:) Tuesday 2nd August - 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:

princess_pea

Thanks for starting Lego Mum

Little list of the usual...
NSD
All meals from stores
Listen to free entertainment via Radio 4 extra at work
Banking / spending diary check
Up early today so poochy has been out and fed
FPL/ surveys
Free Netflix with trial tonight

Have a lovely day everyone

Bobarella

princess_pea wrote: »

Thanks for starting Lego Mum

Little list of the usual...
NSD
All meals from stores
Listen to free entertainment via Radio 4 extra at work
Banking / spending diary check
Up early today so poochy has been out and fed
FPL/ surveys
Free Netflix with trial tonight

Have a lovely day everyone

How long till the wedding now Princess?

Bobarella

Morning All

Thanks for the start Legomum your refurb plans have sounded so impressive.
I thought of you at the weekend as I tried to start sorting out DS lego collection for ebay selling. He has loads mainly because of party gifts. He doesnt want it so I may as well reduce the items from our home. I wanted to ask you how you buy it? Bundles? By colour? Some people seem to sell tiny amounts like say 4 black boards for £1. Money to be made but very time consuming.

Small things for today
- Find something for me and the LO's to do for free or for cheap. There seems to be a lot of adventure playgrounds open now within walking distance so might suggest that.
- Try and get on with my lego sorting for ebay
- keep on top of the mortgage process. Looks like we will complete before the 6th which is when our next payment is due. If we get the new rate in place the payment will be £300 less. If not its £368 MORE
- Make a cake to use up 3 peaches that are going soft
- Line dry my washing. Have been really good at this again lately after the terrible wet June
- Keep pushing on my new business. I need to motivate myself every day to look at local forums and social media just in case people are looking for hire out. The ongoing lead I have with the artist is from a free post on the local forum. Our paid ad goes out at the end of this week which I am excited about but anxious.
- The £15 I spent doing fb boost on an ad I put on the business page was a waste. Goodness knows where that ad was served. But I got so many 'odd' people liking the post. Nothing useful will come of that!

Anyway think thats me. Im in a strange place for me. I think like you and your car loan Foxfloves I need to spend money now to a) redecorate the business. Nothing fancy just painting and a bit of wood work replacement. But its still money I dont really have.
to keep it going (fixed overheads)
If I dont put a bit in now then I wont earn possibly a lot later. It makes me feel very uncomfortable.

Bye for now.

Bob

PurpleFairy26

Morning all :hello: thanks for starting us legomum renovations sounds fab, unfortunately most things we need to do involve tradesman, so saving it is then

Bob fingers crossed for the artist working out, plus hopefully lots of other bookings your way. Obviously don't know your plans but is it suitable for children's parties, round here places are always hard to find and the one of two for diy parties always get booked up well in advance. Just a thought.

Anyway list for today:
List parcel - done, did it on way back from dropping DD at nursery and I didn't underestimate postage
Check banking, surveys and FPL
Hm pasta and chorizo for lunch, taking hot drink and snack to work too
Meal from stores/planner
Text friend and offer to help with childcare, she needs to go abroad unexpectedly as has a sick relative, will be tough but I know she would do the same
Pack lunch for DD for her dance day
Washing on airer that was done overnight, too glum for it to go outside. Is it really August :eek:

Think that's about all, check back later. PF.

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.

allydowd

Hi August Awesome-ees,

Today I need to tie up lots of loose ends. I'll add to this list as I think of things.

Debt Free-Nillionaire Continuity Plan Year Two:

* Checked broadband allowance.

* Use Andrew Johnson's new, free meditation MP3 "Quiet Mind".

* Used up a sad looking tin of beans for breakfast.

* Did RMS Surveys.

* Cleaned sitting room with Stardrops and washable cloths. Must dust the Shelving Unit of Doom. DW loves her dust-gathering trinkets. Persuaded DW to clear her pile of documents from the dining table.

* Did a medicines audit. We didn't need anything.

* Filled a vase with roses from the garden. Free flowers.

* Made a coffee with condensed milk. Free luxury treat.

* Switched around some USB cables as DW was protesting one of hers was too short and was wanting to buy a new one.

* Updated signature.

* Made a plan for dealing with the car's MOT.

* Did an i-Say survey. Haven't bothered for ages. Should really get my finger out and do it.

* Checked all loyalty points. We have £3 of Tesco vouchers on the way. We barely use the place so that's good.

* Update Finances spreadsheet and make a backup.

* Received £6 vouchers from RM Surveys.

* Received £3 in vouchers from Tesco Orchard Surveys.

* Did the free Big Butterfly Count. (Link) Thanks to Foxgloves for sorting out my species confusion! The survey is open til the 7th August. Still time to get children involved and you can print a certificate for them if you feel that way inclined.

* Ordered three DVDs on eBay for £4.

* Lunch was a Quorn "roasting joint". Reduced to £1 in supermarket. Served with home-grown potatoes.

Live long, live well and prosper.

determined_new_ms

argh! flipping keyboard ate my post! So lucky for you, you get the abridged version!

Thanks for starting the thread lego mum!

PF I replied to your pm

Ok highlights of today:

* played hard ball with vodafone and got a package of unlimited mins & texts & 4GB for effectively £6.30 pm (£10.80 pm but no bill for the first 5 months)

* investigate making a reward chart for dgd to help with high conflict times (meal times and when we need to get ready to go out mainly)

* getting car repaired with mobile mechanic. £60 to replace exhaust

* make flapjacks and soda bread - going to use a tin of prunes that have been sitting in the larder foragggggggggggggggggggggggggggessssssssssssssssssssss. Also going to make some banana and prune muffins to use up bananas in freezer. Will do all of these while baking jacket pots for tea

* bought book from Amazon to replace a book from the library I have been charged for. Took it to Brazil and it got sand in the cover. Think it's a bit much to be honest but have paid £2.81 rather than the £6.99 they are charging me...

* return library booksgot car tax for year saving £15 over the course of the year if I got it for 6 months - pained me very much!

* either go to the allotment and start sorting out the shed - too wet to be digging today - or get my sewing machine out later

* reply to ebayer and list some items

* had lo potato & chickpea curry for lunch (froze a small portion from last week)

Ok that'll do! Have a great day

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

Legomum - Thanks for starting us off today

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.

Really tired today as not slept well, feeling a bit stressed and anxious (we are away to America in two weeks and I feel so much need sorting but I'll manage I have a list and just need to keep taking few deep breaths). So today I will

Packed lunch for DH - Done
Check Bank - Done
RM Survey - Done
Deep clean lounge -
Filing & Shredding -
Declutter -
Exercise -
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

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all
DNMS - I saw on yesterday's thread about the food. Just to echo what was said about getting protein from things like lentils etc. I thoroughly recommend Jack Monroe's recipes - it's truly amazing what she can do with almost nothing. Also, to echo others, I would be proud with a food bill of less than £200 a month. I hope the new job starts soon.
I was late home last night - seem to have no luck with roadworks. 35 mile detour meaning we got home at about half ten. So I went straight to bed. Then I've been up and about early this morning for a counselling appointment - but stuck in traffic so getting home late again...
Plans for today
:cool2: check banking and PAD
:cool2: catch up on washing and drying
:cool2: mins game with the kids
:cool2: get packed up ready for our London trip tomorrow
:cool2: prep a roast dinner as requested by dd
:cool2: get ds to sweep the garden now I've bought him a broom
:cool2: crochet as I got no time for it yesterday
:cool2: practise mindfulness as recommended by counsellor
:cool2: nap if I need to
:cool2: hoover downstairs
:cool2: get dd to hoover upstairs
:cool2: keep my spending diary
That will do for now - have a good day everyone!:D

allydowd

determined_new_ms wrote: »

argh! flipping keyboard ate my post! So lucky for you, you get the abridged version!

There are two solutions to the lost post problem.

(1) Write the post first in Word, Open Office Writer or whatever word processor you use and keep saving it. Then paste it into the Forum.

(2) If you use the Firefox or the Ice Dragon browser you can quickly and easily download the free Lazarus Form Recovery 2.3.1. Add On. Then if your post goes AWOL you can just right click the blank form where the post should be and click Recover Text and, abracadabra, it'll restore what you wrote.

To install this very tiny helpful doo-dah:

*Click on the 3 horizontal lines in the corner of your browser screen.
*Click on Add Ons.
*In the Search box type "Lazarus". You will see "Lazarus: Form Recovery" comes up.
*Click Install.
*That's it.
*Restart Firefox.

It should take less than a two minutes to do this. Now when you lose a post right click the blank form where the post has vanished from, click Recover Text and, you'll get your post back. This will work on most forms on the internet, not just on MSE.

If you don't have Firefox you can get it free here. (Link)

The other useful things about the Lazarus Add-On is that you can use it to write posts on here more quickly. For example, if I want to add my long list of links that I post every day I don't have to go back to yesterday's thread, find the list and copy and paste it in. I can just start a new post, right click on the blank form, Click Recover text and click on any of my recent posts that'll pop up before my very eyes. I can then edit that post if I want to.