Sat 26th and Sun 27th July - What small DFW things will you be doing this weekend?

allydowd

When we start out on the DFW 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 .

So be proud of those small steps, they really are important. :money:

allydowd

MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:

• A Girl Called Jack, cheap recipes ( Link )
• Benefits check-up ( Link )
• Birthday Bingo, daily free game ( Link )
  
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery (Link)
• FreeStuff ( Link )
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• MSE Boost Your Income page. Gateway to lots of money-making links. ( Link )
• MSE Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• Nectar Points, AdPoints, Search Toolbar ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Clubcard Free Movies and TV Shows Online ( Link )
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )

Morning DFW-Jedis,

Today I will:

Do i-Say surveys.

Do Nectar AdPoints.

[STRIKE]Plant mushroom spores[/STRIKE] in the horse manure-based compost we acquired yesterday. OH tried growing mushrooms before but accidentally sewed the spores in a compost that contained a fungus-killer! We got a great leaflet from Thompson and Morgan this time to help us out. (Link) That's done. Now to wait two to three weeks for the mushrooms to form 'cobwebs'.

[STRIKE]Spend the morning gardening before the rain sets in.[/STRIKE] While we were out there we picked three golf-ball sized beetroots for lunch in a pitta bread with half an orange and half a nectarine. Then saved the boiled water from the beetroot to colour the boiled rice tonight. And saved the orange zest for adding to Saturday afternoon tea muffins.

Offers:

Free Bacon Breakfast Sub at Subway before 11am when you buy a newspaper, or find one on the train. (Link)
re due out on or around 10th August.

Happy Saturday everyone...I'll be back to post any Freebies or Offers I find when the rain sets in later. :rotfl:

jodles16

Have decided to go for a nice purple font today! After missing out on the last two days as I was away on training I wanted to start the weekend with positivity!

Well, I am toying with the idea of doing a wash but its looking ominous out there and dont want to have to use the old tumble!

Last two days I have been on training, train journeys etc all paid for by work which is good!

I have read more of the books already on my Kindle, so no spend there! I have also moved all my money round today, got paid! Woop woop! Though my old employer has also paid me! Have moved that money straight out so they can take it back and I wont have touched it. First pay day of new job and am on emergency tax (seems some problem with not unemploying me from my previous job). But still more money than I would usually be paid!

We are hoping to move house at the end of August, start of September so have put more money into our house account to help cover costs of moving and putting up a decent fence in new house (darn nosy bouncy dog requires this)! Have moved money into my own savings account too, this will either go towards christmas or some will go on overpayments, but whilst waiting to move Im loathe to end up short on money so keeping it to the side!

Have looked on anyvan, and had some brilliantly competitve house moving quotes which are hugely cheaper than the big companies so saving money there!

Anyways, have caught up on some surveys and im heading off for food shopping soon!

Have a brilliant weekend everyone!

Jodles :rotfl:

Bagpuss741

Today I have/will:

1. Checked online banking (direct debit has finally gone out)
2. NSD
3. Made welsh cakes (eaten way too many of them already:D)
4. Cleaned/disinfected cat bowls/mats
5. Surveys
6. Washing on line
7. Read free kindle book
8. Visit my nan and get a free feed:) She always fancies a takeaway when I am there.
9. Set budget for next week.

Have a great weekend fellow dfw's

foxgloves

Hi Weekend Savers,
Today's small things:
*Overnight wash on Economy 7 tariff, all line-drying in this beautiful sunshine.
*mr f had to work & has the car, so an NSD for me (too hot to even think about the bus or walking!)
*Watered the veggie garden.
*Picked tomatoes & a couple of courgettes.
*Sorted all financial admin, dealt with it & filed it.
*Reconciled July's budget. Grocery budget was overspent by princely sum of £4. We're much better at sticking to our budget than we used to be. Our pre LBM budget was £320 per month for 2 people plus cat, & that didn't include naughty top-up shops for treats, endless coffees & paninis while out & about & frequent take-aways. I now budget £250 a month, & £200 if we need the £50 to go somewhere else. Suspect could do on less if emergency budget needed putting in place.
*Set August's budget. A couple of variable expenses to cost up, if not too bad, should be able to transfer a very small amount to the bathroom fund.
*Updated a couple of new amounts on my spreadsheet as we now have Pet Insurance again, & Labour Party subs had increased a few pence.
*Checked to see if my UGov money is in our account yet. Nope!
*Did surveys.
*Checked a voucher I received for my birthday to see that it isn't suddenly due to expire before we've used it. No, it's fine. It's for afternoon tea for two at 'Betty's'......who'd want to lose out on their lovely cakeypoos? Not me!!
*Found all other giftcards/shopping vouchers, etc, ready for city centre trip tomorrow. Also put Clothes Piggy money in my bag so can keep budgets straight if we see any bargains. Neither of us really need anything. I'd love a black maxi-dress but can't find any I like, so if this continues, money saved there!
*Still on my 'Use-it-up' campaign (Ziggy, are you still doing this? How are you getting on?) Have just finished a foundation which lasted an extra week by getting a coffee stirrer into the last unreachable bits, finally finished a weird lip-gloss which was more like neat super-glue with a bit of sparkle in it, got an extra hair wash by swilling out the empty shampoo bottle, have cut down a face scrub tube & found a great big wodge of it left so another 2 or 3 weeks there & am working my way through some quite expensive loose leaf 'Happy' tea I bought from a herbalist before I buy myself any more posh teabags!
*All free leisure/entertainment today as will shortly be decamping to the garden with my book, knitting & magazine.
*Checked toiletries stash. Wrote list of small bits & bobs I need to buy, one of which was hair conditioner, then found new unopened bottle in my stash, so crossed it off my list. OK, so the amount I'd have spent on a new one would only have been small, but that's £2 - £4 back in the grocery budget.
That's it from me,
f x

allydowd

solvencyseeker wrote: »

I'll be interested to know if the wasp thing works Ally, they drive me nuts at this time of year - so persistent - and we need to have the windows and back door open as the house is like an oven.

So, we've had the fake nest in place hanging beside the back door with the back door open on and off for the last twenty-four hours. So far we've had just one wasp indoors compared to about one an hour for the last week.

ClootiesMum

Thanks Allydowd - free breakfast this morning was much appreciated
And the remainder of the newspaper will be used to light the wood burner in the winter - win/win situation...

allydowd

Pouring with rain, so back indoors for home-made muffins and tea. Having only a few ingredients we scaled down a recipe so that we could make just two muffins.

Dinner tonight will be home-made KFC, fried rice coloured with beetroot and home-fried prawn crackers.




Freebies:

It's been reported that if you get yourself a free Ikea Family Loyalty Card you also get a voucher for 100 free tea-light candles. I haven't tried this as I'm already a member. Getting the Family Card also entitles you to free tea/coffee in the Ikea Restaurant during the week: (Link)

Free 50 Nectar Points for doing a short survey about Homebase. You do not need to have recently been to a Homebase to qualify. I can confirm this worked for me. (Link)


Offers:

Camping holidays from £1+£7.99 via TheSun (Link) Yes, I know, it's TheSun, please don't nag me!

Holidays from £9.50+£7.99 via TheSun (Link)

Free Oykos yogurt when you shop online at Tesco: (Link)

Colgate Sensitive Pro-Relief will refund the cost of the toothpaste if you try it and are dissatisfied with the relief the toothpaste claims to bring: (Link)


Competition:

Diet Coke have hidden 24,000 limited edition 500ml ‘Hunk’ bottles in Boots stores across the UK. Find one and it’s yours, for free.(Link)

Sunshine22_2

Hi all

I am having a bit of a down few days, have had a terrible few days with work (various reasons, office politics, redundancy threats) and this has left me a bit blue with everything, including being DF. I met a friend this morning for coffee and cake (total £4.20, but as I am home alone I feel justified in spending this if only for the company and gossip to lighten my mood for a little time).

DFW things for today:
* Used locals permit for parking (we get heavily discounted parking across the forest as we are commoners), also convinced friend to come nearer me for coffee so saved a lot on petrol costs
* No other spending today
* Lunch and dinner from stores
* Once called down, I am going to batch bake some lunches for the next few weeks and freeze, got some fresh veggies on the turn so they are going to be cooked and frozen rather than fed to the animals
* Check Next account is all settled, if so apply for closure to remove all temptation there!
* Keeping an eye on the clouds, if there is no sign of rain will do some laundry on an eco wash, and pop on the line to dry
* I think I am not going to get a present for a friend's daughters third birthday next week, feel a bit stingy but will post a card over. I am sure she will spoiled enough without something from me?! (Feeling guilty already!)
* Am also going to spend some time today with my emails, unsubscribing from a lot of the 'daily deals', 'special offers', and worst of all 'payday offers!', as these are either a temptation or, at the moment, making me feel terrible for not having any money spare!!

Hope everyone else is more positive! Sorry for the whinge but I know you guys will understand!

S x

allydowd

Sunshine22 wrote: »

Hi all

I am having a bit of a down few days, have had a terrible few days with work (various reasons, office politics, redundancy threats) and this has left me a bit blue with everything, including being DF. I met a friend this morning for coffee and cake (total £4.20, but as I am home alone I feel justified in spending this if only for the company and gossip to lighten my mood for a little time).

Awww...

Did you know if you get a free John Lewis Loyalty card (not a credit/debit card) you get a voucher for a totally free cup of coffee and a piece of cake in a John Lewis 'Place to Eat', 'Espresso Bar', 'Mall Cafe', 'Cafe' or 'Coffee Shop' each month? I have one and they don't :spam: me. ( (Link)

Sunshine22_2

Ally

Thanks for the link, unfortunately we are very rural and the nearest John Lewis is about an hour away, hopefully someone else will find use for the card!!

S x