The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

Crumpets

Just a quick one tonight as I'm absolutely shattered, been a lovely but busy day. Met my lovely friend and her newborn baby today at soft play, so £4.50 spent there. Ds had a lovely time although he's not quite old enough to make full use of the play equipment. Had a lovely cuddle with the tiny baby though:) we then had a walk and went to the slug and lettuce for our lunch. We had a pretty good deal though, 2 large soft drinks, 2 curries, rice and naan, 1 children's 2 course meal and drink, 2 coffees and 2 pieces of carrot cake for £22.50, so £11.25 well spent I say. I'm still full so won't be having an evening meal tonight, probably just a little snack.

Whilst I was in town I popped into HSBC with all my change out of my pig so paid in £38.48 worth of change into the bank ready to op next week:T

I've got a day at the park and a picnic planned for tomorrow so I'm hoping for a LSD there, might treat the little ones to an icecream or myself to a cup of tea...we'll see:p

Last night I went to our pre school committee meeting and it shows how long it's been since I went to a pub as I nearly fainted when it cost me £4.50 for a vodka and tonic! :rotfl:Am I completely out of touch, is this normal? So I've had a spendy couple of days. It all comes out of the 'sundries' money though, that's what it's there for.

Worked out today that will have over £400 to op this month, which is good but not as good as previous months which is down to the grocery spends I think. Must try harder for July. I won't know the exact amount till the end of the week, depends if I can be bothered to put anything else on eBay. I'm still waiting for one item to be collected which will be a further £20 too...come on people I want that money!

Well that turned out to be longer than I thought:rotfl:

Crumpets x

hattifattener

Well done on the OP - that's a lovely amount for a month, I'm impressed with all your ebaying. I know you harvested your rhubarb a few weeks ago, but ours has been absolutely wild this year and we made rhubarb and ginger jam, which is delicious, worth thinking of next time you pick it.

Crumpets

Thanks hattifattener (great name by the way:D) yes I did harvest my rhubarb, I couldn't think of what to do with it so I decided to stew and freeze it...unfortunately my scatterbrain forgot I'd put it on the hob and it burnt:o I will have more to pick soon though so thank you for your suggestions:)

Kojak12

Food cost is difficult to control. I eat loads of veg most days and then have a few meat and fish treats depending on what's on offer.

The trouble is veg can be quite expensive. Find the stuff on offer at your supermarket or local veg shop (ask which day and time they normally mark stuff down to clear the way for new stock). Bulk buy and make up concentrated soup and then freeze or for leafy veg blanch and freeze.

Great soups are squash (particularly butternut) and sweet potato. Cook with some onion or a few spices like cinnamon and cumin, don't add much water so it is thick. Cool and then blitz with a hand blender or in a blender. Freeze. Quick easy and healthy food on tap - just defrost and add water to thin it down while you reheat.

Even better buy a few plug plants and grow your own squash. Only a few plants are needed to provide loads of veg. They keep well fresh too.

Also have a go with some potato plants - they are pretty easy to grow and normally yield lots of meals.

Salad and dwarf tomato plants are easy to grow mixed in with your flowers - fresh high vitamin content veg as you need them.

Crumpets

Thanks Kojak, I do make a lot of soup in the colder weather, it just doesn't seem right to make soup in the summer, we do eat a lot of salad which is expensive. We have a few things growing in the garden at the moment, radishes, onions, garlic, peas, mange tout, spring onion, squash, sprouts, potatoes, pumpkin and tomatoes. We also have blueberries, rhubarb, raspberries and strawberries going well too. Unfortunately nothing is ready to eat yet though, for a few weeks though we'll eat like kings:rotfl:

Well yesterday was a lovely NSD, had a lovely day at the park with a friend and her son,. We took a picnic and the kids had great fun playing and scooting around the park. I was tempted to buy a cup of tea in the park cafe but managed to avoid going near it so there was no pestering for ice creams either:T I promised them an ice lolly when we got home out of the freezer which they were very happy with:D

I managed to put 5 things on eBay last night too, only 99p items. Have a few watchers already so might be a few more £ to add to the op pot.

Today has been a bit spendy, I was desperate for some new undies so I went to the local underwear shop and treated myself. It's probably not the cheapest place but it's good quality and good service, and free parking and not far from home so the benefits outweigh the extra cost I think.:)

I also went for a coffee with my dh which was lovely as we don't get to do it very often but that cost £4.35, I also had to buy a brush for painting the fence so I have no more excuses not to do it:rotfl:

Not much left in the sundries for this week, supposed to be going out on Saturday night but might end up staying in:( we'll see

Chorizo pasta for dinner using up things we have in, shopping day tomorrow, that seems to come round quickly. Need to meal plan and do a list this evening. My dd2 pre school teacher said today to put more food in her lunch box as she eats it all quickly and then wants more! Today she had 1/2 jam s/w, banana, fruit bar, cherry tomatoes and a cake. I though it looked a lot in her lunch box but maybe not, I need to have a think what else I could put in there.

Crumpets x

MallyGirl

Frozen frubes go down well in this house - I always buy when 2 boxes for £3 deal is on. It keeps the contents of the lunchbox cool and is slurpable by lunchtime. She would probably need help ripping it open though

Crumpets

Hi Mallygirl, thanks for dropping by, frozen frubes are a really good idea. I don't put a yoghurt in her lunch box so that's definitely something I could add. I'll have a look out for them on special offer, my dd1 would love those too:)

Well grocery shopping done today in Ald!, I did quite well, £37.00 spent today, I was really pleased as this included a whole chicken, nappies and some flowers for me:cool: I'd already spent £8.00 at the beginning of the week on fruit and milk so £45 spent this week:T

Meals planned for this week are;

Fishcakes and salad (fish out of freezer)
Hm chicken fried rice with curry sauce and prawn crackers
Roast chicken dinner and trimmings
Chorizo and courgette pasta
Chicken, chips and peas
Baked potatoes

I just remembered I might have to feed my parents lunch tomorrow as they are hopefully coming to help me put up the kids playhouse in the garden. It's been in the garage since we moved 2 1/2 years ago, can't wait to have the space back:rotfl: dd2 is the perfect age for it this year too and I'm sure it will keep them all busy in the summer holidays.:D

I can't wait for Monday for my next mortgage payment to go out, we should go into the next thousand bracket:T just waiting to see if I get any eBay bids before I can work out my op for the month, I'm ridiculously excited about this :j I'm really looking forward to updating my signature too, it's the little things that keep you plodding along:D

Some jobs around the house to be done this afternoon, i'm also waiting in for my delivery of an enormous amount of baby wipes from k!dd!care.com. I spent £32 on baby wipes but they work out at 46p a pack so will last me yonks, also went through TCB :money:

As I was typing I just spilt an enormous cup of tea all over me, the sofa and the floor:eek: That'll teach me to multitask...am off to clean it up

crumpets x

hattifattener

That's a good deal on the wipes - I love the kiddicare nappies but never thought to try wipes too. Got to get on and join TCB - so many things I've been buying that I could have had cashback on!!! Talking of tea, better make one.

Crumpets

Omg my baby wipes have just been delivered! 2 enormous boxes of wipes:rotfl: where am I going to keep them :rotfl: gawd knows what mr C will say!:D

Crumpets

Happy Sunday:j

What a fantastic weekend, lovely weather and lots done in the garden - ver productive:D yesterday my parents came to visit and help us with the kids playhouse that has been sat in the garage for 2 1/2 years since we moved into the house. It's still in pretty good shape amazingly, just needs a good clean out and probably a fresh coat of paint. I think I have some in the garage, I also whipped up some bunting for the outside out of a couple of old oil cloth tablecloths I had in the drawer, I also have some fabric in my store to make some curtains...all very mse:money: my dd2 thought it was the best thing ever as she had never seen it before and they've all had a lovely day playing in it today:T

Today mil came to visit and brought the kids a paddling pool which also went down a storm. A lot of fun has been had in the Crumpet household this weekend.:)

Last night I had a night out at the local pub with the girls and spent £10, which isn't bad for a good night out. 4 of my items also sold on eBay last night, only an extra £5 to the pot but as they say every little helps:) I also requested £14.32 amazon voucher from TCB so I will take the money from the Christmas fund and op it. I think I have about £488 to over pay this month, can't wait to update my signature tomorrow

Crumpets x