NST November: battening down the hatches!

Samiszel

Haven't checked in for a day or two. Spendy day yesterday on pub dinner and a drink. Today will also be spendy as going up to London for a friends bday in a bar. Was hoping they would celebrate at home so we could just bring a bottle of wine and I would drive :mad: But instead I'll be paying for train & tube travel plus a couple of drinks at least.

Other than that, off to visit Grandma in a min and nothing planned for tomorrow yet so might end up being a relatively cheap weekend after all.

Have a good one!

sazzlebgood

another nsd up to 6.OH got extra work today and tomorrow will hopefully pay for christmas. :j

liltdiddylilt

Ok I am back!! Like a phoenix my laptop has risen from the ashes. I borrowed a monitor from work. The problem with my laptop is not fixable to say the least. The screen no longer works. Nor is it attached to the main body of my laptop. It is currently bent over backwards tucked underneath so that I can type comfortably and the borrowed screen sits on the coffee table :rotfl: I am nothing if not resourceful!

So. I doubt I will be on nearly as much. The various cables and bits and pieces needed are an utter faff to say the least. And I said I would have the screen back to work next week. What it does allow me to do is back up everything that I couldn't see when the screen went. And with that done, I really don't mind if I have to wait a couple of months for a new laptop. This one is 9 years old so it doesn't owe me much. I just worry about YNAB. WIthout that and the challenges I may make some serious bad moves moneywise.

Anyways, onto other matters. I found out that if you split your bananas up, they do not overripen nearly as quickly, nor do they have such a bad effect on other fruit!

NSD's: 8/18 for me. Tomorrow, Monday & Tuesday should be NSD's as well. In fact the rest of the month should roll by quite well. Today I got a few bits of groceries. Should coast out the month on bread and milk now as the freezer and fridge are heaving. Plenty of veg, shedloads of meat and a slow cooker good to go! Already over budget but I think I need to rethink it if I am going to eat well, cater for allergies and everything else.
Exercise is going well. New trainers nearly broken in, foot nearly broken so switched to my wedge heeled boots for walking to and from work - that is a workout all of it's own! Trainers will be fine soon though.
Still been decluttering some bits, but mainly used this weeks challenge to move my living room around, get the ps4 tv off one wall and onto the other, giving me so much more space now that the desk etc has moved. Can also watch tv more easily.

Am using yesterdays homemade burgers in an enchilada recipe I have made up. Using up old pasta sauce from the fridge inside tortillas that go off today, with the ground up burgers and some cheese. Then knocked up a quick sauce with onion, mixed peppers, cumin, basil, garlic, chilli & passata. once cooked, threw it over the tortilla parcels, added some more cheese and banged in the oven for 15 minutes. Bit of rice, and there is enough to feed 4 people. Shame I am only 1... :rotfl:

Started paying tax credits back what I owe them. Burns a bit before Christmas, especially with the new laptop required. Never mind. Be paid off in 4 months.

Night all! xx

Fmess

Evening all


Welcome back lilt


So today didn't end up being a SFD after all OH woke up, looked in the cupboards and told me I had forgotten to buy oil so there would be no roast veg with dinner on Sunday. I went to get oil and remembered that I need two cards and mini presents to put in the cards this week, so I bought them too. I also then gave in and bought the new mattress, no idea how we are going to be in for when it is delivered or when it'll be delivered but will have to cross that bridge at some point. Also started the online Christmas shopping this evening, taking advantage of a voucher code that would go out of date before payday. I had to put it on the credit card but it will all be paid off on the 25th. Also bought extra dog food so food budget is over but again that was on offer and the offer expires before payday so I'll have dog food into December.


Decluttered the office and produced a bag of craft bits for my sister's primary school, a box for the charity shop, a bag for recycling and a bag for the bin. Quite impressive for the size of the room, its about 6' by 6' max.


Also listed a few items on eB4y, one on gumtr33 and sold some books to Am4zon.


Looks like I've had a busy day but have really just mooched around due to the dull weather and spent most of the morning being lazy in my PJs.

thriftylass

Spend day today, 40 mostly in Lidlediddle on fruit, bread and yogurt and formula in tescimo. Can't believe some people get their weekly shop for that . Oh and then a few drinks in tescimo too, there go the good intentions

Off to bed soon

Welcome back lilt

speakingofart

Halfway through November, we have planned our budgets, decluttered (some) of our living spaces and figured out our yearly bills. Now comes the time to focus on the elephant in the room - our debt. (If you are debt free, pick your most important saving goal and focus on that! )

This week, think of one way you can pay your debt off more quickly, even if it is only pennies. There is another challenge on these forums devoted to picking up loose change from the street and some of the totals are really amazing!

Once you have your one way, write down how and when you will accomplish it - the teacher in me wants you to set a SMART goal please! Think about how much extra you'll be able to pay off and what effect this will have. It's so tempting at this time of year for paying off debt to be put on the back burner, because we have Christmas presents/ parties/ commitments to focus on, so this challenge is designed to put it front and centre for the last 14 days of the month!

So, I hereby commit to parking in the free car park at university and walking to class (about 20 minutes) rather than paying £3.50 to park in the university car park. This will save me £21 over the rest of the term, and I will put this towards my MOT fund for the end of march.

I'd love to hear your ideas, which I'm sure will be much more creative than mine! :T

:j Hope everyone has a great second half of the month - let's remember our focus and goals! :j

speakingofart

Apologies for the lateness of this week's challenge, but I was out yesterday on my outing for the month, so didn't get a chance to post.

lilt - glad to hear your computer is doing much better! Can your phone support the YNAB app so you can check your categories? I'd be lost without mine, I must admit.

fmess - glad to hear about the mattress, I desperately want to replace mine - you sit on it and go straight down to the base!

Spendy day yesterday on planned outing, today is studying so should hopefully be a SFD as should most of this week as I don't have anything particular planned. Need to do some more christmas shopping but think that can wait until this essay is handed in!

£16.47/ £150 groceries till 15th December
£40.85/£60 petrol till 15th December
£28.75/ £36.70 spending money till 15th December
NSDs 5/20 (till 30th November)
8/20 exercise sessions (lunchtime walks, till 30th November)

apple_muncher

I have been rather lax in my daily gratitude, so here we go...

This morning I am grateful for good coffee, for a warm house, for the sun making a decent effort to shine through the clouds, for dd being so much better, for dd's dance exams being over.

speakingofart

That's a really nice list apple muncher - I'm very jealous of your sunshine, because we've had pretty much unbroken grey mist for the last three days! Hopefully we'll get some soon - glad DD is doing so much better!

apple_muncher

Love the challenge soa! Now is a much better time to sharpen a focus than late December.

I signed up to 2014mfw as per my signature, and with that focus, we have smashed the challenge, especially with 2 more paydays left. I had 8 months working 4 days and 4 months at 3. Next year I'll have 8 months at 3 days and may then have 4 months at only 2. So, the amount I can realistically set as a target has to be done sensibly! That's a 'big' thing, but I find that it is the small things that make a difference to me, as they tend to be they day-to-day things that keep the momentum going.

Finding a penny on the street makes me grin like a loon. (I have a secret dream of finding a roll of tenners, held in place with an elastic band, that somehow is enough to pay off the mortgage .)

When dh has to work away, I shall go through the paperwork and note those big bill dates and amounts (yep, only 2 weeks late on this one!). And for the rest of this month, I'll focus on keeping our energy usage as low as possible.