Thursday 2 October - What small DFW things will you do today?

DawnW

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:

DawnW

I looked for a thread last night and couldn't find one, so thought I would start one this morning - I expect someone else will have had exactly the same idea at exactly the same time :rotfl:

For me today:
Read meters and submit readings online Done. I must say I am impressed with Ovo Energy so far. My payment was too high but I was able to lower my payment online
Check banks Done, OK
Find packaging for a coat that ends on ebay today - it has a bid, so will sell
Pack up coat and get it ready to post, when the buyer pays for it. Done, I was a bit disappointed with the sale, as it barely covered the dry cleaning costs and postage. Oh well, it is decluttering I suppose.
Go to sales unit and do audit of stock Mostly done, cabinet still to do
Do a load of white washing and line dry It is out now
Take another coat to dry cleaners Done, I was hoping to ebay this one as well but will have to think about it now
Wash rest of clothes for ebay This can wait till next week
Buy bread Done
Meals from stores In hand
Get organised for weekend away (free, staying in DD1's home, dogsitting while they are away. They live in a lovely place so will make the most of the hopefully still nice weather ) Must do this next!

I am sure there is more, but I haven't thought of it yet

Bobarella

Hi DawnW & others
I havent posted since March. Tardy. Life. But I have done a lot in that time.
Today however, I have so far:
1. Used a coupon for 80p off cat food at Tesco.
2. Used pavement money towards the cat food (found about 30p since last week just in 1ps,2ps & 5ps)
3. Took delivery of sons new, 2nd hand school shoes from ebay. Clarks shoes so would have been around £30 brand new, cost 99p. I know some people are funny about shoes but we had him measured in a shop on saturday to be sure they will fit. And boys destruct their school shoes quicker than you can buy them anyway!
4. Checked my bank accounts.
5. Tried to use nectar ad points. Has anyone else found there isnt any this week since early on Monday?
6. Checked my ebay shop. I have discovered that Converse are really worth trading as they always go for quite a bit. Particularly white ones. So if anyone is holding onto a pair for some reason, get them on ebay. I was lucky enough to find some students moving out of their shared house at the weekend, and they were giving all their clothing away, including 1 pair of black cons. Wacked them on ebay, sure enough bids and watchers. So pure profit if they sell. I will now be combing the charity shops each day for more.
7. Am continuing with my No Poo experiment. I think Im on around my 8th week. Today I used egg for the first time. First egg fell off, waste! But the 2nd one allowed me to lather up for the first time in weeks. Hair is getting there slowly.
8. Cleaning the house using just vinegar in a spray bottle. Havent bought any cleaning products other than dish soap in months.
9. All meals from stores.

Bob

solvencyseeker

Hello all, Thank you DawnW for the start.


No post from me yesterday as Wednesday lunchtimes are my on duty day and couldn't get on the home laptop last night.
Got my usual lift to work. Free coffee all day and free lunch today (roast dinner) as we are prepping for open evening.
Have checked bank accounts - no surprises.
Later will walk the dogs and do the domestic duties. The laundry seems to have a life of it's own - the pile just keeps on growing!
Need to update spreadsheet for September.
Still haven't sent off my meter readings - am procrastinating as am scared we will still be in deficit (even though we have not used heating since March).


Bobarella - your "No Poo" experiment had me worried for a moment - that could be quite painful . Is it not more expensive using eggs - or have I missed the point?


Best wishes folks x

foxgloves

Hi Frugal Friends,
Didn't post yesterday - such lovely sunshine, I had a useful morning in the garden then spent the afternoon updating my blog.
Today's small things:
*Saved energy by sharing bathtub & switching off iron for last couple of items. All this week's laundry has line-dried outside for FREE (my most favouritist 4-letter word!)
*The gas man saga which could have been dire (no hot water to kitchen & thought it might be the boiler :-O) was sorted today by installing a new kitchen mixer tap. had to buy tap but it was in the sale & the diagnostic visit to check boiler etc, plus today's visit to fit tap unit cost £60, which I didn't think was bad.
*Complain to 'Homebase' because they failed to answer my polite, reasonable customer enquiry. (Don't expect I will get a small goodwill gesture, but I am doing it anyway as a point of principle).
*Cleaned half of house using minimal products. (Got bored & gave up on the other half, & fancied a coffee)
*Tweak meal plan so as to use one of the aubergines I picked the other day. Will make cheesy aubergine pasta instead. Nom nom.
*Do next week's meal plans.
*Write shopping list.
*Cast on new knitting project. (Need to look for online tutorial first.....v unusual for me to have to learn a new knitting technique as am confident experienced knitter but there's something in this pattern that could be written in ancient cuniform, so unpenetrable are the instructions!)
*Aim to win today's stand-off with cat over food. Even mashing the food up, he manages to suck all the jelly off to let the meat go too hard & dry to eat. Well, tonight, he's going to be eating it. (He's too cute for his own good, that's the trouble.....)
*Paid a spare £10 into bathroom fund.
*Picked more pears.
*Updated freezer list.
*Booked a flu jab. I'm not in the age category to get a free one, but figured that as I was so ill earlier this year with flu (hadn't had it for 30 years....had forgotten how vile it was!), that £10 outlay on a jab was probably money well spent.
*Do pile of mending & plan an afternoon in for getting my winter clothes stash out & sorting my wardrobe. I don't need to buy much but some of my tights are looking a bit slutty.
That's it from me. Welcome back Bobarella.......egg on your hair? Brave. Tried that once. Washed it off in hot shower.....followed by half an hour picking scrambled egg out of my long hair! I couldn't do 'No shampoo'......but it would be preferable to no mascara.
OK, must crack on,
f x

foxgloves

SolvencySeeker - Just noticed your signature....you've dropped under the 30s! Great feeling. We owed similar at our highest. Nothing like that feeling of seeing the total coming down & getting under each new 1000, & particularly under each new 10,000 is a great achievement. I came to budgeting rather later in life than many, but I couldn't go back to the profligate naughty girl I used to be.
f x
P.S mr f used to be even worse than me!

Kaspersmum

Hi All

There is some weird bug happening with my account now linking me to this new name, but its me Bob really. I have emailed them to ask why I am not able to log into my old profile but in the meantime....

I shall head over to todays thread now...

Bob