NST;September Squirrels

speakingofart

Thanks Lilt! I hadn't thought of that, but it's a really good idea - I'll look into it!

Spendy day today as I posted two parcels that sold on amazon, but then requested a transfer of £93.33 - need to book my car in now for it's repair. Still two more books to sell, so hopefully they'll go quickly.

mothernerd

Welcome to today's newcomers lubava, homemademama and Pinkydls. Lots of interesting goals and a few themes emerging (will think about a theme song - any ideas?).

speaking of art is there anywhere near work you could go to sit and eat your lunch - when I was studying accounting I would go to the park next door and talk to the ducks whilst I ate and then spent the rest of the time walking, either a leisurely stroll round the pond or a brisk trot all the way to the top end of the park.

crazy-lady2009 and Caeraugirl could I add my thanks for the course information. I was considering returning to my degree course, but even if they gave me grants it would be conditional on applying for full-time work afterwards. I don't yet know the long term consequences of the arthritic hip but I am pretty sure that climbing down steep river banks to take water samples (the only job in plentiful supply in Environmental Management) isn't going to be possible. Even the 10 week photography course, following on from the one-day taster I did in the Summer, is a 2 bus each way at a cost of £5 hop. Several interesting courses which would continue my earlier studies and I could do a bit at a time rather than 4 modules a semester.

Calling14 man in a kilt? - be careful what you ask for.

moohound Tilly tidies are the practice of making regular small payments off a debt. Some people transfer the odd pence in their bank account each evening (neat and tidy), others round up or down using the bank figures or the latest statement so if the statement shows £3,576.24 owing you might make an extra payment of £6.24. It may not sound a lot but all those bits add up. I did it when I was first saving for a house. One weeks wage did for 2 weeks (living at home) and every other week I would pay my cheque into the bank. Whilst I was in the queue I would add the cheque amount to my Building Society balance and then look in my purse to see if I had enough change to round it up to the next whole pound, if it was £7 something I might try to round it to the next £10 unit.

A SFD for me and it's bin day tomorrow so I have been trying to fill the bin (only the recyclables and green bin) so clearing out odd bits of metal from the shed, a quilt cover and a t-shirt to the rag bag, lots of paper and plastics, 3 items into the electrical waste bag (mr and mrs builder will take it to the tip for me), a new wood bag started for mr and mrs builder (they have a wood burning stove) and two rusty garden tools re-purposed - they are now supporting the lavender bushes so I can weed and tidy the front edges and deal with the ants (they can live on the garden but I don't want them all over the path). In total another 39 items added to the de-clutter total.

Veg consumption -think I am up to 12 (large salad, celery, carrot and broccoli with dip, mini toms on top of low fat spread and 2 apples). May slow down or get creative as salad stuff is low (will make Mexican rice with frozen mixed veg). Also have 2 small pots in the fridge with veg for cooking (toms going wrinkly, broccoli crumbs and the white part of the stalk. cooking day tomorrow I think, after cleaning fridge.

Best news mrs builder came with an estimate (mum is paying and will be repaid when the house is sold) and they will start Monday or Tuesday of next week. Still need to do a few bits and find someone to complete the garden work (for newcomers, until recently I was doing all of this myself due to extreme poverty but can barely walk at the moment).

Today I am grateful for our brave little band of turtles, for helpful work people and friends (little stair mender has fixed the single bed) and using things we have to solve a problem (looks good too- quite stylish).

To tomorrow's Terrific Turtle Tuesday.

apple_muncher

moohound wrote: »

Sorry for being dense but what is a Tilly tidy?

A TT is where you 'tidy up' your bank account by rounding down - to whatever figure you like, could be pennies or pounds - and transfer it to debt/mortgage/savings. It is a principal imtroduced ny the wonderful Tilly who is on the mfw threads.

apple_muncher

Oops - should read to the end before posting!

Todsy I am grateful for my delightful dd, for the trees that surround my teaching room (I'm on the 2nd floor, so see all the leaves, pigeons and SQUIRRELS!), for lovely cheerful work colleagues, for fruit, for dd once again falling asleep before 9pm (the snores are imcredible - the sort that make you want to snort with laughter!).

luckystarr

hi Squirrels

A quick check in tonight as not long got in.... today has been a spendy one(forgot it was the 1st lol)

I managed a run this morning so feeling positive, i wll read other posts and will report back properly in the morning

Keep up the good work squirrels xxx

abundant1972

Hi all,

Sneaking in my post before today expires...

As my pay day fell on 27th August I have already bought food and spent some money on fuel etc. What I have decided to do is start from today and list the money remaining...

This month is going to be tight. I have £1175.00 of debt remaining. i will have my last DMP payment of £675 going out at the end of the month, and I need to find/generat an extra £500 to clear my credit card - then I'm all done. My challenge is to clear that card as fast as I can. I have already put in some overtime last month which should help... This month I need to save every spare penny I can!!!

I'm going to try and enjoy more of the things that are free in life... walks, nature, sleep enough hours, and eat well for less.

Good luck everyone!!!

moohound

Thanks mothernerd and apple muncher will 'tidy' into the ISA want to get to £1500 this will cover all holidays for next year.

Fuel budget £60 - this usually lasts me 5 to 6 weeks booked some overtime so this adds to the commutes, will avoid all unnecessary journeys though.

CEW

Hi All

Spend day for me today as needed a few bits but hopefully a SFD tomorrow.

I am currently fine tuning my budgets and will post Hesse tomorrow.

Working on my learn something new and am interested in the free courses so will take a look at these and see what's on offer. I did think about trying to learn to knit again but that would involve spending money on needles and wool etc so trying to be MSE I have decided to wait a while on this as I already have loads of craft stash that I should use first.

Hope everyone is well.

Off for a spot of peaceful reflection so I will bid you all a good night and see you tomorrow.

Chez x

moohound

No time like the present, done my first Tilly tidy of £10.50 into the ISA

stewby

Evening everyone.

Went shopping this afternoon so a spendy day for us. We needed to do a full shop as we had been on holiday last week so even basics were gone.
I was guilty of falling for the good offers... ended up buying 18 toilet rolls for £7 and 3 packets of cereal for £4.50. However, I would like to eat cereal as part of my diet (maybe cereal x2 daily and a reduced portion meal).
:undecided

So...

SFD: 0/15.
Food: £49.42/£120.
Fuel: £0/£40.
Luxuries: £0/£20.
Exercise: 0/20.
Total Budget is £120!!

My OH and I do a pot which is £1 a day so that is £30 for this month which I have paid. So I have removed £110 from my bank account and have £40 remaining for fuel.

So... this leaves me with £250 in my budget account to put towards my credit card.
:j

I had wanted a game but have decided to hold off buying it until some reviews come out (it is getting a lot of bad previews). So have dropped the luxury budget to £20.


Making Money
I have started doing surveys which give me money/vouchers for completion.

Learn Something New
We have decided that in many many years time, we would like to buy a wee house in France. So I am going to learn French as my new skill.
I can do this for free as I bought a game about two years ago for my nintendo DS. So time to dust it off and start learning. Hopefully, I will do better than Bonjour, bien and mauvais (hello, good and bad).


Reflection Time and Food Bank Donations
Consider them done.


Hope everyone else has had a productive day.
Hugs.