Sat/Sun 29th/30th What small DFW things will you do this weekend?

determined_new_ms

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 cancelling 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 important!:money:

Whoop whoop to the weekend :j And it's sunny, and it's 3 days :j:j:j

Almost had a nervous breakdown when I realised the forum was down this morning :eek:

This mornings efforts:

* went shopping early so as to avoid the rush
* Spent £34 but bought ribs & wine for db's BBQ on monday
* bought a few extras as they were on offer at Lidl and will save money over the month
* will update my GC amounts shortly
* filling up the bargainous paddling pool oh got dgd for £3.50 yesterday
* will investigate if it's worth selling the tincy baby one we currently have. Might put it up in a box for beginning of spring next year
* List a few things on ebay
* all meals from stores - steaks for dinner tonight
* will look through fridge to see what needs using up for lunch rather than having whatever we fancy
* free entertainment for dgd & me today
* water plants
* no doubt I will pick some blackberries!
* pick some rhubarb and stew. Possibly freeze some. Some to make crumble for db's BBQ

Tonight we are going to a family wedding reception. Am think I may drive to save on taxi fare. Will see how I feel later. If I do decide to have a drink then will drive there and see if we can get a lift/share taxi as one of oh's uncles lives in the same village Me & dgd wearing dresses from our wardrobes rather than getting something new.

Ok that's my lot

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 )
• You Need A Budget site and App (Link) New link!
  

If this list helps you today please click "Thanks".

allydowd

Afternoon DFW-ers,

Thanks for the starter DNM and for everyone's advice and good wishes.

I'm pleased the Forum is back up!

Foxgloves I hope your mouth is recovering.

I had a good night's sleep so now it's Operation Happiness and Sanity. We're going to try to pack as much rest, fun and recuperation in as we can this weekend all in MSE-style.


Nillionaire Month Three:

* Checked Finances online. OK. We are still solvent.

* Check broadband allowance. OK.

* Went for a free 5km ParkRun. Used free Runkeeper App. (Link) Had a lovely time. I thought I was faster in the first half, but actually I was faster in the second half, so the App gave me a whole new perspective on my performance, for free. Felt nice and calm afterwards.

* Not drinking any caffeinated drinks this weekend. Will finish up fruit flavoured tea granules and drink tap water instead. Won't use any milk. We always keep a bottle of tap water in the fridge in an Ikea bottle like this. (Link) Hoping this will help calm my mind.

* Turn alarm clock off at the wall til tonight.

* Handwashed jacket has dried perfectly. Glad I didn't pay a Dry Cleaner.

* Few Job-seeking tasks to be done later.

* OH bought Flash liquid which we use for our floors for £1.50 in B&M. We only use a few drops of it in boiling water so that'll last us ages and that's half price, I think.

* Stopped off in Homebase as we were passing to get a replacement strimmer. Original broken strimmer cost £9.50. Had a £15 voucher given to us by Homebase for a replacement. £14 strimmer was out of stock so I talked the manager into giving us the £25 strimmer for the £15 voucher!

* Helped OH assemble new strimmer thereby preventing her just hitting things with a hammer to make square pegs fit into round holes as is her habit!

* DVD boxed set bought with free voucher arrived. Will watch it s'afternoon.

* Have a look at an old, damaged bumbag to see if I can covert it into an armband to hold my phone when I'm running.

* After 5 weeks finally got a letter saying when our Housing Benefit will be paid. Just need to find out what our new Council Tax bill is. Filed the 14 page council calculation paperwork away quickly as the unnecessarily lengthy mathematical calculation in it was making me angry. Why say "2+2=4" when you can say "2+9+1-10+2-5-9+14=4"?!! And why issue a letter which tells you when the first payment will be made and not state when all following payments will be made or when the backpayment for the last five weeks will be made?! Still, the important thing is they are going to pay it and we will finish the month solvent.

* OH is preparing some of our homegrown onions for lunch.

* Decided not to do our usual housework this weekend. The house is relatively clean.

Going to settle on the sofa now. Keep it purple folks.

xxxJOJOxxx

Good Afternoon Everyone


In work at 6pm til 11pm so nice early finish, however they still pop me in the nightclub afterwards for a few hours (hopefully not though) Got a extra 2 hours overtime in the morning cleaning (cleaner broke her ankle roller-skating)


Todays Listy


- All meals from stock
- Sort out small bundle of clothes for selling pages
- Hoover all rooms and general tidy up
- Water Veg Patch
- Walk to Work
- Add provisional License fee to budget as this has been sent off
- Start Meal Plan, hoping for a no shop this week, just using what's in stock & frozen leftovers. So hopefully just milk & bread (maybe not even bread as a few baps etc in freezer)
- Low Wages this week due to less hours from returning mid week on hols so trying to spend as little as possible
- Keep a eye on radiator cover on ebay, ends tomorrow at 2ish. Fingers crossed for a bargin
- 1 x wash & ironing
- prep girlies bags for daddy's house


That's All For Now

chocolatelover93

Hello everyone!!

Working today so shouldn't be too tempted to spend (hopefully)
Got juice from staff canteen (free) instead of buying a drink although OH came into work and got me a bottle of coke, but I didn't buy!! Have a bottle in the cupboard from the other day to drink too.

Decide what to have for lunch and don't spend loads!!

Book Thorpe Park tickets for OH

Book Cadbury's tickets (was given then as a present for my 21st but heard you have to book before you go)

Take any old DVD's to CEX (had a massive clear out last week so doubt I will have any this week)

Watch Nextflix

Make dinner instead of take way as we're off out tomorrow night for a meal.

Sort through old clothes and list some on EBay.

Look for a new house to rent (hopefully privately).

Check FreePostcodeLottery (fingers crossed)

Purge emails.

Enter some competitions.

Do a few surveys.

See how much I have in my survey accounts and if I can cash any out.

Find book folding patterns for Xmas prezzies.

Think that's about it, wow I have a long list!!

DawnW

Afternoon all
Thanks for the start DNMS, I wondered what was going on with the site (not just the forum?) this morning. I hadn't noticed that maintenance was scheduled, but perhaps I missed it.

Well, I have been left holding the puppy today, as OH has gone out. Therefore my list is a modest one, as it is quite hard to do anything!

So far:
*Insured pup, making sure to go through Quidco to get some cash back
*Hoovered and replaced antique rug in lounge with cheap one bought last year from ebay, to avoid the former getting chewed :eek: The antique one can go in the loft but I must mothproof it first.
*Cleaned a small item of furniture and took it down to my sales unit, to replace another one that has sold :T (it was like juggling, trying to get the pup into her basket on the passenger seat and this into the back of the car :rotfl:)
*Tidied up the conservatory where the item had been stored. I can now open the cupboard without moving anything :T
*Sorted out a boxful of junk for the charity shop - there may be more! I have stuck it in the back of my car until I get the chance to take it down there. At least I won't have to look at it in the house / garage any more!
*Cleared up about a dozen very small wees - that is besides the ones he has managed in the garden :rotfl: Thank heaven for hard floors :T
*Got a YS free range chicken out of the freezer for tomorrow, when DD, SiL and baby GD come for dinner - I now have space for more French beans / stewed apples / tomato sauce
*Had a few HG raspberries and blueberries with my yogurt for breakfast this morning, and finished up some leftover soup for lunch

Still to do:

*Sort out conservatory cupboard, and see if I can find space in it for all the shoes that are piled in a basket out there - or if I really need all the shoes!
* Keep an eye on the weather, as I am hoping that the old rug that I use for baby GD to play on outside will finish drying so it can go back in the garage out of the way (it got sopping wet last weekend (I did consider just chucking it out, but it does come in quite handy)
*Sort through 2 huge bowls of tomatoes, pick out the ripest ones and make a batch of roasted tomato sauce
*Prepare, cook down and freeze a basket of gifted windfall apples
*Freeze more French beans
*Feed French bean, cucumber, chilli and tomato plants, along with my precious dwarf quince tree
*Leftover chilli for supper - not sure when OH will be back, so it might just be me
*Read more of my library book so I can take it back after the BH.

Hmm not sure if all this will get done

Hope you all have a good weekend

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

DNMS - Thanks for starting us off
Foxgloves - Hope you're feeling much etter after your dental treatment yesterday

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:

Sell Caravan - Done
Bank cash from above & ransfer to savings - Done
Contact Caravan storage & inform we no longer need - Done
Contact Caravan Insurance & Cancel -
Relax with hubster and son -
Filing & Shredding -
List more bits for sale/freegle -
Bump listings/stuff for sale -
Continue purge on Emails - WIP - really need to find out why every email is coming through twice - any ideas?
Surveys -
Check Banks -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win -

Have a great day, love to you all

C x

allydowd

ziggy2407 wrote: »

Continue purge on Emails - WIP - really need to find out why every email is coming through twice - any ideas?

Which email provider? And are you using Outlook?

If it's Outlook the "Leave Messages on the Server" box might have been checked on your Outlook Express account settings. To fix uncheck the "Leave Messages on the Server" box. To do this, click on Tools>Accounts. You will see a box open (named Internet Accounts), click "Mail" tab, click on the mail account, click on Properties>Advanced. Remove the check in the box "Leave a copy of messages on server."

Bobarella

Hi All

I know what you mean Determined. Was up by 6.30 having a bit of toast with my son. Automatically went to MSE as my first digital stop of the day and saw the message saying the site would be down till tommorow. Then I went onto twitter and saw they were actually saying from 10 last night to 8 this morning. By 9 it still wasn't up and I had to go and buy supplies for the party so I felt all out of sorts.

As a proxy I went and caught up with Foxgloves blog and had a nice browse of life at the People & Cats Republic sorry to hear your frogs as MIA this year

I found a £1 coin when I was locking my bike up. That was the good bit of the day. Went to work till about half an hour ago so just having a restorative cuppa now.

Not much MSE activity today other than working extra hours.

See you tommorow!

Bob

crazy_cat_lady

Evening all
I too was rather at a loose end this morning when I couldn't have my morning cuppa and browse of the MSE forums. Then I just haven't had a chance since then to get on here - real life keeps making me do stuff. Hope everyone is doing ok...
So far I have
checked banking
transferred my wages back into my current account as they had been swept into savings.
did a load of washing and out on the line to dry
caught up with a good friend who is just back from holiday
repaired the bathroom sink myself (fingers crossed) at a total cost of £16.97
All meals from stores

Things I still need to do
relax
read at least 3 chapters of my book
prepare veggies for tomorrow's dinner
15 mins housework and declutter

There will be more, but I'll update later tonight or tomorrow. :beer:

DD265

Hi all

Got paid yesterday but held off doing my budget because second monitor wasn't working and I was behind on inputting transactions into YNAB - I like to have internet banking on one screen and YNAB on the other. Unfortunately it's the adapter that's gone so I have printed out the account statements and done it with a ruler (well, piece of card) and pen instead!

I knew I was getting a good bonus this month and had planned to pay off the remaining £750 of student grant over payment. I am gutted because by the time HMRC and SLC have taken their share, and I've budgeted all bills etc, I can't afford to make more than my usual £250 payment!

I wouldn't have had enough anyway, but it's mostly because I have a larger-than-normal credit card payment to make. I am telling myself that at least the balance on something is going down to £0.00 this month! A good sign is I didn't actually add anything to the card last month, it's just leftovers from July which fell into the August statement. We moved into our flat at the end of May so June and July were quite expensive and I ended up putting some fuel/food on the card as well as two sets of flights (to visit an ill relative).

The other positive is that I have over £200 in an emergency fund. I can't remember the last time that happened. Actually I don't feel so bad right now after all. :rotfl: