Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

South_coast

You can do it NG, a madcap challenge should be right up your street 😀

Busy_Mee

I think I might join you NG. I am currently feeding 5 adults at the moment and was working to a budget of £350 (including household products). I am struggling though, I need to get back to extreme "padding". Things like using extra tins of mixed beans in chilli, tinned potatoes in curry etc

killerpeaty

You are so capable of being creative in your money saving, you can do this.

newgirly

Hi busymee, it’s hard work isn’t it 😩 sometimes I long for the days I’d just stop at the supermarket and chuck in what I fancied for the night that was ready made 😆 adding in the cleaning/washing/pet stuff/toiletries doesn’t help the budget either. Will pop in your diary and see what you are cooking then 🙂

Thanks SC, it’s given me something to do I guess! 

It’s my mums 70th birthday in September and they want to go to York for a couple of nights with the family, their treat too which is rather nice! Their flat only has two bedrooms (it has a sofa bed too but they won’t use it) so four will stay there and the overflow will be in the hotel nearby - probably us and the kids and my brother hooray 😁 it seems like a good idea in the current circumstances as it can be cancelled easily if needed and we all love it there. So that’s now our holiday for this year 😬 

Rummaging the cupboards today I found a huge costc@ box of bake your own cinnamon buns, so I’m making half of those, also made a couple of large bowls of Greek salad and pesto pasta and cooked a tray of chicken legs for dinner tonight to go with some houmous, tatziki and pitta bread. It will be cold and in front of the tv like a takeaway, it’s probably the most exciting thing to happen this week as I love Greek salad 😂

themadvix

Sounds like a good start to the challenge NG! I’m feeling smug because I have plans to use up a couple of bits that have been lurking over the weekend 😊

newgirly

Go for it, it’s that time of year Vix, January has been a very long month! 

Cinnamon buns were ok but a bit small considering the cost of the box of mix, I won’t buy them again. I did however buy a half price fruit and veg oddbox, clever me I thought, £10 for a large fruit and veg box coming Monday it will tide us over with £10 left. I paid for it and then saw delivery is Monday week 😆 I will take that from next months budget as I can’t afford it to be from this months if it’s not arriving! Does anyone else use them I wonder? I’ve had Riverford before but found them quite expensive as we need a lot. 

newgirly

I’ve put a message on the group chat looking for takers for a Sunday walk and now have one reply! Woohoo, I’m going out with ds2’s girlfriend, just didn’t feel like going on my own today, but it looks lovely and frosty ❄️

Dinner is veggie/chicken/meat burgers in buns and left over Greek salad and garlic bread. Ds2 ate 4 of the 16 buns I bought though in the week for lunch, he mistakenly thought they were for eating, Er no! He could have had bread, crumpets, bagels, bake in the oven baguette or crackers too, tut tut. 

newgirly

Well we had a tiny bit of snow today, not enough to settle sadly ☹️ Went on a long wet walk and popped into Waitrose, there is an Aldi here too but it’s smaller and busier, so £2 spent on four Granny Smiths 😱 plus a few other bits and a total of £9.20 spent, only £10 odd left now. 

Tomorrow I’m pledging to list something for sale, apparently depop is the place to sell according to my kids, so I’m going to have a rummage and then get them to help 😁

£7.99 spent on some compost today- 100litres with free delivery which I spotted on the latest deals website, so I used some of my personal spends budget, this is the year to start growing in pots again I think 😬

South_coast

Looks like the first thing to plant is the pips from those apples - you could be sitting on a goldmine at 50p per apple 🤣!

newgirly

😆 indeed!

Monday again, I’m going for a walk later with ds2’s fiancée to collect some build a bear clothes she has bought second hand, they are being left on the doorstep and are on our usual route so it’s quite handy. I bought her a teddy for Xmas so it needs a new wardrobe 😆

Sad to hear all Debenhams stores will close, I used to go every week with my mum and gran when the kids were small and get a coffee with them, it’s sad when all the little links to the past gradually disappear over time.