NST March: Marching to a different beat

mummylewis

Hi everyone - please may I join in? I missed Feb completely

DH started in his new job early feb and is loving it! I'm so happy, the last one was really dragging him down (I'm not suprised after 10 years of servitude to the same company I gave 8 years!). Because of the dates and cross overs we didn't have a great income in Feb but very much looking forward to a bigger income when the end of this month rolls around.

Counting backwards to the start of march I have 5 NSD's already. On the 1st I did a £17 top up shop, on 3rd I bought my Grandad a beer at his birthday party and yesterday spent £47 on groceries.

Just sorted my car insurance - my premium last year was £793 (hadn't had my own policy for many years). After a year of not claiming anything they wanted to add £300 onto that for this year!! Cheeky!! Did my research and landed on Direct Line for £550. Chuffed is an understatement.

When payday hits I will have to pay my credit card in full (I set it to this purposefully and struck the password from my memory to change it and therefore can't ever spend more on it than i can afford to pay off the following month), had the service, car tax and new tyres on it. After that I can pay £300 off debts with DH's new and improved income!
Same will apply next month as I've paid the insurance all in one go to save me the interest.

Will aim to knock the socks off of 18 NSDs this month.

Congrats debtfreewannabe on the credit card, what a wonderful feeling!

MLx

Toni'sfriend

Afternoon Turtles

First entry in my spending diary today. Posted letter (trying to get a refund on a delayed train) but didn't get my cheap birthday cards. Think the deal has been temporarily removed to make way for Mother's Day cards. Should be back next week so I'll buy them then. No YS deals at all. Don't need the chicken right now so left that till I have a look around but did buy two packs of mince which has now turned into a giant bolognese. Stuck to the list and spent just over £11.00. No impulse buys even though I had C with me. That's a first – he usually manages to sneak some chocolate into the trolly.

Found some LED lights on Amazon. Good reviews and a good price. Being delivered tomorrow. I think it might help the electricity bill if C didn't have all the lights on all the time.

So apart from that just an ordinary day.

Hope everyone is well.

Kerry_Woman

NSD achieved today - 5/18
Not gone into work again today. Back to work tomorrow.
Grateful for:
Feeling better than I was.
Getting rest today.
Nice enough weather for the opening of the windows.
Having food already in.

LavenderBee

Kerry Woman - you're right, I actually opened the windows today too! Wouldn't have believed it possible last week.

Toni'sfriend - I'm going to try a new thing, I am going to calculate the cost of "off list" purchases when I shop by myself vs. with hubby. So far the score is £6.38 with hubs to £3.28 by myself (mine were YS goodies which will contribute to several meals and a 29p-pregnant-lady-donut though!). Once I've got more data I will show it to him.

apple_muncher

mummylewis - welcome back. You are numbered and in for March. Great to hear theat DH is loving the new job.

Kerry Woman - good to hear that you are feeling better. Sounds like you had quite a lurgy.


Today I am grateful for my extra walking, for getting things done at work, for the sunshine, for being able to cheer up some grumpy y9s, for finding some more mega chunky wool, for being able to complete my kettlebell workout (not sure I'll be able to move tomorrow though...), for the delivery of dd's food arriving, for dd getting her homework done, for dh prepping tea (he's definitely a keeper!)

abundant1972

Evening!

Today = NSD number 4

I've so tired... feel like I could sleep for a week. Early night for me tonight! Not much to report... Day was busy and went fast. Got a bit of time off now so looking forward to a break.

Keep up the good work folks x

f0xh0les

Spend day went to plan
Did a £10.50 Aldee shop, a £15 Mr M shop, a £4.50 nearly ood shop shop (7 bags of Kell00gs cacoa nut muesli, and 6 bottles of Lipt0n ice tea for lunchboxes next week).

So had a quick meal plan, and I think I have 8 main meals I can do with no shopping necessary, and lunchboxes for at least until Wednesday.

So the budget held up well, so well that I paid off DS2s school residential on to my credit card (for the M&S points) and transferred the money into the 'holding fund' when I get the bill the week after next.

Grateful for - my car, it rained at dropping kids to school time, so we sat in the car until the gates were opened and they could go in,
DS4 immediately fell in the mud, so was grateful he had his joggers at school to change into.
That the 2 youngest have rediscovered reading through the Percy Jackson books - it also feeds into DS3s topic of Ancient Greece, but he now knows more about the relationships between the gods than the teachers. oops
That we have enough to be getting by, the pantry is stocked, everyone is healthy, and whoever invented hot water storage tanks was a genius.

mothernerd

Sorry for absence. Went straight to bed following a no sleep night and slept through till morning in 3 chunks of several hours. Could have slept for longer.

Crafts yesterday, walked there and back. Quiet session (only 3 of us) but very enjoyable.

Today I have got things done :j:j:j. As usual, rounded up washing, washing up, rubbish and recycling. Put a load of washing on and put the load I had taken out of the machine on the line (managed to sort of throw/ sling a sheet over the line without hurting my shoulder) and got a quilt up there too. Did a repair on one of the lines - temporary repair several months ago and has sagged under the weight of a thousand wash loads so tightened it up again.

Cleaned 2 'plastic' shelves that are going to mum's - they originally came from her partner's back yard, I have used them for storage/ greenhouse staging (I don't have a greenhouse) for years and now they are going to go underneath gro-bags which will take the excess strawberry plants as one of the great-granddaughters is very keen on strawberries and there were none left for anyone else last year. Will either fill with stone chips and water or compost (so roots can go through). Also have to manufacture 'window box' like features using some spare edging.

Have been carrying a full bucket today but will look for more half buckets to use on not so good days. Have one but it was used to catch the drip when the bath overflowed and someone knocked it on the floor and stood on it.

Did lots of washing up. Okay at first but then hurt when I went back so did small amounts and walked back and forth with rubbish and recycling in between.

Have found room for a bathmat and 2 pillowcases on the front room radiator and 3 pairs of undies and 1 socks on the bathroom towel rail. Sheet, quilt and cleaning rags can stay out for now (still have lots to do in the kitchen).

Took a book back to the library and went to get ibruprofen from the £1 emporium but lost a spend free day as I bought something non- medicinal too.

Resting now but have paperwork and some other 'light' work I can do.

Today I am grateful for all the flowers - the croci got battered flat last week but are all upright again, the town hall beds and boxes are full of primroses, daffodils and a few pansies, the trees are getting 'fuzzy' - can't really call them leaves yet and quite a few bits got blown down last week. Nearly sat outside in the sunshine this afternoon but by the time I'd finished sloshing water around, the chairs were wet. Still must be grateful for sunshine.

Grateful for libraries and books, I have already read two of the ones by one of my favourite authors but both are worth re-reading, still looking forward to reading the one's about a little old lady whose nursing home has changed hands, so she is planning (with the aid of some of her fellow 'inmates') to rob a bank in order to move to a better home or buy somewhere they can live independently aand buy the help they need.

Grateful for a visit from DS2.

DancingDragons

laurenh1 wrote: »

Good morning lovely turtles-

I hang onto things because they loved them once upon a time or because they were a gift or expensive and sometimes I need to move past this.

This is me. Sentimental values and £££ mean I have cupboards and lofts full of stuff. This thread has started me clearing through it all though. List it or donate it.There's a ton of Playmobil and such. It's not staying any longer.
This thread also has me allocating max spends - which I never did in the past. So they just don't get expensive tat because that's what their mates have.
I've another bag of bits to go tomorrow.

My laptop is clinging to life, just. so if I disappear completely - sorry. Five NSD in the bank now, helped by a completely manic last few days.
I've finally settled into a exercise pattern, and am beginning to see results.
Paid to debts and savings today, hardly needed anything but the fresh veg.
Gratitudes. Learning new skills. A day to catch my breath, friends.

DawnW

Grateful today for my brother settling into his own rented flat :T, and the little miniature daffodils in my garden which survived the snow, with more buds appearing every day