New Diary, New Start-mortgage be gone

Lexi-lu

Hello tattycath

Well done on the overpayment and making a good start on the emergency fund.


Good luck, I will be following your diary

tattycath

Lexi-lu wrote: »

Hello tattycath

Well done on the overpayment and making a good start on the emergency fund.


Good luck, I will be following your diary

Hi Lexi-lu, thanks for popping by. :wave:
Thanks for your comments. I just need to keep up the momentum.

tattycath

tattycath wrote: »

I need to keep track on all spends this month, especially grocery spends. I've buried my head pin the sand for far too long about how much we spend. The only way I'm going to clear this mortgage is if I get on top of things.

Today, so far, I have spent £3.75 for hospital parking. I found £1 on the floor -so I've only spent £2.75. Not planning on spending any more today.

Ok, so I spent an extra 50p today on a small index box file and dividers-in an attempt to help me get organised. £3.25 spent so far this month.
I'm using a note book ( that I already had-as I get a bit obsessional about note books and stuff) so I can keep track of all my monthly spends. The book is for everything apart from grocery spends. Grocery spending is in another notebook.
I really need to do a menu plan next. I have a full freezer, so I would like to run it down and then refill it.
We had a kind of healthier version of a stir fry tonight. I only used a chicken breast for this. So I have the rest of the chicken for tomorrow nights meal.
Any suggestions for meals that use precooked chicken will be gratefully received. TIA

greent

tattycath wrote: »

Any suggestions for meals that use precooked chicken will be gratefully received. TIA

Some people use precooked chicken in fajitas (I don't ) Chicken pie, chicken risotto, creamy chicken pasta bake, hunks or a leg with salad, chicken & sweetcorn soup.... running out of ideas now!


Pick it clean and freeze it for future use?

tattycath

greent wrote: »

Some people use precooked chicken in fajitas (I don't ) Chicken pie, chicken risotto, creamy chicken pasta bake, hunks or a leg with salad, chicken & sweetcorn soup.... running out of ideas now!


Pick it clean and freeze it for future use?

Thanks greent. i'm going to take all the meat off the carcass in the morning. Then I will boil the carcass up with some onion, herbs etc and make some stock. Might have either chicken pasta bake or chicken and vegetable risotto tomorrow night and freeze the rest for future use.

tattycath

I'm a bit too impulsive when we go grocery shopping. I just put things in the trolley: if we need it, if we fancy it, if it's on offer, if one of the kids asks for it...I can always find an excuse to add lots of extra stuff to the trolley. This results in mass overspending in the supermarket. I haven't exactly added it up accurately, but I reckon we have probably been spending over £500 a month on groceries and cleaning products etc for 5 of us. :eek:
New strategy going forward:
I will only take cash to the supermarket-no cards
I will write a list of what we need and roughly calculate how much it will cost.
I will only take a few pounds more than my estimated costings
I will not be tempted to impulse buy as I won't have the money to fund it.
As we are running down the freezer I am only planning on spending £200 on groceries this month.
Fingers crossed I can pull this off.
I have already started saving on a card for Christmas groceries. Now toying with the idea of maybe buying extra bits and bats from October onwards so we don't have the huge Christmas bill like we usually have... Will have to give this some thought.

tattycath

I've picked all the chicken off the bone and divided it into a couple of tubs, one to freeze and one to make evening meal out of.
The bones, skin and everything else is in a pan with onion, dill, bay leaves and turmeric-and obviously water, it's simmering and smells delicious.
Just been looking in the freezer. I need to make a full inventory.
Just having a cup and then it's my next job.

jwil

All looking good

greent

Freezer inventory is always a good idea - we once found 54 sausages...... - and another time 32 pieces of steak!!


Seriously, though, I love having a freezer inventory - I do it by shelf/ drawer so that I (or anyone else) know where to find the item!


I'm another sucker for what's on offer/ I like the look of that/ it's reduced to clear when in the supermarket - but am trying to curb such spending!


x

tattycath

greent wrote: »

Freezer inventory is always a good idea - we once found 54 sausages...... - and another time 32 pieces of steak!!


Seriously, though, I love having a freezer inventory - I do it by shelf/ drawer so that I (or anyone else) know where to find the item!


I'm another sucker for what's on offer/ I like the look of that/ it's reduced to clear when in the supermarket - but am trying to curb such spending!


x

Yes, I like to make an inventory of what I have and I also like it to be an organised list so I know what is where. :j