NST Penny Pinching GoSober Stoptober

lcc86

Evening all,

No NSD here, had to pay for parking at the chiropractor, then while I was there I treated myself to lunch at a Japanese place I've recently discovered. I was going to use the excuse that I very, very rarely buy lunch but then I remembered I'll be buying lunch on Thursday so can't really use that one today! :rotfl:

I get paid tomorrow so worked out what I had left from this month and decided to buy something essential, a new carbon monoxide alarm. £14 from ebay, ours had given up the ghost, new batteries wouldn't coax it back to life and it says on the back to replace every 5 years anyway so took the opportunity to do that. Such an exciting life I lead!

Last week in the current job, everyone is on a bit of a downer as they have an inspection next week (timed my departure perfectly!) and it's all getting a bit stressful. Hope the rest of the week goes well.

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. All snacks fruit or nuts today, not much supper as DD came round & so I had to streeetch the food. Twas nice though.


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. Sandwich lunch again using up DDs ys wholemeal muffins. Supper was a small ys chicken (to feed 2 persons) plus wedges coleslaw onion rings & sweetcorn. Onion rings worked well but need bigger onions, they were so small.

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. No purchases today.


No Spend Days. Aim for 20 (high target) or 15 (low). Am aiming for 15 but hoping for more. Now 18/15.

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 today with pooches but very cold. Couldn't do any more painting as too frosty.

Christmas Got some charity decorations, expensive but in a worthwhile cause. Found a great item online today, in basket but not yet purchased.

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


Extra Income and Extra time Went back to survey & it finally worked for me. Another one to do today..

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


Go turtles !!

plumduff55

NSDs - I had a spending day yesterday and really thought I would have a NSD today until my friend suggested we go and see Bohemian Rhapsody at the cinema, so I went and spent £3.99 . Mind you it was a good film and the music was great. So, I will have to keep my purse closed for the next 2 days if I've to reach my NSD goal.

CHALLENGE - Failed on this as well as friend treated me to lunch out, great but lots of calories in the huge portion of chips.

ORGANISE- I advertised my old garden bench on Freecycle and it was collected today.

EXERCISE - I went walking with a friend but probably only did about 1.5 miles. Just remembered I also did exercise dvd this morning so not too bad.

Looking forward to starting the new challenge on Thursday xx

Shrewbie

Thanks apple muncher, I bet you have great memories from Madrid!! I think I am going to make November a dry month. I am going to the club but have told myself I won't drink, will go for a couple of hours and walk home, no taxis. Will see how that goes!

Yesterday was NSD 18/20 for me, today should be 19. Looking forward to doing even better next month.
Have a great week turtles

GlendaSugarbean

13/15 NSDs for me, not sure I can meet my target this month but will give it a try!

CB went in today so a sneaky OP to the CC. If I pay little extra bits I am on track to clear by Feb/March next year. Considering whether to shift the DD to OP the mortgage or split between mortgage and EF. Thing is, I'm worried if the money is there I will spend it, however if we don't have an EF and something blows up it will have to go on the card anyway. Hmm. Maybe I'll wait until I have a min £500 before upping the mortgage payments.

f0xh0les

NSD 19 today - took kids to school, DH to dentist and then dropped him at work and drove his car home.

Only doing laundry and a quick tidy round today. So feeling anxious, guilty, and lazy. What is that about????? I am a nut. Leftovers for lunch - so technically it is clearing lots of bits out of the fridge. Lots more bits will be tidied into a vegetable stew for supper tonight.
Easy food and no arguements from kids as they all love a veg stew and dumplings.

Yesterday I did a cupboard inventory, made a meal plan, a shopping list, and did a food shop. All quite low spends really as I am determined to make a hole in the dried goods in the pantry. Open season on lentils!

Payday tomorrow, £21.65 left in the budget (any surplus is a success)

greent

Pay day yesterday, so did some food shopping today at Sainz and farmf00ds - total spend was less than £50, after vouchers and also used a couple of bonus points vouchers at Sainz. Freezer seems to be mainly full of frozen tomatoes and chopped chillis - both HG by my mum! Looks like some soup and pasta sauce is on the menu in Nov (Made a big pot of chilli yesterday with the last pack of (YS) mince from the freezer)

Chilly here - bright where the sun hits, but the back of our house (NNW facing) is in the shade. Have not bothered putting washing out - there is no breeze and the line will get sun for only a short time - and temp is only around 7degrees anyway. As heating is now on timer twice a day it can dry by a radiator this evening instead!

Hope everyone is keeping warm

mothernerd

Laptop quit last night just as I was getting to the end of a long post. In brief, DS3 and Beloved had an extra night in London and did not come home until yesterday so more clearing out was done. Quite a lot of me hurts and ankle and back are really nagging so it was pulling stuff out from under the bed with a brush, putting stuff already collected into various bins.


Pulled all the cans out of the brown bin down to about halfway (more would have put serious demands on my back) and squashed them flat sp have an extra 6-9" inches of bin available.


Bought mum's shopping and a few bits from the reduced shelf (so an NSD). Mum was not well, not really ill but not 100%. She said she had wanted to huddle under the bedclothes but was worried that the daft neighbour across the road would cause a panic if her curtains were drawn.


Have told her to stay in bed if she feels the same today and perhaps to open the curtains again just before she goes to bed. brother has also tried to convince her tha it is okay to stay in bed if you feel like it (he gets up in the middle of the afternoon and shops in the middle of the night as he had panic attacks if the shops are crowded - he's learned that this suits his body and helps him manage his pain).


Mum's partner had a thing about getting up and dressed, usually about 6am. However we have pointed out that he didn't actually do anything but sit in his armchair, reading the paper and snoozing. Sometimes staying quietly in bed is the best thing you can do. I have also found that on the days when I sleep a lot, I can manage with no/ few painkillers.


Today will be a spendy day as I am going to buy a few treats for mum to make her feel cared for - chocolate, fruit, lemon barley water, a colouring book or simple crafts, snowman toilet roll for her nose and funny bedsocks. I have a scented candle (bought as a stocking filler for Beloved) and some fruit loaf. Have a few other ideas to try including massaging moisturiser into her hands and feet.


Today I am grateful for another crisp cold day, for towels (fell asleep whilst pouring myself a cup of water last night and hadn't noticed it had gone over the other side of the bed for quite a distance and chocolate (shared another stocking filler - chocolate orange - with mum yesterday.

Saving_Glut

NSD: 14/15. Am going to see show with bff this evening, so must not spend any money tomorrow to reach goal!

Organise: Collated 60% of info for accountant. Plan to be organised and give this the attention it deserves so I am not overpaying tax!

Income: Total extra income for October is £200.06. OH (after lol!), paid me £1.50 for doing a chore so that I could reach £200 total for October. Bless, she does put up with a lot of nonsense from me!!

apple_muncher

Yay to OHs who understand and accept out little foibles without comment!