What small DFW things will you do w/c 18th March?

PurpleFairy26

When we start out on the DFW trail we do loads of "big stuff" that makes quite a difference to our situation. These include having our lightbulb moment, cutting up the credit cards and cancelling Sky and the gym.

But once we have done the bigger stuff, we often feel that we are not making the same amount of progress, when in fact the small steps are helping us form good financial habits and helping us get closer everyday to staying in control and becoming debt free, or staying debt free.

Examples could be hanging washing out instead of using the tumble dryer or leaving your purse/wallet at home to avoid the risk of spending.

So be proud of those small steps, they really are important! :money:

PurpleFairy26

Morning frugal pals :hello: I've been awake a while but went to bed super early, so not as tired as I might have been. Don't think I'll be up late tonight though my list for today:

Sort some more washing, nearly up to date
Ordered a product online we've been watching for a while, it'll be money saving overtime and will also give us some peace of mind. Bought it with a refund I received for a financial product I cancelled so feels like no real outgoing
Track food, this seems to be working so must keep it up
Having a survey of sorts on the house later, fingers crossed.
Food will be leftovers from roast yesterday
Try for some sort of exercise, seem to have lost my mojo here at the moment
Call home insurance about something
Overpaid fleabay sale and £co cashback to savings
Have some things going round in my overactive mind, so going to jot them down before I forget

I have also managed to:

Sew 5 new buttons on a school cardigan I got for £1 making it as good as new
Sort through a box of old clothes and have a charity bag, give to a friend bag and sale bag now.
Washed a pair of trainers to gift
Managed a short nap
Got something out of the freezer so I can cook it tonight to get already for tomorrow

Hope everyone is ok. Purps.

carrielovesfanta

Morning folks!

Thanks to purps for starting us off. 5.30am?! Eesh!

Monday Monday! Best knuckle down with some work then. Normal day here - I can't get much done outside of work as it's a long day.

• B/L/D from stores:
  • HM raisin bread with peanut butter - done
  • Quark and grapes - done
  • Chicken and mozzarella salad - done
  • HM protein balls - done
  • Beef stew - having this for lunch today. Just had a few crackers as wasn't hungry
• Charge phone in work - done
• Gym at lunchtime - done
• Leave towels out in the hopes they dry - looking pretty poor out there
• Check pmp - done. slow today!
• Heating off - done
• Prep tomorrow's food and gym bag (this is giving me an extra 30 mins of sleep each morning. Def worth it) - done
• No alcohol - done

Have a good one all

clf x

Baileys_Babe

Morning folks

PurpleFairy Thank you for this weeks thread :A 5:30:eek: that is the middle of my night.

Today's list:
Go shopping and stick to the list
Take bags with me
Put away ALL shopping
Update spending diary
Pack snacks and drinks for after training
Take packed lunch for me and dd
Home educate children, only spends today for budgeted training
Wash hair and let it dry naturally
Follow the meal plan
Jot 4 ideas for next weeks meal plan

Hope to add more later.

natlie

Hi All

Thanks PF

Grocery shopping delivered and put away this morning - 7am delivery, returned bags for refund
Washing and tumbling done, 3 more loads of washing still to do - I feel like I did ridiculous amounts of washing this weekend
Brought lunch and snacks to work
Walked to work - posted Fleabags on the way, got another to post that was just paid for p.s. postage going up 30p this week
Still got a few things to add to Fleabay
I saved a Snowball with What's the cost last week, it may be the tracker I needed I've got all my banking in order and paid £334 off my debt since the 11th as loads of my invoices were paid
Im doing a Wagamama Fakeaway for tea noodles Katsu and crispy quorn

Hope you all have a good day

Nat
x

Chandelier.

Hello,

I thought I'd join you all here as I'm ready to start knuckling down with some MSE ways from now on.

I've had a couple of spendy weeks and I really need to rein it in.

Today is rather a busy day and I'm out for most of it doing different activities- not every day is like this, this is rather unusual.

• Go for a meal and to the cinema. (I have a 2for1 code for where we are going to eat which will save some money. Also the cinema tickets are only £5 each and I will take my own drinks with us to minimise any further spends).
• Peel potatoes for tea. (I'm trying to do things in advance to make the most of my time).
• Go to bingo. (The bingo is free tonight for some reason, all I'll have to pay for is something extra which is £4. I'll take my own drinks).
• Prepare myself for appointment tomorrow. (I have an appointment I've been waiting quite a while for. I just need to do some prep for this. It's a service I'm paying for so I'm not sure what to expect just yet).
• Arrange another date with my manfriend. (I met his mum yesterday who was lovely. He asked me what I wanted to do yet but I'm unsure. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd be grateful. It's a pretty new relationship and we tend to do a variety of things from going to cinema, going for food to days out in countryside. I was thinking of maybe cooking him a meal instead of us going out and maybe having a chilled night in, I'm just not sure on what else we can do to pass the time. I need to brainstorm!).
• Wash and leave hair to dry naturally. (This will probably mean extra frizzy hair but I want to reduce the amount of heat I'm using on my hair).
• Write a list of planned appointments this week. (I've got several different appointments and can't keep up!).
• Put money aside to have nails done tomorrow. (This is another treat to myself as I've recently stopped smoking- 13 days and counting and still going strong! The money I've saved is in a seperate bank account and is building up. It's a friend who is doing them so will be charged mates rates).

That's pretty much it for today. It's going to be a couple of spendy days but I'm sure I'll enjoy myself. Plus a little self care goes a long way!

DiscountDuck

Hi all,

I’m starting to pick up good habits off you lot. I’ve started a spending diary and it helps being able to see where the money is really going. It also makes me think before I put my hand in my purse!

Rang a pizza place where we had terrible service but nice food and complained to the manager about the meals all coming separately and 40 mins apart. He’s sending me a voucher which we will use at a different restaurant in the chain at some point.
Started a CV for a job I want.
Walked the dogs.
Made some home education resources for my niece.
Going to a play centre later using annual passes and will take our own snacks.

PurpleFairy26

Welcome chandelier and we'll done on 13 days smoke free. I bet you've a decent amount in that account already. Stick with us, we're a friendly bunch and the small things really do make a difference.

trailingspouse

I've been reading this thread for a while now. OH and I split up a couple of months ago, so I'm cutting back on my outgoings a LOT until things are sorted financially.

This has been my day so far -

Breakfast - porridge oats from stores, with milk and a drizzle of golden syrup (syrup also from stores)

Continue to paint the garage. I'm using white exterior paint, as the garage is slightly damp (it's under the house, so part of it is underground). I already had a large tub of the stuff, so no expense involved, just a bit of time and effort. I'm kidding myself that I'm doing it because it needs doing (it does), but really it's so that the place looks half decent if and when I need to sell.
Gym - I paid for a year's membership last April - no point in not going, but I'll have to think carefully about whether I renew or not next month
Car to the garage - there's a strange warning light on the dash, hoping it won't be too expensive to fix. I'm actually thinking of selling it and managing without a car for a while - but whether I keep it or sell it, it needs to be in working order, so need to get this fixed!
Lunch - I'm a big fan of rubber chicken, and this is day 2 - the legs, some leftover homemade stuffing and some leftover gravy from yesterday. Delicious.

Asda - I normally shop at Aldi, but I get cashback at Asda through my credit card, which I'm using for the things that I can't get at Aldi. I'd printed off a £10 voucher to use today, but if they don't get the car fixed I won't be going. Voucher has to be used within 28 days of being printed, so must make sure I don't forget about it.
Give blood - costs nothing, and I can walk to the donation place.
Dinner - more chicken - this time it will be with mushrooms and pasta (pasta from stores - I seem to have an awful lot of pasta!!). Then I'll pick the rest of the meat off the bones and boil them up for stock all ready to make some chunky soup tomorrow.
Sort out the Freeview box - we had Sky, but mostly because OH liked the sport. I really can't justify it at the moment, so I've cancelled. I've hunted out an old Freeview box - just need to work out which bit plugs in where!!


Over the last month (since OH actually moved out) I've averaged £2.05 a day on food - I meal plan with a vengeance, and apart from a couple of things in the first week, I have had no food waste at all (very pleased with myself there!!). I know it's not sustainable, as I'm still using up my stores and eventually I will have to start replacing stuff, but hopefully by then I'll have more of an idea of where things stand financially! I've negotiated a reduced monthly payment to edf for the gas and electric (£30 less than previously, to be reviewed in 6 months). I rang the water company and asked for a reduction, and they wanted to wait until I'd been a month on my own (3 days to go!) so they could see how much of a difference it's made - I've been VERY careful and not used a drop more than is necessary!! It'll be interesting to see what difference it's made!

1LuckyLady

Hi & welcome to Chandelier & Trailingspouse, its a great thread, I hope you stick with us.

I was glad to wave dh & the kids off this morning, all well enough to be back to school/work. They've all still got coughs/colds but much better then they were last week thankfully.

Thanks PF for this weeks thread.

So far today I've
* washed two loads on the quick 30 degree wash, no chance of getting it on the line here but have got it over radiators for when they go on later.
* made families lunches for tomorrow
* wrote a new freezer inventory as the old one was quite out of date
* meal planned for the next couple of days (I don't bother planning for a week as stuff always changes, we end up with leftovers or one of the kids has tea at a friends etc)
* shopped with my list at aldee, plenty of veg bought today as I feel thats been lacking recently
* popped into homebargains to pick up a couple of things that they have cheaper then the aldee next door
* triaged fridge/cupboards and had sweet potatoes that were starting to go, so changed todays planned mashed potato to be mashed sweet potato to go with some salmon tonight.
* chopped up some salad veggies for the kids after school snack - upping the veg intake again

Still to do
* check banking/update spreadsheet & email it back to myself.
* share bath water and continue use up of lotions and potions - I think i'll have to cut the top off my moisturiser later to make the most of it.

Take care all.

foxgloves

Afternoon New Week Frugalistas,
Welcome newbies - Trailing Spouse, great on the triaging of your food supplies. We aim to be a zero food waste household & it's amazing the tasty meals that can be made from the perfectly good leftovers which more wasteful folk would throw in the bin.

Well, about an hour ago, I came to the conclusion that my overall job list today (not just the money saving bits I usually bore you all with) was just not achievable, so rather than start beating myself up about all the stuff that isn't crossed off, I decided to migrate all the admin/budget/estate agents/gardening tasks to tomorrow. Feeling better already, as no point setting myself up to fail. Today's efforts:
*Made a good start on this week's laundry. All pegged outside to dry for free. Washer re-loaded for another Economy 7 rate wash tonight.
*Rubber chicken duties.
*Picked a bunch of parsley & thyme from our herb bed. Nice to see all the new growth coming through.
*Checked for surveys - none I fancied doing today, but at least I showed willing.
*Did usual sensible Monday jobs like triage of the fridge - 2 spare peppers sliced & frozen, the tops plus the one I've sliced for tonight's meal were diced & used to start off another freezer pot of 'pizza peppers'. Also dealt with two half leeks (??) & identified some bendy celery (now on my hit list) so no food waste here today.
*Made packed lunch for tomorrow.
*Made a wholemeal loaf (it's in the oven now)
*Knit - 2nd sock still not finished.
*Peruse CD collection for suitably upbeat tracks to make my own personalised free disc of aerobics/dance-friendly fitness tracks. Not yet done, but have been giving it some thought.
*Update my DFW diary - imminent, as I promised my readers a full rubber chicken breakdown, lol.
OK, that's me,
Love to all,
F x