NSK; The April Power Shower.

ilovetea

Some great/sad/inspirational stories.
Mine is pretty boring. Lived hand to mouth when the children were young,robbing Peter to pay Paul very often.Buying the cheapest things available. You get the drift. Never had any spare money to save.
Forward quite a few years and I'm in a better place financially (and emotionally).
No debt but very little in savings. So I want an emergency fund.
I'm the other side of 60,on a pension and live on my own. Oh,and happy to stay that way.
What I am going to do,
£79 budget for the month.Silly amount but it's what I've got in the house.
20 NSD.Should be possible.
Keep a spending diary to see where the money does go.
No buying magazines,books or crafting materials. This is a very big weakness of mine.
Do any competitions, and surveys I find. Send for any useful freebies.
De-clutter and e-bay a lot .
Try to raise £200 by the end of April.
Maybe add to this list as time goes on.


Today was a NSD so 1/20.

ilovetea xx

abundant1972

Happy 01st April!!!

It's been really nice reading about everyone's stories, so I thought I'd best post mine. Some of you old timers will have heard it all before so hang in there haha...

My parents worked hard for a living - always saving to pay for things and always avoiding getting into debt. However - in hindsight - maybe seeing them having to work 7 days a week and every hour under the sun - made me think I don't ever want to do that! The other unfortunate thing was that money was a 'taboo' subject in our house. I never knew what they earned - it was 'none of my business'. I was never taught about the virtues of saving... about budgeting... about taxes... about how to live.

Consequently - upon leaving home - and moving away - when faced with banks throwing money at me I took it and blew it - living way beyond my means and not ever glimpsing what kind of a future that would create for myself. I was also contending with depressive episodes throughout my teenage years right through to adulthood - largely down to coping with being gay and growing up in a World that seemed very unfriendly and judgemental. I spent as a form of comfort - easing my emotional unhappiness on books, holidays and food. When I came out - whilst being incredibly liberating - I also was suddenly out every night wanting to be on the gay scene around people I felt at ease with. I partied hard and met friends who were older and already working. I was a student at the time and to keep up with them took out loan after loan.

I'm 41 now - I'm still renting a house, have no savings and am still in debt. At it's worst I was maybe 12.5K in debt - I'm now down to under 4K thanks to grim determination, lots of sacrifices and of course guideance and support from all the lovely people on this thread! I've achieved more in the last 2 years than I have my entire life... and for the first time ever - a debt free date is in sight (end of October).

So that's my aim this year - become debt free. I'm on track - and even if I pay no extra off - my direct debit is set to a whopping £560.00 per month which will clear it on auto pilot. I hardly buy any new clothes, haven't had a proper holiday in over 10 years, and live on enough to get by with a few extra treats to keep me sane!... If I can I'm going to get in some overtime and try and bring that date forward by a month or two...

So roll on April... am claiming my first SFD and am full of enthusiasm for this month's challenge!

thriftylass

Hello,

Sorry I won't make this month's challenge. Too knackered and baby not feeding well. But I try to read and rejoin you next month.

Good luck all!

CEW

thriftylass I think you can be excused this month with the new baby. Take the time to get to know her and enjoy the first few weeks together. Hope she starts to feed a little better soon.

Read along and post a quick 'baby' update if and when you get the time. I'm sure we will all love to hear how she, and you, are doing.

Spendy day for me today but a planned one as I did my monthly shop and a dog food shop.

LTW today although I really didn't need much as a colleague and I went out for breakfast today, in the social budget, but she paid. I actually wanted to treat her but will have to think of something else as she is too generous for her own good.

Had a £15 bonus as I won this weekends Football Predictor at work. Currently £52 up on the season so can't actually loose over the whole season. This is someone who knows nothing about football :rotfl:

Might have a nice long bath tonight while OH watches the footie and start to think about what I want in my life. Really need to start making some plans. I have never had problems making plans in the past but then it's a bit different when there is an OH to consider as well :eek:

It has been lovely to read all of the stories and to see the many different challenges you are setting yourselves.

Hope everyone achieves all they set out to achieve.

Chez x

apple_muncher

NSD 1 grabbed today. Phew! A good start to a cheap month. And dh, bless him, got milk and juices on his way home, so that when I finally do do the shopping, I have less to carry.

Got lots of housey stuff done, including going through my wardrobe and removing some stuff for the charity shop. I also finished off a few bits of knitting and sewing up. All in all, a satisfying day.

Tea was leftovers and very scrummy it was too!

lindsaygalaxy

Lovely to hear about everyone. Mine is not that complicated. I grew up pretty poor and always knew how hard my parents had to work. My dad got ill when I was quite young and so we never had any money. I started weekend jobs from when I was 13. Then at 18 I made a VERY bad decision man wise and the next 6 years were debt filled and eventually bankrupt. This year I will finally reach the 6 year mark. I am now with a lovely guy and we are saving for a house.




Today is my 1st NSD

luckystarr

[QUOTE=NinjaSavingKat;65129053

LuckyStarr - you both said you were spending to either have a lifestyles you couldn't afford or to keep up with the Jones'... do you think this was technically "in your head" so to speak that you had to be seen a certain way or was someone putting pressure on you to look a certain way or buy the most expensive things or to keep buying...[/QUOTE]


On reflection it was really all in "my head" and there are certain pressures when your circle of friends are all going out and "living the life" and trying to keep up. Now they are all on the next stages of there life i:e buying houses, getting married and having family's.
So as a woman approaching 30(in august):eek: the panic/ pressure is setting in when we are still in rented accommodation, yes i am engaged (have been for 7 and half years ) and no sign of children(as of yet). If we were debt free my OH said we would be doing these things but the bank say's no at present. which leaves me feeling guilty for being so materialistic !!!

I am trying to be positive but it is very difficult , i have managed a SFD but it has been very tough wanted biscuits (chocolate hob nobs to be honest lol) so nipped to me nan's for a cuppa and got some the shame lol.

Met up with my friend and we did 5k walk we did more talking than power walking but its still exercise .

Tomorrow will be spendy as getting birthday cards and gifts for the month and got an appointment in the morning .

Oh my goodness i have rambled on sorry will check in tomorrow before work off to make something to eat .

Night all x

clippy_girl

hello

today was a bad day as bought my lunch :eek:to be fair it was not really practical to bring it due to what i was doing at work and wanted some chips as we were going to the coast where they are always yum was only £1.25. also posted my ebay parcel as the last bottle of perfume also went for £29 :T

have not gone to the gym as my leg is hurting from the weekend session so have eaten lots still i am now on day 16 of no sugar!!! :A:T

tomorrow i am going to go swimming after work as hopefully it will help my leg and help me in reaching my goal of loosing 5lb this month :cool:

SiannieLaz

Evening All,


No SFD today as I bought veg for the week this morning. I spent all of last night tidying up and it was so lovely waking up this morning to a clean kitchen, living room and bedroom! I was even able to sit at my dressing table and look in the mirror for the first time in ages, as I put away all the clothes that have been living on there for months! I can see my bedroom floor!


Put myself to bed early last night, another thing I always aim for but fail miserably, so was able to get up early before DD woke and was ready for the day by the time she surfaced at 7am. We trotted down the high street, dropped off a ton of Avon brochures, went to the veg shop, then went for a 3 mile walk by the river and were home by 9am! Then the day went downhill DD is nearly two and today officially started the terrible twos, we have had tantrum after tantrum all day. The first started when I asked her if she wanted a cookie whilst opening the tin and she had a complete meltdown! This carried on in much the same vein for most of the day, including screaming for an hour when she went down for her nap. In between, she was her usual happy self but the most ridiculous things have set her off. I've decided to make a sign to take out with us which will say 'Please ignore me, I'm having a tantrum'. I did have an inkling this phase was starting, as they began last week and have been gradually been increasing in frequency. I feel exhausted and my ears are ringing.


Anyhoo, I still managed to eat properly today which is a first, but didn't make much headway into the accounts as planned as I feel asleep on the sofa from 6 - 8 (DD was in bed by half 5!) So I'll spend half an hour on my paperwork before another early night.


Totals today
0/15 SFD
£10.32/£100 food budget
5/30 items decluttered
1/18 Exercise 3x weekly
1/31 Meal plan and eat 3 times a day
£0/£3 food bank
Get all paperwork organised
All a/c I do for others up to date
1/31 Keep the flat looking straight, not the current 'a bomb's just gone off' look
1/31 Update my budget spreadsheet daily
1/31 NO TV


Have a good night All xxx

mooomin

• Post daily: 1/30
• Decluttering: 0/100
• Jobs applied for: 0
• Exercise: 0/20
• SFD: 1/15
• Travel (bus): £1.50/£40
• Food: £0.99/£150
• Petrol: 0/£100
• Misc spends: 0/£160

Not a bad first day. Sadly my plans for exercise were entirely ruined by the weather (mince) but my only spends today were from allocated budgets - food and bus - and not from Misc Spending which is what ruins SFDs for me. I wonder if anyone else follows that logic?!