NST; January Challenge- The Money Saving Game

Fmess

Evening all

SFD number 12 today, LTW and walked the dogs for exercise

Today I am grateful for;
1.) it being payday this Friday
2.) for still feeling good even though I'm at the end of my second day of fasting
3.) for the MSE email where I've just found my next pair of trainers for £15

mothernerd

Another SFD and another layered up day. Totally different from yesterday which was foggy, wet and slushy snow. Today is bright and clear but oh so cold, extra layers, tried to squeeze a fine knit jumper under the thick one but still too cold to sew this morning - was reading with my hands tucked inside opposite sleeves and wondering about the fingerless gloves.

Went for my walk, an hour and a half, still not very far but warmed me up and ate meals based on free food all day. Mum had given me two steak bakes which I had for dinner with half the pastry removed and 4 sausage rolls which DS3 (aka sausage roll king) refused so I cooked them for my tea but removed all the pastry and had them with sweet potato mash, sprouts and carrots. Chopped up a bag each of carrot and celery sticks whilst I was waiting and peeled and grated three more carrots to make coleslaw for later in the week.

Spent a lot of time reading on the laptop. I signed up for a year of happiness thing which was mentioned (I think) on the Not Buying thread and received the week three e-mail today, so had a catch up with that (a few diversionary videos in there). The theme for January is gratitude.

The hunger site had a TED talk on The Power of Introverts in the literacy section and again from the Not Buying thread just read some interesting research papers on Thrift (which originates from thrive) and its relationship with happiness.

Lots of deep thinking, facilitated by the sewing (on target for the month but not for last week). Found another drawer and a half of stuff and have taken up a larger piece (one I looked for a couple of weeks back as I want to donate the book it came from but wasn't sure how much I still needed the pattern). Worked on this most of yesterday as it uses up lots of little bits and there are so many 'little bits' in the use up drawer, that I 'can't see the wood for the trees'.

Thinking about the things I have read and also changing the business direction - the embroidery wasn't originally supposed to by the mainstay of my business plan. I was supposed to be helping people 'clutter clear' with the craft making (+ selling fair trade third world crafts) as a back up when work was slack. I was so shocked when I was looking at houses to see so many people had garages full of stuff, huge boxes of old trainers and sports boots and nowhere to put their cars. Then my health got in the way and wasn't well wnough to start lugging about piles of stuff.

Read something similar at the weekend, though American based. We buy stuff, we buy so much we don't know what we have, buy bigger spaces to keep all the stuff and buy things to help us organise the stuff (40% of middle class Americans can't get their cars into the garage because it's full of stuff).

Today I am grateful for
TREES can't yet get to the park but spent 10 minutes resting on a bench by the cenotaph. The trees have tiny lacy fronds that might become leaves in a few more weeks but just the vague suggestion of hope for now.
IDEAS love all the stuff going round in my head atm. Feels a bit like a crochet pattern where you crochet a scallop shape and then loop it back with a single thread to join the rest of the work - the interconnectedness of all things.
TIME Really grateful for this time of reflection. I need to slow things down permanently. I know how quickly the recuperation period will pass (although my previous operation was only 8 weeks off I know how quickly things got busy afterwards). Think I also have to think about rationing my time - maybe go through the patterns I have collected and assess the time it would take then decide if the finished article (or the person for whom it is intended) is worth that much of my time. (Thrift applies to time as well as money). The embroidery has many benefits - it is a calming meditative activity and helps with stress and worry BUT that applies equally to any projects and I need to be much more selective about which projects I choose and what I expect to get out of them. I am planning some birth samplers and Christmas stockings but that links back to something we discussed last year - leaving a 'body of work' and heirloom items for potential grand-children (especially if my eyesight or the movement in my hands starts to deteriorate).

liltdiddylilt

Not a SFD. £10 in Mr S. Back very rough after carrying Jellytot for half a mile, then walking 4.5 miles and sitting in a chair for an hour and a half of training. In bed. Expecting another bad night with Jelly.

Three things:
Grandparents (my in laws) for picking up Jelly for me when my back was bad
Mum looking amazing with her new pixie cut pre-chemo loss.
The minor ailments service

speakingofart

Morning turtles, quick check in today. Back to uni last night, so SFD as didn't have time to sit down much less spend money Hoping for another one and some studying today, trying to be productive before graduation/ guide camp this friday. Grateful for a good team at work, friends at uni and uni being nearly over!


Groceries 15th Jan - 15th Feb £27.29/100
Fuel 15th January - 15th February £0/£50
Spending money - 3.95/11.37
Lunch to work: 11/19
Lunchtime walks at work 12/20
Food bank 0/£3
SFDs: 8/18

Bobarella

Good morning all

Lilt - sorry you are having a rough week so far. Sick children is so hard.

Speaking of Art - busy busy then. That's good. Keeps the spending fairies away

I am going to go ahead and claim NSD 11 before I change my mind. We ran out of marmite today which is one of the staples in our house but I've told OH we can make do as we still have jam, honey & peanut butter.
Tonight's tea may be a bit of a funny one. I do have Food in but we've had two nights of something and chips. Still have chips but feel I can't offer that 3 nights in a row without rumblings. I have faggots, which I just need something to go with. No potatoes sadly. Faggots don't really go with pasta or rice. So I may do a veg and bean curry with rice. That will get us to Wednesday.
I'm also being mean because our food budget is so depleted so I want to hang on before spending the final £3.55 then the nectar points I've saved. Then the travel budget £7.50 x 2.

It's time to get creative in the kitchen !

sazzlebgood

did log yesterday as fell asleep. Spent £35 on food which needs to last till next week,mainly fruit ,veg and cheese. decluttered the bathroom
1)having happy healthy children
2)dd2 gave me lots of kissess and cuddles today
3)left over stew.
TODAY

lilthope jelly feels better soon.

grateful today
1)off to see dd2 sing at the arena (young voices) with family
2)dd2 smile at going to do the above
3) Glad I'm not a 12 yr old girl and having to deal with growing up:eek:

fingers crossed the snow doesn't arrive until after we get back tonight.

thriftylass

Good morning,

never went for a swim yesterday but will go today. Feeling better today. Luckily both kids slept soundly in the same room last night despite coughs, gunky eyes and teething, so we had a good night too.

Today should also be another SFD. Will probably need to go to the shops tomorrow as we're running out of formula for DD.

Found another 1p roadkill taking the grand total to 2p so far :rotfl:

Today I am grateful for

Cheery kids despite being ill
Ebayers that seem to be interested in obscure junk
A beautifully cold and crisp sunny morning

EDIT: Thanks also to the lovely lady in the postoffice who checked over DD's passport application free of charge and told me the marriage certificate is needed as I am foreign. So I might just send it myself tomorrow and save the 8.75 for the check.

Debtdrowninglondongirl

Hi all,

Good luck loveadove with the personal statement. I found it so hard to write about achievements when I did mine. I feel we are always told to be modest in life so things like that always catch me out. I am currently on the hunt for a new job and I know I have to be forthcoming with what I can do but always feel uncomfortable doing it.

But.... On the January challenge I am proud to say I am claiming today as a SFD which brings me up to 13!!!

I do a cheap food shop which came to £6 yesterday and consisted of lentils, rice, rice milk (on offer for a £1 and lasts longer that regular milk) and veg.

I made a massive lentil Bolognese last night and will be living off that all week. I have made sure to not have any social plans until Saturday so I can build up my SFDs and have the time to prep for my upcoming job interviews.

Wrap up warm everyone and hope you all have a good week.

Debtdrowninglondongirl

Oh just to add my positives for today are:

1) having the flat to myself this week as my housemate is away
2) found some clothes which I no longer wear in my wardrobe so I can sell on eBay
3) just grateful to have the time to rest and prep for my jobs. I am usually so busy it is nice just to stop sometimes.

nannygladys

Hi everyone, just had a quick read and 'blue Monday' has a lot to answer for, anyway I have today off looking after my dgd as her daddy has the day off, so I had a lie in and now I'm in front of the tv snuggled under fleeced with a hot milky coffee!!

So I'm on sfd no. 13 and my total spend so far is £52.39, which to be honest I'm a bit disappointed in as I thought it would be less, but having looked at the receipts I can see some unnecessary spends so at least I can see where I'm going wrong.

I'm sorry people are feeling a bit down, since I only work four days now, I thought I would have more time to myself but I now look after dgc, 3 days a week, so I really don't get much time on my own, but with child care being as expensive as it is I try to help out when I can. I officially retire in March but will keep working for a few months, and looking after the kids as much as I can.

Anyway off to look at my accounts, and I'm going to see if I can rack up a few more sfd before the end of the week and do a bit of meal planning so I'm organised. I have run out of milk but a while a go I bought some cartons of soya milk so I'm using them and its not as bad as I thought it would be!

Nannyg