Saturday 2nd Jan - What Small DFW-Style Things Will You Be Doing Today?

DawnW

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:

PurpleFairy26

Morning Dawn, thanks for staring :hello: and to all that follow too. My day today will mainly be around DD birthday party, not very MSE (as opposed to not having one) but it will come from her savings and its one of those places that does all of it, just have to bring cake which we got with discount yesterday and some party bags - which I've bought bits of fleabay for.

Other than that I will:
Washing on at 30 on cheap leccy
Change filter thingys in the moisture absorbers we have in the 2 bedrooms where we have not been able to change the Windows. This massively reduces damp and moisture on the Windows/wallpaper, very economical too as I keep an eye on amaz0n for them and get when cheap
Send 2 returns back - these are the same ones shout at me please if this is on the list tomorrow :rotfl:
Do my own nails
Check banking
'Posh' NYE meal tonight (as DH) was at work. In reality it is a reduced Camembert with left over Christmas part bake bread and a treat of a streak - however, much cheaper than if we went out let's hope we can both stay awake:rotfl: maybe watch a film we got for Christmas.

Have a good day everyone J X

DawnW

Up early (just after 6) as the dog was asking to go out for a wee, so thought I would start today's thread

Raining yet again here

Anyway, today's list is:
Used up last brown banana with breakfast porridge
No heating on downstairs - will light the wood burner later
Dog walks x 2
See to hens
HM meals from stores
(Not planning any spends)
Sort out greetings cards with a view to finding suitable ones for this month's birthdays
Put unused Christmas cards and wrapping paper away while I am at it
Sort out the basket of empty jars in the larder - I use them, but don't need so many that the basket is overflowing all over the floor!
Take some larger items to my sales unit - our road is to be closed for 4 months from Monday for pavement repairs :huh: and it is going to be a real pain to get the car to the other end of town - or indeed, anywhere :mad: so hopefully I will be able to manage on foot for a while if I do this today! Thank goodness I no longer have to commute, but I feel for neighbours who do!
Take the carrier bag of baby toys that GD is no longer interested in to the CS
Any surveys / check FPL

Right, better get my coat and wellies on and get out to those hens!
Hope you all have a good day

rising_from_the_ashes

Morning Dawn thanks for starting us off, Jonno and everyone who follows

Had a bit of a lie in so not long up - seems to be raining here again too (when is it going to stop!). It was lovely & frosty here yesterday and it made me long for the sharp, crisp mornings that we usually get in winter .....

Plans for today:

• Sort another drawer & recycle contents
• Dog walk somewhere nice
• Sort cats
• Go to shopping centre & exchange item (kicking myself as totally forgot about this the other day - I was in the shop too but had forgotten to take it with me! grrrrrr)
• Do wash & hang
• Meals from stores

Have a good day everyone

lego_mum

Morning all,

Thanks Dawn for the start, the roadworks sound a nightmare.

Jonno Hope that your DD enjoys her party.

Rising I hope that the shopping centre isn't too busy for you!

I was awake early this morning too, coughing & with a sore throat
We start to get back to normality today as the kids are back to their swimming lessons. Other then that we don't have any firm plans as yet (dh is having a lie in)

Today's small things...
:A Take drink/snack with us for after swimming
:A Check banking/spreadsheets
:A Check fpl
:A Check luckyphone
:A All meals from stores
:A Make the most of the last couple of days before dh/kids go back to work/school

I'll add more as the day goes on

crazy_cat_lady

Good morning all, and a belated Happy New Year to everyone! I wasn't on yesterday as we had spent NY with a friend and her children and by the time I got home then it was late and I had a night in front of the telly. But that is all festivities and celebrating over for this season and I'm back at work on Monday so absolutely need to be back on it today.
Here's today's list:
catch up on here
check banking and PAD
debt collect from my kids who owe me over £50 between them, which will do this week's shopping with a load to spare
aim for nsd
plan my next knitting and crochet projects after I finally sort this &$!*ing cardigan out (5th time lucky)
get the Christmas decorations down and away
sort through food and plan for next week
get ds to training this morning
get the boys off to footy this afternoon
That will be plenty and I will definitely be back to check in today. That's a promise (threat).:)

CallyHoops

Good Morning all and a Happy New Year to you.


I've taken the step to join this fantastic forum which I have been watching from afar, so please be patient with me whilst I learn the ropes.


The weather here is awful so it will be mainly indoor play today (apart from taking the dog out), which is good as less chance to spend and there is loads to do indoors!


List for today includes:

• Checking banks/balances
• Finalising budget
• Meal planning for the next fortnight (I'm hoping this works better than weekly as can take advantage of bulk buying and freezing)
• Putting decs back in the loft
• Cleaning house through
• Filling a few charity bags to make some space in the house

Have a great Saturday everyone.


Cally:j

determined_new_ms

Morning guys :wave: thanks for starting us off Dawn

jonno hope dd has a lovely party x

Not any major plans for today, except going to work this evening. Will have to leave about 5.

Things I plan/hope to do:

*[STRIKE] couple of loads of washing[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]hang a couple of pictures in the lounge using tools/supplies we already have - have an ongoing issue with oh that he wants to buy sticky plan things to hang pictures when we already have screws/rawplugs/drill in the shed :mad:[/STRIKE]
* walk down to the library with dgd and return/get books
* will go in the coop while there to get things for work tonight. Will save receipt to submit for expenses
* really need to work out last of the spends on the cc last month so I can pay off
*[STRIKE] check banking[/STRIKE]
*[STRIKE] remind oh again to pay his housekeeping[/STRIKE]
* all meals from stores
* [STRIKE]chop and freeze sausages to use in a pasta bake at some point next week[/STRIKE]
* possibly take dgd to the wildlife park near to us using our annual pass I took out just before Christmas as a gift for her
* start socks
* check through fridge/cupboard & do a meal plan so nothing gets wasted
* made a big batch of BNS & roasted red pepper soup
* chopped & froze 2 basics bags of peppers I got ys'd the other day
* while the oven was on roasting the veg I cooked the salmon for salmon pasta bake for tea - feeling very virtuous in the MSE stakes today

Ok that'll do I think. Have a great day x

Candy0107

Morning folks,

Thanks to Dawn for starting the thread. Hugs to those who need them and hello to all new posters.

I decided early this morning not to bother with New Years resolutions as they never stick. Instead, I am focusing on where I want to be in December.

So, by December, I want to be:

• at least 4 stone lighter (more would be appreciated) :o:o
• free of credit card debt
• cleared a chunk off my credit card
• started on the road to CIMA

Of course there are steps that I need to take to get to where I want to be this year, but it is a bit more managable this way

Better make a start with today's tasks.

Today I have/will:

• meals from stores
• checked bank - no change
• checked investment & re-invested
• need to update sig
• need to pay my tax bill (then i know it is done for another year, and stop panicking when i see their reminder adverts)
• read papers online
• not going out, so planning a NSD
• need to phone up and cancel my aa membership - i have budgeted for paying for replacement cover this month although it t is not due till next month
• need to list a couple of things on fleabay, im not expecting them to sell, but you never know
• need to sort through paperwork & file it away

Think that is about if for me, better get a coffee and make a start

Take care all,
Candy xxx

debbie_debt

I've been lurking on here for ages and finally decided to start taking part - new year, new me and all that!

Anyway, my DFW day will include:

Taking xmas decs down and putting in the loft
Big post-xmas clean up
Taking the dogs for a long walk somewhere nice with snacks from home.
All meals from stores
Get a beef joint (bought half price last week) out of the freezer for a roast dinner tomorrow
Give meter readings to the new gas/leccie company after switching last week (saving £325 a year :T)
Do some batch cooking for our little baby to stop us buying jars of baby food costing a fortune!
Aim for NSD

Think that's it for me today! I'm thinking keeping on posting here might help keep me on track and stop me frittering all the daily spends on lunches/drinks etc so I shall see you all soon :j

Debbie

Bobarella

Good morning all

Thanks for the start Dawn. What a pain about your road. 4 months is a long time to be without access. Do you have a bicycle? But from what you've said you are on a busy road so maybe not appropriate.

Nice to see new people again today Debbie and Cally

I'm being lazy this morning by my standards. Still not up but OH is downstairs cutting DS hair so I have to wait till he can come and take DD and I can get in the shower. She is very sleepy this morning and doesn't seem to want to do much more than feed and sleep in arms.

Hair cut will save anything from £8 up as that's the cheapest around here. The joke of it is when DS was tiny he was at an expensive day nursery which i had the salary for back then. But we'd pay £16 to have his hair cut every 6 weeks. She was a good hair dresser but seriously he had the wispiest scrap of hair ever so why we thought that was a good use of our cash goodness knows. That is one thing I appreciate about myself now and my family really. We have learned how to do the value proposition on things and work out if it's a good use of our funds. Ok some times I do buy coffee out and hate myself for it because how is £2.40 for a coffee ever worth it? But it gives me a cheap pick me up and it's nice to be somewhere outside of the home for 30 mins.
Sorry I'm rambling today but my message to anyone who is still in the early stages of debt freedom is think of the value not the cost.

See you later!

Bob