NST - January. Bobs post bauble debt busting challenge

misstara

Bobarella wrote: »

Miss Tara - great stretch target. Do you have a plan yet on how you might achieve it?

I worked quite a bit of overtime this month so will get paid it at the end of January. That plus no council tax to pay in February I'm also planning to pick up a few shifts with 2nd job and minimise food spends.

Got a wee head start on the challenge and checked my credit report - pleased to report all looks good. I've also made a £5 donation to a local mental health charity.

Hope everyone is having a good hogmanay, see you tomorrow

traveller

HAPPY NEW YEAR TURTLES!!! May we all have our health and positive energy to carry on ! Take care everyone x

FunBrum

Happy New Year folks! _party_

Well I haven't spent a bean so far this year!( :rotfl:

Bobarella

FunBrum wrote: »

Happy New Year folks! _party_

Well I haven't spent a bean so far this year!( :rotfl:

Fantastic. Speaking of beans can you imagine a worse day to run out of coffee! I'm putting together my nectar point paid for shopping list as we speak. We need coffee. Loo roll. Marmite. Lots of essentials really. I have £20 in points to spend. I'm planning a meat free evening meal to kick off the year too. Jacket potatoes with a topping. Possibly veg chilli.

It's lovely and cold here. Clear but frosty. We haven't had a frost in months.

Right let's get this challenge off the ground!

Bob

dolly84

Happy New Year Everyone. I will pop back later with a proper update, it is dry here so I am going for a bike ride - I feel a massive Yorkshire hill coming on.

Fmess

Morning all,

I just love the feeling of a new challenge starting and the New Year just feels like the biggest and best. This year, I want to get debt free, build an emergency fund, improve my house and get to a weight that I'm happy with. I'm not sure what that weight is but I'm trying to avoiding using numbers as sometimes the numbers don't correlate with how I feel about my weight. Having said that I am going to weigh in once a week to check that I am going in the right direction.

Today will be a day at home and a SFD. I want to do a couple of dog walks whilst is nice and dry and it's cold enough that they can finally wear their coats! (Very sadly excited about this) Then I have some tutoring prep to do and will take down the Christmas tree and try and do a bit of decluttering ready for a charity shop run tomorrow.

Bet crack on, see you later

CEW

Happy New Year Everyone

Please can I join back in with the challenges. I have not taken part since May/June last year although I have followed every one of the challenges and cheered you all on from the sidelines.

I will post back later with my goals and targets etc.

Chez x

clippy_girl

Morning turtles

Disappointingly today is going to be a spend day as I need to get bread for my Airbnb guests. As I need only a few shopping items I will do my weekly shop today in tesco express instead of going to Mr m on Monday. Means I can stock up my favourite coffee if it's still half price. I'm going to make the most of having a spend day by ordering cheap cinema tickets for me and my friend for Sunday (over 40% off through work) and also do my tax return and pay it so it's done and dusted

Going forward though I think if i need to buy something purely for my guests I will not count it as a spend day as if I need something like flowers or bread it makes sense to buy it as late as possible so it lasts longer rather than stocking up when I go shopping.

Today I am going to

call tsb if they are open to get my balance and then reset my passwords online Kondo some savings accounts to try and simplify my banking Pop to tesco express Take down Xmas decorations and clean downstairs Do and pay tax return Get my new rug out of the parcel and see if I like it (fingers crossed!) Cook lamb curry and freeze rest in portions Brush the cat with the furminator comb as he's so fluffy he looks like he's been electrocuted :rotfl:

dolly84

OK here we go.

1. We are aiming for maximum no spend days this month. There are 31 days in Jan. Aim for at least 21 if not more. Tbh this is one part of the challenge that I never follow, as long as I am only spending from allocated budgets I’m not too bothered when it gets spent.

2. Pay to your debt as soon as priority spends are complete. These should be rent/mortgage, food, heating etc.
This month we are having a stretch target concept which some of you will recognise but for the new contenders means paying your min payment then calculating what you would like to shift from your total debt ideally. If you don't hit the stretch target it doesn't matter but you will probably have raised your game either way. Most repayments are done for January with one big one to come out on the next banking day.

3. State your intentions. Tell us what your aim is. Why are you seeking this path and what doors do you hope to unlock along the way? To be debt free by the end of the year.

4. Check in every day. The reason we do this is to keep ourselves accountable. If you've set your intentions in a group of like minded people you are less likely to stray from the path. OK

5. You will donate £5 to a good cause of your choice. Haven’t thought about this yet.

6. Plan your diary. It's good to be sociable but nights out are costly and a walk with a friend is free. Don't worry about offending people by suggesting an alternative social occasion. Report in at how many events you have to attend in Jan and other people can suggest ways to minimise costs. DS’s birthday next week but other than that we have nothing major planned.

7. Plan your grocery spends carefully. After the excesses of Christmas you will probably have spent more than usual on food. Can you use this as an opportunity to save on groceries in January? Think carefully about what you do need.Have you got loyalty points for shops that can be cashed in to save on food? Already cut this budget by £20.

8. Get something for free! - they say the best things in life are free, I challenge you to find as many free things as you can in January and report back. For example can you get a free haircut by going to a student training evening? Can you go shopping at 9pm and get food for nothing? Can you set up a clothes swap with friends and all get a new item of clothing for nothing? Will try.

9. Earn extra - find a way of making something on the side. I like the term 'side hustles' mine are ebay, spending apps, cashback sites, reward credit card, wombling store points, anything you can do to bring additional income into your house do it! Have some cashback due in January.

10. Check your credit report- if you have a bad credit report it can ruin your chances of getting a mortgage, 0% credit deals, renting a property. For between £0 & £3 you can obtain a copy of yours and check that there is nothing unexpected on it. Never done this before.

FunBrum

Bobarella wrote: »

Fantastic. Speaking of beans can you imagine a worse day to run out of coffee! I'm putting together my nectar point paid for shopping list as we speak. We need coffee. Loo roll. Marmite. Lots of essentials really. I have £20 in points to spend. I'm planning a meat free evening meal to kick off the year too. Jacket potatoes with a topping. Possibly veg chilli.

It's lovely and cold here. Clear but frosty. We haven't had a frost in months.

Right let's get this challenge off the ground!
Bob

Oh dear Bob....isn't that always the way?!
I've just returned from a 4.5 mile walk. Im on a '1000 mile a year' walking challenge, so this morning's walk kicked it off! My eyes were glued to the floor for roadkill but nothing. It was a really posh area so probably don't carry cash to drop!;)

My best mate is sooo poorly with flu and asked me to pop into the shop to pick up a carton of juice. I didn't spend anything....I didn't even look in the bargain bucket:rotfl:
There is a bonus though for my 'mercy dash' for my friend. He told me to keep the change! 71p in the kitty...woohoo!:j