Buying a little piece of Middle England; Manifesting my way to mortgage free.

debtfreewannabe321

Thanks LAWP I wish I had your enthusiasm with it, I am just getting beyond frustrated🙈🙉 . It isn't really doing what I want it to do. I have obviously paid for it now so will stick with it but I'm afraid it was the paper budget that gave me the clarity and I could see where I had spare money (or not). Ynab is super confusing to both of us with this CC we added too. I am not one for sitting watching hour long videos and I have started so many and abandoned them on 'how to'. I have done the paper budget, put it into YNAB what is available to spend this month coming and it is in the red which is fine because we haven't had all our money in yet. I am going against their principles of only budgeting with what I have at the moment though so it seems silly I am using if I am just going to fight with it continually. CC is currently messed up on there. And honestly I don't even know what's wrong with it to say and get help, and honestly can't be bothered (yeh bad attitude I know). 

I've raked for an hour and done one bed that seems to be prolific with ground elder I hate that stuff. I think the last owners also did and thought it best to try and suppress with thousands of stones, but all that happened was the ground elder found new ways to pop up- right next to tree trunks, all along the back of the fence etc. So another few tonnes of stones moved, back is aching but I stopped before it was proper sore. I've had an idea on what to do with some of the stones, I want to lift the grass in lots of areas and put raised beds in and will need paths so I think I will clean some stones and set them into concrete, this might be a better way of suppressing grass and more importantly the weeds, and allow my plants to grow in the beds and also use some stones up. 

Need to get on with dinner in a minute but have lost all enthusiasm today. I couldn't get a shopping slot for less than a fiver so I will go shopping tomorrow if I am able to (have a feeling DP may be using car all day though). Otherwise I will go on Saturday morning as we have some JP in and beans and cheese....so a nice quick meal for tomorrow before I go out. Hmm yes that might work better actually, we shall see. 

Money moved out of my YBS into Cah00t at 5% interest, so the SBF & EF are both together at the moment. I just need to keep a tab on how it is split on ynab. I'll move DP's over later too if I have time. 

beanielou

Remember the 6% is deceptive as the capital starts smaller & then increases over the year & so the interest is not as high as you think. 

kaycastle

I'm in complete awe of your meal planning. It's so organised far in advance! I'm picturing something like the good life going on in your garden.

I was stumped for an embarrassingly long time with what on earth is the "big river" shop

debtfreewannabe321

Morning MFWs,
@kaycastle I wish my garden resembled the good life...it's mostly grass at the mo which I want to change for food  
@beanielou I am not very good with understanding these interest rates...that makes sense thank you. 

Okay, so the EF is at £2924.91 this month. I shouldn't have any issue getting this to £3k before the end of the year if we don't need it for anything. 
Yesterday however, I had the record player on and the amp stopped working not an emergency? an emergency? that depends on who you ask here.

I have been paid, I have shuffled money about and have everything where it is needed aside from a few smaller things like yearly subscriptions. I don't want to pay into them yet though as my main account will be left short, so I have set up transfers to those accounts every Monday for November (when child benefit is paid) I won't miss the odd tenner here and there then but when my account is raided on the first for all these savings pots I sometimes miss the money because my child benefit (part of the budget) drip feeds in over the month. Then I am continually transferring here there and everywhere. I have decided to work with that this month and drip feed it out to savings pots as otherwise there is a million transfers going through my accounts each month, okay maybe not a million, but if you ask YNAB they don't like it and they get confused easily with it. I have a widget on my phone now with all the daily budgets on show so I can easily see them as I shop- this is quite a useful feature to have so I have added things like, pocket money, groceries, household items, entertainment and dining out. They're all fully loaded categories at the moment, and as I spend they will go down with each transaction so I can see what is left at a glance (the app won't always open when out and about as my phone is knackered).

Today's plans, tidy our bedroom, and hoover. Take DD out she has booked in for a piercing (another one *rolls eyes*), find some dinner to throw together from leftovers. Clean fridge and make my shopping list for tomorrow. I heard back from the HR dept at new job yesterday but only a quick message around 5pm saying she had passed on a message to my hiring manager...so I still don't know what is going on. I will have to message again and ask if they even want me in on Monday because I have no details so far so wondering what on earth is going on (how is it I always find companies to work for that are so disorganised, sigh). UPDATE- just had email whilst writing this, I start 9am on Monday!

Last night I didn't have ANY hot flushes. Whaaaaaaaat!! First time in months!!! So not menopausal symptoms (I did wonder why they felt so different to meno hot flushes, they always originate around my lower chest area rather than whole body flushes like I used to have with meno). So had a quick search on t'net, indeed gluten intolerance can cause them..!! SO I need to be extra careful now, and read every ingredient on all packs of food I am buying. I have meals planned but I am now wondering how to navigate this with a G intolerance. I am thinking I might just buy in bulk some 'safe' foods for me whilst I go through this initial detox and new job induction before giving it much more brain power to make the meals more interesting. I can make a batch of GF bean burgers and freeze, as well as normal ones for the rest of the family (unsure if the GF flour will change the texture or taste?), JP, tofu, and the cottage pie are all safe....PIZZa............hmmmm, I don't even really like pizza much but I will see if I can find a vegan GF one and the plant balls I think will be off the menu. I may try to get something else for me instead. This is going to push the food budget up but is necessary to get me off to a good start. And I was dreading starting work with these flushes that keep coming out of nowhere -they're pretty embarrassing. So my plan is to be extra vigilant for gluten and dairy (am also allergic to that and that causes similar symptoms) so I can be alert and hot flush free for new job!

Also...on that subject, The last few months I have been noticing that my face is very bloated and I am looking older, I am wondering if this is something to do with me feeding my body what it deems as poisonous (gluten) now...I just felt maybe it was my time to get old having always looked young for my age I knew it would eventually catch up....but perhaps this will go too. I will keep an eye on it. DP has said he would like to try GF too as he is noticing how tired he gets after eating bread products and how bloated he feels. So I may have an ally on board which will be easier when meal planning. I remember when I finally gave in to the realisation that I have a dairy allergy and gave it up- a month in and my skin was glowing, I had no blemishes and all water retention had disappeared...can I do it again? 

It is wet and miserable here so I think I will leave the gardening today. I intend to get my exercise in later dancing to some great 70/80's tunes I have decided to go casual because the event is being held in the university so my nice jeans, heels and a nice top. We are driving there and will find some parking in the area for free we hope. 

I am waiting on surveys to pay out, I have £6.89 pending on one. It has £4.67 cleared and you can't cash out till it hits £6. I am 2 points away from payout on another site and the surveys ran out 🙄 both should pay out before end of the weekend though. As my EF & SBF are all in the same account at the mo I will sweep all survey money over to there anyway and then decide how I am divvying it up. Right off to get sorted as DD is already up and excited for another hole in her body.

greenbee

Delurking to say that while I don't specifically follow a gluten-free diet, I don't actually tend to have much gluten because what I naturally prefer to eat doesn't have it. Pizzas are probably the exception, but I have tried cauliflower base (when I was testing blood sugar reactions), and actually it's not a bad alternative. Expensive, but apparently something you can make yourself https://ifoodreal.com/cauliflower-pizza-crust/ 

I use chickpea or rice flour in courgette fritters rather than wheat flour, so that might work for your bean burgers (I've just realised I should try making bean burgers and see whether it would be a good use for the rice and buckwheat flour that need eating!). 

ladybird1106

GOSH plant balls are gluten free, so are the ones from ikea. Although do check the ikea ones as they do 2 types of plant balls, one has gluten/barely in the other doesn’t. I think Lidl stock gosh and are cheaper than Sainsbury’s and Tesoos.
love 🐞
 

debtfreewannabe321

Thank you I'll take a look for the different types of flour. Oh! Actually I have some chickpea flour somewhere! Ahh totally forgot about it. So that's GF is it? Brill...
Good call LB I didn't realise they were GF. I was using Mr T / Mr S and I think both have gluten in. I will go check out those instead 😁

Back from town..need to go back in I was overcharged at the grape tree for something 🙄the most expensive thing on there too.
Got black beans in tins though not the cheapest but they're organic and I need to find somewhere I can buy dried ... So for now will use those. £4.76 for four tins. Also got a few toiletries from there rather than online so that's good. And found yellow organic lentils bogof for £1.99.

DD has her piercing and it looks pretty (belly) reminds me of when I used to have mine done ...ooo about three decades ago 😁😬🙈😂

beanielou

Glad you have the start date on Monday confirmed. 

debtfreewannabe321

Wow, my energy has returned with some motivation! I have scrubbed the kitchen clean (and fridge), our bedroom & ensuite and hoovered everywhere. Will tackle another room tomorrow. Have a quick wash on too.
ExH underpaid me so I sent him a message, thanks for the maintenance but it went up in September - you owe me £30! He's putting it across now Considering he never has the kids and it is worked out on him having them every two weeks he's lucky I haven't pushed for more

Gt £5 paid on one survey site, £8.94 on another and just picked up a few surveys too. 👏
Job for this weekend- to see if we can find a cheap bed base for DP & I. I think we have had enough pretending to be students now on a mattress on the floor I have a couple of hundred quid there waiting..but no more than that so will see what I can find. 

dawnybabes

We’re coeliac here - I get my best results just using Asda GF flour, i just swop it out. For posh pizza I use Caputo flour.

cant remember if you’re vegan or veggie ? If veggie then GF yorkshires taste exactly the same - 90g flour, 35g cornflour, 4 eggs, milk (can be plant based) to double cream consistency.  You can make them using 100% cornflour but i find them too ‘light’ and crispy 🤣