What small DFW things will you do this week - w/c 14 August

allydowd

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:

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)
• Number Plate Lotto (Link)
• OnePoll ( Link)
• Quidco ( Link)
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself without using a claims company. ( 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)
• Tickety Split cheap train tickets (Link)
• Toluna ( Link)
  
• TopCashBack ( Link )
• Telephone Preference Service Scam-Caller Avoidance and Reporting App (Link) New!
  
• Wombling Guide (Link)
• You Need A Budget site and App (Link)

If any of the links are broken, let me know.

FatVonD

Morning, Ally, and all who follow

Thanks everyone for your kind words re DS's job situation. I spoke to someone there yesterday who couldn't apologise enough but have fired off an email to HR this morning on his behalf.

I fell asleep mega early last night and then accidentally got up and to the station an hour early this morning I went back home for a cup of tea and put some dinner in the slow cooker for tonight. I didn't get around to cooking the pork stir fry so I've just put the meat in the sc with the sauce and a little water and will put it in wraps.

I sold a couple of things on eBay last night while I was asleep which is nice, both BIN items, I have eight more similar things on there priced just a little bit higher, I'll give them a week or so before reducing at all but at least I know they will sell eventually.

I've been doing some research into replicating the local business I interviewed at the other week and I am definitely going to go ahead with this one, it's so close to the skills I already have and I've found some good resources for contacts for printers/agents etc. I'm looking into ecommerce web hosting and getting barcodes etc.

Today is our first day on the new floor in the new 'hub', should be interesting but I bet it's going to be infuriating. I'm the only one that has worked on a hub before but I'm the only one without a voice as I'm freelance to I'll have to keep my mouth shut (which I find quite difficult!)

Have a good day everyone!

determined_new_ms

Morning thanks for starting us off this week ally

sorry to hear about ds' work situation fvd x

It's been a very dramatic 48 hours! I came home from the wedding early as I wasn't feeling very well. I then started being sick in the night and then was continuously - like every 5 minutes - being sick until 3pm. Called 111 who sent an ambulance, discovered I have an irregular heartbeat which I now need to get checked out. Taken to hospital but when I got there I was feeling ok and there would have been a 4 hour wait before even getting seen so discharged myself with the promise of going to gp today!

With all that drama feeling a little fragile, so an easy day today. However madam is all out of sorts. A combination of being sent away over night and then the ambulance/me being taken to hospital has left her feeling insecure and her behaviour is hard work!

things to do:

* house is a mega mess so need to get on top of that
* load of washing and hang out
* I've written a shopping list and need to go to the SM at some point
* went to the allotment this morning and picked 6 massive courgettes, 5 cucumber, a punnet of strawberries, some broccoli & french beans
* might go back to the lottie this evening and do some maintenance
* have interview tomorrow so need to get clothes ready and prepare
*[STRIKE] check banking and pay for taxi I got on Sat[/STRIKE] - quite embarrassing I went to get cash out, didn't have my card so promised to do bank transfer. Tried to but then started being sick and now it's 2 days later!

* most of the morning has been playing with madam, tidying up the kitchen and cooking some of my produce.
Currently courgette cake & roast tomatoes are in the oven
have given away 4 courgettes almost turned to marrows &
2 cucumbers to neighbours

ok that'll do I think. Better get back to madam as she's being very demanding

allydowd

Hi August Awesomees,

Working through a big issue right now. Concentrating on being mentally well so my list is tiny but represents a huge achievement under the circumstances:



Debt Free-Nillionaire Continuity Plan Year Three:

* Check online banking.

* Checked Broadband Allowance.

* Eat food from freezer rather than buying a takeaway.

* Shower using products salvaged from last hotel stay.



Onwards and upwards.

PurpleFairy26

Morning all :hello: thanks for starting us ally take care of yourself. Wow determined take care of yourself too, don't over do anything until you've been checked out.

Ended wedding day £16 up as someone paid me back for something I wasn't expecting bought some of the picnic back so that will be recycled today as we're going to a local outdoor place for picnic with some family for someone's birthday. Much cheaper than original meal out they had mentioned.

Other things today:
Check banking, surveys, FPL
Decide whether to accept offer on something on fleabay. But less than I would have liked, but they're taking up some space and have been listed several times
Check other fleabay listings
Plan for next few days, busy children being in various places and back to work
Maybe make some cakes /biscuits to keep us going to payday
Mince out of freezer to make spaghetti Bol later
Check on tomatoes ( have loads now and loads more flowers, seem a bit late, and they're all still green)
Put all stuff away from wedding to preserve dresses, waistcoat etc for another time
Remember to take a second waistcoat back for a refund, maybe not today but get it out so I don't forget.

Hope you get a response from HR FVD

Thinking of you foxgloves

Enjoy your day. Purps.

FatVonD

Hope things are resolved soon, Ally and DNMS, take care of yourself.

No reply as yet from HR Purps but I guess they'll be careful what they commit to email until they've spoken to all concerned.

ziggy2407

Good Morning All

Ally - Thanks for starting us off today
DNMS - Wow, take it easy and please get it checked out ASAP, be kind to yourself
Foxgloves - Sending love and thinking of you!
FVD - Hope today goes well for you and hope you get some resolution to the issues with DS

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 :

Check Bank & make PAD - Done
Ironing -
Purge on emails -
Enter a few comps -
All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
Check: Luckyphone, Ashleigh, Numberplatelotto, FPL -

Have a great day all!

C x

DawnW

Morning all
((Hugs)) to those who need them

HG blueberries with breakfast, have had lots of these this year. A nice easy thing to grow in a pot
Labelled up a box of items and took them to my sales unit this morning, and had a good tidy up there. I couldn't see that anything had sold, but I managed to get my boxful of items on the shelves and didn't bring anything back, so I suppose I must have done!
Was complimented on the £1 top / dress bought at yesterday's boot sale (quick to wash and dry, and easy to wear with leggings)
Bits from fridge for lunch

Still to do:
Strip off bed and remake Done. Sadly the nice king sized duvet cover I got at the boot sale was mislabelled and was in fact a double and doesn't fit, so I have put it into the CS bag. I will however keep the 4 good quality white pillow cases that came with it - 4 quid for 4 pillowcases is still pretty good, and someone else will love the duvet cover as much as I would have done had it fitted!
Bit of cleaning Not done - laziness struck - no other explanation
Ironing Same here
Make some scones to go with HM raspberry jam for treats Done
Start a shopping list for tomorrow Done
Dog walk Done
Leftover cold meat and salad bits for dinner later Done
Check banks Done
Check for surveys Done
Claimed a £5 Amazon voucher from Ipsos
Washed another pillow and the bedlinen

Hope everyone has as good a day as possible!

allydowd

* Free Gladioli from the garden.

* Put WD40 on front door lock from Stores which is very noisy.

* Cleaned bathroom with Stardrops and washable cloths.

* Cleaned sink drain with vinegar and bicarb "bomb".

foxgloves

Hi Frugal Friends,
Thanks for your good wishes. I did feel odd this morning, suspected it was stress & it was, as the further I progressed down my job list, the beyter I felt. A case of concentrating on those things I can actually control, I guess.
*Bought all the meat for coming weekend from village butcher. He rounded it down to £30 & I've identified a couple of potential 'leftovers' scenarios there already.
*YS loaf & rolls courtesy of Waitrose.
*Ditto free 'Guardian' & coffee.
*Paid in a cheque.
*Did a bit of baking & froze for guests coming. Also made nice big tin of stuffing using my l/o breadcrumbs stash from freezer & lots of homegrown herbs. Frozen. 1 less job at weekend.
*Made tamale pie for dinner. Only needs 100g turkey mince & I had 500g. Made 200g of it into burgers for tomorrow & the rest into meatballs with a herby tomatoey sauce (yay! offloaded 2 courgettes into that!) to eat on Weds.
*Line-dried laundry for free outside.
*Mr f watered & fed the veggie garden.
*Picked more blackberries & started blackberry whisky off in big kilner jat hidden in my wardrobe. Will make a nice festive gift for mr f instead of an insanely expensive bottleof single malt. And might stop him slurping my fruit gins! (I don't like whisky).
*Easy cheap pack-up for mr f tomorrow. He spotted a soup in the freezer while I was trying to ram some baking in there & said he'd take that.
*Picked another courgette.
*Finished knitting phone case. Will knit more blanket squares tonight....all from stash. No new yarn purchases. Haven't even been looking. Been angelic.
Bye,
F x