Bonfires and fireworks - NST November challenge

DawnW

Checking in day 25/30

NSD - Scored another today,so I have exceeded my target of 12 :j
Organise - Housework mostly done, made a chicken curry (enough for 2 meals for the 2 of us), made a cake and an apple crumble all from ingredients I already have. Been through fridge and chopped and frozen veg that aren't going to be eaten imminently, stripped bed, washed linen and got it almost dry outside on the line, remade bed with fresh linen, pretty organised today
Declutter - Fridge decluttered - items into freezer or the curry I have made
Value for money - At first thought nothing today, as I haven't bought anything, but being proactive in avoiding food waste gets good value for money
Exercise - 2 dog walks and the housework today.
Be Christmas ready - Nothing here today
Mental Health - OK today, better when I am busy
Eat well - Been quite good today
Gratitudes - Grateful to have got lots done, a fine windy day for drying the washing, and that we have plentiful good food

Toni'sfriend

Still stuck on my 8/12 NSD even though I didn't go out today. It was far too cold. However, I do need new winter boots (no, honestly not want but need. The ones I have are leaking and I have a lot of trips coming up). The only ones which fit me properly are Clarks. I have small feet and need a half size. I found a nice pair reduced from £100 to £50 and got a code for an extra £10 off. Perfect for what I need so really pleased with that.
Other than that I have been doing some financial messing about for C.
F0xh0les - You can come and spend Christmas with us. Obviously kindred spirits. I love Christmas. We like having presents to open but they are things like chocolate, books, tea, biscuits etc. Is there anything else needed if you give it a bit of thought? Visit from the teenies down the road and a nice simple meal of food we like. It doesn't have to be expensive just easy to make so we can spend the day relaxing. Oh how I hated those big family days with my ex husbands family who I didn't really like and who certainly didn't like me. No excess!!! And yes - remember those lees fortunate.

DebtFreeDuo

Timetopullmysocksup don't feel bad, I have really cut my budget down this year, made a deal with my brother about not buying gifts for one another and I won't go back on it. I would probably have just asked if people were still ok with the original plan of not buying for one another. If I received a message asking for euros after making that kind of deal then I would be annoyed and think it was rather cheeky of them although I would never ask for money anyway unless it was my mum and I was desperate. I don't like giving money out for gifts though, I want to give out well thought out gifts.

apple_muncher

Timetopullmysocksup - is there any way you could simply send the aforementioned people a card with a 'I'm so glad/grateful we agreed not to send each other presents this year. It has eased the stress and strain of life in the run up to Cmas for me so much. Thank you! X' message inside?

Toni'sfriend - your boots sound great - well done you!

mothernerd

Thought I had a NSD but bought a sandwich at the Christmas Fair to eat for lunch when I got home (about 2pm).

Fairly simple day. Six whole hours of lovely sleep plus a couple of snoozes (other people - now have 2 guests so 4 other people in the house - were in the bathroom so couldn't do much anyway). Helpful to wake up slowly and ease into the day. Wearing my santa socks - with stripes.

Coloured my snowmen whilst waiting for the bathroom to be available. I decided to keep the foam shapes (for crafts?) but used one of the snowmen as a template to make them in card, changed one hat to a topper so that I could get 3 snowmen out of one sheet of card (value for money). As far as possible I coloured the snowmen to match the cakes ie lemon drizzle is in yellow with silver stars on the hat and scarf - used a fine black pen in the middle of the yellow writing for ease of reading.

Cut up 'my cakes' onto the 'trays' and then layered into a bag for life. Taxi to mum's, more cake packing in between making sure the toddler and the dog did not get into the kitchen or the room with the stored cakes. Mum put buttercream on the last lot of cakes we had cut. I did get athank you for all I had done.

Toddler's mum told me her husband had left - she encouraged him to get help with depression, first week on tablets was fine, week 3 sudden change - she has tried to talk with his doctor and MH worker about changing the meds but only he can decide to do so. he left and though she is sad, she was doing everything anyway (job, house, baby) so is coping with it.

We talked for a while (similar stories, overspenders - mine was a gambler, super confident, life and soul of the party, won't tell their families that anything is wrong so 'evil' wife is blamed for everything). One of the problems I have with marriage is that sometimes it's obvious to me that it's a non-starter, but you can't tell anyone else - you just have to wait and help pick up the pieces. In this case, I did actually offer to go to her if she had any doubts (even on the day), even though the wedding was about as far from us as possible without leaving the country. When they were engaged her 5yo neice even said she thought auntie should look for another bf.

Smuggled the bags of cakes past toddler and dog into the car, toddler into car seat, dog left behind at mum's (fox/chicken/corn problem). Mum sat chatting to people she knew whilst I went to unpack the cakes, so she never even saw them. I was dropped off near home. Said hello to guests, came upstairs (ankles still throbbing from last 2 days), ate my sandwich and fell asleep in front of the laptop.

Hoping I can make a lot of progress on either my room or the kitchen but will do some anyway. Just keep plodding. I have started a list for the coming week and ordered something mum wanted on-line. Can't concentrate on a game or a tv series so slow methodic cleaning should suit me and I can clean the oven now I won't need it for cakes just yet, now there's something to look forward to.

Today I am grateful that the Christmas Fair is behind us, that everything went fairly smoothly, for being able to relax before starting on the next list, for the quiet companionship of people from mum's church (mum still keeps trying to introduce me to people I already know).

DebtFreeDuo

Day 25

NSD - 13/18
Food - £124.00/£100
Exercise - 9/20
Studying - 15/25
Clear out - 17/30
Extra income - £116.47/£100

I have only just realised that the goals spell November! Was this the same for October because I went the whole time without actually realising!

mothernerd

DebtFreeDuo wrote: »

Day 25

NSD - 13/18
Food - £124.00/£100
Exercise - 9/20
Studying - 15/25
Clear out - 17/30
Extra income - £116.47/£100

I have only just realised that the goals spell November! Was this the same for October because I went the whole time without actually realising!

Yes but I did Organise October.:rotfl:

apple_muncher

DFD -you'll be ok next month as december's challenge probably won't spell anything - too many 'e's!!!

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for the clear skies and sunshine, for dd enjoying singing at her sch fair, for dh taking her there and bringing her on to the craft afternoon at church, for arriving in plenty of time to set up as well as time to stop and chat, for selling some stuff, for dd hardly spending any of her money, for the rugby on tv, for finally pinning up th fleece blankets to line the lounge curtains.

DancingDragons

f0xh0les wrote: »

I would rather get a £8 bottle of M&S creme brulee liqueur and a plate of home made mince pies that someone actually thought about what would be appropriate and appreciated, than a £40 box of tat that was designed to catch the magpie eye of a shopping junkie.

Totally agree with this. Isn't it funny, how many of us here would rather had something homemade, vs an oversized box, with more stuffing than product!
It's also fab to see how many here are rejecting the whole "spend for the sake of it"
I keep suggesting things I would use and I keep getting told "That's not much of a gift." It is for me, something I don't need to buy and I will use it. shrug
Timetopullmysocksup certainly don't beat yourself up over it and glad things are better today.
Mothernerd go steady, you will get there.


SFD for me today, really pleased about that as I wasn't sure I'd resist the sparkle, tat and pressure. DD2 dragged us around every shop in search of blasted LOL Dolls. DD1 didn't want to spend her money if it meant she had to play dodge the bag/pram/grumpy grown up. DD2 wasn't best happy about being smacked in the face by other peoples shopping. "Why don't they look for children?" she wanted to know. Came home to a lovely clean carpet. I have DD1's to do tomorrow before it goes back.

Value for money. More free hot chocolate :T the kids love the marshmallows. Took packed lunches with us and stuck the plan. (You guys are such a great role models!)
Organise: Budgeting and such for next month.
Eat well: Yup.
Mental Health: Good today.