Sat/Sun 31st August/1st Sept - What Small DFW Things Will You Be Doing Today??!

determined_new_ms

When we start out on the Debt-Free Wannabe 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 :money:

Morning peeps was very surprised to see we weren't up and running already! awwww the weekend it's good to see you agsin my friend :j

Right things for the weekend:

* check banking
* update & reconcile spreadsheet
* go through cupboards/freezer & draw up a meal plan
* submit meter readings - must do this!
* go for a run - week four of running programme - so annoying my fitness levels have dropped so much!
* hopefully go for a lovely long walk with oh tomorrow
* nip over to a bar-b-q that is going on at one of my sheltered schemes this afternoon for an hour
* take pictures of the cupboard doors sitting in our garage and list on facebay/gumtree & preloved
* list Ewan the Sheep on ebay
* do some sewing
* have 1 NSD
* get wood & nails so we can put up our blinds
* do a couple of hours of work at some point

ok too much to do! Have a great day y'all x

allydowd

Morning!

DNM Thanks for the starter. Who's Ewan the Sheep?

We can't decide what to do today. It's blue sky one minute, black sky the next here. Might risk a hike along the coast.

The List:

:staradmin Rewatch Skyfall free trial DVD before getting it back in the post. I nodded off during it last night! Blockbuster are still doing a free 14 day trial just now. (Link)

:staradmin Home-baked rolls for breakfast with luxury coffee. (aka condensed milk and a cafetiere). G-d, I miss having weekend breakfasts in a cafe. Oh well.

:staradmin Signed up for Blinkbox special offer. Deposit £1, get £5 credit free. (Link) OH wants to see Olympus Has Fallen and so for £1 we can watch it tonight. Suggest reading the T&Cs before signing up. This download service doesn't work with all high-tech gizmos. Plus got 1 whole Tesco Clubcard point for it?! Would have cost about £8 to buy the DVD.

:staradmin OH got notification of new year's ILA Scotland grant entitlement of £200. Free courses! (Link)

:staradmin Continue fixing torch. I will get it to work again.

determined_new_ms

allydowd wrote: »

Morning!

DNM Thanks for the starter. Who's Ewan the Sheep?

Morning alley - Ewan is:

http://www.preciouslittleone.com/product-information/44/18211/easidream-ewan-the-sheep/?gclid=CICC9fSxp7kCFTMftAodRl8AZQ

Helps newborns sleep as it replicates the noise of the womb. It has done it's job now so it's time to get my money back! x

WantToBeSE

Morning All

Today i have/will:

-Check OLB
-Transfer some money to savings account
-Hang washing out on line
-Not have to fill up car with petrol (am only working 2 days next week)


Unfortunately thats about it, as its shoe and stationary shopping for the kids today!

ShootForTheMoon

Morning Gang!!

Here's to a lovely weekend!! :beer:
I'm full of a cold so have spent this morning enjoying a last lie-in with OH before she goes back to school term!! This weekend will mainly consist of quality time up the allotment getting it ship-shape!!

Here's the list:

OH treated us to smoked salmon bagels and posh coffee for breakfast - came out of the grocery shop but savings made elsewhere, so happy days!!

Going to stick my head in a bowl of olbas oil and hot water and then get out in the fresh air - I WILL shake this cold off!! :mad:

Nectar Adpoints, Swagbucks and enter some travel comps!!

Check banking for that £240 rebate!!

Borrowed "30-day shred" from a colleague's wife and copied it at work onto a DVD so will give that a try when I'm feeling better!!

Ordering shed from B&Q for collection tomorrow - then put it up!! Exciting times! Think that will take most of tomorrow morning between me and DBIL!
It's a fairly extravagant spend, but I think will be well worth it in the long run & budgeted for with overtime, so justified!

Dig some more free horse manure into the plot and fill the new tyre "planters" with soil, manure & compost - going to plant the mint and lavender now as they're pretty tough little plants.

Taking a picnic lunch, water and flask of tea so no need to spend - dinner from stores tonight & working tomorrow pm so will take dinner!

Economy wash and hang out in the sun to dry!

OH did grocery shop & proudly announced that she'd taken her own bags and shifted to non-brand stuff - couldn't believe the difference in price - think we may have an MSE CONVERT!! :T

I also directed her to another thread about smell-alike perfumes... We haven't bought any fragrance for ages as its so expensive & hard to justify nearly £100 that could have gone into savings... So, cue trip to M&S whilst I was at work and two bottles of own-brand perfume that you'd swear was L'eau de Issey and D&G Light Blue - for 1/4 of the cost!! Top GF! Winner!
If any of you miss little luxuries like this, I strongly suggest a look!! I was sceptical, but now very impressed!!

As if that wasn't MSE enough, OH then invited her friend round for coffee on the terrace rather than a 16-mile round trip into Bristol, coffee and probably lunch out!!!!! Wonders never cease!! I'm a happy lady!! So much easier with us both on board!! Think she's now seeing the numbers stack up which certainly motivates me - hopefully that's the case for her too!!

Anyways, think that's about it for the weekend - will pop some photos of progress on the Facebook group later - it's nice to share, as my friends think I'm bonkers doing the allotment!!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!! Lots of love xxx

foxgloves

Afternoon all,
Well, I'm typing this to the sound of mr f slapping paint on the walls. If you can try to suspend disbelief, you can kind of imagine it's the sound of the sea....which is where we were heading today before realising that if we didn't get the decorating finished, it wouldn't get done for weeks. At least we've saved on all that petrol to the coast, fish & chips on the harbour, etc...... :-(
Today's positive small things:
*Baked bread, as ran out & had plenty of flour in.
*Dealt with more of the tomato glut. Made another batch of spiced tomato chutney (1.5kg tomatoes used) & a big pan of soup which took care of another 500g.
*Baked a lemon cake rather than buying a weekend treat.
*Grocery shop a bit on the high side but it did include store cupboard stuff for my preserving, so all those jars of goodies will save money later down the line, as well as going into Christmas hampers.
*Got a yellow-stickered pork joint for freezer.
*Used voucher for 10 X dividend points at Co-op, which was just under £10 when converted into hard cash.
*Withdrew last of the cash needed to pay into my new Piggy Banks.
*Looked out voucher stash for shopping trip tomorrow.
*Watered veggie garden.
*Picked courgettes & dug potatoes for dinner.
*Checked ebay listings - one item has crept up by another £2 or so.....every little helps!
*Did surveys.
*Free entertainment for the rest of the day: Knitting, reading library book, audiobook, talking to cat, a bit of tv, bottle of wine.....well, that wasn't free, but it's sitting there calling my name.
@ shootforthemoon - A good remedy for colds/flu is French onion soup. It's quick, easy & cheap to make and the onions (as well as the steam from actually eating it) have a good decongestant effect, as well as being anti-viral. I put sage in it too, to help with sore throats. It's used as medicine every year in our house whenever one of us goes down with a cold. Hope you feel better soon.
Right, that's me for today,
On with the weekend,
foxgloves x

determined_new_ms

ShootForTheMoon wrote: »

Morning Gang!!


OH did grocery shop & proudly announced that she'd taken her own bags and shifted to non-brand stuff - couldn't believe the difference in price - think we may have an MSE CONVERT!! :T

I also directed her to another thread about smell-alike perfumes... We haven't bought any fragrance for ages as its so expensive & hard to justify nearly £100 that could have gone into savings... So, cue trip to M&S whilst I was at work and two bottles of own-brand perfume that you'd swear was L'eau de Issey and D&G Light Blue - for 1/4 of the cost!! Top GF! Winner!
If any of you miss little luxuries like this, I strongly suggest a look!! I was sceptical, but now very impressed!!

As if that wasn't MSE enough, OH then invited her friend round for coffee on the terrace rather than a 16-mile round trip into Bristol, coffee and probably lunch out!!!!! Wonders never cease!! I'm a happy lady!! So much easier with us both on board!! Think she's now seeing the numbers stack up which certainly motivates me - hopefully that's the case for her too!!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!! Lots of love xxx

awwwww you two sound so sweet Shootforthemoon!

I've had a couple of recommendations from the thread with I'm very happy with - I have got the Ghost & Millionaire lady replicas from Milton with I'm very happy with & M&S True Red - replica for Angel - I think all 3 cost me something like £16 in total and to buy the originals it would have been around £100 :T

La_escocesa

Hi guys :wave:

DNMS - glad Ally asked who Ewan the sheep was - had me confused too Perfect that you will help another little bubba by selling on.

Ally - your luxury coffee sounds pretty tasty - never thought of that.

Want to be SE - have fun back to school shopping

Shoot for the moon - you two sound so sorted - go you!! :T

Foxgloves - what are you knitting? Are you on Ravelry for all their free patterns? I'm crocheting this hooded jumper for my pal's baby - borrowed the pattern from another pal rather than buying http://www.amazon.co.uk/King-Cole-Cardigan-Sweater-Comfort/dp/B00AEUD1OI

Big hugs to everyone else :grouphug:

Here's my listypoparoo:
Cleaning round - diluted my stardrops thanks Foxgloves for the tip :cool:
Online shop - got £12 off code for first online shop (using a new email address )
List stuff to sell
Bit of promo for new class
Decide what to do about tonight - OH's friend has invited us for dinner but don't know if I'll be the only other OH - sounds like the others might be going solo...

That's it for me I think...

xx

Pernicious

Hi everyone,

Thanks for starting us off DNMS.

Today's plan:-

• Food from stores
• Dinner from meal plan - Mac n' cheese DH is not a fan of this so I tend to make it when he's not around, he's going out for dinner tonight. I am slightly jealous as he's going to a Japanese restaurant whose noodles I loved! But macaroni cheese will make it all better I'm sure, haha
  
• Log calories & exercise on free apps
• Checked birthday bingo
  
• Check online banking
• Check for new mystery shopping opportunities
• Enter some comps
• Do some surveys
• Declutter & flylady
• Check if cashback has tracked
• Closed CC V
• Ordered new tyres, will be cheaper than budgeted as going for the value range (we don't do many miles) so will be £136 instead of £200
• Debate cancelling TKD membership as we're not making use of it lately so it's £100 a month down the drain. Should be a no brainer really but I do want to learn some sort of self defence...
  
• Go to second job this evening, driving not drinking

Have a great, MSE day everyone x

La_escocesa

Hey everyone - me again

I've just checked my noddle a/c to see how I'm doing with the challenge in my signature...

Since January this year I've paid off £2,590! :j

I'm pretty chuffed with my little old self considering my credit score was severely bashed and I was paying about 20% interest £10k of cc debt.

Although I'm only about half way there and we're more than half way through the year I think I can do it:
* Got 0% bal transfer and low rate for life on another card
* Got a salary increase
* Hubby is in work
* We're not buying a car
* I've got a bunch of pals (you!) to help keep me going

Going to go and list some stuff to sell now...

La_escocesa

Pernicious wrote: »

Debate cancelling TKD membership as we're not making use of it lately so it's £100 a month down the drain. Should be a no brainer really but I do want to learn some sort of self defence...

I'll send you a link to the assoc my hubby trains with if you like? I think they offer the first class free (his club does anyway so maybe they all do...) so there'd be nothing to lose even if you didn't like it. They're not for profit so the classes are just to cover hall hire etc so not costly.