Nymphadora looking for a spell to cast my mortgage away

smallholdingsister

When our kitchen was out of action for a month we got paper plates and put a fridge in the dining room then lived off quiche and salad.

Nymphadora

It's been another busy week but today I plan to do nothing.




Finances are looking poor but all bills are paid and the freezer has a good few meals in it.


it's feeling cold today and I have the heating on for a while to help get some washing to dry.


back to work and school tomorrow so need a few items from the shops for lunches but shouldn't have to spend too much.

Nymphadora

:mad::mad::mad::mad: just added up our food spend so far this month £473.89.


I am furious this is just getting ridiculous and needs to stop. I used to withdraw money and use cash and it used to work so looks like I will need to go back to this.


Plan to go to Costco next week and spend one day making loads of meals for the freezer. DH will need to be told he is a bad one for nipping to the shops for bits and bobs.


On the plus side takeaways have been a lot lesser so at least that is one thing to be happy about.


Pay day for me next week so envelope system will be back in full swing I think.

Nymphadora

Well spoke to soon about takeaways had one 2 nights in a row, combination of being too tired and not organised enough.


Anyway onwards and upwards. Pay day today :j


Food money taken from the bank £250.00 and put in an envelope.


Spent £100.60 in Costco and £4.70 in Tescos.


i'm going to go through the fridge/freezer and cupboards and see what else is needed then will spend the weekend making meals out of all the food I bought.


Other spends today:


£20 Dog groomers (essential for the breed he is)
£10.05 2 x teachers gifts (end of term next week)
£7.49 Netflix
£23.80 Mobile bill


so Salary £633.67
- the above
leaves £322.33
I have decided to note my spends daily here.


DH will be paid next Wednesday so will make my very small mortgage overpayment then.

Nymphadora

Schools out for the summer :j:j:j


DH and I have been paid, managed to put £200 away in the savings account, now this should go towards our debt BUT we have been invited to a family wedding abroad in October so the money will be put aside for this.


Will need approx. £1500 for this but that should be manageable I have a small savings pot due to pay out in September for £480 and I have about £500 in a credit union already.


Dinner is in the slow cooker, chicken hotpot. Plan to do nothing else today the weather is not great and i'm still feeling a bit run down with this cold.

nkkingston

In terms of the takeaway habit (how well I know it!), maybe do some big cooks and stock the freeze with home made takeaway staples? Homemade pizza freezes well, as do curries, and you can buy microwave rice to add when you reheat. If you make your own chips, freezing the raw potato will make them even fluffier when you fry them because it reduces the water content (check out Heston's triple cooking method, but just cook them once!). Stir fries are really the only tough one, because any water-heavy veg will go mushy in the freezer. Get the kids cooking with you and start a production line!

How many screens do you watch Netflix on? It used to be £5.99, but then moved everyone on to the £7.49 plan unless you stopped it. you can move it back down if you only use it on one screen at a time and save yourself some change.

Also check your mobile phone usage. Most people are on plans that offer more than double what they actually use, so shop around for something that meets your actual needs, not what a salesman thinks could be good value for a jetset version of yourself!

Nymphadora

Thanks for dropping by nkkingston.


We do make our own chipos from time to time but I hadn't thought of pre preparing them and freezing them so thanks for that.


I have made Yorkshire puddings from scratch tonight to go with the dinner so hoping these turn out ok.


Had to pop to the shop as needed eggs (for yp but also to make sandwiches for when we take the kids out tomorrow)
Crackers and pickle as I had run out and I love chese, crackers and pickle.


So £4.19 spent leaving £108 left to do till 26th July. Thankfully my freezer is full of food so this should be doable if we are careful.

Nymphadora

Went to a friends for lunch, there was a suggestion to go out but we stayed in thankfully so money saved there.

Spends today £1.99 biscuits to take to friends.
£1.75 sending recorded letter
£75.50 Passport renewal.

Dinner was meatballs and pasta.

Think tomorrow I might get the kids to make Pizza from scratch but will need to buy flour and yeast.

Need to make my monthly small mortgage overpayment tomorrow.

Nymphadora

Nymphadora wrote: »

Gas and Electric. Really pleased to see we have managed to reduce it from last month.


April £157.86
May£89.96


So a saving of £67.90 :beer:


So far in June we have spent £5.99


My DD is £136 (was £111 but has been increased from this month) but we will be in debit but not sure yet what as the bill hasn't been fully updated however once I know what it is I can see if I need to make another payment or if over the summer months we can get it into credit with just using less.

So June is done and gas and electric was £79.07

Will need to have a look and see what we actually owe now.

Nymphadora

July's £17.57 overpayment has been sent.

Today the weather can not make up it's mind what it's doing. have resorted to putting my washing on the clothes horse so I can bring it in and out in between the rain.

Dinner will be lasagne. Need to get a few basics at the shops today but will update food money lately.

I have decided to try and bleach the kids school shirts to see if they will do another few months. DS should be fine but not sure about DD as she wears makeup and the collars are a bit grim. Will see how these go, even if they do till October it will be one less expense during the summer.