NST January 2025: Freedom!

f0xh0les

Good morning and happy new year to all the lovely turtles, visible or lurkers.  2025 eh?  Well let's see how this one goes! 

abundant1972

Happy New Year Everyone!!! 🎆🎇

Sign me up please!!! Thank you Apple for running the thread. 

I am going to have a ponder over the challenge now and will get back on here later! Have signed up to a no food spend January challenge too, which ties in with what we try to do on here... Use up freezer/cupboard stores before buying anything new - only I'm allowed 5 staples that I can buy (e.g. bread milk etc). So I'm on rice pudding and peaches and frozen fish for the foreseeable future 😥😅 At least its not rice cakes this time!!! 

Wishing us all a Fantastic 2025 filled with Good Health 💪🏻 Abundance 🌈💰 Love 💖 and Happiness 😊🌞 xxx 

ldee2111

Happy New Year fellow tremendous tough-shelled turtles. 

Freedom. What came to your mind first when you read this title? 

Honestly? Mel Gibson in Braveheart 🤣

Seriously, for me 2025 is all about the mortgage FREEEDOM! ⚔️

Without further ado:

Fashionista!

I’m quite good at managing my wardrobe but that’s because I’m a simple t-shirt, jeans and jumper kind of girl... not a fashionista in the slightest. I have three jumpers lined up to list on V!ntD if the three I ordered on Boxing Day fit me and look good. 

Revolutionary! Rebellious! Resourceful! Refuse to do things you don’t want to do. 

Another Re for me is RESIST… overthinking, overspending, and overeating! 

Evolutionary! Keep evolving, keep changing, keep learning.

I’m considering applying for a job that popped up on a social media platform … I wasn’t actively looking but when I saw it, it caught my interest. After a decade in my current role, maybe it’s time for a new challenge… I have to admit that I feel quite nervous about it. 

Eat well for the body you want! Nourish yourself, body and soul. Love yourself.

This year I turn 40, and I’m getting a wee creak and hip click here and there. I also sometimes make weird ‘humph’ noises when I bend over. It’s time to ramp up on looking after myself better. Eating well, moving more.

Do good to others! Donate time/money/stuff. And dance to the music (see M)

Indeed to the good deeds 👍🏻

Old-fashioned ways have a lot to be said in their favour. Have a gander at the board on the forum to get some ideas.

They certainly do. I picked up lots of things from both of my grandmothers without even knowing it at the time. I wish they were alive today to have deeper conversations with them, but also for them to see how they have influenced me. I think they would be proud. 

Music! Play an instrument! Sing in the shower! Dance! Enjoy the rhythm/beat/lyrics.

I don’t even need instructed to do this. My kitchen is my dance hall, my performance platform… thank goodness the back of my house is at the top of a hill and no one can see in my window! 🤫👀

non-negotiables:

No spend days – NSDs – 14 please. 

I think I have got as far as 14 before so if I’ve done it once I can do it again!

Elephant in the room. What is that thing that you avoid tackling? At east acknowledge it and face it. If possible, write it down and aim to nibble at it this month.

Understanding pensions and preparing for that time. I am in the pension scheme at work, but I think I should be doing more. 

Wish list. What do you want from the year ahead?

Financially: Pay off the mortgage, save a fully funded emergency fund, and save for OH’s long-longed-for man-cave (apparently it’s called a garden room). 

Personally: I want to get some healthier habits in my life. 

BUDGET

There are quite a few direct debits for services going up in the next month or two. I need to rejig our budget to take these into account.

apple_muncher

I like this quote cos although we get a fresh start every month with the turtle challenges, it is the accumulation of all we have lived through that brings wisdom. 1/1/25 won't magically make everything we want happen, but it is another opportunity to take a deep breath and smile at the world.

DawnW

Happy New Year everyone

Foul weather here today, windy and heavy rain. And supposed to be very cold tomorrow just in time for me to return to work in an unheated shop Thermals definitely called for!

Today will be NSD #1, as I will definitely not be going out anywhere to spend.

This morning OH and I cleaned the kitchen, including the top of our massive old range cooker and the inside of the fridge. Finished off some leftovers for lunch, and meals for the next couple of days will be based on what needs using up.

A bit more decluttering in progress, some fridge tidy /shelf box things can go. I decided I would prefer to use some brightly coloured plastic baskets that had taken up residence in the kitchen since I found them at a car boot sale a few months ago. They are easier to clean, I can get more in them and I like the cheery colours. I don't need both. I was going to put them on freecycle, but DD2 said she would like them, so she can take them next time she comes round, and I will have an additional small area of clear worktop   Come to think of it she can also take the large model cow and pig that have taken up residence on the dining table. OH has repaired them for her. They are teaching aids from her classroom. Currently anyone walking past and looking through the front window has a good view of their rear ends

Tonight's dinner will be simple - I made a quiche yesterday and there is salad and maybe a shared jacket potato to go with it. Come to think of it, there is probably enough for another night as well. I need to use use up some lemons, so I will make something for dessert. Again, enough for two or three days.

laura_lau

Hello fellow turtles! Hope you all had a good first day of the year. Mine was lovely, and still is, as there’s still quite a bit of day to go through! 

Last night my plane was very punctual, departed early and landed early, the marvels of travelling the last night of the year, I believe! Landing was terrible, in all these years flying and having experienced lots of turbulence, landing in such high winds wasn’t fun at all. I must admit I got scared, but it all went well! Came home and had a very warm welcome from OH, D(S)S and The Puppy. While I was queuing at passport control (my chip stopped working in April, but luckily this year I have to renew it anyway, so hopefully it will start working again after that) I was messaging with a friend from line dancing and crochet club who lives with her dog just in the road behind me, and I ended up inviting her for lunch today. We usually celebrate New Year’s Day with a big lunch in Italy (any excuse really) so I always bring a cotechino from the butcher (it’s a fresh salami which is boiled for a few hours and eaten hot), polenta and then we eat them with lentils and some Gorgonzola in the polenta. We had a lovely day and she went back home not long ago. It was really nice and relaxed, I’m very happy she came. After that I’ve played a new boarding game I got for DS which is really addictive, so we might continue later. OH declared he’s too old to play and needs a nap to digest lunch (he’s 42, so his excuse is not really valid, so we will wake him up soon). DS also asked me if I can show him again how to knit (he did ask me when he was 10 and made a cowl for his mum) but now he wants to try and make a blanket for himself. I can’t find the wool which would be perfect for him, I must have hidden it somewhere when i was furiously tidying and organising before Christmas, but I can’t think where it is. 

Next to do today: clean the kitchen and load the dishwasher, make a tea to aid digestion and find the wool. Today is the first NSD of the year. 

I’m very grateful for new friends, for being back in my little flat with my family, for having picked up that boarding game which we are loving. 

I will come back with the plans for the month tomorrow.

ldee2111

We are on our last night staying at the family caravan and we went to the on-site pub/restaurant for dinner. So no NSD today. 

We’ve had a very relaxing start to this year, spending some time on a very windy beach to blow away the cobwebs. 

Home tomorrow and I’ll start getting the house back in some sort of order. 

Grateful today for a refreshing day enjoying nature and quality time with my family. 

apple_muncher

Today I am grateful for a little run before the really grotty weather arrived, for scrambled eggs and smoked salmon for breakfast, for cracking on with some sewing, for listening to Pip play his ukulele.

abundant1972

Good Evening 🌒

Budget all done - and am trying my 'pay yourself for good habits' thing again. Basically - I earn money from my allowance by doing things like walking, mindfulness and the gym. If I do nothing I have no funds the following week. I have spiced it up a bit by giving myself a chance to earn a bonus (£15) if I complete all my targets and could win double or triple amounts for an activity (I pull a marble out a pot for each activity and there are special ones in there!). Talk about complicated... but - so far this week I am on track!!! ⭐

On to this month's challenge:

Fashionista! I will add this to my to-do list for this week. I know I have some stuff that I never ever wear and could be donated or sold off cheaply. I like the 33 items in 3 months idea 

Revolutionary! Rebellious! Resourceful! I am very good at saying NO these days 😅

Evolutionary! I start a new job in April hopefully so that will keep my learning quota up 

Eat well for the body you want! After using up my food supplies (most are healthy) I plan to re-design my meal plan

Do good to others! Other than charity donation, I can look at giving to a food bank too

Old-fashioned ways - is there a link to this Apple?

Music! I sing a LOT haha

Non-negotiables:

No spend days – NSDs : Goal 14

Elephant in the room. Preparing for my new job in April... I should  be reading round and I should be scheduling in some dates for training. I will get on it this month 

Wish list. What do you want from the year ahead? For me - (i) to put my old hideous job and manager behind me and lay all the stress and turmoil they have brought me to rest finally (ii) to embrace life again after surgery and get my fitness back (iii) to become debt free this year. 

Today I am grateful for:

1) My local park and nature walk

2) Food in my cupboards/fridge/freezer

3) My little apartment and sanctuary

Today = NSD number 01

Have a lovely evening folks!!!

Thrifty_Taylor

NSD#1

So I'm going to be the big 5-0 at the end of the year. I too am getting creaky & stiff in my joints. One of my aims for this year is to get fitter, if I manage to tone up too, that would be a bonus!

Yoga routine was done first thing, followed by a windy snow showery walk with DH & DS1(with a short time on a beach) after breakfast. We then came homes to a warm fire & soup for dinner.

Washed the dishes & scrubbed the sink, then did some of my jigsaw.

After tea I put money in my sinking funds & looked at income/outgoings for the year ahead. Hopefully I should be able to save some more towards our extension fund.

Been thinking of the things that make me happy, & doing them more often. Today these have been walking, doing my jigsaw & knitting/crafting.

Grateful for getting outside after being cooped up for 2 stormy days, that the water is slowly draining away from our flooded garden (from all the rain), messages from friends & family