Missy’s full time working mum juggling act MF adventure

fionaandphil

Hope May feels better soon.

I echo what @joedenise says, get saving now for Christmas. We have a Christmas saver with our local building society which we save in every month from November and it pays out at the end of October the following year. It covers Christmas and any extra helps with that long January that goes on forever. Obviously too late for this year, but worth considering for 2025.

Well done on getting to the end of the month within budget. A major achievement at this time of year when school is going back and it's so expensive.

missymoo81

Thanks both, I hear what you’re saying. I do need to be more organised in my budgeting. I’ve done well this month though, with paying off the rest of the holiday, and paying for mays trip and putting £500 to one side for the car service. As I said I’ve got about £70 left, £73.70 to be exact. OH is getting this weeks shop which is coming tomorrow. I’ve got a £5 off a £25 shop for Lidl, which I’ll use next Sunday (Sunday is shopping day). So I’ve meal planned for the next 2 weeks. And I will spend £25 the following Sunday at Lidl but I will get it for £20 and will spend £53.70 on fuel which will hopefully take me to half way through the first week in Oct…. 

I’ve done so well not spending any money this week. We went to the beach today as May was much better, we took a picnic, so no money spent. 

I’ve gone through the fridge and didn’t really need to throw anything away this week which is great! Over this whole month We’ve eaten out a lot less, so saving money all round. I’m trying to get back into scratch cooking.  I made a really nice lasagne this evening, and for the first time I even made the white sauce and bolognese sauce, it was so cheap and I even used frozen veggie mince as it’s cheaper and used the last of the tiny bit of cheese left and there was even enough bolognese left for another meal, so I’ve frozen that. Roo said it wasn’t as nice as a previous one, but that was made with steak mince and a shed load of cheese. But I’d def give it a good 8 out of 10. 

Here’s my menu plan for the next few weeks:

Lasagne and salad - Saturday 

Roast - Sunday 

Pulled pork rolls with wedges and sweet corn - Monday

Pulled pork - with mash  and carrots - tuesday 

Chicken fajitas with extra carrots- Wednesday 

Bacon and butternut Risotto - Thursday 

Chilli with carrots and lots of veg 1/2  - Friday 

Chilli - Saturday

Curry with chickpeas and broccoli - Sunday

Shep pie - Monday 

Sausage bean Tuscan thing - Tuesday 

Bacon Stew - Wednesday 

Bacon Stew  - Thursday 

Hm Pizza - Friday

Jamie’s Cabbage carbonara - Saturday 

Toad in the hole - Sunday 

I’m trying to do pulled pork for the first time and I’m cooking a roast tomorrow which I’ve not done in months, and to free up some space in the freezer I’m going to make a berry crumble with some frozen berries and some custard I’ve had since Xmas. Very pleased with myself.

fionaandphil

You are doing so well and great meal plan. Do share the recipe for fajitas carrots please. I find pulled pork works really well in the slow cooker and there always seems to be loads when we do it this way.

Glad you got a nice day out at the beach and a big win taking your own picnic. You seem to have really clicked with the no spend and budgeting this month.

joedenise

Buy a piece of pork shoulder and cook in the slow cooker with bbq sauce rather than roasting the joint and then trying to pull it.  Makes the meat go a very long way!

Bluegreen143

Last time I did mine in the instant pot in some stock and it was amazing. We did barbecue it at the end to get some crispy bits on the outside and a smoky flavour but you could stick in the oven for a bit instead. 

jwil

Sounds like you are making great progress.  Well done on not throwing food away and also taking the picnic.

I also do pulled pork in the slow cooker, it's much easier to shred.

LadyWithAPlan

Well done on the money juggling and meal planning. Part of ynab is it makes you list those 'true expenses' eg xmas and bdays and encourages you to save a bit each month towards the annual inevitable spends  so stops or at least decreases the stress levels of last minute money finding...

Your food sounds lovely
I roast my pork joints in my halogen - comes out a treat!

missymoo81

Thank you all for your kind comments and advice and very much like the info on the pulled pork. I have pork shoulder, so I just put it as is in the slow cooker, fat and all with some bbq sauce and water?

Menu plan has gone to pot, have had an awful couple of days, me and OH have both had mini break downs. Life is just too stressful, for OH it is selling the business and for me it is work. But together we are stronger, and I’ve spoken to my boss who has smoothed everything over for me, might have been the fact I broke down in tears, but I can’t be strong all of the time. And me and OH will hopefully come up with a plan this week of how to sell the business without ending up massively in debt, so we can move forward. 

We had fish and chips last night and spent some of the fuel money…. I know I shouldn’t have but yesterday was just awful and neither of us had eaten all day. But I’m very glad we did. We bumped into someone who chatted to us and put everything into perspective, which really helped. I ended up off work yesterday so didn’t spend on fuel and found £5 in the car so those 2 things probably make up about £10 plus the food in the house we didn’t eat. I think we can still manage on the money we have until pay day. 

Trying to get through the week unscathed. Living for Sunday at this point as working every day until then. I just want life to settle down a little. 

joedenise

@missymoo81 - no need for water in the slow cooker, it will just make the BBQ sauce watery and you’ll end up having to put it into a saucepan and boil it to thicken it up.

I use the slimming world pulled pork recipe which is available to anyone online - just google it.

missymoo81

I’ve been reading the frugal thread and I’m going to try and be more frugal in my every day. Make do and mending etc. I do find joy in such things, I would like to try and grow maybe just a few things in pots in the garden next year. Maybe potatoes in sacks and peas and Broad beans and maybe courgettes, things that are easy to grow. If anyone has any advice or tips?