The hardest challenge yet

elantan

slowlyfading wrote: »

Just found your thread - I'm aiming for FIRE too (and blog about it over at http://www.thefrugalcottage.com ) and so it's always nice to hear about other people attempting the challenge!



An £800 spend a month for two people seems so big - we currently spend £250 a month on a family of four - but it's all about taking those small steps and making changes that add up over time. Try and aim to reduce this by £100 a month to start with; so it's not a big shock.



Can you shop your food cupboards for this week? Have you got things in you could make meals with already? Most of us do and it will save you some money I regularly make store cupboard meals, so to keep our food costs down.



Do you genuinely enjoy having a takeaway every week? I only ask as we get them as a treat, but too often and it ceases to be that and often they're not as nice as I think they're going to be! How much does your takeaway cost each week?

Hey another fire fan, lovely to meet you, I will try and read your blog on my days off, I totally agree the spending is terrible, we have done so well with the debt and mortgage, but the food bill is just out of control, as previously said, I really don't enjoy the takeaway food, I would rather eat home made, much more my style and enjoyment, mr El enjoys takeaway, but what I am also discovering is that we seem to have them as an inconvenience as well, when were busy or just cba...


This is deff the biggest challenge yet ... and one I so need to get on top of if I am ever to reach FIRE, if we don't we will never achieve FIRE

lessonlearned

elantan wrote: »

Get that phone call made, or as we used to say in dfw eat that frog lol, I would deff prefer a home made pizza to a takeaway




its frustrating to put it mildly, and I have no excuse I can give him for that day




what he had prepared for work was something he bought in Costco, hot dogs, yuck, but when he bought them he said they are for work, he prepared them, cut up an onion etc and got rolls, but he just didn't want them when the time came, so that did kinda annoy me, we usually try and organise soup for work but in this instance he didn't want soup he wanted hot dogs, only he didn't...grrrrrrr


Then today (well yesterday) he left the house at 7am and didn't get home till after 10pm as he was helping his parents with stuff, so once again another takeaway was bought as he couldn't be bothered to even ping something in the microwave, I could literally scream, but at the same time that is an awful long time to be out the house and dealing with stuff, he is exhausted, I could see in his face today he is done in and starting to look as if he is mentally drained as well ( has a lot of stuff going on with work just now as well)


So I'm breathing deep and trying to be kind, I'm off nights on Saturday morning so hopefully we can get something sorted on Sunday, although I do think we will need to go and do something for sanity.


So spends all together takeaway £10, shopping £2.50 ( bread and milk)


sanity levels leaving

Ah bless you. It does sound as if you both are under an awful lot pressure. Mr El must be exhausted. All the more reason to eat healthy cooked food of course, but sometimes easier said than done.

It's perhaps the wrong time of the year to be trying to make too many changes all at once. Maybe after the festive season when things calm down a bit.

Try not to worry too much, just take baby steps rather than make sweeping changes all in one go.

elsiepac

Hiya, on the Grocery Challenge thread we have several pages of really useful stuff about budgeting, meal planning, recipes etc on the first few pages. You are welcome to joing the challenge but please don't feel you need to! The resources may be helpful though

bouicca21

There are times when I fancy a hot dog ... but i think if I bought the wherewithal for a future lunch, like Mr El, I’d be thinking why did I do this and actually want something nicer. But then I have don’t waste food engrained in me so I’d eat it!

Maybe next time the desire comes over him, suggest baking some nice sausages so he can take them cold to have with the soup?

And after a ghastly day like the one you describe I think maybe you should ping the microwave, which is surely quicker than ordering a takeaway. At times like that a bit of indulgence goes a long way.

And is that the problem? A need for indulgence of some kind to counteract the stress? If so, that’s a psychological problem rather than a financial one. The financial implications are just a symptom.

lessonlearned

I think there is often a psychological reason why we spend too much, whether it's food, clothes, treats or whatever. Overspending is often just the symptom.

What I really don't get is that if you are shattered then surely it is quicker and easier to ping something in the microwave than order a takeaway.

I think for that reason it's always best to have something handy, I don't think it matters whether it's home made ready meals or shop bought ones. Sometimes what is needed is quick, easy and yes tasty food.

Bunging A shop bought pizza in the oven has got to be quicker than awaiting a pizza delivery. I don't touch the stuff myself but when the kids were small I always had a few in the freezer. And even now that I live alone is still have something quick and easy on hand for when I'm tired or just feeling lazy.

I think forward planning has got to be the way forward for you so you don't come unstuck at 10pm with Mr El shattered, hungry and craving something "tasty".

lessonlearned

Just a thought......if Mr El has no cooking facilities at work, what about a flask for hearty casseroles.

Yesterday I cooked a venison casserole. Just bunged in carrots, onions and a glug of port. The meat was yellow stickered. Cost me around £2. It was fabulous even if I do say so myself.

Venison is a healthy meat, lean and very nutritious, as is most game. A lot of people these days seem unsure about game (at least round here) so I often find it in the yellow stickered section. Even full price it's still cheaper than most ready meals.

Game isn't just for posh folk.

He could take something like that in a flask and eat with some Crusty bread, so much nicer than a hot dog.

Slinky

LL which supermarket are you finding YS venison in? Years ago I used to get the same in Tesco, but haven't seen it in ages. Was lovely in the slow cooker.

lessonlearned

Slinky wrote: »

LL which supermarket are you finding YS venison in? Years ago I used to get the same in Tesco, but haven't seen it in ages. Was lovely in the slow cooker.

Found it in Asda. Same day I also picked up two packs of steaks and some duck, all reduced.

Well it's rude not too isn't it. Lol

Ps Sainsbury's and Marks both sell game too.

elantan

lessonlearned wrote: »

Ah bless you. It does sound as if you both are under an awful lot pressure. Mr El must be exhausted. All the more reason to eat healthy cooked food of course, but sometimes easier said than done.

It's perhaps the wrong time of the year to be trying to make too many changes all at once. Maybe after the festive season when things calm down a bit.

Try not to worry too much, just take baby steps rather than make sweeping changes all in one go.

Hey lesson,
the thing is we always have something on, theres always something we need to deal with so we get complacent and lazy and i am truly exhausted with it all, when i say exhausted with it all the truth is yep i am exhausted with having to deal with other peoples things, i generally have no problems however i inherit problems, these problems come from the direction of no1 OH, no2 son no3 Oh family, ive been the one to run around and fix things or give advice etc, you know the one that everyone can rely on ? the annoying thing generally is i give advice it gets ignored situations get worse and i need to sort out the mess, if only they had listened in the first place.

But the thing that annoys me the most is not looking after my health, spending way too much money on food that i dont enjoy ( last night was a pizza for OH as he just didnt fancy cooking, i didnt have anything as i'm night shift eating)

so ultimately i need to sort this out, but i do think your right in baby steps ... so now the q is where do i start ?

bouicca21 wrote: »

There are times when I fancy a hot dog ... but i think if I bought the wherewithal for a future lunch, like Mr El, I’d be thinking why did I do this and actually want something nicer. But then I have don’t waste food engrained in me so I’d eat it!

Maybe next time the desire comes over him, suggest baking some nice sausages so he can take them cold to have with the soup?

And after a ghastly day like the one you describe I think maybe you should ping the microwave, which is surely quicker than ordering a takeaway. At times like that a bit of indulgence goes a long way.

And is that the problem? A need for indulgence of some kind to counteract the stress? If so, that’s a psychological problem rather than a financial one. The financial implications are just a symptom.

i dont disagree, i think a lot of the takeaways are as a result of the stress experienced, and that is why this is the hardest challenge yet, the money is a symptom of the problem, but both need addressed, the hot dogs went in the bin in the end, he just didnt fancy them... I hate wasting food

elantan

lessonlearned wrote: »

I think there is often a psychological reason why we spend too much, whether it's food, clothes, treats or whatever. Overspending is often just the symptom.

What I really don't get is that if you are shattered then surely it is quicker and easier to ping something in the microwave than order a takeaway.

I think for that reason it's always best to have something handy, I don't think it matters whether it's home made ready meals or shop bought ones. Sometimes what is needed is quick, easy and yes tasty food.

Bunging A shop bought pizza in the oven has got to be quicker than awaiting a pizza delivery. I don't touch the stuff myself but when the kids were small I always had a few in the freezer. And even now that I live alone is still have something quick and easy on hand for when I'm tired or just feeling lazy.

I think forward planning has got to be the way forward for you so you don't come unstuck at 10pm with Mr El shattered, hungry and craving something "tasty".

the thing is takeaway is ordered on the way home and literally picked up in less than a minute warm and ready to eat and i agree there is deff some psychological point to it.

i deff need to do more forward planning, i usually get the weekends off ( unless i'm on call or doing overtime ... which i do need to do) we try and do things for us these days but we need to plan in organising decent food for through the week ..,. i miss and crave good food

lessonlearned wrote: »

Just a thought......if Mr El has no cooking facilities at work, what about a flask for hearty casseroles.

Yesterday I cooked a venison casserole. Just bunged in carrots, onions and a glug of port. The meat was yellow stickered. Cost me around £2. It was fabulous even if I do say so myself.

Venison is a healthy meat, lean and very nutritious, as is most game. A lot of people these days seem unsure about game (at least round here) so I often find it in the yellow stickered section. Even full price it's still cheaper than most ready meals.

Game isn't just for posh folk.

He could take something like that in a flask and eat with some Crusty bread, so much nicer than a hot dog.

i have tried venison just dont like it, and i know it is so good for the body but the taste is too strong for me, Mr el has a microwave in work he takes soup in and heats it up, or the hotdogs ( which he then didnt eat)