NST: December 2016: A pared back Christmas

indigowarrior

Today will be my first no spend day. I dont need anything.

Living_a_good_life

Morning all - will update signature in a moment but for now: NSD Target - 15 Tonight I will go food shopping as have to be in town with DD so saves petrol if I go today

Donation - will see what comes in my way between now and the 25th - I have a figure in mind though.

Payments will be made shortly to savings/cc - cc is paid monthly since DFD and really used to gain points iykwim.

Christmas budget on track - 75% of shopping done 25% to go!

Not going to a night out in town - the entertainment and food weren't that great last year and it comes in at about £40-50 including ticket, drinks and transport.

Spend responsibly, think about small local businesses, charitable/ethical organisations etc rather than lining the pockets of big organisations who care about no-one.
Will do my best! Although this does seem to come at a premium but I totally get the sentiment

Try to get partners/family on board and do something free and fun together.
Planning cooked breakfast on boxing day and then a long walk on Dartmoor or Exmoor with the kids

Set your grocery budget including any festive extras. Try to come in £20 under it. Going for £260 including alcohol

Thanks Dolly - Here we go!!

dolly84

BeLikeMonica - that's is a very good NSD target, hope you do it. Good luck with your house move.

LAGL - your Boxing Day sounds lovely, much better than the new national pastime of sale shopping imo.

My budgets for December are:

£20 Dog Food - came in £3.65 under this
£90 fuel - already spent all but £23 of this
£40 - entertainment
£65 - kids clubs/activities
£22 - DD bus passes
£10 - scouts Christmas outing
£15 - DS trip to Panto
£390 - savings
£80 - car expenses
£80 - E/F
£50 - DD birthday outing and sleepover (although this is being scaled back due to her being in a lot of pain with new braces)
£325 - Groceries - was going to be £350

WantToBeSE

I'm back in again for December please, thanks Dolly for running it

Toni'sfriend- Have a great holiday, i bet the Lake District is lovely this time of year!

littleskintdragon- good luck with the car, i hope its not too costly!

So, this month i am going to try and stay out of all shopping establishments as much as possible! I've done my weekly food shop today, and think I'll do a huge big one next week, to hopefully last until after Christmas (except fresh fruit and veg).

My donation will be to a cancer charity. Does anyone know of one that is not Cancer Research?

indigowarrior

There is quite few. 337 apparantly
http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/charities/health/cancer?onlinedonations=0

Living_a_good_life

WantToBeSE - Cancer Charities other than Cancer research are Macmillan who provide nurses and support for all ages I think or Clic Sargeant which specialise in support for young people/children.

WantToBeSE

indigowarrior wrote: »

There is quite few. 337 apparantly
http://www.charitychoice.co.uk/charities/health/cancer?onlinedonations=0

Living_a_good_life wrote: »

WantToBeSE - Cancer Charities other than Cancer research are Macmillan who provide nurses and support for all ages I think or Clic Sargeant which specialise in support for young people/children.

Thanks both, I'll have a look at all of those

Seasidegal58

Thank you stoplurking –I remember that you posted some nice comments when I started my present diary. You also did so well clearing your own debt.

Comments for December thread:

1. Set your own NSD target of 12 or more – I am going to try for 15 – which may be optimistic for December but here goes..........!
2. Make a donation to a charity close to your heart – donation going over to Help the Aged.
3. Pay to your debt/savings first – I get paid on 25th of each month so this happened in November. I have already transferred my monthly Emergency Fund amount over to YNAB category.
4. Work out what you expect to spend on Christmas and then knock £20 off this – I’ve nearly finished with the presents – will see if I can get it down a bit!
5. Turn down at least one festive invitation and work out what you have saved in doing so – I’ve already turned down the firm’s Christmas Party! This is actually a free event all night, but always ends up costing me because of new outfit, taxis, drinks beforehand, etc.
6. Spend responsibly, think about small local businesses, charitable/ethical organisations etc rather than lining the pockets of big organisations who care about no-one – I have bought some presents locally already via independent retailers.
7. Try to get partners/family on board and do something free and fun together – hmm – day out with sis and DD paid for already – hopefully there won’t be any extra expense.
8. Set your grocery budget including any festive extras. Try to come in £20 under it – have already done my big Tesco delivery shop last week when I got paid. We are all over my sis’s for Christmas. DD and her OH doing the cooking and she has bought the turkey. My contribution is buying all the non-perishable goods needed the weekend before – won’t be able to estimate this until she sends me her list!
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 – Yes indeed! I will try and post each day!

Today is looking like a NSD day. We had an all-girls' buffet earlier courtesy of the firm for a colleague’s 70th (yes she’s still working!) so I didn’t need lunch and had my usual porridge cooked in firm’s microwave this morning. Nothing else I’m going to buy today!

And.......... enormous beautiful Christmas tree went up today downstairs in our building’s foyer. Gorgeous decorations and lovely pine smell! Xmas is now well on its way!
:xmastree:

Toni'sfriend

Hello Everyone

Thanks, Dolly, for running the challenge and Stoplurking for the inspirational post to get us started.

I'm going for 12 NSDs which I hope I can achieve. Going on holiday for two weeks on Saturday. Train fares, accommodation already paid for from our holiday and account any meals out (probably not very many) and trips to the pub will come from that too. Since we've paid for the accommodation our friends are bringing the food and general staples to get us started plus he's already got all the ingredients for our first two meals (probably more, if I know him. A man who hates waste!). Anything else will be shared and I'll deduct from our normal food budget.

Since we did well with the household budget last month I'm reducing it to £180.00 this month. Still loads of food in the freezer which should see us through the rest of December apart from Christmas and Boxing day. Only catering for 2 or 3 (son might go to his Dad's on Christmas day) so it shouldn't be ultra expensive.

All I have to buy now in the way of pressies is a few things for my son (sweets etc. Fabulous chocolate shop in Keswick so might buy some there). Ordered the rest of my Amazon vouchers for the male members of the family. Usually buy some sweets to go with them but, to be honest, it's not really required so I've saved about £12.00 buy not doing that. Also usually buy small selection boxes for the local children (there are 8 of them) but have bought Aldi's chocolate reindeer instead and saved £1.60. So well on my way to my underspend of £20.00 which I'm going to donate to the man from the Salvation Army who stands outside our local shopping centre every Friday no matter what the weather. A really good and kind person who always has a kind word and a smile for everyone. And they do such good work with the less fortunate in our local community.

Good luck and hope you all have a great December.

indigowarrior

1. Set your own NSD target of 12 or more. 15
2. Make a donation to a charity close to your heart – Kicks Count
3. Pay to your debt/savings first – I get paid all over the place so I am waiting until the last day of the month and then will transfer half to debt and half to savings.
4. Work out what you expect to spend on Christmas and then knock £20 off this – I have seven nieces and nephews to buy for and also 2 more presents for Lucy (my big girl) but my target will be 130
5. Turn down at least one festive invitation and work out what you have saved in doing so – I dont plan to go anywhere except on christmas day (freee dinner)
6. Spend responsibly, think about small local businesses, charitable/ethical organisations etc rather than lining the pockets of big organisations who care about no-one – Will go to the local toy shop.
7. Try to get partners/family on board and do something free and fun together – Free christmas dinner at my friends.
8. Set your grocery budget including any festive extras. Try to come in £20 under it – 220 for all food and groceries.
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 – You will be sick of me at the end.