Just Say NOvember 2013!!!

tennisfanatic

End of the month and time to reflect on my first NSK challenge.

SFD22/25
I'm pleased with this considering I had a 3 day spendy weekend away and has really helped focus me on need not want (apart from yesterdays bottle of wine all spends have been on planned spendy days!)

Lunch to work 18/18 (this is all the days i have worked this month when lunch has not already been provided)

Food £99/£100 (including foodbank donation)
Cupboards are looking emptier and i've defrosted freezer today as have used up all my stock of homemade batch cooking.....could be an expensive month next month

Foodbank £3.59/£3

Toiletries £3/£10
used up several things this month so will need a small top up in december

Moneymade £7.09/£80
few items sold on eb4y and more ending tomorrow but don't have a lot left to sell as have sold approx £500 worth over the last year

abundant1972

Hey all...

NOvember wasn't a huge success - I managed about 14 SFDs and I did go over budget in the end by about £100 or so whilst I was away

Still - December is a fresh start...

Kat - AWESOME job! I'm SOOOOOOooooo proud of you!!! How does it feel??? You must tell us in the December thread!!!

I'm going to work out my December budgets and enjoy my evening in!!!

PS. When do we open our sealed Money Tins?

Calling14

Ah well its all over another Sfd today.

Laughing at my little slip up apologies Loveadove. Blame on week from hell work bank act hacked and really thought I was going to be unemployed by Xmas. Serious money taken but bank came good and covered the loss. Very nervous of Internet banking now seeing how fast money can disappear.

Haven't worked out spreadsheets for Dec yet, but not going mad on Xmas pressies or food not worth stress credit card debt causes.

Stayed at home today, sorted Xmas stuff out and cleaned house. No need to buy cards, wrapping paper found enough leftover.

Thanks gang for keeping me motivated. My totals haven't reduced a great deal but will do next few weeks.

[Deleted User]

Hi. Final scores have been updated. I am really proud of myself. I am more determined to keep to the challenge next month. So please count me in. Thank you Nsk for the great challenge xx

Siouxsie32

Just a quick final NOvember post from me before midnight. Well done everyone for sticking with it. Times got tough but we all made it to the finish line

Mega congratulations to those who became debt free this month - a HUGE achievement :T:T:T

So, I think November was a success....

Misc: I ended up with £18.05 left over, probably because I had NO nights out during the whole month. I did have a few cosy nights in with friends, courtesy of my slow cooker and loads of lentils! I've added this to my "money for debt" account that got transferred yesterday to my loan account so it's gone to a better home!

Food: Came in sort of on budget...a little over maybe, but nothing that will break the bank so it was a sort of success.

SFD: I think I clocked up 22, again not perfect but good enough I think as it was a tough month and I didn't over spend!

Money made: Well, not counting m second job because I earn money from that every month so it's not really extra, I clocked up a not too shabby £129.10 - mostly ebay sales, finding money in discarded lockers at yoga plus a bit of Field Agent work. Again, it's all gone straight to the loan account!

Donations: I donated around £10 worth of tins etc and got the business card from the lady who runs m local food bank. I offered my services and she said I should give her a call next week so let's see where that leads....

Oh, and just at the final hurdle I spent a huge amount of money on a MacBook yesterday in the Black Friday sales Got a good deal plus 5% cash back from my credit card plus another £50 worth of vouchers that can be used at supermarkets and high street stores (an offer through m work) plus John Lewis price matched so I got an extra year's guarantee :money: If you're gonna spend the money, make sure you do it the best way!!! Still waiting for it to be delivered but happy that I got the best deal I could!

Phew, enough from me...I'll see you in December

NinjaSavingKat

Yikes I am late - BYE BYE NOVEMBER!!!

Kerfuffle

Hi everybody,

It's been great sitting here and reading everybody's positive and optimistic posts. We've had our ups and downs throughout the month and all seemed to hit a blue period at the same time, but it's fantastic that we got to the end of the month in such positive spirits.

Final scores on the doors for NOvember:-

Food 221.60 / 187.50 118.19% - came in over budget, but not by a massive amount, and I've got so much pork in the freezer from a loin that I purchased and cut up into chops and 2 joints that it will see us through for some time.
Petrol 156.88 / 225.00 69.72% - I know for a fact that this figure isn't correct as Hubby doesn't give me his receipts but as I know I haven't given him any extra cash and he hasn't used his credit card that we've come within budget.
Local food bank 4.28 / 3.00 142.6%
Hair 56.25 / 62.50 90% (Cut, colour and tip)
Works Xmas Party 3.25 / 3.25 - I only purchased the raffle ticket, and drank water all evening. I won a free night stay voucher for another hotel
Dentist 18.75 / 18.75 (Had my appointment and no costs were incurred so 12.50 has gone to a gift contribution and 6.25 has gone into the Mortgage OP Pot.)

Total 461.01 / 500.00 GBP 92.20%

SFD 22 / 25 - I didn't quite reach the full 25 but I think I did pretty well, so I'm happy with the final figure.
Declutter 20 / 20 :j - I started slowly with this as I'm a bit of a hoarder (I tend to keep things as I'm sure it will come in handy one day ) but once I started looking at things differently it got addictive. I think I'm going to take this forward into December :T
Extra money earned /made 0 / 80.00 - I didn't earn any extra money, I knew I wouldn't, plus we're on shorter hours at work at the moment as we're 'out of season' so I'm considering myself lucky that I was able to maintain the same earnings.
Miscellaneous spends 70.79 / 0 - This isn't good, and on reflection all the purchases were 'wants' as opposed to 'needs'. But I got lots of compliments at the works Christmas party about my outfit which really gave me a boost, and I'm really hoping the rocking chair is my 'Forever Chair' :rotfl:.

That's my tally for NOvember, see you all over on the DDD thread
:wave:

PheoniX

Hello Decemberites! :santa2:

So.. Here we go again! Starting the month with a spend free day and anticipating a further 2 as I am back in work tomorrow. After November's tough challenge I feel quietly confident that this months 15 SFD is do able :T. The challenge will be in keeping the spends on spendy days as low as possible thus avoiding the situation of being penny wise on SFDs and pound foolish on spend days!

Sooo.. Aim for 15 SFD days- check.. Food budget set- check.. No Xmas party plans- check.. £5 food bank donation to be made- check.. Batch cooking planned- check.. notebook in hand- check.. DFD set- check.. Lunch to work is essential- check.. Dodge the sales at all cost- definitely check!

I have started the month overdrawn by £250! And this will be slowly increasing throughout December. Kat, to answer your question, the interest rate increases from 0% to 11.9% once I go over the £500 mark and I have a feeling I am likely to end up about £700 overdrawn by payday on the 23rd . I have not set a xmas budget in stone (which is a weakness each year) and I have not properly estimated the overall expense of visiting family! However, I know that last month's overtime will sufficiently cover the excess

Goals for 2014:
* To have a £5000 emergency fund
* To eat healthily and start juicing on days off again. Exercise. Join a cycling/ sports club or learn a new instrument. Cook from scratch. Focus on body, mind and soul. Put Me first now and again! Aim for a healthy work life balance. Consider a career change to something less stressful. Read more books
* Treat family to a weekend break
* Spend more time with the people that are important to me :A
* To escape this miserly reclusive shell and start living again! :j
* To purchase a newer car

not much to ask for is it :rotfl:

Nighty night all :wave:

PiggyBankShaker

Petrol £106.58 / £67.50 - This is how much we spent in total, but both OH and I claimed mileage for work against this so some of the total will be reimbursed in Decemver


Groceries £258.23 / £200 - This is the first month that we have keep a track of the grocery budget. So even though we spent more than budgeted we know have a more realistic idea of what we buy and how much it costs.


'Outings' £33 / £30 - Almost!

Food Bank £3 / £3

Unbudgeted spends: Me £57.75 / OH £101.99 - Well, this is obviously the naughty one. They include new shoes for DS, beer for OH, school related stuff like trips and photos and other random things that I can't remember

--

Lunches 18 / 18 :T - Yay!

SFD 20 / 25 - Almost, damn the bread and fresh fruit!

Declutter 3 / 20 - Total fail :mad:

Make extra £126.87 / £80 :T: - Really pleased with this as I wouldn't have pushed so hard except for this challenge.

PheoniX

Hello everybodeee! :santa2:
I've been off the radar over the last few days what with work and this n that but I've been keeping a beady eye on all your posts :cool:

Kat Had you bought a £1500 mac book I might have given you a telling off but I shall let you off after your TK Maxx spend

Stewby your hidden combat euro cash stash story made me laugh and reminded me of the time I hid £200 in the sandwich toaster only to switch it on 6 months later to the smell of burning bunce! :eek: Luckily the bank saw the funny side of it and replaced all the damaged notes! :T

I have 2 SFDs and 2 spend days to report. Yesterday I spent a few bob on goodies for this coming weekend's trip home for fake christmas and also spent £56 on a haircut, inclusive of 25% discount! Today's unfortunate spend was on Zovirax due to a revenge of the christmas lurg :mad: , probably stress induced after parting with my cash at the hairdressers She did a good job though and my locks should be okay until March next year..

My overdraft is now at £326 and thats without the £100 fuel to travel home, money spent while at home, £100 on christmas gifts, road tax and miscellany Since I am going to go over my 0% interest £500 overdraft, I am actually considering paying off the £785 loan completely :eek: Other than having to pay about £15 in interest, it means that I will have just the one debt instead of 2 and on pay day in 18 days time there will be no personal loan deduction and a good chunk of the overdraft will be cleared from my overtime payment.. Hmm I shall mull that one over.. Over a glass of mulled wine and a mince pie perhaps :xmassmile

Ooh I love this thread I do!

Chin chin all! :xmassign: