What small DFW things will you do this week? w/c 27/02

determined_new_ms

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:

allthe7s

Morning DNMS

not a lot planned this week, split my shopping between Asda & Lidl and have meal planned for the full week so I shouldnt need to spend anymore through the week.

will need petrol today but that'll be my only spend.

determined_new_ms

Morning guys I've been up drinking coffee for the last 30 mins and the house is only just waking up ah I love the peace of being the only person awake in the mornings

Have the day off today and madam is at the cm's

I need to:

* [STRIKE]make up madam & oh's lunches [/STRIKE]- opps need to get a move on with this!
* wet and miserable day so no allotment today but I will plant some seeds in the kitchen - bringing spring inside!
*[STRIKE] do an inventory & then meal plan/shopping list[/STRIKE]
* go through fridge and make sure nothing is going to perish. We've had some causalties this last week
* have just seen a message from dd asking to meet up for a coffee so we can call some private therapists (waiting on the nhs is just a waste of time it seems. So sad our nhs is suffering from chronic lack of funding. we've decided to now to see what the cost would be to go privately) have asked her if she wants to go for a swim & a sauna
* If I do meet up with dd it makes sense to do shopping while in town
* [STRIKE]need to do a little work [/STRIKE]- an hour tops
* do some work for my master's application
* flylady - now oh has done a major tidy up I want to stay on top of it!
* update spending diary/fl ss
* make the scones and fairy cakes as I've been threatening for days!

ok that's all I can think of

DawnW

Morning all
Thanks for starting us off DNMS
So far today:
No radiators on downstairs
Folded washing from airer and put in airing cupboard, airer put away
Had HG stewed fruit from freezer for breakfast instead of bought fruit

To do:
Tidy kitchen Done, messy again now though
Get OH to help me take down the lounge curtains so I can wash them - the joys of pale cream curtains + a wood burning stove :cool: Done, washed them, OH pegged them out on the line while I was out, it poured down, wind blew one of them onto the fence and it got all dirty, so have now washed them again Will put on airer overnight!
Post office with ebay parcels and RM surveys items Done
Go to sales unit to tidy and see if anything needed Done, took some new things down, one large (in bulk, sadly not in price) item sold straight away Glad I won't need to bring that back again, it weighed a tonne :eek:
Sow tomato seeds to start off on kitchen windowsill Not done, thought I had some compost, but I don't Will need to buy some!
Make a loaf in the BM Done, granary today
All HM meals Done, trout for dinner, marinated in soy sauce, garlic, ginger, chilli and spring onion, then fried in a little butter, rest of marinade poured over and quickly heated through at the end. Sounds expensive, but wasn't because OH's friend gifted the trout
Start ANOTHER shopping list, as I am running short of basics again. I will delay actually going shopping till tomorrow though, as I am determined it shall be a NSD. Seem to be spending loads on food at the moment - combination of rising prices and DS being here probably. Also had GS2 to stay for most of last week. That probably explains it! Started list, didn't manage a NSD though as the window cleaner turned up so I had to pay him, plus I spent 49p in Iceland, on broccoli to go with dinner
Any surveys that are available A couple for onepoll
Sold another item on ebay
Listed a few more bits
Dog walk
Found a 1p coin on the pavement :rotfl:

We will see how we get on with that lot, but hope to add more things as the day progresses

FatVonD

Morning all and thanks DNMS for the start.

Well, I didn't start the new job, I feel bad for letting them down at the last minute but I have lots going on at home at the moment plus raging toothache and am feeling really stressed so I am going to take some time to myself.

I get paid my last months wages tomorrow and was contacted by someone who has some freelance shifts to fill over the next couple of months so I'm going to delay my brave new start until there is less stress at home. I will earn in one week freelancing what I would have got in a month at the part time job so my aim for now is to just work less but spend as if I'd taken the part time job.

I'm going to use this week to get myself andmy DS onto JSA and him job searching and me emailing round a few people, I will just sign off whenever I am offered work.

I'm also going to sort out a visit to the dentist, the pain has now overtaken my fear of dentists and I just want it out.

I'm going to spend some time designing and photographing some more order of service to put up on eBay.

Other than that I have n big plans for today, feeling a bit glum and just want to sleep.

determined_new_ms

FVD my sympathies with your tooth. I know exactly how you feel x

Well done for the decision!

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

DNMS - Thanks for starting us off today, sounds like you have a lovely at planned
FVD - Sending love and hugs

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.

Today's little list

Packed lunch for DH & DS - Done
Check Bank - Done
Hang pics back in lounge -
Washing -
Ironing -
Home pamper session -
Continue purge on emails -
Surveys -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check: Lucky Phone, Ashleigh, Numberplatelotto, FPL -
Read - off to bed shortly to read a few chapters

Have a great day all!

C x

Bobarella

Morning Gang

Gosh it is lashing down here. The heavens opened about half an hour ago.

FVD Sorry to hear you are stressed. It is very scary going from a well paid job to the unknown. Sounds like you have a good plan there on spending as though you did take the lower paid job to create more of a buffer.

Determined hope you have a good swim and sauna.

Dawn I can imagine having another adult in the house to cater for would put your bills up. It's not you doing badly, it's just economics!

Ziggy hope your Mum is enjoying her stay.

Have started the payday process today with moving money around and preparing for the month ahead. That will go on in stages till the 1st.

Annoyingly FD and HSBC websites have been flaky this morning, slow to work or just not logging on. Tech gremlins.

Hope this weather goes off so we can get out. Only so much Teletubbies one can watch

Bob

La_escocesa

Hello :hello:

Thanks for the kick off DNMS

Here's me:
Porridge brekkie for me and OH :A
Packed lunch for me and OH :A
Need to put a cheque in at lunch time :cool:
40 min walk this morning - nice bit of free exercise :cool:
Post form to close old bank a/c I had forgotten about :j
Withdrew cashback to bank a/c rather than instant amazon voucher etc - makes me more mindful of what I want to do with it if it is transferred to me first :think:
'Play' with pension investments - I'm moving half of future conts into higher risk investments for 6m or so to see how it goes. I'm still young enough for a bit of extra risk - time to make it back in longer term investments. Pension pot is coming along nicely. :A
Batch cooking tonight - at least enough for tonight and tomorrow :think:
Make packed lunches tonight - was a bit of a stress this morning...
Night in tonight - just the usual really

I had a budgeting dilemma yesterday - we had already spent £137 out of our £150 budget for petrol but the tank was empty - I was going to the petrol pump thinking about putting just £13 in it to last a few days until 1 March/new budget... I then got a grip and realised that was just making a rod for my own back as we'd need two trips to the petrol station this week!! So, alas, we are over budget for petrol by £20 but I will still be using that tank into March so maybe not truly over budget :rotfl: It's funny how budgeting gets into your psyche!

In good budgeting news we have only spent £151 on groceries this month - quite chuffed with that! :T

Got a few expensive months for gifts coming up - friend's baby at end of March, then a wedding, niece's 3rd bday, mum's 70th at Easter, then SIL's 40th in May. Wowee! :eek:

La_escocesa

FVD, sending big hugs your way! At the end of the day you need to do what's best for you so don't feel so bad for the other job. Xx :grouphug:

foxgloves

Morning all,
I'd really like a decent money saving week this week, so am trying to get off to a good start:
*Did a load of overnight laundry on cheap Economy 7 tariff. Then stood by the electricity meter from 7.55 to check that the current 7 cheap hours definitely do end at 8 a.m. Rain forecast for later so as I have got that load on the heated airer, decided to do another full price load to maximise the electricity I'm paying for to run that. Washer back on timer again tonight for what should be the final load of this week.
*Prepped veg for tonight's meal - fajhitas - using the last of a pack of wraps I froze rather than let them morph into cardboard. Peppers were large so have chopped the tops & tails of those to add to the pizza I'm making on Weds. Peppers are never cheap to buy but have increased in price recently where we shop by at least 10p a pack so I like to get maximum use from them.
*Make tomorrow's packed lunch - not made it yet, but I have taken bread rolls out of the freezer & know what it's going to be.
*Paid in small knitting money cheque & transferred the amount to our Loan Pay Down Fund.
*Not an NSD as had to buy a few 2nd class stamps so as to gather sufficient change for hospital car parking machine this afternoon as I have an appointment for more scans. Stamps are always useful though & it makes sense, as Ally pointed out, to stock up now before the forthcoming price rise.
*Tidied up my ebay account & re-listed a couple of items, left feedback, etc.
*Did a couple of surveys - not many today as I can't get onto the Toluna website & have given up until another day.
*Registered with 'Webuybooks'. Ran a few items through to see what they might give me........then when I'd finished wetting myself laughing, replaced said books back on bookshelf. We're not quite ready to have a good sort out of our bookshelves yet, but plan to do it before we decorate this Spring. I'll probably run more stuff through just to check when we get around to that, but if it's a case of 5p for a decent, newish good condition pbk up to 15p for a hardback cookery book complete with dust jacket, good condition,etc, I'd rather either keep them or donate them to our local Oxfam bookshop.
*Update daily food tracking journal. Calorie counting definitely saves on food! Here's an example from this morning: Purchased a bag of granola bites from Aldi (think mini flapjacky sort of biscuits) as we thought they'd be useful for calorie-controlled snacks. My diet plan allows for a 50 calorie snack mid-morning & mid-afternoon 5 days a week (the other 2 are strict days...not as strict as the 5:2 fasting diet, but strict nevertheless). There were 24 granola bites in the packet & they work out at 23 calories each.....so that means a 'snack' is 2 of them. Normally, I would make a nice hot cafetiere, bring that, a mug & the granola bites through to wherever I'm sitting & eat the whole bag. So this bag of 24 now has to be rationed into portions of 2 at a time, meaning 12 snacks from one purchase. Anyone else out there doing calorie counting......another nice little treat we found last week is the bags of Aldi mini-bubbly chocolate bars - around 53 cals each. Small......in fact about 1/20th of the amount of chocolate I'd rather be eating, but better than nothing!
*Downstairs heating off until much later.
*Still finishing that pair of baby socks.....keep getting diverted.
Have a good start to the week all,
f x