NST Join In January 2019 - In With The New

XSpender

I think I spoke to soon as poor DH has had a relapse and is very unwell with the man flu. He is prone to chest infections so I am hoping it clears up this weekend.

Spend free days (NSD’s) – Aiming for 15 - 2/15 Still on the same number as I bought the weekly shop and some stamps today

Make plans for the month – More plans for Feb but nothing for January

Always pay your debts first – Applied for a fee free long length 0% card today for bit that is not on 0% and was accepted

List your frogs – BT CC applied for

Little Savings – Got £4.98 in change from buying stamps and all but 50p has gone in my pots

Chill out – reading my new book again. May watch some TV if DH takes himself off to bed early

Helping others – nothing done today

Always be grateful – Today I am grateful for:

1) The number of post boxes within walking distance of my house
2) Remembering to defrost the meat for tea
3) A reasonable and affordable quote for some essential roof repairs we need and the good advice given by the builder.

New to You – nothing today

Get involved – Here I am

Exercise – another walk with the doggle who is now snoring his head off

Sort it out – defrosted chicken for hunters chicken and burgers and buns to eat today/tomorrow. My weekly shop was only £34 today which is what we normally spend on a top up! It did exclude beer/wine though as we are on dry January.

craftingmad

Hi everyone,

Checking in today with not progress but all progress is good -right?

16 NSD's 3/16
only have 1 takeaway or meal out
Declutter dining room
Book car MOT DONE
Cancel unwanted subscriptions/downgrade memberships - IN PROCESS OF DOING AUDIT TO SEE WHAT WE WATCH ETC BUT HAVE CANCELLED ONE DIRECT DEBIT OF £4.34 EACH MONTH FOR TUMBLE DRYER COVER
Haggle with sky
pay £750 into savings account (hopefully left over from end of the month and pay in £250 christmas money gift)
Read every day before bedtime (hopefully both me and my kids)
Start donating a monthly sum to charity - DONE £5 a month to Air Ambulance
Start and keep a gratitude diary
Read this thread every day 2/31
Not buy any crafting supplies as I must use what I have 3/31
Exercise every day (10minute walk every day and at leas 30 minute gym or wii fit session each weekday) 1/31
Make a fridge and freezer inventory DONE
Meal plan all month 12/31

Maisie_M

NSD – 2/15

Make plans for the month – nothing definite planned yet but have a couple of things tentatively arranged

Always pay your debts first – budget for food set – no DD’s today and it has been a NSD so no updates required.

List your frogs – Tassimo descaled – light has been blinking since before xmas but needed to get the descaling stuff which arrived today (ordered after xmas)

Little savings – £2 from DH into my 365 day penny challenge

Chill out – finished book 2 started book 3

Helping others – will do

Always be grateful – 3 things I am grateful for are: being able to chill whilst slow cooker has been doing its thing, kids being happy and not fighting today, some good tv to watch taped over the festive period

New to You – finished my second book from my stock on my kindle. Now on to another one. Have masses of books that I have not read so enjoying making myself read them.

Get involved – checking in

Exercise – steps done

Sort it out – menu plan done for next week so know what I need to get tomorrow and then that will be me until next week for shopping

DawnW

NSD – Still 1/10 - I did a small top up shop entirely using vouchers this morning, including a huge 3kg bag of Italian branded pasta for £2.50 (from Iceland if anyone is interested) Then OH went out and bought the materials needed to replace rotten boarding on our raised veg bed. A planned, budgeted and necessary expense, but annoying to lose a NSD

Make plans for the month – One family birthday present done, all was paid for before Christmas Two more to go this month though :eek:
Always pay your debts first – No debt (now) Standing order in place for savings.

List your frogs – Still need to check HMRC accounts for OH and I, to ensure no income tax is due. I don't think so, but also don't want to be fined if there is something unpaid by the deadline of 31 January :eek:
Little savings – Paid in £7 of bagged coins to building society, and put the princely sum of 17p in odd coppers and 5ps from my purse into my savings tin

Chill out – OK today

Helping others – Donated to the food bank for this month, but noticed a tin of soup in the larder, which OH must have bought when I was ill last year. It is a good brand, but we don't eat tinned soup, so that can go to the food bank too!

Always be grateful – Today I am grateful for:

Plenty of food in

Doing a top up shop using vouchers from surveys only, no actual money
Warm cosy wood stove on a really cold night :eek:
New to You – Nothing today

Get involved – Here I am

Exercise – Walked into town and back this morning, about 2 miles in total

Sort it out – Spreadsheet updated. Went through fridge and froze some items that were in danger of not being used.

misstara

Spend free days (NSD’s) – I'm going to aim for 20 as money is going to be pretty tight this month - nothing spent today so 3/20.

Make plans for the month – I've got a couple of things planned for this month but will make sure that they are as low budget as possible - first is a catch up with the girls next week, we would usually go out somewhere for tea but are going round to someone's house instead and each taking something for the meal. It will probably involve a small spend but much less than going to a restaurant or pub

Always pay your debts first – Budget is done for January and debt payment has been made - no additional debt payments today.

List your frogs – Made a start on this and will add to the list as I think of more - one ticked off today, sorting out savings accounts.

Little savings – I've added a whole £2.50 to my emergency fund taking it to £9.50 :rotfl:, will continue to add as I can - nothing added today.

Chill out – Will aim to read a bit every day. I've also got a few adult colouring books which have been sitting there for ages so will aim to do some colouring in too - read a bit more of my book earlier.

Helping others – I've set up a charity donation which will come out at the start of the month. I'll also add items to the food bank whenever I'm in the supermarket - planning a sort through of clothes at some point so will take a bag to the CS.

Always be grateful – Will post 3 gratitudes each day. - surviving night shift, getting a good sleep today and my book

New to You – Me and OH are planning to do a huge sort though of all our stuff, there's still unopened boxes from when we moved in, who knows what treasures we might find - no progress on this today.

Get involved – I always struggle with daily posting but will try this month - I'm here

Exercise – I really need to get back into exercising regularly. I got some vouchers for Christmas to get more running shoes so that will be my first step - no exercise today.

Sort it out – I don't really have anything in the cupboards lurking that doesn't get used except spices but will aim to use up some of them - nothing used today.

Robi90

Happy Friday! :beer:

Spend free days (NSD’s) – 3/10. Was so close to ordering a takeaway out of habit but I fought the temptation :T

Chill out – Having a quiet film night tonight.

Always be grateful – I'm grateful for:
1. Quiet time to myself
2. The option to work from home on a Friday
3. Quality films to keep me entertained

Exercise – As I've been working from home today I feel bad that I didn't do my steps but I'm going to do some light stretches before bed. I've found a short stretching routine by Fitness Blender on Youtube I can do. :j

Kerry_Woman

pend free days (NSD’s) – 2/20. Was a spend day. Paid for the order of carpet/lino. Got a code for an extra 10% off from the website, gave it to the branch manager. Saved an extra £120 off. Already saved money as the items were already in the sale. Just have to wait for date for it to be fitted.

Make plans for the month – Planning to see 2 films at cinema. Will bring my own refreshments. The cost is £4.99 per film. These are my only plans at the moment.

Always pay your debts first – Budget set. No debt. Do have savings, monthly DD already set up. Will add extra when I can.

List your frogs – Paid for carpet/lino. Also did a few other frogs.

Little savings – Any change from each week I will put coins into coin bags and when full will put into savings accounts. Also am always on the lookout for roadkill.

Chill out – This I already do. Will carry on with self-care, eg meditation, reading, wordsearch. This is very important for my MH. Done self care.

Helping others – Will be looking into food bank donation. Cash donation already done to charity. Took a few items to the charity hospice shop.

Always be grateful – Grateful for: Carpet/lino order, also extra money saved. Something I ordered earlier this week was delivered. Relaxing bath.

New to You – This I will be doing. Got quite a few cross stitch kits that I can start on.

Get involved – Checking in

Exercise – I also have joined up for R.E.D. January. Walked to and from charity shop. 30 minutes in total of exercise.

Sort it out – Will be making sure I am using everything up. Will be using up my toiletries – these I have really got down and monitoring them closely.

apple_muncher

XSpender - great news on being accepted for a 0% card.


Kerry Woman - good to hear that you have chosen the lino/carpet. Fingers crossed they don't keep you waiting too long to fit it.


Today I am grateful for having a functioning car, for a crisp morning, for the birdsong, for cheery colleagues, for curried parsnip soup for lunch, for dd doing more cycling, for big sis + niece being here for the night, for headspace, for warm bankets.

crazy_cat_lady

Evening everyone :hello:
Today was one of my planned January outings. Went to see a friend that I only catch up properly with during school holidays - she lives about an hour away. We met up for pub lunch (not massively cheap but I had a voucher), and a wander round the massive pound shop she has near her. Bit spendy, but definitely planned and no needless spending - everything I got from the £ shop was on a list, so I am pleased with that. Plus spending the day with my friend is excellent for my mental health so I'm feeling good.
Swallowed a couple of very small frogs by making a couple of phone calls I needed to (I have a real phobia about speaking to people on the phone) but the list is growing again so I need to try and do a couple more smaller ones tonight or tomorrow at the latest.
Nothing much else for me to report at this end. Barely any money and a desperate need to relax for the rest of the evening, so I'm going to check in properly tomorrow.

mothernerd

Today I went to the library using the walker (borrowed one of mum's as she has 2), returned a book and put 12 tins in the food collection box. The security guard came across to tell me that it was a nice thing that I had done. Went across the square to the crossing and one block down to post a letter (details about the travel voucher scheme for mum's friend). Had to sit down several times, thanked the motorists because the lights were changing in their favour even though I did my best hobble.

Was in serious pain coming back (a bad word or two may have passed my lips) so no more 'long' trips for the next few days. Put food in the oven before I went through the door and it was slightly brown so it took me over 20 minutes to get somewhere I can see from my bedroom window.

Don't remember it being this painful before but then I was young, they gave me crutches and there was no stair climbing stress as I could sit down and shuffle up and down stairs on my bum. I must be bad because I asked DS3 to reach a bottle of lemonade from the top shelf and he carried it upstairs for me voluntarily.

Last night I emptied and refilled the dishwasher. It took ages - by the time I had walked across the kitchen putting things away, started loading up things that were lying around, scrubbed a pair of roasting dishes to remove some fat before they went in and walked upstairs to get some things I'd collected earlier, I'd had enough. Forgot all about it until Beloved nearly fell over my bag of stuff on her way to the bathroom. Went back with the bag, put that in, shuffled another couple of things to see what would fit (mostly pans and oven dishes) and set it off. Felt like I had done a whole day's work.

Tidying has continued today. i tend to lose things as soon as I put them down (optician appointment) so did loads by sitting on the bed and sorting whatever was next to my hand -
-loads of old receipts,
- the instructions for using the pens that go with the chalkboard jar labels (will put that on the frog list - could spend a whole afternoon labelling spices, pulses etc and rest my ankle at the same time),
-new address book I bought (for passwords as well - the old one has been in use for about 7 years and as passwords frequently need changing, it is getting messy and not clear which is the current password in some cases,
-old roll of sellotape - all of 3" from the one I had to buy when it disappeared mid wrapping marathon
-new address for my cousin sent by his sister (written in new book)
- lots of pennies and a 2 pound coin to start off my savings cow
- more recycling
- two bags worth of paper recycling (now in blue bin)
- found phone (current one) but couldn't find the charger for it (found it last night but could not find phone although I knew I had tucked it into the side of one of the medicine trays

Lots more besides, very happy with how I am doing given my current limitations. Have also been sitting on the side of the bed and scooping things up, swooping on random handfuls of rubbish wherever I see them (bathroom bin was full again) and used a ruler/ old 'feather' duster / piece of cardboard to round up stray items without having to stand up again. Hoping to have 3 small but tightly packed rubbish bags by the end of today.

USING UP
When we had the 'big storm' I picked up two small branches on the town hall square. They are long but twiggy rather than bushy. Did not get to use them over Christmas so to avoid that post holiday 'bareness' I have tied them together part way along, using old cotton knitting thread so they make a fork of two twiggy branches. Going to attach the longer one to the bed base alongside my bed(think tiny honeycomb a bit like chicken wire) so that the branches stretch across my bed and adjust the tiny twinkly tree lights to run across them, like a mini arbor arching above my head.

Thought I should vary things by doing something creative and fun (but still using what I have, had fun doing it and will make me smile when I see it).

Have thought of a few odd jobs I can do without leaving the bed (pairing up recycled takeaway boxes with matching lids and covering another couple of cube boxes with the remaining wallpaper) so although I feel like an old crock, I can still be productive and do useful things.

Today I am grateful for the library for being so near, for the walker that I can sit down on any time I need a rest, that I did not cry in public (not cried at home either, just so relieved to get back on the bed, for food for thought.

Once again I would like to emphasise that I am not being gloomy just proactive. I already have an outline plan of how I want my back yard, so that I can continue to garden (everything raised basically but using 'found' materials rather than paying a fortune) and am compiling a list of changes I want to make when I replace my kitchen.

This is sort of a five year plan but I know that most people put off implementing changes they will need as they get older and then when the changes are needed, they find they are too old to put up with the hassle involved.

My first fitted kitchen (my first actual kitchen was a 3 burner mini oven, a sink that the builders had used to mix cement in and a large formica covered board suspended between two sets of metal shelves) lasted 16 years, my current kitchen is now 12 years old (but less abuse because the boys are older and 2 of them live elsewhere). When I replace it (still in vgc but some bits getting hard to cope with), that will be my final kitchen.

I have already got a list of ways to improve it for future use as well as other purchases (my new to me laptop is half the size of the old one and about a quarter of the weight). Two days at the bungalow have shown me how hard climbing the stairs is getting so I may need to think about a hobbit hole/ super shed/ granny annexe :eek: :eek: :eek: (I'm not a grandma yet, not even a puppy grandma) in the back yard.

I've been studying geodesic domes. I've been a fan since they Montreal Expo in 1968. You can buy a kit of the joints for under 200 pounds which you can use with any kind of wood. So maybe an 8' x 20' slice of the yard for living space (super sheds under 8'6" get under the planning regulations hassle) with the other 7' as a combination growing space/ greenhouse with a poly tunnel or made from old plastic bottles, utilising as much vertical space as possible.