Sat 13/Sun 14 August - What small DFW things will you do this weekend?

crazy_cat_lady

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:

crazy_cat_lady

Morning all :coffee:
I've been up and about for over an hour now so I've given up on the idea of more sleep for the moment and decided to nap later. I thought I'd start us off for the weekend - hope everyone is doing ok. I don't have a massive list for today which is good news as I don't think I'll get much done.
check banking and PAD
training at 7.30
minimal housework
aim to get this blanket finished
nap if I need to
get ds and his friend to football
aim for nsd
get some free exercise with the kids
meal plan for the week ahead
I'll be back later - hope you all have a good day.:j

DawnW

Morning CCL, and all who come along later :hello:
I was awake and up early too Really annoying, when I don't HAVE to get up :mad:

Anyway, today's list:
Finalize shopping list and shop at Mr W (who have kindly sent me a decent voucher) Spent only a couple of pounds more than I needed for the voucher Also went to Mr S across the road - mainly because the local food bank that I support had put a request out for certain items, so I made a shopping list for them This is my chosen charity - horrible to think of people living in the same town as me not having enough to eat I have had to cut back on charity giving since I retired and my income reduced to a small fraction of what it had been - but I still support the food bank, and will do so till it is no longer needed! OH bought his beer in there too, and I stocked up with free wine boxes for my ebay sales

Make chutney with spare French beans, as I am running out of freezer space Done, but not sure if it has set enough - most chutneys are thickened by boiling off the liquid, but this one uses cornflour to thicken the sauce in which the beans, onions etc are suspended. If you use too much it goes very gloopy, if not enough it stays runny - but you can tip it back in the pan and thicken it a bit more, which is a bit of a pain but worth it to get it right
Water anything in the garden that needs it Done
Pick anything that is ready More French beans, a courgette and a few raspberries
Post office with an ebay parcel Done
Box of stuff to CS Done
Carrier bag of waste paper to paper recycling thing in supermarket car park Done
Bit of gardening if I have the energy Only managed to dead head the roses so far
Dog walks for free exercise Done
Use up stuff in fridge/ garden for meals In progress
Make a cake Not yet, but the night is young Now in oven

Hope everyone has a good day

foxgloves

Morning Weekend People,
Busy day yesterday. Got grocery shopping done (more or less on budget) then went hunting for new car.
So today:
*Go back for a test drive & see what paltry amount we get offered for trade in. I know this will be low due to high mileage & various bits of damage esp from when we were deliberately run off the road last summer. I have the money in place ready & spent last night updating budgets so I know exactly where we are.
That will be most of today but hope to have a low-spend bbq later on.
Have a good day all,
F x

Pernicious

Morning all,

Thanks for starting us off crazy_cat_lady!
La e - That's a tough one, take a good look over it & see what you think will need replacing, you should be able to tell if you'll need new tyres etc soon, then think about the maintenance of the car, how many miles it's done & how it feels to drive. You might be able to tell when the brake pads are wearing thin by how strong the brakes feel & if you know you've done thousands & thousands of miles since something was last changed, you'll know to factor that in as well.
Foxgloves - Deliberately run off the road?! Sounds like there's a story there :eek: Hope you get a good price for the car.

Today I have/will:-

• Checked online banking & moved funds around
• Checked free postcode lottery
• Logged onto Bounts to update points
• All meals from stores
• Make meal plan for week ahead
• Make shopping list from this & stick to it!
• Go to Lidl first & then anything we can't get there we will get across the road from Sainsbugs
• Washing on eco setting using less than recommended dose of washing liquid
• Hang up to dry
• Enter some more competitions, got my first win the other week so waiting patiently for it to arrive now :j
• Gardening planned for today, & lots of it! We will clear this jungle & do as much as we can ourselves, I think we are going to need to pay someone to at least pollard a large tree we have though, hope it's not too expensive :undecided

Have a great, MSE day everyone x

Bagpuss741

Today I have/will:

1. Checked online banking
2. Went to Cardiff and managed to only spend 50p (spent £25 in M&S but had £30 giftcard as part of M&S bank and spent £5.50 in Wilko but had £5 gift card. Also had hot chocolate in M&S cafe but used free drinks voucher)
3. Meals from stores
4. Listen to free podcasts while watering garden
5. Changed bed linen and tidied bedroom. Managed to get dirty bedding washed and on line to dry
6. Making lemon and poppy seed loaf cake
7. Surveys
8. FPL
9. Read free book
10. Watch olympics

Hope everyone has a fab and non spendy day today:)

LuckyPenny

Hello all
Sold an old car seat fr £20
Returned faulty swimming goggles £12
Checked eBay/ipoll/postcode lottery
Having family meal out tonight for free with market research
Wombled 4 Costa receipts
Bought a new suitcase for hols from tkmaxx DH just reminded me to sell old one :-)
Picked up winter coat after having the pockets mended, just need to wash and as good as new.
Made homemade crisps with my DD
Cancelled hair appointment and plan to pay half the price with Groupon voucher for half the price or I'll go to the beauty college for £5 in September!
Went to body shop for free nail varnish and the shop had closed down!
Think that's it for today
LP

crazy_cat_lady

Hi all :wave:
Fine by me for a weekly thread as of Monday for whoever is starting
So, turns out I was ill when I was up early this morning. I went to get changed for training and _pale__pale_ I ended up having to skip my session for only the second time in 18 months... It's not the end of the world sick and hopefully I'll be fighting fit again tomorrow. As a result though, I have barely moved all day, which is great for :money: but not so great for getting stuff done.

crazy_cat_lady wrote: »

[STRIKE]:p check banking and PAD[/STRIKE]
training at 7.30
[STRIKE]:p minimal housework[/STRIKE] only washing up and a load of washing
[STRIKE]:p aim to get this blanket finished[/STRIKE] still ongoing but getting there
[STRIKE]:p nap if I need to[/STRIKE] 3 hours :eek:
[STRIKE]:p get ds and his friend to football[/STRIKE] dh
[STRIKE]:p aim for nsd[/STRIKE]
get some free exercise with the kids
meal plan for the week ahead :(
I'll be back later - hope you all have a good day.:j

I can't even face the thought of food at the moment so meal plans will have to wait. Suspect dh may treat us all to a takeaway later as I've done nothing...
Congrats on the new car Foxgloves :j

foxgloves

Thanks CCL - Yes, she is a sassy red beauty. Collecting her & paying up (ouch!) on Thurs. So relieved it's sorted & I can now concentrate on paying off the loan early. Started today with a proper furious tantrum. Can be shocking drama queen & a couple of conversations with car dealers yesterday put me in a downward spiral of expectation in terms of what we thought we might get for part-ex on our current car. Mr f was trying to get me to make a decision over breakfast on how low an offer would have to be before I deemed it such a p*ss-take that I'd rather sell it privately. He kept on trying to get a decision I just couldn't make until I heard the actual valuation & I got into more & more of a strop. By the time we were driving to the garage, I'd almost decided to keep the car as a 2nd vehicle as I was so convinced we were going to be offered about enough for a bag of crisps! When we arrived & the dealer gave us the figure, it was actually much better than our BEST case scenario. Could have snogged him I was so relieved!! So deal done. I am now putting plans in place to get the loan repaid quicker than the 5-year term as (despite my spendy past), I am now extremely debt-averse. So there will be lots of daily frugal activities to report.
F xx

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

Worked...that was it.