Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Bluegreen143

Back on the dieting bandwagon, tedious but necessary!!! 

Had a nice day at a park with a small children’s zoo (picture various breeds of chickens, alpacas, peacocks, rabbits, ferrets, ponies, lovebirds, a goat etc). We went with Bambi’s friend from nursery and her mum and sister. 

Meals today:

B - plate of smoked salmon, avocado, beetroot sauerkraut and pumpkin seeds with a squeeze of lemon (kids had cereal and half a banana each)

L - plate of sliced mango topped with chia seeds, Greek yoghurt and a drizzle of maple syrup (kids had peanut butter sandwiches, strawberries and pumpkin seeds when we were at the park)

D - HM pork snitzel with air fryer chips, rocket salad, grated carrot salad and some more of the sauerkraut

No snacks for me, the kids had some berries and sweets given by the other mum on the park play date. We shared our sandwiches with them so they reciprocated - normally we don’t give the kids eat sweets or dessert but I make an exception if they are given them at social events. I’ve been sticking to the “no sweets on weekdays” rule myself too the last wee while due to wanting to lose weight, instead of trying to sneak stuff without the kids noticing 😂

Tomorrow is my last day of annual leave, not sure what we’ll do yet. If it’s nice maybe another park visit. If it’s not, I think it’ll be a chilled out day at home, because we’ve already done softplay these holidays and it’s too expensive to go regularly 😂 I could take them swimming, but I’d rather wait til Red can go too tbh. 

Oooooh actually maybe we can go to the library and actually return our books on time this time! Though I don’t know if we've read all the kids’ books so I guess we could do that in the morning. We need to go to Tesco too, and it’s handily quite close to the library so it makes sense. 

Then Wed-Fri I annoyingly have to work, so the kids will be entertaining themselves, most likely by making huge forts which make a giant mess in the house 😂 I think Bambi’s friend’s mum will have them for a morning playdate one day which is kind of her. 

Bluegreen143

Well I’ve lost 4lb since Sunday which is good! Long may it continue. Being honest about targets so you can all keep me accountable:

On Sunday I weighed (gulp) 11st 13. This might not sound super heavy but I am tiny in height, only five foot, so my BMI is about 32…

1. If I lose 1st total I will be overweight rather than obese in terms of BMI and under 11st. 

2. If I lose 2st total I will be back to the weight I was when I fell pregnant with Bambi and under 10st.

3. If I lose 3st total I will be a healthy BMI (24) and under 9st - around what I was when I fell pregnant with Monkey. Not my slimmest adult weight ever but sensible and hopefully manageable to achieve. 

I think regardless of anything a top goal has to be no longer being classed as obese - so even losing just 1st will be improving my health in the long run. 

Yesterday’s food:

B - porridge with apple and a little brown sugar 

L - caprese salad (tomato, mozzarella, basil, balsamic vinegar & olive oil) with avocado added

D - Red cooked as I was feeling ill. Griddled strips of chicken with mash, carrots, sweetcorn and broccoli with gravy and a Yorkshire pudding. Like a Sunday roast but done quickly with strips of griddle chicken breast 😂. Not what I’d meal planned but it was very nice - I didn’t have a giant portion due to all the carbs 😇 

Kids are out for the day with Bambi’s best friend from nursery, as her mum kindly offered to take them out knowing I was working. 

I’ve got a bad cold so it’s bliss to have some peace and quiet to work in peace! 

Not snacking or eating sweets is hopefully budget friendly and will offset extra spend on healthy stuff like berries, fish and avocado. 

Bluegreen143

Sad news this weekend as my uncle passed away. Just need to make sure I’m there if my mum needs help as he had no family of his own and clearing his house and planning the funeral etc falls to her (and she has a very demanding career, though has taken next week off). 

We’ve had three extended family deaths in the past year and it’s such a reminder to live life the way you really want and make time for those who are important. 

In other news, I finished the week at 3.5lb off which I’m very happy with. 

Yesterday we had a nice day out at a farming museum which is also a working farm, free with our National Trust membership. We did get lunch in the cafe which was £34.50. Red then put £20 on the Grand National and we all picked horses. Monkey’s horse won so we got £20.80 - a whole 80p profit! 😂 we also did some gardening yesterday which I was pleased with - I sowed some carrot and beetroot, and planted out some sweet pea seedlings in a sheltered patch. 

Today kids were at an Easter hunt their uncle and aunt held today so I had an afternoon off and took myself for a beautiful walk round a loch and up on a moor - such a good thing to clear the head and obviously good exercise too. 

We had roast beef for dinner, with roast potatoes, air fryer carrot & beetroot, and steamed purple sprouting broccoli and peas plus some good homemade gravy. Really tasty! The beetroot was a surprise hit with Monkey, both kids enjoyed pretending to be vampires with the red juice but he actually ate all his and some of Bambi’s too. It’s nothing something I cook often so it’s a reminder to try new veg on the kids often. 

Did a Tesco shop this morning - £76.66 - will only last til Wed though. Which is ok, I’m aiming for £20 a day atm (or £140 a week, but atm I’m preferring to do smaller shops more often and get everything fresh, it seems to be better for reducing waste for us).

Bought:

PROTEIN & DAIRY
chicken breast
beef joint
2 packs finest ham
smoked salmon
butter
mozzarella
Greek yoghurt 

FRUIT & VEG
bananas
a tub of melon
apples 
grapes
mango 
cucumber
spinach
purple sprouting broccoli
carrots
onions
nice cherry tomatoes
garlic
rosemary
asparagus 
frozen peas 

OTHER
can of beef stock & of chicken stock
2x tins plum tomatoes 
tin butter beans
pasta & spaghetti
oatcakes
seeded bread
crisp multipack 
cola (6 bottles - for Red!)

HOUSEHOLD
kitchen roll
bin bags 

I also filled the car up - £77.16. 

As for today’s meals:

B - a banana

L - one slice toast with scrambled egg, smoked salmon, handful rocket and half an avocado, topped with pumpkin seeds 

D - roast beef, potatoes, beetroot, carrot, purple sprouting broccoli, peas, gravy 

S - weekends are treat days so I had some leftover Easter chocolate at a couple of points 😉 

And tomorrow it’s back to school for the kids! 

beanielou

Sorry to hear about your uncle. Carpe diem.

Bluegreen143

Hello all!

Life is crazy. 10 days after my uncle passed away, my step-Nana (stepdad’s mum) died. Such an awful month for my mum and stepdad. 

We bought loads of camping gear (yay!) but our brakes dramatically failed in our car (boo, and scary), but Red got us into an empty bus turning circle type thing and stopped safely. £110 for the insurance as my BIL lent us his car. £450 for the car repair. 

We’re going camping this weekend with my sister and brother in law so that’s exciting 😍

It looks like work can give my uncle’s funeral off but won’t authorise step-Nana’s because we have our annual team planning meeting that day and it can’t be moved due to people traveling up for it. Going to talk to my manager about it in person tomorrow. Feel angry and sad about it. I know work have exceptionally good about being flexible with me re childcare so not sure I have any legs to stand on here to complain about it unfortunately 😔 but I still feel very sad about the whole thing. 

Bambi has had two of her primary school settling visits and so far so good. We got to visit Monkey in his class today which they both loved. Seeing Monkey’s face full of surprise and a picture of such joy, and then him getting up to hug his sister, is a memory I’ll cherish. 

Money - it’s ok, though I’ve not paid my mum any extra due to the car bill. So still owe her £640. So close to being debt free (except mortgage & student loan)!! 

I’ve now lost 6.5lb over three weeks which I’m pleased about. 

Meals today:

B(runch): a big smoothie/milkshake with banana, peanut butter, oats, chia seeds, cocoa. 

Snack: stress ate chocolate after getting the bad news at work re funeral day off. 

Dinner: made by Red, salad with roast barbecue chicken thighs and a lemon rice salad thing. 

KajiKita

Hugs for your loss x and sorry to hear about the funeral. 

Wowsers on the weight loss - please share how! 😊

Glad the brakes thing wasn’t more serious. I’ve recently changed to a ‘new’ car as my old one was becoming scarily unreliable - just not worth the stress! 

❤️ for Bambi’s settling in session and Monkey’s response 🤩

KK

beanielou

Sorry to hear of your loss.

Bluegreen143

Thanks all. 

Feeling grateful as I’ve been told I am able to go to the funeral. I’ll dial into as much of the meeting as I can in advance. 

After a stressful week I’m pleased to be off now for the bank holiday weekend. Off camping tomorrow, doubtlessly in the rain 😂

Spent £110 in Tesco - mainly camping stuff like crisps & snacks, hot dog stuff, baked beans, little cereal boxes etc, also picked up some storecupboard bits like olive oil, vinegar, cans of stock etc and got falafel/wraps/salad stuff for tonight’s dinner. 

Had a really lovely brunch today - flung chopped courgette, red pepper, red onion, button mushrooms and cherry tomato in the air fryer with some olive oil/salt/pepper then added sliced halloumi and chopped walnuts near the end. Squeeze of lemon and that was it. Delicious! I love the air fryer for this kind of simple roasted veg meal. 

beanielou

Enjoy the camping. 

Bluegreen143

This month just marches on SO quickly.

There has been a lot going on especially with two family funerals, one involving travel to the north of Scotland. 

This should be the last insane week, I’m off to the south of England for work on Thursday lunchtime and get back about 11pm on Friday night 🙄

I did have a nice weekend, though the funeral was sad on Friday we had an extended family meal and drinks after with relatives who live abroad and who we rarely see, which was really lovely. 

I also had a lovely beach walk/paddle while up north (weather was glorious) and yesterday took the kids to the river for a splash in their swimsuits, so we’ve been continuing to get lots of outdoor adventures in. 

I’ve also been continuing to eat healthily and walk more and have lost roughly 1/2 stone. I have ordered a bike through cycle2work scheme and am excited to get it next week! You save on the tax & NI and also split the cost over 18 months, so it’s just a nominal fee (£17 or something) less in my monthly pay.

Money update:

Despite it kind of wiping out our savings, I finished paying off my car loan to my mum. Yay!! Debt-free except mortgage and my student loan now. 

Red and I are trialling out managing more of our money in our personal accounts as it gets very fuzzy what the joint account is for, and I feel we both spend from abandon from that account 🙈 but have more ownership and responsibility for what’s in our own accounts. Basically means all “wants” will be catered for from personal accounts (or dedicated savings eg for holidays) and we can’t overspend bills/grocery money on wants. 

So Red will be taking his pay and putting £1,600 into the joint account each payday. This is for bills, food, petrol, savings and tbh there is enough slush to pay for small kid expenses like ice creams or whatever. 

The rest (£800ish) will sit in his account and if we want stuff for the house, days out, takeaways etc we will split from our personal accounts rather than the endless joint account black hole… obviously personal expenses will continue to come from personal accounts too. 

For my account, my salary plus child benefit just about equals Red’s salary so I’ll keep the child benefit and do the same thing - £1,600 put in the joint account each payday. 

Current state of savings 

Emergency fund: £479
Holidays: £427 (am quite underspent in joint account currently so hoping to add to this next week)
Help to save: £4,200

My cash ISA: £151
My S&S ISA: £370