NST December: Frugal festivities

littleskintdragon

Just popped to the charity shop to 'hopefully' find an outfit for dd for her school play, and was given a skirt for free which they said they would never have put on sale. Its pretty ugly and full of dog hair but was exactly what i needed.
I took this charity shop two bags of clothes last month, so my good deed has definitely paid off

GSRcat

Morning!
Raring to go this morning admist the dust as the wall from the kitche yo the new extension is being knocked through, also the boiler man is sorting out our boiler co hopefully we will have heat and hot water Later today!
Budgets are:
Credit card 1 completely paid off 136.00
Credit card 2 £18 paid (am going to slam £200 off it in January)!
Shopping £100 yes that's it, we have a shed load of stuff in the freezer and all the Christmas food is paid for by saving up on the Iceland card and using vouchers)
Christmas £100 spent £45 of it already
Phone/charity/Spotify/workout subscription £41.94
Keep thinking I would be £136.00 if I hadn't spent on credit cards again, so disappointed in myself.

I'm saving up for a course next year so from January I will be putting away an amount each month so extra motivation to pay off the debt as the quicker I pay it the quicker I can save and the more I can save.

mothernerd

Thank you apple for last month's challenge and to Misstara for taking on this month. Sorry for any mistakes - advert gremlins have taken over the computer and I end up tying through a narrow window.

BUDGETS
Food £100 Same as last month but will double up on toilet rolls and buy extra tins/ dried goods in case of snow/ice.
Travel £20 Cemetery visit still outstanding, visit mum and possibly weekly ticket to bring shed things from the other house (may be too big to get on the bus though)
DIY £50 want to use some of the wood (DS1's old bed) to make kitchen shelves, lots to do if I have time and energy.
(Other £20) not put in signature as I hope to squeeze this out of other budgets or Christmas money if given any.

STRATEGY

1 Don't Panic (will not be putting fish in my ear)

2 SPENDING Don't buy it, you can't afford it. I have a couple of extra bills to pay this month (one quarterly, one annual) and don't want to get complacent when I am so near being debt free. I have some hm ready meals in the freezer and lots of fish so will clear a bit of fish. We have a leg of lamb (DS3's preferred option) so if I don't get a turkey I can have one on my birthday or when the house sale goes through.

2 FOLLOW THE LIST I have lists of food, what needs buying, what needs doing so will just follow those to help with the lack of concentration.

3 MOOD LIFTING Books, music and candles (+ baths).

4 CLEAN AND CALM ENVIRONMENT Really need this so will follow fly lady or similar. Front room needs a complete change round. Tackle in small blocks of time.

5 CRAFT WORK Sew and plan. Sewing as meditation.

6 EXERCISE Bring the things from the other house. Reasonable walk. Shift things using dolly truck (weather permitting - not advisable in high winds).

7 EAT MYSELF WELL Listen to my body. Eat well - save the treats for the immediate Christmas period.

8 CLEAR THE CLUTTER Thought about the reverse advent calendar but don't have much suitable. So will try for the 1 thing on day 1, 2 things an day 2. Need to get in advance with this as don't want to be running round on Christmas Day so started with two buckets of recycling.

Today I am grateful for my bed, for central heating (hands were cold and a bit stiff when I woke up so ch went on for a bit) and for it no longer being windy and chucking it down (hailstone brrr).

Calling14

Thanks apple for last months challenge.

Sugar did my online shop with sainsbobs and then realised I can't use my gift voucher online. argh. Decided to pay for it and keep gift voucher for getting xmas pressies instead.
Haven't set any budgets/targets yet. Won't go wild looking at my bank balance can't. Will get onto them by tomorrow. Headless chicken mode today.

chocolatelover93

Afternoon everyone thank you Apple for last months challenge - was a real eye opener for me and although I struggled and didn't do everything I am looking forward to see how I improve each month

Misstara - Thank you for setting up the challenge for this month, looking forward to it

So first thing's first my budgets:
Bills - These are all DD and the same each month so they are already accounted for
Electric - Have a key meter hoping to spend no more than £50 this month (have about £8 on there at the moment so will be topping up soon)
Oil - Waiting for our deposit from our old house and we're going to get about £100 worth
Fuel - £140
Food/Toiletries etc. - £250 (don't think I will spend this but it's Christmas so a few extra spends)
Presents - Not set budgets yet or written a list, or sorted many out (kick up the bum time!!) so will get back to you on that one

Debts:
NPower - paid off £23 with monthly DD
Halifax - About £41 in debt with them at the moment so under the £1 a day line so not too bothered about this. I know this is a tiny debt but for me it seems quite a bit (sounds silly I know) and just paying off a little at a time

NSD's - going to work really hard for these this month!!

LTW - This too. Not got anything with me today as I am doing a MS later and will get myself a little snack out of the re-reimbursement money and might get a gift to go in Christmas box

Charity - Will do this when I get a chance will probably be a cancer charity.

Mental health - This is something I really need to focus on, I came off my anti-depressants in September and have been struggling with a lot of negative thoughts and letting things get to me so I have been on YouTube and found a couple of meditation videos that I listen to at night that help me relax and get to sleep so that will be my thing for this week

Goal for next year - well there are quite a few things I want to do next year but main thing and I know it is cliche is to loose weight. I have put on ALOT since meeting my husband 3 years ago so that is something I would like to do.
I would also like to re-decorate our house as it was supposedly redecorated before the previous tenant moved in last year but if I would've fired the people if it was my house!! haha Plus we want to make it more homely.
So got a couple there!!

Enough of me waffling!! Three things I am grateful for today:
1. My mum coming to the dentist with me (massive wimp and I am going to have to have a filling done )
2. My dentist for putting up with me, I've been going to her for years and she is lovely even though it is private and I have to pay more she is really nice and I would not go anywhere else because of my fear.
3. My cats giving me cuddles when I got in earlier (I stayed at mums last night so they missed me!!)

Dottydaisy

Dottydaisy has surfaced again. May I be counted in this month please and I'll do budgets etc later when I have looked at them properly. Need to get rid of my debts and feel happier about me and everything else. xx

GSRcat

Afternoon all,

Sorry Applemuncher, I noticed lost of people thanking you for hosting last months challenge, thank you and thanks for letting me join in midway.
Thank you to MisStara for heading up this months thread.

Good day today but it was a spend day, just a few groceries needed, also I must confess I bought some lunch, this was cos the knocking through took longer than expected and the kitchen was filthy so I couldn't really do much HOWEVER it was yellow stickereed.
Feeling better today, I think the sun shining and it not getting dark quite so soon has helped.
Things I am greateful for-
1. The gas man coming to sort out the boiler so now we have heat and hot water.
2. Someone letting me pet their beautiful boxer with the prettiest face.
3. Chatting to a mum at nursery and her baby giving me the cutest smiles.

GSRcat

chocolatelover93 have you heard about Headspace? For those of you who don't know it's an app you can download for free and you get 10 days free then the option to buy more packs. I have found it a godsend and after my breakdown in the summer I used this every day sometimes twice and didn't need to go back on meds. A friend who is a GP was so impressed that she reccomended it to her patients!

apple_muncher

Thank you misstara for December. Here's what I wrote for the month:

"December's numbers are done.

31000 steps
310 minutes of exercise
25 days grain free
25 days sugar free
10 days at work (and therefore 21 not at work)
Usual giving
Usual budgets
Remove 80
Lose 8
Read 10

We'll see how it goes..."

Day 1 done at work; NSD 1 done; 10 mins of exercise done (am not counting the 6 minute warm up this month - I want to do proper exercise!).

I decided that since I have a step count challenge, then every single step is important to take me nearer to my goal. And on a wider level, every decision I make either makes it harder to reach the goal (especially the grain and sugar free ones!) or takes me (dare I say it) smugly one stride forward.

There. That's my Tuesday ponderations!


Today I am grateful for getting some exercise done, for dd being a little better, for a colleague agreeing to help me out, for my lovely neighbour, for some sunshine making the day cheerier.

chocolatelover93

GSRcat wrote: »

chocolatelover93 have you heard about Headspace? For those of you who don't know it's an app you can download for free and you get 10 days free then the option to buy more packs. I have found it a godsend and after my breakdown in the summer I used this every day sometimes twice and didn't need to go back on meds. A friend who is a GP was so impressed that she reccomended it to her patients!

Thank you
I've not heard of it before but I will have a look on the Play Store tonight and give it a go xx