NST: November 2023 – Sparkle

Esmeralda2662

P.s. Baubles ordered on Thursday which was a spend day. My penfriend and I have been writing/visiting each other for 49 years in January. Unbelievable. 

weenancyinAmerica

Meant to have a spend day today - but cats decided otherwise. So yesterday and today were NSD 14 and 15. 
One cat threw up on her sleeping mat and the other all over 5 of my storage boxes and the window sill. So I have spent today sorting out things instead of shopping. Have managed to locate DVDs, puzzles, and books to give away. Also getting a backpack ready to take to the homeless kitchen next week. Am filling it up with things to go like sunscreen, toothbrushes and paste, and other goodies to give away. There may be a couple more backpacks I can add to it. Thanks to cats I am rearranging my whole room. They aren't even my cats - but belong to my roommates, who tend to ignore them most of the time. I think the cats believe they are mine (or I belong to them) as one likes to sleep on my pillow during the day and the other spends her time trying to help me with the computer. 

abundant1972

Good morning! 🌕

It's a Full Moon today so a very good time to release and forgive... I'll be writing down things I want to release and burning them later on. This is where I would love an open fire! 

Thank you for all your kind thoughts re: my brother situation. I definitely know it was the right thing to say/do. My sister is totally on board. Dad is well aware that we both have done everything, even if he doesn't vocalise it. Mum is oblivious now - which is maybe a good thing. I don't think she'd be impressed. But - I have said my bit - I am drawing a line under what has gone - and hopefully we can pull together as a family moving forwards. 

Hugs Ditty - sending you some TLC. I think Thrifty has the right idea in making ourselves a priority and encouraging self-care. Well done for pulling out some positives (like where you live) amidst feeling sad. I think this is key - focus your energies and attention when possible on the good. I struggle with it sometimes too. Having our gratitufe practice on here is a great reminder. 

Toni'sFriend I am totally with you on the picture hanging skills haha. Foxholes hit the nail on the head. Wall velcro strips saved my life... although they don't last forever. I nearly got concussion when my canvas dropped off the wall the other week haha. But it's been up for 4 years or so. If you are using them - maybe not on anything breakable - and nothing fragile underneath where they hang lol. 

Pay day today - so I am balancing the books. It always gives me a sense of satisfaction. Put up my DFD based on £150.00 per month. 4 years away!!! I will try and throw whatever spare money I have into a savings account to earn a little interest. That can be an Emergency Fund until I hit enough to clear a card off. No new debt moving forwards Abundant!!!  

Today I am grateful for:

1) All of my fellow NSTs
2) My recent trip to Glastonbury and for bringing the magic home
3) An opportunity to recharge

NSD count in the wind haha.

Have a lovely day folks. Thank you grandmanerd for announcing the 🎄⭐ thread!

f0xh0les

I am envious of your payday @abundant1972 , I have to wait until Thursday, and then the bills all come out on Friday, and then I am going to win the premium bonds and the postcode lottery in the same week , and all the postcard competition entries will come up trumps for me too.  

 I am quite impressed that I still have £200 left in the kitty with 3 days to go, however my dryer was making horrible grating noises, and I can't hang anything outside because of scaffold and builders.  I think that money has been allocated to a replacement .

 I have another interview on Wednesday at lunchtime, so keep everything crossed for me.  I literally only have 4 days of work booked in for next year, so exam invigilation would be a godsend for the next couple of months, and over summer until the other job kicks in again.    I never ever want to have to go back to the TK of MaX!

Toni'sfriend

"Toni'sFriend I am totally with you on the picture hanging skills haha. Foxholes hit the nail on the head. Wall velcro strips saved my life... although they don't last forever. I nearly got concussion when my canvas dropped off the wall the other week haha. But it's been up for 4 years or so. If you are using them - maybe not on anything breakable - and nothing fragile underneath where they hang lol."

Only, Himself's head, Abundant   

laura_lau

hello everyone, reporting back here after almost 10 days, not great.. All sort of things happened last week, my OH caught a nasty cold and he's still not fully recovered, so I had to use most of my spare time to take care of him, the house, run the dog (she is a high energy dog and needs to run every day, which usually during the week he does so I only take her out morning and evening and "run" her at weekend, but last week had to pick that up too), cook every meal. I am very grateful that he is self employed so he has a much more flexible schedule than mine. Last week was mildly overwhelming as a result. 
On top of that, to make it easy for myself, when I went to the book club on Tuesday night they convinced me to join line dancing evening on Wednesdays, so now I'm also going there! I am absolutely in love, it's nice and low impact but quite fun and it's a good steady exercise, so I'm counting as 1 of my exercise sessions now!

Updates:

• I have reached my target of 15 NSD's for November!
• I have done a bit more organising in the flat, while I was housekeeping in the past few days, so I finally managed to go through the last box of Winter clothes, and have selected a few coats and other things that were at the bottom of the wardrobe to be given to charity and got rid of some non clothes things that I didn't need, so I have now decluttered 41 out of 60 objects! Very proud, however I'm not sure I'll be able to do 19 in the next 3 days... we'll see!
• I kept last weekend free for myself as per plan, however it was still fairly busy. Aiming to do a proper free and do nothing weekend in December.
• Used the grocery reloadable card twice

Today was finally payday for me, it's been a tough month as my budget is not completely figured out and I have bought most Christmas gifts, so had to use my credit cards more than I wanted to. 
I have at least 1 debt that is clearing in December, after more than 1 year of monthly overpayment, and I am at a very good point to clearing a second personal debt, which should enable me to start the new year with only 1 other personal debt prior to clearing the credit cards, which in turn should keep me within my budget most months and allow me to no touch the credit cards anymore. I am really looking forward to it!

Toni'sfriend

So, today has been mostly very good.

First the not so good news. One of my cousins (only four of us here now) messaged me to say she had a tumour removed from her bladder on Friday. She will get the results of biopsy in two to three weeks. Not a nice position to be in as I well know. But I am there for her and she knows I'm only a phone call away. But she does have a very supportive family and lots a friends. A very gregarious lady.

Good news. Plumber came and fixed the tap that has been dripping for absolutely ages. He asked if I had asked for something else to b fixed. Bathroom lights that was apparently just a light bulb change and not the Council's problem. He had a look. A real danger of it going on fire!!!. Two hours later an electrician arrived and replaced by a shiny new, energy efficient light. Lovely men. In between times I cleaned all my table lamps (of which there are many) and did lots of other little things about the house. Feeling really positive about  how all that's going. A few more jobs pencilled in for tomorrow.

Another really cold day here. Think that's the forecast for the next few days, Stay cosy!!!

lcc86

Evening turtles

Finally feel like I've got my mojo back a little today. Got up and got a couple of loads of washing done, then took the bus to a place where I wanted to try a walking route. Was very muddy but pretty, started and ended at a pub and my plan was to get lunch there as a treat for my non-working day, but when I finished it was only 11.30 and the bus home was due so I hopped on as it would've been another hour for the next one. Decided to order a little takeaway instead, not a necessary spend but it was budgeted for.

Walked to the gym this afternoon, hoovered when I got back and cleaned a bit of carpet where I'd spilled some coffee. Called Very as a parcel has gone awol, weren't helpful so I'll have to do a complaint but can only write to them as they don't accept emails (how very 20th century!). 

beanielou

Blimey, you will glad that the light was fixed @Toni'sfriend. Xx 

icc~~ Don’t accept emails!!!

@laura_lau~~ Well done on the debt 🤩

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for feeling better after a couple of quiet days, for finishing two purple elephants, for finding the right size plaster for dc, for DH setting up an ISA for dc, for dyeing my hair (dark pink) and how much better it makes me feel.

Just to be flippant, abundant, you can count your bro and his wife as 2 of your decluttering target...  🤣 As you know, we don't usually count people in that target, although grandmanerd and f0xh0les can both make a good case for removing bodies from their houses...