Stopping the backsliding… a family of four no longer living beyond their means

Bluegreen143

I can say with 100% certainty that any cloth hankies we acquire won’t be ironed 🤣😅

Baileys_Babe

We have always used cloth hankies and I haven't ironed since I left home eons ago.

Bluegreen143

I only use the iron if sewing, which is very infrequent. 

Work from home day today. Meals were:

B - Greek yoghurt, maple syrup, banana & a little 85% dark chocolate chopped in

L - chicken soup & a slice of bread 

D - falafel, hummus and salad wraps 

I’ve made overnight oats for tomorrow - my very simple breakfast rotation is that on office days I have overnight oats and on WFH days I have fruit, nuts and yoghurt. 

I’ve done the weekend mealplan. Red has requested steak to celebrate as he thinks he’ll be done with Bambi’s bed and desk this weekend. He’s really done a fantastic job, it looks wonderful. 

We do have some bits to get from ikea to finish the rooms - hopefully not too much but some toy storage for Bambi and desk chairs. Possibly a desk for Monkey but we have an old small desk in the loft which Red thinks will do.

joedenise

A lady after my own heart!  I only iron when I'm sewing too.  Don't sew very often but am currently making a sundress for my holiday in January - just hope it fits OK when it's done!

Sarahwithlove

Fingers crossed on the mortgage front, hopefully broker can get you something better. 

Bluegreen143

Morning all!

Bit of a spend yesterday, as I've decided to join Slimming World online. It's 12 weeks for £60 and I think it's worth it as I need the extra support of having rules/a plan to follow. I do generally have a varied, healthy and tasty diet but I'm obviously eating too much/too many calories and I'd like to invest in my health by making a real effort to become a healthy weight.

I have 2st 5lb to lose to be a healthy BMI, not masses and masses, so hopefully I won't be at it for years and years trying to lose it but it needs done. Recent events in our families have really driven home the importance of looking after our bodies and health. I've sadly seen first-hand the impact of extra weight carried over the years in both quality of life and in early deaths which may have been preventable. I've not been dealt a great hand genetically, with a history of heart disease, obesity, high blood pressure and diabetes in so many of my relatives, so it's on me not to be complacent.

I'm hopeful this won't impact the food budget too much as I'll be buying fewer treats but also Slimming World is adaptable to your diet rather than requiring special foods.

I have ordered a spray bottle for olive oil (£5 on Amazon) as I'm not into low calorie cooking spray but appreciate I could be doing with being far less liberal with the olive oil in my cooking.

Anyway, I've started off strong with a breakfast of porridge oats, milk, apple, 2tsp brown sugar and cinnamon. In SW lingo it's 2 syns for the sugar plus two of my three 'healthy extras' used. The plan is to eat very healthily today and save my syns for a glass of prosecco or two in the evening, and I like that you have the flexibility to use your syns as you want with this plan.

Tomorrow BIL is coming for dinner but rather than buy a third steak, I've told Red just to do steak & chips for him and BIL (kids are having popcorn chicken) and I will cook for myself. Steak and salad is a perfectly acceptable SW meal but I know Red would lather it in butter etc and so it'll be easier (not to mention cheaper) to make something tasty and healthy myself. I don't begrudge giving BIL my steak as tbh I'm not actually that mad on steak anyway, it was Red who wanted it!

I think I only reported on the GC thread - £75 on the Tesco shop, £9 was household items, £9 was treats I think and the rest was normal food. Also spent £2 in Lidl on grapes and £5 on deicer and screen wash for the car.

joedenise

Come over and join us on the Slimming World thread on here:  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6563697/still-time-to-lose-in-2024-with-slimming-world#latest
It's helpful to have a bit more support between weigh ins.

Bluegreen143

Today’s meals (with slimming world code after):

Breakfast
Porridge with apple and 2tsp brown sugar (HEA, HEB, 2)

Lunch
Air fryer baked potato, beans, 30g cheese, side salad (HEA)

Dinner
Chicken & veg stir fry with rice, inc 1tbsp hoisin sauce and 1/2tsp cornflour (1.5)



So that’s 3.5 of my syns today. I’ll be having some prosecco later, max of 2 glasses, which will keep me in today’s limit. Very pleased with how today has gone. All the food I’ve made has been tasty, which was my main concern, and satisfying without ending up feeling stuffed afterwards!

No spending to report since last post. 

debtfreewannabe321

Good luck with the SW i think it's a really easy diet to follow. I lost 2 stone after I gave birth to my youngest son on SW years ago. I found i followed a lot of their rules after I stopped going to SW because it had taught me good habits and portion control (I like you eat healthy but I was eating waaaay too much 🤣)

Bluegreen143

Thanks for the encouragement debtfreewannabe! 

So far so good. I’ve been taking pics of my meals. My mum is dieting too (not doing SW) so we’ve already been reporting our steps, active minutes and what we’re eating to each other each day but I’ve started sending food pics too. It’s definitely helpful to be accountable to someone in RL! 

Yesterday I had:

B - Apple porridge (HEA & B, 1)
L - Tuna tomato spaghetti with green beans 
D - Mushroom, green bean and pea risotto with cheddar (HEA, 0.5)

Plus two glasses of Prosecco 🤣. So 11.5 syns in total. 

Spending wise, nothing to report. We had a day at home yesterday so it didn’t cost anything. I tried a new concept - picking one day this month to be home all day and let a few of the kids’ friends’ parents know they were welcome to drop by for a playdate between 11am-5pm. 

This was fairly successful - so much better than trying to arrange individual playdates with each child which eats into family time so much! (Due to their school not being local, it’s not possible for the kids to call in on their friends without me, they are scattered across the city). 

On the day, one family cancelled due to illness and another due to the snow. If they had been the only people coming, the kids would have been very sad, but because others were coming too it was ok. So we had two little boys in the morning/early afternoon, and they also played out with the boy across the road who goes to their school, then in the afternoon my friend came who has kids the same age as my two at the same school. We’ve not seen them in months so that was fabulous. 

We did make good use of the snow - we took the kids and the first playdate boy sledging and snowmen building at the park. Monkey then played out for an hour later with the second playdate boy and the boy across the road. I think it’s all to melt today so I’m glad we made use of it and it’s good free fun! 

Today I plan to take Monkey to karate as his Thursday class wasn’t on (no extra cost to do a different class) and then we’ll all go swimming which is £12. I do have the Tesco delivery coming so will report back on the final cost once it’s been deducted from my account.