Pay off my mortgage in 5 years

Maiden_Mum

Good luck buzzzoe! I'm following along.

buzzyzoe

Operation clear-the-freezer is a go! Last night I had frozen veggie sausages and I'm having a coconut vegetable stir fry for my lunch today so that's two things cleared out. Planning on having frozen fish with leftover frozen veggies from a roast dinner so that will be another 2 things used up!

I need to do a proper inventory as I've got tons in there and I should be able to make a meal plan with it quite easily. Weird the things that get you excited

I'm also going to test out the new George Foreman grill tonight as that's arrived. Planning on making greek chicken flatbreads for my lunches tomorrow and Saturday.

Still no pay from any jobs, I think my current job will be Monday and no idea about the previous job but it will have to be Tuesday at the latest as that's the last day of Feb. Looking forward to seeing if it covers my outgoings for next month!

I did 8 miles on Tuesday and 4 miles yesterday. Hopefully another 4 on Friday morning and then 6 or so on Saturday. Then I can have a nice Sunday off before starting again on Monday! I'm at 138/1000 at the moment, only 862 to go across the rest of the year!

buzzyzoe

Operation clear-the-freezer is going well! I've been having various frozen bits and bobs for dinners and lunches - I've got a stir fry again for lunch so that's another thing. It's pancake day! My favourite day of the year. I'm thinking of having a selection of pancakes for dinner - one with bacon and maple syrup, one with sugar and lemon and one with Nutella - a 3 course pancake meal if you will.

The George Foreman grill has been good so far - I've used it to make my chicken flatbreads which were yummy - here they are.



I've been paid from both my jobs and actually got more than I was expecting because they are both quite low amounts so less tax than I'm used to. My tax code is already messed up because I apparently underpaid last year so that's probably not going to help things! I will probably be going self employed during the next financial year so I think I'm definitely going to get an accountant to sort out the confusion

Tomorrow is overpayment day - should be £1500 which will be another nice chunk. I might keep a bit back for a new hairdo though :A

buzzyzoe

Operation clear-the-freezer has stalled a bit as I made a batch of no bake oat bars and there's now 9 of them in the freezer - oops! They are very nice though so hopefully won't last too long in there.

I've been doing loads of cooking recently, I made pad thai for the first time which was really yummy:


A £1500 overpayment made and my balance is now at 38 thousand and something! I haven't spent much this week, apart from a bit on food supplies for my various cooking projects and experiments

Another 17 miles done so far this week and hopefully another 7 tomorrow. I'm down to 831 and aiming to break into the 700s by the end of next week - that might be a bit of a tall order though!

Over the weekend, I want to make another batch of oat bars but baked this time to see how they turn out. I also might treat myself to a takeaway tomorrow as I've been fairly good all week!

ch4rly2002

Sounds like you're doing great with the OP and the cooking. Love the pictures! I didn't even know you could post pictures. The food looks very tasty and healthy, so if they're cheap as well it's got to be a bonus!

Would you mind sharing the recipe for the no bake oat bars please, they sound lovely

lippy1923

How do u make the banana pancakes? Sounds yummy. Well done on your progress. Your doing really well :-)

buzzyzoe

Thank you! I didn't actually know you could post pictures either until I saw someone else do it and searched for how to do it online

The no bake oat bars are:
- 200g rolled oats
- 3 bananas
- 50g peanut butter
- 50g maple syrup
- 50g chocolate protein powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Mash the bananas until smooth and so there are no lumps
2. Melt the peanut butter and maple syrup in the microwave until runny (around 30 secs) and add the vanilla essence
3. Add this to the bananas and pour in the oats (and protein powder if you're using it), mix until it forms a 'dough'
4. Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the mixture onto the baking tray
5. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top
6. Freeze until solid then cut into bars. I keep mine in the freezer and eat them straight from there as they can be a bit squidgy if kept in the fridge. If you eat them from the freezer they're like a combination between ice cream, fudge and cereal bars. Delish!

Here they are:


The pancakes are:
- 1 large banana
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp chocolate protein powder (optional)
- Pinch of cinnamon (optional)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

1. Mash banana until smooth and so there are no lumps
2. Add eggs into bowl and mix vigorously until it forms a batter with no lumps
3. Add the chocolate protein powder, cinnamon and vanilla extract if you're using them
4. Heat a pinch of coconut oil in a frying pan and add spoonfuls of the batter as you would with normal pancakes
5. Serve with whatever toppings you fancy, I normally have maple syrup

Here they are:


I'm going to try some healthy muffins at the weekend. I've ordered some coconut flour and a muffin tray from Amazon. I figure although I'm spending a bit on ingredients and cooking supplies, hopefully it will pay for itself as it's much cheaper than buying cereal bars from the supermarket which is what I did before! Plus it's so much better for me and it's a hobby and I don't really have any expensive hobbies.

Hopefully by the end of this week I'll break the 200 mile mark with my running. I want to get down to 799 miles left of the 1000, so I need to do another 15 before the end of the week. I'm thinking 6 on Thursday, 6 on Saturday and 3 on Sunday.

ch4rly2002

Thank you so much for the recipes and fantastic photos - they look delicious! I'm definitely going to give it a try.

Well done on the running. You have my complete admiration. I joined a running club once and used to run a mile every week with them. I also had to run around in between exercises at boot camp and circuit class. That was for a minute or two at a time then onto the next exercise but it killed me. A mile and a few minutes in between exercises doesn't sound much but when I was lugging 19 stone around, it was hard. I can't say I actually enjoyed the running, but I really enjoyed shifting the weight. As far as hobbies go, I think making healthy oat bars and running are definitely among the best for you

Kittenkirst

The food looks delicious

buzzyzoe

Thanks guys!

The running is hard - I'm tired a lot and it just takes up so much TIME! I've been trying to do 4 days a week but that's 4 days where I can't really do much else, particularly Monday-Friday when I have work. I'm under 800 miles now, I did 20 last week but that's the bare minimum really so I want to aim for slightly more this week. I've got a date tonight and getting my hair done on Wednesday evening so that leaves Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday this week. Hopefully I can do at least 23 miles across those 4 days. I've generally been doing 8, 6, 6, 3, which works quite nicely.

I did a huge load of batch cooking yesterday. I made falafel from scratch for the first time ever which was fun but quite labour intensive and messy! So for lunch today I've got falafel, a wrap and some hummus and I'll have that with rice. I also made a huuuuge batch of veggie bolognese mix with Quorn mince, chickpeas, carrots, mushroom and onion, which I split 3 ways and made:
- 4 portions of chilli (with added kidney beans and spices)
- 3 portions of bolognese (with squashgetti)
- 4 portions of lasagne (with a homemade white sauce from almond milk and a bit of flour)

I also bought ingredients to make a huge stir fry and a coconut and chicken curry, but the freezer is absolutely packed which is a bit of a disaster! I'm going to try and eat only from the freezer for the next few days so I can cook the chicken before it goes out of date and freeze.

I've also got tons of baking ingredients - obviously most of them will keep but there's a few fresh ones like bananas, avocados and yoghurt that I will need to try and make some more space in the freezer before I can use.

Moneywise it's coming up to an expensive time of year. I moved into my flat around April so lots of the yearly bills are coming up for renewal - buildings insurance, ground rent, service charge, TV licence. Then it's pretty much everyone's birthday that I buy presents for! My brother's was the 8th March, my best friend's the 10th, brother's fiance's is tomorrow, mothers day is this weekend, then my mum's birthday is mid April! So my bank balance is much lower than usual at the moment - it's all budgeted for in YNAB but I've got used to having a much higher amount in my current account as all the savings pots are in there for the yearly expenses, so I'm feeling a bit poor at the moment even though I haven't gone over budget on anything.

I will get my first full paycheck from this job on Friday and I'm dying to see how much it is, as that will determine how much I can overpay over the next 6 months. I'm just worried about how much tax I'm going to be paying!

This week's food picture - my post run brunch on Saturday of protein pancakes and chocolate 'ice cream.' Pancakes made with 1 banana, 2 eggs and a scoop of vanilla protein powder. Ice cream made from 1 frozen banana and 1 spoonful of cocoa powder, blended. Delicious