Thursday 26th November - What small things will you do today?

La_escocesa

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:

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all Thanks for the start LaE
I feel remarkably chirpy today considering how little sleep I got last night. It was after midnight when I went and I've been awake since before 6 - but I'll take it and make the most of it. And it's Thursday as well so I finally get a free lesson! :j:j:j Wonder what today will bring.
:silenced: Check banking (almost made it to payday) :j
:silenced: minimise heating use
:silenced: mark at least 2 sets of exam papers
:silenced: plan next week's lessons
:silenced: 15 minutes housework and declutter
:silenced: go through chemical stores and get an order in at work
:silenced: aim for nsd
:silenced: all meals from stores
:silenced: encourage dh to do something (he looks awful down again today)
:silenced: do not get stressed, no matter how few of us there are in the department or how little support I get
Think that's it - work is going to take up a big chunk of my time today. Have a good day everyone :hello:

La_escocesa

Hi everyone :santa2:

Hey CCL - you sneaked in Hope your OH starts to feel better soon.

Big waves to everyone who follows - hope things are ok where you are

I finished making my friend's baby's hat. There are a couple of things I'd change but I just don't have the time as seeing baby in question tomorrow and I won't get back until after 9pm this evening. Oh well, it's still pretty cool and I don't think you'd notice the difference unless you saw the original design.... Ho hum...crochet problems. (If only all my problems were so simple!)

So today - long day out once again!
Long day saves petrol as not doing a roundabout trip home after work that I don't need to do
Cheapo porridge brekkie at home - half water half milk :cool:
Did @ldi top up shop last night so it's all good :A
Pay dog walker - OH forgot money yesterday
Measure curtains and take them down - they are too long for this house so DM is going to cut and hem them and make us cushion covers with the remaining material. :T Will still have loads of other material left too :think:
Packed lunch
Yoga - 2 folks should pay this eve so that will cover hall hire :T
Charge phone/i pod at work
Voluntary work - should defo have time
Saw that there is 20% off my xmas pressie this weekend (u gg boots) - santa will be pleased
Will try to sort gas/elec at lunch - wish me luck!! :mad:

xxx

PS - you'll never guess what I did yesterday - I ventured out of the small things thread and read other posts!! I don't think I'll do that again for a very long time - it's such a negative place out there at times! This thread rocks. :iloveyou:

allydowd

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

• 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)
• Jack-At-A-Pinch, cheap recipes ( 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)

Revised 31 Oct 2015.

ziggy2407

Good Morning

LaE - 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 I will

Packed lunch for DH & DS - Done
Nurse @ 9am -
Meet friend with frame order -
Visit local Primary School (drop off Christmas pressie for local charity, old batteries to school recycling) -
Clean mum's flat -
Cook tea at mums -
Bump all sale listings/freecycle/facebook -
Check Banks -
Continue purge on Emails -
Continue decluttering -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com - Remember there are now 5 chances to win -
Check Lucky Phone -

Have a good day! Love to you all!

C x

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for the start La E
Lots to do today:
Dog walks x 2 Done
Clean up after naughty baby / puppy combo yesterday :eek: Done
It is a nice day, so washing is in the machine and will go out on the line when finished :T Done, but it didn't dry much, so I will put it on the airer in a minute
Take some items to sales unit and tidy that up Done, and some items had sold :rotfl:
HM meals from stores, just me again today. I have leftovers to use up! Used up some lurking olives and a small piece of leftover brie, with some salad for lunch, rest of veg chilli for supper shortly
Wash up in a bowl rather than the DW, as there is only me here, and there won't be much Still to do
Need a few bits from town, to last the rest of the week, to go with other things that I already have / need using up. I will make a very short list and stick to it! Done, spent more than I had intended as they had nice pork shoulder joints on offer. Got a couple for Boxing day when the whole family come round - OH always does a 'hog roast' with slow cooked pork, crackling, stuffing, apple sauce in rolls, which we have with salad and coleslaw - much easier to feed a crowd than doing a traditional roast I decided that buying them now on offer (£2 off per kilo, so a good reduction), and freezing them is more money saving than waiting till the price goes up again!
Use money off / price match or whatever it is called voucher at Mr S Done, and it paid for the card
Buy and post a get well card for my aunt who has just had heart surgery Done
Get bread out of freezer later as OH will be back really early tomorrow morning Done, also got out milk
No heating on downstairs till this evening (I will probably leave it off then and just light the wood burner) It is still off except for the bathroom and airing cupboard
Any surveys / FPL etc. I have just abandoned a survey on BBQ sauces, which I never buy and don't care about I might go back to it, but it felt like a few minutes of my life I wouldn't get back at the moment I went back and finished it, as I decided it was worth it for £4 Also a few for onepoll
Signed up to O2 priorities, don't know why I hadn't done that before!
Received a cheque from envirophone, for £10.11 for 2 old broken phones. Not much, but better than putting them in the bin
Cleaned a mucky decanter by putting a handful of rice and a bit of water in it, and shaking it whenever I passed. Tipped the rice outside for the birds, a good rinse and it is now sparkling clean and I can sell it This is a good way of cleaning glass things with narrow necks, and uses no harmful chemicals so fine for items of tableware. It is also cheap and doesn't involve buying special products

OK, I had better get on with some of it. Hope you all have a good day

determined_new_ms

Morning guys :wave: and thanks for starting the thread La E. Your comments about the world of negativity on other threads made me chuckle :rotfl:

So I set myself a goal of an hour online after oh & dgd left so that is almost up! I've been good though and got some things done online so not just wasted time

Things for today:

* [STRIKE]checked banking & shifted funds[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]have been paid £41 from Msing last month[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] emailed ms company and asked why I wasn't paid for one of the assignments I did [/STRIKE]- but have just looked at it again and realised it will be next month
* [STRIKE]gone through budget for coming month and it's balancing out but not much surplus as we overspent on a couple of things. Not sure if I'll be able to make any payments to oh's dm this month [/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]transfered £10 into Christmas food fund. So we have £30 in this fund now and hope to make another £10 deposit next month. This should be more than enough to cover meal Xmas day & boxing day and a few other treats [/STRIKE]
* all meals from stores (except 2 x lunches for msing!)
* [STRIKE]quick bath [/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] load of washing in machine & hung up when done[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]going to do a couple of ms assignments today which will probably take about 3 hours [/STRIKE] took about 2 hours including travel just need to write up the report. Jeez it's boring!
* [STRIKE]nip into town (whilst driving through anyway) and exchange PJ bottoms (birthday gift) for a bigger size[/STRIKE] they had a 20% sale on today so got £4.25 back on a gift card. Will put it towards a gift for xmas for dd
* [STRIKE]might look for some wool to knit my first scarf my db gave me some money for my birthday so can afford to get something[/STRIKE]
* sort out SE cert (kick me please!)

Ok that's all I need to do/will probably have time for! Have a good one y'all x

craftingmad

Hi all,


Hope it's ok if I join in (I'm not actually in debt but on a tight budget and always read this thread to motivate me).


I'm hoping my "little things" for today will be:-


1. Check for surveys on Onepoll, Isay, YouGov and Pinecone
2. Cash out any vouchers from said survey sites
3. Check freepostcode lottery
4. Play games on Dorset cereals to earn points for coupons
5. No heating on until kids home from school
6. Place Amazon order for Christmas presents using vouchers already added to my account from previous surveys
7. Apply for mystery shopping assignments close by
8. NSD (Apart from judo for kids tonight which I have budgeted for)
9. Enquire with internet company if I can have a discount each month on current bill
10. Enter some competitions
11. Charge mobile at judo tonight
12. Read book in bed rather than play on tablet to save elctric

DawnW

craftingmad wrote: »

Hi all,

Hope it's ok if I join in (I'm not actually in debt but on a tight budget and always read this thread to motivate me).

Hello :wave:
Of course it is ok to join in - we like new people here
Several of us regulars are not (or no longer) in debt, so you are not the only one. For me, I took early retirement last year and had a huge drop in income, so have to be very careful

Baileys_Babe

Morning all and thank you to La e for starting the thread this morning.
I over slept this morning until 9.30!! I awoke to find OH sitting in bed reading his book. Luckily nobody needs to be anywhere today, so no mad panic. Since waking I've checked FPL, read a few important emails,paid window cleaner (sent OH out with the money) read and replied to this thread.

Today:
Check FPL
Write shopping list
Go shopping & stick to list
Stick to meal plan
All meals from stores
Minimal heating, we have jumpers & blankets
Entertain the family for free
Educate children for free
Turn off lights and appliances not in use
Run DW overnight
Run WM overnight
Dry laundry on airers
Make bread
Pack lunch for tomorrow's HE workshop
Pack resources for tomorrow's HE workshop

I am sure their is lots more we will/should be doing.
I will also be trying to get an early night and wake at a more reasonable time tomorrow.

carrielovesfanta

Morning all!


Thanks to La E for starting us off! You rock too


I know what you mean about negativity. In fact, I am busy cutting out a lot of negativity from my life. I try not to read too many posts, unfollow negative people on Facebook and limit reading the news (just enough to make sure I'm not insular). It makes me really unhappy and stressed to read all the negative things, so why subject myself to it?


Today's list:

• B/L/D from stores
• OH giving the house a good clean
• Ring Npower to try and get them to take off the meter readings that I entered incorrectly. They've sent me a really screwy bill now.
• Crossfit (still sore from Tuesday!!)
• Get my hair done. Not mse but makes me happy
• Last shop for Christmas party. Just fresh stuff and soft drinks to get
• Crochet
• Decide when to cook the ham. Was going to do it tonight but forgot that I was getting my hair done.

Small list but hopefully an enjoyable one


Have a good one folks


clf x