NSK; "The Janus Illusion".

thriftylass

Hello,

hope kittens, knees and other hobbitses having a tough time fell better soon.

Today should be another SFD. Took my lunch to work and cycled in. Not sure how much longer I last though, bump is starting to get in the way but all my screws are rusted shut on my bike so can't adjust it.

Contacted the nursery and hopefully the reimbursement for the days shut over the holidays should be with us in the next week or so (last year it took till March!!!).

dolly84

mooomin - don't go. I have haven't stuck to the NSD rules either - my kids do activities between them on 4 days of the week, I can't do a grocery shop on those days as I am obviously with them and they are too young to be going with me afterwards as it would be just too late for bed.

The NSD figure I show in my sig ignores all the kids activities and all direct debits as this money is all budgeted for and will be spent over the month regardless. What I wanted to do and my reason for joining was to cut down on all the other unnecessary, not budgeted for spending and that is what I have done.

All the other rules have been stuck to.

Hugs to people falling over. Hoping that pets are on the mend too.

mooomin

dolly84 wrote: »

The NSD figure I show in my sig ignores all the kids activities and all direct debits as this money is all budgeted for and will be spent over the month regardless. What I wanted to do and my reason for joining was to cut down on all the other unnecessary, not budgeted for spending and that is what I have done.

That sounds pretty much like what I do.

I don't include direct debits as I just transfer a lump of money on payday and then ignore that account I have a purse for bus fares and from payday this week I'll be taking out £40 of change to pay for them over the month (down from a £53 per month bus pass) and £5 to cover tea expenses at work. This will mainly be for milk as I'm trying to reduce my dependency on the coffee shop

PheoniX

Mooorrrniiin :wave:

Clippy Good luck at the vets, let us know how puss gets on will you

Tiptoes Congrats on ur surprise pay rise

Moomin Glad to hear youre staying put with the challenge :T

AppleMuncher Hope youve popped a pill for ur aching limbs!

So, at the close of yesterday (following my mammoth spending spree) I am now over £400 overdrawn and will have to pull in the purse strings until payday.

After 19 months of chipping away at debt, I can honestly say that I feel I have mastered this no spending malarkey and am turning into a real life scrooge :rotfl:. I know now not to put myself in situations that will awaken the suppressed spender in me! And I feel like I know how to resist temptation when it arises and can quite easily go to the shops to buy exactly what I want and walk away with no extras.

All spends yesterday were a result of careful research and consideration of value for money and alternatives on everything before parting with cash. There was a time when I would have paid over the odds for items without thinking twice, which was a pattern that contributed to the accumulation of debt in the first place. I just feel that I work hard and now that I really understand the value of money, I am determined not to part with a penny unless I really have to!

As a result of last week's 90 minute consultation with the bank manager when I only went to open a savings account (!), I have since been giving mortgages a lot of thought. It transpires that there are better mortgage rates available to me and by changing to a lower percentage mortgage deal, my monthly payments will reduce and I will have more money to put aside into savings. I am visiting the bank later with an approximate valuation of the property given to me by agents and this figure will help estimate a loan to value percentage to work on.

So I am aiming for a SFD today and exercise on my walk to the bank

Hope you have a good day

:wave:

Mountaingirl

Ihave to confess to having lost track a bit with the spend free days and am now muddled up.

What I have to report though is that my spending is much, much reduced and I am very conscious of what I am buying (and NOT buying). I have meal planned and shopped and it has worked well, I have passed over 'bargains', avoided the sales, realised I don't need anything at the moment. I am quite enjoying it at the moment to be honest!!

I've done my calculations and realised that the next 4 months will need to be super super frugal to hit my mortgage target, and I will hit that target.
I was talking to DH last night, and he agrees that we must be serious, and not talk each other into spending money, so now we are both really on board.

So, I'm still taking relative baby steps it is making a difference and I can see it in the length of time a bank note stays in my wallet, the shortness of the online banking statement, the lack of shop receipts crammed into my purse!

Oh, and I feel much less ill today so with luck I will be back on full form soon.

Calling14

Hi sorry things bit up in air with me. Yesterday another SFD making 9/20
Today milk and a cinema trip planned.
Haven't had time to read everyone's post will catch up by the weekend. Hope everyone is well, upbeat and exercising to make up for me

XSpender

I hope everyone's aches and pains and poorly cats feel better soon :grouphug:

I re imbursed DH this morning for a £1.10 spend on chocolate yesterday but as he spent it yesterday I am counting it as yesterday and not loosing the SFD I have planned:D

He did ask me this morning how our frugal month was going and I said really well and he asked if that means we can go back to having the full amount of personal spends money we had before christmas. I wouldnt mind if he used it for a hobby or something but it just gets frittered away. I had planned to increase it but just not up to pre Christmas levels. We will negotiate I think;)

DH also said he thought we ate better when we were being careful with the food budget and didn't have take aways.:) I do need to think of some extra snacks to give him for work as he works 8-6 and is often hungry but doesnt like yogurts or too many sweet things and I would rather not feed him a load of fattening carp. If he would eat a better breakfast than a small banana I think he wouldn't get so hungry.

I have brought breakfast and lunch to work today and will be having a SFD but an exercise free day too.:o

I am at aqua tomorrow night with a friend and on Friday night I am going to get my eyebrows done and buy/give my donation for the food bank as both at the local Mr T.

Saturday DH is at work so I am going to batch cook and Sunday DH and I are going for a long walk.

mooomin

XSpender - would Mr Spender have crumpets or wholemeal toast for breakfast? It's really filling if he adds that to his banana and would mean he wasn't as hungry later on.

You can snack on healthy things too - I have a popcorn addiction because it's relatively low fat but feels like a treat

PurpleJay

Hiya

So far this month:-

Grocery 60.50/180
Pets 0/30
Fuel 40/120
SFD 7/20
Beauty 9.87/10
Food bank 0/3
Meal out 18/30
Alcohol 0/0
Pounds lost 0

Feeling pretty good about my spends so far. I also might struggle to manage 20 SFD but will do as many as I can. It is good motivation having something to aim for.

I am off work now until Monday and then I am starting to work 5 days until further notice. Hopefully until the school summer hols with a bit if luck. It is only 6 hours a week but makes a big difference to my income.

I have a guardian newspaper on a Saturday but am wondering whether to cancel... It is 2.50 a week and that is 130 a year! I could do quite a bit with that.

I made more choc buns and smash scones yesterday. I am not sure it saves money making cake though as we all eat more cake! It is much nicer than shop bought though

This morning I am going to do some flylady crisis cleaning! That is 15 minutes tidying/cleaning per room as fast as you can x 3 and then a 15 minute break. I am going to start now and do 2 rounds before lunch. My list of rooms are bedroom, utility room, sons room, dining room, lounge and kitchen! See you on the other side!


Update - halfway through, just realised I left this on preview! Time for smash scones and a coffee.

Siouxsie32

Glad you're staying too moomin I do a similar thing with SFDs. I used to preload my Oyster card on payday for the month but I found that by taking my car to yoga and parking at a meter, I saved around £4 per journey. So what I do now is withdraw the cash that I need for the month on payday and keep it in coins in my glove compartment. If it's the only money I've parted with that day, and only if it's for a yoga class, I count it as a SFD.

You said that the challenge is helping you think twice about when you spend and that's the whole point :T