The Friendly Frugaleers - Furtively planning Christmas, as August arrives

[StoogingOn]

Welcome one and all!

[StoogingOn]

Too late! I tried to post the link, but the thread was full. Hope you all find us, especially newbies.

[Wolfcub]

Thanks for the new thread Sunny

[LonelyOversharer]

Thanks sunny went to post but the thread was full!

such a spendy 2 days. My wages have gone! We went up to Deep Sea World today, it's under the Forth rail bridge. Then took mil for pizza. She isn't well. A great day, but 5 hours in the car.

Did a huge food shop yesterday, £80 aldi, £50 tescos, but bought 4 boxes of gourmet cat food while it's on 2 for £8. Plus a full tank of diesel £88.

My little C1 is in the garage...something amis in the gear department. We will find out. I still owe them £300 for the last thing. So that'ull be our mythical trip to Center Parcs up in smoke.

Loving dd1's pokemon dress cag ! (assuming it's dd1 with your gorgeous sleeping baby).

[Cagliostro]

Damn couldn't copy the text from my post, stupid phone. Thank you for new thread sunny

Yup lonely it was an adult size top in a market in Brighton I think, I had to adjust the straps to turn it into a dress for her, it's not very neat!

Girlie look up St John Ambulance too. My DD loves Cadets, she is learning loads. With any of these things it depends on the leaders though.

Born I'm a bit dense today (so much so that when I wrote this post earlier I wrote tomorrow instead of today) do I recommend Tesco delivery or Method cleaning?

Either way yes, been using Tesco no issue for years. Method stuff, the smells are amazing. Can't comment on value as TBH being so obsessed to Monica Gellar levels houseproud is very new to me! Though I'd say the spray bottles are huge and should last a long time.

[QuiteCleanBandit]

Yay a Christmassy thread !
I save as well and save all my Nectar /Co op points/cash
Rude man em
I would thank him sooooo profusely,
that I hadnt noticed sarky until he was bright red and desperate to get away.
I was a Guide in the late 70s/early 80s .
We lit fires,camped and skinned rabbits ,I would have walked out if they had suggested "keeping house".

[QuiteCleanBandit]

I dilute the Method Cag lasts ages

[WreckTangled]

Life thanks dd has that bracelet

Mammy I always get my loo roll from groupon we go through so much. Go through TopCashback too.

Em what a twat. I would have asked why the hell he was looking anyway.

So the bike someone offered my mum was rusty with broken brakes anyway my family have all put in some money and given it to us to get a new bike for ds, so kind. Lonely I have a £100 budget for a bike for ds who is six in November, a really confident rider and is 118cm tall with an inside leg measurement of 51cm. Any recommendations?

[Bornlazy]

Ha Cag I meant Method. I have a Tesco delivery pass and use it all too frequently 😉 I love the smell of Flash bathroom cleaner so would need to beat that to convert me.

[Laska5772]

hello.. mentioning the C word in this heat? well its still hot here
I fell off the thread again , but really not much going on here to report. Weve had a lovely lazy weekend mainly in the garden ( relaxing not gardening ) and on the beach/swimming ..

Dcat is costing us a fortune at the vets.. but he seems to be doing ok.. Ive just been reading up about cat feeding guidelines and ours eats so much more than they say ..
We have had to get into twice daily routine which hes not that keen on .feeding only every 12hr routine because are now giving him insulin but hes just following me around all the ruddy time wanting food. [Ihavecatstress].

[mammynowanauntyIRL]

Thanks sunny for new thread

Lonely love forth bridges

Wreck I've got it from them once the courier wasn't impressed at all

[SnugglySnerd]

Thanks for the new thread Sunny.

£65 fuel today. Unavoidable expense really.

[LonelyOversharer]

Usually I would say to try your local independent wreck, but, tbh with little kiddies bikes, go to Halfords. The Apollo bikes are ok. And when they have a good offer on, very reasonably priced. It should last him until he's too big for it without too much going wrong. Get the largest wheel you can, probably a 20". 18" wheels are a no no, as they are not standard size (as the traditional jump from 16" to 20" seems a lot, and the manufacturers realised they could flog an extra bike). As he's confident, as long as he can get his toes on the ground, he should be fine.

Second hand or ebay will always be a pain, as you're looking at £30+ to get it checked out and fixed up. Kids tyres perish v quickly, and the cables sieze up inside, even though they look ok, thus the brakes generally are buggered.

I've shit loads of locks left over, I'll pop one in the post for him if you like!

[StoogingOn]

That's interesting that Scouts and Guides vary so much. I think Cag's right that so much depends on the leader of any given group.

[WreckTangled]

Mammy my courier thinks it's hilarious

Thanks lonely that's so kind! Yes I would go independent but I don't think we would get any from there in our budget unfortunately. Once he stops growing so quickly I will definitely go there though.

[Loveabaconsandwich]

Thanks for the new thread

NSD

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Thanks sunny

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Will it appears that we have a root v system growing in one of our drains. Have to call in a man tomorrow as it's beyond what we can do. A lot of the back up is cleared note though so it's less likely to over flow and less smelly.

I'm going to order it for my dd wreck.

Pah the man on the beach had no style or etiquette.

£12 skate park entry, £3 drinks,

Have a house full of kids (4) running riot outside. Mine plus 2. Hopefully they will tire out.

Our scout group is about out door skills and we do sleep under canvas with a hole for a toilet and kitchen fire. We camp from 11 though. We are also one big family who teach life skills away from screens, team work and looking after each other.

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Decathlon bikes are decent and well priced wreck.

I'm a bit unenamored at the minute mammy. Going to see what happens after bank holiday and reassess. Happy long weekend to you.

[ememem84]

Ooh found you!

Yeah. He was a bit of a dick. I did ask him why he was so bothered. He mumbled something about having to go in the opposite direction.

I’ve worked out I don’t care. (Well I care enough to post about it...) but in reality, I felt confident enough to wear said bikini on the beach. Last year I didn’t (pregnant) and for a couple of years I haven’t felt that confident. So fuck you man. I looked fabulous.

(It’s also a frugal thing. All my bikinis are basic print. Either block colour or stripe (tankini). So they can all be worn with each other and it looks as though I have a whole new one!)

Got phone from dsis. However it’s only got 16gb storage. Current phone is 64. So as I don’t want to delete any pics of ds I’m keeping old one. Dh will buy a more manly cover for the pink phone and will use it as he streams everything so barely needs the storage.

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Thanks for new thread sunny

[WreckTangled]

Thanks life. Do I get him a hybrid or a mountain bike? He doesn't want a bmx does he because that's for stunts and stuff? He just rides on the road and in the park on trails etc. I know nothing about bikes!

[LonelyOversharer]

Most kids bikes are mountain type wreck if you need slicker tyres they are easy to change. But a bigger bike means gears (or more gears) so slower knobbly tyres might be a good thing or you'll never catch him!

[LonelyOversharer]

And bmx's are a pita!

[Laska5772]

Em some people just feel they have to comment.. I bet he wasnt any male supermodel .. When I was younger 30s and 40s I would have never worn a bikini.. but something happened to my thinking in that department at about 50 ..I now do, and absolutely no Fks given ..at age 60 .. If they want to look (and if they want to be horrified) well, they just can. I wear them on our local beach now , but the great thing I have found on European beaches (esp Greek ones ) though is that no one stares/ cares and you see some fab looking women of all ages, shapes and sizes.. just enjoying themselves ..

[Bluegreen143]

I’ve just read through this thread and you all seem so lovely, can I join?

I’m in super frugal mode right not for various reasons. I’ve been a SAHM for 10 months and it took a good few months for me to get the hang of our reduced income & stop spending like we were both working 😬 we now have a little credit card debt I’m now chipping away at (though it’s not a massive amount, because we don’t have much spare it’ll take a year to clear so I’m angry I let it build up). August is pricey for us as it’s my 30th, plus my mum, sister and various friends all have birthdays, plus we had a wedding to attend and a couple of other social engagements.

Right now in our house it’s me, DH and our son who I like to call Little Monkey (he’s 2.5). I’m also preg with baby #2, due in December (scan says it’s going be a girl this time which is nice). We have three lovely chickens in our garden and a very antisocial cat too. We should be able to manage this baby without too much spending as we kept all our son’s baby gear and I’m happy to buy at charity shops etc. But with new baby due in December plus Little Monkey’s birthday then too we will need to be soooooooo organised & frugal at Christmas - anyone else doing a cheap Christmas this year?