Wednesday 17th September

A question about : Wednesday 17th September

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.

Best answers:

• MONEY MAKING AND SAVING SITES AS OFTEN MENTIONED IN THIS FORUM:
• A Girl Called Jack, cheap recipes ( Link )
• Benefits check-up ( Link )
• Birthday Bingo, daily free game ( Link )
• eBid ( Link )
• Freecycle ( Link )
• Free Postcode Lottery (Link)
• FreeStuff ( Link )
• FreeUKStuff ( Link )
• i-Say Surveys (Link)
• List of online newspapers. At bottom of the linked page. ( Link )
• MSE Boost Your Income page. Gateway to lots of money-making links. ( Link )
• MSE Abbreviations Explained ( Link )
• MSE Deals and Vouchers ( Link )
• MSE Wow Offers ( Link )
• My Supermarket ( Link )
• Nectar Points, AdPoints, Search Toolbar ( Link )
• OnePoll ( Link )
• Quidco ( Link )
• Reclaim PPI at no cost to yourself ( Link )
• SayNoTo0870 cheap phone number finder ( Link )
• Survey sites that pay for your opinions ( Link )
• Swagbucks ( Link )
• Swapit ( Link )
• Tesco Clubcard Free Movies and TV Shows Online ( Link ) Ends at the end of this month.
• Toluna ( Link )
• TopCashBack ( Link )
• Morning DFW-Jedis,
  Well, life goes on, as does the almost everlasting quest for solvency and sanity. The sun's almost shining this morning, I hope it lasts.
  The List
  Check online banking. Done. Something was weird so I called bank on their cheap number.
  Check mobile broadband and broadband remaining allowances.
  Do some financial planning with some money that arrived yesterday. This is gonna be a bit tricky as timescales are a bit tight. Then backup my Finances Spreadsheet.
  Pursue quest for a new, permanent, well-paid career.
  Set my bank's mobile text alerts so that it alerts me when my balance has gone over a certain amount so I know a certain amount owed to me has arrived. This service is available from Halifax, Bank of Scotland, RBS, NatWest and many other banks.
  Do Nectar AdPoints.
  Do i-Say surveys.
  Eagerly await the postie who owes me some free goodies!
  Read free library books and listen to free audio CD stories.
  Treat tiny bit of mould before it spreads.
  Enjoy flowers from the garden.
  Continue testing free deodorant.
  Offers:
  Parcel2Go are offering one free parcel delivery worth up to Ј10 (inc VAT) for new customers, or a Ј10 discount on orders over that amount. Use code TVFREE. (Link)
  Freebies:
  Free blood pressure check at some chemists across the UK. (Link) Or you can get it done at your GP.
  Well that's me for today. Good luck on your quests, Jedis.
• Hey Ally and hello to everyone else
  Well, I'm off work today so able to post
  Been a while since I've been around... Mainly it's because the 'big things' have been have been paling the small things into insignificance! Plus, all the small things seem quite natural to me now. Happy to report that my debt has reduced by Ј9725 so let's see if I can hit my Ј15k target in the next 7 months or so... Will be hard because I may have to sell a flat in negative equity.
  I have a flat that I rent out but the tenant has left so today and tomorrow is operation turnaround to get it back on the market. I'm thinking Ikea showroom, bijou executive pad, small but beautiful, worth Ј80k... positive thinking mes amis!
  Using up some fruit that's going off in a brekkie smoothy
  Having a night in with a movie or two
  Putting a silver coin or two in my terramundi - getting addictive!
  Marking papers for the professional body I'm a member of - got about Ј35 worth of papers still to mark
  Catch up soon my lovelies!
  xxx
• Good Morning All
  Hi to all of the regulars and a BIG welcome to all the newbies, this is a really FAB thread with so many lovely, caring, considerate and supportive people. Dont forget we also have a small things on Facebook, if anyone wishes to join
  Son back at home, yesterday was a real struggle trying to cart everything round school - school offered no help despite saying they would - they even asked son to see his head of year, he went to see her and she said what for? why? Todays activities:
  Report FlyTippers - Done
  Craft -
  Short walks with dog (we are dog sitting) -
  Continue "use it up campaign"
  List few bits for sale on FB -
  Check Banks -
  Check swapits -
  Packed lunch for DH & DS - Done
  Enter a few comps -
  Sort emails (& unsubscribe where possible) -
  Nectar Adpoints -
  All meals from cupboards/fridge/freezer -
  Read book (from stash) - In progress - Martina Cole
  Check www.freepostcodelottery.com -
  Have a great day, love to you all
  C x
• Morning Lovelies!!
  Thanks for the starter Ally, and lovely to see you back La E
  Good luck with the pad, sure you will do a grand job and get the best price for it!! How I wish property was that sort of money down this neck of the woods!! Sigh....
  Had a productive morning doing some batch cooking that's gone in the freezer for instant meals for the next couple of weeks...
  Not a great deal on my little list, so here goes:
  Check banking - made VSP to savings
  Have a quick whip around the house with the vacuum etc.
  Whites washed and now hanging out to dry
  Meal plan using batch-cooked food for next week
  Thinking about doing bacon sarnies at work for my birthday rather than the obligatory cream cakes... Cheaper and I'm sure will go down better at 4am, as we're on nights!!
  Make packed lunch for work this evening
  3 minute shower challenge!!
  Have a NSD
  Clean car at work & get a quick session in at the gym (free)
  See if there's any chance if a few hours OT tonight at work
  Think that's about it from me... Best crack on!!
  Happy money saving friends... Hope everyone is well!!
  Love,
  Shoot x
• Hi all!!
  Not been posting a lot but I thought I'd get a list going:
  Organise OH old clothes to go to charity
  Check my bank account/look into closing it.. I don't really use it and I am paying a lot just to have it open
  Pop my loose change into my sealed jar
• Morning Campers!
  Well, most unusually for me, I felt overwhelmed first thing by all the jobs I still need to do in the veggie garden so that food isn't wasted. Couldn't decide where even to begin.......but as I'd got a whole work surface covered in rhubarb pulled last night, that seemed as good a place as any!
  *Saved energy by sharing bath tub, doing laundry overnight on Economy 7 tariff & pegging outside to dry.
  *Blanched & froze 2lbs of rhubarb for next time I've got lots of people to feed as it will make a huge crumble.
  *Stewed more rhubarb, sweetened with stevia & froze for low cal desserts.
  *Used the absolute last of this year's rhubarb to make 20 rhubarb & ginger mini-muffins.....85 calories each & therefore compatible with the weight management :-) All in freezer.
  *Did surveys.
  *Filled in feedback for a food product tested last night. Ј5 Amazon voucher for doing this.
  *Checked ebay to see if outstanding payment has been made. Nope! There's always one!
  *Picked basket of courgettes & big aubergine.
  *Pick remaining tomatoes & take down plants. They will ripen perfectly fine in a brown paper bag & keep us supplied for a while yet.
  *Pick the remaining grapes. Freeze some.
  *Make tomorrow's packed lunch & work snacks.
  *Free entertainment as have finished last few pages of library book, will finish audiobook today, will sew up a bit more of knitting project (for present box), have a recorded tv prog to watch & will update blog if time.
  *Think about a tempting L'Occitane offer received in the post this morning. is it genuinely useful or am I chiefly being tempted by the freebie? Have put it away to reconsider rather than jumping online with the plastic.
  That will do......garden jobs need to take priority at the moment.
  f x
• Hello all, happy hump day
  Thank you Ally for the start.
  Ziggy - that's terrible - if your son was here we would look after him. Quite frankly the heads of year will go out of their way to keep a pupil in school, as they should.
  Foxgloves - I have rhubarb envy. Mine is too young and puny to pick yet. Maybe next year...
  At work today, earning not spending and got a lift. All meals from home/plan/stores (no rhubarb though!).
  Free coffee at break - finally figured out that I can ask for extra water so it's not too strong.
  Have been reading some of the threads on here - some interesting ones at the moment. Wish I had more time to contribute.
  Best wishes x
• Hello everyone, sorry I've not posted for a few days. We spent weekend with family after a rough night on Friday with my two tear old - was on my own as husband away working, up constantly then I was awake from 4am, hit a bit of a wall! Anyway, some family help made me feel lots better!
  I did succumb to buying some new clothes and baby stuff at the weekend, I had tried to resist, but I'm glad I did. I was feeling very frumpy (25 weeks pregnant) and uncomfortable and my new buys have put a spring in my step, they've also inspired other progress (below). In terms of baby stuff I bought a big steriliser and bottle warmer set for expressing for Ј52 which is the cheapest I've seen it anywhere, also bought asda nappies, babygros and vests, so not exactly extravagant but still money spent. It was cash I had though and nothing was borrowed. Anyway, I did little over the weekend but...
  Monday:
  Made a pear crumble with past their best pears.
  Made a banana cake with old bananas
  Made a toast chicken meal so chicken left for sandwiches
  Inspired by new clothes, cleared out entire wardrobe, draws etc and listed things for sale on fb, total so far... Ј120!
  Got everything ready bagged up for collection.
  Reorganised wardrobe, now ordered and much easier getting ready for work.
  Tuesday:
  Took packed lunch to work
  Husband scrapped our old car, Ј120 off price of new one.
  Worked all day then for two hours at night.
  Today:
  Free lunch at work
  Someone who bought a load of stuff from me is interested in buying more.
  Got Ј500 funding application approved for accountancy for my business!
  Re listed stuff on fb.
  Even though I 'caved' at the weekend this forum helped me to do it in a controlled way and it's had a positive knock on effect, thanks xx