Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

brizzledfw

Hi- I am with the guys it's sounds like a great investment.

But as Weronika says.. how do you manage onthat grocery bill??

Good to see the new SOA..how are you feeling about it? Is it manageable? the one I posted is proving hard to stick to, for example, I seem to go over in more pots/ categories than not!

Brizzle

never_too_old

sorry newgirly just going to gatecrash your blog,
reference grocery money,you should check out the grocery challenge,coupon thread and glitches. Beginiing of last year my monthly food bill was about £380 month,now i spend about £220 max, 3 adults 1 dog,feeding 4 half the week and 6 or 7 once/twice a week.
It can be done with planning.;)

newgirly

Hi, Never too old is right, really it's all down to planning and substituting time for money. I don't work full time so have time to prepare things more. I have also just ordered £55 worth of food for approved foods, just a few examples if my memory is correct.

• 3.5 kg of batter mix £1.49
• 2x med bottles of heinz ketchup £1.50
• 3.5kg pizza base mix 99p
• twin pack sharwoods plain nan 20p
• sunpat smooth peanut butter 50p
• colemans mustard powder 100g, 50p
• veggie cous cous mix 10 packs for £1

I could go on!

Today the kids have packed lunch with bread rolls and fruit from aldi, homemade choc.fairy cakes.
For dinner, I am having garlic and chilli pasta, which is probably about 50p's worth. DH is having homemade pie, made from leftover mothers day roast chicken , a handful of value frozren peas, white sauce (approved foods 10p packet mix) and mc dougalls shortcrust pastry mix, not sure the cost of that but under 50p, have made 2x individual pies and frozen one.:D

mouche

good for you for buying the merlin pass newgirly - I'm tempted myself but my LO is only 2 months so I may be jumping the gun just a bit! Am really awed by your ability to find money from 'somewhere'!

newgirly

After spending all that money and needing more or less a no spend month, ds2 can home with flappy shoes! So a drive over to the shopping centre and £35 on a new pair, the last really cheap pair lasted about 4 weeks , maybe these will last a few weeks longer this time.

I sorted out the mortgage deal out , just need to sign it. I have been looking at isas as well, as our 2 year mortgage rate is 3.29 and we may be able to get a simelar rate for savings. It would give us an option if in the next year or two things get difficult with the twins sharing, (hormones etc!) Not sure, I don't like the idea of the temptation, but we won't be able to re- mortgage for a very long time, so it might be sensible?

Weronika

newgirly wrote: »

After spending all that money and needing more or less a no spend month, ds2 can home with flappy shoes! So a drive over to the shopping centre and £35 on a new pair, the last really cheap pair lasted about 4 weeks , maybe these will last a few weeks longer this time.

It always happen this way - we also needed a no spend month and car is in the garage 3rd day now and I bet they spend all this time finding things to crank up the bill:cool:

newgirly

Its been one of those weeks very busy, but not much getting done. Today I am staying in all day and cleaning the whole house and getting to the bottom of the washing and ironing baskets.
,
My pets seem to be more work than the kids lately, so far in the last few days I've had , dead baby birds , cat vomit on the sofa and cushions/ our bedroom floor, lots of fighting (cats) , siamese cat weeing on my ironing pile , dog barking in the night, they are driving me crazy.

Anyway, mortgage paperwork sent off , so 1st june we will be on a 3.29% 2 yr tracker. I see financial bliss was asking about if anyone wanted to do a mortgage free in three part 3 challenge at the end of the year, I will definately join that, having a look on the calculator it would be great to have a very stretching target , so I might go for 50k in 3 years.:D

The weather is going to be good this weekend, both front and back gardens need a bit of work again this year, but it will have to wait this weekend as we are off to legoand sunday :j need to buy a few bits for a picnic as don't want to spend any money.




Jobs for today:

• Do all washing
• do all ironing
• perpare dinner from store cupboard or freezer
• mealplan for weekend
• buy picnic food
• clean every where, eek!
• transfer wages around the houses
• tidy boys room (seperate as such a massive job )

Back later to cross lots off !


Forgot to mention booked two free tickets to see the cabin in the woods via sky rewards, just incase anyone has sky and has not got the free tickets before.

Weronika

That's a big list of things to do, are you sure you not rather sit in the garden and enjoy the lovely weather?

newgirly

Too right I would!

Have got most of my list done except the never ending stream of washing and ironing. DH wants to get some new trainers today, and its close to the garden centre so might go and look at the plants and fish as well.

DS2 is desperate for terrapins, he has been nagging for a few mo ths now , but I have said no more pets, so he has just done a powerpoint to persuade me how cute they are and how responsible he will be taking care of them! Sooo sweet, (but they answer is still no! :rotfl:)

I am so broke at the moment due to spending so much this month, dh said he will give me £50 to help out a bit :j I need to use about £160 of my "up your income" earnings to cover the cost of the merlin passes, which is'nt too bad.

I really want to pay the mortgage off early and am happy to be frugal with things for me (hair/clothes/going out), cooking from scratch etc. but I do want to have a bit more fun along they way, as our lot are getting older, 11/11/14, so I'm going to try and book a few cheap hotel rooms through the year to make the most of our annual passes, things like halloween at alton towers etc.

Another thing I wanted to go to was goodwood revival, which has dh's fav sports cars racing that weekend, its 2 weeks after his 40th, but after checking on trip advisor every blooming hotel far and wide anywhere near is fully booked and 10 times the price anyway. I thought that would have made rather a nice 40th present.

I'm off to buy trainers and get some pizzas (shop bought now i have dh's money ) ready for a britains got talent night in , yay!

newgirly

We had a good day out at legoland yesterday, it was a bit young for the boys and dd but we had a laugh and they even tricked me onto a small rollercoaster which I had to shut my eyes on.:eek:

Petrol cost around £25, picnic lunch and ice lollies about £10, so not too bad, oh and keyrings which dh bought.
They all want to go to thorpe park this weekend, but I have said no as its my friends 40th sat night and we have booked the pub which we need to decorate and hopefully have a few drinks later, so won't be in any fit state for a theme park.:beer:

I did a £44 shop at ald* today and got lots of fruit veg and meat, soooo much cheaper and nicer than the big supermarkets, its the only place I am going now. DH is at the pub tonight so i will go through the accounts later in the hope that I have more money than I thought.