NST June Challenge

drcee

Following on from GreenT, here are my pledges for June:

Back to basics with the rules

• This will commence at 00:01 on the 01/05/2016 and complete at 23:59 on the 31/05/2016

• Minimum of 20 NSDs. (It’s a long month) This challenge does NOT include rent / mortgage/ DD payments/preplanned regular spending like afterschool club or medicine. - This is going to be a challenge but one that I am going to enjoy. In my head, I really only need to spend money two days a week - once for food shopping and once for Slimming World. We will see how that pans out!

* Pay your debt first and budget with the rest. - I was paid early because of the bank holiday, so I have managed to do this already

• All monetary outgoings are to be accounted for prior to the start of the month. This includes anything from direct debits and standing orders to a basic amount for dinner dates that have already been planned. - I have worked out a personal budget of £25 a week. Once all of my planned outgoings go out, it is basically fun money.

• Utilise any random food left in cupboards / freezers etc and get creative, think twice before going out for a food shop. Only need milk and bread, stick to that. Make a list for a bigger shop and don’t go shopping hungry - I have already managed this. Technically not June but this week's shopping came in at the princely sum of £10.12 because I am using so many storecupboard and freezer items

• Batch cooking is encouraged- meals that require individual or specialised ingredients are not unless you already have them. - Unfortunately I can't really batch cook in the traditional sense as we have a small fridge freezer. I do cook and reuse leftovers though, which is ultimately a good thing

• No foods are to be purchased at work canteens / cafes etc. If you are having a family day out take packed lunches. (this will be hard with a non-MSE DH like mine) - This is going to be so hard. I like having a canteen lunch with my friends but I suppose they will have to support me on this

• Only supermarket own brands are encouraged unless there is really sth you despise like the coffee and can’t live without the brand (like my DH). Get it delivered to prevent impulse buys… the delivery charge will outweigh impulse buys and any green-eyed monster issues you make incur. Use Aldi and LIDL, if you haven’t tried them yet you might be positively surprised. - I already do this. There are a few items that I will not compromise on e.g. tea.

• No non-essential beauty items are to be purchased. Use up everything you have in the house before ANY purchases. I have plenty of make-up that I never use and toiletries cluttering my bathroom, this will be easy
• Beauty purchases are to remain under £5 for the month if you are truly out of resources. Challenge yourself (Tesco/Lidl/Aldi sell shampoo and conditioner for 75p or less each by the way) I don't do beauty haha

• Reduce smoking in this month by half. I know this is a difficult one so I can’t be too harsh as I’m stuck myself on quitting the last two a day (this is a rather personal challenge, so ignore if N/A). - N/A

• Try and eat at least one frog this month, a giant one (for the uninitiated it means dealing with sth that you have been putting of for ages for various reasons) – for me this will be making DH see the light. I might not make him a MSE convert but I would like him to be more sensible and understanding when it comes to money matters so we’re singing of the same hymn sheet as he is just so blase about it,
My second frog might be a trip (or the planning of it) to the German consulate to finally change my name (basically involves my whole family and about 2 dozen documents travelling to Edinbugh, mental) - Like Green T, I have a self assessment to do and I need to finalise my doctoral thesis before graduation in July

• And last but not least: Combat overwhelmed-ness : There just aren’t enough hours in the day, right? I’m guilty myself of easily being overwhelmed. I write endless lists of things that need doing but realistically are unachievable. So my aim this month is to do just one little thing a day and one slightly bigger thing a week on top of everyday stuff without beating myself up about the other 132 things I could’ve/should’ve done too. I.e. pick sth up that belongs in another room but has been stranded in the kitchen since Christmas. Can’t find any matching socks, take the 5-10 min and go through your sock drawer and reunite them, bin holey ones etc. You get the idea. - I have found that following the Marie Kondo method helps with this. However, it's been a busy couple of weeks and work and June will be relentless too, so I'm using half term to hopefully clear stuff/ prepare stuff for the rest of the month as much as possible so that I will hopefully feel less overwhelmed when back at work I think I will take a leaf out of your book here and do small regular household tasks

And finally, blossom, enjoy life, there is too much negativity pumped into us through the media etc. Slow down. It’s nearly half way through the year and it just passed me by. Do sth everyday that makes you happy, even the smallest thing counts…..Spending money is what makes me happy haha. That is off the table, I will need to try and think of something else :-D

I am feeling really motivated and I hope to do well this month. I am sick of dipping into my overdraft and I want to be comfortably out of it!

Onmyway2

OK, so let's see what I can do...

Back to basics with the rules

• This will commence at 00:01 on the 01/05/2016 and complete at 23:59 on the 31/05/2016

• Minimum of 20 NSDs. (It’s a long month) This challenge does NOT include rent / mortgage/ DD payments/preplanned regular spending like afterschool club or medicine. I will try my very best, just had to spend £200 on fixing car and am part way through selling my house so avoiding spending where possible.

* Pay your debt first and budget with the rest. All done & set up by direct debit & YNAB.

• All monetary outgoings are to be accounted for prior to the start of the month. This includes anything from direct debits and standing orders to a basic amount for dinner dates that have already been planned. As above.

• Utilise any random food left in cupboards / freezers etc and get creative, think twice before going out for a food shop. Only need milk and bread, stick to that. Make a list for a bigger shop and don’t go shopping hungry. Did a stock take yesterday, planned meals and used comparison site to order food (rest of the month I will try to stick to Lidl)

• Batch cooking is encouraged- meals that require individual or specialised ingredients are not unless you already have them. I've not done this since kids were babies, have a very small freezer now. Will look into it though.

• No foods are to be purchased at work canteens / cafes etc. If you are having a family day out take packed lunches. (this will be hard with a non-MSE DH like mine) I won't buy from the canteen or cafes but need an exemption for one weekend as I will be going to a festival & not buying food will be impossible.

• Only supermarket own brands are encouraged unless there is really sth you despise like the coffee and can’t live without the brand (like my DH). Get it delivered to prevent impulse buys… the delivery charge will outweigh impulse buys and any green-eyed monster issues you make incur. Use Aldi and LIDL, if you haven’t tried them yet you might be positively surprised. Will downshift where possible.

• No non-essential beauty items are to be purchased. Use up everything you have in the house before ANY purchases.
• Beauty purchases are to remain under £5 for the month if you are truly out of resources. Challenge yourself - join www.bzzagent.co.uk and see what you can get for free. (Tesco/Lidl/Aldi sell shampoo and conditioner for 75p or less each by the way). Will give this a go but this will probably be where I fall down.


• Try and eat at least one frog this month, a giant one (for the uninitiated it means dealing with sth that you have been putting of for ages for various reasons) – for me this will be making DH see the light. I might not make him a MSE convert but I would like him to be more sensible and understanding when it comes to money matters so we’re singing of the same hymn sheet as he is just so blase about it,
My second frog might be a trip (or the planning of it) to the German consulate to finally change my name (basically involves my whole family and about 2 dozen documents travelling to Edinbugh, mental). I feel I will be eating many frogs this month, I've accepted an offer on my house in order to clear my massive debts so will have to clear my attic & garage, deal with solicitors, start thinking about a rental property and starting all over again with 2 kids

• And last but not least: Combat overwhelmed-ness : There just aren’t enough hours in the day, right? I’m guilty myself of easily being overwhelmed. I write endless lists of things that need doing but realistically are unachievable. So my aim this month is to do just one little thing a day and one slightly bigger thing a week on top of everyday stuff without beating myself up about the other 132 things I could’ve/should’ve done too. I.e. pick sth up that belongs in another room but has been stranded in the kitchen since Christmas. Can’t find any matching socks, take the 5-10 min and go through your sock drawer and reunite them, bin holey ones etc. You get the idea. See above!

And finally, blossom, enjoy life, there is too much negativity pumped into us through the media etc. Slow down. It’s nearly half way through the year and it just passed me by. Do sth everyday that makes you happy, even the smallest thing counts…..
Will try my best.

Eager_Elephant

I'm in please Thrifty. Any number is fine.


Just one small comment and that is the start and end of the challenge is listed as May. It's not really a problem as we all know what we are doing but the pain-in-the-rear-proof-reader in me is having palpitations!!! Sorry.


Thanks for running June for us.

NinjaSavingKat

A very good day to you all in sunny warm Great Britain from a very cold, slightly dismal Melbourne, Australia.


I'd like to join the NST's for the month of June please - full explanations to follow.


Great to be back!

thriftylass

Hi Guys, welcome to all familiar faces and newbies. All noted up to post 25, let me know if I missed one.

Don't worry if some some "rules" are not appropriate for your circumstances like batch cooking with a small freezer. For instance, the idea to minimise food waste, minimise energy to cook the food, use left overs is still the same and can obviously be adapted.

Eager_elephant well spotted, the reason is that I planned this challenge in May before I realised someone had already taken May over

WelshKitty85

Count me in please. I disappeared in May and need to get things back on track.

stoplurking

Hello NSK and welcome back! Can't wait to hear a) how your travels are going, b) where the debt came from (exciting adventures I hope) and most importantly c) how you're going to get rid!
I don't take part in these challenges but I do follow along each month and your chickadees have been doing a great job in encouraging everyone on their DF journeys.
Good luck for June everyone. X
PS Where's Stewby got to?

SpekySquarehead

Deal me in!

This'll be my third NST challenge in a row. Loving it!

smiley333

Can I join? Been lurking for a while until I decided to join. Having an awful year with childcare/nursery issues hence the next year will be bad too. Off work for summer soon (term time) so this challenge will hopefully set me off in the right direction.

SpekySquarehead

• Minimum of 20 NSDs. – Tough ask. Payday for me is the last day of the month so a long month indeed. Also, I’ve not got many plans in the diary which traditionally means there will be unanticipated impulse spend, but I’ll try and reign that in when possible.

* Pay your debt first and budget with the rest. – Minimum payment direct debit set up, if possible I’ll pay off a bit more.

• All monetary outgoings are to be accounted for. – My YNAB helps with this but I’m still getting to grips with it.

• Utilise any random food left in cupboards. Make a list for a bigger shop and don’t go shopping hungry – Tends to be my mentality anyway.

• Batch cooking is encouraged – Making soup is my new favourite thing, so big batches are standard.

• No foods are to be purchased at work canteens / cafes etc. – I vow to do this for all days!! Challenge accepted.

• Only supermarket own brands are encouraged. – As a recent convert to Aldi and Lidl, I’ll be visiting there today, with my shopping list might I add.

• No non-essential beauty items are to be purchased. Use up everything you have in the house before ANY purchases. – Consider it done.

• Beauty purchases are to remain under £5 for the month. – Won’t need to.

• Try and eat at least one frog this month, a giant one - My huge frog is to ebay some things. You know what, I’ll put it in my diary right now so I’ll do it.

• And last but not least: Combat overwhelmed. – This is a good idea. As a man who loves a list, I’ll make a list of these smaller things and try and get one done when I’ve got a spare few mins.

Good luck everyone and here's to a prosperous and wonderful June.