Tuesday 5th July - What Small Debt Free Wannabe things will you do today?

lego_mum

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:

determined_new_ms

Morning legomum thanks for starting the thread

Have been awol the last few days as trying to make the most of my time, and also it was dgd's 3rd birthday yesterday. Was very pleased with myself as I stuck to my "not buying anything new" challenge (did get her a gift, but oh & I stuck to our 1 gift each rule - it's hard though get so full of doubt whether we are doing the right thing about trying to keep gifts as 1 thing she will love rather than lots of things), I made her a birthday card using a super cute photo of her and card already in stock, made a "Happy Birthday" banner from stock. Went to the bootfair on Sunday and got gifts for pass the parcel (our throwing her a little party tomorrow) and going to make a batch of fudge for little gifts in the layers :money:

Ok things to do and I need to get a move on!

* big a big banking reconciliation & various transfers to get the accounts up to date :money:
* going into town, visiting a friend so will do my errands today
* going to the allotment - planting my first things :j planting out 2 squash plants, a courgette plant, some runner beans and beetroot as well as the inevitable digging & weeding! Have now dug over thoroughly a patch 1.5 x 2 meters :T
* take packed lunch
* take carrier bags as need to get a few bits in the SM while out - my GC spends are much higher at the moment. So really going to have to look at working to bring it back down again over the next few weeks....
* go through fridge and make sure nothing perishes
* freeze some milk that's on the turn so I can make scones to use it up over time... (sadly there's a lot of it )
* bake birthday cake x 2 for party tomorrow
* make fudge and wrap up pass the parcels
* all meals from stores
* no personal spends
* pick up a B'day present at a friend's for dg

Ok that's my lot. Better get a move on! x

JHiggins91

Morning folks

Thanks for starting us off Lego Mum!

Only 10.15 and already I've had a very productive morning. Today I will have

Drop daughter at childminders for a few hours to get house in order - Done
Gut the house - Done
Washings - One already done and another just popped in
Skirting boards cleaned and hoovering - Done
Toilets bleached and cleaned - Done
Go round to friends to pick up strimmer to finally get round to strimming the remainder of the garden
May run the lawn mower over the grass again depending how much it's grown (have had lots of intermittent rain he past week, so never really got a chance to finish the strimming etc so it may have sprouted a bit)
Someone coming to pick up gumtree sale
Going down to parents house to help load scrap iron into van then take to scrappy
Pick OH up from work
Make a payment to Barclaycard once I've put the money from the Gumtree sale into the bank
Make dinner (chicken out defrosting just now - either soup or chicken with roast peppers not sure)
The relax lol

Taking half an hour to myself before getting the strimmer and attempting the garden before I get rained off.

Hope you all have a good day

J

foxgloves

DNMS - I use 'on the turn' milk for soda bread too, instead of buying buttermilk, so that's another thing you could make to use some of it up.
f x

Bouncybubbles

Good morning all!
1) tidy the house whilst doing the washing
2) await my parcels for my mums birthday (just arrived)
3) await my mum picking me up to go food shopping (saves my petrol)
4) swiftly bandage finger after slicing it open on a rough bit of plaster behind the sink to prevent blood messing up my cleaning :rotfl:
5) check FPL, lucky phone
6) check bank account
7) take hubby to hospital later for apt
8) try and eat healthily!


Hope you all have a great day!

foxgloves

Morning Campers,
Well, I heard this morning that the thing I've really been fretting about, concerning someone very dear to me, has not come to pass. Was so relieved, there were tears......but not as many as there would have been had the news gone the other way. So, a load has lifted & I've been cracking on with lots of tasks. Today's bit of money saving activity will be:
*Laundry done overnight on cheap tariff & pegged out to dry for free in the sunshine & breeze. Done.
*Defrost 2 frozen sliced peppers to use in my chicken fajhitas tonight. Done
*Pick a bunch of coriander & some spring onions from garden for making salsa.
*Feed all fruiting veg, as this fell off the list yesterday when I decided to cut back a border instead.
*Mend a photo frame using some inexpensive glue I bought to try it out. Currently got the frame under a pile of heavy piano music scores to try & weight it down. Done.
*Framed a lovely print I received as a gift in the cheap frame I bought from Wilko's. Looks so nice, can hardly believe the frame was less than a fiver. Done.
*Photographed 2 more items for ebay. Done.
*Wrote a quick letter using materials from my recycled writing stuff box. Done.
*Ebay relistings - next job on the list but I need caffiene first.
*Update grocery budget.
*Move various sums of money around to keep different budgets accurate. Definitely need caffiene before I attempt this.
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Try to get a hair appointment for Thurs. Have found somewhere new in town which seems to have a very competitive price list in the window.
*Find rocket seeds - time for another sowing to keep the fresh salad leaves coming for as long as possible.
There will doubtless be other bits & pieces too, as I go along.
Have a good day, everyone.
f x

PurpleFairy26

Afternoon all :hello:

happy that your news turned out to not be bad foxgloves that must be a weight off your mind

Happy Birthday to DGD of DNMS for yesterday. I think what you are doing is just perfect. Lots of people were horrified when I said I had only spent £25 on each of my girls at Christmas last year (6 and 3). Did they notice - no, did they love their one gift from us - absolutely There is so much more to life (even for children) than too much tat and toys.

My list for today:
went to 1kea (again!) won't bore you with why. We collected our prize of a nest of tables we won yesterday. They're not really our thing, so I will put up for sale on local selling pages. Today won a donut - not put up for sale I hassen to add :rotfl:
I also bought two lampshades I had slept on overnight (not literally of course :rotfl:) £28 for both is better than the £220 ones that I sent back before. Funded from house budget so all ok there
Bought a Christmas present, was really impressed so I think I will order 3 more as they are a) in the sale and b) will do for all remaining boys I buy for. Move money from pressie fund
check banking, surveys and FPL
Empty purse of coppers and put in change bags
Meals from stores
Work from home, so I won't finish too late
Call joiner about some work we need doing
Meal plan for next week
Research what else I need for teacher gifts. I was going to buy them something but as there are 2 main teachers and 3 TAs it was going to get expensive. Am going to make some homemade chocolate bars and seed packs using NOTHS for inspiration.

Think that's about all for now, have a good day folks. PF

allydowd

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

• Benefits check-up ( Link )
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• LuckyPhone free lottery with loyalty rewards (Link)
  
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• 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)
  
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• You Need A Budget site and App (Link)

Checked 28 June 2016.

DawnW

Evening all
Thanks for starting the thread Legomum
Foxgloves, so glad to hear that you have had good news
DNMS, I agree with others, your GD doesn't need tonnes of tat for her birthday, one present is fine - and she will still get given bits by others as well!

Today I have:
Walked dog for free exercise
Walked to post office for yet more free exercise, as my ebay parcels were small ones today
Not spent anything except for postage (and the buyers pay for that)
Listed more things on ebay
Sold 4 more things
Packed them ready to post
HM meals from stores, we had some of the quiche I made yesterday for dinner, with our own home grown potatoes and salad leaves
Helped OH to dig the rest of the potatoes so the slugs don;t get in them. There are LOADS Now stored in an opaque bag in the shed, to protect them from going green and spoiling
Picked the first 3 courgettes, some rhubarb and some more cherries :j Decided to leave the strawberries till tomorrow when GD is here, as she likes to 'help' with that -mainly by eating them :rotfl:
Cut up and froze the rhubarb
Chopped up some celery on its last legs and froze it to add to stews etc
Chopped up the last of the big piece of gammon I cooked last week and froze that, and likewise some gnarly ends of cheese - these will make a macaroni cheese type meal at some point
Sowed more carrot and beetroot seed
Moved some heavy pots round from the back to the front garden, in the wheelbarrow
Got replacement house phone out of its packaging and put it to charge. It is a cordless one, hope we will get on with it - it does at least seem to work though, which is an improvement on the last few weeks courtesy of BT's long winded line fault and a new phone that didn't work :mad:

Nearly ready for bed after all that - the house is a tip, but it will just have to stay that way for another day. I am sure GD will make it even worse tomorrow in any case :rotfl:

Bobarella

LegoMum thank you

allydowd

foxgloves wrote: »

Well, I heard this morning that the thing I've really been fretting about, concerning someone very dear to me, has not come to pass. Was so relieved, there were tears......but not as many as there would have been had the news gone the other way.

Well that's good news.