Thursday 23rd July - What small debt free wannabee things will you do today?

Bobarella

When we start our debt free journey we focus on the big things that make huge differences to our money saving lives. Getting a better paid job. Cutting back on holidays abroad. Giving up the 2nd car. But over time to make progress we also need to focus each day on creating good habits that save us on the little things that all add up. Hanging your washing out instead of tumble drying it. Packing lunch each day instead of buying it out. Cutting back on the latte habit. This thread is a place to focus on how you can make those small but important decisions every day.
Some people like to post a list others just to chat.

Bobarella

Good morning all

Thought I'd start the thread as I was around.

Bagpuss - really sorry to hear of your loss. Hugs.

Ran out of time yesterday but read everyone's news.

Ally - thinking of you, & hoping you find work very soon. Interested to read you ran a restaurant.

KayAnnie - Sometimes I find it is so much easier to do things alone. It's not yet so busy that I can't cope and I can't justify the expense of staff yet anyway.

Princess - hope the settling in is going well.

Foxgloves - still furious on your behalf. Hope you are feeling ok considering.

I recieved confirmation yesterday that the insurer will pay what the ombudsman recommended and I also had a letter of apology. I now need to decide what best to do with the funds. It is not enough to change my life but with debts every penny can make a difference. I am now reviewing everything to decide what the most sensible choice is.

7 days till OH gets paid now. So focusing on the small things more than ever. I had amazing luck at Mr Mozzas yesterday with an enormous YS haul. Hams. Cheeses. Pizzas. Chicken. You name it I got it type thing. For pennies. So :T:T for that.

Because OH and son are going away for 3 days next week I am planning a mini fiscal fast. 3 days of no travel costs, food shopping, kid costs, etc will be just the ticket at the month end.

Good luck with your DFW choices today everyone.

Bob

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for the start Bob. Glad to hear that your insurance nightmare is soon to come to an end. Hopefully the money will help out while you are on maternity leave, if nothing else!

I weighed myself this morning, and have lost 1 stone since I started dieting back in June :T I had already lost 1 stone since I retired from my job last year, simply due to being more physically active and not being tempted by all the cakes, sweets etc that were always around in the office. I would still like to lose 1 more, so will keep going.

Also discovered that I have 2000 Pinecone points, which equates to £20 that can be paid into my paypal account, so I have transferred that

So, today's list:

Continue to stick to diet Hmmm I shared the last piece of chocolate fudge cake with DD and baby GD, had a glass of wine and have just eaten a Thai curry. However, the curry wasn't THAT naughty, as I made it myself with low fat in mind (OH is overweight and won't diet, but if I do 'stealth' reductions to tasty recipes he doesn't notice ) Back on the straight and narrow tomorrow though!
Water pots in front garden Done
See to hens Done
Tidy up (house and garden) Hmm done a bit
Ironing Not done. My excuse is that DD came round this afternoon and we took the baby to feed the ducks and look for dogs, which is her favourite occupation (feeding the ducks means her eating some of the bread, and the dog thing is just pointing and saying 'oof oof' :rotfl: Sometimes a dog approaches, and the owner will apologise profusely, but baby is delighted )
Any surveys that are available Done a couple for Onepoll, will check back in a minute, plus other sites
Prune fruit trees Not done yet, but I did have a go at the bay tree. Might do some more in a minute
HM meals from stores Done
Decide whether to go shopping, or whether it can wait for another day (in which case it will be a NSD) Did go to Mr S, used voucher, nectar points and the £20 pinecone payout to treat myself to a reduced new slow cooker. Freecycled the (very) old and tatty one. Took some old clothes, an unwanted book and some waste paper to the recycling bins at the supermarket while I was there anyway
Sort out cleaning products - I notice I have a new, unopened anti mould spray thingy in the cupboard in the ensuite. When and why did I buy that? No mould here! I will put it on freecycle in case anyone else would like it. DD wanted it, so it is now out of the house. Also gave her a loaf of bought white bread that OH doesn't like - I don't eat much bread, so it would not have got used
Perhaps go to sales unit to see if anything needed - not much has gone this month though. A couple of things had gone

Right, I had better get on, pausing to make more coffee on the way! Hope everyone has a good day

determined_new_ms

Morning Bob & Dawn thanks for starting us off Bob and hurrah to the ins things finally being sorted out :T

Dawn well done for losing a stone :j that's amazing!

Things for today:

* [STRIKE]going to pick up some items off of various freecyclers for my dd who has finally got somewhere to live :T[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] Did some job searching and have a couple of posts to apply for[/STRIKE]
[STRIKE]* need to start research for interview on Monday. Quite fancy this role so need to give myself the best chance at interview[/STRIKE]
* if I have time do some studying of online course I have signed up for (will depend on interview research and job applications)
* [STRIKE]mince out of freezer to make a big batch of spaghetti [/STRIKE]
* need to get bread and baby wipes so will nip in Aldi while in town didn't bother with Aldi seeing as I went to Asda, thought an extra shop wasn't going to be worth the pence I would save
* [STRIKE]will also go to Asda and see if they have any ys items - weird at my local shop they reduce them in the morning! [/STRIKE]managed to get 2 whole chickens, 2 chicken kievs, a loaf of bread, 2 packs of babywipes and some Jam for £8 :T
* flylady - need to be super flying as CM closed tomorrow so will have dgd and won't have much time for cleaning
* [STRIKE]all meals from stores - try not to eat brownies![/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]feed plants[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]buy bucket for wine making from ebay [/STRIKE]
* sow some lettuce seeds and repot a couple of plants
* [STRIKE]make soda bread [/STRIKE]and cheese straws Finally made the soda bread :j bought some phillidephia last week and it's one of those things that always perishes before we finish it all so decided to make some soda bread to make sure it gets used up. All ingredients from stores and have sliced up half of it for the freezer
* made apple crumble using up some apples that were beyond eating (ok to cook but not as a fruit iyswim?
* made too much crumble topping so halved it and froze half for another day
* do energy & broadband search

Ok that's loads! See you all later better get a move on! x

kayannie

Morning all

Yesterday afternoon turned out well. We took my bike wheel to a repair shop 12 miles away and left it there while we took the dog for a walk, & then went to ald@ & Mr T for shopping. As I turned round from the till I spotted a 1p on the floor, & as I bent down to pick it up, there was a £1 coin too!

We went back to the bike shop to be told that not only did I need a new inner tube, but a new tyre too. I had no idea what these cost & was expecting the worst, but they charged me £20 which I thought was very reasonable.

On the way home we drove down a lane where I could remember wild cherries growing & found a tree with very dark delicious cherries. We were only just in time, as some had already rotted on the tree. I was going to turn them into pies or something, but they are so good we are just going to eat them as they are. I love food for free!

OH has put my bike back together again this morning so will go for a ride as soon as the 3 cakes that are baking at the moment (two marmalade & one date & walnut - no eggs needed in the date one) are ready to come out of oven. 12 year old GS will be here for 2 weeks before long, so need to have plenty of cakes in freezer!

Hope you all have a good day.

K

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 )
• 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 )
• NHS Minor Ailment Service article (Link)
  
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• Resolver tool. Helps you draft a letter, send it, monitor replies and then escalate it to an Ombudsman or key complaint body if it's not sorted. (Link)
  
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Orchard product testing (Link)
  
• Tickety Split cheap train tickets (Link)
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )

twiggy86

Morning all

Bagpuss - really sorry about your loss.

Dawn - well done on losing another stone! That's incredible!

Today I have/will:-
* Check banks
* Take lunch to work
* Rejig spreadsheet as payday tomorrow
* Check FPL
* Earn more on OnePoll
* Dinner from stores
* Must tidy bedroom but it's difficult with only one foot!
* Possibly pop to parents
* More crochet if I have time - need to get moving with this!

Hope you all have a good day!

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

Bob -Thanks for starting us off today

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.

Today's little list:

Packed lunch for DH - Done
Prep for holidays - Done
Friend collected TV & Paid (was a win ) - Done
Ironing - All done
Post Office - Done
Clear Dining Table -
Continue purge on Emails -
Continue purge on FB & Twitter -
Surveys -
Check Banks - Done
Enter a few comps - Done a few
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win -
Read - wip

Have a great day, love to you all

C x

maria3104

Hi All

Thanks for starting us off Bob. Dawn fabulous weight loss, wish I could make it happen for me. Just had bacon eggs and chips, probably 2000+ calories so no chance at the moment!

Have saved £4000 today by NOT going on holiday. Spent most of the morning, dreaming and website trawling, have now decided to visit family and that is FREE. Shame there is no thread for this. It could be the "money not spent thread" I could also admit to not having a yacht, racehorse, or art collection etc!

Sorry am giddy from travelling the virtual world all morning, not sure if I am still cruising or in the maldives!

Have fun all.

Maria.

foxgloves

Afternoon Thursday Savers,
Bagpuss - Sorry to hear your sad news.
DawnW - Well done on the weight loss.
Bob - AT LAST!!! The insurance company is paying up. So glad to hear that.
Have done quite a few little money saving bits & pieces today & haven't finished yet.
So far:
*Watered & fed the veggies.
*My usual war on food waste - the homegrown watercress was ready for a big cut, so made some soup for the freezer. Used 2 past their best onions & some milk made up from out of date skimmed milk powder too. Watercress so easy to do - think will do blog post on how to grow it. No running water required, or space. Other food items saved - fresh ginger was going a bit manky at the ends, chopped them off, peeled & put in fridge so it lasts till Sunday when I shall be using it. Also last of a rice crispie box. I don't eat them, but mr f likes them EXCEPT the last portion in the box because it's all powdery. Ha! I've got around that as I had the idea of shaking them up in the colander. No powdery bits left. These will now be eaten! :-)
*Registered new credit card which came in the post. Was glad to see it as my old one expires very soon & was hoping the new one hadn't 'disappeared' in the post.
*Did several surveys. For people who do 'Onepoll' but haven't been on the site in a while, there have been several surveys over the last week or so to update their records & all of these have paid 20p. This has helped to increase my total more quickly than the endless 10p surveys.
*Tried Cat on the new treats he is testing for a survey. He ate some, then sussed they weren't his faves & left the rest on the floor in disgust. Don't think we'll be saving many pennies there......
*Did financial calculations regarding Holiday Pig money. We want to book a cottage for next year & I needed to check we have the deposit for paying next month, & that we are paying enough into the Holiday Pig each month to cover the balance when it's due next year. Unless we are beset by a George Osborne initiated crisis, we should be ok. We also want to have another few days camping in Sept & I wanted to check we can afford that too. We can if we go to the same site as last time, which we love anyway.
*Took delivery of Sainsbury's online order & packed it all away. Two items I thought were bargainmongous: 1) Turkey thigh mince 800g for £4.00. I've frozen it in 4 x 200g quantities as 200g will be sufficient for quarter-pounders, spag bol, chilli, etc, so I think 4 days of meals for 2 people for £4 is very good, & that's without any extra portion of spag bol which might get frozen. 2) Red lentils. I make quite a lot of veggie meals & use lots of these. I normally pay around 99p for 500g (or a bit more depending which shop). Using Ziggy's tip of checking out the world cuisine aisle for things like tinned pulses, spices, etc, we ordered the red lentils from that section & got a hefty 2kg bag for £3.00, pretty much half price compared to buying 500g bags. They will make loads of meals & soups.
STILL TO DO:
*Sort out bag of library books to go back to the library.
*Sort out a big pile of upmarket knitting mags I was given. If there are issues containing no pattern I will definitely knit, then I will add them to the ebay pile. Last time I listed one of these mags, it sold for £5. I hadn't realised they don't have a very big print-run & it's hard to get hold of back issues.
*Have a root though the house for other things I've flagged up for ebay. mr f has been given 100 free listings starting yesterday for a week, so we really do want to make use of those. We have made a decision to change our car in March 2017 (pending disaster) & as we won't be able to buy one outright, we'll need some kind of finance (bah!). We have decided our most sensible course of action is to save harder than we are doing at the moment on the 'every little helps' basis so that when it comes to Car Time, we can reduce what we need to borrow to the minimum by putting down the best deposit we can realistically manage. Checked ebay paypal account last night - about £40 in there. I reckon we can get that up to £100. That's my aim, anyway.
*All free leisure today - might do some knitting, a bit of light gardening....dead-heading, etc, & will update my blog.
Best wishes all,
f x

FatVonD

Nothing momentus for me except I extracted a Mr T till receipt with 21unclaimed points from the bin outside the shop (I have no shame ) but I'm not sure if I will be allowed to add it on as it was paid by debit card. Does anyone know if they ever check you have that actual card? It's not like I'm asking for a refund where they would need it.

I forgot to say that I missed out on a wombed fiver the other day, I walked out of the lift and the bloke in front of me picked it up then looked all shifty because he knew that I'd seen! :rotfl:

This morning I ordered a tent and bed roll from T direct for DS for Reading Festival. I noticed last year that once Glastonbury has passed the prices all get reduced so have been waiting and, sure, enough, it's happened again I removed a sleeping bag from my basket though as, a) it was from a different supplier so there was a delivery fee and b) I'm thinking of taking an old one we have with a broken zip to my mum's for her to machine sew round most of it and just insert a new zip (or even velcro) for the top bit. He will probably lose it anyway so no point buying a new one.

I remembered to take hot dog rolls out of the freezer this morning and have hidden the tin of hot dogs so they don't get eaten before we get home. Not the most nutritious of dinners but it'll put off a food shop for another day.

Last night I helped DS apply for a job at Mr S with teenager-friendly hours, fingers crossed he gets it. One of DH's friends is a manager at another store and he said to always apply quickly for Mr S jobs as once they have a couple of replies they get taken down (they presumably don't want to wade through hundreds of applications) so hopefully there won't be too much competition.

Have a great day all