NST January: Health, Wealth and a Life Well Lived

sashanut

Hi all turtles :j

First post of the year so excuse brevity...will do fuller goals after tomorrow as work etc in the morning...

Janus is the god who looks both backwards and forwards. A new year can be a time to look back over the previous year (but we turtles have already done this in December). So this is a time to look forwards - where do you want to be in 12 months from now? I would like to have the house much clearer. 5 years? House completely clear & clutter free, DD settled in her own home. 10 years? Spending half the year in Ireland, half here


Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. Have lapsed crochet in favour of knitting, will resurrect. Also, only currently do TV knitting (no need to concentrate). Will make time to do more complex things when not watching the box. ALSO, be active. Keep moving. I will make an effort to keep moving, tried to get family interest in a walk today but no go...will work on this


Non-negotiables:
-18 NSDs (if not, why not?) 1/18 today. Tomorrow will not be an NSD as do shopping on Tuesday, but it will be small..
#
-your budgets are set by the start of the month and are fixed. Nearly - think I will say £250 for us & all animals, should not need near this amount so all saved will go to another project.

-£5 to foodbank / charity Will do this week

-pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget Do not have debt but have a cc paid off in full each month, which gives vouchers I use at Christmas. Has been a v spendy month, will cut down as much as possible

-meal plan Did well today, family wanted to go out to get food 'for buffet'. Persuaded them we had more than enough here, which proved to be the case. Eked out the last of the milk so no shopping needed..


Unabashed, unambiguous, unconditional, undaunted, undivided, unerring, unshakeable devotion to your goal(s). [more on this later]


Always plan your meals; always take a shopping list; always take your lunch to work and drink + snacks when out and about; avoid all coffee shops, vending machines, work canteens... Making shopping list for tomorrow now, don't work outside the home but do a bit of voluntary work. Don't drink coffee & never go in coffee shops..will try & take snacks, drink when out & about..


Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read. Fully intend to do this as have plenty books from CS which I purchase & take back once read.

You are the key to reducing your debt, living modestly, keeping as fit and well as you can. So look after yourself - physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Determined to look after myself & pamper a little each week, have already had a face pack yesterday, need to do things for myself instead of being a in constant rush doing stuff for family..




I want to re-introduce Bob's s t r e t c h challenge for January: how much extra can you earn / save off your food shop / move / remove. Plan to eBay lots of stuff, watch this space


Would joining the 1% thread help you? Or the MFW for 2018? Or the pay off all your debts by xmas18? Does reading mrmoneymustache or frugalwoods inspire you? Have joined Frugalwoods challenge already & will be interested to see how it pans out. Have been on MMM & introduced his philosophy to DH, applied the principles so we are now MF - wish we had done it years ago, wasted so much time/money etc. in the past..

DancingDragons

Hope your feeling better soon, Mummylewis, glad you found time to relax KerryWoman. Friends are the best for that
Yesterday was a NSD, starting the year as I mean to go on! Today looks to be a take all the stuff back to the shops day. Two presents already returned to Amazon, not fit for purpose. As the kids aren’t missing either I won’t replace and chalk it up to “buy less” next year, especially as the home made things I give were classed as “best presents” this year . Super organised me at the moment; I’ve made notes of things I want to prep on the run up to Christmas, so I don’t put it off. The rest of the Christmas bits are coming down today, and I’ll have my routine back in place by Thursday, TVM. It’s true what they say, kids need routine, especially teenagers. Good grief.
Mum wants to return some wallpaper and I have some bedding duplicates too. Though I need to get some bits I should end the day better off than I started
QUESTION: Will that count as NSD? I need your call on that as it’s still a spend in my mind.
Had a read of MMM and Frugalwoods, MMM seems very close to principles running on the thread here and will be adopting things to suit. Starting with:
I’ve got bits of money squirreled away in various accounts, untouched. So before Thursday I want to find a decent interest for the two kids savings accounts I have. (Not the ones they know about ) One for the Christmas pot and then the Lifetime/helptobuy ISA. Any extra coming in goes into the ISA from now on, as giving it to DH sees it spent (as per the £150ish pre Christmas ebay) DH is an unreliable bank.
Gratitudes: Having time to think and plan. Having the wisdom to know its not about doing it all at once.

Hope today sees you all well!

laurenh1

Janus- today our DDs went into our help2buys - another 500 into our goal

Activity- going YS shopping tonight as I have let this slide & it saves a fortune. Walking down as part of my excersize:)

Non negotiable- NSD # 2 today, hoping for 6 this week. Meal plan done, budgets as follows;

Savings- same as yday
General-
130 fuel
140 c parcs
120 general spends

Unbashed- on it got my game face on for 2018

Always plan- lunches packed

Reduce, reuse, repair- read kids "cant you sleep little bear & that's not my train yday) will chose 2 more unread books 2night, also going through all their old toys and trying to bring things out we haven't played with much!

You- healthy meals planned, excersize tonight.

Stretch- wanted to read a new book, was expensive so downloaded the app audiable books and got a free trial. Will cancel month end. Something a bit different too as I am listening to it. Didn't cook all my buffet food at once and instead as it ran out I brought more out, good decision as I have full pizzas still in freezer which will do another day

arc2014

Janus is the god who looks both backwards and forwards. A new year can be a time to look back over the previous year (but we turtles have already done this in December). So this is a time to look forwards - where do you want to be in 12 months from now? Debt free, with a good amount of savings for our first house buy! 5 years? Home owners. Possibly more babies on the way? 10 years? Complete family, living in our forever home, no more debts, excl. Mortgage.


Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. ALSO, be active. Keep moving. will have a think about this one. Although taking over one of the daily dog walks from dh sounds good enough for now!


Non-negotiables:
-18 NSDs (if not, why not?) First one today!
-your bugets are set by the start of the month and are fixed. All figures now on the spreadsheet!
-£5 to foodbank / charity Will pop a few things to the food bank, also going to do a lot of donating this month.
-pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget Debt payments made/scheduled.
-meal plan Done weekly, this weeks done!


Unabashed, unambiguous, unconditional, undaunted, undivided, unerring, unshakeable devotion to your goal(s). [more on this later] I'm here for the long haul!


Always plan your meals; always take a shopping list; always take your lunch to work and drink + snacks when out and about; avoid all coffee shops, vending machines, work canteens... Always meal plan and stick to a list when shopping. Lunches are always taken. The vending machine is one for me, but I want to shift a few lbs as well as save a few ££ so willpower on both fronts should see me through!


Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read. Re-use - all the gift bags that came out unscathed have gone away with the Christmas decs to be used next year. Tubs from the dirty ready meal we had last night have been washed out to be used for batch cooking. Must get my kindle out and start reading again!

You are the key to reducing your debt, living modestly, keeping as fit and well as you can. So look after yourself - physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I must take more time for myself. Even just 5 minutes. Having v2 little ones doesn't give me much "me time" but I need to make the effort! Mum bought me some face masksfor Christmas so that would be a good start! I'm also back on the dieting wagon! It's something I can be in complete control of and be determined & proud of myself as those scale numbers go down.




I want to re-introduce Bob's s t r e t c h challenge for January: how much extra an you earn / save off your food shop / move / remove. Going to try and earn a bit extra this month, will have to be creative though as I can't do overtime!

Happy January everyone! :j

Fmess

Dancing dragons I would say, as long as the amount you spend is less or equal to the amount you got refunded, then it’s a still a SFD.

Similarly, if you only spend vouchers/points, I’d count it as a SFD.

dolly84

Yesterday was a no spend day. Took the kids and the dog to the local country park for a very muddy walk, it was very busy with families getting some fresh air.

Our gas stopped working again yesterday (same problem as 2 weeks ago) it was supposed to be investigated and repaired so I am not happy and the gas network people know that now, I was a stroppy beggar on the phone this morning.

I need to nip out and buy some dog food today but not sure what else we will be doing as it is raining, maybe we will play some games but that does usually result in DD and DS fighting which is nice.

Fmess - didn't you used to tutor in your own time? If so how can your head ban it?

f0xh0les

DancingDragons wrote: »

. Starting with:
I’ve got bits of money squirreled away in various accounts, untouched. So before Thursday I want to find a decent interest for the two kids savings accounts I have. (Not the ones they know about )

I am with the H0lifax (I joined for the £150 bribe three years ago- as soon as my remortgage goes through I am jumping ship again for more free £££) and there is a regular saver account for kids 4.5% for 12 months. min £10 max £100 a month pay- in. I have £100 for each year of their lives - I drip feed it in over the year and they get around £35 a year interest that I give to them (they spend it immediately, like in seconds, but they give me back their capital and ask me to do it again. They know it belongs to them but is not yet theirs to have and that it is safe with me. Although I do spend it on house projects (it is over £4k! for goodness sake- and they live in the house too and so feel the benefit ).

It was actually quite easy to save when I noticed DS1 had a lot more money in his bank account than his smaller brothers and it was not fair.
So I bumped his up to his age x 100 and then started on the next oldest (age x100) and then the next one. £2 a week over a year gives the next £100.

I like to think they understand the value of saving, but tbh I am not sure they do. So check with the bank you are with if there is a kids regular saver. I can also have 5 savings accounts linked to my current account, but tbh the interest is rubbish so I tend to use them as 'pots' and label and relabel accordingly - the plastering fund has been renamed the bathroom fund now etc.

Igamogam

dolly84 wrote: »

Fmess - didn't you used to tutor in your own time? If so how can your head ban it?

Just what I was thinking!!

[Deleted User]

NSD's 2/18

Back to work today - took some soup from the freezer for lunch and also took in a job lot of green & herbal teas which have been sitting in the cupboard for eons.....:o I'll limit myself to 1 latte in the morning and then go onto the teas - saves money and clears some cupboard space!!

Not a lot else to report - I have some housework that needs sorting but I just can't bring myself to do it on the first work day of the year.....I'm sure that it will survive until tomorrow and I can spend my evening being a slob!! :rotfl:

ilovetea

Number 15 checking in.

JANUS. In one years time I would like to be clutter free,A lot lighter and have an emergency fund of £1,000.
In 5 years tim.Still clutter free,slim and with savings of £5,000.

ACTIVITY Will start cross stitching again. Very relaxing.

NON-NEGS. 18 NSDs. Aiming for 25. 2/25 so far.
Budgets set.No big expenses this month.
£5 to charity.Have a DD set up and donated to the food bank this p.m.
Have no debts but want to build up savings.

Unabashed.

ALWAYS PLAN MEALS.plan for a few days ahead,then can use anyleft overs that crop up.Always have a shopping list as most of my groceries are bought on line as there are no shops nearby.
Don't work so lunch is from home. NO coffee shops here either.

REDUCE,RE-USE,REPAIR....Do most of these as much a sI can.Reducing waste is important to me as it does so much damage to the invironment. E-bay or charity shop any items I no longer need or want.

YOU. Live quite modestly and thrifly.Maybe mean I don't know. But not short of anything,can't think of anything I really need.

ilovetea xx