5/15 for me.

I'm a third of the way there! :j

jaxsmar

3/3 in a row :wave:

IF

Morning all :hello:

Got my 4th NSD

Thank you Freeby, Spoon, BDINI and Marmite.
IF…x

IF

Hiya my No Spendy chums :hello:
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 we ask you to highlight your number of NSDs in a colour and in bold so that Freeby, Spoon, BDINI and Marmite can see them easily when they whizz through the posts - red would be best but they don't really mind as long as they 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!

HeadAboveWater

Declaring today as NSD #3

Met SIL for a cuppa at lunchtime, and it was my turn to buy, but she insisted on paying to 'celebrate' the fact I've still got a job for the time being (redundancies )

flubberyzing

Hi all! Going to declare early as NSD 4 is done!

Spent the morning supply teaching at the same school as yesterday, but the other Year 3 class. Gotta say, they behaved awfully the first part of the morning!
At one point, they'd been sat in a circle on the carpet, and I asked them to move into the middle so that they could all see the front of the room. Some daft boys took that as an opportunity to throw themselves into some sort of violent moshpit in the centre of the classroom! Had to physically wade in to separate them! :eek: A few of the ring-leaders spent a few minutes standing in various corners around the room after that. Which felt very old school, but sometimes has to be done!
Fortunately, I took them to the ICT room after play, and they were 100% better behaved. Still, nightmare! I was supremely glad to leave them at lunchtime!

Tomorrow I'm booked to spend all day in a local nursery class. Lots of non-English speaking kids, but they are easy as pie at that age!