NSK July: Back to Basic’s.

NinjaSavingKat

Good Morning Campers!!!

What a glorious day it is as we welcome our frugal July with a grin on our faces! Great to see some noobs with us as well - WELCOME to YOU! - and great to see June Bugs back for more! :T:T:T

My legs are slowly starting to seixe up - yes that's right peeps - I made it to the train station in one piece. Probably should not have gone to the gym to do HIIT (high intensity interval training) on a static bike last night but you live and learn...

My goals for the month....

• Get to the gym 4 times a week for a weights session.
• Cycle to the train station every week day.
• Try and weasel 3 more overtime shifts for the month (Got 2 already).
• Keep within my £30 weekly food budget (was gonna be £150 - lowered to £130 - a lot for one person but as a vegan my products are expensive)
• One leaving do and one friend visit - scheduled thankfully for the same day - two birds and all that - keep to a minimal food / drink spend.
• Plan and start writing articles for my travel blog.
• Try not to fall asleep at my desk.
• Use my cinema card once a week at least.

There - not to bad eh?

I need to go consolidate my spreadsheet now. I did my beauty shop (£13) yesterday and my food shop (£28) so I am in for some SFD's this week but I like to plan and plot where all the pennies went.

I have my rucksack with me today and forgot all my receipts at home = gutted!!!

That will be my fun-time this evening then...;- )

NinjaSavingKat

homemademama wrote: »

Illegal purchases (clothes, beauty etc) ~ 0/0

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

mooomin

Check in daily: 1/31
SFDs: 0/15
Food budget: £0/£130
Outings: 0/5
Exercise: 0/16
Illegal items (clothes/beauty/shoes): 0/0

I'm not going to record SFDs/exercise until the following day because last month I got myself in a right fankle by recording my intentions, not what had happened

Once again, I'll be counting a SFD as anything where all I buy is food. I'm pretty good at keeping a lid on my food spending, but £130 seems like it might be a big ask :eek:

cottage_retreatist

checking in for the first day to say hello!
and sorry for being so absent last month - it was tough getting through with only one paycheck (its really starting to burn) and not being able to make any debt payments (above minimums) always depresses me - but I was amazed how resourceful we were with what we had and we spent the least amount ever on food I think last month!

So this month will also be tight, before OH brings some money in.

My goals this month:
Money -

• Food: 65/150 - for 2 adults and a hungry kitty! This includes all toiletries/household goods etc
• Transport: 0/6.00 - we have a trip scheduled for Friday across town
• Train tickets: 0/~30.00 - want to buy them early for August to save money
• OH haircut: 0/35.00 - keeps him happy and looking smart! For his new job! :cool:
• Debts: 115.00/150.00 - minimum payments only this month
• Tights: 0/5.00 - desperately need some tights that aren't 80 denier so I can wear more than 1 skirt to work in this heat! :eek:
• Contingency: 0/20.00 - going to keep this cash in the house for emergencies (tobacco and breakdowns mainly!)

Exercise - still trying to do the T25 at home, so will push on with that! Need to keep the motivation up. And walking to and from work 40 minutes each way!

Blog - started a new blog so going to try and keep that up! :j

Big hugs and luck for the month ahead to everyone!
I am grateful for such a wonderful bunch of people, and NSK of course, for keeping me motivated, even in tough times! :j:j:j

xx

NinjaSavingKat

mooomin wrote: »

Once again, I'll be counting a SFD as anything where all I buy is food. I'm pretty good at keeping a lid on my food spending, but £130 seems like it might be a big ask :eek:

Why is this? An SFD is where you don't spend ANYTHING. The only exempt food is yellow sticker items...

How many people for £130 - or is that just you? This is the same amount for me though..

I divide it by 4 weeks (although July is a bit longer I am will live on scraps) and put each weeks money into a post-it note and seal it in cellotape - you look like a right eejit unwrapping it in the supermarket therefore you don't... and you think twice about what you are buying...

I'm sorry I am a little weird. :o:o

NinjaSavingKat

CEW - as per your kind offer I have moved you down to the very end and renumbered you to give Stewby number 8.

Wimbledon is acceptable by the way........

apple_muncher

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Wimbledon is acceptable by the way........

Woohoo! :j:j:j

mooomin

NinjaSavingKat wrote: »

Why is this? An SFD is where you don't spend ANYTHING. The only exempt food is yellow sticker items...

How many people for £130 - or is that just you? This is the same amount for me though..

Mainly because no matter how well I plan there's no way to predict when we're going to run out of milk or bananas. I always fail on milk and bananas Any time I include food I fail on SFDs within the first week and just give up. This works for me.

£130 will be for me, Mr Mooo and our cat.

dolly84

Today will be a SFD - yay.

cottage - do you have a link to your blog?

This month we have two birthdays, one is FIL which I have budgeted for and the other is an unexpected invite for DS so I will have to think carefully about what I will buy for that one.

NSK - I started cycling in March and the effect it has had on my legs and bum is nothing short of miraculous, my bum is about 3 inches higher now. Like you I don't do things by half so when I say cycling I don't mean a pootle about with the kids.

Exercise and weight loss is chugging along nicely and I may add a class or two in this month to break up my routine a bit.

We have an excursion planned this weekend which involves £7 on train fares, we are going to see The Tour in a town a short train ride away, I can hardly wait, it should be spectacular and it's a once in a lifetime for us to see it so close to home and I can't miss it. We will take a packed lunch of course:D.

MagicCat

Hello everyone,

Lovely to see you all for the first day of the challenge.

moomin - you are amazing with your food budget!

homemademama - I love the illegal spends category too - I'm going to add it too if you don't mind as will inspire me NOT to put anything in it.


Should be an SFD for me today, and have done a gym class and went for a little walk before work rather than getting in early - I'm so busy, but am really trying not to do too many hours I will never be paid for. Lovely bright morning so it was a really nice start to the day!

SFD 0/15
Groceries 0/160
Petrol 0/100
Food 0/160
Exercise 1/25
House 0/25
Birthdays 0/25
illegal spends 0/0