Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Well I did the first two on yesterday’s list, and did a washing but ended up tumble drying it. Have put aside stuff for nursery and the charity shop so will donate appropriately over the next few days (DD doesn’t have nursery today, so I haven’t taken it today). 

Sat out in the garden for a bit with Red and we had a chat through some upcoming priorities:

1. Finish up the children’s bedroom - I’ve started this process by decluttering and organising their stuff, but I want to buy new curtains and artwork too (nothing expensive, but I want to get Monkey some more “grown up” prints to put in frames as the room is currently decorated with cute zoo animals from when it was Bambi’s nursery! He is 7.5 so it’s a bit overdue 😂

2. Paint slabs in garden. We did most of this last year but left the bit at the end of the garden where our seating area and outhouse/man cave are. Red wants to do the rest this summer. 

3. Camping equipment. We can borrow some stuff (camping stove for example), but we need a tent and sleeping bags as a minimum before we go away again and I think one more airbed. We also don’t have any plastic plates etc so had to take actual dinner plates last time 😅

I think that’s the main biggies for this summer. Will come back with a list for today!

joedenise

@Bluegreen143 - if you have an IKEA near you then they do tempered glass crockery which is great for camping as it's virtually unbreakable and it's like eating off proper plates and they are really cheap @ 50p per item.  We've been using them for the last 5 years and haven't even chipped on which is surprising as DH has a habit of dropping wet plates when he's drying up, LOL!  Much nicer than eating from plastic or melamine.

Baileys_Babe

At home we use cereal bowls, pasta bowls and side plates from IKEA's tempered glass range.

For camping, we have IKEA plastic crockery. We use metal cutlery and we take ceramic mugs and or bamboo travel mugs. We always take more crockery than people as we often want extra for food prep or for serving.

Bluegreen143

Thanks both! There is an ikea 25 minutes away, but I’m not sure going there just for crockery is sensible, as I’ve never walked out of there without spending about three times more than intended 😂 probably just get the plastic crockery from Tesco tbh, they have camping stuff just now. 

Tesco delivery just arrived, it’s to do us until we go on holiday on Wed afternoon. It was originally bang on £50 but Red added £8 of junk 🙄 we are getting a milk refunded as it’s a bit leaky, but it’s just at the top so I’m keeping it to use up first, so I’ll go down by £1.50 or so.

I don’t think I said, but my current grocery tactic is to aim for £50 shops on both Mondays and Fridays, rather than a big shop on Monday with a Friday top up, just thinking it simplifies things as we seem to be overspending on the Monday. But it only works if Red doesn’t add crap once I’ve finished!  

Mealplan for the next few days 

F - BBQ spatchcock chicken (and sausages) with corn on the cob, salads etc 

Sa - salmon, with either air fryer chips or rice plus veg, haven’t decided yet 

Su - not sure yet. My papa & dad are taking us out for lunch so it’s likely the kids and I won’t want dinner, maybe just a snack. Red isn’t coming though. I’m sure he can figure something out 😆

M - goats cheese & asparagus spaghetti 

T - chicken fried rice or stir fry, with the leftover chicken from tonight 

W - I’ll make a big tub of meatball spaghetti sauce for taking away for our first night on holiday - we have a pack of mince in the freezer 

Breakfasts - porridge, cereal, toast or smoothies, will try to have eggs at the weekend as I’m overrun! 

Lunches - tuna pasta or sandwiches/toasties mainly, or beans on toast 

Decluttering

Trying to declutter a bit before the summer, or at least pack some things away, as it reduces the amount of tidying needed. I HATE being stuck in doing housework when it’s nice outside! 

Today I tackled kids’ picture books. We have a box on wheels to put picture books in so the spines are up and the kids can choose easily, but they didn’t all fit. 

I counted, and between picture books and a few board books we have, the kids had around 150 little kid fiction books despite the fact I decluttered a couple of months back. This does not include non fiction & reference books (at least 50 books but probably more), a tub of Gaelic books (about 25-30), compendiums of poetry and stories (not sure but nearly a whole shelf) and children’s paperback novels (a full shelf double stacked). Probably up to 400 books in all, even after my previous decluttering 🙈 

I don’t want to do a big book declutter but I do want the picture books to fit in the allocated box (my favourite decluttering technique, the container method!) so Bambi and I managed to select about 15-20 to donate and they all fit now. We go to the library regularly too so they certainly aren’t short of reading materials 🤣

Next on the list is to tackle some of the “hotspots” which seem to appear. I saw a good idea for keeping pretty baskets in these places to collect stuff that’s dumped, but I’d need to buy baskets so I’m resisting for now! I did tuck a fabric storage bin under a side table in the conservatory for chucking toys into when tidying up and it’s working well. Means we just need to empty out the bin and tidy the stuff away in the playroom every so often, but it’s much quicker to tidy up in the moment. 

Baileys_Babe

Well done selecting books to give away, this is always challenging for us.

Instead of buying baskets is there anything you have at home you could repurpose, even if it is a suitable sized box that you or the children decorate? Even if this is only short term, until you find the perfect thing at a price you are happy to pay.

I know what you mean about IKEA, for many years every time we went we would spend a fortune on all those things you didn't know you needed 🤣 I'm now a reformed character and can go in and only buy what is on my list. Currently, we have a list of things to buy on my next visit, I'm not sure when that will be. Still, I don't plan to take dd as she will spend forever going around all the rooms making comments and suggestions, wanting a meal or at least a coffee and cake in the restaurant, wanting lots of IKEAness, needing a hot dog, asking for an ice cream for being good and don't forget the meatball 🤣🤣 She would also morn the fact that at 14 she is too old for the play spaces.

Debsnewbudget

Get an ikea family card and your coffee is free 😄

Bluegreen143

@Debsnewbudget alas, I don’t drink coffee so this isn’t really a temptation for me 😆

themadvix

Bluegreen143 said:

@Debsnewbudget alas, I don’t drink coffee so this isn’t really a temptation for me 😆

Tea is free too!

QueenJess

Just on the school stuff, the amount of things they expect you to go to for school/nursery in the working day is ridiculous… if I went to everything I’d barely have a full week at work.

Don’t feel guilty about it!

beanielou

I just order from Ikea now.
DElivery is £4 & well worth it to me as I can't walk round now.
Also saves on the buying what you don't need!b