Tuesday 12th Jan - What small DFW things will you do today?

allydowd

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:

allydowd

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

• Benefits check-up ( Link )
• Coupon Shop Forum list of money-off coupons (Link)
  
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery ( Link )
• FreeStuff ( Link )
  
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• Jack-At-A-Pinch, cheap recipes ( Link )
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• LuckyPhone free lottery with loyalty rewards (Link)
  
• MSE Boost Your Income page. Gateway to lots of money-making links. ( Link )
• MSE Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• NHS Minor Ailment Service article (Link)
  
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• Resolver tool. Helps you draft a letter, send it, monitor replies and then escalate it to an Ombudsman or key complaint body if it's not sorted. (Link)
  
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
  
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Orchard product testing (Link)
  
• Tickety Split cheap train tickets (Link)
  
• Toluna ( Link )
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )
• You Need A Budget site and App (Link)

Revised 31 Oct 2015.

allydowd

I'm just off to bed but before I go thought I'd kick-start the thread.

Just a modest list today.

* Went to work.

* Shared a bag of crisps with a friend.

* No Spend Day.

How about you lovely people?

La_escocesa

Hi Ally - thanks for starting us off. Have a good sleep! :A

Big hellos to everyone else :wave:

Gosh I am so frustrated with OH...His overdraft, which we paid off last month, was costing us £30 a month in fees. We decided he'd use the joint a/c for spending instead and that he'd track his spending with YNAB. Great - we're both loving it... But lo and behold he completely forgot about the direct debits coming out and now he's back to -£100 and another month of fees!! Arghhh! When would he have thought about it?! It wasn't until I asked how much his mobile phone bill was that he realised. You've gotta laugh - how can someone be that far removed from what is going on in their own bank a/c?!! The 'sensible' thing would be to move big chunk of our cash to his a/c and then leave it alone - so that the dds can come out and there is still plenty left over, but I think I will chat to him about moving his dds to the joint a/c instead...

I'm going to keep up with the small things in a vain attempt at keeping our heads above water:
* Cereal @ work - free milk :cool:
* Drive to work early to miss most traffic (and not be 10 mins late like yesterday )
* Move stuff from gum tree to freecycle - just want rid of it now as it's obvs not selling and don't want to skip it.
* Packed lunch
* Trip to veg market man at lunch time :cool:
* Think I can get away with a sneaky day of not washing my hair - dry shampoo is my friend :cool:

Catch up later :beer:

PurpleFairy26

Morning Ally. Thanks for starting us off, :hello: to all that follow

Working from home this morning, then meeting a friend from work for a 'meeting' I haven't done this for ages and really looking forward to it as we can have a catch up too. My list should be a bit better today as I'll have a little more time (in theory :rotfl:)

Washing on 30 overnight, towels now in TD but mainly done on cheap rate, caught another wash on cheap as DD was up early (every cloud and all that :rotfl:)
Few small bits of washing on rads whilst it's on for 30 mins
Check banking, update sheet
Try for PAD
1poll
£co
Upload receipt to app, must do this got out of the habit
Run, must do this. Plan to go after school run..
Meals from stores, some of left over Christmas park to make a curry. Going to try cauli rice for the first time

Think that's about all, have a good day everyone. J x

PurpleFairy26

Hi La E, we cross posted. We have all our DD going out of one account which I make sure had the months money in on pay day. Then our savings for annual things go to a savings account that I can withdraw from when we need it after the annual bill arrives. Then our joint account has our spends in

We used to have DDs from there too but always got unstuck as we never knew what hadn't gone out. Keeping them separate has made a massive difference and I never have to touch the 'DD' account IYSWIM

La_escocesa

Cheers Jonno - that sounds good. We definitely need to come up with a new solution as the current one isn't working 100% yet! Although I guess I should be happy that he has started tracking spending so it's a step in the right direction...

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all - thanks for the start Ally
Not feeling the love again today - January blues have well and truly caught up with me. It took me almost 20 mins to drag myself out of bed this morning and I feel exhausted before I've even started.
Today's list
:cool: Check banking and PAD
:cool: Sort budget for the rest of the month. Things are starting to look very tight. Seems so unfair to have gotten df only for dh to stop contributing.
:cool: Load of washing
:cool: nag dh to do something today
:cool: full day of teaching
:cool: mark a set of books
:cool: 15 mins housework
:cool: Try and find some way of relaxing and switching off without feeling guilty
:cool: Speak to HoD about my current overload with work and home and ask for advice
Think that will do for now - I just feel a bit 'meh' today...

whiteguineapig

Hi all
could I ask a question of legomum?

yesterday you wrote
Walk at least 7000 steps to get bounts points

Could I ask , do you have to have a fitness tracker with gps to do this, what sort do you have please?
I am thinking of getting one but not sure which works with bounts
(and how often do you get a payout please?)
sorry to ask on here but I'v tried to find out and I;m not really getting anywhere
thanks again

ziggy2407

Good Morning

Ally - Thanks for starting us off today

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.

Today I will

Packed lunch for DH & DS - Done
Drop item off at friends - Done
Ironing -
Bump all sale listings/freecycle/facebook -
Check Banks -
Hairdresser @ Home -
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 Ally. Sleep well

Not raining at the moment :T
So far I have:
Had cheapie porridge breakfast
Put bins out as OH forgot last night
Fed hens
Entered a few prize draws on O2 Priorities. I haven't used any of the offers yet, as they all seem to be either online things that I don't want, or miles away, but I do the comps.
Made OH do first dog walk as he seems to have just been doing his own thing lately, which is fine, but he has done nothing to help round the house at all. He has lots of activities planned for today too, but he will do something to contribute or else :rotfl:

Still to do:
Put away some sales stock that I brought back yesterday - wish some of it would sell :eek: Done
Housework Didn't do it yesterday OH put the hoover round while I was cooking
Make cheese straws for a social event a community group that OH belongs to is holding tonight. I was invited, but it really isn't my thing, so got guilted into making something to contribute. Also made stilton and walnut scones (to use up leftover stilton and nuts) and OH took those along too. Saved a few cheese straws for baby GD tomorrow, and have put them in the cake tin for when she asks for 'cake'
Made a camembert quiche, and now all the Christmas cheese has been used up and is no longer lurking in the freezer or fridge :T
HM meals from stores Done
Cook a red cabbage that has been lurking around since Christmas, divide into tubs and freeze It is in the SC now
Postal survey stuff, any online surveys, check FPL Done
Second dog walk Done
Unlikely to manage a NSD as I need to buy the dog a new bed. He is destroying the wicker one he has at the moment, and I am fed up of clearing up chewed up wickerwork, also slightly worried he will actually eat some and do himself a mischief :eek:. He had a fabric one previously, but wrecked that as well (going through a chewing stage atm). Whatever I buy next, it will NOT be expensive! Might not get to this today though, so he may have to make do with a cushion, and I may be able to salvage another NSD Didn't buy a dog bed, but didn't manage a NSD either, as I asked OH to get cream for the quiche while he was out and about, and naturally he bought some other things as well.... although he did pay for them, come to think of it :cool: Dog seems to be managing perfectly well with his cushion, so we will go with that for now.

Managed to avoid having heating on even though it has been cold today, although I am toasty by the wood burner now

Try to stop feeling meh - I think it is the fact that it is January, dark and nearly always raining