Getting shot of the mortgage sooner than 2049!

Baileys_Babe

Bluegreen143 said:

we don’t spend on presents here for mother’s/fathers/valentines days, anniversaries etc but we do make our own cards, write a thoughtful message in them and enjoy some tasty treats.

Same here, I just wish our youngest's birthday and Mother's day weren't so close most years, it takes the shine off their special day. 

Hopefully, now the weather is improving your Mum friends will be more inclined to join you at the park. 

I enjoy many different genres of live theatre but the ballet is nothing special to me, despite appreciating the talent, strength and beauty, each to their own, have a lovely time when you go. Can you come up with any ways to offset the cost to your personal spends budget, using birthday money? money gained from cashback or account switching? surveying?

Come come, takeaways are just an excuse now, you know if you planned ahead you could make something in advance to have waiting for your return, it might be something you have previously batch cooked or it could be something prepared earlier in the week or just a quick something your can rustle up in a couple of minutes. Might be worth making a list (even if it is small) of ideas of meals that can be conjured quickly from the store cupboard so then you are able to make the most of the opportunities to socialise, especially the impromptu ones without jeopardising the budget.

Hopefully, the car will be easily repaired.

Bluegreen143

Ok, here’s figures so far for March. Bearing in mind the month isn’t yet over.

JOINT SPENDING £2,625.38

Home bills £781.13
TV & subs £122.34
Petrol & parking £111.60
Food £337.87
Cleaning & toiletries £31.45
Treats £40.55
Misc (household) £59.21
Pets £209.73
Family & fun £65.36
Eating out & takeaways £81.89
Misc (other) £28.15
Birthdays & celebrations £41.10
Holidays £224
Home & garden £296.81
Kids (clothes) £166.95
Kids (education) £1.99
Reconciliation £25.25

ME £233.98

PT & gym £75
Bills £100.61
Socialising & fun £42.07
Hobbies & books £16.30

Red and I have agreed to seriously tackle the food/household budgets so will go through the chest freezer tomorrow to see if we can have a cheaper week next week. We have a shop due on Monday so between food and treats we’ll be at £400 by the end of the month which seems so high compared to what we used to spend.

Also need to make sure we have zero takeaways next month - you’re so right on being organised with freezer batch cooked meals and store cupboard meals too. Part of why I’ve gotten a bit lazy about the frugal cooking is the kids are fussy and a lot of the meals I’d pull together out of storecupboard stuff and leftover veg they won’t eat. Need to get more veggie meals in the plan too as we used to eat mostly veggie but now have chicken or mince in almost every meal (again something I’ve fallen into to make sure the kids get protein because they are picky). 

The £25 to reconciliation is annoying too (it’s money I couldn’t account for when reconciling). But much lower than last month!

Baileys_Babe

Cooking to feed children's likes and dislikes as well as being a responsible parent and meet their nutritional requirements. We found it was very easy to slip into a food rut.

Thankfully now our children are older they are more willing to try things and often like them. Our youngest now eats dishes with peppers in and chooses to add them to salads. 

One of our current go-to's, when we get back and need something in a hurry, is spaghetti bolognese. Grab a tub of homemade bolognese out of the freezer, run some cold water into the sink or washing up bowl, place in the tub of bolognese, boil water for spaghetti, cook spaghetti, whilst the pasta is cooking, empty bolognese into a pan and heat gently on low to complete the defrosting and then raise the heat and simmer to heat through, grate some cheese and set the table and serve.

I used to have a selection of sauces for pasta that I could knock up from usual stores in about the time it takes to cook pasta, nothing special but quick and easy.

Bluegreen143

Car is booked in for a mechanic to come and look at it. It doesn’t matter so much when working from home - we can walk the morning school run and get the bus back in the afternoon (and playpark is right there so fine even if we want to do that), and I’ve had a Tesco delivery today so don’t need to go shopping, but I won’t be able to go in to the office without it and I’m meant to be in weekly from now 😬

Tesco shopping for today (£45):

£38.90 on food
- butter
- cheddar
- single cream
- ham x2
- sliced bread x2
- sugar
- 4x own brand baked beans 
- peppers x3
- coriander
- wraps
- SR flour
- vanilla extract
- apples
- table salt
- pasta x2
- cider vinegar
- sweet potatoes 
- ketchup
- 3ltr veg oil
- instant coffee
- bananas x5
- 1kg chicken breast
- strawberries
- 2x tin black beans

95p on household 
- value scourers
- value bin bags

£5.14 treats
- own brand cola x5
- 6pk own brand crisps x2
- value tortilla chips 

(Doesn’t look like much fruit and veg cos we have plenty in and will do another shop Friday).

Mealplan:

M - lentil & tomato soup, HM bread, cake 

T - butter chicken, HM naan, rice, veg

W - chicken & tomato pasta, salad

Th - sweet potato & black bean burritos 

Lunches 
For me - sandwiches, scrambled egg on toast, soup or leftovers & fruit/veg/HM cake 

Red - sandwich & crisps 

Kids get free lunches at school/nursery

Breakfasts
Porridge, cereal or toast & peanut butter, fruit

Snacks
Combination of - muffins from freezer, leftover HM cake, tortilla chips, fruit, veg, HM hummus, cheese, oatcakes, mini sandwiches 

Bluegreen143

Frugal wins today:

✔️ Hung washing on the line for about the seventh day in a row (rather than using the tumble drier)
✔️ Made today’s soup last night, and baked easy no-knead bread today by taking short breaks at work to mix it and then again get it ready to go in the oven
✔️ Used the remaining tuna leftover from my lunch to make mini sandwiches for the after school snack 

Frugal losses:

✖️ Forgot a facemask for the bus when walking down this afternoon and had to spend £8(!) on a 10 pack at the expensive corner shop as the Tesco express were sold out
✖️ When waiting for the bus, I got suckered into their advert for their “convenient online tickets which save money”. Literally as I pressed ok on the purchase (£11 for 5) I realised this is saving money if you go into town or longer journeys but for the short hop from nursery to home, buying a single on the bus is cheaper 🙄 on the other hand I do need 5 tickets this week and at least I won’t worry about running out of change. 

Baileys_Babe

Ouch to the cost of the face masks. I always carry an emergency mask in my tiny bag I never leave the house without. The children have the same in their bags as well, but the youngest doesn't always take a bag with them. They are kept in small ziplock bags so they are not getting dusty.

As usual, I'm liking the sound of your meal plan.

😃 to the comment about fruit & vegetables. I live with half child half fruit bat and buy a lot of fresh fruit, vegetables and salad so much so I usually buy everything else pack that in the car and then go back and buy a trolley load of fresh fruit etc both shops get funny looks from customers but the staff are used to it and often say see you in a few minutes. 

Bluegreen143

You’ve mentioned before how much fruit and raw stuff you go through! We aren’t quite as good as that here, but Monkey is a bit of a fruit bat too and loves crunchy raw veg as well. 

I’ve just discovered that yet again Red has managed to not book the right leave and hasn’t booked two days I asked him to in April - not only is it needed to cover the Easter holidays, but I’m travelling for work those days 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ As I can’t be here for childcare, I’ve left it for him to sort out but it may mean him taking two more days unpaid (as he’s meant to give 6 weeks notice for annual leave) so it’s an expensive mistake. Having a look at how we can do a better system because this literally happens every school holiday (though in Feb it was my fault 🤦‍♀️ usually it’s him though)! 

I’m thinking an actual bit of paper stuck to the fridge and getting him to tick it when it’s requested and then when it’s approved… he doesn’t seem to be doing well with it being on phones.

Baileys_Babe

Have you asked Red if he has any suggestions on the best way to communicate so the correct dates are booked?

Is it worth Red talking to his employer to see if he can change the dates?

In the past carrots were a favourite but now the fruit bat hardly ever eats them raw, preferring to church on broccoli stalks. or cabbage.

Bluegreen143

Thanks @Baileys_Babe - he spoke to them today - all his other outstanding annual leave and the parental leave he’s taking this summer have been approved. She was taking the two days in April to someone higher up to check, but said usually it’s a no if you’ve not given 6 weeks but because it’s for childcare she *thinks* they will approve it. So that’s good news! 🥳

No news on car yet, alas, the mechanic who was coming to look at it today didn’t turn up 😡 we will give them another chance as it’s a mechanic from our very local garage who we always use and have always found very good. Think they are busy just now though which doesn’t bode well. I can only do without the car so long as I need it to go to the office (I’m meant to go once a week but my manager said don’t worry about this week).

Had a productive hour once the kids were in bed as chopped up a big tub of fruit, marinaded tikka chicken for tomorrow’s curry and made the filling for a plum crumble, then emptied & refilled the dishwasher and generally tidied up. 

The problem with being so busy at work is that stuff seems to be mounting up round the house. I got a lot of washings done & dried in the sun last week/weekend but have two baskets sitting to get put away. Loads of little clutter hotspots needing organised eg the kids’ art supplies, the pantry foods, the living room bookshelves etc. Plus a list to do in the garden. It just seems that the everyday stuff of work/school run/tidying/dishes/laundry/feeding everyone takes up so much of my energy right now.  

Baileys_Babe

Fingers crossed about the April leave 🤞

When we keep up with the everyday things it is much easier and quicker but once we get out of sync with them whether because of illness, being too busy or things beyond our control, it does take a commitment, time and mental energy to get everything back in control so the daily system works.

Glad work is being understanding about the car and hopefully, it won't be too long before it is back on the road.