Pay off mortgage and start having fun!

newgirly

Well I’m making headway using our the oddbox, one of my trickier ones was sprouts as we had a roast the day before delivery, so tonight was fish pie with a side of shredded sprouts and cabbage made as an experiment with butter and seasoning in the slow cooker, apparently it wasn’t great 😆
Also used up left over tinned peaches with the oddbox spinach and made a chickpea curry for the veggies, which luckily was nice as I was eating it! Next up what to do with a load of fresh beetroot? 

Online shop done and minus everybody’s booze orders (they all pay) it comes to £77.08 and that included £10 on coffee pods, plus washing stuff and cloths,I will not be working out how much that is per head per day as it’s not much 😱 I do have a meal plan for the week and am cutting back by making things like nan bread, pizzas, pitta bread etc. So we should be eating ok and it gives me something to do 😁

Spamtastic

This is my go-to recipe for using up beetroot from the allotment...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/beetroot_chocolate_cake_82388

Bargainhunter30

I love roasted beetroot, sprinkled with sea salt. You will probably need to boil fresh beetroot first. I usually use the packets and can eat a whole packet 😲😂

newgirly

Thanks you spamtastic and bargain Hunter, the chocolate cake is looking very tempting!  but I’m not sure we have all the ingredients in, I may try roasting it first 😁

Off for a walk with best friend soon, so glad we can meet up still, I think this lockdown would have been much worse without being to walk and talk a couple of times a week. Still not persuaded my mum to come for a walk around the block as she doesn’t like walking, it’s a shame as a chat on the phone is really not the same. 

The end of the month feels a long way off right now, previously I would set a more generous “living” budget and overpay anything left or any extra money earned. This year though it’s a very tight throw everything at the mortgage budget, and any little extra earned or saved is going towards making life easier or treats. It’s actually not as strange as I thought and still a good way of doing things, sometimes those little extra few pounds here and there make for constant little small treats along the way to brighten up making yourself broke paying too much off the mortgage 😆

Todays example of that is £3.07 that’s tracked on tcb that I will be spending on coffee on my walk as well as using some points from my loyalty card 😊

Viking_mfw

I like roasted beetroot too. Just scrub, cut into pieces, toss with oil and seasoning and roast for an hour - you can mix with other veg and then just fling some halloumi or similar in for the last bit and you have dinner. 
Sprouts - try roasting next time. Halve, toss in oil, plenty of salt and pepper, roast at 220 for half an hour. They are DELICIOUS. I don't like boiled sprouts and until I found this way of cooking them would have said I didn't like them at all. 

newgirly

Thank you Viking I will give it a go, plus I have some halloumi here 😁

newgirly

It’s a bit grey here today, not sure what to do with myself this week yet really! Yesterday I took dd to boots to get a few bits (first venture into a shop since last year for her) and came across a Harry Potter advent calendar half price, so I bought it for us to share this Xmas 😁 will probably have it a birthday gift when my parents ask what they can get me next month as I probably should not have spent £20 on an advent calendar at the moment 😆

Food budget hanging in there, homemade Indian ‘takeaway’ last night and homemade pizza tonight. Off to do some cleaning now.

South_coast

£20! That must be some chocolate in there, NG 🤣!

killerpeaty

I doubt it is chocolate, it's probably gifts in it. Ahh, just found it and it looks like beauty products dressed up as potions!

I'm sorry to hear about the continuing work issues. I am so disappointed for you, you were so hopeful for them when it all happened.

newgirly

No it’s not chocolate 😆 it’s two of my favourite things ever a combo of Harry Potter and bath stuff! 

Thanks KP, I had a long chat with dh today to see how he feels about still being there and at the moment he is ok with it, time will tell I guess.

I had a day off cooking today, it’s been hours everyday the last few days making stuff, so they have  rummaged the freezer which is fine as I’ve just ordered myself a few low cal ready meals from icel@nd for tomorrow and there’s not much room. Weightwatchers is cancelled and I’ve been eating toast a lot again as I’m cooking too much for the meat eaters and can’t be bothered for myself some days. Budget wise the daily average for the year should be £13.69, so far this year I’ve overspent by £2.15 per day, so I need to pull it back by the end of feb by spending £9.49 per day 😱 if I don’t the extra will have to come from my small personal spending budget. I mean really though it’s pretty good if I do say so for a cat and seven adults all meals and drinks 😂 

New comfy bra arrived today from n@xt, can’t go back to underwired due to lockdown, so ordered loads to try and found one was great,the rest will go back. I need to order a few more over the next few months and ditch my now worn out sports bras and all the horrid uncomfy ones , operation streamline the bra drawer is underway 😬