Sat/Sun 10th/11th October - What small DFW things will you do this weekend?

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 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! :money:

allydowd

MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:

• A Girl Called Jack, cheap recipes ( Link )
  
• Benefits check-up ( 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 )
• LuckyPhone free lottery with loyalty rewards (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)

List checked 29 Sept 2015.

PurpleFairy26

Thanks for starting us of Ally. :hello: to everyone. My list for this weekend:

Take 150 items I managed to label to local sale and hope when I pick them up later there isn't much left :rotfl:have 2 boxes and 4 bags so a great way of de cluttering however was slightly sad to see some of my favourite items that both my girls wore go but better that someone else makes use of them and the pennies are in my bank
Meals from stores/ freezer apart from planned takeaway with friends tonight
Quick fly lady round lounge kitchen and bathroom
Hope mist lifts so I can get a load of washing out on line
PAD
Make something autumnal with free apples
Packed lunch for girls at dancing
Nothing planned for tomorrow, might suggest a big walk/ play at local NT place (free as were members) and put some food that's good for the soul in th slow cooker for when we get home
Do some work for my own business, sort things out for tax return I think I'm due a refund so should do that sooner rather than later

Think that's all folks, gave a lovely weekend

allydowd

Morning DFW-Ninjas,

I'm up early for a free ParkRun. (Link) Last week I stayed in bed and the week before I was ill so I need to make an effort this week or I'll end up giving up on the whole thing. Then it's home for a cooked breakfast and then we're going to the Scottish Boat Show which is held in our local marina and is free. Will spend no more than £5, and will take our own coffee and there will be no going into any of the local yacht clubs!


Debt-Free Nillionaire Month 5:

* Check broadband allowance.

* Do surveys.

* Use Ancestry subscription.


That's it.


Have a good weekend everyone.

determined_new_ms

Morning guys :wave: thanks for starting us off ally! Enjoy your run and day out

jonno kudos on all that labeling! Hope it all sells well! :wave:

Lovely to see FatVon popping in and saying hello yesterday glad everything is going well with the move and :money: on your mortgage repayments :j

Not really sure what our day is looking like at the moment. Weather's set to be good, but I didn't book the tickets to belgium after all...

I've been up since 6 so have spent some time looking into post grad psychology conversion courses (if you want to go into psychology but didn't take a psychology undergrad course) and requirements. Looks like I can do a year long distance course that would cost around £1000 :T

Have also looked into things I want to get to make some Christmas presents. I made a dominoes set last night using 28 flat grey stones I got from the beach & a tippex pen just need to varnish and cut out a square of materiel (from leftover projects ) and make a little tag now. Making gifts is still a relatively new thing for me. I'm planning on also making hot chocolate spoons and a heart decoupage map for a couple of people (from their town of birth) in a 3D frame. I went into a lovely craft shop the other day and saw both of these and thought it would be easy enough to do both myself and they looked lovely! The frames were going for around £27 not sure about the spoons but I think around £7 or £8. I've found the frames for £4 each and the spoons £5.00 for 10 :money:

No news on oh's job! Frustrating beyond belief. So no news either way could be still in the running, but possibly not. Oh is a little disappointed.

Ok small things for today:

* [STRIKE]check banking[/STRIKE]
* call FU and make manual payment & set up dd
* call bank and remove block on FU
*[STRIKE] check meal plan & get something out of the freezer[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]update GC spends[/STRIKE]
* call oh's cousin about party
* call plasterer and get him to come round and give us a quote for ceiling & wall around window in bedroom
* Go to b&q to get 2 shelves for dgd's bedroom. Not that they will be particularly MSE but my db is going to come round tomorrow and help oh do some things in her bedroom so might as well get them done now!
* keeps spends low this weekend
* do at least 2 odd jobs around the house today

Ok sure there will be more as the day goes on.

YORKSHIRELASS

Morning everyone

Just done my spreadsheets, have gone a bit over on my food budget so need to reign that in. Other than that it's tight but doable.

Got some things endings on ebay today and another 2 coats to list. None of it is going to make me a fortune but it all helps. Out for a family meal tonight so hopefully we can do that within budget.

Oh and DS and I are out for tea tomorrow so wont need feeding!

Dizzy_Imp

I love lurking on this thread - I get some great ideas, but I'm often so flat out busy, I don't get time to actually do any of it I need to get my act together...

I do have some bits and bobs I could sell on eBay, so might give that a go this weekend.

lego_mum

Morning all & thanks for the start Ally, your day sounds lovely.
Jonno, hope that your items sell well!
Dnms, the dominoes you've made sound fabulous. Hope OH gets some news on the job front soon, hard when things are up in the air.
Yorkshire, enjoy your meal out.


This afternoon we have ds1's swimming party, other then that we don't really have any firm plans.
Dh & I have spent the last hour or so chatting about up coming expenses, what ifs & maybe's. This has been quite productive as we've had an expensive few months but going forward we should just keep ticking over. The kids Christmas presents are all bought and paid for (mostly using amaz0n vouchers earnt via tcb/quidco/swagbucks etc ) I still didn't get any idea of what to get him for Christmas though! Last year we bought each other tickets to see various comedians that came to the local theatre, we saw Tim Vine, Milton Jones and are seeing Stewart Francis next month but there isn't anything coming up in the next year as yet. So will need to have another think.




Health & Fitness plans (lose this weight once and for all, no fad diets ever again!)

:starmod: Walk at least 7000 steps to get bounts points
:starmod: Eat for health
:starmod: Drink water through the day
:starmod: Monitor fitness goals etc using my fitbit daily & adjust when needed


Daily jobs:

:starmod: Check banks/update spreadsheet
:starmod: Delete junk from emails
:starmod: Clean & tidy fridge (make sure we don’t waste anything)
:starmod: Use something out of the food use up box
:starmod: Plan today’s meals from stores
:starmod: No heating on yet, plenty of blankets & jumpers available J


Tidy home = Tidy mind
:starmod: Hoover carpets
:starmod: Clean the kitchen using minimal products
:starmod: Tidy at least one cupboard tidied the party box and took out some party bags that can be sent to cs as too babyish for boys
:starmod: Gather together items for the cs party bags in
:starmod: Work out how to change light bulb on dh’s fancy reading lamp


Money making schemes

:starmod: Inbox pounds 5 searches
:starmod: Swagbucks
:starmod: Check Fpl
:starmod: Check luckyphone
:starmod: Check for surveys
:starmod: Rm survey

Freebies/vouchers/offers

:starmod: Check 02 priorities
:starmod: Check tcb/quidco
:starmod: Check cos/shopit

Extras




Its taken me ages to type this as the kids kept bouncing on me, so sorry If I've missed anyone! Have a good day all.

La_escocesa

Hi everyone :hello:

Hope you are all doing well

I've got a few bits planned - mainly just around the house... Need to go to the skip to get rid of loads of cardboard and rubbish from moving.

Friends are coming over in the afternoon

Night in with a charity shop £1 DVD - Calendar Girls

Dropping OH off at the next train station down - saves around £5 on his ticket!

Lots of love everyone!

:beer:

ziggy2407

Good Morning Everyone

Ally - 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.

No work again for DH is which is both :eek: and .Today I will:

Washing (1 load) and line dry
Tidy freezer & meal plan
Compile shopping list
Continue purge on Emails
Surveys
Check Banks
Enter a few comps
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer
Read book (from groaning shelf)
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win
Check Lucky Phone

Have a great day, love to you all

C x

foxgloves

Hi all,
Busy morning. Mr f is working all day, so I haven't got the car, don't fancy the bus or walking to town so it's an NSD for me. Only a few bits of money saving activity so far:
*Jellybag I hung up to drip yesterday was ready, so I've jammed it into apple & mint jelly. Pretty pinky colour from the skins of our apples.
*Sorted out the pear mountain. Peeled & chopped 6lbs of the smaller or blemished ones for chutney. Picked some chillies from the greenhouse, prepped everything else & it's now bubbling away in the cauldron. The entire house (including me) smells of fruity vinegar. Jars from my recycled jar stash washed & sterilizing in the oven.
*Topped up the worm composter with a huge bowl of kitchen scraps. Fab compost for free! They are eating everything I can chuck in there at the moment. They slow down over winter, but it's been so warm, they don't realise the seasons have changed.
*Picked up another 3lbs of windfall pears.
*No heating on whatsoever. However, got a bit of a shock watching this morning's BBC weather report which said that there could be SNOW at the end of this month. Snow in October?? That would be very early. Checked with mr f that I'd heard right. He said yes, that was what the forecaster had said, that there could be snow late this month in Scotland & the North. We are sort of North east midlands.....weird area for weather. Sometimes we get what the North East is getting, other times we are sufficiently far south to miss it. Am glad the mild weather so far means we've not yet had to use any heating, as it all helps build a little bit more credit on our energy accounts for when it does drop colder.
Still to do:
*Bake a pear & cinnamon cake.
*Knit more of Dad's jumper (Christmas present).
*Go back through magazine pile for a recipe I saw for a sort of butternut squash & mushroom dhal. Looked fab & economical. Will defo snip recipe out & make it.
OK, I must have a look at the chutney. I think it's going to need another hour yet, as there's a lot of it, so will crank my audiobook up (Kate Atkinson) get on with some jobs. Film night tonight, according to mr f, so that's free entertainment.
Cheers,
f x