The Wholly Roman July NSD Challenge!

marmiterulesok

Some helpful suggestions and ideas to follow below from our sponsor and godmother, BigMummaF :A

NO SPEND CHALLENGE.

1. Have a good, long think about what YOU want to include in your Spend & Excluded categories.
Some of us count everything from Direct Debits & school expenses, while others do not include things like essential Bills or emergency medical costs. If you plan what is or is not a Spend for you now, it will help you decide on a realistic Target.
2. It is NOT a race!
We all have very different demands on our time & bank balance, so please do not think you have to buy everything on 1st January & make it last till 31st December! A few of us have been following this Challenge for a long...long...LONG time so have developed plans & ploys to help us along the way
3. Most important of all, WE..DO..NOT..FAIL!
Sometimes we can't quite reach our Target, but that is fine Everyone knows how Life will try to trip us up, & that is when you will find us here to help you back on to your feet.

OK, an idea of how some of us do things.
1. What you will or will not include as a 'Spend'.
Some people are doing other challenges too, & don't include the money spent on those for this one.
Some will try to shop for other bits on the days their direct debits etc go out of their bank accounts; they're the real hard core of the bunch & have been l-o-n-g time NSDers so don't panic
Some won't count those annoying last minute demands from school & collections as you can't plan for them in advance, likewise emergency prescriptions or visits to the vet
Personally speaking & providing I don't buy anything else, I don't count parking for hospital appointments.(..but then I usually do my shopping because I'm already out :whistle:)
General thoughts on €bay sales is the buyer has paid P&P so no cost to you
2. It takes Time to reach mega-numbers!
The First suggestion is the first, because a bit of planning will work wonders on your road to your Target. Have a look at thefirst posts each month for a hefty list of other threads that may be of help. For example, there's a few giving ideas for packed lunches so you can avoid standing in the queue at the bakers for 45mins of your lunch hour! A good incentive to tweak your healthy eating & the pounds you save will show in your bank balance AND your waistline
It helps to have various 'money pots' for the different costs that happen like Scouts, dinner money, yoga, window cleaner etc etc. The idea is you "spend" all that money in one hit by..:think:..let's say **putting the week's bus fares into the pretty coffee jar, Jo's tumble tots [Weds mornings] in the cracked teapot & Ben's £1 coin for the gym locker [Friday lunch] in the pocket of the changing bag, on Tuesdays every week when you've got some change from doing the food shop, so an already spendy day. At least four 'spending days' condensed into one (**mine's jam jars for windows, milkman & a bit towards the bills!)
3. Any day the money stays in your pocket is a bonus!
If you look at it as a day you beat the system, you can't help but :j so don't fret it--ENJOY! If nothing else in here, we do manage find something to make us smile

We have virtual outings to wonderful places that never cost us a bean :rotfl:New York, Edinburgh & Brighton have been a couple & nargle usually pilots the Tardis but you can use your own transport; my personal favourite has been a sit-on lawn mower borrowed from the cricket club The only thing to be aware of is Hubert the donkey who is partial to anything remotely edible but is not yet house-trained

And Remember;
there are no silly questions, so don't be afraid to ask us anything!

NewbieJosh

Yeah Kerri, I notice that because even though I've finished school a coupe of weeks early (exams finished early) the Sixth form where I live is right in the town centre.
Every single lunch time the fast food joints are packed with people while the M&S meal deal isle (just an example) is empty.

Im the same though, and have been ever since my mum and dad let me go to town by myself for the first time back when I was about 12. I would easily buy for example a 2.99 KFC Lunchbox over a a same priced salad meal deal at a super market. Just the way youth works. The more I think about it though the total reliance that a lot people of all ages not just teenagers have on fast food, ready meals, or anything that doesn't actually involve any work in preparation is shocking and in the long run must be detrimental to health even if your not a heavy consumer.

Very worrying though, but I don't think that anyone actually thinks about it. Which is the problem really

Knit_Witch

marmiterulesok wrote: »

This might be a new record!

Do you mind me asking,you must have a few allowed spends?

It is a new record for me too! :j:j:j

Allowable spends, paying the bills I pay (milk bill, my CC if needed, pension etc), the thing is this month Dr KW has been off and so he has done all the paying, especially as we are currently away (he even paid for my spa treatment! :T), so this month only I am on a roll (mind you I will be paying for dinner tomorrow night ... probably!;) so my run will end then :rotfl:)

donna_dynamo

Well another 4 nsds this week for me. That makes9 NSDsfor the month . Had my op wednesday gallbladder now gone still in aloy of pain but on the mend. Finding it hard to get about so cant se me spending money, so for every negative there is a positive.:rotfl: . Also swapped my car insurande to save 110 a year which is great

slowlyfading

NSD 11 for me today

kerri_gt

NewbieJosh wrote: »

Yeah Kerri, I notice that because even though I've finished school a coupe of weeks early (exams finished early) the Sixth form where I live is right in the town centre.
Every single lunch time the fast food joints are packed with people while the M&S meal deal isle (just an example) is empty.

Im the same though, and have been ever since my mum and dad let me go to town by myself for the first time back when I was about 12. I would easily buy for example a 2.99 KFC Lunchbox over a a same priced salad meal deal at a super market. Just the way youth works. The more I think about it though the total reliance that a lot people of all ages not just teenagers have on fast food, ready meals, or anything that doesn't actually involve any work in preparation is shocking and in the long run must be detrimental to health even if your not a heavy consumer.

Very worrying though, but I don't think that anyone actually thinks about it. Which is the problem really

There nothing wrong with the odd burger, I was the same when allowed into town on my own, Maccy d's or KFC were part of the culture and it gave us somewhere to go, but it wasn't every weekend, let alone every day.

I consider myself part of the microwave generation, I remember my mums microwave came with a complete book on how to cook in it (full English done in the microwave? ) people like me now have children of their own and some kids of their have grown up with all meals cooked on a '2 1/2 min ding' so no wonder people are losing the skill of cooking from scratch.

Luckily I like cooking and am quite competent in the kitchen, but there's days when i don't have time / inclination to cook so something b pre prepared comes into play. And on really bad days, I'll admit, I just WANT a pot noodle :rotfl:

You seem like a very level headed young man, my best advise is everything in moderation(well more or less ) I think if a lot of us had your outlook when we were your age (and I'm not THAT old) we wouldn't be in the situations we are now.

NewbieJosh

NSD 5
Cheers for the reply and kind words Kerri. I suppose my mum and dad are part of the microwave generation too. Very, very rarely do we every have a meal cooked from scratch. In my opinion it's not from laziness, just from the fact that my mum works a 9-7pm shift, and when she gets back she's simply not in the mood to cook. Then again, plenty of parents can find the balance, so in a way it must be slightly from laziness

Nargleblast

To eat properly requires planning. Most people on these forums, when asked what helps them cut costs and save money, will say meal planning. That means (in my little corner of the universe, anyway) when you get paid, you do a major shopping expedition (and/or get an online supermarket order delivered) then you sit down and plan the main meals for the next week or fortnight or month, however far ahead you want to plan. On a work day, or a day when people are going to be home late, you plan simple, quick-to-cook meals or, alternatively, something that can be prepared in a slowcooker then switched on in the morning and left to cook all day.
On a day when you have all the time in the world to cook, you prepare a nice meal and make sure there are leftovers enough to make a second meal. These leftovers you put in freezer containers in portions then off they go in the freezer, ready to pull out and reheat on those days when you cannot be bothered to cook or simply don't have the time. If you have a selectuon of cold meats and cheeses in the fridge, pickles and chutneys in the cupboard, and a crop of lettuce/tomatoes etc in your garden, you have the makings of a salad-based meal to be served with crisps and fresh bread and butter on those days when it is too hot to cook.
All this may sound pretty obvious to many people who do this sort of thing all the time, but we musn't forget people like NewbieJosh who are just starting out taking an interest in food, or people who never grew up in households where cooking meals was a high priority. Everyone can learn something new, even I pick up new ways of doing things I would never have thought of.

marmiterulesok

donna_dynamo wrote: »

Well another 4 nsds this week for me. That makes9 NSDsfor the month . Had my op wednesday gallbladder now gone still in aloy of pain but on the mend. Finding it hard to get about so cant se me spending money, so for every negative there is a positive.:rotfl: . Also swapped my car insurande to save 110 a year which is great

I'm glad it's all over now.I hope that you'll soon be feeling a lot better.

NewbieJosh wrote: »

NSD 5
Cheers for the reply and kind words Kerri. I suppose my mum and dad are part of the microwave generation too. Very, very rarely do we every have a meal cooked from scratch. In my opinion it's not from laziness, just from the fact that my mum works a 9-7pm shift, and when she gets back she's simply not in the mood to cook. Then again, plenty of parents can find the balance, so in a way it must be slightly from laziness

Maybe you could see this as an opportunity to develop some cooking skills and help out with the meals?Just a thought.....
Oh,and igor has offered to coach you!:eek:

Nargleblast wrote: »

To eat properly requires planning. Most people on these forums, when asked what helps them cut costs and save money, will say meal planning. That means (in my little corner of the universe, anyway) when you get paid, you do a major shopping expedition (and/or get an online supermarket order delivered) then you sit down and plan the main meals for the next week or fortnight or month, however far ahead you want to plan. On a work day, or a day when people are going to be home late, you plan simple, quick-to-cook meals or, alternatively, something that can be prepared in a slowcooker then switched on in the morning and left to cook all day.
On a day when you have all the time in the world to cook, you prepare a nice meal and make sure there are leftovers enough to make a second meal. These leftovers you put in freezer containers in portions then off they go in the freezer, ready to pull out and reheat on those days when you cannot be bothered to cook or simply don't have the time. If you have a selectuon of cold meats and cheeses in the fridge, pickles and chutneys in the cupboard, and a crop of lettuce/tomatoes etc in your garden, you have the makings of a salad-based meal to be served with crisps and fresh bread and butter on those days when it is too hot to cook.
All this may sound pretty obvious to many people who do this sort of thing all the time, but we musn't forget people like NewbieJosh who are just starting out taking an interest in food, or people who never grew up in households where cooking meals was a high priority. Everyone can learn something new, even I pick up new ways of doing things I would never have thought of.

Very well put Nargle.:)

Sazzie23

Nargleblast wrote: »

To eat properly requires planning. Most people on these forums, when asked what helps them cut costs and save money, will say meal planning. That means (in my little corner of the universe, anyway) when you get paid, you do a major shopping expedition (and/or get an online supermarket order delivered) then you sit down and plan the main meals for the next week or fortnight or month, however far ahead you want to plan. On a work day, or a day when people are going to be home late, you plan simple, quick-to-cook meals or, alternatively, something that can be prepared in a slowcooker then switched on in the morning and left to cook all day.
On a day when you have all the time in the world to cook, you prepare a nice meal and make sure there are leftovers enough to make a second meal. These leftovers you put in freezer containers in portions then off they go in the freezer, ready to pull out and reheat on those days when you cannot be bothered to cook or simply don't have the time. If you have a selectuon of cold meats and cheeses in the fridge, pickles and chutneys in the cupboard, and a crop of lettuce/tomatoes etc in your garden, you have the makings of a salad-based meal to be served with crisps and fresh bread and butter on those days when it is too hot to cook.
All this may sound pretty obvious to many people who do this sort of thing all the time, but we musn't forget people like NewbieJosh who are just starting out taking an interest in food, or people who never grew up in households where cooking meals was a high priority. Everyone can learn something new, even I pick up new ways of doing things I would never have thought of.

Thanks Nargle - or even just a reminder for people who forgot how when life suddenly got away from them if you know what I mean. (I'm thinking illnesses, depression, life changing stress that sort of thing, but I guess addiction and extreme work hours would have the same effect). When you come back to the real world, somehow you can have forgotten how to plan for meals, budget, organise your housework and that sort of stuff, so despite it sounding obvious, it's useful to have forums and challenges like this that send us back down the right road.

I'll have a count up later as I've a few more NSD to add to my little pile.