Mortgage freedom..Shala_moo's attempt at a diary..

ammonite

I'm an excellent grouter so if you can get a tiler...I'll be happy to be paid in cupcakes

shala_moo

MRN hope you've finished your decorating now, and had time to relax with cake.. and Ammonite i'd happily pay you in cake for the DIY.. along with cleaning, it's the one housey thing i hate!!

So Money savings/earnings for the week :
- total of 34 overtime hours this month :eek:
- OH paid his "housekeeping" to me (as his colleague calls it:rotfl:)
- paid off credit card for the month, gained many tesc0 clubcard points
- renewal for house insurance come through £344 :eek: i won't be paying that.. comparison sites here we come
- the usual surveys and clicks completed
- used £18 of vouchers on a Tesc0 shop :T

Non money saving :
- had to put the electric blanket on last night
- had to put the heating on today
- going to a food festival on Sunday
- 2nd consultation for eye operation £90
- we are going to the shops more, therefore, grocery has gone back up to £350 for the month :mad: even with vouchers, this needs addressing

Grocery Spend
I think the reason the grocery spend has gone up is because we've been "treating" ourselves a bit too much as we're doing well on the diet, but also we're still buying as much food as we did before and not really eating it. The cupboards are full and i have approx 20 yogurts in the fridge, maybe it's time to just buy the basics when we need them!

I will be doing a cupboard and fridge/freezer stock take this weekend and see what we really need as opposed to what we think we need.

Have a good un xx

ammonite

I don't mind cleaning but hate tidying! Luckily OH is a bit OCD so he tidies and I clean, works quite well

Well done for all your savings.

Come and join us on the freezer/cupboards challenge thread on the food board. Since I joined in April my spends have really gone down. I meal plan via the freezer and only buy what we need which for the last 7-8 weeks has been just lunch items (salad, sandwich meat, bread, fruit, crisps) at approx £30 for the two of us. A far cry from the £250+ a month for the two of us. I've basically lived out of the freezer since April and only just getting to the end of it now. Had some top ups with Yellow Stickered stuff but on the whole its been just me and OH eating through the freezer and cupboards. The thread really helps.

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

shala_moo wrote: »

MRN hope you've finished your decorating now, and had time to relax with cake.. and Ammonite i'd happily pay you in cake for the DIY.. along with cleaning, it's the one housey thing i hate!!

A little bit of painting left but waiting for MrMRN to plane two doors before I do that! No time to make cake... I started making roman blinds instead!

I don't mind de-cluttering, tidying or cleaning... for a fee!

shala_moo

ammonite wrote: »

I don't mind cleaning but hate tidying! Luckily OH is a bit OCD so he tidies and I clean, works quite well

Well done for all your savings.

Come and join us on the freezer/cupboards challenge thread on the food board. Since I joined in April my spends have really gone down. I meal plan via the freezer and only buy what we need which for the last 7-8 weeks has been just lunch items (salad, sandwich meat, bread, fruit, crisps) at approx £30 for the two of us. A far cry from the £250+ a month for the two of us. I've basically lived out of the freezer since April and only just getting to the end of it now. Had some top ups with Yellow Stickered stuff but on the whole its been just me and OH eating through the freezer and cupboards. The thread really helps.

I've found that thread - it's 313 pages long!! i have to read threads from the beginning cos i'm obsessive like that.. it may take some time lol..

I'm just waiting for OH to go up the gym so i can do the food inventory, then i can start planning some meals.

I have done a Tesc0 shop this week as i had £18 off a £90 shop, but this was mostly made up of Peps1 max as it's on a really good offer and toilet roll (OH won't use the cheapy stuff from H0me bargains :mad: but Tesc0's own is fine:D).

Tonight we'll be having a HM indian takeaway using up stuff from the cupboards and tomorrow will be a piece of gammon that i found lurking in the freezer..

Right off to do an inventory .. I loveeee lists :j:j

ammonite

Oh no! You can't read from start to end! Maybe jump in 10 pages from the end? You'll save hours lol!

Enjoy your inventory, I bet you'll surprise yourself!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

shala_moo wrote: »

I have done a Tesc0 shop this week as i had £18 off a £90 shop, but this was mostly made up of Peps1 max as it's on a really good offer and toilet roll (OH won't use the cheapy stuff from H0me bargains :mad: but Tesc0's own is fine:D).

I buy bog roll in bulk from C0stco. The last hoard was 80 rolls for £12 (40 rolls for £12 on BOGOF) and it was premium brand! Thankfully we have a huge storage cupboard to keep it in!

shala_moo wrote: »

Right off to do an inventory .. I loveeee lists :j:j

Me too. Especially ones with lots of ticks on!

shala_moo

I've never got round to re-joining costc0 after my business closed.. but my sister has her own business so next time she comes to visit i'll get her to join and get me a new card.

Had a very foody day, had a wander around the food festival in our local town and watched some cooking demos. There were some great local businesses, which was great, but it's a shame the "farmer's market" had so many craft stalls rather than nice local foods..

Came home and baked a chocolate cake to try out a new recipe and a banofee loaf cake (divine!) now watching Hairy Bikers in Memphis, bringing back lovely memories as me an OH got married over there!

Very busy work week ahead, no doubt i'll be clocking up some overtime so off for an early night.. xx

ammonite

I too am a costco bog-roll-buyer We just shove it up in the loft and get several packs down at a time which live on top of the bathroom cabinet. In fact most of the things I buy in the house come from Costco it really is worth me having a card.

Hope your week isn't tooo busy!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

shala_moo wrote: »

I've never got round to re-joining costc0 after my business closed.. but my sister has her own business so next time she comes to visit i'll get her to join and get me a new card.

Much cheaper as an additional card holder... my Mum buys me mine as a Christmas present each year and I'm so grateful for that. It means that from our first purchase of the year we're saving!