The Awesome Amazing August NSD Challenge

freebyfifty

Oh my :eek::eek:

Who said the "f" word

Jaws has not been fed for a while :eek::eek:

IF

For September's NSD thread - Click here



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!

EverTheOptimist

Evening everyone.

Finally managed to nab another NSD #8. Another month where I haven't made target. Oooops. It's definitely having hubby home.

Will def do better in sept, hubby's back at work.

I also kept my grocery receipts for aug and I must have 'popped' to the shops almost every other day. And spent way over budget. Really need to be more organised. But I also need to find some low cost things to do. Am planning on going out for daily walks with my little man, got to get rid of some of this baby fat that's hanging around. Just need to make sure the walk doesn't take me to a shop or cafe.

Hope everyone's well.

Suziebabe

Looks like I should be able to bag the last 2 days of the month as NSDs, as visitors left today and am planning to go into hibernation til Monday! :shhh:

While I haven't reached my target, I have learnt an awful lot from this first month on the NSD wagon - and realised that for next month I should change my rules a little bit, to encourage my budgeting. This month I've only counted an NSD when I haven't spent anything at all (I'm not counting direct debits though, not yet!) But I can see early signs of willpower-abandonment if I have to spend at all on any day, even if its budgeted spend ie. if I can't claim it as a no spend day then I might as well have that flapjack & coffee etc So for next month, I'm going to count an NSD if I've only spent what was budgeted for e.g. groceries - but not if I've also stopped by the coffee shop on the way into the supermarket - hopefully that'll plug another hole in the money drain!:T

Will post on Saturday when I can formally claim my extra 2 days. And possibly revise up my September target, now I've got some free time to plan & ponder!

tinkermcjingles

Number 13 here!!!

Happy Tink :j

MissE001

I know what you mean suziebabe - I thought counting any day that I spent at all as NSD would be cheating...but I agree, if I buy essentials or budgeted for extras like birthday pressies I'm tempted to spend on other stuff as it's already a spendy day. Think I might follow suit and count only non-budgeted spends as spendy days in September and see how that works out

My last NSD is proving elusive....don't expect one tomorrow as it's dressdown day at work so £1 for the charity bucket....although going by September's rules that would still count as NSD :rotfl:

Happy Friday Eve

lovefullshelves

Ooh NSD #20 today been nowhere done nothin that didn't involve a baggy!!

Sazzie23

Morning/Evening all

lovefullshelves wrote: »

Ooh NSD #20 today been nowhere done nothin that didn't involve a baggy!!

LittleMissKitty wrote: »

wooHoo! I've bagged my 20/20 NSD :j
Only got 5-in-a-row, missed my 6 because of an emergency Tesco trip for nappies . But September is a new month and I intend to get my elusive 6-in-a-row then.

Knit_Witch wrote: »

Both yesterday and today were NSDs (Dr KW paid for my filling ) so this takes me to 26 please!

Well done to all the 20 somethings declaring today, it does take some achieving - congratulations :j:j

Did someone mention the F___ word? I thought I saw jaws but then he flew off my page (thanks IF )

May have been a bit ambitious with my 3rd target, as today was definitely a spendy on Mr Sparks food hall , total spend under £20 though as decided to go to the cash machine rather than risk taking in debit card (ahem:().

So stuck on 23 and spendy tonight which only leaves one more day :eek: in August however its more than I expected this month & haven't gone over budget despite several social occasions so not displeased.


Enjoy Friday - its the weekend (again :rotfl:)

freebyfifty

There are

49

of us taking part in the August NSD Challenges

and so far we have collected

515 NSDs

:T:T:T:T:T

freebyfifty

I'm doin' the Friday wiggle