NST: December 2016: A pared back Christmas

littleskintdragon

Well i havent posted very much yet! Oops.
I managed my first nsd yesterdsy, which was mainly due to a hangover caused by the works do free bar!!

Only spent £25 of last weeks £50 food budget. Hoping to do the same this week.

thriftylass

Hello,

hope everybody had a good weekend. Will catch up on recent posts during the day.
Had a good weekend, but a spendy one, so 4 SFD in a row are in order from now. Made gin&lime marmalade for friends hampers and orange&whisky marmalade for FIL which required the purchase of above spirits. The leftovers will be put to good use . Didn't do much else. Just had fun with the kids rather than doing my usual runaround cleaning. Also did my weekly shop and a donation to the local food bank/toy bank for christmas.

Will need to write Christmas cards this week and chase up a pal who was meant to fit our new front door. This house is bl**dy freezing and that's why we tried to get a new door fitted. It's only been half a year since, grrr. Will update my number in a minute.

dolly84

Morning all.

swimminginaseaofdebt - very sad news about your colleague.

mothernerd - Frugal Queen has just done a blog post on her Christmas dinner and she fed 8 people for £30 or something like that.

Not planning to spend today but will be shifting money about as usual. Very cold, icy and foggy here today and traffic is horrible so there must be an accident or something somewhere so I didn't cycle as the combination of all those things makes is much riskier and I am doing it for fitness not transport.

Tea today is hm stew and dumplings, I made it yesterday in the slow cooker and there was enough for me and DH for today. Kids won't touch the stuff so they will be having something else.

Calling14

Bobarella wrote: »

calling forgive my ignorance but can't you just go back on the HRat again if not having it makes you unwell? Hope you get your energy back soon.

TBH I have tried to take myself off it gradually. Taking just tablet now and again. Wheras Drs suggested coming off all together.

Have taken some tablets kept off spicy food and wine. Drinking heaps of water and hope that it helps. Few friends had same problems. I am the one in a strappy T'shirt defrosting the car :rotfl:

SFD for me yesterday, dd cancelled our elf outing, so cleaned my house, washed bedding windy here so washing dried. Put old tree up looks gorgeous with all old red and gold decs I had lying about. Posted all my xmas cards, had stamps in.

Today will be a SFD so adding on now 3/15 SFD's.

Hows the dentist going Bob? I don't have to see a hygienist luckily with mine, think electric tooth brush has helped there saves me 40 pounds a visit. I created a fuss about paying for something which I didn't need.

Kat hope the new job is going well, my DD2 is still in Sydney until next July. I need to visit before she goes off to South America which I reckon will be the next trip.

Got a week to go before new grandchild arrives so exciting. No idea what sex it will be.

Thanks WanttobeSE back to bouncy self today, just overtired as most of us turtles seem to be at this time of year.

Right home made soup time I reckon and walk to the bank :cool:

thriftylass

Calling14 wrote: »

Put old tree up looks gorgeous with all old red and gold decs I had lying about.

Just wondering, but what do people do? Calling14 said she put her old tree up. Do people really by a new tree and decorations every year/every few years?

We bought a new tree :xmastree: with the new house 6 years ago as the old one was too big, but my decorations are all homemade, really old (my grannies, my parents, traditional german) or semi new (little baubles that get broken occasionally). The only thing I bought new this year was fairy lights as my 30 year old east German production ones finally gave up last year :snow_laug

Just discovered that a coffee/soup/ tea vending machine in my work does FREE vegetable soup and tomato soup. The veg soup is ok, tomato soup is worse. But hey it's free and I have eating my lunch salad for elevenses already.

Calling14

My old tree Thrifty is over 20 yrs old but still love it. However as only a little one, treated myself to a 7ft snowy one this year. I love the homemade stuff kiddies have made over the years so much fun getting them out.

Thrifty nice to see some perks of the job.

wishus

Hello everyone... enjoyed reading your December NST posts so far.

Big hugs to Seasidegal, Bobarella and Swimminginaseaofdebt xxx

OH and I have been seeing, though we really have no money and can't do presents as we normally do, we are feeling really Christmassy! :xmassmile:xmassmile:xmassmile

Right, let's see how I'm doing:

[FONT="]Set your own NSD target of 12 or more.[/FONT]

Fingers crossed, this will be day 1/12. Haven't managed to avoid any small spends so far. I've made a spicy ricey lunch today to stretch out our bread for OH until I can make a loaf tonight.[FONT=&quot]

Make a donation to a charity close to your heart… or an equivalent value of your time if more appropriate for you.

[FONT=&quot]I have a payment of £3 going out [FONT=&quot]shortly to [FONT=&quot]The Little Pr[FONT=&quot]incess Trust, and will donate to the Food Bank too.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Pay to your debt/savings first

[/FONT] Done! Total debt paid off this year: £4309.54. Was £24K, now £15.5K... starting to look manageable! :j[FONT=&quot]

Work out what you expect to spend on Christmas and then knock £20 off this.

We are only buying for the little kids[FONT=&quot] in the family[FONT=&quot]. OH and I usually b[FONT=&quot]udget £50 for each other, but this year OH just wants me to pay for his online certificate for his course, and I've bought him a book, which was free with gift vouchers all but [FONT=&quot]£2[FONT=&quot].21[/FONT][/FONT]. Unfortunately, 2 milestone birthdays this month, ta[FONT=&quot]king up some of what we w[FONT=&quot]ould have saved. [FONT=&quot]Aiming for £165... will see what we can do.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Turn down at least one festive invitation and work out what you have saved in doing so.

Stayed in yesterday evening instead of goi[FONT=&quot]ng out to celebrate a 40th birthday, which was last minu[FONT=&quot]te [FONT=&quot]invite[/FONT][/FONT]. Drank wine round the house of a[FONT=&quot]nother mutual frien[FONT=&quot]d who[FONT=&quot] was also feeling too poor to [FONT=&quot]go to the pub.[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Spend responsibly, think about small local businesses, charitable/ethical organisations etc rather than lining the pockets of big organisations who care about no-one.

WIP[/FONT][FONT=&quot].
[/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]We [FONT=&quot]want to spend at the [FONT=&quot]indepen[FONT=&quot]de[FONT=&quot]nt butcher's rather than the su[FONT=&quot]permarket for our Christmas meat... goose or turkey crown, ham, pigs in blankets, beef fillet, more bacon, to feed 6 at £45. I think OH needs to get a wriggle on if he wants to order it... but though this is really good value, it's a[FONT=&quot] lot isn't it[FONT=&quot]?[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]
[/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT]

Try to get partners/family on board and do something free and fun together.

[FONT=&quot]OH and I took part in the tow[FONT=&quot]n's Christmas [FONT=&quot]parade yesterday, all dressed up in costume, and decked in fairy lights. [FONT=&quot]That was a load of fun. Hope[FONT=&quot] the town liked it as much as we did, with our very bad carol singing! :rotfl:
[FONT=&quot]OH said to me, "I love [FONT=&quot]t[FONT=&quot]hat we do[FONT=&quot] things like this!" So, yes, th[FONT=&quot]ink he's on board. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][/FONT][FONT=&quot]

Set your grocery budget including any festive extras. Try to come in £20 under it.

Another WIP.
[/FONT]

Try to post as often as you can, sometimes just reading what someone else has achieved in their day motivates me and I’m sure others must feel this way too.

sorry, been a bit slack!

Lovely things of the day: Someone brought in cake today - yay, free cake!:drool:

dolly84

Thrifty- I bought my pre-lit tree about 7 years ago and most of the decorations were new when we moved to this house in 2002. I have another tree which is a similar age. A few additions over the years but there is no particular colour scheme as such, the one in the lounge has all the best decorations on and the other tree goes in the dining room and is a woodland theme - lots of fruit, birds etc.

Have managed to get out cycling, really glad I got back when I did as it's like a scene from The Fog out there, I can literally see the fog rolling in.

wishus

My tree must be getting on for 20 years old... we have 2 angels and a star, which get turns on top of the tree. I've taken my really old 80s tinsel to decorate my desk at work, but I don't get why people keep buying all new. It's things on a tree!

crazy_cat_lady

Evening all :hello:
Another busy, and sfd as a result. I woke up with a blinding headache this morning and whilst paracetamol did the trick it has left me more than a bit wiped out. Marked half a set of books but couldn't be bothered to stay any longer at work. The countdown to Christmas is on - 9 more school get ups!
Yesterday didn't end up being a sfd. I'm half annoyed with myself - did a bit of an impulse buy. I always have a diary on the go and was in a shop and saw a 2017 diary with a peacock on for £2. So I bought it, because I love all things peacock. I think £2 is fine - dd spent £5 on some smellies... Then we caught up with my mam and my sister, then dd and I watched loads of Christmas films and had a lovely evening in together. It was so lovely I didn't want to get up and go to work today...