NST July - Own your choices

thriftylass

bob this one was a bit overpriced as tourists go there too, but the quality is great. Bit dearer than our butcher.

apple_muncher

I lay claim to NSD #3.

The quote we got for a new front door + some new windows came to half our emergency fund. Eek! We can live with a few draughts for a while longer... And we can get another quote.

I have made an effort and had about 10 veg today, which I am pleased with .

XSpender

WFH today and put a good shift in

I achieved my first NSD:j, managed 7 fruit and veg, ate from the meal plan and helped a friend with a tip to aid sleep. I also transferred a further £300 to the emergency fund so need to watch the budget now so it doesn't get transferred back!

Poor dog didn't get out as it has been torrential rain here since lunch time. I am off tomorrow so will walk him as soon as I have dropped DS at breakfast club.

Tomorrow I aim to:

Walk the dog for an hour including a run of 30 mins (depending on current breathlessness due to cold it may be a lot of walk and not much run)
Eat healthily all day
Make DH packed lunch
Batch cook 2 meals and bake some healthy snacks and a quiche for lunches
Tackle our 4th bedroom/office where everything that is still not unpacked has been dumped, sort what needs to go in the loft so DH and I can put it up there in the evening
Do the last 2 loads of washing
Have another NSD

Fmess

Bobarella wrote: »

fmess pleased to read all your great news. Any one of those would be awesome. By the way, how do you make your kebabs?

I just do lamb mince, chopped mint and salt and pepper and then squash them into a sausage shape. Sometimes I put them on a kebab stick but often I don't as it's easier to cook them in the grill.

498louise

Got my first NSD :T

Managed to eat breakfast before I left despite running late, brought a packed lunch to work and had a yummy homemade chilli for tea with plenty of leftovers for lunches.

Need to a work on being more active, did have a 20 minute walk today instead of using a bus though.

Good night

Fmess

Florence_J wrote: »

Checking in on day 4. Spent 5.40 on a train fare from my Grandads house to my sisters house. Tomorrow will also be a spend day as going out with two of my brothers for lunch. Top Tip for the day, my fitness pal is an app that monitors your calorie intake and helps you set targets. My sister told me about another app called Headspace which shows you how to approach mindfulness and to be mindful. I am going to try this with her.

I love and use both of these apps, hope you enjoy them

Today was a spendy day as forgot food for work fuddle tomorrow. Did my good deed as offered to run an errand for a friend and I finished my marking and went to an exercise class

Just put the washing on so fingers crossed it stays dry tomorrow, night all

mothernerd

A long day of wardrobe wrangling. Several substitutions were made but it finally submitted and is in place. It still needs a back putting on (probably the one from the broken wardrobe plus another bit. DS3 asked me to stop at one point as 'he couldn't stand the crying' - compared me to a kitten making mewing sounds to attract human help. He did the last two wheels for me as well as turning it onto it's side and then into an upright position. I wasn't crying by the way, just making noises when I dropped something or when things didn't work - several things had to be sawn down to make them fit for purpose.

I have done about 3/4 of an hour odd domestic bits. The joiner phoned and he is coming to do the doors on Wednesday.

Today I am grateful for more space in my room (some wardrobe bits were leaning against a wall), for my freezer (meal plan varied but from the freezer) and lavender (had 3 bags hanging in the wardrobe and moving things brought out the smell).

Eager_Elephant

Sunday was a spend day as did my monthly shop at Lidl - got 2 huge trolley's full and only came to £150 - will pop to greengrocers each weekend for fruit/veg but have enough bread and milk to see us through.


Today I have had a committee meeting so brought a drink plus we went to Lidl for opening today as they had brush cutters for £129 which is an amazing price for 4 head attachments and all the safety stuff. We thought they might sell out hence the 8am journey but when we got there they had about 25 in stock. DH is very chuffed as our last brush cutter blew up a few weeks ago when DH over used it and the cost to repair was about the same as new. Hopefully this one will last a while.


So day 4 and I have still not had a NSD - hopefully tomorrow will be - we are collecting turkey poults but they come under animal expenditure so don't count towards my spends.


Meal Plan:


Breakfast - always GF toast and something (usually egg)


Lunch - GF sandwich with cheese and salad or leftovers


Tea -
Mon - Pizza (I had left over roast, Yorkshires and veg)
Tues - Chicken Breast + chips or something
Weds - Sausage Pasta Bake/ Vegetable Pasta
Thurs - Jacket Pots
Fri - Spag Bol
Sat - Curry


Really need to include sausage in a lot of things as had charity event on Sat and brought more sausages than were needed and now we are over run (had to cook them before I went).
Hopefully the kids will eat them as snacks.

Catwoman_2015

Hi Turtles

So my intentions for the month are below:

Biggest financial failing is takeaways when we're tired instead of cooking. Pizza or chippy tea being the main culprits.

My "solution" is to have a stash of frozen veggie burgers, potato wedges, frozen wholemeal burger buns and some shop bought pizza bases in the house. In the time it takes to wait for the oven to heat up, you can whack a load of pizza toppings on the pizza bases (tomato pur!e and pesto combo is amazing, hummus also good plus whatever veggies need using up in the fridge) and it's a 1/3 of the price of a takeaway, plus generally a bit healthier as you can ration the cheese topping and is in your tummy quicker than waiting for a takeaway to arrive!

NSD target is 10 days, haven't managed any yet as the bad habit of buying coffee in work has crept in again, must knock this on the head pronto as this helped me become debt free much quicker!

My aim in January was to pay off the credit card before the 0% deal ended in April. I have done this :j
The next aim is to save £2k for remortgaging at end of Sept (have currently saved £1400, so on track), and then £1k emergency fund before Xmas (do-able, but tight!)

What the future holds.........hmmm, am very confused and uncertain at the moment - not sure if this is entirely the right place to sound off about this, but it does still very much relate to budgeting and finances, so what the hell.
The reason I fell off the forum in Feb was because we had a miscarriage and then I had several complications afterwards that resulted in 2 months of in/out hospital visits and my health/fitness is not where it used to be and am struggling to find motivation to get back into any kind of exercise or even socialising.

Am now so very grateful to now not be in hospital and have been told that a future pregnancy would risk my own health............but I was so excited for the short time I was pregnant (never felt that maternal desire or instinct before) so am now torn about whether to actively try and plan/save for baby or just put the idea out of my head because of the it-may-harm-me factor. I know what the head is telling me but it's not so easy to convince the heart, so am feeling conflicted and in a bit of a rut right now.

Sorry if mentioning this causes upset to anyone but I am most comfortable with this forum group as I feel as "know" you guys more than finding a new group of people on a specific forum for this issue. I won't mention it again but needed to get it off my chest.

Daily tip for money saving - I cut the make up wipes I use in half as I only use them to remove my stubborn eye make up (waterproof mascara). I use sweet almond oil as a cleanser with muslin cloths that I wash weekly (you can bulk buy the oil from H0lland & B@rrett when they do their offers, which seems to be every other week!). If you mix the almond oil with brown sugar and some drops of essential oil you also have your own homemade luxury facial/body scrub. I splash my skin with cold water instead of toner after washing my face, it tightens the pores and is free!

Kindness - am going to try and be kinder to myself this month. Have been doing the "I'm fine" stiff British upper lip act for a while now. Need to get out of my own way!

Bobarella

Fmess wrote: »

I just do lamb mince, chopped mint and salt and pepper and then squash them into a sausage shape. Sometimes I put them on a kebab stick but often I don't as it's easier to cook them in the grill.

Yum!!! Definately trying those.