Alchemausterity

Alchemilla

Thanks Tilly. Having grown up with DS she is an overgrown lapdog. If i ask DS or DD2 to come and have a cuddle or get on my lap the dog is right there ready for a cuddle.

Watty i think you have summed it up for me perfectly.

Alchemilla

Fessing up to £80 spent on 60 bottles worth of wine kit. Still have some of the red left from last time. 60 bottles of vino collapso at a fiver would be three hundred quid though.

Secret_Saving_Squirrel

Hello,

Yes, we all have things in our lives which are non negotiable unless circumstances were absolutely dire. This board's supportiveness towards all who are working towards being mf is why we like it. I wouldn't be happy if people were challenging me because I bought a couple of theatre tickets before paying off the mortgage. As Watty said, this forum just helps us to be thoughtful about what we spend and use our hard earned money to benefit us and not the big fat corporations.

Squirrel x

pavlovs_dog

ok, challenge hat on...

what change could you make to free up some pennies to OP or put towards a current project? Any viable ways to squeeze the existing budget or bring in extra pennies?

Alchemilla

Thanks Squirrel.

Pavlovs...we could give up alcohol. This would save £8 a week.

DH would leave home.

I am going to think of some more. I *think* we already do the obvious ones.

We could potty train DS and save on nappies.

We could live out of the pantry for a bit, a bit more than we are doing.

I have already got exam work for the summer.

I need to stop buying clothes for the girls. They have so many. And stop washing stuff that has been worn for half a day.

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Alchemilla wrote: »

Thanks Tilly. Having grown up with DS she is an overgrown lapdog. If i ask DS or DD2 to come and have a cuddle or get on my lap the dog is right there ready for a cuddle.

I sat on DH lap the other night and one of our dogs hopped on to the sofa and tried to squeeze between us. Mr T and I were in stitches as she wouldn't stop :rotfl: In the end she lay with her head on my lap

I know everyone has different views on animals but I don't think you can beat a long walk, cold day, blue sky and hounds running free. Ears flapping around and happy feet (mine kick their front paws up when they're really enjoying themselves).

Best wishes Tilly x

DedicatedDFW

Hi Alchemilla

Seconded - a beautiful dog

challenges or challenges?

I've been thinking about your post and i think what edinburgher said too and secret saving squirrel. On my thread i posted about buying some new clothes - all in the sale, all a bargain but i don't think it was really questioned. A similar post i did when on the dfw board i had a few people nicely (and i mean that genuinely) point out what i'd spent, how that could go towards debt etc. and encouraging me to return things - and i did except for a couple of things.

I think as edinburgher and maybe secret saving squirrel have said on the mfw boards the focus is different in that overpaying is a choice and what people spend their money on has to be a balance between living and achieving mortgage freedom.

I also think if you posted about an intended spend and if people thought it was reasonable then that would encourage input.

That said, and i think your post about what you can cut down on is heading that way to - is actual challenges / goals and i think thats great. I was at a stage where i thought i'd cut back as far as i could - can't change mortgage, tied in on utilities until next year, travel expenses are fixd etc. And then your posts told me all about wine making and :j this will save some money :T Thank you. And this has really motivated me to address other smaller spends too. Because i think by this stage we've all done the 'big' money saving stuff.

So what i do is set myself a list of challenges each month - eg i am making bread when the 1 supermarket loaf runs out - i enjoy this and it saves money and i love knowing exactly what goes into it, i'm aiming to list 100 new items on the bay of e - clears the house and brings money in. I am not drinking alcohol Mon-Thurs - saves money and healthier too I am meal planning in order to both use up stores and limit grocery spends. Next month i will put a maximum target on supermarket spending It sounds like you've already thought of a fair few things to make money / save money and i don't know if it would help you keep track of it but i like having a list of my targets and seeing how i did against them too

Not sure if this is any help - if not feel free to ignore it My head is al full of assignment and deadline looming :eek:

Alchemilla

Thanks for your post Dedicated.

I guess i need to set some challenges then. The current one is just no booze until jan 31st.

Three and a half hours outside this morning. Took two of us 90 minutes to get ponyplops even approaching clean. That was after being in all night.

Lots of clothes sorting and ironing this afternoon and might make flapjacks.

DedicatedDFW

I just like monthly challenges as the timescale is both long and short enough to maintain the focus and hopefully enough time for the desired change to become a habit - if not i can always have the same goal the following month until it does

I would always post on my thread though for advice / input if i felt i needed it about a financial change be it a spend or whatever - recently i posted about increasing my working hours and got just the input i needed from gallygirl and jwil

Yeesh to 1.5 hours of pony cleaning - does your pony enjoy being cleaned?

Alchemilla

She does mostly enjoy it. She also enjoys making like a Hippo!

I guess whats needed is to be more mindful about things.

Today i am grateful for
* a perfectly fresh, sunny day
* the smell of good hay
* getting three hours exercise in
* DS has more streamlined drawers since i took out all the 12-18 and 18-24 months stuff
* something unpleasant that I endure will only have to happen six more times after today.


We have LOST one of our two duvet covers. How do you lose a kingsize duvet cover?