NST May 2018: May the odds be ever in your favour!

swimminginaseaofdebt

• 12 NSDs - 4/12
• Budgets - £250 food and £100 social - £89.74 food and £7.60 social
• Continue batch cooking for the little one (remembering to include a larger variety of meals) - 3 portions of veggie omelettes and 3 portions of veggie lasagna made. Rooted around the freezer and we're running low on soup and risotto so I'll make some more of that next weekend
• Make an extra £93 through surveys - £46.69 made to date
• Continue building the full and final fund - £32.93 added to date
• I'm making up Christmas gift boxes for local disadvantaged children. So far I've done two teenage boys and started on a boy 9-12 months but still more to get for him so I'll continue with that
• Plans - safari park and dinner/new avengers movie. Will also allow for a visit to soft play and I need to take the little one swimming as we're holidaying in June and he's never been in a pool - safari park cancelled, soft play on the 12th with friend and her daughter
• Read as much as possible - 2 books finished
• Finish my final OU essay for this module

sashanut

Hi all :j


Motivation: what is your personal motivation for joining in with the turtles? My motivation is to cut down on the unnecessary spending and pay for some renovations to this property. In order to do this I think we need to be saving money by doing any jobs we can realistically (!) do ourselves. Went outside after it cooled off & had a G&T ice pop with DD after she returned from Manc. Made a start on clearing out the lodge in the fenced garden with a view to having a bbq in there, tomorrow if the weather holds. Then did a little gardening, after that had to go in early to make supper in the kitchen but luckily had prepped most of it beforehand as it's like a furnace in there..

Money: know your income and outgoings. All DD bills should have gone out by now and I am going to add up our income, that won't take very long.. so far have done one grocery shop, have receipt for that to hand. Grocery bill so far £25.43. Just cat litter & a couple of other things today, need receipt from DH. No groceries today, but will be shopping tomorrow.

Me time: look after yourself. Get enough sleep; eat well; move; do things you enjoy. Really bad nights sleep, first one for ages since starting drinking sleepy tea. It seemed so light, all night really. Anyhow, still had a reasonable day & got self showered washed hair & perfume at least on.

Move: being active benefits your body and your mind. You know that. Now do it. Not a lot of moving today as too hot.

Activation: what spurs you on to keep on the path? Have not done much decluttering but have identified some items to sell to a fellow collector. Just need to find out how to price, which will be tricky as rare items & not available so need to research somehow. Took stuff out of lodge outside, also put away some things in DDs room that have been in boxes for ages, now in up cupboards in (DHs fave) plastic containers.

Arm yourself : you have chosen to follow a path that many mock and despise - that of ridding yourself of debt and financial constrictions in order to be free; free to choose what to do with your money and time, not enslaved to repaying or to other people. Glad we are not bothered about 'keeping up with the Joneses' - have done that a long time ago but really do not care any more. It's how some people validate themselves & that's fine, but not for me. We are now free from paid work commitments but spent many years getting there, wish it had been sooner. Today DD asked me why I didn't get someone in to do the work, such as painting, gardening etc..after thinking about it, you know I am practical & like doing those things, and really I would rather spend the cash on other more interesting stuff than casual labour. No doubt I will have to eventually, but not yet awhile.

You. Are you happy in yourself? Know what brings you joy, what cheers your heart, what makes you pause and wonder. Don't just stop and smell the coffee in the morning; practise stopping and looking around throughout the day. Appreciate what you have. Be grateful. Gratitudes for sitting in the garden with an ice pop, new dish turning out OK for supper, for garden looking better, for lovely space in lodge, for birdsong, for not having to get up today until 9.40am

NSD s 4/19 so far

Check ins: 7/31

Not done charity donation yet but will arrange asap. Need to do through euro account. Will give to CS tomorrow - 4 hours of my time, plus no doubt a sum of cash:rotfl:

Dolly I have never posted a photo, but will have a crack at it if anyone has instructions please?

Puddleglum

Still on 4 NSD as I pulled off the motorway and bought a drink this afternoon. It was so hot!

The three ripe and ready avocados I bought yesterday turned out to be anything but and I've stupidly wasted one by cutting it open. Will try and persuade it to ripen by leaving it in the sun tomorrow but don't hold out much hope for it.

£2 has gone on my first charity donation. More knitting has been done and I've started the 4 week detox diet. 2 days without coffee down, 27 more to go.

Hope everyone is enjoying the weather.

greent

Motivation: fun day - would like more of those!
Money: Went to SLimbridge WWT as a last minute change of plan. We're members, so it didn't cost anything. Took drinks and snacks and boys declined ice creams! :T Fun morning Took sister her bday present in afternoon and popped into Morries and scored loads of fab YS items (such as ready meals for 9p! - too good an opportunity to decline - handy for DS1 for busy evenings)
Move: 20 mins on cross trainer in morning, lots of walking at WWT and then 30 min walk last night with OH along canal path.

Activation: What spurs you on? -
Arm yourself :only spending was YS items and a 4pt of milk
You. Appreciate what you have. Be grateful.
* fun in the sun at a local-ish attraction with the smallest 2 - and for free!
* beautiful weather
* line dried washing
* living close to the pretty canal path

Foodbank/ charity donation of £5. - monthly DD to WWT. 2 bags of items donated to shoebox appeal - new bag started today

Pay to your debt/savings FIRST and live off the rest. - done

Plan the month: every single day: what you are doing, what you are eating, - sort of - have written in work days, day when collecting DD from uni, DS3's, my mum's, my sister's, my aunt's and bestie's husband's bdays... Am not going to plan food, though).

Check in every day.here - even if a bit late!

NSDs - 3/19

maitlah

Morning all

I've just realised that I haven't posted all weekend. The weather was just so good we were out pretty much all weekend.
Money: Spent a little more than planned as we were invited to a couple of BBQ's at the last minute. We didn't have anything in we could bring over so had to pop to the shops. Plus we bought ice creams at the harbour yesterday. Managed to tie a few planned spends in though to minimise the damage - tall one got his hair cut and I ordered a new dress for a few events we have over the summer. I was going to wait until later in the month but since Sunday was an unexpected spend day, I figured it made sense just to order it then.
Me time: two lie-in mornings, two days out in the sunshine, refused to let work stress me out too much, read 3 chapters of my book!
Move: Did an at home workout on Friday, played a little bit of badminton on Sunday and went for a 10km walk along the cliffs yesterday.
Arm yourself: When walking yesterday we went to the harbour where there were hundreds of cute little eateries and bars. I could very easily have blown our entire budget on fresh seafood and cocktails but as the tall one reminded me, we had a BBQ with friends planned when we got back so no need for a big lunch, we settled for the most amazing gelato instead. £6.00 for two cones instead of £40 on a lunch we didn't need, I was pretty happy with that.
You. I am grateful for the tall one taking our savings goals as seriously as me (moreso sometimes), for good friends, for being able to swap duties so I could spend time with my family over the weekend, for having yesterday off to enjoy the sun, and for good food.

NSDs 3/19
Check ins: 5/31

My plan for today is to list some bits and pieces we're getting rid of on some selling sites, get a few more surveys done, check our accounts for any errant DD's (found a £15pm magazine subscription last week that I've used maybe twice in the year I've had it, completely forgotten about and comes out right in the middle of the month when I'm less diligent about checking everything), and do some flat tidying.
I hope everyone had a good bank holiday weekend.

Mx

dolly84

sashanut - I've used Photobucket in the past, you have to register but it is just an email and password then the rest must be pretty simple if I managed to do it.

puddlegum - what does your detox involve? Are you suffering with headaches from coming off caffeine? I really want to stop drinking coffee due to the headaches it gives me but from what I understand you get about 6 days of really bad ones when stopping it.

greent - I love the canals too, an amazing job has been done restoring them for leisure use since their decline.

All back at work and school now so no spending today I hope. I have been cycling this morning and am all showered and wearing a floaty top whilst the sun is still shining - simple pleasures.

LavenderBee

NSD 5/19 for me.


For those looking to cut out caffeine, unless you're doing it as part of a wider programme where you have to go cold turkey, and you're happy to have decaf rather than cut out all coffee; I recommend going 'half caff' first, and swapping out half caff for decaf gradually. That way you can lessen the headaches (I've tried cold turkey a few times but couldn't work with the headaches so would end up giving in!). Sainsbury's make a half-caff ground coffee for caffetieres and coffee makers - or you could make your own by mixing two together of course.

Kerry_Woman

NSD: 6/19 NSD achieved today.
Motivation: To be more mindful regarding spending. This is going to be ongoing. So far doing ok with not doing emotional spending and not spending without thinking.
Money: The budget for each category is done.
Me time: Just read 2 of my books, wordsearch and mindfulness colouring.
Move: Walked from bus stop to work this morning.
Activation: This thread at the moment.
Arm yourself: Will have to stand strong in my quest against consumerism and acquiring more. Still doing this. Did not enter a charity walk today until I get more details, as it is on the same day as I am going to the local theatre.
Donation to charity: Done for the month. Bag of items put aside for charity shop.
You.
Grateful for:
Lovely weather.
Good bus connections.
Achieving what I could in work.

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a good session with my cousellor, for plenty of walking, for sainz actually stocking the gen1us bread today, for getting loads of veggies in aldi, and for being served by my neighbour, for dd surviving school, for a good book to read, for dh doing a tip run, for my apricoty lemony gf df vegan no-cook thingies tasting fine, for a piece of work only taking me 15 mins to sort.

swimminginaseaofdebt

• 12 NSDs - 5/12
• Budgets - £250 food and £100 social - £89.74 food and £7.60 social
• Continue batch cooking for the little one (remembering to include a larger variety of meals) - 3 portions of veggie omelettes and 3 portions of veggie lasagna made. Rooted around the freezer and we're running low on soup and risotto so I'll make some more of that next weekend
• Make an extra £93 through surveys - £48.69 made to date
• Continue building the full and final fund - £42.93 added to date
• I'm making up Christmas gift boxes for local disadvantaged children. So far I've done two teenage boys and started on a boy 9-12 months but still more to get for him so I'll continue with that
• Plans - safari park and dinner/new avengers movie. Will also allow for a visit to soft play and I need to take the little one swimming as we're holidaying in June and he's never been in a pool - safari park cancelled, soft play on the 12th with friend and her daughter
• Read as much as possible - 1 book in progress, 2 books finished
• Finish my final OU essay for this module