Tuesday 25th March - What small DFW things will you do today?

ziggy2407

When we start out on the Debt-Free Wannabe trail we do loads of big "stuff" that makes quite a difference to our situation. These include having our lightbulb moment, cutting up the credit cards and cancelling Sky and the Gym.

But once we have done the bigger stuff, we often feel that we are not making the same amount of progress, when in fact the small steps are helping us form good financial habits and helping us get closer everyday to staying in control and becoming debt free, or staying debt free...

Examples could be hanging washing out instead of using the tumble dryer or leaving your purse/wallet at home to avoid the risk of spending:money:

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

Hi to all of the regulars and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.

Well yesterday didnt turn out anything like I planned/expected (the boy was sent home from school in the morning), today I have hospital appointments so I have had to ask mum to come up and sit with him, so today I hope to:

Hospital appointments (Opthalmology & Neurology) -
Check Banks
Check swapits -
Packed lunch for DH
Catch up on emails (& unsubscribe from any no longer wanted) -
Catch up on Adpoints -
Look at surveys in inbox -
Read library book -
Get hubster to take me to Post Office after work -
Check Car Insurance -
Get hubster to help me make apple & yogurt cake (to use up wrinkly apples) -
Check www.freepostcodelottery.com -


Have a great day, love you all xx

C xx

MrDebtWarrior

Morning everyone, not been on here in a while and I really have not had my DFW head on.

I'm back on the trail today though so;

- Checked bank - Payday - Have worked out how much I will have once bills come off, will be a quiet month!
- Had breakfast at home
- Brought soup in a flask to work for lunch
- Will not buy tea from the canteen and I will make do with the free vending machine tea/coffee even though it's not that nice lol.

Tonight - will review my spreadsheets and update budget.


Hope everyone has a nice day!!

yorpington

Morning all!

Ziggy I hope your appointments go well today.

Continuing our campaign to bring our food budget down, I've just been to our local butcher. I'm not exactly sure it was cheaper, but the portions are enormous so should stretch further. And it feels good to support local businesses. Tonight I'll be using the sausages I bought to make one of Frugal Queen's recipes. Fingers crossed it's nice!

Today I'll be FINISHING the neverending Mothers' Day cross-stitch project, and planning a new one for a friend who has just had a baby. :T I am thinking of a cushion bearing lyrics from a song which features the baby's name.

Not much else to report today - I'll be updating my envelope totals using my app, and checking bank accounts etc. Have a good day all!

ShootForTheMoon

Morning Gang!!

Thanks for the starter Ziggy, hope your appointments go ok today!
Got most of my list done yesterday, so just a few bits today...

Check banking - all fine

Ring travel insurance company and get them to e-mail a copy of my certificate so I have it handy in my phone for the trip (thanks Ally for the tip!)

Breakfast from stores & take dinner to work - HM Thai green curry, my favourite!!

Glorious day here so no heating on still! Yay!

Go for a run outside - not feeling 100% think it's just tiredness though! Will soon shake it off I'm sure!

Look into getting a credit card - I know... Not very DFW but following a pretty scary conversation with a colleague re: credit ratings last week, think it could be a sensible thing to do if we pay in full each month... Goes against all my instincts though...

Think that's about it my lovelies... Hops you all have a great day!!

Love Shoot x

foxgloves

Afternoon Tuesday Money-savers,
Not generally the best of weeks here at Chez Foxgloves, but am still keeping the faith & keeping busy to keep my mind off things I don't want to be thinking about.
Today's things:
*The thin blue line of rain forecast for a short period this morning has so far lasted ALL MORNING, so laundry is on heated airer. Better than turning heating up to dry it.
*Car passed its MOT against all hope because of the damaged windscreen (Waited in 5 hrs for a well-known car windscreen repair company yesterday, then they rang to say they couldn't make it. 1st job on my list this morning was to email them a b*llocking, but someone phoned to apologise, so I toned it down. Paid for MOT & car tax from Car Piggy. Arranged refund from above company who had already charged us for a new windscreen that we never had. Grrrr. Hassle.
*Baked cake for a big do at mr f's work tomorrow. Just got to fill & ice it.
*Meals as per meal plans. Chicken chow mein. (The chicken breast fillets I got from our local butcher recently - 5kg for £22 - are so enormous that 1 fillet actually serves 2 people. Couldn't believe it but they weigh 8oz each! Shall freeze them as singles next time. So Yorpington, yes, I agree with you about butcher quantities! Ours has a Facebook page & lets customers know what the next weekly offer is going to be).
*Caught up with surveys.
*Made mr f an emergency packed lunch as he decided to alter his flexi-time & had intended to pop in & buy a quick sarnie.
*Made bread.
*Free fitness as did exercise DVD.
*No heating going on until much later....at least 5pm.
*Carry on knitting 2nd sock for present box.
*Revisit meal plans for when family stay over Easter to see how much of it I can make in advance to go in the freezer.
*Measure bathroom window for new curtains (for when new bathroom is finished)....can't see much ready-made that I like, so may make my own. Shop in town does end of rolls of quality furnishing fabrics for decent prices.
That's it for today. Must go & make the ganache to finish off my cake.
Ziggy - Hope your tests go well.
Shoot - Agree re credit cards. mr f & I have got one each. We use only for planned spending that we already budget for i.e all the petrol goes on his card, some of our food shopping goes on mine. We pay them both off in full each month as we've budgeted the money anyway. We just do it for the loyalty vouchers. mr f chose M&S card, as the vouchers are useful for clothes, etc, & I chose John Lewis as I can spend those vouchers on a wide range of stuff, or just towards a food top-up at Waitrose. We haven't reverted to our old spendy ways. Figured we've paid enough interest on cards/loans, etc, in the past, we may as well get something back for it now, so that's what we do. To maximise vouchers, if we have a big item that we've saved cash for, we'll often pay for it on a card, then pop the cash straight in the bank to cover the bill. Yes, you have to be strong, but it's just making the system work for YOU instead of for the financial companies. It works well for us x

ShootForTheMoon

Thanks for the advice Foxgloves - a great way to look at it!! I think it's just going to be about making sure we are ultra-disciplined and don't slip into bad habits!! X

foxgloves

Shoot - Yes, agree! I have a feeling you may be here as an ex-big spender, as am I. The key thing with using a credit card in this way is just to see it as a debit card which is only used for very specific planned purposes & NEVER for credit. We are proof that it can be done, but the 'old me' would never have managed it, for sure!!

xJOJOx_2

Good morning everyone!

I'm off to the dentist again today (making use off free dental before it runs out in august) my sister and partner are taking me and watching children while I go, so hopefully no taxi or bus fares (May need to jump in one if dentist over runs and they have to do the nursery pick up)

Today I will be mainly cleaning, sorted washing out and getting back on top off things.

Went for a Indian last night and only spent £11 so made up as a couple of things happening this week and not much cash so trying to spend very little at each.

Things I need to do ready for tomorrow;

Fill in baby's passport
Get holiday cash off oh to pay off
Check banking
Budget remaining money
Email brother in law re Mother's Day
Think off present for sisters birthday which isn't too expensive

Hope everyone has a lovley day x

xJOJOx_2

Opps I posted on wrong day!! Oh well xx