The October Awakening!

KittyBoo_2

NSD number 18 today. I'm off to pick my 7 month old Grandson up in a minute and then off to my friends house for lunch.
I've made my donation to the Trussell Trust food bank and have also used the £18 from my social budget to pay towards my Co-op energy bill.
I've been slightly overspent on my shopping budget because I bought some extras, such as 50% extra on tea bags and an offer on toilet rolls. I also bought a case of UHT milk when my brother went to Cash and Carry.
This challenge has been an amazing motivator for me and has reigned in spending. I love getting my notepad out and reckoning up what little I've spent and updating my signature.
I'll definitely reach my 20 NSD by Wednesday as I've got everything I need and more.
Thank you NSK for the time and effort you have put into this challenge and for giving us the motivation to stick at it when things seem tough.
Thanks to all fellow posters too, for sharing your ups and downs and the encouragement to keep going.
Can you also put me down for the next challenge NSK please? I love the idea of committing myself to another challenge. Especially as I think this one might give us something to think about.
I might not get much chance to do and update for a couple of days as my Grandson is staying with me for 3 days and I'm sure that life will be quite hectic.
Keep safe and warm. x

NinjaSavingKat

BOOM! https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4804513

karmachilovething

Checking in after a SF weekend! Spends on Friday (petrol and birthday presents) but nothing after that. Went to stay with some friends over the weekend, so I paid for petrol to drive and then BF paid for pub dinner on Saturday night, and just had a lovely time hanging out and catching up.

No plans for this week, so hoping to make all SFDs.
KC

NinjaSavingKat

Right then... I have just paid my motorbike insurance. I had £415 set aside to cover this with another £75 being paid into the "bike expenses" account in November and December with the lump sum going on my CC should it be more than the above amount.

On top of this I have budgetted £75 TAX / £30 MOT and £300 for servicing etc. Which would come out of Decembers budget as well as the last of the debt payments.

HOWEVER I amplease to annouce (fingers crossed nothing goes wrong) £376 has been paid for insurance with £15.70 cashback with TopCashBack. MOT cost me £29.50, TAX costing £75 and NO NEED FOR A SERVICE.

So I am about to update my spreadsheet. This means I have the money to spend a little on family and take them out for a meal when I get home to celebrate being debt free!!!!

Whoop!!!! Planning works after all....

Fmess

Hey all

Wow NOvember does look hard are! I love it!

Had a pleasant surprise today as 4 dog vaccinations cost £128 instead on £140 I'm going to use the £12 to start a savings pot for joint purchases (vets bills, dog beds, broken appliances etc). I've also decided that next month I'm going to start putting £50 a month to one side for annual expenses like car insurance, MOT etc so I'm in a better position next year

Tomorrow is MOT and service day, I've saved £295 and have put aside the extra money I made from selling stuff, in case it goes over that amount. Anything that's not used can go on towards the ccard debt If I can make another payment I should be under £2000 on the ccard

Thanks for focussing my mind NSK and changing my mindset.

rumblytum

Hi everyone,

SFD 14/20
Payment towards debt in Oct will be 1074.24, minimum payments throughout month
Food 224.35/250
Lunches 23/31
Food bank 3/3
Eating out 74.68
DFD May 2018 (at the moment )
Toiletries £2 - we've all had colds, so bought boxes of tissues - feeling very proud - just filled the handwash soap bottle with shower gel, of which I have a couple of bottles
Extra earned £121.49 - woo hoo!!!

Happy Monday

rumbly x

stewby

Hello again.

Wow... what a wake-up call November is going to be. It's going to be like a short hard shove in the right direction.
The over-achiever in me is going to love it!!


Today, to celebrate having money left at the end of the month (yeah, I know it wasn't much but I still had some so I am feeling really pleased) we are having a "fake xmas" dinner with my parents.
:j

The idea of finding 20 things to put to charity is an interesting one as if I "cheat", we have a heap of old videos and cds that can be put to charity shops. However, I will have nosey around and see if there is better stuff to put away.


Well, off to start cooking... yummy... roast turkey with sausagemeat and all thr trimmings. (sorry vegetarian peoples, I imagine that doesn't sound very delicious to you but it's one of my favourite family meals).
:undecided

Hope everyone is having a great day.

Siouxsie32

Evening all (actually, it's 4 in the afternoon, but it feels later! Must be that extra hour!). So today didn't quite turn into the SFD I had in mind. The trains and underground are still a bit dodgy so I'm driving to yoga later. I will need to park at a meter for 30 minutes as the class starts before free parking. It actually works out cheaper (and a heck of a lot more comfortable driving home in a warm car than walking and catching a tube!) doing this than paying the tube fare but rules are rules. I'm spending so it can't be a SFD! Hmm, I still need to get my niece a birthday gift so tomorrow won't be spend free either (although I did pick up a MS job in a neighboring village so this will offset the cost :money:). Looks like I might need an extra day in this month to make the SFD target

I stayed with a friend last night and we ate and drank a lot - the yoga tonight is very necessary!! Wow, better read the rules again - not drinking was last month, right? Hope so - I'm not a drinker...I've had alcohol 3 times this year and all 3 times have been this month :eek:

Can't wait for payday so I can finally clear the remaining £700 of my current challenge :T Then the hard work will really begin.....

andrar

Well today has been different - got up late as had post-storm power cut and no hot water so no alarm and then waited for pilot light to sort itself out so I could wash me hair.

Got to work, gave out all my cake club cake, just getting to work and my computer decides its going to turn itself off every 10 mins. This happened four times before I gave up, couldn't find a spare computer to work on so left and have been working from home using my work iPhone as I've got a signal here. What a palava!

Was my turn to buy work milk too so I spent my last £2.57 on milk for me and work and some spinach so I can make A Girl Called Jack's new spinach dhal recipe tonight for eats and freezing. At least it means I won't spend now until November!

Off to look at the November thread now...

TiptoesDB

Wow,NSK you are so close to being DF! Well done! Are you still going to stick around and help the rest of us, or do we need to appoint a replacement debt busting ninja? Please say you'll stay! You've changed my whole attitude to money... in just one month.

Well, annoyingly I had to have a spendy day today, as OH has run out of honey for his breakfasts, which means I will hit 20 SFDs on the last day of the month. Nothing like squeaking in there! We won't make the £100 challenge, but we have done everything else, so I am feeling pretty pleased.

I have just signed up to November's - it looks brutal. I really found 20 SFD's hard, so 25 is going to be tough, esp in the run up to Christmas. How does the 'one social event' bit work? as we already have a few theatre / comedy things booked in and paid for (organised and paid for before we had out LBM!) They shouldn't cost us anything now, as tickets have been paid for and we'll have a meal out before the show with tesc0 points... can we rule these out?

Well, home from work a bit early so have baked 20 cup cakes for any trick or treaters we might get. I hope we get some as otherwise I'll end up eating them! My weight has well piled on since I have been money saving - does anyone else find that? I don't know if it's the cheap stodgy comfort food, or maybe the fact I seem to be able only tightly control one aspect of my personal life, so it's either weight or money...? Anyway, as long as the clothes still fit its not a problem. I am not spending money on new clothes!

stay safe in the weather gang, hope you are all ok...