Hello Dear Reader,
As a mum, I well remember the end of the summer term. It meant a massive outlay for the coming term. New uniforms, new shoes, new PE kit, subscriptions for after school clubs, sports and music lessons. It meant that I had to be careful with every penny from the end of the Easter holidays. I also had to put money aside for the school holidays. I'm used to making economies in June and July every year.
This year, in my summer break, I will be at home getting some jobs done around the house and working on the garden. As with last year, July is all about 'Just make do with what I have July'. It means I have a complete spending break in July. I hope to put aside money from my household budget to buy paint and fabric to keep my busy in the summer break.
Tonight, I did my first stock take. I have enough in the house that I'm going to start the shopping hiatus this week. Here's the challenge.
1. Eat down the stock cupboard.
2. Use up all the ingredients, no matter how unusual.
3. Use up all the odds and ends of toiletries.
4. Go through fabric scraps, no matter how small and make blocks for my scrappy quilt.
5. Use up all the cleaning products and eek them out to make them last the month.
6. Use up the tinned goods, in my case a lot of tinned fruit.
7. Eat down the freezer.
It's a great motivator to see how much money you can save by doing this towards the summer break.
To start - here's my menu for the rest of the week.
Tuesday: Tofu, chilli, red pepper and cabbage stir fry with rice.
Wednesday: Veggie pasta bake - use up Camembert
Thursday: Butternut Squash and Chorizo risotto
Friday: GF pasta and tomato sauce with bacon
Saturday: Spinach and feta quiche with new potatoes (neighbour has loads of spuds and mint)
Sunday: Slow cooked Brisket with roasties and veg.
Monday: Same again (I don't cook on Monday and we have 'ding cuisine'.
Tuesday: Spicy stir fry quorn with veggies and rice
Wednesday: Brisket, new potatoes and veg
That's as far as I've got. I've not planned a lot recently as we've mainly eaten salad of some sort or another.
What I will be doing with the money I'm saving? I'll be off to a few car boot sales, charity shops and keeping my eyes open on ebay for curtains, fabric, shelves and a few items to make our house a home. I will be hiring a wall paper steamer and we're keeping our eyes open for some affordable floor tiles for our dining room. We are sure we can renovate the cottage and stick to our usual household budgets by simply cutting back in some areas to have to money to spend in others.
If you want to have a go at this, why don't you do a stock take this week and see what you can do with what you have.
Over to you, who's up for the annual challenge?
Just make do with what you've got July?
Until tomorrow,
Love Froogs xxxxxxxxxxx
