Friday 3rd May 2013 - What Small DFW Things Will You Do Today?

allydowd

When we start out on the DFW trail we do loads of "big stuff" that makes quite a difference to our situation. These include having our lightbulb moment, cutting up the credit cards and cancelling Sky and the gym.

But once we have done the bigger stuff, we often feel that we are not making the same amount of progress, when in fact the small steps are helping us form good financial habits and helping us get closer everyday to staying in control and becoming debt free, or staying debt free.

Examples could be hanging washing out instead of using the tumble dryer or leaving your purse/wallet at home to avoid the risk of spending.

So be proud of those small steps, they really are important. :money:

Morning DFW-Jedis,

Today I'm continuing my home-based routine with lots of positivity. I feel really well and happy. Today I will:

1. Go to the FoodBank for free food. Hopefully I'll only need their help this once! Done.
2. Do Nectar AdPoints. 92% of the way to a £5 Sainsbury's voucher. Done.
3. Do OnePoll. 55% off the way to a £40 payout. Done. This is an excruciatingly slow process!
4. Leave the heating off as long as possible.
5. Make cleavers tea from foraged cleavers that have been soaking overnight. (Link)
6. Look into starting to use Freeshare. (Link)
7. Apply for jobs. Done.
8. Use candle-light when it gets dark.(Pet and child-free household.)
9. Read library book: John Lewis-Stempel's "The Wild Life" about a man who lives for a year on foraged food.
10. Read Martin's weekly email. (Link) Done.
11. Check online banking. Done. Could be worse, I suppose.
12. Use SayNoTo0870 to find a free number to call the Tax Office. (Link) Done.
    
13. Look at the Neilson App which Martin describes as an "Android app that pays you for [doing] nowt". (Link)

FOODBANKS:

Just wanted to mention FoodBanks to anyone who is currently totally broke and their food cupboard is empty. The idea of a FoodBank is to supply food to people in Food Poverty. Perhaps you've had a change to your benefit, your debt is out of control, your benefit's been delayed, your are homeless, ill or unemployed, you've got to feed a child in the holidays who usually gets a free main meal at school, your wages are late or domestic violence has left you poverty striken. A FoodBank might be able to give you a food parcel with a couple of day's food in it to help you out and they're all over the country. (Link to search for your local one)

FREEBIES:

1. Free toothpaste (Link)
2. Free 3 month-taster card. 2-for 1 and 50% off restaurants. Newbies only. (Link)
3. Easy to order free coffee sample through Facebook (Link)
4. Free Escada Perfume Sample (Link)
   

OFFERS

1. Easy and instant £2 off £12 spend in Poundland voucher (Link)
2. Buy a Scottish Daily Record for 45p this week and get free food at Baguette Express in Scotland. (Link)
3. In today's The Sun, page 52, Coupon for Free Iceland 100% Beef
   Quarterpounders 6 for 4 Pack, valid at Iceland stores until 5th May. Also in the Daily Express page 30. Thanks Nudge.

Asiacat

Afternoon from sunny Thailand.

So far today:-

Collected a daily loan repayment from a local business owner. He borrows money to meet annual expenses. He is sound, has never missed a payment and gives me a better interest rate than the bank.

Went to the local auction house to view the lots ahead of tomorrow's sale. Was told one item an X-Box 360 and accessories was broken and thus had a reserve of 1000 baht (about 23 pounds). I plugged it in and it worked fine. I will hopefully get it really cheap especially if the auctioneer announces that it doesn't work.

Checked the reserves on the other items I may bid on. The auction catalogue does not give the reserves but if you are nice to the Thai office staffthey will let you know what they are. This info is invaluable when you are deciding on your bidding strategy.

Made a 37000 baht offer on a Honda PCX motor scooter. The asking price is 42000 but the owner is leaving the country and needs a quick sale so am waiting for him to get back to me tomorrow.

I will teach three kids English this evening at their home for 700 baht.

Bought a set of golf clubs for 1000 baht at the auction house and placed them on a local internet sales forum for 3000 baht.

Sent an email reminder to a not so reliable borrower who borrowed money off me last year but has returned to the states without paying it.
He says he is on the breadline and I doubt I will ever get my money back but I do like to fire off a reminder every now and then.

Wrote an article on the local budget restaurant scene for Lonely Planet guide books.

Sold some books I bought at last weeks auction to one of the second hand bookshops in town for a reasonable profit.

carrielovesfanta

Hello, it's very quiet today!

Thanks to Ally for starting off the thread and for all your very useful links.

Asiacat - hopefully you will get a bargain.

I have been awol for a few weeks. I hope it's still ok for me to post on here, but I need to keep posting to remind myself that I can't let my new status go to my head (and land me back at square 1 again!)

So today I will:

Check online banking (need to work out how much money I have to buy new glasses)

Check out new save to buy account with OH

Keep tending my vegetables

Find some cheap/free ways to deter the kitty that has suddenly started using my lawn as a litter tray :mad: love kitties but not poops.

Set myself a budget for the weekend (going to see a friend)

Keep an eye on demijohn of homebrew. It seemed to stop fermenting after I started it last night but I put more yeast in this morning and it went crazy. :cool:

Have a good day all

The_Boss

9 mile walk (bringing weekly total to 61 so far)
Buying half price salmon fillets at Tesco for dinner
Using up bread before it goes off for my post walk lunch
Cold shower when I get back

Pippilongstocking

Morning all
Thanks for starting off the day allydowd

Long time old user of this thread

Need to get back into the small things mind set

So here's my offering for today

Banks to check and move rent into savings
Pay something off CC
Post expenses claim for travel at work
Post an amazon parcel
Lunch from the stores
Free tea at work
Meal plan for tonight is a stir fry
Walk dogs locally - save petrol
pick up a parcel from po enroute home - save petrol
organise bits for a car boot sale on Sunday
Plant more seeds
Pot up tomotoes and chilli's on windowsill
Write up a blog
Find more free wood to chop up for fire

Probably a few more things in there too but as of yet I'm not sure!

Have a great one everyone and thanks for all those links

stitching_witch

Afternoon folks; how did it get to be so late??? Lovely to see you back Pippi. I always love your stripey lists. It's a Stitching Witch day today but lacking motivation so I've been attacking the garden instead.:o

Small things so far:

• Breakfast from stores
• Fed, watered and cleaned out chickens in exchange for eggs
• Checked banking
• Checked for surveys
• Phoned HMRC using free mobile minutes to check that my Small Earnings Exception is still valid - yay, another year left on it
• Cut out fabric for two quilts which are presents for two young men - no flowery fabric allowed on these
• Made Chocolate Guinness Cake with ingredients left over from the one I made on Monday :j

Yet to do:

• Have lunch from stores
• Collect DGD from school and take her home
• Dinner and coffee from DD's larder
• Stitch n b!tch with a friend tonight - take half of the cake, and she lives on the way home from DD's house so no extra petrol needed
• Have an NSD - hmmm not sure how much fuel is in the car though

I need to find some stitching to take with me tonight. I've got no hand sewing on the go so I might need to resurrect an old knitting project. Off I trot to look for something.....
Stitchy x

foxgloves

Hi Friday Money-savers,
Have done some useful bits & bobs today:
*Wrote shopping list using May's meal plans.
*Decided to do shopping tomorrow morning instead of being tempted to go into town two days running. That way temptation lies.......& cakes!
*Baked a loaf, plus some bread rolls for two days of picnics this weekend.
*Had a huge tidy-up, which included making space for all the ebay items I'm hopefully soon going to be wrapping. (Lots of my sheet music has already sold - Whooo-hooo!)
*Tarted up the herb bed - dug out some dead lavender, so made a space at the back of it to fit in a couple of rows of extra veggies.
*Sowed two sorts of courgettes & dwarf beans (2 out of 3 packets were free seeds).
*Finally got round to trying some bittercress. It's in foraging books, but I'd never tried it despite it being a common weed that grows like mad in our garden! It's nice!! Can't believe I've been pulling this stuff up & composting it for 10 years! It tastes like a cross between watercress & rocket. Mr f a bit dubious, but he is blissfully unaware of the wild leaves that have frequently been added to his salads over the years.
*Put a big flowerpot over a big lush dandelion plant to blanch the leaves for salads.
*Mr f has mended the nasty hole in our hall wall with a product we already had, rather than buying something new.....or more to the point, without recourse to gettiing a plasterer in! It's just drying off. Looks good so far. Fingers crossed!
*Entered a competition
*Did surveys
Think that's it for me today.
foxgloves x

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

*Finally got round to trying some bittercress. It's in foraging books, but I'd never tried it despite it being a common weed that grows like mad in our garden! It's nice!! Can't believe I've been pulling this stuff up & composting it for 10 years! It tastes like a cross between watercress & rocket. Mr f a bit dubious, but he is blissfully unaware of the wild leaves that have frequently been added to his salads over the years.
*Put a big flowerpot over a big lush dandelion plant to blanch the leaves for salads.

I like dandelion but prefer to soak it over night to remove some bitterness. Never thought about blanching it.

I'm a bit taken with wood sorrell just now. The base of the flowers is lemon-y.

Bobarella

Hi All

Worked all day, great days trade. Dinner tonight is pork chops, mash and veggies which my lovely husband is cooking as I type.
Checked all banking which is ok.

Have a good bank holiday weekend all.

Bob

ziggy2407

Hi my lovelies

ally - Thanks for starting us off this morning

Had a busy day today, quite a nice day not as sunny as yesterday but still dry and warm (ish). My LO came home today all rosy cheeked and having had a good time (although we have had tears at home cos he missed us but none apparently while he was away). Today I have:

Check Banks - Done
Check swapits - Done
Check www.freepostcodelottery.com - Done
Packed lunch for OH - Done
General Tidy up - Done
Work (8-9 unpaid but may benefit in long run) - Done
Work (10.30-2.15) - Done
Washing & line dried - Done
Sorted a few files - Done
Surveys -
Catch up on emails -
Enter a few comps - Done a couple
Read - Reading another book from stash
Meals from stores - Done
Update Food tracker - in progress

Hope everyone has had a great day, love to you all. Night

C xx