NST March 2019: WINS against the debt

JoJo77

Happy Sunday Turtles!

Dolly84- thank you for the dough recipe and instructions. Will definitely be doing this from now on

Fmess - hope you had a great night and don’t feel too terrible this morning. Sorry to hear about your dog

Mothernerd/F0xh0les/dolly84 - I have to match up the pegs on each item. Not sure that’s normal...


Raining here! Going to Mum and Dads today for dinner but otherwise don’t have any plans yet. Had no internet or phone yesterday, and it’s on and off today

Good day yesterday. Not a NSD as it was Super Weekend at Iddle-piddle and I bought bacon, biscuit and wine (not to all be consumed together):rotfl:. They had some pretty pjs which I picked up and really wanted. The I remembered ‘needs not wants’ and put them back!

Got the greenhouse organised. Found a huge stack of pots and some old staging. Also found around 100 plastic plant labels in the undergrowth which were really dirty but still in perfect condition which surprised me, until I remembered that is the whole problem with plastic! LO spent about an hour cleaning them. Why do they love water so much? We then planted cabbages, carrots, radishes, lettuce, spring onions, beetroot, sunflower and cornflower seeds. Planning to plant a few seeds every few weeks to try and spread the harvest and make up for any showings that were too early or late and didn’t germinate or survive. Want to make a runner bean teepee but trying to work out how to do it without buying garden canes...

2 washload dried (mainly) on the line. Finished off one at a time on the oil radiator. The caravan can cope with ‘just damp’, but I tried early on drying clothes inside and it resulted in water running down the walls and my knocking myself clean out on a cupboard:eek:

Had a move around of furniture as we got a big corner sofa for free thanks to Free-eagle which makes much better use of the space in the caravan. Still working my way around cleaning it and re-plumping the cushions, but it’s actually in really good condition. Anyway, it’s so big that LO can’t access one of his storage units with toys in, so we’ve taken 2 chairs out of the dining area and swapped them with the storage unit! Bit quirky but with cushions on the top, it’s quite comfy. Might make a bench cushion if I can find some fabric

I could really do with some housework routines. I have tried Flying Lady and I didn’t really get in with it, although I do still wipe the bathroom over and clean the toilet daily (having a LO with a poor aim dictates that!)

Grateful for having everything I need, even though I haven’t entirely got rid of wanting lots of other stuff:rotfl:

f0xh0les

Fmess - lots of love to dogface. You will do what is best for him. hugs.

Yesterday was NSD1, already!!!! yay! 1 ha ha ha! (today's post is brought to you by the letters F, U, and the number 1).

It is raining, so the dryer is being put through its paces, I have outwitted the kids in their attempts to hide their school uniform behind doors, and the house is mostly tidy.

I have a list of a few diy frogs that I can 'explode' this week with sub £2 spends. Which will also free up space in the kitchen (where everyone stores their spare MDF??? erm... ok, just me then)
I am also going to rediscover the art of selling stuff on t'bay and book selling sites this week. Any recommendations gratefully received.

A few weeks ago I discovered Aldee reduce their veg to half price first thing in the morning, so I am getting into the routine of nipping in after the school run and nabbing salad and fruit, and tinkering with the meal plan, it has massively upped the amount of veg in meals, and lets face it, it is cheap at the best of times and 50% off means it is a total bargain, plus you don't have the sharp elbows you get at Mr Ms and Mr T's at reduction time.

Grateful that ; I have plans! ; my pantry is full; my freezer is exciting; Endeavour is on tv tonight (last one); nobody is ill; I am making progress that you can actually see. I am very grateful my grandfather taught me how to use a drill when I was 13.

Shrewbie

Hello everyone, here are my targets

Waste management:

This is something that is really bugging me at the moment. I have been working with meal plans since I moved house and I cook for just myself. I really do have next to no food waste now. I eat the same things every week but that suits me fine.

The thing that is bothering me is the recycling situation in this country (I live in Spain) I know the situation is dire everywhere probably but the recycling bins here just seem to have a mix of everything in there and it seems most people don't recycle.

I know the problem is bigger than the consumer - government pressure by plastics/oil companies etc and it frustrates me so much that we can't just change this. It wouldn't be that difficult to stop using plastic containers. Every time I'm in M3rcadonA a big supermarket here watching everyone with the rolls and rolls of plastic bags and single use plastic gloves to pick up vegetables it drives me crazy. (am I alone in not being concerned about catching herpes from a courgette???) Trying to do my bit by buying glass when I can and always recycling. I want to do something more but fear it won't change.

I am going to see if there is anything that can be done in the way of lobbying the local councils. I have no idea how it works here.

Invest in yourself

I have a goal to reach an advanced level of Spanish. I am improving slowly and hope to accelerate this. I am working on my goal every evening, along with the things that help like meditating and exercising. Difficult to keep it up when the weekend comes but I need to try harder.

Once that's done I have a plan to complete some 8 week courses (free, online) on creative writing or anything else that interests me.

I have 2 months off for summer so I am going to do some volunteering work and travelling around Spain. All my focus at the moment is on saving up for this and improving my language skills.

Needs not wants

All over this. I am having a spend freeze for this year, no new clothes. I love a certain charity shop here who has actually just become one of my clients (I'm an English teacher here in Madrid) so that will be interesting. They have end of season sales where eveyrthing is only 3 or 1 euro and picked up two lovely summer dresses yesterday.

Simplicity

I love this. I have certain routines to make sure I have time to work on my goals (like only washing my hair twice a week and using dry shampoo for example!) and batch cooking. I have been waking up at 5am lately to plan classes before work and this isn't working for me anymore. Trying to plan classes on Sunday so that I can have that extra time in bed or get up at 6 and work on spanish for an hour before work, I think this would be a better schedule!!

Thanks for the inspiration apple

greent

Fmess - sorry to hear about your dog xx


Waste management:
- Food waste – eat leftovers, don’t bin food - We did eat out at one point yesterday - but didn't pay (friend did) Other meals yesterday/ today were from freezer/ stores, inc several YS items. 2 loaves of bread baked today (1 seeded wholemeal, 1 white) - will be sliced and part of each frozen for later in week. Food waste bin additions have been teabags & bacon rind
- Plastics – reduce what comes in to your house and recycle - haven't bought anything in plastic
- Utilities –cut back on how much gas, leccy and water you use. - Even with this rain and wind it is mild, so timer has been changed again and heating on min amounts and lower temp when it does come oin.
- Money – just don’t fritter it away.


Invest in yourself
- Do something every single day that makes you happy. - yesterday - spending time with good friends, having DD back from uni for reading week. Today's family brunch. 2 episodes of Law&Order when doing the ironing
- Do something else every single day that takes you a little bit nearer to your long-term goals Cashback from shopping app diverted to hol fund. 10K + steps yesterday.
- Learn a new skill or re-start an old one. - hmmm....
- Can you grow any food this year? - Still need to get some tomato seeds!

Needs not wants
- We all know Martin’s mantra. . Learn to distinguish between what you truly need and what you want to have now -
- Appreciate what you have and enjoy it. - my family & good friends

Simplicity
- Put routines in place that keep your life running smoothly and make things automatic. - housework - sort-of following TOMM.
- Simplify your stuff. Just get rid of the unnecessary. -
- Make space for yourself.
- Cut out the extra noise in your life. This might be computer games, the Interweb, tv, radio, certain people. Allow yourself peace and quiet to simply be. -
- Be frugal in your needs.


NO spending in coffee shops etcAte out lunch and tea & cake yesterday - but a friend paid

ponypal

Had a really lazy day yesterday at home but it was nice, and an NSD.
Today has been more productive, went for a run, hoovered and tidied up.
Happy Sunday everyone!

Toni'sfriend

NSD 2/15

Waste management
Food

Oh no. Had to put some cheese in the food waste bin. One of Himself's many purchases of differing kinds that he fancies and then doesn't eat soon enough. Usually he perseveres even though they look disgusting but even he had to admit that his one was beyond hope. "Perhaps I shouldn't buy so much" he says. I roll my eyes and try not to say "that's what I've been telling you for years".

Boy coming for his roast chicken dinner. Bound to be some leftover.

Plastics etc
Trying.

Utillities
Getting a little chilly so heating will have to go on for a little while in the living room.

Money
Haven't been out today so haven't spent anything

Invest in yourself
Quiet day today watching very old black and white movies on TV.

Needs not wants
Trying to talk myself out of buying some potted herbs from Aldi.

Simplicity
Thinking about the best way to establish a routine.

Off to make dinner.

crazy_cat_lady

Checking in for the day - I feel as though I've never stopped for some reason.
I've been out tutoring this morning and visited my mam this afternoon, which was as lovely as it always is. My sister was there today too, so it was nice to catch up with everyone.
I've stayed on top of the housework, finished juggling my finances, and also done most of the exam work I needed to. So it's been productive.
And I bagged another nsd.
Fmess - sorry to hear about your dog. My cats mean so much to me - they are a massive part of my family...

dolly84

Fmess - poor old dog, we had one that went the same way.


shrewbie - I feel so frustrated with the plastic situation, recycling is just not the answer plus most of it doesn't get recycled into anything and it can only be done once if it does. We are sleepwalking into total disaster with our environment worldwide, if we were serious massive changes would be being made.


Ran this morning, then made a chickpea and spinach curry for tea tomorrow, roasted tomato soup and a no rise carrot bread for tea today along with crumble and custard. Today has been a NSD although I did spend in Sainsburys - allow me to explain - I have my groceries delivered on Thursdays but I have had a few weeks of MOC from Sainsburys so I have been calling there on a Sunday and buying the required spend of dry goods that would have been on Thursdays shop, if I make a planned spend within budget I don't count it.


Tried to get the washing dry on the line before the rain came, rain came 3 hours before forecast so it had to finish off in the drier but it had dried a bit at least.


Have applied a deep conditioning treatment to my hair and am sat with a shower cap on to steam it in, will wash that out and then have a lovely bath.

Fmess

Thanks everyone

Had my day at home so a SFD. Not much done except some school work and tv watching. Can’t wait for an early bedtime!

Kerry_Woman

Fmess - Sorry to hear your dog news. Sending hugs.
NSD today - 2/20.
Walked 2 laps of my usual lap around the park.
A quiet day all round.
Still have to work on stopping playing computer games.
Self care done.
Did a few bits in the flat to keep on top of things.