Countdown to Freedom

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Version, I am pretty certain you have to wait for CP to advertise that they are looking for new people to join. Unhappy Shopper posted a link a while on her diary for people to click through to join, Soyuz may want to try her?

S&S you can register your interest, the only problem is I never keep the sites you need to go to. You may want to search the forums for S&S as I am pretty certain there is a thread.

SSS, I can't say I find coins every day but about once or twice a week I find something. Yep, we can only focus on the end game. I have a whole load of shoes in my cupboard, testament to my previous ways, so won't be needing shoes for a while :rotfl:

GG, Mr T and DD very under the weather and don't fancy anything to eat at all, not even toast. I can't remember them being this poorly before so they are receiving lots of love :)

Off to make cupcakes for lunch boxes this coming week. I fancy making coffee ones, as I would like those. If I make chocolate ones I won't be tempted, so I'd better go with chocolate

Enjoy the sun, if you have any, as it won't be her for long.

Best wishes Tilly

katsu

Would he take maybe a 4-5yr old car instead of a 1yr old?

Decisions to spend are hard I think, when you are on the path to being MF and don't want to derail. However, life is about juggling so if it will make you all happy as a family it might be worth the extra time on the MF road - at least in a comfy car you'll enjoy the drive.

We will still be here as your scenery out the windows

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

Hi Katsu, a garage has called him a few minutes ago and I think he will be looking at 2-3 years old.

This balancing act is difficult and I agree we have to enjoy the journey but I feel such desire to get rid of the mortgage.

I really feel quite weighed down by it but.........

I know it is going down
I know it will be cleared no later than May 2016
I know, if things got too much, we could sell and downsize if we wanted to
Plus I don't use any bonus payments, eb@y, mini OPs to achieve ur MF date, so who knows, we could pull it back by a month. Actually that's not true, they benefit and help towards the goal, rather than they are assumed and used in the calculations

Anyway, early days as he hasn't found one yet

Best wishes Tilly

pavlovs_dog

taka wrote: »

I use cheap freezer bags and place the slabs into another much sturdier x-large freezer bag (often ziplock) with similar things eg soups together etc.

that's a good idea :T

We started out with a collection of cheapy takeaway style boxes from the pound shop when we first started batch cooking, as we didn't want to spend a lot of money on tuppaware if the idea never actually got off of the ground.

Turns out it has worked really well for us and is saving time and money. We've now reached the conclusion that the plastic tubs we've been using to date aren't really up to the job as a lot of them have split on the lids etc. We're now looking at a replacement system.

I'm not sure the bag idea would work for us... we're trying to produce less waste so I think in the longer term decent tuppaware will be the way forward for us. We have two undercounter freezers rather than chest freezers, so are limited on the height and depth front. Can feel an expensive trip to Lakeland coming on

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

PaddyPaws wrote: »

Meal planning questions/thoughts

Just being nosy here (and hoping i can pinch some of your ideas too!)

So you do your meal planning for a month, do a big monthly shop, batch cook for the freezer at the beginning of the month and then just do top up shops for milk/fruit/veg during the month?

Did you work up to this gradually or just decide to give it a try?

I've just gone from meal planning and shopping weekly to about every 10 or 11 days. Trying it out this month before moving to fortnighly probably next month.

I batch cook as I'm going along, so if we have eg spag bol/cottage pie/curry type meal I make enough for dinner plus 3 or 4 dinners which I freeze. I add them to future meal plans when I put them in the freezer so when I plan future weeks there is usually a couple of meals already listed.

We also have junk food Friday (this was to stop us keep buying take aways). We've got about 6 or 7 "junk food" dinners that we just cycle through week by week. I tend to buy things for this when on offer if they're not completely home made.

I think I need to add your step of browsing the cook books though as we seem to be getting a bit stuck in a rut with some of our meals.

Will give the garlic soup a miss for now

PP

Hi PaddyPaws,

The main reason for batch cooking, originally, was to save me time in the week, when the kids were young and I worked long hours. Now I find a monthly menu planning session, with an updated freezer, larder lists, with different cook books, allows me to create a shopping list and a monthly menu plan. I then cook as much of the stuff as I can in advance and freeze. Each evening I check what needs to come out of the freezer and I love the fact that I have more time in the week.

Some days I just take out the basic ingredients, so last week I made a fish pie and took the fish out in the morning to defrost, I boiled and mashed the potatoes whilst on a con call, then poached the fish during another and then Mr T made the white sauce.

It works for us and allows us to use bulk meat purchases in different types of dishes and streeeeeetch them a bit

Good luck with your plans.

Tilly x

PaddyPaws

Thanks Tilly

I think I need to include freezer inventory and cook book browse in my planning as I sometimes forget what ingredients are in the freezer. Batch cooked meals get added to the meal plan when I make them so then when I'm planning a week I just move them to the most appropriate evening (ie one where I know I won't want to cook from scratch)

pavlovs_dog We use takeaway containers (and 250g butter/marge containers are great for single portions of soup as we're trying not to overeat) as i found I didn't wash and reuse bags. Mr PP uses the split lid/container needing to be binned as an excuse for a chinese takeaway to replenish our stocks - not very MSE :rotfl:(Un)fortunately we're getting a lakeland store in town this year, I can feel a spending spree coming on already:D

catch you later
PP

elantan

Tilly, can i suggest you look at the repair bills and trouble you are/are not having with the car?

we had a megane, which caused us nothing but hassle, we were spending over 2k a year fixing it, it was so unreliable and stressful driving it, i could tell you night mare stories about it all but wont want to bore you

we didnt want to get rid of it though as it was bought and paid for, and we were thinking buying another car would put our debt free date back.

when we came home from our holidays this year we took the car in for its m.o.t and it failed miserably, i couldnt take it any more so i put my foot down and said that's it car is going we are getting a new one, yes it means we have more money to find, and i will be honest i dont love the car that we have now, but so far it is reliable and not breaking down, that peace of mind is worth the extra money going out every month

we pay £232 a month which is £2784 so more than the £2k we were spending to repair the last car, but we have peace of mind and a newish car

katsu

Version - you can register your interest here for CP etc www.volunteer4panels.com

Tilly_MFW_in_6_YRS

katsu wrote: »

Version - you can register your interest here for CP etc www.volunteer4panels.com

Hi Katsu, thanks for posting that, I'll copy it into my mails so that I don't lose it.

Evening El, I agree about the car comments. Mr T is very keen and so are the kids and it will be more reliable for the very long journeys we do.

Best wishes Tilly x

catshark88

Am so relieved to hear that there are other people squirrelling coins away in different jars!

Thank goodness for this forum. I've tried talking to a couple of friends about paying mortgages off early, but they look at me as if I was doing something odd....