The thriftyish way to debt freedom

thriftyish

Thanks for the uniform info @f0xh0les, no Oxfam near us sadly, and because they are such odd sizes would need the kids with me to try on trousers/skirts. Middle dd who is 7, has the waist of a 5/6-year-old, but needs the length of a 8/9-year-old. It would be much cheaper if I could alter the clothes myself! Did your Mr Ts voucher come through the post? 

We have gotten into the habit of buying TU polos at 25% off, because their Navy polos look like new at the end of the school year. Sadly we have just moved from Navy blue / kingfisher green to Red/Black/Grey/White, so had to sell all my spares. I don't think our new school like you buying coloured polos, just white. I can't for the life of me keep anything white. I whitewash, I've soaked in soda crystals, I've tried soaking in bleach, I've tried hanging in the sun and still, everything is chewing gum coloured by Christmas. It doesn't help that my children have no idea how to stay on their feet. I swear they roll / crawl instead of walking as soon as the classroom door closes. We usually have one pair of holey tights a week. I don't think any polo will stay white, so I'm not polo-loyal this year! Unless I decide to revolt and wear red.

I've spent the whole morning cleaning, vacuuming, washing & mopping whilst roping the children in to help. You cant tell though, there is grass back all over the kitchen floor and sawdust all over the office from the baby chicks.

Our tgtg box contained 2 huge birthday cakes yesterday! So I am delivering one to my SIL this afternoon. We are having pesto pasta for tea, with the pesto I made from spinach and basil from the bargain shops last week. I've just escaped for a moments peace and eaten my lunch at my desk, a homegrown jacket potato with a portion of freezer chilli, yum! Back to reality now to go feed the children lunch!

Baileys_Babe

I'm the same @thriftyish with white clothes. I avoid buying white clothing where ever possible.

As my children have always been home educated they can wear whatever they are comfortable in, as long as it is not white we tie-dyed some (originally) white garments last week, they look so much better 

f0xh0les

Yes the  money off voucher  from Mr T's shopping emporium came through the post.

I hate white polos. Bane of my life, mind you they don't get better as they get older,  after less than a fortnight DS2 came home with a pink shirt as he sneezed while pouring out poster paint in the art cupboard.  Nothing was taking that out (he was 14) - my top 2 white shirt tips are:

1 if you soak  ink in cow's milk for 20 minutes and scrub with an old toothbrush,  it comes out in the wash (who knew?)

2 if you iron a baby wipe over whiteboard marker it rubberizes the ink and you can pick it off.

The rolling on the ground like a caterpillar and  cleaning footballs on shirts is sadly just a sign of intelligence and imagination (or so I am told by teachers who think it is hilarious to send them back out the door like mudmen). 

That is all my wisdom. sorry there is not more of it.  Maybe when we are allowed out again you will stumble across an 0xfam on your travels that will reap rewards. I know they sell the grey school tights off for 49p in our one.  Sadly none of my boys will wear tights anymore

thriftyish

@Bluegreen143 It is expensive, but on the other hand you save so much more on 'normal' clothes as they are at school 5 days a week, so it does balance, and in comparison to a normal t-shirt, a £2.00 polo isn't too bad I guess! But the outlay is a bit of a shock  

@Baileys_Babe That's fab, I want to try tie-dye with the children at some point! We considered homeschooling but decided against it, I do think the last few months would have been much easier with my own homeschooling agenda. Having 4 children in 3 key stages, with very different work has been an interesting experience:- I think all homeschooling parents are totally incredible!

@f0xh0les Whiteboard marker is my enemy, our last school used them all the time. Our new school isn't as obsessed, but I can't wait to try that out! Noted about the ink, they use pencil mostly so not quite there yet! I am absolutely drooling over 49p tights, that's got to be worth a drive out, our usuals on offer are £8 for a pack of 5! My DS refuses tights too 

Food & Shopping
- Pesto was a hit, which wasn't expected at all. Have three more portions in the freezer too!
- Tgtg order was cancelled so refunded £3.09, and didn't order for tomorrow.
- I have plans to make broccoli and stilton soup tomorrow with tgtg broccoli and the remaining Sh0pmium 50p blue cheese. Pitta pizzas for the children's lunch with tgtg pitta bread. Dinner will be something with from the freezer with carrots and potatoes.
- All the children liked the lemon curd cupcakes, with lemon curd icing & we still have 12 cupcakes in the freezer for puddings.
- I absolutely love the beetroot & orange relish. Have no more vinegar or would have already made more. Also need to make sure I seal the jars properly as I didn't (will need to be eaten quickly, what a shame!) and I need to try & find smaller 250 - 350ml jars as they would make a lovely gift. I'm refusing to pay for jars so will have to find some nice full ones on the supermarket shelves & use the contents - please let me know if you spot any!
 
Debt
The credit card is clear!! I checked today and the balance is ZERO! Now onto the loan!

Other savings
- Washing dried on the line
- Washing washed after 8pm on the cheaper rate
- Have swapped rinse aid for white vinegar - all okay so far
- Have tried halving the dishwasher tablets - not sure on this yet
- I *think* I am going to try and make washing gloop. I read loads about it last time we were debt-busting, and I've been reading Lisa @ notjustgreenfingers blog (she stopped writing years ago but lots of stuff is still relevant) and she mentioned it in a post so I thought I would try. 
- I am taking the kids for a bike ride tomorrow to the park, then home past the allotment - should be a cheap day!

Honeysucklelou2

 Well done on clearing the credit card!

f0xh0les

Good news on clearing the cc.   Do you have a time scale for clearing the loan? Just so you can totally smash it with all your new money saving.

Baileys_Babe

Great news on clearing the credit card.

MagicCat

Good work on the credit card!
All the cooking sound lovely, hungry for lemon cupcakes now 

Thanks for all the tips on school uniform and stain removing everyone. My eldest is starting school this year, I was going to go with @sd@ for the uniform as it's our nearest supermarket and seems fairly cheap, am a bit worried it won't be very hard wearing now.

thriftyish

Thank you! @Honeysucklelou2 @MagicCat @Baileys_Babe

@f0xh0les I would love it gone by the end of 2020. I think it's doable at a stretch & with some mcjiggery and creativity, I am a bit worried it will be harder to keep motivated with a bigger amount. This one is harder to overpay too. If you pay on their website, they helpfully reduce the direct debit in line with your overpayment, so you still pay the contracted amount, unless you overpay more. I have found the sort code and account number now, so will overpay by BACs but it takes ages to show, and they have to adjust every payment to reduce interest, so I feel a bit guilty for sending multiple little payments over - Sending those little amounts over and seeing the pounds come off from the surveys is one of the things that keeps me going though, so I may well be their most annoying customer over the next few months  - I am still in awe of your grocery spends!

Food
I popped to L1dl and managed 2 wonky veg boxes, some chocolate cereal for the children and some milk. Chocolate cereal is a weekend treat (partly because they heap their bowls high, no portioning control here!) and we didn't have any in last weekend, the disappointment was palpable.

I didn't look properly in my rush to seek out wonky veg, one of the boxes of cereal was £1.98 - I won't be falling for that one again! Fab to see 99% of people wearing masks, as opposed to 3% earlier in the week, massive change, not sure how long it will last.


The broccoli & stilton soup was fab, would have been better warm without me faffing taking a photo    Not bad from tgtg broccoli and 50p Sh0pmium blue cheese! It made three smallish portions, so DH and I had the rest for lunch today.

There were 4 bags of padrón peppers in the L1dl box. I fried one bag up in oil, then added salt and served with a buffet lunch for the children. Everyone tried them, so I am calling that a win! The rest are destined for the freezer. I have a fridge full of sweet peppers, so I am thinking I might do stuffed peppers for tea, with jambalaya style rice.

The food spends so far in July are £260.45.

Nothing else to report - DH will hopefully be finishing the chicken coop tomorrow, while I paint the kitchen. A lovely fellow allotment holder told me where I might be able to find some brambles for foraging blackberries, so if the weather is nice we might go explore on the bikes. 

Lookafterthepennies2020

Just popping by to cheer you on
I buy both ds uniform from George @ Asda usually and can't complain with the quality (especially trousers) and its really cheap!  If you have a home bargains anywhere near you they sell a product called Aces which is basically a bleach to add to whites which I swear by x