The Lets Make It Awesome April NSD Thread

freebyfifty

Welcome to the April No Spend Day (NSD) thread!!

We are a happy (and some might say mildly insane) bunch doing battle with those retailers - and there’s plenty of temptation out there at the moment. We are seriously committed to saving money, but nobody said it can't be done with a smile on your face - so we organise riotous nights out and gatecrash any function going - all without leaving the comfort of our own imaginations or armchairs!

On a slightly more serious note, we are here to help each other avoid spending for the number of days we feel we can manage to try to take back some control over our hard-earned money. What you class as a "spend'" is entirely your choice; some people will try to shop on the days DD/SO etc are paid, whilst others will not include essentials such as rent. Have a look for a post from our sponsor (and godmother of this challenge) BigMummaF, this contains some guidelines and ideas for starting you off on the challenge.

It’s amazing how inventive you get when you’re determined NOT to spend - from weird menu ingredients to surprising DIY solutions - but you know what? 99% of the time those wacky ideas work.


Link to last month's challenge is below so any newcomers can see what we get up to (hmmmmm... on second thoughts, that might put you off...)

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4466281

freebyfifty

After a long, cold, snowy March I thought we might need a little sunshine in our lives.


1st Target Met 2nd Target Met 3rd Target Met

Target Exceeded



The Challengers


Amyc – 10/
Armchair – 10/4
Baileys – 8/8 Target Met 2nd Target Met 15/15 Target Exceeded 15/20
Beanielou – 14/14 Target Met Target Exceeded 14/17
Bigmumma – 15/15 Target Met 2nd Target Met 20/20Target Exceeded 20/24
Black cat – 10/4
BritAbroad – 15/12
Bt1 – 15/8
Candlewick – 15/15 Target Met Target Exceeded 15/17
Charleybear – 15/15 Target Met
Cw18 – 12/12 Target Met 2nd Target Reached 15/15Target Exceeded 15/18
Debtbuster – 9/5
Debtfreefuture – 15/8
Donna d – 15/12
Dragon – 10/10 Target Met 2nd Target Met 15/153rd Target Reached 20/20Target Exceeded 20/23
Each peach – 15/8
Evertheoptimist – 12/9
Fedup – 17/17 Target Met 2nd Target Met 20/203rd Target Met23/23 Target Exceeded 26/26

Flowerofscotland – 12/12 Target Met
Freeby – 15/15 Target Met 2nd Target Met 19/193rd Target Met22/22Target Exceeded 22/23
Gettingthere – 8/8 Target Met
Giggles86 – 10/4
Headabove – 12/10
Heyjude – 10/10 Target Met
If – 17/17 Target Met
If at first – 12/2
Jaxsmar – 14/14 Target Met Target Exceeded 14/15
Jelly B – 15/15 Target Met
Jessie – 15/
Karenccs – 10/10 Target Met
Kerri – 12/12 Target Met Target Exceeded 12/14
Luisa – 1/1 Target Met
Madscientist – 15/15 Target Met Target Exceeded 15/16
Marmite – 16/16 Target Met Target Exceeded
Matttye – 15/9
MissE – 15/15 Target Met 2nd Target Reached 20/20
ModestyB – 12/12 Target Met 2nd Target Met 15/15Target Exceeded 15/21
Motoko – 15/12
MrsCautious – 12/12 Target Met Target Increased 15/13
Nargle – 12/12 Target Met
New leaf – 10/4
Oodnood – 24/24 Target Met Target Exceeded 24/26
Purplemum – 10/5
Purplesarah – 15/9
Rachel021967 – 4/
Rogueylawyer – 10/10 Target Met Target Exceeded 10/11

Sazdaz – 10/
Sazzie – 20/20 Target Met
Slowlyfading – 17/12
Snoogie -8/2
Spoony – 15/15 Target Reached Target Exceeded 15/22
Stacey – 10/1
The Boss – 10/10 Target Met
Trajal – 14/14 Target Met Target Exceeded 14/15
Tomandjerry – 20/8
Wildcherry – 15/13
8hooves – 10/1

freebyfifty

Reserved for prizes and challengers

freebyfifty

This is for anyone who wants to set themselves a target for a number of NSDs in a row. We had some impressive numbers on this over the past few months so if anyone would like to have a go at this, I'll add you here


The In-a-Rowers

Baileys - 3-in-a-Row
Beanie - 4-in-a-Row
Candlewick - 4-in-a-RowTarget Met
Dragon - 4-in-a-Row Target Met
Freeby - 4-in-a-Row Target Met 5-in-a-Row 6-in-a-Row 10-in-a-Row
If at first - 4-in-a-Row
Jaxsmar - 4-in-a-Row
Jelly B - 5-in-a-Row
Jessie - 5-in-a-Row
Marmite - 4-in-a-Row Target Met
MissE - 3-in-a-Row Target Met 4-in-a-Row 5-in-a-Row 6-in-a-Row
ModestyB - 5-in-a-Row
New leaf - 3-in-a-Row
OodNood - 5-in-a-Row Target Met 6-in-a-Row
Purplesarah - 5-in-a-Row
Sazzie - 4-in-a-Row
Stacey - 3-in-a-Row
Trajal - 9-in-a-Row

freebyfifty

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!

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger

Thanks for the shiny new thread Freeby :j

Missed the thread for a couple of months, but back now and more determined than ever so jumping straight in with:

18 NSDs and 5 in-a-row

freebyfifty

I am changing my rules and making it tougher on myself :eek: I have found that I have been spending money and thinking to myself 'well, it's okay because I am still in my budget' I have come to the conclusion that just because I have a budget doesn't mean I have to spend it all so, this month will include ALL spends, except DD's and essential bills, as spends and it might rein me in a bit with the unplanned, non-essential stuff.


So I will have to reduce my target a bit and will go for

15 NSDs and 4-in-a-Row.

freebyfifty

OutofDebt-NOT-OutofDanger wrote: »

Thanks for the shiny new thread Freeby :j

Missed the thread for a couple of months, but back now and more determined than ever so jumping straight in with:

18 NSDs and 5 in-a-row

Great to see you back OodNood :T

fedupandskint

I would like to go for a target of 17 NSDs to start off with for April.

My target incudes any other spends apart from food and petrol which are budgeted for. Planning spends really helped me over the last few months and I'm aiming to keep it going in April.

cw18

Hmmmmmm....


Well, I made 16 in January, 16 in February (which was 3 days shorter), and am already at 17 for March - so in theory setting my target to my normal 12 sounds a bit easy

But OH and I are out for a pub lunch on 7th (his Mum's 70th), and even though he's talking of paying I don't want to count on it being an NSD which a Sunday normally is. And on 6th and 8th we're grocery shopping (6th for long life/C0stco stuff and 8th for things like bread and milk) as we're taking my GDs away 8th-12th. So that's 2 potential NSDs gone for that. And then the 5 days we have the girls also can't be pre-guessed too much..... at least 3 days will be spend days as we're going to get Gr@smere Gingerbread one day, and we're off to the South Lakes Wild Animal Park another (entry almost totally covered by Tesc0 vouchers, but girls are bound to want souveniers.) And on the Friday we're stopping off for pizza on the way home, as it's about the only chance I'm going to get to introduce him to a fab take-away near where I used to live (we'll then have to sit in the car to eat them!)

So that's 7 days straight where I could be spending every day, and normally I'd only allow for 2 days (D/Debits, with one of those also used for groceries), which wipes 5 days off my potential. And then on 28th OH and I are off Gorge Walking for a half day, but with the travelling as well I can see him suggesting we eat out, meaning that's another potential day gone!

So I think I'll stick to my normal 12 please, and just hope I can meet it

Debtbusterintraining

Sign me up pretty please, pledging 9 NSDs again fx I'm more successful this month!