NSK;The Tortoise and The Mad MARCH Hare!!!

cottage_retreatist

hello all! NSD numero 2 and got no plans to do any spending any time soon!!

Cooked a chicken and made a giant Nigella mac and cheese and 4 portions of that have gone in the freezer, nom nom

Roast supper has been devoured but now too lazy to do the washing up

my next weekend is scheduled for de-cluttering the cupboard under the stairs, tonight its all about de-cluttering my mind for some zen time before work starts again tomorrow :eek:

more debt dds go out tomorrow so hopefully can up this month's amounts! yay!

hugs to all x

NinjaSavingKat

Good Evening Contenders / Torties (Great name Pheonix)


So I see we are all raring to go this month with SFD's already apearnig, decluttering galore, spread-sheetary balancing, determination to be debt free this month (Mrs GSR:T) and generally DS's being super ungrateful... Mothernerd boot him out.. then he can aint his cardboard box under the local bridge...(kidding)...

SFD yesterday for me. Forgot my Cineworld card ( massive :mad::mad::mad:) so Mr Archer was very kind and paid for it for me, treats from Wholefoods (lots of treats) and we had a nice easy evening...

Had to buy petrol today though as I am doing March on the bike to work and I can here the rain belting down outside already!!!:(:(:( However it means I can get up at about 0500 instead of 0400 and there will be no walking albeit there's a distinct chance I will get lost tomorrow morning.. first ride from the new house and all that...

FINALLY tonight when I got home the two ebayers who have been giving me the run around about collecting their "winning bids" actually turned up within an hour of each other and collected their trash - only made about £6-£8 and am goin to rethink "collection only" bids unless they are really worth the hassle....

So I re-arranged my cupboards tonight while my vegan mac&cheese was baking! I like my seeds, cranberries, nuts and such like in jars... condiments and such like in another cupboard and everything facing forwards... I have very limited fruit and veg so that might be on the list for tomorrow..

Wll be settling my spreadsheet tomorrow at work just to make sure I am on track. Someone mentioned cat food which made me realise I hadn't budgetted it in this month and will have to rethink my plan of attack.... can't have the moggy starving....

Rght enough witterings form me... Lubava you have been numbered. Welcome...

I am a little worried about Abundant's absence though... I have messaged him and heard nothing back....:(

Okay folks - Good Night and Onwards and Upwards to the end of this very long month!!!

chickadee

***Can I join in please NSK?***


I'm a bit of a late starter this month because I've not logged on for a week or so and I didn't see the post, but better late than never.


I really like this month's theme. Although it is good to have someone crack the whip every now and again an give us targets we might not have thought of, or set for ourselves, it is good to set our own targets once in a while as well.


This month these are mine:


SFDs - 15. I managed this ok last month so I'll have another go.
Exercise - 12 gym sessions + 4 runs. I need to make sure I get value from my gym membership and when I go I enjoy it but sometimes I can't be bothered to get myself into gear so hopefully making it part of the challenge will help. The running bit is just to keep ticking over. I used to do lots of running but less so now.
Grocery Challenge - £240 I failed miserably last month but I'm determined to do better this month.
Meat Free Days - 14 Again, a personal target and not one I reached last month but it is still in my mind to get to this.
Lunch to Work - 16 days - I have a couple of days off so won't be taking lunch on those days and this allows for a few lazy days.
Toiletries to Food Bank - £3
Cycle or walk to work - 4 days. I live close enough to walk or cycle and now that the evenings are getting lighter I will do this at least once a week.
Spending Diary - I have counted the cash in my purse so I'll see if by the end of the month I can account for everything I spend.


It has been a lovely weekend. It was my step-son's birthday yesterday so I promised myself I would bake him a cake. We haven't always got along too well. He had a lot of difficulty accepting me at first, not helped by his mother poisoning him against me for a good few years at first. After 12 years though, he has finally accepted me and we get along really well now. Thanks to the wonderful Mary Berry we enjoyed a delicious Death by Chocolate cake decorated with chocolate fingers all the way round and white and milk chocolate buttons on the top. Having seen all the oil, butter and chocolate that has gone into it I can confirm that it is aptly named! I don't know how Mary Berry stays so slim!


We are off to the lakes next weekend on a cheapie weekend deal. Hopefully it will have stopped raining by then so we can get out and about onto the fells and enjoy some walking and some lovely views.


We have been talking about our summer holiday. I am the only one who can have a full two weeks. OH has a big cycle event in September which is taking up a lot of holidays so we were thinking of renting a villa/cottage for two weeks and OH staying for a while and DS and his GF staying for part of it as well. If it is abroad it needs to be near a cheap light airport so I'll start looking on the internet for something. Ideas anyone? Not bothered if in the UK or overseas as long as the flights are cheap.


Need to put my claim in to the PO for a lost ebay parcel. Hopefully it won't be problematic, but I will have lost £17 on it as I can only get £20 compensation.


I have soup on the hop, gently bubbling away, which will do me for a few meals. I'll freeze it in individual portions for when I need it.


Right, time to get ready for bed, once the soup is done. Night all!

lotti379

:hello:

Well I am back from spending the weekend at OH's parents, where I have been fed so much! OH's mum even sent me off with a ham sandwich for the journey..!

Kitchen declutting hasn't happened though, as I came away with a load of my tupperware I'd sent OH (with baking in it), a pack of cafetiere coffee, a saucepan, an egg poacher, a pair of tongs and a pepper mill! In my defence, my last housemate had a fully stocked kitchen, and the new one doesn't really cook... :cool:

I'm not sure whether to count Saturday as an SFD as, although I didn't spend on Saturday itself - I spent it on Friday, so in Feb, but it was March's money. If you see what I mean?!

Anyway, totals are:

SFDs: 0/15 ???
Groceries:£3/£80
Entertainment & Miscellaneous: £12.85/£90

Off to Ald! tomorrow, so no SFD again! Must try harder!

[Deleted User]

Evening all!

Just checking in with my first update, had a great and pretty frugal weekend, total spends £1.70! Saw a play but was given free tickets as my dad had helped the writer with their research. He also bought us tea and scrummy hm cake in the interval - £1 for both! Bargain. DD loved the show and it was really educational as well as very very funny. Then today did some jobs for various rellies, and went to a lecture being given by...my dad! Also free entry there so total spends were for raffle tickets and parking. Then went out for a big family meal and both DD and I had dinner bought for us. So we were hugely grateful all weekend! Only just home now though and very weary! One great thing about helping these relatives with jobs is they nearly always send us away with a food parcel, today its 6 portions of hm soup (diff flavours), some leftover crumble and custard, and some hm marmalade. That will make such a difference as the food budget is so tight over these next 2 months. In food credit so far as DD won some lemon curd in said raffle, and a friend who we normally feed a few times a month when he travels past on a long journey popped by unexpectedly, but bought big slab of cheese and loaf of bread to make toasties. There was plenty left after he had gone! So all in all, we are very grateful to friends and family, very well fed, and content!
Icing on the cake = furniture has finally sold - another little bit towards the debt mountain!

NSD 1 / 14
Food 0 / 80 until May!!!!
Fuel 0 / 65 but the light is on...

Fmess

Evening all, quick check in as I was meant to be asleep half an hour ago!

No SFDs so far. Did food shopping on Saturday and went to see family today. Spent only £6 today and had budgeted £20 so rather pleased.

Off on a work trip tomorrow so need to payout and then claim expenses but if I resist any other spends, I'm still calling it a SFD

Night all

mothernerd

Condolences and hugs to Iwillsucceed.

Thanks to Buffy and Lottie379 but DS3 wasn't bothered about having the room painted -it's part of my 'getting the house fit to sell' drive. And I can't kick him out Kat because he's paid his rent up until his April grant comes in and I persuaded him to apply for a proper student account this year and then borrowed some of his interest free overdraft to pay towards the damp proof course (our bank wouldn't let me have one when I was a student- got to get the money out of them some way).

Anyway today he thanked me for putting some of his delicate models out of the way and asked me what I wanted as he was ordering from the Chinese takeaway (I know he has just got an extra bursary - I'm so poor the university sends him odd bits of money in addition to his grant) but don't tell Kat or she will send the ninja assassins after me (I didn't ask it was given).

Second spend free day. Should have been back up a ladder but we put his curtains up (I told him what to do and he did it) and his drawers and other things. Then I asked if we could go through his wardrobe - 2 t-shirts to the rag bag (replaces what I used painting yesterday), 1 jacket for the cs, 6 things needing mending ( -he will learn to sew a button on) and some pants I can wear to exercise class(not a great look but will help out for the next few weeks). Then I rounded up all the dry washing and sheets (he said they should be in the little bedroom) and I said no,your bedding should be kept in your room (and will leave the house when you do - advanced clutter clearing) and one of the drawers in his bed must be cleared in the next week to make room for it. All underwear away,socks paired and 7 leftovers thrown away. SO Clutter 1/30.

Then he remembered I said we only had to do 3 things a day. In the kitchen I have thrown away all the old scrubby pads and the washing up brush is going -if I don't have a new one,I know someone who has been given one by Santa in his stocking for at least two of the last three years.

chickadee

Well done Mothernerd. At least DS sounds more grateful than he did. My son is similar - flies off the handle and really like a teenager one minute (he is 18) and really grown up and understanding the next minute. All part of becoming an adult I suppose. At least with the DPC loan he has his uses

NinjaSavingKat

Morning all!!

( Chickadee you are in! You are also the last. No more Contenders until next month now please.)

Sooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! I used the motorbike this morning. I think I left at 0545 and got in at 0715. It was a new route, I got lost once, then relented and plugged Google Maps App into my ears and was guided into work albeit later than I would have wanted.

I hate it. Thinking now that I have to do the same thing AGAIN to get home is enough to make me cry. It's tiring although so was the walking, it's frustrating (too many traffic lights and cars...:rotfl:) but there is no way around it. I simply do not have the money for the train this month. I need the break from getting up at 0400 and walking...

At least this way I can go straight to the cinema from work without going home, walking to the house for 40 minutes, getting the bike, riding for 20 minutes and then home after two hours sat in my bike gear... Ahhhh the life I lead. Thrilling isn't it that this is my only concern...

Mothernerd.. I was kidding. I would never suggest kicking out one of your (not so) little ones... I won't send the Ninja don't worry. I used to do the same for Mumsy when I was at Uni (I think) - albeit our family swaps between money to prevent any extra need for the bank so if I need £30 but my brother owes my mother, he will send it to me instead.. although this isn't very often now and I would prefer giving Mummy money now to pay something that incur late payment fees etc or her going to the bank - this is smart thinking really...

Crazy_Lady those food parcels sound superb.. I have never thought to do that for someone... do they know you love them or just give them to you as they are surplus..?


Oh look.. I have to work..... imagine that! ...:(:(:(:(

MrsGSR

Morning, a quick one from me today.

Last night I asked DH to buy some juice from work and checked his shopping purse to see how much money was in there as he had bought a few bits in the week.
The same amount of money was in there!:mad::mad: which means he used his account, he said its cos he bought wine and beer and said he didn't want yo put it through as two transactions! :mad::mad:

Argh! :wall:

I told him by doing that I wasn't getting a realistic picture of how much was being spent so said to him YET AGAIN that if he did that he would not be getting any additional money for shopping from me, he said oh but I'm skint! ARGH! As I said to him that was his problem and not mine as he chose not to put it through as two transactions.

How can someone be so aware of paying off debts yet not understand that his excessive spending is putting him in his overdraft? Yes so I have debt but I am paying it off at a much faster rate! I really don't think he will have an LBM so I've given up hope. I don't know what else to do!

I will be still taking full control of the family finances and he can deal with his own. for that reason I am changing my signature to the debt I have.

Sorry for that rant but it's so blooming infuriating!

Other than that all is good here! Better get off to toddler group now! on the upside today will be a SFD, every cloud and all that.