NST February frugality and frolics

Toni'sfriend

Take care, Mothernerd.

NSD No 8

Have spent most of the day trying to do something with our printer. I hate technology!

Used up some more stuff from the fridge and freezer for Himself and the Boy. I'm having the very last of the spicy chicken casserole with some rice for dinner. We will get there!!!

Himself's decluttering is proving very fruitful. He found an Amazon token for £40.00. No idea where it came from. Plus we have £64.00 in M & S vouchers with nothing we really need to spend either of them on. His mission today was to get all the biscuits in one place. Don't ask. Suffice it to say that's the diet is struggling. I'm hoping the Boy might feel a bit better at the weekend and take some more of his stuff to the council tip.

I really need to think about tidying up the communal area and sorting out my little porch. Need some plants.

Kerry_Woman

Mothernerd - Sending you hugs.
Was a spend day. Only got what I needed. Got some products from 3 ethical/green companies - running low on the items already in. Also did a tiny food top up, which should last me until the end of the month. I have added all the totals for the different categories, so hoping that I will not be spending any further money.
Went for a walk in the park.
Dealt with a couple of frogs.
Went over my finances/spending over the past few months. I made decision to really cut down even further and be more mindful over spending as some of it was emotional - not going to feel guilty regarding this. I know that the last few months have been expensive as got the flat decorated(had to be done) and holidays booked(places where I want to go). I already cut back on somethings.

laurenh1

Dolly- thanks so much, bloods went off as planned so just a waiting game now while they run more tests

laurenh1

Hi all,


So sorry for my complete failure to post anything, I've had some nasty bug which has left my bone tired. Frankly all efforts were going into making sure my kids were clothed & fed :rotfl:
I am a bit lost on NSDs but I have stuck to budgets which is something.
Off next week for half term & Greatful for the break.

I will have a good catch up of all your posts

apple_muncher

Aww, mothernerd, have some hugs from me too.


Today I am grateful for an early morning run, for hardly seeing anyone when in the woods, for the sunshine, for dd playing out for hours, for successful breadmaking (with a mix that was BB sometime in 2016...), and for dd scoffing it down, for a good swim with dd, for good reading material, for dh having some extra work, for paying some more off the mortgage.

mothernerd

Thanks for all the hugs. Just felt weird and wobbly so scaled down everything. Improved slightly by mid afternoon. No major achievements but cut mum's toenails, put bins out and fed us (a few use ups).

Came home, put two birthday cards in the post box, put addresses through a relatives door as she also wants to send birthday cards.

Tomorrow will be a domestic and clear up day (even if I have to sit on the walker and pedal it round). Lists will be made, talks will happen, things will be done, preferably by other people. Super helpful visitor is still here and she can sometimes persuade/ shame them into action.

Today I am grateful for feeling much better than this morning, having an idea about some of the contributing factors and getting some essential tasks done - if I don't keep filling the bins I will disappear under the pile.

Lovelifeloveliving

Hi all,

Mothernerd Glad you're feeling better this afternoon.

F Food Expenditure. Decide on your food expenditure for the month - do not exceed it.
£200 per month. £114.90/£200 No additional spending today

E Excursions and entertainment should be planned before the month starts.
BF 50th birthday party 23/02/19
Concert - 2 night City break 24/02/19. Paid previously. Frugal efforts in February will provide spending money for the trip.

B Budgets should be set before the start of the month.
Spreadsheet updated with recent expenditure.

R Reduce your planned food expenditure in accordance with the table below. Will be tough, but will attempt it to keep as close to it as possible.
Reduced my food budget by £50 this month and will evulate at the end of February.

U Useful leftovers. If there is anything from last month or a previous challenge which you found useful, keep on doing it (tackling those frogs, ditching bad habits and replacing them with good ones). Small changes that last are preferable to dramatic ones that peter out.
One frog dealt with. Continuing to use bits from the freezer.

Aim to take your lunch to work every day (unless you have a free
or heavily subsidised canteen. Similarly prepare for hospital appointments or days out by taking your own food and drink when possible.
5/12. Lunch made for tomorrow.

R Remind yourself of what you have and be grateful. This is a tough challenge but I am not asking anyone to live on a bowl of rice a day. You can choose to add your gratitudes on here or to record them privately.
I am grateful for DPs company this evening, his gifts, having time to go to my spin class and best friend coming along too.

Y You should pay to your debt or savings first and live on what is left. Ideally pay it on the first of the month/ payday. I appreciate that some of you have money coming in at different times and may need to accommodate existing standing orders/ direct debits.
Credit card payment made.

S Spend Free Days (SFDs).
Aiming for 18 SFDs.
11/18.

R Regular check ins are recommended, daily if possible.
I'm here.:j:j

V Turtles generally avoid the consumer fest of bad taste on the 14th of the month. If you and your significant other choose to celebrate, make it yourself. If there is no significant other, then celebrate your singledom in whatever way you choose - pampering, slothing, singing a la Bridget Jones or hiding under the bedclothes. Think I will be doing pampering. See when the day comes around.
Looking forward to a relaxing evening with DP.

I Indoors/outdoors. Regular exercise is important. Will try and go out for a walk each day.
Indoors - I mentioned being a hermit. I would like you to see this as a positive step. Spring may be around the corner but winter often has a sting in its tail. Nurture and protect yourself. Huddle by the fire, go to bed early, read, have hot drinks and comforting home made soup. Recharge your batteries. Rest and conserve your energy. Guard your mental health. Write down 10 things that help improve your mood and practice them regularly.
Spin class this evening. I need to keep the momentum going.

V Vending machines, coffee shops, takeaways (everything from an Indian banquet to a pastie or a bag of chips) are forbidden (except for those who have them as part of a budgeted family evening).
None

A Advance planning.
Meal planning and making meals from scratch (no food waste) are your friends.
No planning done today.

Good night all . Xx

f0xh0les

Hugs mothernerd,
Got my car back from t'garage, hobbled the half mile up the road and got it back home. Was so impressed I made it on my dodgy foot, pain has now subsided to only the back half of my foot, so it is improving and I can do things again. So cleaned the kitchen and cleared another whole box of what ended up being mostly tat. I am clearing at least a square foot of the house a day, it may not be noticeable to others, it may be a square foot on top of a wardrobe, or behind something, or under something, but my little puddles of space will all join up eventually, as I move the stuff toward the back of the house (I have a metal storage shelf put up in the downstairs bath,(yes inside the bath) and my aim is to get everything cleared up to the point of the bathroom door - The bathroom is a smallish space, so stored things must be needed, not just stored)

Still waiting on credit refund from gas and electric provider, still trying to do battle with new phone provider, unbelievably still within budget this week - if £3.21 counts. Of course it counts!
Right, off to do stuff.

mothernerd

You will get through this. You will be fine.
Trust the universe's plan. Hold space for possibilities you can't yet imagine. Move forward as someone who handles things with good character and a loving heart. You'll create a better life for yourself. Just wait and see.

Getting your self together requires a degree of honesty you can't even imagine. There's nothing easy about realising you're the one that's been holding you back this whole time.

Age is a question of mind over matter - if you don't mind, it' doesn't matter.

THE ART OF AGEING CREED
I will age with humour, serenity and to the best of my ability, health.I will continue to express my creativity and personal style.I will challenge the stuck way our cullture looks at getting older. Sophie Lumen.


Okay I have lots of stuff (mental as well as physical) that I need to let go of. I try not to say 'but I used to' - that person no longer exists. People might well laugh when I say my cancan days are over because they don't believe me. (It was at my wedding, I was 29 yo with a small boy and four mo baby and the person I danced with was going off to train at the Royal Ballet school the following Monday.

Today I had a coughing fit which left me feeling wiped out. I need to concentrate on being the very best version of me, that I can be NOW. I repeat that frequently, because I have to believe it - deep down inside me. I need to hold it deep down inside of me, with my inner core of serenity (that's a bit battered too) and work on it daily.

Don't regret getting old, it's a privilege denied to many. I know because my younger brother (middle child) died at 47. ATM it's looking like I may outlive my baby brother too.

Losing a sibling is complicated. Losing a parent, losing a child, losing a lifetime companion - all complicated. Logically I knew that most of the 'older generation' had gone and it was going to be our turn next. The cousins I scrambled up pit rucks with are greying, some are grandparents, mobility is decreasing, ailments increasing.

Logically I knew it, the reality was a shock. He was ill, we thought he was getting better, hoped he would accept help with a long-term problem. I thought he had died on his 47th birthday but he was 'fine' (relatively). Then a few days later he was dead.

Mum was, quite rightly, the focus of everyone's attention. I was the one who did all the practical stuff, made all the arrangements, dealt with all the officials from the pathologist to the tax people (please please please make a will and urge everyone you know to do so -My first will was done when I was pregnant with DS1, it's not morbid or an end of life thing, just practical once you have more than a bag of crayons and some plastic beads).

It was several years before I went to see a counsellor for help with my problems (always in the background but nosedived after his death). I was given charge of my brother when I was 2yo (baby brother 2 years later). I had to stop him poking sticks down grids and in the fire (to get past the fireguard).

Bereavement and family gatherings have a tendency to make us revert to childhood roles - I'm the 'sensible one' in case you couldn't guess. I felt that I'd failed in my first and longest job - looking after my brothers. I hadn't 'kept him safe'. I lost the battle with my father.

I couldn't share my grief at the person my brother truly was, warts and all, in the face of my mother's desire to nominate him for sainthood. It took her 12 years to admit he wasn't perfect. Baby bro took a more prosaic view but we've never been a family that lived in one another's pockets - partly deliberate on the part of my brother's wife's (only got to know my nieces in recent years and mum's first proper photo of them was one I bought when they were in the local paper).

They say that living well is the best revenge, so I'm going to live. I may be the only one of the 3 of us who gets to collect my pension and collect it I will. Don't believe all the old versus young propaganda (young people will have to work for ever to pay for all these old people). Those people paid their contributions (which originally got you sick benefit when ill, unemployment benefit when you were made redundant and a pension after years of faithful service.

The money was there. Prudence (accountancy training) might have suggested a slight increase in government contributions to cover a potential future shortfall. But no - successive governments saw all that money, just lying there and decided they could use it better than those who had paid it in (like borrowing from the children's piggy bank - I'm sure they meant to invest it and put it back later)

So I'm going to get healthy and I'm going to get mad (angry mad not certifiable). I'm going to live the best life I possibly can (except when the coughing starts again)

mothernerd

Love the puddles of space f0xh0les. That's what I do but other people who live here see space as a challenge (they've evn left a pile of pizza boxes on one of the strategically placed chairs I'm using to do stuff in the kitchen (check on stuff in oven or on the stove, sit down again, empty the bin and root all the 'missed' bits from under the table sitting down, Get something out of the freezer, walk across and put it in the oven sit down to put things in the dishwasher).

So glad your foot is healing.

I am feeling about 90% better than yesterday. I have incurred fines (30p total) on 2 library books through rushing to the appointment on Monday and feeling carpy yesterday so need to sort those and return the ones I've finished. Need to eat first and have a shower/ wash. Then off to create puddles a la f0xh0les.