NST July - Bobs Bucket & Spade Boogie to the beach!

apple_muncher

academia - have you looked on freegle/freecycle for a bed? Some great stuff gets given away when people buy new stuff!

Today I am grateful that the rain only started once we were home from the school trip, that dd + friend had a great playtime together, that the blackcurrants are ripe enough to eat straight from the stalk, that tomorrow I do not have to go to work, that there is always inspiration to be found on here.

Bobarella

Hello again!

Glad the ant thing went down well, its kind of true I think. You need that mentality of keep going even when those around you are chilling out, the ants are working!

Today was another busy day at the shop, I sort of expected it. Its that kind of cafe weather. Didnt stop all day. Then cycled to the antenatal appointment. Apparently Im 28 weeks. Midwife was happy with us, had to do bloods as they check again for things like gestational diabetes? But I feel healthy so I doubt very much they'll find anything.
Then cycled to the bank & to pick up son. Have made a delicious red lentil, veg & mince sheppards pie so thats done for tonights dinner. Will go and kick the 6 year old out of the bath in a minute, mean mamma.
Today was great for wombling, made £4.30 in tips, plus found 9p roadkill. And the best bit was that the payment came through from the market research interview I took part in 2 weeks ago. I thought it was £30, but it was £50! So I've wacked that straight to CC2, and that, smashes my stretch target. I cant believe it!

Calling - Please dont beat yourself up. Using CCs isnt a bad thing in total, & you are doing so well on the debt busting front. I agree too, days out dont have to cost money, really, a day at the beach, is a lovely treat.

Apple- A snail eh, maybe we can call you Turbo (please tell me you've seen that movie) the way you are powering through your mortgage overpayments it suits you.

Fmess- You can be the queen ant then. Wait there, one of us will be along shortly with something tasty.

Abundant - Appreciate you are not part of this collective madness, but being our male Turtle, you shall now be known as Adam Ant

May be a tad delirious....

Bob

academiablues

Apple, I did check freecycle in my area but as we want a "small double" there wasn't anything suitable (someone else had posted on there asking for one as well! ) - I don't mind paying for something that we'll get some use out of, but obviously if I could have gotten it for free I would have been a happy turtle! Managed to track it on TCB though, so got a little bit back as well as all the other discounts (Ar-gos have got a 20% off deal on furniture, and got £15 off a mattress as well).
Also got a free drink in town today with my oh-two app, and made a rhubarb crumble with rhubarb grown by next door - busy turtle!

Fmess

Hugs calling, hope your day got better and you are free of the instrument of torture


Thanks bob, I love the thought of food being delivered to me. On a related train of thought, think this is the longest I've gone without takeaway, it must be over 6 weeks now!


Well done on all the SFDs and extra payments turtles


Today was SFD number 7 for me. It was hard fought too as I was away with school and had to sit in a coffee shop for nearly an hour, and managed to avoid spending (sorry bob, but it was a huge chain and everyone else bought items). Slowly creeping towards the target of 20 but know that I have too many planned spends to reach it, but I will try to get as near as possible. I have 3 spends days in a row now - dinner with friends tomorrow (6 monthly catch up), end of marking treat of a massage on Thursday and dinner with another friend on Friday. I will do the weekly food shop on one of these days too and fill up the car.

Westie983

lol at Adam Ant and Turbo :-)

misstara

Loving the idea of ant turtles

Today was almost a NSD until I went to make tea and discovered I didn't have enough milk or cheese to make cheese sauce. Clearly not quite as prepared as I thought so a small spend on those items.

I've been to the gym - did a kettlebells class with my friend. It was hard going but quite enjoyable so I've booked myself on the class next week. May change my mind in the morning though depending on how sore I am.

Nothing else to report except a massive 17p being transferred to the emergency fund.

The_Only_Girl

Good evening turtle ants, Turbo, Queen Ant and Adam Ant (did I miss anybody?)

Congratulations to those who saved their NSD's. I'm sad to say it was a spendy day for me today. DS2 is going on a school trip to Light Water Valley tomorrow (their school's treat to those who achieved more than 95% attendance) and DS1 will be going to Italy also on a school trip. I had to buy some packed lunchy things and decided to include some grocery shopping for this week's menu. Spent £50 (ouch) but it probably will be enough to last us the whole week. Might do another small shop for DS2's scout camping trip this weekend. I used shopitise app for the first time and I was pleased to have earned £2.50 for 3 items. Must introduce the app to my hubby so when he needs to do the shopping he can also earn some pennies.

It was my second early shift today and I am happy to say it wasn't as traumatic as yesterday. I woke up 5 minutes earlier than my alarm and wasn't as knackered. Tomorrow, being the third one will be a doddle (I hope) and the fourth will be almost automatic but then it will be followed by two night shifts. So again another shock to the system. But as I have mentioned last night, can't complain because it brings home the bacon.

With that, I shall end this post. Early to bed and early to rise and all that. Night all!

Due to popular demand (from the hungry hippos), I cooked chicken chow mein again. The hungry hippos were as happy as Larry and I am happy too coz I have already sorted my LTW for tomorrow and probably, if not yet gobbled up by the HH's, it will be my LTW til Friday.

mothernerd

A SFD for me - walked to the infirmary for my appointment and walked back again. Must get fitter by next week as I have a breast screening exam and they have moved the mobile unit - used to be on the car park as soon as you arrived at the infirmary but when they built the new unit, they put it on the new car park at the back so you have to walk all round the whole hospital on the outside (they assume everyone will arrive by car).

All my results were good (diabetic annual review) except for the one I have been dreading - my weight has gone up to 16st 3lb (hangs head in shame) so really must do better, redevelop my raw carrot addiction, do more and start the sit-ups again - I tried the other night, I can do them on the bed (as getting down onto the floor is still a distant goal).

But I did not spend money and have made a small payment to a cc - the bill hasn't come, but got on-line notification and have part paid the minimum (can pay the rest next week, but Council tax goes out tomorrow). So shuffling the payment a little further forward again (if I keep doing this I should end up a whole month in front sometime).

Today I am grateful for leftovers (so sad when I looked in the freezer - I have eaten my way through the 'butty' stash), for walking when it was difficult and for a gentle relaxing day.

Bobarella

Good Morning Turtles

Here we are on the 15th July. For those of us who are paid monthly nows the time it may start to get tight, & digging deep to keep moving forward is the name of the game from here to the 30th (or whenever your pay day is)

Today I will be checking I have paid everything I need to this month & that I have money for any remaining spends.

I will be totting up the debt repayment total for the month so far but I'm pretty sure it's £274 compared to a usual £100 ish

I will start to plan August.

So its time to look ahead, renew my focus, remember what I am trying to achieve every day with all my small actions and keep moving forwards!

We're almost at the beach, but there's a way to go yet!!

What will you do today at the midway point?

Bob

apple_muncher

Today will be a spendy day here, bob. Weds is my food shopping day and I shall also trawl around the charity shops to look for brightly coloured wool. I go away on sat for up to 12 days, the first week of which will have no internet and v limited phone signal, so I want to take lots of knitting to do. I have already photocopied several patterns - all using the same size needles. But I'm going by train so have to carry it all too! And dd, at 7, can't carry large amounts...

I'm very pleased with my half-monthly NSD tally - don't think I've ever had this many so early on.

The s t r e t c h target is a brilliant idea! I've been doing Tilly Tidies as well as larger amounts, and am pretty sure I'll have a reasonable amount left at the end of the month to knock off the mortgage too. Every £1100 I can pay off reduces it by 1 month at our current rate, and takes us 1 step nearer to FIRE. (Oops - just looked at my stretch amount in my siggie and it reads: 4012.20/450. Slight typo there!)