Tuesday 8th December - What small DFW things will you do today???!

Candy0107

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 are important. :money:



Morning folks,

Happy Tuesday :j. Hope everyone is OK, hugs to those who need them . Hello to new money saving ninja's :T

Chocolate -] I did pm you yesterday but I'm not too sure whether you got it or not

Exciting day for me - I have been released from the office to go snowballing....basically stacking local supermarket shelves with our products = increased sales :beer:. On the downside, I have been awake since 3:30 in pain - thankfully ibuprofen has got rid of the pain :mad:

Today I have/will:

• breakfast and dinner from stores
• lunch out - on expenses (won't go too mad though)
• checked investment & re-invested
• off to ww tonight - free at the moment as i am a meeting ckerk
• checked online banking
• charging my phone via the socket - i don't have time to charge my phone via pc/tv
• meeting colleagues at 9am but traffic will be a nightmare - i will get there early and buy a coffee - from greggs rather than costafortune
• i need to get together my ww things to swap out later

I'm not really feeling the love again.....perhaps my mood will improve as the day goes on :j

Love to you all
Candy xx

Bobarella

Morning All

Thanks for the start Candy. I hope your day out of the office goes well and you feel happier as the day goes on.

Nice to see Sazzies list on yesterday's thread too. Some good yellow stickering going on there.

Having coffee in bed with the little one whilst my husband helps our son with his homework. I am so looking forward to the xmas break so we can have more time without the pressures of morning routines.

Today's list - figure out if I can afford a PAD
Check banking
Make pork from the weekend into a rice meal for tonight. Have some cooked peas to use up too so just need to fry some onions and add it all to home made stock. Yum.
Walk all journies
Keep the house clean by following routines

Hope you all have good days.

CCL - hope you are feeling better today

allydowd

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

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• LuckyPhone free lottery with loyalty rewards (Link)
  
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• MSE Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
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• NHS Minor Ailment Service article (Link)
  
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• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
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Revised 31 Oct 2015.

La_escocesa

Hi everyone :santa2:

Here's me:

• Get to work early and start voluntary work straight away before the time sheet police can say anything (i.e. before 9am when I need to start charging clients!)
• Leave early = less time in traffic = less petrol :T
• Packed lunch :cool:
• No tuck shop
• Continue the tidyroundathon this evening
• Hopefully put some xmas decs on freegle - really don't need them all - got loads from OH's grandma but we already had our own...

determined_new_ms

Morning guys - just a quick post from me as have an appt at 9 then working 11.30-7. Will keep me out of spending mischief!

Thanks for starting us off Candy hope your mood lifts x

I will endevour to:

* hang up washing
* quick bath & wash hair
* take lunch with me
* pack up dgd's bag (lunch already made last night)
* sort out another load of washing
* try to repair leak in bathroom - we have discovered it is leaking from the overflow pipe. We have been pontificating over what to do and when I woke up this morning I had a bright idea! Maybe it just needs tightening? Hoping this is the case!
* do some more knitting tonight
* nip to B&M and pick up large Peppa Pig for dgd's Christmas gift
* buy some chocolate & amaretto to start making chocolate spoons for people for Christmas gifts
* finish making the reindeer wrapping paper - it looks so good!

Ok that'll do for today. Have a great day everyone x

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all
Thanks for the start Candy, and thanks for thinking of me Bob. Wish I was feeling better but I'm not. I probably could use a couple of days off work to be honest but I just can't bring myself to do it. I have no voice at all today, which should be interesting... but a very painful cough as well.
Today's list
check banking and PAD
survive a full teaching day
try to mark a set of books but don't stress if I can't
leave a list of jobs for dh
get an early night
15 mins housework
minimise use of voice
and heating - I have a temperature already
Best get going

ziggy2407

Good Morning Everyone

Candy - Thanks for starting us off today!
Bob - I won a £100 fuel card from a lucozade free to enter comp that can be entered daily and doesn't close until 31st March and if you win you can choose a fuel card, rail card or flights - well a few seconds of time every day

https://www.lucozadeenergy.com/win-travel/

CCL - Please take care of yourself - you don't want to be too ill to enjoy your Christmas break so take time off if you need too

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.

Quiet day and evening planned, today I will

Packed lunch for DH & DS - Done
Post Office -
Pay bags of change into DS's account -
Buy a lampshade -
Wrap a few pressies -
Write a few cards -
Look at pressie list and see whats still needed -
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 Candy - hope you feel better as the day goes on
DNMS - what is a chocolate spoon?
Bob, I used to look forward to the school hols too. School stuff can seem a bit relentless, can't it, particularly for primary children
CCL, hope you get through the day ok

Not a NSD for me today as I have to go to the dentist. Just a check up (hopefully :eek:) but I am trying a new practice. My old dentist retired, and the new arrangements seem so chaotic I have to pay privately anyway (very little NHS provision here, and with a few exceptions, pretty much impossible except for children / benefits claimants etc), so I might as well be happy with it, so I am changing! Just a check up, no treatment needed I am definitely going to stick with this one and cancel appointments with the other practice.

Apart from that:
Look after baby GD while DD goes to her dentist - she still goes to the 'old' practice, as an NHS patient. The arrangement was they treated the children of private patients on the NHS, and that still seems to be the case even though she is 32 and the practice has changed hands Done, she was asleep when we picked her up and was so pleased to see us when she woke up, bless her

Dog walks x 2 Done
Heating off as it seems to be mild again. Will light the wood burner later though as it seems chilly and miserable without in the evenings No heating all day, but wood burner alight now
Put the things I washed yesterday in the airing cupboard to finish off drying Done
Housework - didn't do much of this yesterday Done, OH helped
Christmas cards - didn't do these either Oops this isn't though :o
Get OH to wrap remaining 2 Christmas presents, as he has them in his den for some reason! No wonder I couldn't find them yesterday. Or this
HM meals from stores Done
Check banks Done
Postal survey tasks, any online surveys and check FPL Done
Bit of business paperwork Done

Right, better get ready for that first dog walk! Hope everyone has a good day

determined_new_ms

DawnW wrote: »

Morning all

DNMS - what is a chocolate spoon?

This is one:

http://www.recipesfromanormalmum.com/2011/12/01/hot-chocolate-on-a-stick/

I saw them in a lovely little crafty shop in my town going for £4.95 a pop with a little pipette of amaretto. So I purchased all the stuff and am making them for everyone we would give a gift to probably will cost £20 in total for 10 and will have a bottle of amaretto left for us :beer:

Ha ha I got all my christmas presents out to wrap yesterday and I have about 7! Love not really celebrating the consumerist part of Christmas

lego_mum

Morning all, thanks Candy for the start.
Bob, sounds like a lovely way to start your morning
Ally, Thanks for your list
Dnms, Hope that the leaks fixed
Ccl, Get well soon
Ziggy, what a fab win!
Dawn Good luck with the new dentist

A busy day here again as helping my dad lay some more laminate flooring round at the tenants so this list is my usual one but not sure how much I'll actually get done!
Health & Fitness plans (lose this weight once and for all, no fad diets ever again!)
:starmod: Walk the boys to & from the bus stop
:starmod: Gym class – aiming for 5 a week (works out to less then 80p/class!)
:starmod: Fill water bottle at the gym
: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: Wash a load at 30 degrees
:starmod: Hang washing on the line if dry/radiators if not
: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: Make families lunches for tomorrow
:starmod: Minimum heating on (set for 30 mins before dh gets up), plenty of blankets & jumpers available 

Tidy home = Tidy mind
:starmod: Hoover carpets
:starmod: Clean the kitchen using minimal products
:starmod: Tidy at least one cupboard
:starmod: Gather together items for the cs

Money making schemes
:starmod: Inbox pounds 5 searches
:starmod: Swagbucks
:starmod: Check Fpl
:starmod: Check luckyphone
:starmod: Check for surveys

Freebies/vouchers/offers
:starmod: Check 02 priorities
:starmod: Check tcb/quidco
:starmod: Check cos/shopit

Extras
:starmod: Make a date cake
:starmod: Print holiday confirmations off for our weekend away
:starmod: Pack for the weekend away
:starmod: Drop off a few xmas card (I too HATE writing them!)

That's enough to be getting on with, have a good day all.

lambda

Having a bit of a downer day today. Sick of seeing photos on Facebook of people with immaculate homes, showing off all their expensive furniture and christmas decorations. All our furniture was bought at IKEA about 10 years ago and is falling to bits. Can't afford to do anything until our debt is paid off.

Today I need to go to the post office to post our christmas cards. A bit annoying because I forgot to budget for this at the start of the month. I do have some money in a couple of different pots I can take from, so I will possibly remove some money from the emergency fund or forgo our christmas treat takeaway this month to pay for the stamps.

Reconciled my budget against my bank accounts. It's exact to the penny as always!

Made a packed lunch this morning. Can't believe how much I'm saving doing that. My colleague goes to Sainsbury's everyday and buys about £7 worth of lunch!

Going to call up EE this afternoon to cancel my mobile contract which runs out in January.

And cancelled! Or I think it is. Something about a PAC code and contract is terminated until I actually use the PAC code. Horribly confusing but I think I will just use the PAC as soon as the giffgaff sim comes.

*edit*

Paid for the stamps. 18 2nd class stamps and two NZ ones. 11.72. I had to move £6.05 from our takeaway budget to the christmas budget, to leave £15 left over for a final present. That's still enough for a christmas fish 'n' chips! (we don't get takeaways very often, just a treat for us). Just realised that I over-budgeted for the EE bill, which will probably save me a tenner to allocate elsewhere too. Glad to be shot of this EE contract!