The big NSTurtle March to sea!

liltdiddylilt

*stomps in, slams a bag down in the corner and stomps right over to the naughty step to sit and think about what I have done*

£60 nursery fees - pays for March, fair dinkum, budgeted
£54.07 Mr A's delivery. Stock up to high heaven, cupboards busting, clever shopping got me some bargains
£16.36 Mr L - for *bits* and 10 litres of soya milk
....£27.07 Mr A's for the things I forgot on my shop (Kitchen foil, milk & freezer bags all really needed) & Mothers Day/ Dads bday cards. ... And what a muppet buying tea towels to replace mine that are in rags. £1 each, 5 in total. Good quality.

Of the above £5... yes FIVE POUNDS is owed back to me from Him.

I am never buying anything ever again.

stewby

Aw... not to worry lilty, I will join you on the naughty step in preperation for tomorrow. I do like a nice warm seat.

Today was a spendy day... £19.48 in morries as we needed fruit and vegetables. Also got some nice yellow labelled meat.
I don't know if anyone else shops in morries but we have noticed that their prices have gone up quite a bit. We can no longer buy a whole months shopping on £120.


This almost feels quite crazy to me that we are struggling. What do people think, is £120 a feasible budget for two adults??
:undecided

Tomorrow will more than likely be a spendy day as I am going shopping with my cousin and we are a bit of a bad influence on each other (I will blame her of course).
I should be able to restrict it a bit as I have a £20 n3w l00k voucher to spend, leftover from my cousin's xmas pressie.


Diet went very badly today. Mainly as I had fajitas but had no idea they were as bad for you as they are.
Calories quite badly over, did exercise but not enough. I imagine the weight gain is going to be quite significant. Hoping to rein it back in over the next few days.
:sad:

New joint account is still going well. OH messed up one of his direct debits but it got fixed... and I won 5p as OH and I had made a bet that one of our direct debits would go wrong. I said it would be his and it was. So I am now 5p richer.
:rotfl:

Can't think of anything else to say... hope you are all doing well. Keep marching on Turtleys.
Hugs.

The_Only_Girl

Hi all,

I hope a Happy Monday was had by all. Well wishes for fellow NST's who are not feeling well and thumbs up to those who succeeded with the challenge, and to those who are sitting on the naughty step, tomorrow is another day, hopefully better than today.

It was a busy day for me today. Very early start, 7am, (a lot of grunting and moaning hopping out of bed). Set the alarm at 5:30 but went back to bed til 6AM. Had a bit of a headache in the morning but was pleased to finish at 3pm and the headache's gone!

LTW no. 6 for the whole family. (I had chicken wraps using left over roast chicken mixed with a bit of light mayonnaise and salad). Kids and hubby had their chicken salad baps. Prepared last night before bed, how very Flylady!

NSD no. 4 for me. Yehey!!!!

Cooked supper from scratch for less than £5, feeding a family of 4. Kids and hubby lapped it all within minutes. So a light pack on the back for mummy NST is in order. ahemmmm.

Spent the afternoon with my colleague and my former boss, who gave me pointers and tips for tomorrow's job interview (bless them, I feel so fortunate to have them as friends and colleagues). All colleagues at work were very supportive and encouraging, too. Said they will host a riot if I didn't get the job. Bless them.

Yesterday was food shopping day. Spent £62 in 3 shops, and bagged great bargains. Went to a wholesale green grocers with a friend. We bought a big box of tomatoes for £2, which we split between us. I came home with over 2 kilos of tomatoes for only £1. Also bagged 1.2 kilos of sweet cherry tomatoes for only £1.04. My lunch box will be with cherry tomatoes for the whole week or two! Healthy and inexpensive. Also 2 big bags of fruits and vegetables for only £10.

Hubby and I felt extra triumphant because we resisted going to McDo for a quick lunch. Pre-MSE, we would have had 3 take aways and a meal out for the weekend. We have resisted so far and we are looking forward to having our first meal after the 26th! Can't wait.

As you can probably tell with this post, my brain is a bit all over the place due to panic for tomorrow's interview. Hopefully after tomorrow I will be a bit more coherent

Good night fellow NST's.

liltdiddylilt

Good luck tomorrow!! xxx

I just had some good news. Him is giving me £35 of my £70 spend for Jellytot. So am only £15 over what I budgeted on clothes for her for this month anyway So he owes me.. £64.18 currently

Thank you all for helping me so much. I've been hardcoring for so long, and have got to the point that I save just over a third of my income minimum each month. But my house/clothes have been neglected for so long they are falling apart around me. I think I need to build in some more spending budget for things. Will continue as I am this month and rein it in big time now. And see what I am left with.

I had 800g of turkey mince to use today. I made a bolognese sauce from scratch with leftover tomatoes that needed using and herbs/garlic etc, added in loads of red lentils and have 6 portions of that, plus 9 turkey & stuffing burgers and 12 turkey and stuffing meatballs for jellytot and the turkey mince was free :rotfl:

Ok I feel better now. I wasn't complete un-MSE today. I've got a weeks worth of meals out of a free tub of mince. And my freezer is overflowing. Operation eat everything is on

night guys!! xx

Fmess

Good luck for your interview the only girl

Today will be a spendy day, we need bread and cheese and I am going to be naughty and take OH for an anniversary meal at the pub. My budget will be blown but I am tutoring tonight and will use that money to cover it. Suppose I had better get up and off to work!

Bobarella

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

Thank you all for helping me so much. I've been hardcoring for so long, and have got to the point that I save just over a third of my income minimum each month.

that is incredible Lilt. Between the two of us we are just able to stash 10% of our income. That goes between 2 pensions, child investment & our emergency fund. But if we can kill the debt that will rise to a massive (for us) 20% which is a massive difference.
At 33% you are doing incredibly well. I think Amy Dacyczyn the author of the complete Tightwad Gazette was only around that. The Frugal Woods apparently save 70% of their income. Yep I hate them :rotfl:
Most people I'd suspect save nothing. So high fives all round!!!

speakingofart

Hi everyone,

Quick check in as I know I've been AWOL - NSD yesterday, lunch to work every day so far. Unfortunately, taking a lunch time walk hasn't gone so well, because I've injured my foot, so currently can't put any weight on it and am hobbling around the flat and office in an entertaining manner - hoping it's better soon! NSD today and then MOT tomorrow.... cross fingers for me folks!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the beginnings of spring - saw daffodils and crocuses yesterday

apple_muncher

Lilt - you have a clothes budget for jelly, but not for you. Go and have a chat with YNAB about that, please.

the only girl - good luck with the interview!

fmess and mothernerd - hope you are less tired today.

I have an enforced day off work, looking after a poorly dd. If I could somehow harness the heat emanating from her body in the last 36 hours, I reckon we could be carbon neutral here! Poor mite.

thriftylass

Good morning,

Sorry I won’t be doing an update today. I made an important decision for myself after thinking about it for some time, to step out of the virtual world into the real one. I realized that I spend too much time on here, FB and other sites and that impacted on my real life. I use it to procrastinate. Like yesterday when I should have gone swimming but spend my lunch online. I use it as an excuse not to get the real things done. Over the years I experienced a great sense of community here and got some great advise. Sorry to abandon you but I feel it’s right for me. I keep my account and hopefully when I made some progress sorting some issues out I will be back but for now I will have to leave you to it. Sorry

I wish you all the best on your debt busting and saving journeys and hopefully see you again sometime

MagicCat

Hey hardcore turtles,

Hope everyone is OK and having a good week so far.

Lilt - I agree with everyone, some spends are necessary, clothes don't last for ever, particularly if you bought them cheaply to start with, and your savings achievement is amazing

Applemuncher - hope DD is feeling better soon

Welshkitty - sorry to hear about uni situation, sounds more than justified to complain, I hope they sort something out for you.

Stewby - I'm not great with the grocery budget, try to set 150 for two adults (this includes cleaning materials, household stuff like lightbulbs etc) and find it a real challenge tbh.

Hugs mothernerd, hope you're feeling better today.

TheOnlyGirl - Good luck for the interview!

Fmess - enjoy anniversary meal.

Thriftylass - it's really important to make the right decision for you, and use the time you have in the best way for you and your family. Thanks so much for all your help and support on these threads, take care of yourself.:A


Yesterday was a spend day for me, grocery top up - 19.34, which is not too bad. Should be a SFD today.

I have been reading some of the blogs people have suggested - mr MM and frugalwoods. Very interesting, but I do agree with others that it just feels totally unrealistic for my circumstances - starting from a higher salary does give a lot more room to save, a bit scary that they save more than I earn. And some things, like transport costs - I would love to give up my car and walk/bike to work, but I work at 6 different job sites that vary between 7 and 15 miles away and have to travel between them transporting equipment that weighs up to 20kg, so it's just not doable. Still, it is worth thinking about, there must be some costs I assume are necessities which really aren't.


SFD: 5/15
Groceries: £92.24/£150
Petrol and travel: £32.04/£90 +?
Birthdays/Mothersday: £84/£150
Social: £23/£40
15 mins/day mindfulness /25
Decluttering /31