NSK July: Back to Basic’s.

speakingofart

Checking in here - only spend yesterday was a prescription, but today is my last arranged outing and then I'm on holiday, so hasn't been a great month for NSDs. Hoping for better things in August once I'm back and a fairly small amount of spending whilst I'm away, because it's caravanning in Cornwall, so not much to spend money on!

dolly84

Loveadove - horrible news, hope you get sorted soon.

Abundant - I use tinned tomatoes in chilli, pasta sauce, bolognese, poured over chicken breasts and cooked in the oven.

Tiptoes - have you got the clip in shoes and pedals? The thought of those terrify me, I need to know I can get my foot down quickly. Is is hilly where you live? Me and DH are keen cyclists but Yorkshire is so hilly, we can't go more than 100 yards from home without a hill the upside to that is we now have quads and glutes of steel:rotfl:.

Plan for today is making homemade bread rolls and a small loaf, the rolls are for tea with hm pork burgers, cleaning the floors downstairs and the outside of the french doors. After lunch me and the kids will cycle to my mum and dads, I will leave them there and go for a run then cycle home with them. Tonight we are canoeing.

MagicCat

Hello all,

Finally a SFD yesterday, hooray! I was really tempted to buy a cold drink when out, but I'm so embarassed by my rubbish SFD total I resisted. Should be another today, so I'm improving a bit!

Nothing exciting to report from me, my mum is bringing my nanna to visit at the weekend so trying to clear as much dust as possible before she arrives. Still awaiting final finishing touches from builders :mad:

Fmess - security and new looks are well worth it!

Loveadove - so sorry to hear your news, take care of yourself, I hope something will come up soon.

Oldestgnome - what a lovely thing to do!

CEW - it sounds like exciting times for you with those decisions - it must be a bit scary, but it sounds like you could be making some lifechanign decisions!

phoenix - I am totally with you on renovations - it's so hard to budget, but you're right, it's not like a spend on something that is gone in a minute, it is an investment as you say. The only reason I'm under this month is things have ground to a halt waiting for a few finishing touches by the builders before I start the DIY stuff. Tiles are a nightmare - however carefully I calculate, we always seem to use more!

Dolly - all your exercise sounds amazing - is canoeing something you do regularly? I see people in canoes on the river here and it looks fun if a bit scary (I am not a very confident swimmer).

SFD 6/15 (4 days away spends from holiday budget only)
Groceries 125.53/160
Petrol 123.99/120
Exercise 17/25
House 5.08/25
Birthdays 23.25/25
illegal spends 20.65/0 (charity raffle tickets/goddaughter magazine/taxi/facewash)

Calling14

Hi I am back:j

Just reading everyone's news.

First thanks for all your kind messages, funeral went well, sad knowing my sister in law planned it. Her message throughout the poems, readings was to keep smiling.

Had too busy a week last week, resulting in pulling my back out on Monday. Paid to get it reset yesterday. But still off work today rolling around in agony. Sitting up hurts a lot, so tomorrow only in work half day so will try to return then. More gutted had to spend £35 not budgeted for.

Loveadove. Gutted for you, seems to be very short notice of redundancy. Good luck job hunting.

Had a lot of nsd over last week, basically too many bdays I need money for.

Not long until August, so looking forward to starting afresh both budgeting and dieting.

Kat would take the extra money and stay with us lovelies a week longer.


Spreadsheet. Updating tomorrow as it is on works computer.

stewby

The joys of nightshifts... another 3 spend-free days. Not only that but OH is on late shift which means I can't eat with him. As a result, I am eating at my parent's house so free food!!!
:j

So.... now up to 10 spend-free days. Not sure if I am going to get 15... but I am going to bloody well try.


Confession time... budget was a disaster. have ended up spending on the credit card due to running out of money.


However... we are starting the split food budget from 1st August!! So now I only need £60 a month for the food budget and OH is going to contribute £15 a week.
This means that we start off with £75 in the pot and then we keep topping it up every week.
I have every intention of this being too much... but at the end of the month we are going to put the leftover money in the savings pots. Positivity rules!!


I am so sorry to hear about your job loveadove. we are waiting to hear about OH's job (although he is agency). His work is maybe getting bought over and he might be let go. We find out on Thursday (although his work said that last thursday then just told everyone they were "on track").
I hope your applications are successful and you aren't out of work for long.
Hugs.

I think that must be the most heart-breaking thing in the world calling... going to a funeral knowing that the person passed planned it all themselves.
Our funerals are generally a celebration of life so we tend to head to the pub after the church service and interrment... and just tell each other stories about the person who passed.
Hugs.

Hope everyone is doing okay.
Hugs (wow, lots of hugs today).

Fmess

Hi all,

SFD number 12 today and there is noway I am Leaving the house again so no danger of spending.

Spent the day doing free stuff (work, cleaning and the gym) and feel rather pleased that I am occupying myself without spending. Maybe there is hope for the rest of the summer holidays and the budget.

Did a swim at the gym and lots of lugging boxes at work, so definitely earnt one exercise point today (plus dog walking this morning).

Need to sit down tonight and sort out the budget for next month, although have another unknown cost (electrician) so I'll just have to have a budget everything else and whatever is left could be electrician money Or go to the debt

liltdiddylilt

Hello everyone. Have not had a SFD as picked up Jellytots new shoes from Clarks and paid with my card. Mum had already given me the cash for it last weekend, so not really my spend, but still. Funnier yet is that Him insisted on paying me the money for them as well, even though he knew Mum had paid? So I am £25 up! LOL. I made him give it to me in cash, meaning I don't have to take any money out of my bank for the £2 of eggs tomorrow. Got my colleague to change a £5 note for change, and the rest is in my purse untouched. I put the cash for the egglets in an envelope in my desk drawer at work this afternoon, so tomorrow will be a SFD! :j

Viewed Jellytots new nursery today. Immediately decided on putting her in there for the full amount of hours and completely dropping the old one. To say it is better is an understatement of epic proportions. She has a curriculum in this one, and 3 parents evenings a year! She's 2!! Lol. She is going to thrive there. At the viewing, she casually walked away from us, while form filling, and into a nearby room, where there were 3 children reading stories with a nursery nurse. She walked in, shut the door on us after cheerfully saying 'Bye! See you later!' and sat down with them. Think she will be fine!

Got my exercise in, another 4 miles added to the tally.

Calling - I know it is a horrible circumstance, but I would like to have some input in my own funeral one day (far far away touch wood!) as I tihnk it would give me a degree of comfort to know I had left messages and an imprint of myself on the day even though I wasn't there if you know what I mean. I hope it wasn't too painful a day for you and you start to move forward a bit now. Hugs!!

Dolly, what a huge amount of exercise you do!! Incredible!

Loveadove, how you doing today? Thinking of you...

Oldestgnome - I want you to live near me!! I like free ice lollies

Hope you all have a lovely evening. I am off to find out how cheap I can get YNAB between referrals and 10% off etc. Not til August though!!

abundant1972

Evening everyone!

Really sorry to hear about your job Loveadove. What about checking what benefits you may be entitled to in the short term whilst you are looking for jobs - just in case things take longer than expected? At least it might help out a little...? Let's hope an even better job comes up for you...

Quiet day here... made a bean and lentil chilli which was yummy and will get 4 meals out of it. Have rice, pitta and pasta so that's my meals sorted I think until pay day!!!

Have a nice evening folks!

TiptoesDB

Calling that sounds heartbreaking... it was hard enough at my dad's funeral, but if he'd have planned it I think I would have lost it completely. I hope you got to smile through the tears a little and celebrate her life as she would have wanted...

Dolly yes, its the clip in ones! I have the pedals, and the shoes should arrive soon - ebay tells me they have been posted. I am terrified too! I am in Yorkshire too, but a flatter bit than your bit though by the sounds of it! It's more gentle rolling hills and quite a lot of flat here. I am anxious about trying them, but everyone I have spoken to says you never look back and they make cycling so much easier. I will let you know when I brave them - I am sure I will take the odd comedy tumble to start with!

My totals have cheered me up today, and realising we are near the end of the month... I just might make it! NSD and a swim done this morning before work (which I really didn't think I would to be honest!).

• 12/15 SFDs
• £143/£160 food
• 14/20 Exercise


Have a good evening folks x

CEW

Hi All,

As promised back today with my totals

First the positives:

SFD - 12/15 - I should reach this with no problems as I'm pretty sure I can claim at least 3 more in the next 8 days :j

Exercise - 17/15 - Really been putting in the effort to walk as much as possible. I must admit that I am counting walking up and down stairs at work as one exercise session on conditions I do this at least twice a day as well as additional walking. I am already feeling the benefit and aim to improve each month until I get to the stage where I can go back to the gym. :j

Now for the finances. All of my budgets go from payday to payday so I only have 4 days left for July as I am paid on 28th of each month.

Groceries - £164.80/£120 - :eek: This is bad BUT I have been sticking to £150 a month for so long that I have finally had to restock on some items, plus we spent quite a bit on food for BBQ's when stepson came down for a weekend. I do have quite a bit in the cupboards and freezer so plan on a cheaper month in August.

Pets - £59.01/£60 - just in budget and I don't think I will need to buy anything more before payday. Next month will be a lot cheaper as I will not have to buy medication etc for the rescue chicks we got at the end of June :j

Petrol - £180.51/£120 - This month was always going to be a test as we got a new car at the end of June and were not really sure how well we would do on the fuel economy. In addition to this OH has carried out lots of rescues for a local animal charity and has so far accrued over £190 in travel expenses. Not really sure whether to claim this as a win or a fail :rotfl:

Personal - £37.89/£50 - This covers everything from ice creams to soft drinks to books or office collections etc. I allow £50 for the month so I don't feel guilty having the odd treat. Some of this also goes towards savings as any £2 coins are put into piggy and most of my change goes into the change pot every few days :j

Illegal spends - £32/£40 - I gave myself a budget for this as I knew I needed new work shoes as all of mine were past it. I did manage to get 2 pairs of leather boots in a sale for the £32 so really pleased with this :j

All in all not too bad when I really look at it. Very disappointed with the grocery budget as I have been doing so well but I suppose if I have one bad month then I'm still doing much better than before and when I look at it I'm less than £15 over my normal budget albeit I still have 4 days to go.

Regarding the 1 hour of TV a day I am afraid that I must call that a mega fail as my TV has only been on 3 times so far in July so I have not managed to watch anywhere near my 1 hour a day :rotfl: :rotfl: In fact on 2 of those occasions I left OH watching it while I went up for a bath. The good thing is OH has not really missed it and when it has gone on he has complained about the c**p that was on :T Do you get the impression I don't like TV

Sorry for the mega post but I just wanted to get everything down so I can rejoin the thread after being AWOL this past week or so.

See you tomorrow with a very much shorter post.

Chez x

ps: Fmess I haven't seen the Aldi voucher advertised in the weekly email but you might want to check the paper tomorrow as it is usually towards the end of the month and so should be either tomorrow or next Thursday. If I see it I will post in the morning.