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

JoJoC

If you're a disaster area then I'm a disgrace!

Treadingonplaymobil

Chrystal I am blaming you entirely for the current biscuit situation in my house :rotfl: . Inspired by your post, I decided to make a big batch of freezer biscuits (where you make the dough and freeze it in sausage shapes, then just cut off and bake as necessary). Of course, the architect showed up once they were in the freezer and DH, having seen me make the dough, decided to be helpful. And baked them all. We have about four dozen biscuits! And of course they won't freeze well because they aren't made to be frozen once cooked. Although I may freeze them and dole them out to the DCs this week, whose standards are far lower than mine.

List update...

To do today (somewhat more than three things...)
1. Social media post - I have got back on it this week and want to keep momentum up.
2. Order presents for a friend and her DC, who both have birthdays next week.
3. Menu plan and food shopping list.
4. Food shopping.
5. Paint a tile in the bathroom where the paint has peeled off - looks so tatty for clients coming tomorrow.
6. Check for dietary restrictions for tomorrow's clients. None.
7. Make soup for clients tomorrow. Don't need to do this as we will be done earlier than I had initially thought.
8. Bake biscuits for clients tomorrow.
9. Order lip balm (want to find a natural one in tins I can then reuse to make my own at a later date).
10. Chase DC2's sticker subscription, which hasn't shown up this month. It's just arrived, saving me a job!
11. Tidy and clean for clients tomorrow.
12. Save ebay search for camping trailer.
13. Read an email from preschool that needs some attention and a response.
14. Finish contract work for next week.
15. Plan weekend work.
16. Check in with DH about his list and the family meeting list from last week.

Guess I'd better get cleaning!

Mini goals:
- £24.35/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,398.38/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.51 daily earning goal.

DawnW

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

We have about four dozen biscuits! And of course they won't freeze well because they aren't made to be frozen once cooked. Although I may freeze them and dole them out to the DCs this week, whose standards are far lower than mine.

I'm sure the DCs will be delighted to oblige and polish them off :rotfl:

Chrystal

Treadingonplaymobil wrote: »

Chrystal I am blaming you entirely for the current biscuit situation in my house :rotfl: . Inspired by your post, I decided to make a big batch of freezer biscuits (where you make the dough and freeze it in sausage shapes, then just cut off and bake as necessary). Of course, the architect showed up once they were in the freezer and DH, having seen me make the dough, decided to be helpful. And baked them all. We have about four dozen biscuits! And of course they won't freeze well because they aren't made to be frozen once cooked. Although I may freeze them and dole them out to the DCs this week, whose standards are far lower than mine.
.

:eek: :eek: Mea culpa Mea culpa :rotfl: :rotfl:

Treadingonplaymobil

Week 65: Day 6

Still laughing at the biscuit situation. SO MANY BISCUITS. :rotfl:

Clients this morning, so I am, naturally, lolling in the bath trying to avoid getting on with everything I need prepare before they arrive (gosh, I wonder why these women I meet are achieving more than me... ).

No financial updates this morning. Food spend for the month is already looking horrifying, but I just haven't got the will to work on it. I am so enjoying eating avocados and pomegranates on my salads, and a decent mix of seeds and nuts in my granola that I just can't face it. The big gluten experiment (also wildly expensive) doesn't seem to have been an enormous success - both DC definitely have healthier guts but are not completely 'cured', and I'm wondering whether the improvements we have seen are largely because I have replaced so much bread/pancake/waffle/pasta with fruit and veg and 'ancient grain' gf replacements rather than processed gf alternatives because so many of the gf options are (a) processed and (b) not actually that nice. I'm contemplating experimenting with keeping the processed/grain based food intake right down and focusing on healthy gut foods for a few weeks to see whether that does anything. DH is desperate for it not to be gluten which isn't helping (I think he doesn't believe in anything short of being coeliac, coming from a family with no allergies, and doesn't understand the misery of a non-critical allergy - I suffer from hay fever and a dust/mould allegy).

I will pop back shortly with a list for today, as I really must wash my hair and get out of the bath before I turn into a prune.

To do today
1. Write to do list

Mini goals:
- £24.35/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,398.38/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.62 daily earning goal.

Sea_Shell

Just be careful you don't drop your i-pad in the bath!!!! That wouldn't be very MSE would it!!!

PurpleFairy26

I'm with you on food TOPM not only are the pricing rising it seems everytime I go to the supermarket but nuts, seeds and other lovely things are rising faster than boring stuff like value pasta. Couple of things that may help:

C0stco is cheap for nuts and although they come in a big bag, they don't go off
Also by using the 'shopping' search on g00gle it will compare the best price of things, I use this for nuts as they vary wildly
Mr t do frozen avocado and pomegranate seeds. Much cheaper than fresh and whilst I was originally VERY sceptical I bought the avocados when mr PF developed an aversion to the green pear after making himself a lunch with a whole, rather large avocado in it and went off them. As they come in halves it meant I could still indulge, and with a bit of saving then fresh. I do still by fresh if they are on offer etc... but maybe a viable alternative.

Treadingonplaymobil

I use DH's phone in the bath - he has a fancy pants waterproof case (and a cheaper phone)!

*Purplefairy* I look at people who shop in 900 different shops to get the best price with enormous admiration, but I just can't see it happening. We already do Aldi (or Lidl, depending on which town we're in)/Sainsburys and then occasionally local grocer/zero waste shop. Adding another shop or two just feels totally beyond me, even if it's only once a month or so. I start to get into internal debates about my increased income if I work for the amount of time it would take me to go to the other shop etc etc... Will consider it though, depending on the figures at the end of this month when we really aren't being terribly careful.

Right, list...

To do today
1. Tidy up after clients.
2. Pop into town for missing bits from yesterday's food shop.
3. Take cash out for DC1's school residential (and enjoy the smugness of having budgeted for it and having the money ready to go).
4. Make granola.
5. Paint toenails and generally make feet more socially acceptable.
6. Order sleeping bag/mat for DC1.
7. Paint remaining tiles in bathroom.

Mini goals:
- £24.35/30 May rounding down pot.
- £2,398.38/£5,000 2018 debt repayment goal.
- £27.62 daily earning goal.

armchairexpert

My food shopping routine is a bit ridiculous. Once a month I go to Costco and the nearby butcher which always has good yellow-sticker specials (both are 45 minutes drive, so not worth going more often). Weekly I do Aldi, then another supermarket to top up with the things my family insists have to be Certain Brands, then the greengrocer for all the fresh stuff, and if I need fresh fish that's another stop again. It's all within a short distance, so I'm not spending more on petrol than I save, but still ridiculous.

Anyway, I was coming to post for another reason. You said a few pages back:

Dragging things back to reality and positivity again, today is the 1st of the month, which means my daily earnings target begins today. Remember I said I was breaking down what I need to earn for the rest of the year (to meet our extension savings goals) down into daily chunks? Well I've worked out the total remaining for the year after the boost of the bonus etc and broken it down into a daily net (post tax) profit goal. Each day that I earn over the goal, the daily goal will reduce, and each day that I don't earn anything, it will increase. As of today, the daily earnings goal stands at £28.69 for each of the remaining 245 days of the year. As an example, if I earn nothing today (which is likely), then tomorrow it will go up to £28.81, as I will need to earn fractionally more each day to cover the days I haven't earned. I'm hoping that the pressure of seeing it go up with incentivise me to come up with some new earning ideas and selling those few things we have kicking around the house that are worth something, and generally do everything I can to keep things on the straight and narrow!

Since I have a similar thing going on, I wondered if you had an actual formula or spreadsheet for this? Or do you manually calculate? I tend to run rough numbers in my head but would quite like to be more serious about it.

Suffolk_lass

I popped in to the monthly grocery challenge yesterday, to suggest a few simple uses because someone had bought a 1k bag of pine nut kernels for about £3.50. I pay £1.75 at my chosen SM for a much smaller bag. Like you TOPM, I just can't face another shop (unless we are going to the camping shop which is next door to HB, where she got them).

You could freeze the cooked biscuits and just put them in the oven for a few minutes on a meringue-drying temperature to achieve the fresh-baked texture...