NST Join In January 2019 - In With The New

DawnW

Evening all, apologies for absence, but I lost a long post the night before last and I have only just got over it! Fingers crossed for this one!

NSDs - Still on 3 / 10, as OH spent today :cool:

Make plans for the month – Nothing today

Always pay your debts first – No debts now, and standing orders are set up for savings.

List your frogs – No frogs today

Little savings – I will look through my purse in a minute, and remove any 1p, 2p and 5p coins for my savings tin

Chill out – Been busy today, but chilling out atm - before tackling the washing up!

Helping others – Donation to food bank done for this month. I need to go through my clothes, as there seem to be things in there that I never wear. These can go to the CS.

Always be grateful – Grateful for nice weather to get jobs done in the garden, the work that OH has done to improve my growing space and the yummy veggie curry I made for dinner

New to You – OH used scrap wood to build me a large planter trough on legs, a bit like some really pricey ones I have seen at the garden centre, which I think will become a strawberry bed I spent this afternoon treating it with wood preservative that I found in the garage
Get involved – I'm here, assuming this post doesn't disappear :eek:
Exercise – Out in the garden again today

Sort it out – Used some out of date trifle sponges (which were fine, still sealed in their unopened packaging) by submerging them in jelly, to make a kind of half trifle. Quite a nice pudding, and there are enough sponges for another time. I have no idea when or why I bought trifle sponges! Yesterday I took a large bag of bones out of the freezer, cut off the best bits of meat to make something with, cut off the fat for the birds and put the bones in the slow cooker with an onion, a carrot and a stick of celery, and made nice stock. This morning I strained off the liquid and boiled it to reduce it a bit, allowed it to cool and packed in foil trays for the freezer. I now have 3 neat trays of concentrated lamb stock instead of a huge bag of bones in there By the way, if you leave the skin on the onion (scrub it first obviously) it gives the stock a nice golden colour.

Kerry_Woman

NSD today - 8/20.
Walked to/from bus stop/school and in school.
Did some self-care.
Achieved a few frogs.
Grateful for:
Getting a date when carpet/lino to be fitted, 2 weeks time. Will have to buy a treat from my favourite shop after that is done.
The weekend.
Wearing support for ankles and trainers to work. Has been a help with my temp role as exam invigilator.
Lovely bath.

x_raphael_xx

laurenh1 wrote: »

Today is not a NSD as hub is getting his ears lowered

Uuhh...what?:o

My week off is almost over. I've done lots of chilling and not much else!
My laptop is on its way out I think, I keep getting blue screens of death. I was chatting with my friend about getting a new computer, and going with a desktop next time (more power for gaming etc) bf got all excited and said about going halves as he would like a more powerful computer for his games too.
That's all well and good, but what he means is, I pay, and he'll pay me back. Which is what usually happens with large spends, like holidays, car insurance etc. Just for once I'd like to keep my money to myself.
It won't be for a while yet anyway, I'm going to save up and maybe take another look in the black friday sales at the end of the year (if the laptop lasts that long).

Spend free days (NSD’s) – 10/25 NSD today.
Make plans for the month – I need to get a birthday present for a friend, and I still have a couple of cinema tickets to use up.
Always pay your [STRIKE]debts[/STRIKE] savings first – Done
List your frogs – Got a quote for some plastering work, awaiting on a second quote. Need to ring around for some life insurance quotes. Stitched up a pair of running gloves that were coming apart.
Little savings – £62.27 saved so far.
Chill out – I'm re-watching Game of Thrones from the beginning, before the final series comes out. Series one finished
Helping others – When I pop into town to get my friend his birthday present I will grab my first purchase towards the boxes.
Always be grateful – Grateful my box for my scooter arrived today, and it fits!! Will attach it to the scooter tomorrow. Will be great for getting out and about as I will be able to leave my leathers in the box and go for a run/walk etc.
New to You – My run gloves were starting to come apart at the seams. Stitched them up, rather than getting a new pair. They should last a little longer.
Get involved – Here I am
Exercise – 10k run was fun on Sunday, really enjoyed it. Boxing is back on after the xmas break, so did that on Wednesday.
Sort it out – Still haven't written down what needs using up. It's more of a mental list.

laurenh1

Raphael- getting his hair cut :rotfl: Must just be a common phrase round here ?! :rotfl:

laurenh1

Hi all


Today is a NSD , spent 3pounds parking at the hospital but I can claim back my expenses so 8/20.
Make plans for the month- planning something for next weekend & hubs birthday weekend, I've made a list of ideas
Frogs- a few more things added.
Little savings- put some more 2ps in LOs butlins jar- weve got 1.52 now
Helping others- trip to empty the collection tins at the hospital, had to bite my tounge when she mentioned that she'd asked for them emptying before Christmas (I volounteer, its a 2 hour round trip aand I also work full time with two little ones. pfft)
Gratitudes- for having a good laugh with hub, for play group being back on & for antihistamines.
Sort it out- need to arrange my freezer, did get some bacon out though that needs using :cool:

364ab

NSD! 6 / 10
Frogs 14 / 31

Sort it out - Used up back of the cupboard quinoa for one pot mexican quinoa dish - actually first time I've made it at home and enjoyed it (usually super mushy!)
Loads left for 3-4 portions - lunch tomorrow and Monday x 2, also please as subbed some of the ingredients for leftover things I had in (onion for red onion, chickpeas for black beans, chilli for jalapeno) Getting into the swing of it

Feeling very freed up by having Friday as a NSD - I almost always buy a 2 bottle wine deal at the off licence by my work, (for the week) but decided to instead drink the fruit cider that's been lurking in the back of the fridge for months. Also getting a soda stream for Christmas means I dont have to do the fortnightly fizzy water supermarket trip, and the lugging around of heavy bottles from the car (not to mention the plastic waste...which was the original reason for getting it!) Here's to new, frugal routines, and the time they free up. Anyone else find this unintended benefit from NSDs?

Grateful for
-Coming straight home to play and dance around with my pup instead of doing the Friday supermarket trip for bottled water
-Warm blanket sofa snuggles
-The quinoa dish turning out edible :beer:

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 8/20.

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 - next is a day out tomorrow, away to Stirling for a run. Will go for a pub lunch after run.

Always pay your debts first – Budget is done for January and debt payment has been made - nothing added today.

List your frogs – Made a start on this and will add to the list as I think of more - nothing done today.

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 - nothing today.

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 - nothing today.

Always be grateful – Will post 3 gratitudes each day. - feeling better, coffee, scrambled eggs and toast for tea

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 - nothing done 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. Now have new running shoes so no excuses! - nothing 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.

I've now got the next 4 days off work so hoping to make headway on the list of frogs

mothernerd

Sorry for no check in yesterday. Was very tired and fell asleep around six o'clock, woke at 8. 40 pm but had decided it was already today and took a while to readjust.

Baby steps - read a few good tips on the declutter thread - leave each room tidier than it was when I entered (not overwhelming, don't have to tackle all the mess but just do one or two bits to improve it). Picked some things up in the bathroom that had fallen between the stool and some drawers. Found that when my medicine was knocked over it had actually spilled out so there was a sticky puddle of congealed cough medicine hidden under the stool. Spent some time taking things out and cleaning them. Also picked up other things that had fallen - will dust/ wipe them off next time.

Read another on-line article on simplicity and how things like losing weight also mean clearing time to buy healthy food, meal plan and cook / prepare food so that you don't just grab whatever is there. Very apt for me. I do want to look after mum but sometimes feel so torn between two houses and on bad weeks it seems like I am always in the wrong place - need the computer or a piece of paper that is back home, then don't have time to deal with it when I am at home. Must buy a new cable/ charger for my old laptop then it can live at mum's permanently and we can do things like her food orders from there.

I think I am keeping on top of the washing and washing up with the aid of my trusty machines. Have made turkey stew this week and nibbling away at rubbish/ clutter clearing so will just keep plodding (hobbling) and doing what I can. I have a box for things that are leaving the house (donations, specialist recycling, pass on to relatives) and some things to tackle when I'm back on my feet. Doing well on SFDs and not eating bad things (mainly because going out to buy anything is such a chore atm).

Did not think I had anything ood (except leftovers - ate mum's last 2 satsumas today, mine yesterday, used up 'party' food for our tea) but yesterday I ate a bowl of turkey stew whilst cooking things in the oven and my ankle was hurting so much I brought easy food back with me so I didn't need to go back down later. Had sweet chilli hummus (bbf December 23rd but was unopened), a whole celery and a whole cucumber and brought low fat cheese spread and crispbread which I knew had been hanging around in the cupboard - bb date January 2018 :eek: - tasted perfectly fine.

Today I am grateful for a quiet relaxing time at mum's (we are going to meet her old boyfriend next week - the one she fell out with because he didn't want to get married when they were 17), for some lovely meals all this week from the Christmas leftovers and so so grateful for all the big food orders I did in December. I could not have got through the last few weeks without them.

apple_muncher

364ab wrote: »

Feeling very freed up by having Friday as a NSD - ... Anyone else find this unintended benefit from NSDs?

Yes! Being able/allowed to just walk past the shops without having to go in is so liberating!

f0xh0les

Some things I had ordered to splat frogs with arrived in the post, so they are off the list. Painted some furniture and took upstairs to final resting place, even if I have not screwed to walls, it is in situ and waiting there, instead of me falling over it down here.
My kids are giddy and totally annoying. The daft fairy has been by and sprinkled them with her dust.

Off to do stuff this morning before my motivation falls off.