NST - January. Bobs post bauble debt busting challenge

FunBrum

Hugs and well done luckystar.:)

Haven't been near a shop today.:T
Found a penny roadkill....I nearly was roadkill in the process! :eek:
I'm drinking a free coffee....grazia Macdonald....and using their WiFi and heating!! :rotfl:
Have been minimising my wardrobe and sorting stuff to sell on Gumtree.
Food has been store cupboard/fridge supplies.
I've also walked over3 miles today, so I'm happy with my challenge goals.:cool:

Fmess

luckystarr thank you, that's very kind of you to say, sending you positive vibes The fly lady thread is on the Old Style Money Saving board and they start each Monday so ill try to remember to post a link when I find it on Monday.

apple thanks for the recipe, the shortbread is in the oven as we speak. Unfortunately I've discovered that the dough tastes lovely! Not so great for the diet, need to work on my will power!

Eager_Elephant

Today was my first NSD of January:T
We have been out to panto, it was brilliant - I got the tickets last week, the car park money I found on DH's bedside table and afterwards the kids wanted McDonalds. I told them I could not buy it as I had no money and needed an NSD:rotfl: so DH brought it.
(DH and I have very separate finances so I am only counting the days when I spend plus I am in charge of grocery spending so it used to add up to a lot of days)


Not looked at surveys yet but know I have at least one that came in this morning so when I go to bed I will log in on the Kindle and check.

Went to do my Experian last night and the online payment thing was down so I printed the form ready to send off but now I think I will look at Noddle and save £2!!


Tomorrow should also be a NSD as not going anywhere except field and allotment unless it rains and then I will do housework!!


Hope all NST's have had a good day!!

The_Only_Girl

Hello and good evening all!

It's nice to read all your posts.

Fmess you sound so infectiously positive. I feel like doing something productive tonight after reading your post. Too late in the evening to go to the gym, my ironing has all been done last week, the ones that need doing still need washing so ironing is out of the picture, I have decided on sewing, and using my creative energy. Chocolatelover I hope the talk with your husband will go well and you'll be on the same page.

Bob I agree with you on the unnecessary expenses on Christmas trees. It's been 4 years since we haven't put up Christmas decorations. The kids suggested it as their contribution to the cost cutting measures and we were quite happy to comply.

2nd NSD bagged today! We were going to do a small shop to buy some fine beans so I could make spring rolls from scratch using the left over bean sprouts but hubby wasn't feeling well so we decided to leave it for tomorrow. Hoping to make a big batch of homemade spring rolls to be frozen and cooked when needed.

We had another freebie today - free lunch c/o my friends. We didn't get home til 6pm and we are still stuffed, the meal also counts as supper.

Hubby is ridden with flu virus he's hit the sack as soon as we got home. I just wish he won't pass it on to me as I will be starting my new job on Monday. It won't go down very well to be ill on the first week of your new job.

Have a nice weekend everybody!

Fmess

Thanks TOG enjoy your sewing, what are you sewing?

apple_muncher

Today I amgrateful for getting out and about on foot - twice - despite the rain, for time with dd and dh, for having the tv turned off for a while, for finding 12p roadkill in 3 separate finds, for finishing off some craft bits.

XSpender

Another spend day today on the food shopping, DS hair cut, a rare lottery ticket, thank you cards and £2 on a letter that hadn't had a stamp put on it (DS Christmas money was in it). Not doing well on the NSDs although no spends are planned for tomorrow. Monday I will need to pay for my waxing appointment and the dry cleaning when I pick it up. Will then avoid any spending until Saturday.

DH and I are having a mini 3 day clean eating/detox so have gone over the food budget for this but need to get back to our usual healthy habits for the new year. Next week we will only need fruit and a chicken pie hopefully and may be able to use some of my work food allowance to cover this

DH has been invited out later this month with a friend whose wedding we couldn't attend last month which we will need to find the money for. It wouldn't normally be a problem but we have cut our personal spends down by quite a bit this month to achieve our savings/OP target.

I really need to knuckle down if I am going to achieve the challenges and my stretching savings goal this month and don't feel I have started off very well even if it is only day 2

Bobarella

DawnW wrote: »

As for Park, didn't one of those hamper/ Christmas saving companies go bust a couple of years ago leaving lots of low income families without their money? :mad: Hopefully they are now FCA regulated (?) so at least that cannot happen again?

Now that you've said that yes it does ring a bell. I'm tempted to go and look up Park now and find out what the deal is...

Chocolate - sorry you've had a tough time of it. I hope you can get some support soon.

crazy_cat_lady

Hey everyone
Fmess - so pleased to see that you're feeling so good. I like making the most of days like that, and seems you do too.
Chocolate - please don't think that you aren't worthy of counselling or that someone's need is greater than yours. CBT was a real life changer for me - I can't believe I went from worrying about absolutely everything to just going with the flow (as much as I ever will anyway). I don't know where you are in the country but our local mental health services are all self referral ones that you can ring up, they give you a triage appointment over the phone and then direct you to the best services for you. If you're into self help then there's a really good website I often use https://www.get.gg that has loads of really useful stuff on it.
You know that 'not leaving the house' thing? :o:o:o I went shopping :o:o But in my defence I found a Mr S voucher for £9 off £60 that expired today. I made a list of the very basics we needed, and then topped it up with bulk buys of cat food and washing/cleaning stuff - so it doesn't feel entirely wasted.
Other than that, I got just about everything done that I needed to - just a couple of bits of cooking to do (to use up bananas and milk) which I'll get onto tomorrow. Christmas is packed away for another year, my house is as tidy as it ever gets and I'm relaxing for the rest of the evening.

CEW

Hi All

Finally got round to sorting out and listing my intentions for the month.

1) Aim for 21 NSD's - This is going to be a challange in itself as we tend to shop little but often for food. I tend to do a big shop for the month then shop every couple of days for the fresh veg, milk etc.

2) Pay to debt/savings first - No debt and currently taking time out of work to enjoy some quality time with OH whilst we are still young and fit enough to enjoy it so as we are living off of savings I cannot really participate in this part of the challange

3) State your intentions - As previously mentioned we are living off of savings so I am aiming to minimise our spends so that we can extend the period of time we can take off work. When the money starts to run out either one or both of us will return to work.

4) Check in every day- Will try to do this.

5) Donate £5 to charity - We currently donate a large portion of our time to a charity so any monetary donations are made as and when the opportunity presents itself for a cause that we feel strongly about.

6) Plan diary - Only have two planned social events this month which are OH's birthday (home cooked meal for the 2 of us) and a family get together with OH's 2 children and my DD and their OH's as we couldn't all get together at the same time over Christmas.

7) Plan grocery spends - Budget for this month is £200 to cover all food, household and toiletries etc. This is a little high as it includes my Costco shop that I do every 2 or 3 months to stock up plus all pet supplies and the food for the family get together and OH's birthday meal. I may come in under budget as we had 5 separate hamper style gifts for Christmas (we told family we didn't want stuff and would prefer consumables or National Trust vouchers as gifts and we were lucky enough to get both in quantity)

8) Get something for free - I will try

9) Earn extra - We are just about to restart the KonMarie process and I know I have a large stash of pre decimal and foreign coins which I will send off and lots of books that I will check on Webuybooks and ziffit etc

10) Check your credit report - I have been meaning to do this since I became debt free last April so this is a timely reminder. Had a quick look on the noddle website and think I will use this. Maybe if all else fails I can use this as my freebie for item 8 :rotfl:

Now for the the update so far:

2 spendy days so far this month :eek: Yesterday we went out on an animal rescue at 10:30 and expected it to take an hour or so. Unfortunately it took longer and then we had to go on a second one so had to stop at a garage for a sandwich as we didn't get home until after 4pm. Today was a small spend for some skimmed milk as guests coming over can only drink this. Hopefully tomorrow will be a NSD.

Sorry for the long post.

Chez x