Mountainlioness' diary: the MFi3 journey

mountainlioness · 24 August 2007 at 4:36PM

Dear All

I've long admired the DFW diaries across the way and thought I'd share my musings with you as Mr Lion and I take the MFi3 journey. Kinda therapeutic for me too, getting all my thoughts, worries, minor triumphs and aggravations down 'on paper'. I'd welcome all your jottings too as we all happlily MFi3 into the distance

Well here it goes...

Felt like it was a slow crawl to hubster's pay day today... have been counting the days and eeking out the remaining joint account money, including the return of petrol-rationing and living on a vat of lentil soup for 3 days... Of course, we both have credit cards but that's not the point and am taking a hardline stance on this (how long it lasts is another matter!) Just think we really need to be able to live within our budget, especially if we're serious about the cubs issue (protracted 'argument' about name for 1st son in bed last night... we specialise in pointless arguments... this one especally pointless as this is definitely at least a year off):D

Personal satisfaction at having reached today with £25 in the pot was severely dented by a £90 leccy bill for the 1st 2 months in our new house . Given we both work full-time and usually go with about £40/quarter this was a bit of a shocker and put a bit of a kybosh on my detailed - some would say disturbingly so - plans for September. Looks like the cycling hol will be 100% camping now, !!!!!! (though the close proximity does have its advantages... hmmm.... maybe not after 5 hours in the saddle... !!!!!!) We're switching back to our old supplier, which is cheaper, but still need to diagnose the culprit appliance... look out!

Off tonight for new Friday evening institution, the waitrose bargain hunt. Freezer now empty of Cranks honey and sunflower bread and speciality sausages... dread to think what the weekly budget of the 'mainstream' waitrose shopper is.

Monday brings second freecycle fruit harvest of the month, this time plums... culinary skills limited to crumbles but who can have enough crumble I say.

That's me for now... anyone else wanna share? :j

~daisy~_2 · 24 August 2007 at 5:54PM

i look forward to reading your diary

im currently looking for a way to join freecycle without having a yahoo id - not sure there is one

mountainlioness · 24 August 2007 at 6:14PM

Yeah not sure about that one - definitely worth getting an ID though even if you only use if for Freecycle... I've managed to get rid of all kinds of stuff when we've been moving house and have also been given a huge amount, including a hand blender, a bed and a set of le creuset saucepans! (could hardly believe my luck with the last one - fantastic!)

~daisy~_2 · 24 August 2007 at 6:25PM

oh i read that on a different thread and i was very jealous !! one of the many things that made me think i must join !!

well done you

catshark88 · 24 August 2007 at 8:34PM

Glad you are doing a diary Mountain Lioness, the DFW ones are inspirational. We could all do with that on our long journey to mortgage free living!

Have a good bank holiday.

Catshark

mountainlioness · 25 August 2007 at 6:34PM

Hey all and thanks for your messages!

Well, a successful jaunt to the supermarkets yesterday evening (what an exciting life we lead!) £20 spent in Sainsbury's followed by a respectable £9 in Waitrose, including half the bakery section (literally, I can feel my waist ballooning), 3 loaves of bread for 20p each, smoked salmon and steak mince (for legendary ML lasagna tomorrow)... congratulated ourselves with a pint in the local real ale hostelry - ah well, sometimes you just need to kick back and sink one, MSE or no...

All in all, hit the £40 weekly budget with 18p to spare! :T

Tomorrow we're going to sand down and paint the single bed we got from Freecycle so we have a fully functional spare room for visiting profs and language students... come to realise if we're serious about this MFi3 lark we need to get some additional income. Thing is, we both do pretty demanding jobs so don't want to sacrifice too much of the precious time we do get together. Renting the room for a month here and there seems to be a good compromise as we're not sharing our space full-time but we do have an income stream when we need it.

Actually the pint helped us to clarify what MFi3 meant for us as a couple - recently have felt that I was leading it, hubby a generally willing but occasionally recalcitrant accomplice. Came to a bit of a head near the (Sainsbury's basics) muesli and we decided to have a good chat through what our priorities were and what we were prepared to do to achieve our goals... seems a lot more like a partnership now and hubby has even decided to commit the last 18p to Lidl tinned toms than crack into next week's budget with Waitrose's finest

Seriously though, this MFi3 thang is quite an investment in terms of time and energy and it's worth just taking stock together occasionally just to make sure your understandings of the project are in line.

Finally I think I've found the culprit on the leccy bill - the thing in the downstairs cupboard is an aerial amplifier and has been on 24/7 since we moved in. We're not big telly watchers so it's going off now until we consciously decide we want to. Should stop the random trash TV watching - hubby spent literally half an hour watching a shopping channel selling a 32" Elvis figurine wearing a gold suit. Nuff said.

catshark88 · 25 August 2007 at 7:28PM

For us, the DH's "I cannot go any further down the MSE line" is sandwiches at work. I would love to save him the £15-20 a week by making things at home for him but he just won't have it! Can't really complain though, he is doing really well on the other MSE stuff.:D

mountainlioness · 25 August 2007 at 7:40PM

Heh heh - there's always a line somewhere! :rolleyes:

Mine's fine on sarnies (well, mon-thu, fri is the untouchable pub lunch day though he does pay that from his 'allowance'

) but having lived a bit of the good life for a little while, well, as far as food and drink is concerned, he is reluctant to economise on the shopping, hence the cereal aisle altercation! Doing the waitrose reduction hunt is a good way round it though as you get decent stuff though you never know quite what you're gonna get (if anything) :cool:

mountainlioness · 26 August 2007 at 5:57PM

Happy sunday afternoon all... just a quick update as HB and I are off out for chinese... he said he has been dreaming about chinese food for weeks and he couldn't wait any longer for us to decide we deserved the luxury so is taking me out from his own stash :T

MSE-wise a good day - that can of toms from Netto is the sum total of our outgoings. A mighty fine lasagne is ready and waiting for tomorrow (always best for a rest btw - so leave it overnight and re-heat in the oven the next day for best results), our spare bedroom is taking shape (though have succumbed to laziness and it is staying that ikky fake farmhouse style 'antique' pine stained and not being sanded down and painted white) and all is right with the world...

More later...

Desperate_Housewife_2-2 · 26 August 2007 at 8:06PM

Just calling in to say 'hello' ML and good luck with the MFI3 challenge.

Move_To_Portugal · 26 August 2007 at 8:08PM

Have a great meal out mountainlioness and good luck with your MFi3 challenge.

I would love a chinese meal out but OH has banned them, not very frugal apparently!

Mountainlioness' diary: the MFi3 journey

Comments

Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

🚀 Getting Started

Categories

Is this how you want to be seen?

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free