£67,031.92 is a frightening number indeed....

enthusiasticsaver

I would have to agree about the food shopping being lower when the ability to get out and about is hindered. We have eaten with less variety but no top up shop this week apart from milk and bread. We stuck completely to meal plan and instead of getting fresh veg resorted to frozen midweek which meant less variety but cheaper. When we ran out of snacks they were not replenished which was great both diet and budget wise.

enthusiasticsaver

I would think the architect probably could fit a bathroom upstairs but to find out the cost of doing this a builder would be the person to ask. If you already have 2 bathrooms downstairs it would definitely be more cost efficient to keep them there. Some people don't like that though so when you come to sell that may be an issue. If you don't intend selling any time soon though you only have to do what works for you.

We only ever had a large family bathroom upstairs and a downstairs toilet being a modern house. We have a massive kitchen diner which we love though so when we could have done with an additional bathroom we looked at moving and compromised on putting sink/vanity units in both our DDs bedrooms as all the 2 bathroom houses we looked at had smaller kitchens. It is always a trade off.

Honeybug

This snow has made me realise how much food we eat, me, DH, DS1 and DS2. Both DS1 and 2 are big teenagers so its like feeding 4 adults really. Half batch of twinks hobnobs gone and a batch of jam puffs as well as three meals yesterday. Staggering. I love the sound of tonights meal TOPM but not sure I would get away with it! We are an average size family, I just dont know where they put it all

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 55: Day 7

edited to add: this post is very disjointed, a brain dump of what's on my mind this morning!

Phew, looks like my clients will make it this morning - didn't want to have to rearrange again, or give a refund!

I am completely in denial about feeding during the teenage years. A meal like we made yesterday would scale up fairly easily and cheaply, but the idea of whole loaves of bread and pots of jam disappearing at the drop of a hat slightly alarms me. I was chatting to someone the other day who casually mentioned that they spend £400 a week when their three teens are at home (although I suspect their average weekly shop for just two of them is close to a couple of hundred quid - proper foodies).

We aren't planning on selling the house, so the relative weirdness of the bathroom situation doesn't bother me - it's solely about what works for us. To be honest turning a house this small into a 4 bed is bonkers for most people anyway - we love the whole tiny house thing, and are quite happy with it, but it's not something most people would go for!

I was able to get to Morrisons yesterday and was totally appalled by how plastic-wrapped everything was. More or less impossible to get any loose fruit or veg, apart from apples (although they had sold out because of no deliveries), onions, potatoes etc. I'm feeling so hyper aware of plastic consumption recently, and really struggling to align that with our super tight budget. I've actually been really pleased with the veg offerings I got from the smaller grocer in town last week (haven't been to the big one I recently discovered yet), I might set myself a mission to get as much plastic-free from the supermarket as possible, and top up from the grocers - it would help me in my attempts to get out for a daily quick walk too, as one is about 10 mins walk away and the other 15-20 mins walk. No idea whether it's going to work, but might see how it pans out - have managed to stick to budget so far this week, and that's with buying everything from the pricey shops in town.

If anyone else has a sourdough starter on the go, as well as the sourdough cracker recipe I found the other day I am also thinking of trying these sourdough waffles next weekend (don't have enough discarded starter yet, as I have always chucked the tiny bit of excess I make away). The same blogger also has recipes for soft sourdough pretzels and sourdough pancakes. Sourdough-tastic! If anyone hasn't got a sourdough starter and is thinking of it, I really can't recommend it highly enough - it's great to know that as long as I have flour and salt in the house that I can make really good bread as often as we need it. I tend to cook it in batches of four smallish loaves (about the size of a trendy sound sourdough loaf that costs £3 from Waitrose) and freeze some or all of them.

DH managed to get the car back yesterday, although had to dig it out a big as the snow had drifted up around it and it wasn't melting, but it was fine to drive home as the roads were so clear. Heavy rain overnight so it's all rapidly going now.

Today's meal plan is
breakfast: waffles
am snack: oatmeal and raisin cookies (best recipe ever) for me and my clients, fruit and leftover cookies for the children and DH (poor things).
lunch: leek and potato soup for me and my clients, green quiche (which I must take out of the freezer) houmous made with leftover chickpeas and veg sticks for DH and the DC.
pm snack: toast and jam
dinner: veg stir fry using up all the leftover veg and egg fried rice

Yesterday's list
1. Food shopping list to get us through until Monday/Tuesday - I have a menu plan done, just need to write the shopping list.
2. Food shopping.
3. Clear emails.


Three things to do today
1. Finish cleaning for clients.
2. Get a last minute piece of contract work done (I am so not going to feel like doing that after seeing clients, but needs must).
3. Plan the week ahead - got so little done last week thanks to snow days, so need to knuckle down this week.

Debt repayment:
- £5.19/31 March rounding down pot
- £1,250.93/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.

Sea_Shell

You say you're not planning on moving, and you've admitted you have a "Tiny House". How's that going to work, once you effectively have 5 Adults living in it. Realistically, how sustainable is it for the future??

I can't recall how old your 3 DC's are currently, but they are no doubt all growing fast!!, before you know it, they'll all be "grown up", and wanting to hog the bathroom(s) to get ready. Boys, just as much as the girls (if not worse - ha!!)

Honeysucklelou2

Re teenagers and food...I will have 5 teenagers by July this year :eek: and there is no way I spend anywhere near £400 a week in food. I wouldn't be able to! The boys do eat noticeably more once they got to about 12. DS1 tends to eat lots of eggs and now that he knows how to cook them himself will happily eat 4 in a sitting. DS2 will fill up, beyond meals, on cereal. I do tend to cook lots of homemade cakes etc that they do finish quickly but so far it is manageable and I try to stick to a £100 a week budget. Sometimes it is more but usually if it includes a special occasion. Don't be alarmed by £400 a week...it's doable on less!

Honeybug

I agree with Honeysuckle, £400 is alot. We manage on £80 per week including household stuff but not toiletries, which I get elsewhere. But......DS1 & 2 also get around £10-£12 each per week to spend on lunches so around £100 per week all in. DH and I make our lunches. I know it would be cheaper for them to take food from home, but working full time it is one of those things I am happy to pay for.

Honeybug

And yes, I find boxes of cereal, milk and eggs to also be the stable diet of teenage boys!!

Sea_Shell

Not to mention the need for extra toiletries as they get older too.

Honeysucklelou2

My friend used to keep a stash of mini pizzas in her freezer so that her teenage sons could help themselves when feeling peckish!