Sat/Sun 14th/15th March - What small DFW things will you do today?

allydowd

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 canceling 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:

allydowd

:jIf anyone can think of anything to add to this list let me know. :j


MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:

• A Girl Called Jack, cheap recipes ( Link
  
• Benefits check-up ( Link )
• Birthday Bingo, daily free game ( Link )
  
• Coupon Shop Forum list of money-off coupons (Link) NEW! Thank-you, Twiggy86.
  
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery (Link)
• FreeStuff ( Link )
  
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• MSE Boost Your Income page. Gateway to lots of money-making links. ( Link )
• MSE Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Orchard product testing (Link)
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )

allydowd

Morning DFW-Jedis,

Well, life goes on, as does the almost everlasting quest for solvency and sanity.

Spring has sprung here at last! Hurrah! And it's my partner's birthday so we're gonna be busy.

Just want to say a huge "thanks" to everyone who keeps this daily forum alive. I'm sure it makes a difference to so many people.


The List:


:starmod: Post book I sold on eBay. I've only got three items left on sale so perhaps I should look around and find some other items to list.

:starmod: Do i-Say surveys.

:starmod: Do Royal Mail Surveys.

:starmod: Return some hospital equipment today so we're not fined for keeping it.

:starmod: Clear my emails.

:starmod: Get back into Toluna. Had troubles re-activating old account. Now have reset details.

:starmod: Tidy house to keep everything organised. This is really important to the way I manage my money and my life.

:starmod: Having a budgeted for takeaway tonight. Will stick to the £20 allocated.

:starmod: Sort through a pile of coupons and decide which are bargain-a-licious and which are recyclable.

:starmod: Took down shower curtain, scrubbed it and popped it in the washing machine. I used to just throw out the shower curtain every so often and buy another one, until my Light-Bulb Moment.

:starmod: Get my OH to re-pot our indoor fuchsia, the soil looks like there's no nutrients left in it. I think she's also going to take cuttings. We did this very successfully last year.

:starmod: Put old camera case on Freecycle.

:starmod: Order meat smoker.

:starmod: Just noticed that when you write a product review on Tesco Orchard you get Clubcard points as well as an improved rating as an Orchard user which in turn increased your chances of getting more products to review.

:starmod: No Mother's Day gifts required so there's another saving.

:starmod: Go to local fishmonger. He sells wee free range chickens for £2.99 each.

Good luck on your quests, Jedis.

FatVonD

Morning campers

I have no viewings today and had an early night so am awake relatively early for me on a Saturday so my plans for the day are:

Photograph some stuff for ebay while the light is good.

Ring Santander

Leaflet road I'd like to live in re trying to find a house.

Go to Mr T to buy stuff for lunch I am cooking my mum tomorrow, will also use my Orchard voucher to buy flowers (either for my mum or for DS to give me, currently undecided.) I'll also scavenge any receipts where folk haven't used a clubcard, I'm a few vouchers short of having enough to fund a meal for the entire family for my son's 18th and every little helps :rotfl:

GettingOrganised

Morning Ally, thanks for starting us off.

Thought I try to make a list at the beginning if the day instead of late at night. Hopefully it will motivate me to tick everything off the list.

So for today:
Operation get school polo shirts white and stain free continues - the overnight soaking in soda crystals doesn't seem to have made a difference, but they are on a hot wash now, so we'll see. I'm going to try to get some napisan later as I read this could work.
Play with pet rats (new additions to the family for DD's birthday at the beginning f the month)
Already cleaned and hooevered the living room.
Go to Messy Church with a couple of friends - it's an art and crafts session for the kids. They usually have a religious theme and a story - I'm not religious, but the friendship and community spirit message is certainly not a bad thing to teach children and my DD seems to like 'The Jesus' (in her words!)
Trip into town so DD can 'spend' her world book day voucher and use some of her birthday money to buy some new toys for the rats
Food shopping later armed with a list
Meals - breakfast and dinner from stores(HM minted lamb burgers for dinner - yum). Not sure about lunch as DD will get fed at Church, so there will only be me needs feeding and we'll still be out and about at lunchtime, so may pick up a sarnie on my travels.
Ironing pile to do - so I won't have to do it on Mother's Day (does anyone else feel like you just cram two days worth of jobs into one day so you can have Mother's Day 'off'?)
Need to buy a present for a children's birthday party next week. Have a small budget and need to stick to it.
Heating off as long as possible - shouldn't be too much of a problem as we'll be out for most of the day.
Picking DH up tonight (he normally gets the bus) so not very MSE as bus ticket is already paid for and it's additional fuel use. However, he has asked if I could pick him up as he needs to bring quite a few boxes home tonight, which I'm hoping is code for 'Your Mother's Day present is too big to bring home on the bus'! To be honest though, I would be happy with a card, brew in bed and a big hug - so won't be too disappointed if they are just empty boxes for the rats!

Tomorrow - no plans except DD's swimming lesson which has moved from Saturday to Sunday for a few weeks - which is great as DH has never been able to come to see her. She spent most of last week waving and smiling at him though!!

OK, this list isn't going to complete itself, so I best go get ready. Wishing everyone a great weekend.

FatVonD

allydowd wrote: »

Having a budgeted for takeaway tonight. Will stick to the £20 allocated.

I spotted a coupon for £5 off of Just Eat the other day, I can't remember where I saw it.

Can't find it Most seem to have expired but this one says it was a last successfully used 12 hours ago:

http://www.couponspy.in/justeat-coupons/

supermum1988

Good morning fellow DFWS.

Today, I am decluttering both house and mind. I'm new to this whole thing but I'm taking baby steps.

* I have checked FPL (no such luck)
* Put my washing on a 30c wash and hung out on airer.
* Started a 'spare change jar'. My husband is a serial change dropper so it already has a few quid in just from what I've found in the kitchen. Should fill up when I clean the rest of the house.
* I have a child free day so cleaning mainly but painting my living room too. How do walls get so marked with kids?? Anyway, I found a paintbrush and the old tub of paint from when we moved in so no extra spends today.

Tomorrow, Mothers day? I opted for a long hike up the Chevin (save those pennies) and a home cooked meal. I'm not one for over celebrating these hyped up, sham days, just glad to spend a day with my boys.

Anyway, that's about it for me. Every penny helps.

carrielovesfanta

Afternoon everyone! How is it Saturday afternoon already?! I swear that my life is whipping out from under me!

The sink is still leaking a bit but from a different place. However, it's nothing that a bead of silicone can't fix.

Ally - thanks for starting the thread - and happy birthday to your OH

Foxgloves - thanks for the reassurance re the squashes. I was a bit worried cos they are indoors but hopefully will pop out soon
I see you are cutting down coffee - I used to drink about 5 cups a day and I cut down to 2, sometimes 3 and I think it makes a big difference to my anxiety levels. I tried decaff but it's bleugh.

FatVonD - my hubby plays guitar too and does backing vocals Do you have a house full of blimmin' music gear too? Hubs has his own room for the gear and I still have speakers in the dining room, leads under my bed and the sound desk in my spare bedroom! I also swear that plecs breed in this house. Usually in the washing machine!

Having said that though, he has his first bass gig this weekend and is away overnight so clf is rollin' on her own! Let the mse stuff commence!

• B/L/D from stores - perhaps. Depends how I feel later about dinner. Having said that we ended up getting a load of naughty treats for dinner last night. Cake and chilli heatwave Doritos. Mmmmmmm.
• Log calories in free app
• Bit of housework - change towels (done), strip and remake bed (done), tidy round (ongoing), lots of washing (OH remarked that he had run out of his favourite pants, to which he got the reply "you know where the washing machine is") sort out under the sink (OH did this but didn't wash the stuff, so I have taken it all out and washed it)
• Washing on line outside (done)
• Make some bread (done)
• Made a meatloaf - realised the mince was a tiny bit out of date but smelled ok so I'm going for it!
  
• Freeze bacon in fridge that will go out of date tomorrow
  (misread date - it's 24 Mar 15, not Mar 15th!)
• Tend seedlings. May re-sow lettuces. 3 weeks now and no sign but the seeds are very old.
• List some bits on ebay (done)
• Heating off til later. I'm nice and warm even though the windows are open to air the house (done - windows long shut but heating still off)
• This evening, relax, maybe crochet or read the nice new book that I got for Christmas (or both - I'm THAT wild! [clearly not simultaneously])
• Chill and be fabulous!

Hope you all have a good day


clf x

carrielovesfanta

GettingOrganised wrote: »

Operation get school polo shirts white and stain free continues - the overnight soaking in soda crystals doesn't seem to have made a difference, but they are on a hot wash now, so we'll see. I'm going to try to get some napisan later as I read this could work.

I soak my whites in the cheap version of the oxy bleach stuff (Whizz brand!) and then hot wash with a couple of scoops in with it and it seems to make a difference. Not using fabric softener helps too.

HTH

ps: I see you have rats. We had a pair a few years ago and I loved them so much! Ours were crazy about those long jaffa cake tubes you get at Christmas. Have you tried playing pea fishing with them? You put frozen peas in a bowl of water (like those shallow pasta bowls) and they will sit on the end and fish them out. It's really cute! This video shows some adorable ratties pea fishing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JioFE2jxwHI

Bobarella

FVD - Thanks for the book people tip, I shall follow up.

So my list today
1. Made packed lunch for the 3 of us to take to dance class. Also packed water/squash
2. Walked a lot
3. Recycled a few bits into a workable birthday present for today's party boy. A DVD. A book & lego. Plus recycled party wrapping, card & envelope. Probably saved £10.
4. Annoyingly had to pay 50p to top up £10 on my oyster at the corner shop. It's bad places charge 50p even on higher spends.
5. Chucked another load of washing on. OH bought the combination powder so a small saving.
6. Not MS really but we decided to go to our favourite cafe deli this morning for coffee and cake instead of doing a mothers day lunch tommorow. So a saving on the price of a full lunch out. It was really nice anyway, had delicious red velvet cake & it was a lovely bit of family time.
7. Sent a couple of emails to organisations that might be useful re the shop rent out.
8. Stopped into the library to look at books there with son. He is really interested in mysteries at the moment so books on ghosts etc a big hit.

Think that's it so far!

Bob

1HANNAH

Afternoon all, hope everyone is enjoying their Saturdays! Getting cwtched up on the sofa to watch the rugby in a bit so not a long list from me today

This morning we took the kids to the local pool with freebie tickets that I got from my gym (should have cost £22 :j) Kids loved it.

Popped to Mr T as hubby wanted an uncut loaf, we needed milk and we said the kids could choose some crisps <£8 spent - rest of food from stores today.
Still to do
* Check Sun perks
* Check FPL
* Check TCB
* Check Quidco

* Do some Swagbucks

* make a trap to catch a leprechaun!! boys homework! :eek:

* Unsubscribe from junk emails

* Movie night from our dvd dash tonight.