Hugglemonster's debt free diary

Bobarella

Hope your DD enjoys her camping trip. Nice to spend time with just one child I'd imagine. Sounds like you have a nice town to enjoy there. Hope the movie is good.

hugglemonster

We have a tin of soup in our attic, the attic has been converted to a room so that's where dh has his computer and all our camping equipment is in there too, anyway we have this said tin of soup. It's a 'basics' vegetable soup and has been knocking around for some time, the picture on the front reminds me of vomit (sorry tmi) and it probably smells and tastes of it too. I don't mind basics stuff but this can of soup just doesn't seem right.


The reason that I mention the soup is that no matter how little money with have for food, we can always scrape enough together or come up with a combination of meals that wouldn't normally go together so that the tin of soup remains in the attic! :-)


Ds wanted pasta for lunch, we already had plenty in the cupboard so we popped over to by a cheap jar of sauce, we had this (no meat) with some homemade garlic bread made from the remains of a loaf. It was lovely. I'm down to my last 2 tea bags but there is coffee in the cupboard, I have 5p in my purse and that's it. Still have plenty of meals in the freezer plus potatoes and carrots so absolutely plenty until I get paid on Tuesday. It just shows how you can be frugal when needed.


Another paypal payment ready to transfer into bank account, I need to chase up some vouchers after doing a study over 4 weeks, due £15 so this would be most handy for presents.


I told my parents that we can't do Xmas presents this year and dh has told his sister and parents, to be honest they're all quite happy and every agreed it's far better having a nice dinner and spending time together. Just need to tell my brother, he's a bit money orientated but he'll have to lump it.


Having a chilled out day with ds, have only done 2 loads of washing and that's it can't be bothered to do any housework!


I need to remember to pay in the cheque from the cc company tomorrow and start doing my timesheet for second job.


H x

[Deleted User]

Sounds like a nice relaxed weekend. Hope DH and DD enjoy the camping.

Good idea about Christmas, I'm sure your brother will be okay about it too x

Bobarella

I love the soup story. Made me smile. I hadn't realised we were both #twobrokegirls this weekend

Katzen

Ha, love the tin of soup story! I can confirm that basics veg soup is actually not that bad. Pretty artificial taste and def what they use for vomit on casualty though! We used to make freshers drink it cold as a dare in the hockey club (I served my time as a fresher too!). Although saying that, maybe being slightly the wrong side of a crate of lager helped it go down

Have to ask though, why buy pasta sauce? Not found one yet I couldn't make for cheaper...

Sounds like you're having a lovely weekend, hope DH and DD are having a good time too and the weathers not too bad for them

hugglemonster

Ha I knew it Katzen, the soup is evil! Oh I brought pasta sauce because I had nothing to make a sauce with, I did buy the cheapest possible.


Well dh is in the good books, he got back this morning with dd (had a brilliant time) and brought with him 4 tins of beans, 5 packs of rice, 6 pots of noodles and £7! Had a chat with him about finances, he was really pleased with the amount of interest and time that we're saving with the overpayments on the computer.


Had another relaxing day, noticed that my cold sores are almost gone and feeling much better in general.


It's pay day tomorrow so need to work out all the direct debits to go out, I can't seem to tally up my bank account with ynab I'm not sure whether a cheque I banked last week has actually cleared or not so it's all a bit odd. I paid in the other cheque this morning and have received a reply r.e. vouchers owed so need to email back to say I definitely haven't had it.


I've got an extra event to work at for my second job at the end of November, it's a 3 hour drive but I would get paid my time plus mileage so well worth it.


Ds has climbing session tonight, all paid for so I will find something to take with me to do.


H x

[Deleted User]

Hi

Glad your weekend was great and nice haul from DH.

Yay to feeling better and pay day :T

My DS used to climb, he loved it but we were taken for a ride by the climbing club. How long has your DS been climbing?

hugglemonster

Deleted_User wrote: »

My DS used to climb, he loved it but we were taken for a ride by the climbing club. How long has your DS been climbing?

The kids were climbing for about 9 months but they had a massive break because we couldn't afford it at the time, just gone back as it's the only club they have stuck with and really enjoy it.

Pay day today from second job so not a huge amount but enough to get through the next week until dh pay goes in, there is still a discrepancy between my ynab, the figures showing on my bank app and what is actually available. I phoned the bank to see if there was anything strange but he had a different figure on his screen compared to what I have, wondering if it is the cheques because everything else added up. Will keep a check over the next few days.

Ds has gone to the zoo with his friend today so took a packed lunch with him, nice to spend some time with dd after she was away for the weekend. I've just ordered her birthday present, a large beanbag for her room and managed to get it through cashback.

All direct debits to go out ready and waiting on ynab, I need to remember to allocate money for food shopping, fuel and dd/ds lunch money for next week. Had confirmation letter today r.e. extra payment for computer, the scheduled end date is June 2018 so I will pay it off way before then!

Food shopping to do in a bit, need to do a menu first I can't shop without a list.

H x

Bobarella

Yes the whole buy vs make argument is a good one. Even Frugal Queen discussed it on her blog. A pasta sauce is a good example. To make a decent sauce you need about 6 tomatoes (60p) fresh, garlic (30p) per bulb loose, an onion (18p) oil (99p cheapest veg oil) plus dried herbs, black pepper and salt.

Or you can buy a nice one for 50p in Sains.

Having worked in catering for quite a while, the roll on effect of using bits up as you go so you always have some thing fresh and something you are using up, is where the sweet spot is for producing portions for pennies. But trying to go from zero in the cupboards to a nice meal is always going to cost more per meal than just buying a ready made item.

Katzen

Certainly a good point bob. And if you're really brasic the cost of power to gently simmer a decent sauce is not to be ignored. It's a very sad fact that it's possible to buy processed food for less than the cost of the ingredients.