NST July - Own your choices

thriftylass

1. My biggest financial failing too is food shopping. The Friday (weekend treat) top up shop especially. I will try harder and meal plan better, will be teetotal anyway because of the upcoming triathlon, and will see that I have treats in the big shop on Sat ready for next Friday.

2. My SFD target will be 17

3. I always have to most perfect budget, saving plan, debt payment plan - till I cheat. And have to reshuffle things to make up for unnecessary overspends etc. So this month and the rest of the year I will focus on sticking to my plan, making it more realistic and achievable initially and then tighten it further. It has to work someday, I've been struggling with this since I came on here.

4. I want to be more mindful, happy in myself and for others. Sounds hippy, but I want to do less and be more. The constant rushing to things I have to do wears me down. I'd rather leave the cleaning for a day and do sth that I enjoy and is still productive, like gardening.

5. I'll have a triathlon in 6 weeks and a duathlon a month later. Need to be more strict and disciplined with my training which I luckily can do during lunch.

6. I already cut my kids hair, hubby only goes every two months and it's cheap. I'm letting mine grown again and then will cut that too. I do all the cleaning/diy myself anyway.

7. Report in daily with your updates and tips for others. Cat hit gold with her frugal daily frugal tips idea so do keep those coming if you have them. - will do

8. Choose kindness. There are many people out there who need our kindness. Find ways throughout the month to make those around you happier some how. - being less off a grumpy moan would make my family a lot happier

P.S. As I need to find a more realistic balance between paying debt, saving and paying for things we want/need to do (ferries to Amsterdam and car journeys to see my parents in Germany once a year are necessary and expensive). I started reorganising my budget. I just phoned my CC and the 0% runs out only next October. We have £1500 left on that and will pay £100 a month rather than £300 over the next 6). That way it'll still get paid off without any interest, although it will take longer. But this also frees up more money. £50 will got to christmas each month, £30 into an ISA (long term money trickling in, hopefully more someday, "never" to be touched). The £1700 we owe family will be paid off by christmas and there is enough money left to put aside for the house (door, garden, car etc) and the trip to Germany to stop that constant felling of: oh we don't have money for that but it needs done.

Bobarella

freshstartpie wrote: »

Count me in please - starting afresh with a new name after people in RL started knowing too much!

Welcome you are numbered

Eager_Elephant

TrushTush wrote: »

Am determined to throw myself in to loads of challenged for July, will be tough as kid's summer holidays start in a week for one child and 3 weeks for the other 2 so will have more money going out on them, but will need a challenge like this even more to get me through the next couple of months!

In short (I do like to waffle, I'm sorry!) please may I join?

-Tush

When my kids were younger I would have a look at my local council's website and see their events guide and what they on in the summer holidays - some are a small cost but some are free and check whether you had to book in advance etc.


I would also check local museums and see if they were putting on activities as well as parks etc.


I am lucky in that I live in a rural area but there is a largish town 10 miles away so I have a few councils to choose from.


If there are parks nearby could you arrange to meet some other families over the holidays for a bring and share picnic and a day at the park?


Could you organise a treasure hunt for the kids? So either a trail to follow around your town or village or even a list of items that they need to collect like an acorn, a feather, a coin, etc.


If you are near a town do the local council run a swimming pool and gym place? My town does and for £19.50pm my son swims as many times as he likes (he is 19 now and has hypermobility and swimming is the only thing that helps) and there is no contract so maybe you could pay for the whole of July and then cancel?


If I think of anything else I will be back (said The Terminator:rotfl:)

jlbilling

Id like to join please 😊

Bobarella

jlbilling wrote: »

Id like to join please 😊

Great. Will number you now.

XSpender

I would like to join again please. Now that the house move has been done I can start a proper budget again. I did manage not to raid the pots on my YNAB in June which is a first, hoping it continues.

Will come back with my own goals tomorrow.

Bobarella

XSpender wrote: »

I would like to join again please. Now that the house move has been done I can start a proper budget again. I did manage not to raid the pots on my YNAB in June which is a first, hoping it continues.

Will come back with my own goals tomorrow.

Great Xspender. Have numbered you.

Bobarella

So Day 1 of our new challenge. Dont forget to post up your motivations.

apple_muncher

Pinch and punch, first of the month. No returns. Will return with something more sensible later...

SpekySquarehead

Happy 1st July!!!!

Feeling motivated and confident and looking forward to the month ahead.

1 – Financial failing
The big one offs seem to catch me out; car repairs, special occasions and spontaneous night out. I’m going to allocate a category on YNAB to better account for this going forward, particularly for Xmas.

2 – NSD target
June was my new record with 13. So I will beat that. Let me go for 16.

3 – Debt free planning
At the start of each month, I will put £250 toward my debt which means that this time next year, I’ll be debt free. However I’d like to be more debt free so I’ll pay off any remaining cash at the end of each month.

4 – Future
Good question. I see my immediate future (the next 6-18 months) in a different job, in a better position and better paid. I can almost feel the pleasure of seeing the debt go down as saving becomes a routine. Further afield I see a Help To Buy account slowly building up which will eventually lead to a purchase, which is my ultimate goal and always has been!

5 – Active
Fortunately it’s something I do a lot of already but with a holiday in September I’d like to trim off some timber. I’ll aim to run more often, get the diet on point and go to the gym more often too. I’ve been slipping.

6 – More for yourself
I was sooooo close to saying “sod it” and getting my car valeted however I looked out the various sprays and shampoos and done it myself, saving £12 off. Chuffed. So much more of this.

7 – Tips
I think I’m all tipped out! I was struggling by the end of May.

8 – Kindness
I like this one. I see all the trouble around the world and it saddens me, let’s all do our little bit to make someone’s day 

Let's do this turtles!!