What small DFW things will you do w/c 7th January 2019?

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allydowd
allydowd Posts: 4,911 Forumite
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in Debt-free wannabe
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:
Debt-free day: 8th May 2015 The Joy Account: £10 "Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck," Dalai Llama
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  • allydowd
    allydowd Posts: 4,911 Forumite
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    MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:
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    If any of the links are broken, let me know.
    Debt-free day: 8th May 2015 The Joy Account: £10 "Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck," Dalai Llama
  • allydowd
    allydowd Posts: 4,911 Forumite
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    edited 8 January 2019 at 12:41AM
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    Hi January Joy-Seekers,

     Morning!:coffee: Lovely day off but I can't sleep :o.


    Debt-Free-Nillionaire Continuity Plan Year Four:

    * Check online banking. Done.

    * Continue my new Challenge 500 miles challenge. I am going to travel 500 miles for free before the end of 2019: walking, hiking, climbing, cycling, running and swimming. (There is a charge to use the local pool but I will offset the cost in other ways so there is 'no charge'.) Will cycle, run, swim and sauna later. Done in 40mph winds. Got a free wind and waves facial cycling down the prom. :p DW bought a discount card for £5.50 for the local pool and sauna in March. It's paid for itself in discounts now. Had a very long shower there and refilled water bottles there too.
    * Work through pile of wee frog jobs.The pile is in the middle of the sitting room. I am certain to deal with them now as looking at them drives me mad. Did the biggest frog job.

    * Lunch is homemade curried butternut soup into which I have sneaked some veg that DW deems 'yuk'. :rotfl: Done. DW didn't notice. Ate some yoghurt that is one day 'out of date'. Didn't die.

    * Do my own nails. Done.

    * Give some more thought to my Personal Life Improvement Plan. Done.

    *Contemplate some eBay selling. Contemplated.

    * Triage wee freezer. Found some shrapnel to go into the meatball sauce for dinner. Made sauce from tomato, rocket, chilli pepper, carrot (shhh!), mushroom and chive. Froze another carrot for later.

    * Triage fridge and clean shelves. Done.
    “Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end.”
    Debt-free day: 8th May 2015 The Joy Account: £10 "Remember that sometimes not getting what you want is a wonderful stroke of luck," Dalai Llama
  • foxgloves
    foxgloves Posts: 11,118 Forumite
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    Morning Ally & all who follow.
    Rubbish night here too. Was awake between 1.30 & about 4.15. I am unable to nap in the day, so will just have to be tired! On today's list:
    *Resume tracking food & exercise. This always results in groceries lasting longer!
    *Make bread - all weighed out & rtg.
    *Rubber pork. Aiming for 2 further meals from it.
    *Update budgets & do banking.
    *Free fitness doing (hopefully) an hour of garden clearing.
    *Knit my jumper.
    *Make tomorrow's packed lunch.
    *Overnight laundry to hang on heated airer.
    Probably additional things as the day goes on, as I am going to be busy getting my routines back to normal.
    F x
    "For each of our actions there are only consequences" (James Lovelock)"For in the true nature of things......every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold & silver" (Martin Luther King Jnr)
  • determined_new_ms
    determined_new_ms Posts: 7,825 Forumite
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    edited 7 January 2019 at 8:54AM
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    Morning guys :D Back to school/normal routine for us today :( I'm off until tomorrow though....

    Not a lot of small things going to be going on today as I am now seriously using my time to develop my sewing. Today I will be doing a couple of lessons, finishing 2 projects, contacting a seamstress and asking to meet up as I'm looking for a mentor :D

    Other than that I will:

    * quick vacuum & polish throughout
    * load of washing
    * all meals from stores
    * go to the allotment for an hour
    * get stuff ready for work for the next 3 days
    * onepoll

    A friend of mine contacted me and suggested popping in for a coffee but he's been being flaky for the last 6 months so have low expectations that will actually happen.

    Happy Monday to you all! Shortie good luck with returning back to work today :D
    DF as at 30/12/16
    Womblng 2020:
    NSD Jan 2/18 YTD: 2
  • PurpleFairy26
    PurpleFairy26 Posts: 3,903 Forumite
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    Morning all :hello: back to the routine here today too, although I worked last week so it's not as much a shock to the system. Today's things:

    Wfh :j
    Check banking, made a PAD
    Use a huge BNS I roasted on Saturday whilst oven was on for some tea and probably a curry with leftovers for lunches
    Descale DW with a cleaner I found whilst clearing garage yesterday
    Portion last of the chicken, found some super small sandwich bags whilst sorting out that I have been using for these
    Haven't shopped for a week apart from milk. Will work out if I need to go today or can I last until Thursday when is my next chance to go
    Ys teacakes from freezer for snack
    Fill an old glass jar I found in garage with something pleasing to the eye so it can go on the side in the kitchen
    Paint a small section of kitchen wall that I fillered holes (made up word there) yesterday if I have time later
    Get ahead with work so the rest of the week feels better

    Have a good day all. Purps.
  • determined_new_ms
    determined_new_ms Posts: 7,825 Forumite
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    Not sure why I haven't shared these frugal wins over the last few days but I got an Accesorize purse the other day in the sales. RRP was £17 but it was on sale for 50p as the zip wasn't working. I felt pretty certain I could fix a broken zip (there are several things that can go wrong with zips and most things do not need a replacement ;) ) 7 mins of jiggling around and I have a new fully functioning purse :D

    The other thing is we are having a built in wardrobe put in our bedroom (very excited about this as current we have 1 built in wardrobe for all of us!) oh's df is going to help us but he is going to Brazil for 9 weeks and we were hoping to do this before he does.

    Well oh found the doors we want for £60 less than the cheapest we had found. Only fly in the ointment is they may not get here in the time before he goes. We figured we've been here 7 years an extra couple of months aren't going to cause us too much trouble!

    I love that he spent that time finding that for me (he's a lot less frugal than I am and would have gone for the £250 ones that we could get delivered in days)
    DF as at 30/12/16
    Womblng 2020:
    NSD Jan 2/18 YTD: 2
  • Baileys_Babe
    Baileys_Babe Posts: 5,587 Forumite
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    Thank you Ally for starting this weeks thread :A

    Today we are back to old shawls and cold porridge as my Grandfather used to say.

    Plans for today:
    Take shopping list with me
    Stick to list when shopping
    Take hot drink in thermal mug
    Use Mum's car, as she would like it to have a bit of a run, saving me fuel in my own car
    Make muesli, this tadpole will be a frog if I don't deal with it soon
    Home educate children, only expense today should be gymnastics
    Take drinks and snacks
    All food and drink from stores
    Turn off lights and appliances not in use
    PAD
    Record spending

    I would love to spend the day reading in front of the fire, don't think that is going to happen.
    Fashion on a ration 2024 66/66 coupons remaining
    80 coupons rolled over 0/80 coupons spent - using for secondhand purchases

    One     income, home educating family 
  • carrielovesfanta
    carrielovesfanta Posts: 2,978 Forumite
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    edited 8 January 2019 at 9:31AM
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    Morning folks!

    Thanks to Ally for starting us off

    I have oodles of thread to catch up on so my apologies but I want to get my list in because work a bit manic this morning.
    Whew! Up to date! There was a lot of excellent MSEing going on there!

    Looking forward to being back to normal tbh. This is my last 3 day week. From Sunday I will be back to 4 days - the first since the middle of November! I had so much leave to use up!

    Today's mission:
    • B/L/D from stores - done
    • Continue to eat cheese from mum's - done
    • Charge phone in work - done
    • Gym at lunchtime - done. Pull ups very hard as am half a stone heavier I think haha
    • Pick up Worcestershire sauce from B&M on the way home - must remember veg stock cubes and painkillers too. Plus onions if they have them.
    • Email LA with another pic of cistern as requested - done
    • Quick shower. Put bucket into shower and used water to flush loo. - done
    • Research new toothbrush and dehumidifier - done
    • Mild here so heating off - done
    • Crochet - must start updating my blog more regularly. - done
    • No alcohol - done
    Have a good one all

    clf x
    LBM 11/06/2010: DFD 30/04/2013
    Total repaid: £10,490.31
    Student loan repaid: 01/07/2019
    SAVINGS: £20,000
    Car final lump sum: £6113/£6113
  • 1LuckyLady
    1LuckyLady Posts: 1,206 Forumite
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    edited 7 January 2019 at 6:43PM
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    Morning all and thanks Ally for the new thread.

    Shortie I hope your first day in a new job goes well.
    :wave: to everyone :)

    Todays list
    * ys bread for ds1s egg on toast this morning :)
    * ds2 to free school breakfast club :)
    * gym session done and refilled water bottle there :) - must keep this up this week as my gym buddy away for two weeks and I find it harder to go on my own
    * run the dishwasher on the quick wash :) and empty :)
    * chase up plumber done
    * check banking and update spreadsheet :)
    * heating off until the kids get home (at the earliest) :)
    * make a chicken curry to use up some chicken from the weekend :)less chicken then I'd remembered as dh made todays sandwiches after I'd checked last night! ah well, chicken curry made using a biryani spice kit my dad had given me that was in the use up box :)
    * make families lunches for tomorrow - [STRIKE]use the chicken for this first and then whats left into the curry
    [/STRIKE]( Need to boil some eggs for this now done)
    * wash a load on the quick 30 degree wash :)
    * washing away off the radiators ready for ^ later :)
    * clean my iron - it got all gunked up last night when I was putting ds1s name labels on his new trousers done and used Dnms's paracetamol tip! I can't believe how easily it came clean, I thought I'd be scrubbing at it for ages :)
    * make a list of jobs for later in the week - take back trousers/library books/tip etc :)
    * make sure all sockets are off at the wall that can save us a little! eg microwaves/alarm clocks :)

    Thats my start, going to make a :coffee: and get the washer loaded.

    Take care all.
    ** stewed 4 apples with some berries from the freezer for a healthy dessert tonight
    ** rm survey done
    ** ordered repeat prescriptions online for the first time, much easier then having to keep re-dialing like we used to have to do with our old surgery
    ** ordered more sticky name labels for the kids school shoes /gym kit etc
    Sticking with the "Small things" thread to keep up us on the straight and narrow.
  • foxgloves
    foxgloves Posts: 11,118 Forumite
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    Hmmmm, where's this cold snap that mr f told me was imminent? I responded to this info by turning all the bedroom heaters up a notch, but the forecast continues to be mild & I had to take off my coat while I was outside sweeping the courtyard earlier. Will leave the extra blanket on our bed, but as you can imagine, the heaters have all been turned back down. Do I LOOK like I'm made of money? (as my parents used to say when as kids we left the landing light on constantly!)
    F
    "For each of our actions there are only consequences" (James Lovelock)"For in the true nature of things......every green tree is far more glorious than if it were made of gold & silver" (Martin Luther King Jnr)
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