Back to being a DFW..AGAIN!

milasavesmoney

No guacamole and salad in the burrito will not freeze well but the beans rice and salsa will be fine. Just add the guacamole and salad on top after you heat them. Maybe more salsa too.:D

WantToBeSE

milasavesmoney wrote: »

No guacamole and salad in the burrito will not freeze well but the beans rice and salsa will be fine. Just add the guacamole and salad on top after you heat them. Maybe more salsa too.:D

Thanks PMO2 I'll have a re-think.I make my own refried beans, so could freeze that with the rice and other beans.


Today I spent the whole morning making an excel spreadsheet for my budget.
I may have taken a while, but i understand it, it's easy to do, and hopefully it'll keep me on track with my spending.

I want to start doing an inventory of whats in my pantry, but as soon as i put lists up anywhere my son writes over them all. So i might just have to do a list on my laptop instead.

Today i am making a yellow split pea dhal. I've had these yellow split peas in the cupboards for ages and not known what to do with them, so i hope this turns out to be tasty!

Was going to make bread to dunk in it, but i wonder if the electricity useage of the oven would negate any savings? So am going to pull out some frozen pitta breads instead.

WantToBeSE

Afternoon All

The grocery budget isn't going very well AT ALL. But, it's a learning curve, and i will make sure that i do it properly next month. plus, i am now only buying fruit and veg.

I have learnt that i need to add a bit into my budget for train journeys. I wont always be driving into town, i might take the train instead and need to budget for this.

But apart from this, my budget is working well.

milasavesmoney

It's hard when you are so busy to make changes but it will come together and you are right, it is a learning curve. One thing that has helped me is googling recipes for ingredients I already have. There is a recipe for almost any combo and usually lots to choose from. Today, I put in wheat berries (trying to use these up from when I bought them thinking we should eat more whole grains) chicken and lime. It came up with a Thai recipe that I have most of the ingredients for. I'll just sub in stuff that I have> for example snow peas vs. peas. And the good thing is some of my overpacked pantry will be used up...plus I actually serve a whole grain.

WantToBeSE

Thanks Mila, what a great idea.

I am making vegan Shepherds Pie for dinner tonight. In fact, i have a little meal plan going!

Fri- Shepherds Pie
Sat- Sweet Potato and black bean casserole
Sun- Roast (chicken for the boys, nut for me)
Mon-Spaghetti Bolognaise
Tues- Mixed Bean Goulash with rice
Wed- Baked Potato, salad and veggies
Thu- Curry and rice.

louby40

Hi

We always do a weekly meal plan, stick it on the fridge so everyone knows what's for tea!

I budget £250 (there are 2 adults (boyfriend always here but he chips in) and 2 teenage boys) we tend to keep to that amount. We cook from scratch, use up leftovers and don't have much waste. We shop in Aldi.

I used to spend £400 on food so I've cut it down a lot

Good luck

WantToBeSE

louby40 wrote: »

Hi

We always do a weekly meal plan, stick it on the fridge so everyone knows what's for tea!

I budget £250 (there are 2 adults (boyfriend always here but he chips in) and 2 teenage boys) we tend to keep to that amount. We cook from scratch, use up leftovers and don't have much waste. We shop in Aldi.

I used to spend £400 on food so I've cut it down a lot

Good luck

Thanks Louby. Yes, i think i am going to write out a plan every week and put it on the fridge so everyone can see it.
My teenager is a nightmare with food though, he often wont eat what i have prepared and then make himself some toast/cereal/something else.
He has Autism and can be really funny with textures.

Hopefully he'll be more likely to stick to the plan if he sees it on the fridge!

I spend about £400 and am aiming for £250-£300. Do you mind sharing what changes you have made to achieve that?

WantToBeSE

Morning All

There is a farmers market and a fete going on in my local town today, so i walked up and got some fresh poppy seed bread.
I'll slice and freeze it, so it'll last.

My 1st CC direct debit came out today. So in total this month so far, i've paid off £250.

Have any of you heard of Dave Ramsey? i follow some YouTubers who follow him and his 'baby steps'. There are 7:

Baby Step 1- Save £1000 Emergency Fund
Baby Step 2- Become Debt Free
Baby Step 3- Save 3-6 months of expenses in savings
Baby Step 4- Save 15% of Income for retirement
Baby Step 5- Save for your childrens college education
Baby Step 6- Pay off your home
Baby Step 7- Give to others.

While the whole thing is quite American, i am aiming to do BS1, 2, 3 and 4, then save for a house deposit.

So everything i can save for the rest of this month and next, will be going towards a £1K emergency fund.

Does anyone else do this?

tori.k

Dave Ramsey is sound the only niggle I have with him is he opts to snowball the smallest debts first, where im a fan of the highest interest, which is actually counter to what im actually doing as im overpaying the 0% credit cards rather than the loan but only as they would revert back to 18% before the 5% loan was paid.

If you dont mind the americanism check out https://radicalpersonalfinance.com/
Some great podcasts

milasavesmoney

As I'm American maybe I'm on the wrong diary?