The thriftyish way to debt freedom

Baileys_Babe

What time have you found it best to successfully get a Lidl box? I have  tried a number of times without ever seeing them 

Bluegreen143

Re courgettes, that’s one of our favourite veg here @thriftyish! Such a mild flavour we put them in everything! Some ideas: 

- chop fairly small and add to risottos 
- chop fairly small and add to tomato pasta sauces 
- stir fries (I usually cut in thin batons for this) 
- add to curries
- roast with tomatoes, aubergine, peppers etc to make ratatouille 
- makes a lovely blended soup with split peas and some smoked paprika and lemon
- grate raw and dress with a lemon/oil dressing and some chilli flakes for a salad 
- make courgette chocolate cake!

Moneywhizz

You really have embraced so many Mse ways in such a short time, especially getting your food budget down such a lot. Courgettes are great in any kind of soup. They seem to change the consistency and make it really smooth and creamy. They are also lovely roasted with a little oil and tomatoes/onion. Or lightly fried, they cook so quickly. I will be recommending your diary to others, what a difference you are making. 

MagicCat

Hooray for chicks!

I agree, your diary is so inspiring and the amount of things you're doing is amazing.

Great idea for courgettes! My favourite recipe is for courgette pasta. You grate 3-4 courgettes quite coursely, then heat some oil in a large pan and add 1/4-1/2 TSP chilli flakes (depending how hot you like it). Add the grated courgette, and cook for a few minutes until the courgette is softening. Add a couple of tablespoons of lemon juice, then cook for a couple more minutes. Stir through cooked pasta - any you wantawant, I often use linguine or fusilli - and it's done.
 It's great with some toasted pine nuts stirred in, or some chopped feta or grated parmesan added. It's really light and summery.

I think you're right when you talk about planning meals around eg the cheaper fruit and veg you get, it seems to be key to cutting food budgets. I need to do this!

Kakiste

Hiya. I've just caught up on your diary from the beginning- congrats on your chicks and your exciting new home!
I'm a gardener too and I love chickens- we have loads at work which keeps me happy as I'm in a rental for at least the next 4 years so can't have any of my own yet. 

thriftyish

@Baileys_Babe I think they arrive on a pallet with the store delivery, and the store team put them out quickly as they are an easy one to offload, so it really depends on what time the delivery arrives in your local store. I asked a member of staff if they were still something they did, and he explained they only get a few, and told me where to find them. In my store, only four arrived, and they put them beyond the till point, so I would never have found without asking! Good luck, let me know if you find one and what its like. This was mine.

@Bluegreen143 That's one amazing list thank you! We made chocolate courgette & almond cake today and it was delicious, not one child complained! I will add some of those ideas to my meal plan, a good way to up our veg intake too

@Moneywhizz I will definitely try courgette in soup, I am loving homemade soups at the moment, and with all the extra veg its a good way of using things up. That's lovely of you to say! We made a lot of changes when we paid off our debt last time. Trying to be better with money led me to minimalism, and the minimalism led to being more eco friendly - all three together seemed to work so well together. Though I wouldn't say I am a minimalist, not with four children
I think I've gotten complacent over the last few years, and I've surprised myself this month, but some things are habit now. DH confessed he misses fabric conditioner today, said he loves Len0r and it feels like a big warm hug when he puts his clothes on:- must be from when he lived with his mum as we have never bought Len0r! We use white vinegar now:- I will just have to remember to give him a hug when he's getting dressed to make up for it.  Being on here is really helping keep me accountable and is giving me lots of ideas!

@MagicCat I love the idea of stirring through pasta, it sounds delicious with pine nuts/feta, yum! I need to get better at planning cheaper meals, and making meals that stretch further. A full chicken seems to last a few days & makes stock, yet we could easily use the same amount in £'s of chicken breast, just for one meal!

@Kakiste Hello! Chickens are such characters, aren't they? Hope you manage to have fresh eggs from work in the meantime? Hope things go smoothly and you get your own chickens soon.

Chicks
We only have two chicks from this hatch, the third didn't make it. The second set are already in the incubator and are due at the end of this month. The children love them, our labrador is excited by them too. We aren't quite sure if he wants to play or thinks we have bought him a tasty snack! We really want them to get along so are doing our best to give him lots of attention & praise him when he's good with them.

Food
Lemon curd & courgette cake were both a success. Cordial was 50/50. The blackcurrant jam hasn't set, so I'm going to bring it back to boiling tomorrow and try again - I checked the temp with my thermometer, but might try the old fashioned freezer/plate method tomorrow. 

DH got pork out of the freezer instead of chicken by mistake yesterday so we had pork in the slow cooker with veg & homemade Yorkshires. We used potatoes from the Lidl box & the allotment, and also some YS leek DH had chopped and frozen earlier in the week.

I also had 8/9 ys plums that were past their best, so after a lot of googling, I made plum hoisin sauce to have with leftover pork tomorrow for a stirfry (with courgette!) It made enough hoisin to have 3 extra (huge!) portions in the freezer, and we have another portion of cooked pork either to freeze or use up somehow on Tuesday.

Cleaning
I used the peel from the lemons to soak in white vinegar to make lemon-infused cleaner. I have just ordered another 20l of white vinegar for £14 from Amaz0n. We use it as a fabric conditioner, as a window cleaner, a multi-surface cleaner & to descale the kettle & showerheads, and it has lasted us over a year so that not too bad!

3D printer fund
DH has listed the surround system on FB and has someone viewing tomorrow. He cant list more than one thing at once apparently. He's listed for £90, which is £40 more than the figure I had in my head. He was thinking of selling the old xb0x but after not noticing its existence for 8 months, the children have spent all morning playing on it!

A challenging target
It feels like the end of the month is in sight now, I just can't wait to pay off the cc and start paying down the loan. I worked out, that with a LOT of MSE'ness, I might be able to clear the remaining debt before the end of this year, or at the very least be close. It would be a VERY challenging target of paying £714.80 per month (so £525.80 extra to overpay) But, if the stars align and I do the following...

-  Sent £100 from the food budget (£300 instead of £400) and we have allotment harvests coming soon so should be workable with creativity. 
-  Sent £100 holiday/days out (No holiday this year anyway, and still £50 for days out)
- Send £100 of the house budget (leaving £100, for paint/maintenance etc. probably means no savings this year, because I would like 3 more rooms painting before Christmas)
- Sent the full car budget of £150 (A bit of a sacrifice, just have to hope no work needs doing)
- Sent £50 from the allotment budget (means no greenhouse savings, but would still love a greenhouse for next year)
- Sent any extra from surveys/selling etc. It might just be doable!

I read something the other day, that said "If your plan A is a 10 year business plan, then ask yourself how you can get there in 6 months. In 6 months you might not be there, but you will be closer than if you followed plan A" - I completely wrecked the explanation of that, but hope you followed anyway! 

thriftyish

@Baileys_Babe - I went to see if I could find another L1dl wonky veg box on Monday and had no joy, I asked another member of staff who said the boxed were put together in-store and it could be any time of the day, the complete opposite of staff member one who said they came in on deliveries - maybe its a mixture of both, but if it is totally random then they are going to be really tricky to get hold of sadly.

Food
I did manage another tgtg box which I am collecting when DH gets home. We used up all the random veg in our stir fry on Monday, including the courgette and aubergine, and used the homemade plum hoisin sauce. The children didn't enjoy but always fight against anything new, so I will keep trying no matter how dishearting it is to cook a meal and them tentatively fish bits out looking moderately disgusted 

We are having homemade chips today (from the allotment) with homemade flatbreads, leftover pork and salad. DD was the only one to try the lemon curd today and in her words 'it's not the best thing I've eaten' -  lemon curd isn't something we usually buy - I think its really nice! But it is quite tart so today I've added it to a cake mix - let's see if she likes it in lemon cake!

I also harvested all the rest of my beetroot on Monday. I think there is about 4/5kg. I've used 1.5kg so far, making a beetroot and orange relish which helpfully used up some ys clementines that we bought last week and only a few have been eaten.

Debt
Our child benefit arrived this morning, and I've used it to clear the credit card - such a nice feeling! So at the beginning of August, I need to sit down and find out how much money I can throw at the loan. Also, just cashed another £8 from prolific, so will use that towards the loan overpayment too.

Uniform
School uniform is the next challenge. DS and eldest DD need new trousers. Middle DD needs new skirts, but luckily youngest DDs dresses still fit. The biggest three are all tall and slim, so it can be tricky to find uniform that fits. I always buy boys trousers for the girls too, because they usually have a better range of sizes & fits, are usually slightly thicker and actually have pockets! DS and eldest DD are the same height, so need same size trousers now, and we usually end up at M&S as we can go up a size and buy slim fit, as well as make use of the drop-down hems to extend the life. All their old school trousers I can save for Middle DD, thankfully, but M&S outlay is expensive - luckily they have a sale on uniform at the moment so I am going to shop today! All other uniforms that need repacing will hopefully be bought in the TU 25% sale at Sa1nsburys, hopefully around the second week in August. I've just looked at the price list for high school next year, and this year uniform shop all of a sudden feels okay   

Baileys_Babe

Thanks, @thriftyish for the information on the wonky veg box, I am going to try again tomorrow.

Bluegreen143

Oh I’m not looking forward to school uniform 😆 I’ve deferred my 4yos school entry (here in Scotland the cut offs are different, he would have been one of the youngest so I am allowed to keep him at nursery an extra year). So he will be going in Aug 2021. But most of my friends with kids a similar age are sending their kids this year so literally all their chat is about how much uniform to get and where to get it. I can see it ending up costing a fortune!

f0xh0les

Herr Aldee is doing their school uniform sale at the start of August ( the 3rd I think- it says online)  and Mr T's shopping emporium sent me a £5 off a £25 spend on uniform voucher yesterday. So you might want to wait and see who sends you the best offers.   S&M have a deal with 0xfam to clear their old stock through the c/shops, so if you look there are often savings to be made picking up bnwt trousers and blazers and shirts,  Over half the stock in our local one is bnwt S&M stock.

If you have multiple kids in specific sizes you need, M4talan do a brilliant click and collect service, they contact you when they have the whole order and you pick up in one go. It is done at the main processing site, and sent to the store, so you really do get all the sizes in one go. It was the most painless, but a little bit more expensive than the supermarket,  without a voucher code.