NST Penny Pinching GoSober Stoptober

Purpleroses

Weirdly excited for this challenge :rotfl:


Challenge –I don't smoke and rarely drink so giving up fizzy juice. Wanted to do this for a while hoping this is the kick I need

Organise - Plenty food in cupboard and freezer to use up. Have done a meal plan for next week. Just need to do a small shop tomorrow for basics and lunches
Regular budget Budget done.
No Spend Days Going to be aiming for 15 minimum
Improvise Will try my best at this.
Exercise 4 x 20 minutes a week walking. If weather is decent going to go at lunch time rather than waste time on phone.
Christmas This is pretty minimal nowadays and have started putting money into a savings account which will cover it.
Banned Yes! too easy to pop to shop when feeling lazy about cooking.
Extra Income Ebay ebay ebay
Report Will do. :T

WelshKitty85

Excited for October and to get back on board with the he NST challenges . I've recently finished maternity leave and went back to work on a phased return. Tomorrow I go back to my full hours So I have to be extra organised this month.

Challenge I don't smoke and I drink very little alcohol, but have slipped into bad eating habits whilst on maternity leave. I want to start generally looking after myself better...drinking more water and less caffeine, eating more fruit and veg and less sugar, taking better care of my skin.

Organise Today I have fuelled my car and done a huge shop. For the rest of the month I should only need small top up shops for milk, bread etc. I've done a little batch cooking already and will do more on my days off.

Regular budget Budgets are set. Minimum payments will go out by DD. DH is doing agency work at the moment so any extra days will mean I can make overpayments to the debts and put some aside towards next months bills.

No spend days aiming for 20.

Improvise will do this as I'm going along.

Exercise I had started doing yoga at home. Must start this again.

Christmas I have a present list and have already started buying. Almost finished for DC3 (he won't be getting too much this year as he will only be 1) and about half way there for DC2. DC1 is awkward as she has her birthday just days after Christmas :eek:. I will also start the cake this month.

Banned I have a meal out planned for my birthday and would also like to do a cheapish meal with the children. Apart from these will steer clear.

Extra income I've found the survey sites quiet recently but am doing all I can on them. Hoping to earn enough on SB to cover the cost of some brushed cotton bedding I've seen and hoping to be able to cash out £50 on YG by the end of the year. I'm also trying to sell the kids old clothes etc as soon as they outgrow them.

Report will do!

mothernerd

mothernerd's plan for October and beyond (100 days takes me to January 8th)

Challenge all the healthy habits. Reboot, restart, recommit. Do it NOW.


Organise There is food in the freezer and some in the fridge. Using up salady bits this week and curry with lots of extra vegetables.
Organise long term
Kitchen needs to be made workable
Housework schedule with minimum/ regular/ max plans (minimum for weeks like the last 2 when I could barely crawl round)
Craft stuff

General clear out
DS3 and Beloved's room (they are away at a convention at month end).


Budgets Food £200, Travel £15, DIY/Ent £15
Clothes for DS3 - unknown but owing. Made a list 3 years ago and so far he's only had socks, boxers, pjs and trainers.

One planned day out this Saturday (mum will probably pay).



NSDs going for 15 as failed totally last month (plan food deliveries).


Improvise Using up scraps to make lavender bags. Have pulled some pieces of material out of storage but want to make a bigger working space (could take them to mum's to cut out). Anything which can be used up in craft sessions will be. Also have cake plans for November and December (lots of icing in stock).


Exercise Will do, even if I have to go back to walking round the car park.


Christmas Making things for Beloved, new d-i-l and mum (and for family boxes for centre). Have been living under a ban on buying presents for d-i-l and d-o-l (daughter out law) but no-one said I couldn't make something. For explanation see Sheldon (Big Bang Theory) on gifts.
DS1 two joint gifts with his new wife (new home sampler and wedding sampler) + cake(s). His in-laws are over from Greece in November so that will probably count as Christmas with them.
DS2 and I usually do 'you buy something for yourself from me and I will buy myself something from you' - I buy myself something inexpensive which I have chosen.
DS3 needs clothes. Okay he rarely leaves the house but he no longer has jeans, his t-shirts are falling apart (many have gone in my rag bag), I am pretty sure he no longer has any smart white shirts, plain black trousers or a jacket that fits.



No takeaways etc now have extra wraps in the freezer and will plan ahead more (having to buy sandwiches because I have nothing in has been my biggest downfall recently).


Extra Income not sure what I can do about this.

:money:thrifty I think my main problem is that I am time poor. Could I work on budgetting my time better, instead of extra income. There are lots of things I could be doing.


Report daily - will try.

GlendaSugarbean

Aiming for 15 NSDs this month. Will update with full plans later.

apple_muncher

Pinch, punch, first of the month. No returns. We're off!

thriftylass

:T Goood mooorning and let the challenge begin! :T

Will be back later with my numbers etc.

f0xh0les

Today will be a spend day, I am going to try and roll everything into one single day.
Overpaid the mortgage. Have put money aside to pay off monthly interest tomorrow.

GlendaSugarbean

It's October! I love autumn, especially the light we get at this time of year.

Challenge: last month I decided to cut right back on drinking, for health and budget reasons. I feel so much better and have lost a bit of weight, so will continue this month and aim for a completely sober October :eek:. In more gobstopper news, my other weakness is sweeties. I'm finding I gave started to feel distinctly dodgy after too much sugar, so they are being added to booze on my 'too old for this any more' list :rotfl:

Organise - need to go through the cupboards and freezer before my weekly shop. Also need to book the kids in for dental checkups.

Regular budgets: still keeping up with YNAB, and it's looking pretty healthy at this point in the month. Have budgeted extra for the vet as Geriatric Cat seems to have another eye problem. Hoping the insurance cover will kick in on at least one of his many medical conditions

NSDs - aimimg for 15.

Improvise - hmm need to think on this one.

Exercise: have my usual autumn energy boost, so now the lurgy has passed I will try to get at least 1 run in per week if not two.

Christmas - I tend to default to socks and shawls when I knit, so I need to go through my FOs and see if any will do for gifts. Have already cut right back on present spending.

Banned: only planned takeaway is for eldest's birthday (if he wants one)

Extra income: I never expect to have any, but last month showed that I have more than I think. Aim for this month is to send any extras to the CC or EF.

Go turtles!

laurenh1

Hello Lovely Turtles and welcome to October

Challenge- this month I need to cut down on going on Facebook. I came off it for so long and was more productive as a result. I might even close it down tonight.

Organise- my fridge freezer & cupboards are rammed. I spent last month using things up & as a a result the Cupboards were bare & I needed to do a big shop, which I did last week and I am hoping it will now be a case of just topping it up.
Regular Budget- I have £227 in the budget this month. Savings have already gone out & I have moved into my regular savings anything I can think of for the month that I know will need to pay (swimming lessons etc)
NSD's - aiming for 15. today is number 1.
Improvise- I will see what I can do :j
Exercise- Hub back next week which will allow me to go running again, feel rubbish so looking forward to that.
Xmas- 3 gifts left to buy and I have done my food list - I will pick up what I can when I can. The plan is to pick up bottles of fizz and tubs of chocs etc as and when they are on offer and hopefully get something every week so that it is just fresh stuff to buy in December.
Banned- No take away etc except those I have already budgeted for, Hub is due back next week after a month sleeping in a field and he has requested a Chinese take out. I cannot begrudge him that, I have put twenty pounds to one side.
Extra- I need to clean some of my baby stuff and sell it. I will get on it this month. I have been putting it off for aaages.
Report- Rubbish at this last month, I will check in every day.

thriftylass

Wellcome all, good to "see" familiar faces and new ones.

Also glad that I'm in the end not the only drinker that joined, felt a bit self conscious about it but now I feel we have a good mixed group of supporters here for the various "vices" people want to give up or habits they want to change.

mothernerd the time thing is a good idea. I will change the first post as this actually also applies to me. To be realistic I probably won't manage to generate much extra income apart from the odd survey and I'm time poor too. I have learnt a few time management tricks recently but need to implement them better and become more efficient in using the time available or generate little pockets of extra time. Everybody got 24h a day it's how we use them.

Today is an organising day for me in work and at home. Will make a meal plan with freezer contents, plan my week for extra little jobs to get done on top of the daily chores. I like the definition of a JOB as Just One Bite. So I need to start writing my to do list in more manageable small items. I.e. I shouldn't write - clean conservatory as that is 20 JOBs in itself but rather tidy one box a day, clean one wall, just mop the floor etc.