Wednesday 20th July - What small DFW things will you do today?

ziggy2407

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:

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

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.

Another relaxing day planned:

Packed lunch for DH - Done
Check Bank - Done
RM Survey - Done
Holiday planning (book taxi to airport) -
Read -
Continue purge on Emails -
Complete a few surveys -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check https://www.freepostcodelottery.com -
Check Lucky Phone/Ashleigh/Numberplatelotto -

Have a great day. Love to you all!

C x

determined_new_ms

Hi Ziggy! Thanks for starting the thread.

Another scorching day down here in the South. Changed my mind from going to the outdoor swimming pool a few towns along to going to the beach instead. It's nearer - need to put £5 in petrol tank but this is less than the cost of entrance to the pool. Also means we can go later on and hopefully avoid the hottest of the weather.

Small things for the day:

* Looked at washing pile and it's not enough for a load. Will wait until this evening rather than do a 1/2 load
* [STRIKE]have packed lunches to use leftovers, froze a bottle of water last night to keep lunches cool[/STRIKE]
* [STRIKE]got thank you letters ready to post while out[/STRIKE]
* All meals from stores - stuff courgettes for dinner
* freeze stock made on Sunday as not going to have the time to make soup today nor space in the freezer if I did!
* [STRIKE]pick courgettes. Pick mangetout and freeze[/STRIKE]
* used hg coriander to make cous cous salad and found a rouge Caterpillar that has been chomping away on my veg! Going to have to have a thorough investigation to see if there's anything else in there as dwarf beens and carrots have suffered!
* other than petrol, stamps and possibly an icecream spend nothing else
* go to the allotment later for a few hours
* empty out composter and start a new batch. Foxgloves how long does your's store?
* water greenhouse veg

Think that's it. Have a lovely day everyone x

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)
  
• Cooking On A Bootstrap, cheap recipes ( Link)
• eBid ( Link )
  
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery ( Link )
• FreeStuff ( Link )
  
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• Income Tax Calculator (Link)
  
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• LuckyPhone free lottery with loyalty rewards (Link)
  
• Marriage Tax Allowance (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 )
• Wombling Guide (Link)
  
• You Need A Budget site and App (Link)

Checked 28 June 2016.

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for starting us off Ziggy
Hot again here, but so far I have:
Brought down the fan from the loft bedroom, where it wasn't being used as nobody is sleeping there at the moment, and put it between the lounge and dining room - this has made the downstairs temp much more comfortable. Why didn't I think of this yesterday?
Hopefully sorted out outdoor lights that I was fiddling with yesterday Done, twinkling nicely now, and no power used as they are solar
Cleared broad bean bed
Pulled up shallots, not many this year as they were a bit crowded out by rampant potatoes :eek: Now drying in the sun. There will be enough for a big jar of pickled shallots for Christmas
Cut up most of the broad bean stalks and put in the composter
Washing on the line
Dusted bedroom furniture

Still to do:
Get rid of rest of broad bean stalks (got too hot :eek:) plus the pods, as OH has podded them Done
Freeze podded broad beans Done
Freeze some of the French beans Not done, must do this tomorrow!
Pick courgettes and strawberries, investigate rhubarb to see if that needs another haircut Courgettes picked and eaten for dinner, little GD turned up and did for the strawberries, and rhubarb now chopped and frozen
Cut mint and sage for drying, I will start it off in the sun and finish it in the dehydrator! Cut some mint, and started it off drying. Into the dehydrator with it tomorrow! Must cut back the sage, as it is going mad :eek:
Cook a chicken for dinner Done
Pick some carrots for dinner Done
Plant some of our potatoes (we have loads) in a spare big pot. I did this last year, and had some autumn new potatoes Not done yet, though I did drag the pot out.
Water anything that needs it - French beans in the back, and everything in the front garden today I think! Done, took ages :eek:
Walk dog later when cool enough OH did this while I was watering

foxgloves

DNMS - We have 4 composters on the go so some of our compost ends up sitting in the bins for some time, but then when they are opened, we find we use it fairly quickly as have quite a big garden. I have stored it in the past, though, by just shovelling it into empty compost sacks, pegging the tops & standing them in the shed. I think if the stored compost got continually wet, you would find some of the nutrients leached out, but to be honest, you will probably be using it in Autumn as that's a good time to mulch your beds & let the worms take it down & break it up ready for next season.
F x

foxgloves

Morning Money-savers,
Am sitting out on our courtyard with a big coffee & the laptop. Waiting to see if we get storms this afternoon. National weather forecast showed our area as dry, very hot, no storms..................followed by the local weather & local radio station which said storms this afternoon. It's incredibly muggy but only 28 deg today, cooler than yesterday's 32 deg. Anyway, a few small things today:
*Watered veggie garden & greenhouse.
*Picked 2 more cucumbers.
*Using 1lb of our homegrown courgettes tonight to make a veggie moussaka. Had complettely forgotten about this recipe. It's useful for veggie growers as you can use aubergines or courgettes, & has a chickpea & lentil base so no need to buy any meat either. It will make enough for 2 days.
*Locksmith came to mend kitchen window. So good to have it opening again in this heat. Excellent service. Said I could have the new handle for free as it had a couple of little scratches on it (they are barely visible to the naked eye!) & only charged me £50 for call-out & labour. Compared to the outrageous locksmith bill I paid (on the same window!) about 3 years ago, I thought this was a very fair job well done.
*Did some surveys & cashed in my Toluna points for another £15 Sainsbury's gift card.
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch.
*Knit more of Mum's present.
*Postman brought my box of 3 lovely preserving jars (competition prize draw - thanks Ziggy for flagging that up, I shall enjoy filling those with nommy pineapple chutney as soon as I see a good pineapple offer on the local market).
*String our homegrown garlic for hanging- this dropped off the list yesterday.
*Do some work on the survey project I was recruited for. If I don't do it, I can't expect to get paid, can I?!
*Cut oregano for bunching & hanging up to dry.
*Ironing - but only those items that really need it. I put on a slightly wrinkly top this morning & within about half an hour, the creases had dropped out in the steamy heat.
*All free leisure activities today - Have a nice magazine which someone gave me, a book I received for my birthday earlier this year, a recorded TV prog, & I'm aiming to update my blog too.
OK, time to sign out & go & find some lunch, then I shall be heading down to the shed for the string & the garlic crate.
Love to all,
f x

allydowd

Hi July Joculants,

Thanks for the starter Ziggy

Day Three of Operation Get My Mind In Order. That's my priority today. The plan is to keep busy on my day off and that has worked nicely.

It's hot here but dark as night, must be more thunder brewing.

Debt Free-Nillionaire Continuity Plan Year Two:

* Do RM Surveys.

* Free train trip to Paisley courtesy of compensation voucher from Scotrail.

* Free visit to Paisley Museum to see ornothological drawings. Tiny exhibition. Lovely.

* Free trip to Coat's Observatory to see the telescopes and to visit the planetarium. Not bad, considering it is free.

* Took water with us. Today's paid treat was a trip to a cafe. Found one that did two drinks, a scone and a sandwich for £6. Scrummy food. Huge portions.

* DW harvested 3.6kg of potatoes from our two jumbo tubs. She'll plant another crop soon. I think gardening is witchcraft.

* DW's broad beans look like they might actual 'work' this year. Last year we harvested about 3 beans, literally.

* Spent some time helping a charity. Long-distance round-GB walker needed local route advice. Free entertainment for me. Bl**dy love maps.

* Free photogra-faffing today.

Live long, live well and prosper.

Baileys_Babe

Ziggy thank you for starting us off this morning.

Slightly cooler today, much more pleasant, I was willing to be out in it today, chatted to a neighbour for well over half an hour with out feeling the need to retreat to a darkened room afterwards.

Today's efforts:
LSD
Track ALL spendings
Write shopping list
Go shopping and stick to list
Post on this thread for support, motivation and inspiration
Turn off lights and appliances not in use
Take meter readings
Submit meter readings
reusable sanitary wear
PAD into saving £3.66 -1p
Soak porridge overnight
Set DW to run overnight
Set WM to run overnight (we didn't have enough to do a load last night but tonight we can do an underwear & bedding wash)
Place order with wholesaler
Unpack bags, when we get home so nothing is lost, damaged or allowed to go off
Take water with us
Take hot drink in thermal mug
Make packed lunch
Check FPL
Ashleigh
Educate children for free
Do not wash hair
Cut open toothpaste tube, we have 4 to cut open and finish, 2 from toiletries bags, 1 my parents left when visiting and 1 from the bathroom. As I normally find an additional 3 to 4 days when we cut open a tube this lot should last us a fortnight :j
RM survey
Ongoing projects:
Cull 100 emails
Keep up to date with destroying confidential waste
Continue making scrap/note pad with used envelopes, the back of used paper all held together with a bulldog clip
To try and do before I fall asleep:
Read Martin’s email

I must go now and help dd to pick raspberries from the garden.

DawnW

allydowd wrote: »

* DW harvested 3.6kg of potatoes from our two jumbo tubs. She'll plant another crop soon. I think gardening is witchcraft.

Definitely :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: