The next chapter!

chocoholic_chick · 26 January 2015 at 5:57PM

Found the info I needed so have sent a payment of £500 this afternoon :j

velocity_girl · 26 January 2015 at 9:24PM

Hi chocoholic chick, just getting into this MFW journey here so have just started reading your diary. Well done on the £500 OP!

I just made the hairy dieters coq au vin for the first time last weekend too - it is yum isn't it?!

chocoholic_chick · 30 January 2015 at 10:22AM

Thanks velocity! Hoping it's going to be the first of many. Now I have the details saved in my online banking it makes making OP's so much easier, and tempting to do!

I loved the recipe, really felt like a treat having it!

Haven't done so well this week meal planning and never got round to looking for a new recipe to try

I watched that new Gregg Wallace programme that was on last night about saving money on food, I can't believe how much that family of 4 spent a week, and even after the savings they were still spending almost £200 a week?!?! I know there's only the two of us, but we manage to eat extremely well on around £40 a week normally so I can't begin to imagine what you must have to put in your trolley to spend that. It did make me look at just how much we have in though so I'm going to meal plan around that and try to keep food spends to a minimum for the next few weeks. Total spends for food in January haven't been too bad, it was a 5 week month for us and total for the 5 shops came to £212.55 so I'm quite happy with that

This month is a 4 week month for us so I'm going to aim for £160 for food, I've put £220 in out pot so with any luck there should be some spare cash in there for an extra loan or mortgage payment towards the end of the month

Done the pay day shuffle today so another £300 OP's on the mortgage

Also need to dig out the details for the remaining loan we have left so we can start OP'ing on that too. Budgeted £200 a month so have seperated that out until I can find the details to send the payment.

Right best go get sorted, got a lot on today!

chocoholic_chick · 31 January 2015 at 2:21PM

Oh my gosh what a busy few days, I'm knackered!

Sent DH to the supermarket to get pizzas and a bottle of wine last night as I got in from work late and couldn't be bothered to cook. He came back with said pizzas, wine, beer and a DVD and spent a whopping £43.79 :eek: Now I remember why I do the shopping and not him :rotfl: Which now means my budget of £160 for food for the month might not be achievable.

We had a chat last night as well and decided that as buying a new home at the moment is our main priority rather than overpaying the loan and the mortgage we're going to just focus on the mortgage and if we have any money left over at the end of the month that will be paid off the loan. I've rang the mortgage company and we can overpay by up to £999.99 per month ( why not just £1000 is beyond me! ) so I'm going to send another £150 today and £50 tomorrow ( or we'd be 1p over if I sent it all today ).

As we've now changed our goals I'm going to update my target and aim to OP our mortgage by £6,000 this year. Our loan I will aim for £1,000.00

Also got our current mortgage balance which is approximately £89,213.00 so under the £90k mark :T

mrsninja · 1 February 2015 at 9:09PM

Hi, I watched that too and was amazed. I think it was £260 a week before they started. I guess it's up to people what they spend their money on, but I can't think how I could spend that much each week.

I think ours is around £50 a week including food for our cats, but I'm doing the Feb Grocery challenge and have set myself a target of £200 just to see what it actually is. So far so good!

This week it's a chicken week- got a roast today, then paella and risotto with the leftover's next week.

Have a good week.

chocoholic_chick · 9 February 2015 at 11:05PM

mrsninja my food spends are all over the place at the moment

went armed with a shopping list and still managed to spend almost £50 this week. Total spends so far are £95.11, so if I want to come in on my £160 budget then each of my next two shops have to be around £32, won't beat myself up if I don't hit that but want to get as close to that as I can.

Dinner tonight was chicken pasta made with the leftovers from yesterdays roast chicken. There might have been enough left for another meal if DH hadn't picked at it all yesterday afternoon!

Had a busy week, was away with work for a few days and only got back Saturday morning so feel like I've got a lot to do around the house now to get caught up. It does mean that spends on my part at least were minimal last week as most was on expenses, we've not really spent much ( at least in comparison to what we normally would ) since we've been paid so if we keep that up it should hopefully mean there's a few pennies left before pay day to make either a loan or mortgage overpayment.

Off for an early night, really miss my bed when I'm away!

chocoholic_chick · 17 February 2015 at 12:35PM

This weeks shopping came in at a much better £29.22. I've meal planned for the week and batch cooked on Sunday so I shouldn't need to buy anything else before next weekend. It will also mean I'll still have plenty of meat left in the freezer so will just need the bits and pieces to make them into meals. So although the month didn't start out great we're back on track again.

Managed to make another mortgage OP yesterday of £100, called the mortgage company today to get an updated balance which is now £88,406. Don't think we'll manage any more OP's before pay day now though as I've left us enough money to get to pay day but there's not really anything spare.

System · 17 February 2015 at 3:29PM

Hi CC, just read your diary, congrats on getting under £90K :T We have similar mortgage balances, though I have a feeling we won't be overpaying as much as you!! I'm just starting the whole cooking from scratch & freezing leftovers too, it's so much better isn't it

Good luck!!

chocoholic_chick · 17 February 2015 at 3:59PM

Thanks Becs, we're really trying hard at the moment as we want to sell soon so need to have as much equity as we can. So once we buy a new house our overpayments will be minimal as our mortgage will be substantially more per month and we'll be borrowing a lot more

Yeah it really does save money batch cooking and means that if you can't be bothered to cook you have a lovely home-made meal in the freezer that just needs heating up

Beats a ready meal any day!

Good luck with your journey

chocoholic_chick · 25 February 2015 at 12:45PM

Nearly the end of the month and pay day :j

Have really been good this month and managed to keep all unnecessary spends to a minimum, though it has felt like we've lived like hermits most of the month so in reality not sure how long we could keep that up for. Meal planning this month has really paid off, despite OH's hiccup at the beginning of the month I've managed to keep food spends under control and they've come in at just over £180. This includes several bottles of wine as well!

As a result of keeping our spending under control I've managed to siphon off another £50 as a potential OP before payday. We literally have no money at all left until pay day, but that's only a couple of days away and we have enough food in to see us through and no other spends needed so I should be able to send that. All being well I think I'll transfer that payment tomorrow night, just to be safe! Then I'll do another OP on Friday when I get paid

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