Ninja Saving Turtles Challenge August 2025

grandmanerd

Ninja Saving Turtles Challenge AUGUST 2025

Welcome to the NSJ Challenge for August. We're a very supportive and friendly group who come together each month to work on our debts or to save for our future. We have a holistic outlook so we aim to look after our mental and physical health, are kind to everyone and love to have fun (getting out of debt can be a long and arduous journey). No turtle gets left behind, so if you've been following us, jump in and test the water.

AUGUST 2025

A    ALWAYS be prepared. Pay to your debt or savings first, live on what is left.  Set your budgets at the start of the month (extra days because the challenge is late). Do a food audit and plan your meals around it. Look at the month ahead and identify any extra expenditure. Plan which days you will spend on - AIM for 15 NSD (medical expenditure, travel expenditure taken from your budget and yellow sticker shopping will not lose you an NSD.

U     USE this month to plan ahead. You may want to look at the remainder of the year or focus on a shorter period, choose to look at everything or select specific goals or areas of your life. Identify what you want to happen and formulate a plan. Where possible, think of things that will simplify your life and make it easier to succeed / achieve your goals. If you have a lot going on, you may find it helpful to jot everything down and then subdivide into categories instead of carrying it all around in your head.

G      GET HEALTHY. Get moving (I've been doing apple's balancing on one leg whilst brushing my teeth - I have to hold onto the sink with my free hand). Get outside - new research says being in a forest gives great benefits to your immune system. Get some greens (other colours of the rainbow are available)

U      UNDERSTAND Your triggers (stolen from apple).  What upsets you, makes you want to give up/ scream. Think of ways to avoid triggers, develop alternative solutions, look after yourself (give yourself space and/or time). 

S      SIMPLIFY. What's bugging you - a room of doom, running to catch up all the time, systems that just aren't working. Adopt a 'LESS is MORE' mindset - declutter, simplify, stack up jobs (well I'm already in the shower room, I might as well get in now and I can scroll through emails whilst drying off and eating breakfast) 

T     TERRIBLE things are happening in the world. Floods and famine, vulnerable people suffering. Take action, even if it's only signing a petition. Donate if you can - money, time or goods. But don't let the suffering drag you down, you need to fight it. Concentrate on the here and now, turn off the tv, ground yourself in the small everyday pleasures. End the day by listing 3 things you are grateful for (share them or keep them private)

Who is brave enough to take on the turtle challenge? Sign up below.

 

grandmanerd

Reserved for Contenders
1    grandmanerd
2    weenancyinamerica
3    beanielou
4    KajiKita   
5    DawnW
6    applemuncher
7
8
9
19
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18  ThriftyTaylor
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...
55  f0xh0les

beanielou

Me please. Number 3 please. 

Thanks for running this @grandmanerd. 

weenancyinAmerica

This is my birthday month. The last month I will be taking care of my roommate, I hope. And I may be having surgery in September, so I have to really get things done this month. Can you please sign me up again, thank you?

KajiKita

This looks like a really good challenge this month with a lot of areas I have already identified that I want to work on. Going out shortly but will come back with some more solidly stated intentions later. 

KK 

PS - a number would be nice but am happy to be given whatever 😊

DawnW

Yes please @grandmanerd

apple_muncher

Count me in, please! Love the challenge 

grandmanerd

Friday 1st August 2025

What if the reason you're not functioning at your best isn't that you're failing, but that life is really hard for you just now? Release the pressure to be perfect. You're probably doing better than you think
(Tiny Buddha)

Progress not perfection. If you can't do the whole task can you do some - a half, just 10%. Once you start, you may manage more than you thought you could, but even 10% is better than the place you started. (grandmanerd)

Action comes before Motivation (Clutter Fairy podcast)
You won't always feel like doing something. Some of us sometimes don't feel like doing anything. Starting on a small manageable task, even an insignificant one, may give you the motivation to continue. If it doesn't, maybe your body genuinely needs to rest. (more from Clutter Fairy later - there's a whole episode on applying positive thinking to clutter clearing.

grandmanerd

My life is in total chaos. Better than it was but I definitely don't feel in charge. Today's mission -To find my PURSE. I paid Mrs Builder 2 weeks ago (had to do a search then but knew where it was just needed to pinpoint the exact spot. I think I left it out because DS3 had ordered the toilet rolls for me and I wanted to repay him (he's only been coming down late on to collect food and feed the chinchillas). So I knew vaguely where my purse was and have been feeling around (down the side of the couch - 2+ cushions deep and then the bit that goes into the couch) ever since.

A bit more urgency has entered - I need to pay a bill and order a repeat prescription. I can pay the bill in cash (cash is in my purse) or by phone (card is in my purse). I could get the bus and go to the chemist to order the prescription items but my bus pass is in the purse. So I did a serious search on Wednesday (to pay Mrs Builder) and again since. I've excavated the couch and still not found it. I will try again and explore other places it might be. Yesterday I did a pill audit and have 2 weeks worth of everything so can order next week.

Following on from the 2 month saga of misplacing my phone I'm very aware of how vulnerable I feel when I can't access my purse, phone and bank account or having internet/ laptop problems. The bank compounded my problems by insisting that I verified nearly all purchases despite using the chip machine, but they were sending the code to the missing phone.

WRITING A LIST
Started writing yesterday and am on page 4. A mixture of everyday stuff (which doesn't get done every day), so repeat often and carry over the 'not enough hours in the day stuff' and the 'accumulated when I was too sick to get further than the shower room' stuff, big projects, emerging stuff as I continue to get stuff out of the front room and some horrible FROGS which have been lurking for way too long (pushed aside by immediate needs of feeding myself, having clean clothes to wear and trying to tackle urgent stuff). I'm just firefighting really - trying to put the fire out but not sorting the cause of the fire.

FROM MY LIST
A selection of items with some ideas about how to tackle them.

1)    FOOD WASTE  I'm buying too much, especially fresh stuff. I'm not getting it all put away. My cooking plans are too ambitious (pasta cooked to make pasta salad/ pasta bake/ cauliflower cheese) and I run out of steam before they are all done). I've also made stuff and some has gone off before I finished it because I didn't have the energy to decant it and put it in the fridge (only a problem since it got hotter).
Plan
Buy less fresh, more frozen veg (and berries)
SIMPLIFY meals - 2 boiled eggs, 2 apples with a finger of cheese, baked beans, toast
Cook only one 'big' (multi portion) meal a week
Pick a couple of favourite salad combinations and only buy those ingredients
STOP being seduced by berries - they go off too quickly (will have home grown by next year)
BE PREPARED Water bottles refilled and in the fridge, snack veg chopped and in the fridge (also making it easier to do the right thing than the wrong thing)
Try to tackle veg prep as food comes in the house (pick a good delivery day for this)

2)    CRAFT SUPPLIES AND WIPs
i have found 2 pieces of embroidery that only need a little work to be complete. I will try to complete them this month. There is another set of pieces I need to work on (patterns lost so need to make it up as I go along). Complete asap whilst natural daylight is strong.
I need to do a review of my craft items and let some of it go (struggling with embroidery, reduced gradually over the years and adapted what I do). I will look through the remaining drawers this month. I'm not sure I am ready to let go but will review this again before the end of the year 

3)    MUM'S ESTATE Still some items outstanding. I will put the bills I've paid into order and file them this month (will need to add a couple that my brother has paid later). Tackle the FROGS

4)    INTERNET ACCESS Due to laptop changes and internet companies, I've lost contact with several organisations (and some embroidery patterns). Will attempt to retrieve these this month. Think about updating my computer knowledge and skills - schedule time. (Add Time Management to list)

5)    Completing tasks  Big problem because of my energy levels. Can only peg out 2 or 3 items at a time and a maximum 2 trips outside. Washing up, cooking, cleaning have similar challenges. Compounded by foot problems and days when I can't get further than the back door. When Mrs Builder came there were a few items from a previous wash load to go out (had done maybe 3/4), one load in the washer, pots and pans to be washed and put away (last time I'd at least washed everything up), bags of recycling to go out and 2 nearly full bags of rubbish. I did manage to 'mop' the shower room floor (but caught the bowl of water later so had to mop up). It looked very messy but it was easily fixed (by Mrs Builder). Need to get better at completing jobs (carry over to next day job list) Be kind.

****To Be Continued
Hate this couch, need a proper bed (DS3 seems uncertain of his plans and is tetchy about it)
Health - appointments, insoles and other foot problems, CPAP repair?

Today's Mission 
FIND MY PURSE (or find alternative solution to bill payment)

Grateful for Clarity of thinking, good books, good drama series

DawnW

NSD #1 for me today, good start, but I always lose track 

@grandmanerd if DS3 wants the couch, he can take it upstairs with him so that you can have a proper bed? You deserve somewhere comfortable to sleep!

Work today and am shattered. OH is cooking the dinner (simple, mostly salad and already cooked stuff).

I will need to do some watering later. It is so dry!  Neighboring towns all had a big storm yesterday with lots of rain, but we only had a bit of drizzle. And nothing significant is forecasrt for the foreseeable future.

I have put a pile of cucumbers out on the front wall free to take. It remains to be seen if they get taken though, as they are curly, a bit prickly, and not much like supermarket cucumbers with their plastic coatings 

Need some, but not much, shopping tomorrow. like you @grandmanerd I have been buying too much. I even had to throw a couple of things away last week when OH was away, which is crazy. I hate waste!

Grateful today that work is over for another week, and OH and the dog being back from their animal sitting gig.

KajiKita

Did you find your purse @grandmanerd?

So, my August (and rest of year):

- I definitely need a food audit, the freezers are stuffed and disorganised. Need to get on top of this and also plan what I will eat whilst Mr KK is away at shows a couple of weekends this month. Might be eating down things, transforming things (strawberries from last summer!) or maybe a new recipe or two 😊
It would be good if we could defrost at least two of them. 

- I’m aiming for 20 NSDs this month. Should be achievable as I am back in work from Monday. 

- Rest of year: 
## Clear down the office and work out what actually should be in there for what I want to use it for …
## Start using office for crafting e.g. continue with the needle felling that I tried this week and I loved! 😊
## Snug - clear down sideboard and chair in there is accumulated ‘stuff’
## Ask gardener to come back and sort out my compost heaps so I know how much I have (or don’t) for mulching the veg beds (September / October)
## Order tulips (September)
## Order sterile mulch for ornamental beds (September)  - start weeding and  mulching beds
## When Mr KK drains down engine blocks of his historic vehicles (means the season is finished) (October) order two tonne bags of chipped bark, start moving bark to paths etc. 
## Renew passports (November) 

- Health: keep going with healthier eating and stretching especially hamstrings and hips. Try red LED light on hip. 

- Triggers and Simplify are linked for me:
~~ Work; when I’m feeling overwhelmed, stop, take a break, walk around, then chunk it own and prioritise. 

~~ Home; this is mainly garden and house guilt, that I’m not ‘keeping up’ with where I think I should be …
- Reinstate Friday afternoon cleans - the house is empty and I feel I’m getting ahead and clearing the decks before my weekend starts, iyswim. 

- Forgive myself and be realistic - it’s a big garden! 😉🤷‍♀️ It’s neither a failing nor indulgent to spend money on help for big heavy jobs like sorting the compost heaps. 

Terrible things happening in the world - I have been really struggling with this of late so tbh I have just been avoiding all news about it …
- Start listing three gratitudes here each day for accountability. 

KK