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

Bobarella

Optimistic_Kate wrote: »

Hi all, hope it's not too late to join this! 10 NSD will be a big challenge for me (how you guys manage 20 is inspirational) and I hope to put an extra £200 towards my debt this month. Food challenge is perfect for me too as I need to cut this bill down.

What a beautiful start to the month it is!

Not at all. Welcome Kate:D

What do you find you spend on food normally? And for how many of you? Do you search out YS bargains,batch cook, cut back on meat etc to help your budget ?

timetrade

Happy July!

I've decided on my goals for the month:

• 20 NSD
• Stay within £250 grocery budget
• £800 payment on loan (bringing me to 50% paid)
• Stretch goal: an extra £200 payment ready for next month
• £5 donation to Medecins Sans Frontières

Bobarella

thriftylass wrote: »

Hi Bob,

sorry for the late notice. I've been off the last few days and home alone with two kids, so a bit mental and really busy so I kind of missed the end on June. More later.

Can I please still join.

My name is Thrifty and I reduced my debt by £256 this month. Maybe stretch it to 300. However the childcare is nearly a £1000 this month (long month, no three year old funding due to hols) and we go camping for a long weekend at the end of the month so might be tight.

Thanks

Hi Thrifty
You are no 19 of our plucky crew this month!!
Sympathies on the extra childcare bill. I am in the same boat. Not quite as high £££ as you but still it is annoying isn't it!
Good luck with your targets in light of that.
Bob

Bobarella

timetrade wrote: »

Happy July!

I've decided on my goals for the month:

• 20 NSD
• Stay within £250 grocery budget
• £800 payment on loan (bringing me to 50% paid)
• Stretch goal: an extra £200 payment ready for next month
• £5 donation to Medecins Sans Frontières

Awesome goals. Amazing loan overpayment!!
What do you find your biggest challenge on sticking to the grocery budget?

misstara

Hello again

My goals for July
- 20 NSDs
- debt down to £5250, stretch to £5200
- stick to £120 grocery budget
- go camping with OH
- give £5 to charity

The £120 grocery budget is for me and OH. I started eating gf about 7 weeks ago and really struggled to stay on budget due to the more expensive costs of some foods. However this month I am determined to stick to the budget. Today I have spent £16.52 which was on milk, bin bags and stocking up on gf foods for the rest of the month.

timetrade

Bobarella wrote: »

Awesome goals. Amazing loan overpayment!!
What do you find your biggest challenge on sticking to the grocery budget?

I'm really guilty of popping into the shops to pick up "just one thing", and then coming out with £15 of food. I think I'll be able to stick to the budget if I limit myself to 1 main shop and 1 top-up shop per week.

thriftylass

timetrade wrote: »

I'm really guilty of popping into the shops to pick up "just one thing", and then coming out with £15 of food. I think I'll be able to stick to the budget if I limit myself to 1 main shop and 1 top-up shop per week.

I think I found the reason for this in my case - the husband :rotfl:. I think it's little things like me and the kids will finish a stale loaf, toast it etc. Whereas if OH were here we'd have bought a fresh one by now or rolls. I always try to make dinner a bit special for him but learned now to jazz up cheap ones to seem fancy. He has been away since Sunday and my spending has dropped to essentials only and I am sticking to the list despite the two kids being in the shop with me. This week (June/July split) I spend £30 on food and HH (£8 nappies, super cheap washing powder - hiding it in my old Ari3l box , loads of fruit and sandwich stuff). and that'll do me till at least Saturday. Dinner is usually something cooked from the freezer stock of mince and variuos veg. Already got dinners planned and my next preemptive shop before he comes back to hopefully set me up for the whole of next week as I could really do with a low grocery spend this month.

When I was off the last two days I made my first batch of HM granola, very yummy. Much less sweet than shop bought stuff and a lot cheaper. Forgot to put the oil in the recipe asked for but glad I did. Also made some stuffed wine leave for whenever I fell like a snack. Will make some more maybe tomorrow or Friday.

Also amazing what I can get done when OH and child free. Was off Monday and Tues with the kids being in nursery 2/3 of the day. Got the house cleaned (kitchen and guest bedroom left to do at night), two trips to the dumb, car port cleared of junk, front path fixed, trees trimmed, weeded, car cleaned inside and out, back garden levelled, kids clothes sorted and thinned out (four bin bags to the clothes collection of stuff that was too small, scruffy or hand me downs I didn't like etc etc. It was a bit frantic and I didn't really get a chance to sit down before it was time to pick the kids up (wanted them to have a chance to go in the paddling pool before dinner) but it felt amazing. And now I can look around the house and I am not overwhelmed any more by the jobs that needed doing.

Hopefully tonight tackle the kitchen and need to make sure that I stay on top of it a bit better.

stewby

Today is a spendy day... Quite a horrific spendy day to be honest. However, that is because today is day one of going gluten free.
Can't believe how expensive everything is.
:eek:

1) 01/07/15 - 31/07/15... going to do my best.


2) 20 spend-free days. Going to do my best to get this. (Probably going to run out of money this month due to the cost of gluten free food)
:shocked:

3)
* Target from my budget: Plan is to pay £100 to my OH; £50 to my london pot; £31 to our xmas pot.
* Target from big account: Pay £250 off my credit card debt (fingers crossed).


4) No comment. Everyone inspires me in a different way...


5) Outdoor day sorted. Once I figure out what we are doing.


6) Brand dropping is going to be hard as we are going gluten free this month.


7) £25 treat... wooooooo!!
:j

8) Donate £5... going to probably donate it to the RNLI. It's close to our family and I think they do good things.
:happyhear

9) Will do my best.

OnwardAndUpward81

Hello again Bob and everyone in the group

Could you sign me up please. Two weekend breaks this month so trying to claw back the money wherever I can. I am so determined for today to be my first NSD!

1) This challenge runs from midnight on 1st July to midnight on 31st July.
I've started already

2) You will aim for 20 No Spend Days - No spend days can be defined by you. Some people choose to include days their Direct Debits go out, some dont. Items you dont have to lose a NSD for include prescription meds, essential travel bills, & anything else that is essential to your well being. And YS food as well (which means marked down items purchased in the yellow sticker section or whatever your supermarket equivelant is) Going to be a challenge but I'm ready

3) You will post your main financial aim on the thread as in 'Hi my names Bob, & I am aiming to hit £4,500 this month as my debt target'
As a new twist we will all be posting our stretch target too, so if you think there is a way you can pay off an extra £100, state it in your intro, whats the worst that can happen?
I'd like to pay off 473.21 to clear half of my credit card bill with OH.

4) You will nominate a Turtle who turtlally inspires you, and post your reasons why on the thread! Take your time on this, it may take you a while to decide if you are new.
Don't know anyone yet

5) You will plan at least 1 outdoor day where you either spend the whole day in a park, doing the garden, walking in the countryside, on the beach, whatever, but this is really good for well being & with the light being best & weather looking good, July is a great month to do it. If you manage to make this a NSD as well, then high five you! There will be a bonus to the Turtle who nabs the most outdoor days this month. Good excuse to take a long walk I think

6) You will brand drop 1 level on your food shopping, unless you are already a total pro & feel your food budget is on the floor & cannot be cut! Noted !

7) As this is a bucket & spade boogie challenge, you are allowed a fun budget of £25 for the month, (if its available to you) to spend on fish & chips on the front, ice creams for the kids, grandkids, me rides on the donkeys & anything else seaside inspired. Hmmm...I'm not sure how I'll engage with this one! Could someone explain how this works.

8) Pick a good cause close to your heart & donate £5 of your money, or £5 worth at least of your time to that cause this month. A lot of people like to buy a few extra cans & drop them in the food bank box, or cats charity food box next time they are at the supermarket, but equally if you will be running the school fair stall for a local good cause I'd say that counts too. I've recently given lots to charity and have a lot of DVDs and CDs to follow, hopefully this counts.

9) You must check in on the thread daily, or as often as is possible if you are at work etc. I will certainly do my best.

C

apple_muncher

To those of you going/ being gluten free: have you considered buying 'differently' instead of buying g-f substitutions for your usual food? You can have rice, quinoa, potatoes. All veg and fruit. Dairy. Meat and fish. Nuts. Lots of chocolates (but check every package as, eg some dairy milk is ok, and other bars 'may contain gluten'.

I shop in aldee and if it were only dh and me, almost all our shopping would be from there. Not all the stuff is g-f but I now know what is safe for me to have. And I totally NOT wasting away!!!

Have an enjoyable month trying it out. But may I add that you MUST be strict as even a smidgen of gluten will cause a reaction.

Am sure Fmess will be along with some marvellous wisdom once she emerges from her marking...