NST January: Health, Wealth and a Life Well Lived

dolly84

Happy New Year everyone.

My budgets for this month

£40.01/£115 petrol/diesel
??/£370 groceries
??/£100 entertainment - includes DS birthday and rest of Christmas holidays.

In the next 12 months I would like to save £6500 (we have no debt now). I would also like to complete some projects in our house, some are small like painting a windowsill and others are much bigger.

My main plan for this year is a biggie though. I have a serious problem with consumerism and peoples insane need for stuff so I and hopefully my family will have a 'buy nothing new' year. There are obvious exclusions to this such as underwear (only the kids will need any), school uniform (unavoidable it would seem), things for decorating or repairs and a few others probably. A year seems daunting so I will be taking this challenge a month at a time.

The second challenge we will be doing is going 'Zero Waste', obviously this isn't possible but that is the name of the movement when it really should be low waste. I think this is going to be incredibly hard but I aim to reduce everything leaving our house with the main focus being on plastic.

laurenh1

_party__party__party__party__party_

Happy new Year all.

Janus- chatted to hub about year gone last night & what an amazing year we've had. Lots of wonderful memories with our kids. Tomorrow both hub & I will have 400 pounds go into our help2buy ISAs for our first savings of 2018

Activity new & old. Tomorrow Ill be starting my YS shopping again & walking there for excersize

non- negotiable
NSD 1/18
Meal plan for the week- done
Budgets:
Saving;
1800 paris
500 lapland UK
100 xmas 18
Emergency fund 1000
Regular;
130 fuel
140 c parcs
120 groceries :eek:

Unabashed- will stick to budget. This thread has shown me how quickly the little unnecessary spends add up & living within my means is the only way paris & lapland uk can happen.

Always plan- prepping lunch today for dinner tomorrow. Will be picking up lots of snacks for c parcs and taking all my own food to ensure I do not over spend.

Reduce, re-use, repair- lunch is leftover chicken made into chicken korma for sandwiches already chosen 2 unread books to read to my boys tonight. Last night I read Tommy town mice & pigling bland. Both unread before.

You- kids party today but on it from tomorrow.

Wishing all of you a wonderful 2018.

Thank you all for your support last year :A

laurenh1

does anyone have any quick tea suggestions to keep things mixed up I aim for 2 a week, eggs on toast, beans etc...

Igamogam

OK. I have read through the thread this morning from the comfort of my bed and will give it a whirl. I have followed similar from afar in the past as I am not great at updating........resent the time it takes up. HOWEVER fewer domestic calls on my time these days........grown up independent children ( allegedly ). I need something to give me a kick up the arris to start 2018. So count me in please. Will be back later with my take on it. ........off for long beach walk and BBQ now to kick start the physical actvity again

apple_muncher

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? 5 years? 10 years?
12 months: sell mum's property (means we'll be mortgage free!); pay £4000 off our mortgage (in case the house sale is a nightmare); lose 30 lbs; go to Oz for step ds' wedding (also spending time with 2x step dds + seeing gson for the first time)

5 years: early retirement?; no mortgage

10 years: retired! Dd at uni?


Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. ALSO, be active. Keep moving.

Taking this one month at a time: Jan = do Bunny Slope workouts every day and build muscle

Non-negotiables:
-18 NSDs (if not, why not?)
-your bugets are set by the start of the month and are fixed. Done
-£5 to foodbank / charity
-pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget Done - and will also sweep leftover pennies at the end, just in case unexpected school spends for dd arise
-meal plan On it


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... Indeed


Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read. Will do. Especially the reading

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 find that this is vital to all the rest working, so am happy to prioritise it.

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.

DawnW

laurenh1 wrote: »

does anyone have any quick tea suggestions to keep things mixed up I aim for 2 a week, eggs on toast, beans etc...

Google Nigella Lawson's naan pizzas Lauren - you can put anything on them, not necessarily the ingredients she suggests. Great for using up bits in the fridge

Here we go:
https://www.nigella.com/recipes/naan-pizza

lcc86

No 9 checking in to set my targets. Happy new year everybody! _party_ I started off the year well by having a spend free NYE despite going out - the local taxi company wanted £30 to drive us two miles up the road, so I decided to drive instead and a couple of people bought me soft drinks, so I feel like I'm on a winner already :rotfl:

Where do you want to be in 12 months from now? We have roof repairs to pay for, so I'd like to have that all done and dusted, but as yet we don't even know the cost. Waiting for our management company to sort that one out... We also moved at the end of 2015, I got all the main jobs like decorating done in 2017, so in 2018 I want to get the remainder of the jobs done, like painting woodwork, fixing a light that doesn't work etc. Nothing too exciting. I also want to have and maintain a £1,000 emergency fund.
5 years? I'm studying for my MA at the moment, so I want to have that completed either next year or the year after (it's part time). I'd also like to be either in a new job or higher up in my current job.
10 years? I have no idea! I'm not sure if I want children so it's a tricky one, potentially in a new house but not sure. Definitely want to be surrounded by animals though lol.


Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. ALSO, be active. Keep moving. I have been having some treatment done on my spine and hips since summer, which is still ongoing, but I finally feel good enough to take up running again. Not far, but little steps will help.


Non-negotiables
18 NSDs (if not, why not?) am aiming for 20, and also for 20 'healthy' days where I eat well and exercise
your budgets are set by the start of the month and are fixed all fine, I have kept a spreadsheet for years and stick to it pretty rigorously!
£5 to foodbank / charity this is accounted for in my direct debits each month
pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget I've just got debt free but will apply this to my savings instead
meal plan this is done week to week. The only day I don't cook is a Sunday as I volunteer in the morning and then horse ride in the afternoon, so we tend to have a ready meal or something equally bad for us

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 I always bring lunch apart from the very rare occasion when I forget not much of a coffee drinker and we have no shops near work so this one shouldn't be too tricky!

Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read. Just been inspired by something another poster said about trying not to buy anything new in 2018 other than essentials. OH and I went to the sales the other day so I have plenty of clothes, and I want to get into the habit of buying more second hand stuff, so this could be as good a place as any to start. I definitely want to read more, have a bit of a backlog of reading, and the only things I seem to be reading at the moment are for my MA! :rotfl:

Florence_J

I'm in everybody! Happy New Year!

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? 5 years? 10 years?
My goals for this year are to save £1000, pay £3000 off my debt's, write a book, Lose weight, exercise more and have social adventures.
5 Years - Be Debt free, have 6 months emergency fund, be saving towards a home, maybe planning for a child.
10 Years - own my own Home, at least a partial income from writing, child/children, totally debt free and financially fine.


Activity. This is a BOGOF one. Take up a new hobby or resurrect a new one. ALSO, be active. Keep moving.
I am planning on joining a gym and having a PT session once a month (can't afford more)


Non-negotiables:
-18 NSDs (if not, why not?)
-your bugets are set by the start of the month and are fixed.
-£5 to foodbank / charity
-pay money to your debts FIRST - do not wait to see how much is left at the end - and live within your budget
-meal plan

Might just aim for 10 NSDs as never reached the heights of 18 and my goal for this year is to have 120 NSDs in total.
Will donate to Food Bank, I support it 100%
Always budget for the bills and debts first and my disposable income second.
I always aim to meal plan and most of the time achieve this.

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...
About to start a new job and will absolutely take in a lunch each day.


Reduce, re-use, repair, re-gift, recycle, recover, refuse! And read.
Don't know how many books I read in 2017, but it was a lot, will aim for at least 40 this year.

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've gotten better at looking after myself, will keep this in mind.

mothernerd

A happy New Year to all turtles and evry success with acheiving your goals (and we will be here to catch you when RL interferes with those nasty curve balls).

It will probably be late Tuesday when I check in again. Planning to take our lunch round to mum's, come back to feed DS3 and Beloved, then go back to mum's later and stay overnight.

Had a bit of a wobble the past couple of days. Did not get as much done as I would have liked and felt very down suddenly. Identified several possible contributing factors (minor ailments back despite all the extra medicine/ gels - slowing me down, impending significant birthday, just end of the year, general could have done better). Had a good talk to myself and put my positive head back on.

It doesn't help that this is a hit the ground running month. I am staying overnight because mum has an appointment at the hospital 8+ miles away on Tuesday morning, crafts restarts on Wednesday and on Thursday we both have afternoon appointments which means I can't go with mum (luckily only local infirmary and very familiar with layout and procedure) and she has also agreed to someone coming round between 10am and 3pm - she doesn't even know who is coming, could be health official or someone like the hearing aid people. She got fed up of asking them to repeat things.

Today I am grateful for sunshine, for my bed and for ys bargains to eat.

Munchin

Hi

I would love to join this challenge and hopefully update regularly:o. Heading to brother's in 30 mins for new year's dinner so today is going to be an NSD