Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Went to Lidl to get the shopping today rather than leave it til our usual day (tomorrow) just because Thursday is a really busy day in general but particularly so tomorrow - last day of my working week so I’m always in a rush to get stuff done plus my Gaelic class and then Red is going to pick up the cabin bed tomorrow and annoyingly she can only do about dinner time - so there would be no chance of getting the shopping done tomorrow as well! I really wanted to go to Lidl instead of getting a Tesco delivery and as usual it’s saved us loads. 

Total spend - £76.28

Food - £57.05
Household - £6.25
My spends - £7.48 (bottle of wine + I got Red a bar of choc orange as a wee present) 
Red’s spends - £5.50 (4x beer + a bottle of Irn Bru) 

Considering that I was budgeting £75p/w for food alone not long ago I’m so pleased with that spend! 

Baileys_Babe

Your Thursday's sound hectic even without Red going to collect a bed. Good call on changing your shopping night and well done keeping the spends low.
Do you think swapping the shopping to Wednesday is a permanent change or just for this week? And Lidl is this going to be a regular feature as you evidently spent less?

My preferred supermarket is Aldi, followed by Lidl. I rarely go in one of the big 4 despite them all having stores within a couple of miles. I find it both quicker and cheaper to shop in Aldi and Lidl.

Bluegreen143

I agree, it’s SO much quicker, easier and cheaper shopping in Lidl. I always go there if going in person as our local Tesco is huge and takes forever to get round but the Tesco delivery does have advantages too.

I think I will switch the shopping to Wed and go to Lidl at least fortnightly and get a Tesco delivery in between maybe, or just nip to Tesco occasionally to get ethnic ingredients etc. Red prefers the Tesco delivery though as he likes to add stuff (though I sometimes take stuff back out 😂) and feels a bit like when I go in person he can’t get the things he wants. Yesterday I talked to him and said I don’t want to just be refusing to get him things as but equally if he’s going to bust the budget with junk then I think he should pay with his spending money which he agreed to. 

Bluegreen143

Bluegreen143 said:

It’s so hard to say isn’t it! What if I want to retire super early or get ill or something and can’t work 🤔 will ponder on it.

Financial list for today 
- Mealplan/shopping list/do Lidl shop
- Email in about consolidating my old and new pension
- Set up standing order to round up mortgage payment 
- Nag Red to take meter reads

Still got most of this to do! But did the mealplan & shop and Red got the meter reads.

Today’s list:
- email re pensions
- mortgage standing order
- make falafel in plenty of time for dinner (meant to make this last night but too tired! The hummus and pittas are made already & frozen)
- cut up tubs of salad and fruit for the next few days
- Gaelic class has been cancelled today so must take the opportunity to do my revision instead!

Bluegreen143

Ok I made the falafel for dinner with HM hummus & HM pittas I’d previously frozen + salad. So good! And sent off my pension email after a lot of faffing about with the online account. I was pleased to see that the older pension is at over £16k rather than the £13.5k the last statement says. Will call Platform re the mortgage tomorrow.

Red picked up Monkey’s cabin bed today from the Gumtree seller and we are all very excited to get it up tomorrow! £140 spent.

I was going to order the IKEA picture book shelf for his wall £12 each for a big one (probably want two) or you can use the spice racks as a small version for only £3.50 each. But Red says if I can wait a couple of weeks he’ll make them instead with wood we already have so that’s a bit of cash saved!

Red also spent £10 on petrol and £10 on lightbulbs, batteries and similar in Home Bargains.

It’s been lovely, warm and sunny here the last few days, Red has totally tidied the garden and power washed everything, and it’s been lovely to spend some time out there! Got some seedlings starting too - I love this time of year 🙂

Baileys_Babe

Your dinner sounds lush 😋

Good luck setting the bed up tomorrow. We got a cabin bed for dd off my sister, as our children are older we got them to assemble it with our supervision, all it needed was Allen keys, screwdrivers and cooperation. 

Homemade shelves sound much nicer.

Our paths and courtyard need power washing but the machine has been leant to my sister, so they will need to wait.

Bluegreen143

It was good @Baileys_Babe! Monkey ate three half pittas filled with falafel, hummus, cherry toms & cucumber. More than me! He is so fussy with a lot of the stuff I ate as a child as won’t eat potatoes (except chips), isn’t keen on meat except sausages & mince, won’t eat cooked veg. Yet he does have quite healthy tastes in some ways despite being picky given he can’t get enough of hummus and falafel! Really hope I can keep expanding his comfort zone with food but it was nice to see him enjoying his healthy dinner so much tonight.

Baileys_Babe

My dd prefers sausages and mince as she says they don't need to be chewed much.

QueenJess

Little children are weird with food. DS loves potato, but has recently decided with roast potatoes he will only eat the inside and not the lovely crispy outside (which he used to love). He no longer likes mushrooms and he will eat carrot sticks or cut cooked carrot, but not when I make it into ribbons for a stir fry. 

I've given up trying to understand... I assume he'll grow out of it!

Baileys_Babe

Yes, @QueenJess I believe they will eventually grow out of most of it but they will test your patience for a long time first.
It is so frustrating when they stop eating food that they previously liked and to leave the delicious crispy outer of a roast potato, that is sacrilege.

My ds disliked potatoes whichever way you served them when he was little, now he will eat them most ways even if it is only a small portion with the exception of jacket potatoes. Which is what we are having tonight, ds will have the toppings and instead of potato, he will be offered bread or wraps. We can all have virtually the same meal with no extra work for us. One downside is we don't have jacket potatoes as often as we otherwise would.