22 Mar 2015

A question about : Sat 20th & Sun 21st July

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 title=Top

Morning DFW peeps! Hope you are all well and enjoying the sunshine. I certainly won't moan about the weather, but if it could rain overnight a few times and refill the water butt the allotment would really appreciate it!

I was pleased with myself yesterday. I parked in a free car park near DGD's school and walked the twenty minutes into town. I drank my bottle of (home refilled) water on the way in, but luckily a couple of cafes have signed up as refilling stations so just popped in and they refilled my bottle free of charge. Free car parking, free exercise and free water title=Jumping

The weekend list looks like this:
Checked banking
Checked for surveys
Today's breakfast, lunch and dinner from stores
Update accounts with yesterday's spends
Rejig my spends spreadsheet so I can extract more information
Work on a couple of orders
Visit a friend later but use DH's car therefore his diesel title=Wink
Visit DS2 tomorrow and he'll cook dinner
Drive past KFC on the way home and not be tempted to stop off!

Foxgloves - I've made some samples of the horse bibs and they have gone off to the printer for numbers to be put on them. Then they have to go through some testing for durability and to see if the ink is waterproof and finally I'll be told when to start producing them! It's definitely a long process title=Frown

Have a great weekend, catch up tomorrow evening
Stitchy x

Best answers:

  • The weekend list looks like this:
  • Check bank balances
  • Get product ready for the next free ebay weekend
  • Pick up parcel from post office
  • Take stuff in my car down to the skip!
  • Load more of the garden cuttings up and take to the skip
  • Blow dry hair
  • Food shopping ready for pack lunches next week
  • Ironing
  • Studying
  • Cut up my last credit card .. I.CAN.DO.THIS!
  • Morning DFW-Jedis,
    Thanks for the starter Stitchy and welcome D Diva.
    The list:
    Harvest some radishes. Probably need to blanch and freeze some, we've got tonnes!
    Read paper online. Find your favourite online paper at the bottom of this page. (Link)
    No spend day.
    Try my hand at cheese making. I'll let you know how it goes.
    Soak stain out of t-shirt and tablecloth straight away to avoid ruination!
    Discuss our non-existent tv reception problem with OH.
    Harvest onions and garlic from garden for tonight's chilli.
    Freebies:
    Free yogurt (Link)
    Free Amazon Ј1 credit (Link)
    Free Logic oral gel for pets (Link)
    Offers:
    Free lunchbox with cheese purchase (Link)
    Reduced price Daz (Link)
    Today's newspaper deals (Link)
  • Morning all,
    Thanks for starting us off Stitchy.
    Today's plan:-
  • Food from stores
  • Dinner from meal plan - HM Curry
  • Log calories & exercise on free apps
  • Check postcode lottery & birthday bingo
  • Heating off
  • Check online banking
  • Check for new mystery shopping opportunities
  • Enter some comps
  • Do some surveys
  • Declutter & flylady
  • DH doing overtime today
  • Check fleabay, items ending today!
  • Check emails to see if the council have replied.
  • Check emails for 0range unlock code - was really unimpressed with them last night as I was told the complete opposite to what I was told last time we rung them, & they will not offer compensation unless it is not here by the 25th. For Ј20 I'd expect better service.
  • Go to second job tonight, drive not drink
  • Hope everyone is ok & has a great, MSE day x

  • Morning everyone. For a while now I have been saving & earning little bit here and there but I have to admit my lightbulb moment has happened this morning.
    I got paid yesterday and had Ј300 in my account however this morning DH woke me up by telling me the account was empty and he was unable to get the Ј10 that I had asked him to get me before heading to work. Luckily I have some money in savings account so I am not totally skint but it has given me the shock that I needed.
    My initial reaction this morning was fraud but no it was a case of me not being careful enough with my money so things have to change from today. Enough of my ranting its time for me to get a grip on finances and get debt paid off and get my life in order generally.
    Today is day 1 on the road to DFW happiness.
  • Run through the budget tool and face the reality of money problemsDone
  • Sort paperwork for MSing work that I currently have and look for more MSing workDone
  • Complete MSing work that is in for todayDone
  • Work out budgets for the rest of 2013Done, but want to double check a couple of things
  • Do a meal plan for AugustDone
  • Look on forum for ideas of increasing online income and make a list of things to doWork in Progress
  • Check ebay in the hope that some items are selling as I currently have some things listedDone, Got a couple of sales
  • Quick showerDone
  • Spend half an hour ironing
  • Read through money makeover guide and make a list of things that I need to doDone
  • Start a spending diary so that I can keep a check on spendingDone
  • Speak to DH regarding the current situation and get him on boardDone, I think he is on board so easier than I thought
  • Do some course work
  • Do a general tidy around the houseDone
  • Look into car insurance as its due 25thDone, despite all the research it worked out cheaper renewing directly with existing company
  • Hi Everyone,
    Positive money-saving activity today:
    *Watered all the veg before the temperature heats up again.
    *Fed beets, courgettes & peas with home-made comfrey & nettle fertilizer.....possibly the stinkiest job in the world? (Tho to be fair have never been at the business end of a nappy.....)
    *Meals as per July meal plans.
    *Posted competition entry.
    *Entered a prize draw.
    *Did surveys.
    *Claimed another Ј30 Debenhams giftcard from Toluna Surveys. (That will make a total of Ј120's worth for some new warm winter clothes, as everything I have is now too big).
    *Big postal survey arrived for mr f from Kantar media. He's getting Ј5 for the initial phone survey & will get Ј10 for completing this one.
    *Continue with setting up piggy-banking system to help with those areas which don't appear officially on our budget. Spoke to mr f last night & we both think it will be a good idea. We tweaked the figures & decided the categories we need are 1)Car maintenance 2)Clothes 3)Holidays
    4)Entertainment/Leisure 5)Presents 6)Household maintenance. So today, I'll have another run through the proposed figures & if it all adds up, I'll create some piggy envelopes. I've got some nice bright pink shiny paper so might actually make piggies to stick on the front.....then I can't ignore them.
    *Knit! Because I need to get my cushion finished asap so that I can make a start on knitting for gifts for December C-word (1 jumper, 2 pairs of socks, 2 bags).
    Have a good weekend, everyone.
    @stitchy - It does sound complicated with those bibs, but hope it works out & you get the commission. I sold quite a few pairs of hand knitted men's socks (nice hippyfied colours!) last year towards December time, but haven't made any to sell this year. I do get a reasonable price for them, but it doesn't really compensate for the knitting time. At least socks are easy & I can knit & watch tv at the same time!
    @Minnie - That sounds like it was quite a shock this morning. You sound like you're already getting a plan together. It always amazes me how big a list you get through in a day, & your new baby can't be all that far away now. Don't beat yourself up, everyone's accounting gets away from them sometimes. Just learn from it, & move on, that's all you can do. From personal experience, I can say that it is a lot easier once partner is on board too......it took a little while here, at first, but it did happen.
    Cheers everyone,
    foxgloves x
  • Hello all!!! We didn't have internet for a month so am only just catching up on everything. Not been a great MSE month due to not being able to rent out OH's house (or sell it) and obv. lots of extra costs due to moving!!! However, now we are in, we have all the important things so it's a case of saving and paying off. I have the school hols so already have 2 extra jobs lined up in order to make a big dent in debts.
    This weekend:
    -Two loads of washing air drying outside
    -Clean/tidy/declutter for ebay
    -make meal plan based on what we have in cupboards
    -check accounts
    -any surveys that come up
    -pay in cheques for OH
    -Just done a mystery shop over phone
    -Awaiting first elec bill, once that's sorted we can switch via Q-Co!
    -Wedmin
    -Chase estate agents
    Think that's it, eek!
    Have a fab day y'all xx
  • Hey everyone!!
    So, my weekend looks something like this:
    1. Check online banking - skimmed a little into savings!
    2. Pop into bank and pay in cheques to OH's account
    3. Make fruit & marshmallow kebabs for D-MIL's birthday instead of buying cake!
    4. Stash supplies bought by Paps at Home Bargains yesterday! Hooray for grandparents!!
    5. 2x NSD's
    6. OH competing in a triathalon in Cheltenham this pm - free entertainment!!
    7. Ironing, tidying and generally clean the house.
    8. Clean car, treat leather seats and check tyre pressures at work tomorrow (as long as it stays quiet!!)
    9. Still trying to find a HSBC with coin machine so I don't have to pay Coinstar fee - may have to give up on this!!
    10. Read another chapter of my Sri Lanka guidebook bought by OH to clue up on what we want to see on trip of a lifetime!!
    11. Oh, and do some more adpoints!
    That'll do... Rest of today will be spent enjoying the sunshine before another long set of shifts in work start tomorrow!! Boo!
    Hope everyone is ok! Have a great MSE'ing weekend!!
  • Afternoon people.
    Today I:
    * have checked bank balance... still horrific and counting days until pay day (Thursday)
    * will be going to the supermarket late in the evening and will be sticking to the small list
    * will be going to the gym and using their showering facilities afterwards
    * will be trying to use the steamer again today (in order for bathroom to be sparkly clean for when I show potential lodgers around). Tried it last night and I didn't have it set up properly... the fitting flew off the end of the machine thing and scared me half to death with the sound!!)
    * will be trying to complete the application form
    CG
  • Still at it.....have now got 6 piggy banking envelopes ready, all with shiny pink piggies on the front! Also decided to confront a silly fear.....online bank transfers!! Last year, I made a horrendous error doing an online transfer & ended up putting Ј3,000 into a complete stranger's bank account. I didn't realise till the next day. Thankfully it was quickly sorted out (the member of staff at Co-op Bank customer services was fantastic) but it was down to a really stupid basic error on my part & I haven't used transfers since, despite the fact that it would be helpful to do them. This afternoon, I set up our savings account as a beneficiary & paid in an experimental......Ј1. Ha!! Success! Ј1 transferred! Fear gone! Car fund an entire massive Ј1 richer, lol x
  • @Foxgloves - I always do experimental transfers too! Eek, that must have been so scary! I read about someone who transferred into savings 1000 each month for 3 years, but it turned out that she hadn't realized it was someone else's account - and they spent it all that really gave me the fear
  • Hi everyone,
    My DFW plans for the weekend:
    *meals from stores
    *check a/cs and move around money
    *work
    *shopping list and weekly shop [done]
    *check freebies [done]
    *draw up monthly budget
    *ebay/gumtree items [done]
    Have a super weekend
  • Hi all
    Haven't been around for ages but figured it would be good to start posting again!! Hope you're all OK.
    Yesterday I spent Ј20 on drinks for a party, Ј2.50 on bread. So not entirely a LSD but we did get Ј3.77 from the solar panels..so that offset it a bit. Still desperately trying to work out what I can sensibly put against the debts this month. Have already made a big repayment on Monday and just counting the days until I can do more.
    Today we will raid the allotment for salad and fruit, take HM cookies to share at a friends and have a NSD..whoop, whoop!
    Brizzle x
  • Good morning everyone, Well day 1 on the DFW road went reasonably well and I managed to get almost everything done off my list. I'm sitting writing this whilst watching repeats of superscrimpers.
    Plans for day 2
  • Check bank account and write payments in spend diary
  • Look through pockets, bags and purse for receipts and write payments in spend diary - I am going to track where I can make savings
  • Pick up DM, as she is going to stay overnight to babysit for me tomorrow, as I have a hospital appointment
  • Quick shower
  • Double check some of the figures in the budget and change where required
  • Have a NSD
  • Look for more ideas on increasing income
  • Do MSing work that is in for today
  • Do 3 loads of washing and hang outsideGot 1 load done
  • Make roast for the dinner and make some cakes whilst the oven is on
  • Make some banana bread
  • Package up items that have sold on ebay ready for posting tomorrow
  • Check Mr A order - scan & put away
  • Look for an old folder that I can use for storing debt related paperwork
  • Look on freebies thread
  • Water plants
  • Feed animals and check for eggs
  • Find old mobiles that are lying around the house and check the value for them then decide either to sell or bin
  • Make a to do list for next week
  • HHI
  • Do some course work
  • Check SuperScrimpers website for ideas
  • Submit s&s information
  • Hi everyone,
    Today's plan:-
  • Food from stores - cooked an extra couple of eggs this morning as they'll keep in the fridge for tomorrow's brekkie, 10mins worth of gas saved
  • Dinner from meal plan - Roast Gammon, leftovers will be used for lunches next week with salad
  • Log calories & exercise on free apps
  • Check postcode lottery & birthday bingo
  • Heating off
  • Check online banking
  • Check for new mystery shopping opportunities
  • Enter some comps
  • Do some surveys
  • Declutter & flylady
  • DH doing overtime today, double time since it's a Sunday, wahey!
  • Check emails for 0range unlock code
  • Washing on eco setting using less than the recommended dose of washing liquid
  • Hang up to dry
  • Watch Superscrimpers for some ideas
  • Free kettlebell workout at home
  • Cut our pet's claws ourselves
  • Hope everyone is ok & has a great, MSE day x

  • Hi Gang!
    Quick update - completed my list... AND made a chocolate cake & 2x banana loaves for the boys in work from stores for tomorrow's early shift breakfast... They were tired and grumpy this morning!!
    Amazingly, when I checked the banking - the student loan company had paid back the money they owe me!! The ranting paid off!!
    Bonus - straight into the holiday fund!!
    So all in all, a good weekend - off to enjoy the last of the sunshine on a bike ride through the nature reserve!!
    Catch up tomorrow all!! x
  • Evening DFW-Jedis,
    Didn't really get going til 3pm s'afternoon. Oh well, it is the weekend and some folk making a lot of noise in the street in our usually quiet neighbourhood at 3am woke me:
    The list:
    Harvested radished from the garden to go with seafood salad.
    Today's entertainment: too hot to go out so watched two DVDs from the cupboard and will watch Top Gear through the BBC website. (Dish not currently receiving anything.) Read book I forgot I'd owned.
    Short showers.
    Plan the week ahead so as to minimise the stress.
    Dried washing outside.
  • Good Evening All
    stitchy - thanks for starting us off
    ally - was just watching Countryfile and thought if you and your OH when they announced that the photo competition closeds Friday 26th July - get you entries in quick (allowed 4 each)
    Hi to all the regulars and lurkers and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people.
    Todays little listy :
    Check Banks - Done
    Check swapits - Done
    Check www.freepostcodelottery.com - Done
    Ironing - Done (empty basket, almost unheard of lol)
    General Tidy up - Done
    Bake (Swedish Apple Cake - mmm) - Done
    Dismantled washer & put out for scrap collection - Done
    List 3DS & DS Games for sale for LO - Done
    Catch up on emails - In progress
    Surveys -
    Nectar Adpoints -
    Enter a few comps -
    Meals from stores - Done
    Update Food tracker - in progress
    Read Library Book/Knit - in progress
    Hope you have all had a great weekend, love to you all.
    C xx
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