NST Penny Pinching GoSober Stoptober

lcc86

Evening all :hello:

No NSD today, went out horse riding at the place I learned to ride. Really nice day, good weather, and generally very enjoyable. All paid for from last month's budget. Also bought some filters for my aquarium which were needed. Managed to get some studying done and got the slow cooker on as well to make a veggie stew (chicken one for OH).

Noticed yet another dental issue on my rabbit today so off to the vet on Monday. He only had his teeth done three weeks ago so I've no idea how or why he has another problem with them, just hoping it can be sorted more easily than last time.

Time to snuggle up, watch a film, eat my stew and choccie pudding

sashanut

Hi all :j


Challenge: Oops forgot this one yesterday! Don't smoke & rarely drink either, so it has to be giving up unhealthy snacks. Snacks mainly healthy today. Fruit, nuts, yog...but a couple of fave ginger biscs too...maybe too many snacks actually, healthy or not..

Organise. Start as you mean to go on. Know the contents of your fridge, freezer and cupboards. Plan your meals around them. Cook from scratch. Don't buy anything you can make unless cost /time taken dictates otherwise. If you are new to turtle challenges or still have full cupboards you could try living from the cupboards. Lunch was bacon sandwiches & Hm soup, lentil & veg. Supper was burgers & chips, but HM with ys coleslaw from the other day.

Regular budget items should be set by 1st October. If you don't know how much you are spending on food or petrol, now is the time to find out. Question every purchase - need or want? Was tempted today by the evil bay but luckily my offer was rejected...definitely a want not a need

No Spend Days. Aim for 20 (high target) or 15 (low). Am aiming for 15 but hoping for more. Now 13/15.


Improvise. Make do and mend with a creative twist. think of a substitute ingredient, how to make an old/broken piece of furniture last a little longer. Not today.

Exercise Four times a week at least (20 minutes minimum but can be done 10 minutes at a time). Get outside in daylight as often as possible. Outside this afternoon as a fine day again. Painting done with a Non-shouty DH, still a bit more to do but definite progress. Sadly interior of house is suffering due to being outside all the time, but I'm sure the housework will still be there when the fine days have gone..

Christmas Knitting today, wound skein of wool for Christmas knitting of socks, red with sparkles...very festive.

Banned Will only be chippys normally with the odd takeaway planned for a celebration etc. No takeaways today.


Extra Income and Extra time Spent 15 mins trying to tidy up carp at my side of the bed. Cut 2 fingers in the process & am still not sure on what !!!!...

Report in, daily if possible I'm here..


Go turtles !!

Saving_Glut

Saturday’s update:

Exercise: Walked dogs with OH and friends, then walked onto the local pub. Had to swap winter coat for lighter jacket as it was so warm and thereby left my bank card at home, resulting in NSD 12/15! :rotfl:

Income: Extra income for October: £170.75. Switched payment of mobile contract from debit card to AMX cc. This should yield 15 pence per month!

QOTD: “If you can’t fly, then run. If you can’t run, then walk. If you can’t walk, then crawl. Whatever you do, you have to keep moving forward.” Martin Luther King.

dolly84

Went for a walk with DH on Ilkley Moor yesterday, the kids didn't want to come and a couple of weeks ago we decided to start doing what we want to do on some weekends. The weather was gorgeous and there was a brass band playing on the Cow & Calf rocks for a tv programme and we could hear them all over the moor. Walked to the 12 apostles which is a mini stonehenge then looped back around the moor. Spent £3 on a tesco meal deal for DH's lunch, I took my own as it can be tricky getting something being vegan, also spent £7.50 on clothes in the charity shops, a floaty shirt, a hoodie and a linen jacket.


Filled both cars up with petrol and used the tesco 10p off voucher on one of them.



DH is going to the gym this morning and I will cycle then hopefully will get out for a dog walk later.

Shrewbie

What a great post Mothernerd.

Here's my update for the weekend.

Challenge - NO Spanish this weekend. This is terrible. Need to pull my finger out if I'm going to get anywhere. I'm studying today and tomorrow morning ready to converse next week!

Budget - Spends this weekend - €11 in Tiger on some necessities for me and a small prezzie for my Sister's birthday, €6 on 2 glasses of wine with a friend yesterday, and €55 on my monthly metro pass (all budgeted for) and €26 on food shopping. We spent a bit more than usual as we didn't shop together last week.

Organise - Going to batch cook today for work lunches and a dinner next week.

Exercise - only walked home from work twice last week. Will do this more next week if the weather is good.

NSD - Still on 12 but today should be 13/15.

Banned - no takeaways this weekend, we made our own pizzas yesterday with caremelised onions mmmmm. I honestly love doing that on a saturday night with my housemates and then settling down in front of the TV, I drank minimal booze for me (3.5 drinks on Friday and 2 drinks yesterday) quite honestly I didn't enjoy the second glass. there will be none today.

Xtra income - Did a 45 min survey and earned €4.

One of my students gave me an old coffee machine of his. It's one of those american style filter ones and honestly I'm so grateful as we have been drinking instant for over a year now and boiled on the stove as we don't have a kettle. So grateful for people's generosity!

have a great Sunday!

apple_muncher

Yay to a free coffee machine, Shrewbie! It's odd to think of kettles as non-existant in some countries!

Shrewbie

Yep! you're lucky if you get an air b & B with a kettle in spain!!

Chandelier.

NSD here, meaning 8/15 NSD achieved.

I'm at work today and have left my purse at home. I'll be getting an early night once I get back.

I sorted out all my paperwork and filed it last night.

I cleared one and a half bin bags of rubbish, have put some things aside for charity shop.

My bedroom is a work in progress and I'll tackle it over the next month or so, bit by bit.

I got rid of a lot of paperwork mainly bank statements, old university portfolios etc that are no longer needed. I'm trying to minimise it all.

I'm thinking about going back to uni and retraining. I'll look into it at some point this week. I just fancy studying another degree to widen my career opportunities. I also want to look into doing a part time plastering course which I'll find myself.

Food for thought.

mothernerd

Crawling is what I'm doing. Caught a new bug - don't ask me how I know it's new when I'm permanently on the floor (but looking at the stars, to paraphrase Oscar Wilde).



Determinedly channelling the original fly lady - a very sick woman who worked out that if she could only manage one 15 minute burst of activity each day, by mathodically targeting each area of her home, things would slowly get better.


So broken but cheerful, I've done 2 little spurts so far today - 2 piles of recycling out to the bins, small bits of other rubbish categories, started on the washing up mountain, left stuff to soak and came back upstairs for painkillers and some rest.


Went back, more washing up. Visitor must have made DS3 feel guilty because he brought a plate back and washed it, passed me more bowls when my pile of washing went down and reluctantly squashed the pile of pizza boxes and picked them up again - I took them out and added them to the 2 sacks and 3 small bags that went out yesterday (mostly packaging so squashed them down with my big squasher). Visitor had collected the front room cans (still have their room to do - not been in there for weeks).


Back to resting now but have taken down a small set of cardboard shelves and sorted a small pile of aperture and plain cards + matching and extra envelopes (to send to my friend in Glasgow). Have already identified 2 cube boxes (about 35cm square) of stuff that can go, plus more things that are dotted about. Looking at it with fresh eyes - anything I don't actually need (as in for a specific project in the next 3 months, can go) excepting needlework supplies. I need to be much more realistic about how many thigns I have time for, othrwise the unused items make me feel guilty.


Should be a NSD. Today I am grateful for cheese spread on wraps, for a dry day (a bit grey, next flight of birds are lined up) and making room in the bins (if I can just find my secateurs - best ones are at mum's).

f0xh0les

I am back!
No idea what NSD I am on.
Have done cheap things and watched DVDs I had put to one side - Solo / Greatest Showman/ Avengers Assemble that had been added to food shop over the last couple of weeks. Worked really well.
Visited Botanical gardens and stroked koi carp noses (they are really nosy fish)
Country park and the adventure playground
Local Park
Star Wars exhibit in local museum
Then suddenly on Saturday afternoon DS1 wanders past and says he has a really sore throat. DS 2 comes in asking for extra boxes of tissues, DS4 starts coughing and DS3 says his face hurts. I started coughing ( I have woken up this morning cured), all the others are def. coming down with coughs and colds. School starts back tomorrow. Typical.

Had to shop this morning for last bits for lunchboxes.

9 days til payday!!

I missed you all, lovely turtles.


ETA: I am on 15NSDs - I just went back and counted.