Just Say NOvember 2013!!!

Mrs_Toast

Evening everyone, it takes a while to read all these inspiring posts but it's well worth it. It's lovely that there's so many people wanting to change their habits for the better.

Well yesterday and today were SFDs. Yesterday was planned but not today but it is my birthday :jLast night DH and I went out for a meal which was lovely and cheaper than we planned so we went out to lunch with the kids. My totals so far

£61.09/£120 petrol
£20.04/£120 food
£0/£10 beauty
£7/£80 earnt
2/20 declutter (bags not items as it's needed that bad:rotfl:)
£4.99/£40 xmas/birthdays
£3.50/£40 children's entertainment
£0/£5 emergency

Managed to earn £7 taking some clothes to the clothes bank which was more than expected. I'm really proud with my food shopping this week but am using up a lot of gluten free freebies from the allergy show last week. I also found my gluten free porridge scanned at £1.06 instead of £2.12 on offer with RRP at £4.25 so went back for some more . Yesterday I bought all my fabric for my dressmaking course with extra bits today but my Grandma has paid for that courtesy of my birthday money.

I plan on having a SFD tomorrow except for DS's playgroup. Unfortunately I haven't planned some birthdays very well so will have to go out Tuesday for cards and 2 gifts. However I may raid my card stash and make some food gifts, will have a think. I do have to buy a gift for Sunday but that can wait until Saturday when I do the food shopping. This planning ahead stuff is hard.

Btw, DH and I had a lovely conversation yesterday about what we will do when we are debt free. In 2015 we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary and are renewing our vows. DH would like to go away for the weekend but originally suggested going to Greece where we had our honeymoon. We are going to Greece earlier that year for his brother's wedding so we will need to save for that. I can't wait to be debt free.

Right off to box up my lemon drizzle muffins and loaf of bread, gluten free & homemade of course

NinjaSavingKat

Mrs_Toast wrote: »

This planning ahead stuff is hard.

It's why is so rewarding when you get to the end of the month with money in your bank account...:T

gien

Managed to catch up on all the very inspiring posts.

DH did last weeks books today and we have been overspending for the last quarter, so this challenge comes at the right time! We really do need to batten down the hatches!

Today has been a SFD, DH took DD swimming but we have prepaid cards for that. I am not monitoring DHs spends in the same way as mine - firstly, he is pretty frugal as he works, eats and sleeps with very little opportunity for spending. Also he earns it, and works very hard, so I think that it's fair if he wants to buy himself (or the kids) something on occasion.

We discussed the situation and are both going to do a spending diary, and keep a much closer eye on the situation. I shall be making much more of an effort on planning food, batch cooking etc. but I don't want to have everyone eating rubbish food because it's cheap. I didn't directly tell him about the challenge but said that I would have a frugal couple of months so we are in good shape for christmas and the new year.

Tomorrow I plan to be SF by: staying at home and doing the housework and filing, taking the dog for a long (free) walk and going to the gym (paid for the year back in January). I will also wrap and package all the christmas presents ready to post at the next spendy day. I will also be baking all the 'sweet treats' for packed lunches and hometime snacks for everyone. I have taken out my cash for food now (and school lunches) and will stick with it.


I am aiming for Friday to be my next spendy day, although I have to say that my fresh veg stash is not looking good. I might be able to drag something to of the garden but I have ot make sure the kids eat veg every day - the supermarket on Saturday looked like the locusts had been through! I'm doing Slimming world to and the secret to success on that is fruit and veg!

apple_muncher

Today was my 2nd outing of the month! Oopsie! So I've not quite hit the 'only go out once' target! (and there are still 2 more ahead - I've not been so sociable all year...)

Took a lovely friend out for lunch before her understated but brilliant hen do. I'm coeliac and she's veggie so our local harvester is the place to go. We ate well and got free ice cream, thanks to dh's voucher hunting, and it cost less than £20. Then, to my surprise, the friend organising the hen said that we'd all chip in, so I got £18 back! The cheeky part of me woukd like to put this towards my 'make £80' target but I can feel NSK rolling her eyes in despair, so I'll put it back in the 'going out' envelope ready for the wedding (on the same day as a friend's 60th bash)!

I'm learning to stop the impulse buys where it looks like a bargain, but when I stop to consider it, I realise that I really have no idea how much the item really is, and therefore have no idea if it's worth it or not. And I don't want to start spending outside the plan.

So today has been a successful day! Off to bed with a full tummy having spent time with lovely people and not compromised my chosen path.

Fmess

Mrs_Toast wrote: »

Right off to box up my lemon drizzle muffins and loaf of bread, gluten free & homemade of course

Hi Mrs Toast,

I'm gluten free too as have coeliac disease. Is your whole family gluten free? I'm very jealous of your lemon drizzle muffins and bread. I really struggle with baking since being gluten free My bread has always been disasterous and this week even my fairy cakes were anaemic looking

Fmess

Hi Apple muncher, I'm coeliac too

There seems to be quite a few people with different dietary requirements on this challenge. How interesting!

dimplechops

Hola. Sorry for my tardy check-in but I've been manic the last three days and haven't had the best of starts to NOvember to be honest. But hopefully it will get better from here on in.

I need to catch up with the thread but will post where I am at before I do so, just in case something crops up in the meantime. In addition to the challenge set by NSK I have also added in some extras of my own.
These will be to aim to have 25 x no alcohol days, 25 x no car days and 20 x exercise days. I have 14 shifts at work in November so this is my target for taking in my own lunch but more on this in a bit.

Friday was a spend day and not a good one at that. I had to get a grocery shop in on Friday 1st as I had hardly anything in, this was a planned spend day and I used my car to get there. It was slightly larger than normal as I had to buy extra bits to make cakes for work as it was my last day on my current team. £63.84 spent in Aldi. Because of carrying cakes (and I was too late to walk) I couldn't cycle so had to get the bus to the train station which is £2.40 return. I get free train travel with work and could've kicked myself when I got to the station and realised I'd left my wallet and travel card at home. Sooo because I was already late I had no option but to get a taxi back home to pick up my wallet and then back to the station. It cost £12. Gutted. Because I had been so busy making the cakes, I also ran out of time to prepare my lunch, so this was another £10 spent on food throughout the 12 hour shift. No exercise either. Boooo.

Yesterday was another car day as I drove all the way to work as I usually do on a Saturday late shift. I took food with me though. Unfortunately I had forgotten I had to register for an exercise competition I am entering so this was another £11.65 spent. So another spend day. I did go to the gym in the morning though. So karma not entirely rocked.

Today I have done not a lot at all apart from chores, so my first NSD. No exercise unfortunately though.

I am away in France visiting my OH from the 13-18 Nov. This is budgeted for and apart from this I can't think of any other outings planned. I am hoping not to have many spend days between now and then either with any luck.

Looking forward to catching up with the thread and the challenge ahead. Good luck everyone :j

clippy_girl

hi all,

spendy day today

SFD 2/25
Food 0/£100
Donation 0/£3
Lunch- 1/18
Declutter 0/20
make £80- £69/£80
Beauty- £15.96 /£10 :eek:

so spent £15.96 on beauty but got quite a bit as had ran out. got 2 bits of make up i needed and got a third free, 2 packs of cheap face wipes, cotton wool pads, bubble bath, spot pads and hair dye. hair dye was £4.99 but shopped around. wont even be all my spends as as the spot pads will only last 20 days. they had sold out of the lotion today so had to get to get the pads which obv works out much more :mad: they were sold out at a different branch last month so i bought a wilko one for 99p but it is not doing the job and i have come out in horrible massive white spots its superdrug own brand so only place i can get it. had to buy face cream last month so also went over then but stuff i have bought will last at least 2 months.

then i spent £2.78 on medicines and handwash and £3.50 on cat food.

dilema as just signed up to an xmas meal in dec and need to give friend deposit by tuesday. wed is my spendy day as thats when im off to cinema and food shop. will see if friend can switch cinema to tue and thinking about it i think the cinema has discount on tue so hopefully that will be ok.

question for nsk or anyone else- does millet taste like quinola? i made some veg soup with yellow sticker soup pack few weeks back and used the last of the quinola in it and it was lovely millet looks similar but is way cheaper but wondered if had the same nutty taste?

and :eek::eek::eek::eek: to £10k xmas pressie. if they want to give it to their son surely better to keep for his first car/deposit/uni or as suggested a lovely family holiday :cool:

CrazyCatLady1_3

SFD3 and trying to make it till Wednesday before we go food shopping.

MRS TOAST - HAPPY BIRTHDAY :T

cottage_retreatist

Mrs_Toast wrote: »

Btw, DH and I had a lovely conversation yesterday about what we will do when we are debt free. In 2015 we will be celebrating our 10 year anniversary and are renewing our vows. DH would like to go away for the weekend but originally suggested going to Greece where we had our honeymoon. We are going to Greece earlier that year for his brother's wedding so we will need to save for that. I can't wait to be debt free.

oh Mrs Toast that's a wonderful idea!

Me and the OH will have been together for 9 years come April 2014 and we have discussed going somewhere, just the two of us to get married next year (yes - he hasn't even proposed yet!!!!)- maybe somewhere like Lapland!!!!

Hehe - so many possibilities! he also said he'll get me a dog -which is my dream! We can't have one at the moment cause it's impractical but once we're debt free we can move somewhere with a garden. I've told him it can't go in a box but he promised he'd make some air holes!!! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: no really - he wouldn't do that!!! :eek::eek:

second day as a SDF done - tomorrow is a spendy day as got to post some letters - I told OH to get his hair cut as well so only monday is a spendy day but he's being mean and saying no!!!! Well, he'd better! :D:D

Think if I push him too far this month he'll push back - I've told him we can only get to 12k outstanding debt by xmas if we're really tight on repayments and he's already kinda said - well don't make me miserable so I'll have to watch it or else he backlashes by spending money eek!!! just when I thought I had him on side! softly softly!!! that's my way this month!

spent too long on budgets to cook today but hopefully some baking will happen this week!

hope everyone has a good monday - where did the weekend go?!!
xx