Sat/Sun 4th/5th April - 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

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

Woke up at stupid-o'clock so I'm gonna make the most of it. Today we'll be going to our free running club and trying to catch up with "life" around the house.


The List:

:starmod: Do i-Say surveys.

:starmod: Do Royal Mail Surveys.

:starmod: Clean fridge with Stardrops and washable cloths.

:starmod: Check online banking and tweak budget. Unexpectedly got two extra days off work this week so I need to adjust for that.

:starmod: Clear out emails.

:starmod: Free 5km run with Parkrun (Link) for me. OH will be official photographer again today. Need to improvise fancy dress.

:starmod: Work out if we can afford to go to the food/Spring fair at Loch Lomond tomorrow.

:starmod: Managed to socialise with new friend this week without spending any money. :ANeed to keep this up; in the past friendships and socialising have been my financial downfall!

:starmod: Tidy up: house is looking very end-of-long-weeky.

Good luck on your quests, Ninjas.

xJOJOx_2

allydowd wrote: »

Managed to socialise with new friend this week without spending any money. :ANeed to keep this up; in the past friendships and socialising have been my financial downfall!

Well done, I think it very important to maintain and make friendships when moneysaving. I think it keeps us happy. I'm very lucky in the circle of friends I have. There's a big mixture of stuff they do, a lot of going round each other houses and lots of big events - you can actually plan and save for in advance. There's no pressure to do anything as a lot of us work shifts, odd hours and there's the odd one one saving to Canada to live for a year etc so if you can make it, it's great if not there's next time :-D

I'm try and swap what I do with indivual friends, tea and cakes, walks, pinic at local park etc I also keep a eye on all community events and free entry days to local places

Xx

xJOJOx_2

Good morning everyone

Girls loved their Easter egg hunt this morning! We've got a busy little day today so should be a good one

Today's listy

- check banking (done)
- check emails (done)
- quick tidy up if time
- o/time tonight
- check wages (hours worked) and stash in apprioate places
- send of confirmation of hours worked to payroll (sometimes head over nightclub after finished at pub) 1.5 hours owed from previous week
- few bits from shop
- try and earn some tips for pot

That's it for now

Have a super money saving day xx

1HANNAH

Morning all

Thanks for the start Ally, good to hear that the socialising went well.
Jojo - Sounds like you have a good group of friends there. I lost a few friends down to trying to save money as they couldn't understand why I didn't want to do this that or the other. They wanted us all to do everything and if you didn't go then they b!tched about you behind your back. I left them behind, I know they have big debts but are trying to keep up with the Joneses and I'm sooooo glad to be out of that. The friends I do still have are like the ones you describe

Hello & have a good day to everyone who follows

My little list
* Heating off as long as possible
* All meals from stores - plan & prep DONE
* Check Banking/update spreadsheets
* Do some Swagbucks
* Check Sun perks * Check FPL * Check TCB * Check Quidco -ALL DONE
* Check email survey oppurtunities nothing going yet
* Unsubscribe from junk emailsDONE
* Use foot cream that I found in a pamper pack
* Paint nails - from stash DONE
* Tonights entertainment is the last Bourne film from stash & 2nd series of Faulty towers

GettingOrganised

Morning Ally and JoJo - hope you're both well? Ally, I would be sleepy all day I got up at 3.30am - I certainly wouldn't be able to manage a 5k run! Hope it goes well, maybe another PB?

Well I'm hoping the weather is better today as yesterday was horrid. Got some jobs to do in the house, but I'll go stir crazy if I stay in all day. I don't usually post in the morning to actually make a plan, so I'll do a list, but it won't be a big deal if stuff doesn't get done:

All meals from stores
Heating on as little as possible
Spend at least 1/2 hour tidying DD's room with DD
Ironing
A couple of eb@y items end today which have bids on and I want to add at least another 3 items today
Play with DD's pet rats - free entertainment (currently on with this and we'll get them out again this evening for some more play time)
Get out of the house for a few hours, will get my thinking cap on in a minute!

Not a big list at all - should manage it!

Have a good day everyone.

FatVonD

Morning all (just!)

I had a nice, long lie in this morning, it was bliss! DS didn't go camping last night, it was supposed to be tonight but he had a falling out with one of his friends and was home by 10pm so I slept better knowing he was home.

DH is working today and in an hour or so I'm off to take my mum shopping. She has pranged her car again (3rd time in 6 months) and it is off being repaired again. When it is repaired she is going to change it for a smaller one as she thinks it's too wide. If she continues to have accidents then I will have to convince her that she's unsafe and needs to stop driving which will be sad as it'll rob her of some of her independence but if she's not safe then she needs to be not on the roads.

I need to pick up a new toilet seat while I'm out too as our cracked wooden one finally snapped in half. This is causing great jollity to DH as it broke while I was using it rather than him (I actually weigh less than him but he's tall and skinny whereas I'm only average height but a size 18.)

I'll probably have lunch at my mum's and take something out of the freezer for DS when he wakes up. Dinner will be from the freezer.

We're invited to a surprise party tonight. I'm not keen on going to be honest, I want to stay home to watch the final of the Voice and the programme about the end of the world DH wants to watch neither of these things but I'm not sure he's too keen on going either (golf club and drinks will be expensive.)

determined_new_ms

Morning guys (just!) Thanks for starting us off ally

bob did I read it right last week you've got another little bob on the way? Congratulations!

Interesting discussion around friendships and being dfw. I lost a lot of friends over the years since I began being dfw. For a number of reasons I would say. When I first started to live an mse lifestyle a lot of my friendships involved going out and because we couldn't afford to do that often (in the end we went for extreme dfw style over a year as we just weren't paying it off slowly, we would pay some off, spend some more, pay some off etc etc etc). Therefore people's lives moved on and our interests changed. I am still friends with some of my old friends, and get together for occasional dinners at each others house's but we're no longer in the gang. I miss that, but with that and everything that has happened over the years since my daughter became ill our lives have changed beyond measure.

Anyway! DFW things for today:

Already done:
* painted some sunflower seeds with dgd
* dgd has done some painting using household objects as painting instruments!
* have done 2 loads of washing. One hung up and one still in machine. Will hang when finished
* listed a couple of things on ebay & facebay

Still to do:

* [STRIKE]get pork out of freezer for dinner tomorrow[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]simple tomato pasta dish for lunch and sandwiches for dinner today[/STRIKE]
* dig out paperwork to go and scrap car
* pick up slide for dgd from gumtree and collect when finished with car (in same town )
*[STRIKE] sand and paint bathroom while dgd has a nap[/STRIKE] Started but dgd didn't have a nap so didn't get very far!
* [STRIKE]list a couple more bits[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]do #minsgame (taken inspiration from you foxgloves!)[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]taking dgd to new soft play today. £3 definitely well spent as she LOVES it! [/STRIKE] oh took her to the park instead
* change bedding & wash

Ok that's my lot! Have a lovely day x

Bobarella

It's an interesting topic friendship & being DF. I think a lot of people know deep down that throwing money away night after night in the pub or constantly buying new clothing and stuff is wrong & when others show signs of moving away from the foolish path it threatens them.
I haven't lost any real friends through trying to be DF but have found my family can't be bothered to visit very much (ie not at all) since we stopped making the 100 mile plus round trips, paying for B & B each time etc.
There's more to it than that but I was always the one with the money and when I withdrew that service. ..

Yes that's right Determined. Thank you

ziggy2407

Good Afternoon All

Happy Easter weekend everyone

allydowd - Thanks for starting us off
Dawn - Hope you start to feel better soon

Hi to all of the regulars and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.

My little list:

Packed lunch for DH - Done
Package up virgin box to return - Done
Sort pots ready for potatoes - Done
Cut lovely young rhubarb (having tonight with icecream) -
Finish rag wreath (I WILL FINISH IT tonight) -
Start "Canvas" for sis-in-law -
Continue purge on Emails -
Continue purge on FB & Twitter -
Surveys -
Check Banks - Done
Check swapits -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win -
Read -

Have a great day, love to you all

C x