NST February Forgiveness

ldee2111

This is the kind of month I need! I'd like to join again please

f0xh0les

FiRST pay to your debt or savings - and B   BUDGETS - Okay Dokey, all the bills have gone out, the housekeeping has come in, and money has been shunted to savings.  Budget is £100 a week for 6 people for 4 weeks - for everything.  If there is any money left from the weekly budget it gets swept to savings on a Thursday evening. If any money comes in over the budget amount, it gets shunted to a different account. 

 If I can't see it, it is harder to spend. End of month excess is when people get treats/wants/surprises.

EVERYTHING you have is an asset - I have moved everything from the back shelves of the pantry, forward. Made a list of everything in the fridge/freezer/pantry and wrote a shopping list for the items to fill in the gaps. Went through the shed and found things I never even knew we had, they will help with the decorating jobs this month,
BUDGETS - See F
REST is a priority, - this morning DS4 woke up feeling sick, and is currently sleeping in his pit. DH is coming down with a cold - all meds from stores which were ys last summer (they discount cold meds during summer!!) Hot water bottles make you feel better.
Utilise what you already have - sadly I have no paid work booked in this month, but a lot of decorating planned, and birthday cake baking for tomorrow (DS3 is 16), will look in the local Community Fridge for free veg/bread
A  Five minute Activities- setting the washer/putting the dishes away/wiping the coffee grounds off the worktop next to the coffee maker, racing the kettle to peg out laundry, potting up leftovers for lunches/freezing  and not grazing on.  Cleaning the bathroom sink and worktops while waiting for the tub to fill.
RELAXATION - washing off the emulsion in a nice bubblebath / will try and have a cup of tea in the sunshine once a day, bought myself a soft tracksuit from Primarni while working in town last week (sub £15 and saved £4 on parking).  It is warm and snuggly, and comfortable.
You spend on 15 days or less (plan ahead) okay

F    FORGIVE yourself. I am a work in progress and am not finished yet.
O   OBSERVE days are getting longer already/ the heating is turning off because it is not as cold
R   REMEMBER to be grateful -
G   GET OUTSIDE - the table and chairs are out, the water tanks from the loft will be planted up this month,
I     INSPIRATION  - the house will be decorated, top floor this month
V   The VIOLET is perseverance. So is the Turtle!
E   EXERCISE - the paint rolling stretch / wallpaper yoga / paint stripping hiit
N   NOURISH your body, Pulse based soups are on the menu / falafel / pasta bakes with the g/f pasta,
E    ENOUGH water is essential got a tap full of it - unless the Tiger comes to tea and drinks it all.
S   SMART goals   Decorating 4 bedrooms and a HSL in 4 weeks, ready, set, go!
S   SMALL STEPS - painty hands do not snack, wallpaper pastey hands do not snack. Not being in the kitchen helps

The challenge runs throughout February (all 29 days)

Starlight_at_Sea

FiRST pay to your debt or savings - and B  BUDGETS - 

This is the month when the budgets stabilise and I should have no excuse for not having a grip of them. I think it's fair to say I am guessing at most things to date but I made progress in Jan at reducing uncertainty and this month I aim to have budgets set, in fact this week I aim to do that! Please hold me to account In meantime, £500 towards uni fees paid. I can now see the cc balance easily and have been tilly tidying for the dopamine hit! 

EVERYTHING you have is an asset 

I struggle a bit with this and 'u' as a result of splitting time between so many places and not really keeping track / being organised enough to have things where they are most needed. I have made some progress with this and aim to continue. lists are my friends here. My most obvious assets are my 'homes' (get me!) and the fact I am not in them all of the time. Intend to progress with the arB+b and also think about whether parking space, kayak etc are things that could be monetised. 

I am also applying this a bit to myself as I try to pick up 'career planning' - thinking about all of my experience as an asset, and what I might do with it going forward as you might have picked up that I would like a change! 

BUDGETS - See F

REST is a priority. 

Oh yes it really is. As I step work hours back up I can see I am needing to balance this with pacing and R&R. Grief still hits me sometimes and I need to let it just sit with me. I have a spa break at the end of the month with a friend and will be scheduling easy weekends until then I think. Also need to book a few days off to ease impact of work.

Utilise what you already have 

Does my tarpaulin rear windscreen count towards this?!?  I suppose this links to recognising the assets, I will be listing food in each place and try to meal plan to avoid waste/reduce costs. I aim only to be buying veg/fruit as I think most other bases are covered. As I continue to sort out mum and dad's things I'm finding places for their stuff in my own home.

A  Five minute Activities

A good list from F0xh0les above. I can add to that bedmaking while waiting for the kettle in the morning; shredding & lifeadmin while nurturing the laptop to start, restart, restart each morning; exercises / stretches during boring meetings; a few min of house sorting/tidying/listing whilst on the phone.

RELAXATION
I like the cup of tea in the sunshine / the outdoors idea. I aim for a bubble bath a couple of nights a week, one of which is a Sunday cos of cheaper electricity that day! I have several facemask (the pampering sort not the COVID sort) left from Xmas and plan to take these on work trips with me. 

You spend on 15 days or less (plan ahead) okay. for me this coming month I think work expenses don't count, but only if I submit claims within 24 hours. otherwise I forget to and in this way have donated many thousands to the public purse over the last 20 years! 


F    FORGIVE yourself. Oh gosh there is so much to do here. I wrap into this past relationships with family, but think I am making up for that now! 

O   OBSERVE I miss having a daily walking route and chance to observe the changes in nature day by day. I guess I need one at each place I spend time. 
I''ll keep working on the stimulus gap response at work  

R   REMEMBER to be grateful -oh I am! 

G   GET OUTSIDE - as above. A friend has started some regular walking groups, I think if my stamina continues to improve I will try one of those this month. 

I     INSPIRATION  - er. Just Do It. 

V   The VIOLET is perseverance.  Just keep doing it. 

E   EXERCISE - some work to do to find out how to keep up with patterns during this transition back to work. Gym 2-3 times a week is the aim (these are not intense sessions btw, just in case you thought I was a gladiator). But a good opportunity to do things with my body I wouldn't get round to by myself at home. 

N   NOURISH your body,  TLC and continue the health / body audit, sorting out issues as I acknowledge them. 

E    ENOUGH water is essential Yes it is! A constant could do better on this one! 

S   SMART goals   - by end of the month
1. complete the sorting out of shelves in lounge and dining room at my house 
2. complete the sorting out of study-bedroom at dads house
3. complete probate paperwork 
4. complete list of jobs to sort out in back bedroom at flat (as far as I can without buying furniture) 


S   SMALL STEPS - continue identifying just 3 things to try and get done each day. Any more than that overwhelms me. 

The challenge runs throughout February (all 29 days)

with thanks to F0xh0les as I copied and pasted! 

abundant1972

Hi grandmanerd. Can i join February please? I have so much going on at the moment (why I slipped off the face of the Earth in January) with work, HR meetings, job changes, financial challenges due to time off work. Feeling overwhelmed and trying to take it day by day. February forgiveness sounds perfect for me right now. I am not promising I will post daily but just being in the gang helps immensely. I'll be more of a backseat cheerleader haha. Come end of February hopefully there will be some movement into a shiny new phase of my life and this will be all behind me. Hugs and love everyone xxx  

Sweetbriarrose

Can I join please.

I’ve followed for years and I’m up for the challenge and I’ll try to post regularly.

Thank you 

ldee2111

Budgets set, transfers done, debits have started leaving.

REST will be a priority this month after a long and busy January. 

The crusade to mortgage freedom continues as does the continuously itchy feet to travel. Will keep striving to live a frugal but fun, fulfilling, and mortgage free life! 

Alot can be ACHIEVED in five minutes! So true - I must remember this when feeling overwhelmed with work and housework! I’m sticking up a post-it with this message! 

Will aim for 15 NSD. And to get outside more this month.

Will try to do better at this thing called life and be grateful I still have one thanks to NHS! 

cuddlymarm

Hi guys
Happy February guys
Today has been a spendy, but not madly spendy. I walked one way to town and caught the tram back saving £3.40 and getting exercise. Also I managed to find a handbag for the wedding we’ve got coming up from a  CS. I still need a fascinator but I think I’m going to have to buy new 😳
That’s my energy used up so I’ve done a few small jobs with coffee and a sit down between them.
Mince is in the slow cooker which I’ll add dumplings to later and just do frozen veg.
I’ve already paid a big chunk of the credit card and sent the wedding and birthday money needed for this month. 

Now for a nanny nap.

Toni'sfriend

Hello Everyone. It's nice to see all the "old" faces and so many new ones.

Four week budget done. Should really be tomorrow but it's all done now. I can't promise a lot of NSDs as I'm using this month to get out and about before I'll be a bit restricted in March.

So, starting today I've started following the physio's advice. No better time to start than the beginning of the month. Walked to the shops and back. It's only a mile but as she said to me every little bit of activity will help. And by activity, she didn't mean hitting to gym. Just keeping on moving. I thought of you, Grandmanerd, all the time she was talking to me. She said "Do what you can, divide it into small pieces and have a little rest in between if you need to."

Bedding changed, washing and ironing done, general tidying, etc. And, yes, you can do a lot in five minutes when you put your mind to it and there is always something to be grateful for and someone to be grateful to. Definitely the NHS, Idee.

Hope you have all had a good first day. xxx

laura_lau

Today I sorted a major frog with my work health insurance. They sent the paperwork at my old address years ago with the wrong activation codes and I never managed to activate the app and the logins, and I need that as the first step if I need to be referred to specialists etc. I did lots of digging in the past few months and this morning I finally found the documents I needed in the company intranet (hurray!) and finally managed to login! I booked a consultation for this afternoon, and glad I did as no referral was needed. I am counting this as the "do one thing you've been postponing for a long time" for this week. I also logged in for my annual check of the pension, and the outlook is a bit depressing, so I need to do some research to see if it's the case for me to switch to a different pension fund. These things scare me a lot, so it's another big frog I need to take care of. No urgency there, though. I am counting this into my "plan and budget for the (long term) future, though!

Slightly busy at work, as the beginning of the month is reports time for me, and I'm a bit behind today, so I'll have to finish it tomorrow. I don't want to work late anymore in February, as I have done it a little bit too often in the last few months.

Plan for the rest of the day: go for a long walk with the dog, practice line dancing for ten minutes (yesterday we have done a couple of dances that were quite complicated and I want to do better), fold and put away the dry bedsheets, before I settle down for the evening with my crocheting.

I also need do a meal plan for next week, as tomorrow I want to do the food shopping, but it depends if I will be inspired, otherwise I will do it tomorrow morning.

Today I am grateful for

1. the beautiful sunset
2. sun shining on all windows in the flat for the whole day, making it quite balmy without the heating being on once (yet)
3. healthy tasty lunch

Today was NSD #1!

DrCarrie

Thank you for assigning me #24 @grandmanerd and many congratulations on your retirement!

Hi all...

Spend free day #1 off to a flying start!

Grateful for: finishing all my online training, beans and sausages for tea, and dark chocolate on Dark Chocolate Day!

I may yet have a cup of cocoa. 

Lots of thinking going on. Work stuff, house stuff, money stuff - normal stuff!