The long road to being mortgage free!

Mortgage_Reduction_Novice

ammonite wrote: »

Haven't been using the car half as much due to annual leave so have saved loads on petrol this month.

Tell me about it... I'm part way through two weeks off work and saving £15 a day in fuel... I'm wondering if I'll make the minimum amount on my credit card to get my monthly reward this month!!!

I'm also realising that the only place I can cut back is my grocery spend... hence the Grocery Challenge for me this money to raise my conciousness of it.

ammonite

I've been running my cupboards and freezer down since April

I went back through my old credit card statements and found I could easily spend £200+ on food a month for two of us. Most of it was tinned/freezer goods which I would get whilst they were on offer so there was a logic to it but when I went through the cupboards I realised just how much I had. Also had a HUGE amount of meat in the freezer. Have had one small meat buy since April spending approx. £30 on different meats and that along with what I already had seems to have done us really well. I've topped up with 'whoopsie' meals and reduced stuff. I haven't even done a "big shop" since April really, I've literally just been eating what we had and spending around £30 a week (sometimes less) on fridge items.

I think we have enough food in the freezer and cupboards to see us through to mid October easily. In April I guessed it would be early September but there are still lots of things in there.

I do like having stocked cupboards and I will look for offers on jars of sauces etc. in the future but I have no need for them at the moment so will hold off.

You should join us on the "I'm eating out of the freezer and cupboards" thread. It is quite fun to post what is going in and out of the freezer and cupboards and lots of chatter about whoopsie items too :

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3307650


MRN - As for Petrol...there isn't really a way to reduce the costs is there If I can work at home one day per week, that really seems to help! It isn't always possible though

ammonite

Been very MSE and did some DIY that we didn't think we could actually do. Took a lot of perseverance, patience and has taken us all day but has saved us around £700. To say we are delighted is an understatement. This money stays in the savings rather than comes out as planned. Also other quotes have been £500 less than we expected which is great news for the savings too.

Have been rating away today, get fed up sometimes but when I see the numbers go up and get closer to the magic £50 it spurs me on

ammonite

Have been trying to clear the freezer out and meal plan so we eat what we already have but didn't realise that what I thought were meals were actually soups (which do not constitute full meals in this house!) so when I said earlier that we could go until mid-October without buying meat, I'm not sure we can. We may make it to mid-September which isn't bad from April !

Here is my rough meal plan for dinners for us both:

Friday - Soup & Pitta (me) , chicken curry, bag of rice & naan (OH).

Saturday - Honey & Mustard Chicken with Rice (OH), Spag Bol (me)

Sunday - Braised Beef & Mashed potato (both)

Monday - Med.Chicken with chips (OH), Mushroom risotto (me)
Tuesday - Canneloni & Garlic bread (OH), ???? (me)

Wednesday - Spag Bol & Garlic bread (OH), ???? (me)

Thursday - Sausage, Egg & Chips (OH)

Will need to go freezer diving to fill in the gaps but its a start

quintwins

Soup is a meal here if we have part baked rolls and pudding after, it's usually our sunday dinner after having a big lunch.

ammonite

I can only eat it about once per week as my tummy doesn't like veg very much so it'll last me until Christmas unless I can get OH understanding that it is actually a meal! If it doesn't have meat in he basically doesn't want to know

janineh1982

Well done on getting through the trauma that is the 'full to brim freezer which never goes down ' though and starting to use up everything! :beer:

I am still struggling with that challenge, although persevering!

I do wonder sometimes how our minds work to think we constantly have to have have a full freezer with multiples and triplicates of everything.....point in case, your freezer contents Ammonite will ahve lasted you nearly 6 months !
Now lets be honest, if there is some world catastroph, which means you can't buy food for 6 months - there is probably a much bigger problem to be worrying about than food! :rotfl:

Also i sympathise on the OH 'proper meal' situation, i have exactly the same issue, if it has no meat 'it's not a proper meal' and if i plonked soup and a roll (which is a cob in my world ) in front of him for an evening meal i can only imagine the look i'd get :cool:

J x

greent

ammonite wrote: »

I can only eat it about once per week as my tummy doesn't like veg very much so it'll last me until Christmas unless I can get OH understanding that it is actually a meal! If it doesn't have meat in he basically doesn't want to know

I have one of those - I acn't think of anything he'll eat without having meat somewhere around. He will eat tomato soup - with ham sandwiches!! All pasta has to have meat in the sauce. Things like cauliflower cheese are only a side dish, not a meal, even if served with jacket potato, crusty bread and veg! Oh - and jacket potatoes are only to be eaten with meat pies or meat as a side. And beans on toast have to have sausages on the side. All omelettes must contain ham.... I'm sure you get the idea!:rotfl::rotfl:

ammonite

Greent and janine we should form some sort of carnivore-wives support group It costs me a ruddy fortune! My major bug bear is kievs and escalopes, he ALWAYS wants two not one. He isn't hungry for two, just greedy for two. When he has chips/jacket potato and veg with it, one large kiev is enough for anyone.

I am sneaky with meals though, curry, chilli etc. everything gets bulked out with loads of veg. Its not that I don't want him to eat the meat, it is just really expensive so if I hide the veg inside the sauce, he just sees it as lots of meat

I'll occasionally have cheese on a jacket potato or spaghetti on toast for a quick, cheap and easy dinner...no chance of that with OH!!

6 months, wow yes I suppose it has! That's true actually, I've had to buy bits and bobs to make meals look like meals but on the whole I have hardly bought any meat, just potatoes, pasta, rice, veg, bread etc. I have bought some Yellow Stickered meals too which have helped but they have been like £1 for 2 chicken breasts in a sauce and not worth actually buying the meat and making my own meals!

DawnW

ammonite wrote: »

Greent and janine we should form some sort of carnivore-wives support group

I think I will join that as well :mad: what is it with them?? I get around the escalope / kiev thing by not buying them tbh :mad:

I also do the lots of veg in chilli / bolognese thing though - it is cheaper I grant you, but even more important it is also healthier