Sat/Sun 11th/12th 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

Afternoon DFW-Ninjas, Well, life goes on, and the debt goes down!

Had a bit of a complicated week but now it's the weekend. Yay!

This'll be a quick post but I'll try to come back later:

The List:

:starmod: Work out what to spend £10 iSay voucher on.

:starmod: Check online banking.

:starmod: Free 5km Parkun this morning. (Link)


That's all for now. Good luck on your quests, Ninjas.

GettingOrganised

Morning Ally, thanks for starting the thread - enjoy your run!

Well the weather has changed back to the usual rain, but it does mean I can get some indoor jobs done without feeling like I'm missing out.

Over the weekend I'm hoping to:
All meals from stores
Bedding currently in the wash, it will have to go in the dryer though
Must spend at least an hour tidying DD's room (has been on the list all week!)
Find a place for all of DD's Easter eggs to go...
Need to make a start on DD's homework - two weeks to do it and we do it on the last two days (opps!)
Quick trip to town (will walk) to return a couple of tops and return DD's library books
Ironing pile
Play with the pet rats - can't believe how much more confident they are now.
Do meal plan and shopping list for next week, then go shopping
If tomorrow is better weatherwise, we might get out to a park
Three items on eb@y end today, and I need to get a few more listed today too

Time for another brew before we need to tackle the list. Hope everyone has a nice weekend

xJOJOx_2

Morning everyone

Weather a bit glum but I believe it's going to get nice again later (fingers crossed) offered to work nice as only one person on rota, think they must of been struggling as they replied immediately! I did fancy a day of nothing but I may as well work to replace the pennies I've spent the last few days

Today's listy

~ go over on all rooms in the house to keep on top of everything
~ washing, drying, ironing all up to date
~ all meals from stock
~ budget for week ahead
~ ideas of things to do with girlies over next week
~ somthing on eBay
~ bag sorted for charity shop
~ try and make some tips tonight
~ walk to work (try and get a lift home, usually girls on holiday)
~ check banking
~ check emails

That's it for the moment, have a lovley day everyone xx

Pollygarter

Walk to the post office rather than drive as I usually do to post eBay parcels.

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for starting us off Ally
Well, it is a strange day here today - it was pouring with rain when I got up, now it is sunny and windy.

So far I have:

Showered and washed hair to use up some of my toiletry stash

Cooked breakfast for a weekend treat (and to use up some rubbery mushrooms)

Scrubbed some unused garden pots and ornaments (old terracotta / stone ones) which I will price up and take to my sales unit once they are dry. Hopefully they will find nice new homes in bigger gardens than mine! Also take some metal advertising signs to brighten it up a bit and make an impact. It looked a bit meh yesterday, too many little bits that don't really go together atm. Got down there only to see that 2 large items have sold :T

Still to do:

Check banks Done
Make a cake Done, berry and banana muffins
Make bread in breadmaker It is rising now
Make some vegetable soup for lunch OK, I was too late to make it for lunch, but I have done it now, and it will do for tomorrow's lunch instead
Think of something for supper tonight, using food I already have, and hopefully including one of the strange ingredients out of my larder (thanks to Hannah for this idea). Also going to think about using up the fruit in my freezer, as the HG / foraged fruit will soon come again I have raspberries, tayberries, blackberries and plums. Chicken and roasted veg in the oven. Used some berries from the freezer for muffins - but no strange ingredients I am afraid
A new freezer inventory would be a good idea, too Still thinking about this
Not spend anything - the shopping delivery came yesterday, and there is no need to buy anything today! nothing spent

Right, better get on! Hope everyone enjoys their day

Bobarella

Morning All
Thanks for the thread Ally.
Today I have so far used recycled wrapping paper and got son to make a card for the child's birthday he is attending today. I used 2 items from the pass it on draw (mainly other things son gets at parties) & he bought his friend some stickers he likes too.
We are off to son's bank in a moment to pay in his easter money from his Nan, plus £3 of his £6 pocket money.
I found 2p on the way to the bus stop.
Will be using up the roast chicken and roasted veg from last night's dinner, to make a nice pasta meal tonight.
It's raining quite a lot today. May use the time this afternoon while son is at the party to think again about how to sell some of the enormous comic collection of my husband which is basically taking over our dining room till we shift it. We had some success to begin with selling stuff on ebay but nothing was shifting for months just after Xmas so I ground to a halt listing things. We need to really think about whether selling wholesale to a dealer might be better. But we'd lose a lot on individual value...

Anyway off to get wet again

Bye for now

FatVonD

Afternoon all!

The shopping has been delivered and we've had brunch (chicken strips in lovely fresh bread.) I plan on returning some posh washing tablets I impulse bought. Foolishly I thought their claim to doing 3 things might include fabric conditioning but no, they clean, freshen and brighten apparently.

Drying out the keyboard only partially worked so we definitely have to buy a new one. I will keep the old one in case it dries properly over a longer period of time.

Dinner tonight will probably be curry that's just been delivered. Not home made but they're only £1.50 from the frozen section which DH and I are both happy eating. DS has a slightly more expensive healthy eating one as is his preference and we still have naans in the freezer from a multi buy last week.

DSD can't get time off school for a prom dress fitting so is going to wear a dress she has ordered from ebay but has asked us to buy her shoes and bag which will cost less than the dress hire we'd offered to pay for. I just hope she's happy with this dress when it arrives and gets the money back okay for the first one.

Eldest step son has been evacuated from his flat, there was a massive fire in the one next door which turned out to have been a cannabis farm and presumably some of the dodgy electrics caught fire. It didn't spread to his flat but they have massive smoke damage, everything is black and he's had to move back to his mums until it is cleaned up.

Well, we're off soon to pick up stuff from Argos and to go car shopping with my mum though she's going to take some persuading as she loves her current one even though she's a liability in it as she can't judge the width. I'm not sure how many times an insurance company will keep paying claims before refusing to insure you again but I think for her sure her premium will be going up next year.

Have a great day all!:)

foxgloves

Hi all,
Had a change of plan this morning, as had intended to do some election campaigning, but massive rain postponed that, so enjoyed a browse around town instead. A few small good money bits:
*Found a dress in a charity shop for £4.99. Sort of 60s style & I'd got my DMs on when I tried it, it looked quite funky so I had it.
*Bought decent quality polytunnel from Wilko's for £4.99. Have seen similar for up to & over £20. No ultra cheap ones in the 99p Shop this year, but they were not very long lasting.
*Free coffees in Waitrose.
*Perused the reduced items section, but nothing reduced to a price I was prepared to pay, except 2 packs of sausages at 49p each which I bought for a breakfast & casserole.
*Treated myself to a half price magazine, which contained 3 free samples - shampoo, conditioner & foundation.
*Raked over a bed & sowed spinach.
*Sowed watercress.
*Mr f dug over some more of our veggie plot & investigated leaky water butt. He thinks he's mended it with products he inexplicably had in stock. Just waiting for it to dry, then will test the repair by adding some water.
*Planned a day out tomorrow. Will go somewhere NT, as we're members, & will take a flask of coffee & home made muffins for coffee time & a picnic for lunch. I dread to think how much of our money went on coffees, cakes & lunches out during the spendy years (for 'years', read 'decades'!)
Time to get the kettle on & read my free 'Guardian' now. Have a good weekend, everyone.
F x

foxgloves

FVD - I can't BELIEVE the rip-off of those washing tablets! Cleaning, freshening & brightening are just 3 words for the same thing, where laundry products are concerned. It's like bringing out, say, a new triple multi-functional yoghurt which can be 'eaten, consumed or scoffed'. Some of these manufacturers must think we came upstream on bloody water biscuits! Good for you, taking them back.