Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

icontinuetodream

Yep...1600 for the entire year and there are 6 adults in my household!!:eek::eek::eek:

It's not quite as scary as it sounds...I have an enormous amount dried pulses, grains, nuts, seeds, dried fruit etc already in stock and will use £400 of the £1600 to do another suma order when they run out ....and I do grow my own too (although, not huge amounts anymore as have redone garden so it looks less like an allotment :rotfl:) plus I am quite an inventive cook....although some of the things I come up with are really bizarre! I also live in a rural area, so there are lots of 'roadside' sellers around me which I really take advantage of in the summer paticularly....I have a dehydrator too, so when the real gluts are on, I can not only fill my freezers but also my cupboards!! I will avoid supermarkets like the plague....so many years of going in for one thing and coming out £100 poorer....and intend to make my own wine this year too :T as a lot of my previous spending seems to have gone on alcohol..:o Plus, only cooking vegan makes things a lot cheaper...you tend to have to cook from scratch (or spend hours reading labels) and because it so grain and pulse heavy (mine is anyway!!) it really is filling

newgirly

I can't quite get my head around that figure, 6 adults, wow.

My lot eat meat most days, and I am veggie, having more vegan meals would be good for me to get a bit healthier though so will keep an eye on the thread. Just being nosey , but what do you have for xmas day?


I bought all the stuff to start making wine earlier this year and did'nt get round to it, will definatly have a go this year though, there is a thread somewhere on here about it.

icontinuetodream

newgirly wrote: »

I can't quite get my head around that figure, 6 adults, wow.

My lot eat meat most days, and I am veggie, having more vegan meals would be good for me to get a bit healthier though so will keep an eye on the thread. Just being nosey , but what do you have for xmas day?


I bought all the stuff to start making wine earlier this year and did'nt get round to it, will definatly have a go this year though, there is a thread somewhere on here about it.

Well, i haven't acheived it yet so who knows???!!!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

We don't celebrate xmas....we have a similar thing on solstice though....:D I do a 'celebration roast' which is quite time-consuming to make (hence only made for celebrations!) but tastes fab, (happy to provide the recipe if you want it), sometimes we have portabello mushrooms stuffed with stuffing, topped with cranberry sauce and wrapped in filo pastry and I have, on rare occasions got in a redwood 'celebration roast' which is made from seitan and has sausages and bacon rolls etc with it...but that has to be specially requested by the tribe as although it is nice, they cost £5, it only serves about three people and I have to cook at least three for my mob!!:D They are the main part of the meal and I do all the usual veg, potatoes etc to go with them...

I need to get the winemaking stuff for next year....solstice gift money from my sis should cover it....but have made stuff before, so almost know what I am doing!!:rotfl:I have a recipe for poor mans brandy (at least I think that is what it is...must check recipe!!) which is made from potatoes which I am definately trying this year....takes about two years (from what I can remember) to be ready to drink, but hoping it will be worth the wait

Love your idea of converting the loft....must be really hard with twins in the house....I converted my dining room (sob ) into a bedroom as my son was in our [STRIKE]cupboard[/STRIKE] sorry, box room and although he was happy in there for years, his desire to get a weight bench took over him so I agreed to the change.... since then, his girlfriend has moved in with us and they have moved upstairs by swapping with my daughter and I have a friend living with me as well (more like my surrogate son!!) in the box room.

We also thought about converting the loft along with a lot of other work which needs doing but can't do it until we have paid off the mortgage....this is our forever house...if the kids are still at home once we have done it, I may still go ahead once I have sorted the cash for it....not sure yet though...

Well this has turned into an essay...really apologise about that!!:o

newgirly

Deleted a long post!

Thanks for the lovely post, I would make a roast but nobody else would eat it. I usually have homemade veggie stuffing and lots of veg.

I have used the last of my budget doing a big shop which probably won't last until xmas let alone new year, it doesn't include any wine either unfortunatly. Next year I will do much better with food and somewhere I will have to find room to get somewhere to store it all properly as I only have a couple of free kitchen cupboards for food.

newgirly

A bit fed up today, did a cleaning job with my friend but my own house is a mess and I have no inclination to do it.

Dh is running himself into an early grave i think by working so hard, he still smokes which is a worry and is basically here but not really here, he is so tired he can barely talk to the kids for a few mins when he gets in, he is already in bed.

This will sound silly but i'm also upset as I was looking on rightmove (I know!) and found my old house up for rent, it's the one in the village I would like to move back to one day and it looked beautiful all shabby chic.:( £925 pm, which is probably a bit less than we would get for this and its 5 miles from school, and its smaller. It just made me feel a bit sad and nostalgic.

Anyway, I need a kick up the b*tt to stop me feeling sorry for myself for no good reason, and then I'm opening a bottle of red and having a big glass whilst watching super scrimpers on C4 +1.

never_too_old

I now clean 7 days a week and definately agree the inclination to do it all again when you get home is not there.
Is it just because of Christmas DH is so busy?
Is he taking much time off over the festive period/:D

newgirly

Hi, dh is so busy as he has had to suspend one of his staff for the last 2 weeks, which is a long story, thus doing lots of his work as well, plus xmas has gone mega busy, after xmas it will be dead. He is off for the "official" days off but no time off booked.

I can't believe the kids only have one and a half days left, today is the day EVERYTHING gets done /cleaned/tidied/wrapped. I have to do a few hours for dh from home but will get stuck into the house and presents first as its harder to do with a house full of children.

PS. 7 days a week cleaning , you must be very fit!

CathT

My DH been falling asleep on the sofa too and he has a really busy few days at work coming up. Hope your DH can recharge his batteries a bit over the holidays. I don't have school age children but agree that their holidays have come round quick, they seem to break up extra early this year. Hope you can get the last of the presents wrapped etc. I have a feeling the days will run away with us now and it will be Christmas day before we know it.

never_too_old

No not fit, need to get fit and loose weight.Its Bl**dy hard.
I do it purely for the money, i do my own work Mon -thurs and do the pub and hotel fri,sat. and sun.

I really wish things would start to pick up with the economy as its becoming very depressing:eek:

newgirly

Thats a tough week nto, when the debt is cleared will you cut down at all?

I have been spending today, a coffee table from ikea and a cream rug for the living room, dh said he will pay and it only came to £46 for both, our old coffee table has been in the conservatory since I started working for dh at home.

For the first time ever the kids have a half day and I don't have a house full of millions of children, the twins and dd have all gone round friends houses, I am about to go and round them all up, they all will need to be fed I think when they get home.

I've just been to check the hot tub as its been playing up for a few months and it's not working :eek:, will get dh to have a look but I think we may have to call someone out to repair it , which is not going to be cheap, but I don't want to risk the thing not working after paying so much for it (in the bad old days )

This evening i was supposed to be going out with dh, babysitter arranged but he is too tired really so I can't see the point , plus he is working all weekend so i think we might get and indian instead which I am quite looking forward to, I can sit in and look at my new rug then! How sad and old have I got