The Marching Minimalist

angelpye

Thank you Bob, Macey and EH for your encouragement! Have been drawing up lists for the month ahead...the real test will be when I put the order in to see if it comes within budget.

EH - I generally don't use the 'V' words in real life as I know if I wanted a bacon sandwich tomorrow I would just have it (free range organic of course!). It's easier to use those labels to quickly describe my lifestyle as a whole. I haven't bought meat for myself for months, although have eaten it on occasion (when going to someones for dinner and I forgot to tell them I am off it) and would if I fancied it as I believe the body craves what it needs, I just don't crave it very often. I buy the best I can afford (or not ) for DD. I generally say I eat a mainly plant based diet aiming to reduce my intake of dairy and meat products. But as it stands at the moment I don't eat meat.

The nutrition balance is stills something I am getting my head around! I use a magnesium spray and take vegan supplements which I will continue to do until I have more free time to properly monitor what I eat. I generally just eat what I fancy. I make overnight oats most days for breakfast to which I add chia and flax seeds plus goji berries, made with fortified soya yogurt and milk plus frozen berries and cherries or blueberries and bananas. I eat quite a bit of spinach, broccoli, peas, tomatoes, courgettes, mushrooms, sweet peppers, carrot and sweet potatoes plus beans and pulses and peanut butter. Quorn and tofu also appear occasionally. I also lean towards mainly eating brown rice and pasta and wholewheat or rye bread. I like the occasional egg

Not sure its necessary to list it all but it does help me to be more mindful about it.

I am pretty neutral when it comes to whether people should or shouldn't eat meat - environment and animal welfare are a concern so I do what suits me with that in mind. The way you eat meat is how I was previously and should I fancy meat in my diet regular again it would be like that. I understand though that some people make different choices but they make them based on their own circumstances, needs and wants. We all do what we need to do. However, some parts of the industry I feel could do with a shake up.

Feel like I should say I will climb down from my high horse now but this is my diary....:D

Treadingonplaymobil

It's a really interesting debate, thanks for sharing. We've compromised big time on my food preferences/ideals since LBM day, but one of the reasons I'm mainly veggie is because I'll only buy higher welfare meat. Still buy free range eggs, but not organic any more. The best ones are the free ones I get from a neighbour with ducks and chickens!

angelpye

Hi TOPM, thanks for popping by! I do enjoy a little natter about these things although wouldn't want to alienate anyone for making different choices... we all have different priorities etc. Lucky you with the neighbours eggs! I used to get eggs down a country lane from a man who had tons of rescued birds but he retired...they were so lovely and fresh! Some fresh eggs every once in a while is really lucky especially if they are gifted!

Just saw you have taken 3 months off your DFD! Well done you!

Bobarella

It's a funny one but I have heard about and known at least one, vegetarian who craved meat during their entire pregnancy. So it makes me wonder what it is that the body wants then.

angelpye

Motivated by TOPM's signature I checked my DFD...using my figures in my SOA at the start of this thread it said DFD = July 2022, paying £1690 in interest!!! Thats more than half my debt! Nope, I am not accepting it. But, given the overpayments I did last month my DFD is now April 2022, with £1443.90 in interest...still not good enough and still over half my current debt but nice to know the little overpayments really add up. Saving my future self £246.10 minus the interest paid last months over £200 and 5 months of the march. At the moment it is saying 61 months until debt freedom at my usual payment amount. I can't and won't March for 61 months...this is the youngest I am ever going to be! I have places to visit and things to see and more importantly I want my energy used on more pleasant things like lounging! My mortgage fix finishes in Oct 2019 so ideally I want it gone by April 2019...quite a tall order. My future self will be very angry with the current me if I don't sort this out in a more speedy fashion.

Marching on with purpose...

angelpye

Bobarella wrote: »

It's a funny one but I have heard about and known at least one, vegetarian who craved meat during their entire pregnancy. So it makes me wonder what it is that the body wants then.

Maybe Iron? My mum swears by stout not that I listened mind you. I see your debt is sneaking down Bob, quite excited for you, are you excited or feeling impatient?

Treadingonplaymobil

angelpye wrote: »

Motivated by TOPM's signature I checked my DFD...using my figures in my SOA at the start of this thread it said DFD = July 2022, paying £1690 in interest!!! Thats more than half my debt! Nope, I am not accepting it. But, given the overpayments I did last month my DFD is now April 2022, with £1443.90 in interest...still not good enough and still over half my current debt but nice to know the little overpayments really add up. Saving my future self £246.10 minus the interest paid last months over £200 and 5 months of the march. At the moment it is saying 61 months until debt freedom at my usual payment amount. I can't and won't March for 61 months...this is the youngest I am ever going to be! I have places to visit and things to see and more importantly I want my energy used on more pleasant things like lounging! My mortgage fix finishes in Oct 2019 so ideally I want it gone by April 2019...quite a tall order. My future self will be very angry with the current me if I don't sort this out in a more speedy fashion.

Marching on with purpose...

I haven't got an exact deadline in mind, but I would very much like to be debt free by the time we both turn 40 (5.5 years away). That means knocking a truly ridiculous 40 months of my DFD! We'll see.

angelpye

We are pretty similar in aims as mine is to knock 36 months off and if I manage that I will be debt free by 39. You are doing so well I think you have a really good chance of getting there with your motivation and OH being on board. Are you paying interest? I am so every time I make an overpayment I am saving money on compounded interest.

I can't quite get my head around the figures today but if I am understanding the snowball etc I only managed to overpay by £35 and got a credit on CC1 of £50 but it brought down the interest I am going to pay by £211...can that be right?

EssexHebridean

As the snowball calculator works on the basis that the money you've paid off has gone for good, think about the timescale over which you're not paying interest on that sum, and I'd say yes it could well be right. To give you an idea, we reckoned that in the 7 years of OP'ing our mortgage (which wasn't massive to start with) we saved ourselves about 35k in interest - and the theory with any OP's is the earlier you make them, the more you save. Go with it and rejoice, I'd say!

angelpye

Oooo...that is exciting! So £35 of my money and a phone call turned into £296. Take that future self!

Saving yourself £35K on your mortgage is immense! Well done!