Austere August come join us!!

[takeaway2]

New thread.

Platinum, thanks for the heads up...I would probably have started hyperventilating at that point . DS is 13 so I am hoping that he's not too 'old' to enjoy it?? I noticed on their website that they do a D Day Tour and a James Bond Tour too ... if he likes this one I might organise a James Bond Tour for his birthday...with his mates.

Oh, and good luck to your DH for his interview.

I think by the time you have dc3 they assume you know the ropes, until you go into labour and they send you home like happened to my colleague. She just made it back in time.

I hope he gets the job Platinum.

£14 on socks for dh from tk maxx but he will pay me back on payday. I put back the le crueset dish I saw while I was in tk maxx. Then I put it back in the basket. Then I thought better of it, put it back again and got my eyebrows done because it had all gone Gallagher. £10 on threading.

Rogue I think a 13 year old would enjoy it - especially if you have a good tour guide. I'm a Londoner but still learnt a few things.

Thanks for good luck wishes - I hope he gets job too. I'm trying not to think about what happens if something doesn't come along....

Thanks Platinum. I am not technically a Londoner (not born in London) but consider myself a Londoner in that I have lived here for over half my life now. I did a trip down the Thames to Greenwich with DS (and DParents) when DS was about 5-6 and the boat skipper was amazing - so informative and fun. Have high hopes for the Tour now.

Have everything crossed for your DH. Job hunting is so stressful for all concerned.

Making pizza and garlic bread for dinner tonight ... mmmmmmmm.

Good luck to Platinum DH :)

confused good bargains on the Sainsbury's uniform I have just trogged down the high street looking for plimsolls that will fit on DS's H-measurement feet, with no luck. Spent £38 in BHS on PE kit, Ben 10 drinks bottles x 2 (one for DD as she will kick off if they don't have the same...she's 2 ), some tights for me, school wellies. Still need the aforementioned plimsolls, PE bag, a rucksack for DS to carry his packed lunch in, possibly a waterproof jacket although I am considering sending in the one he has atm which is so ancient and weatherbeaten that no one could possibly want to steal it.

Also spent £25 in Lidl on top up food.

Really want to spend as little as possible until we go on holiday now...

NSD here, went to the allotment and got potatoes, cabbage and onions out then went blackberry picking and got nettled a bowl full of blackberries from lanes nearby. Looking for low fat recipes now as both hubby and I are dieting.
Tesco ordered for tomorrow, £100ish but includes meat for two weeks and baking stuff for diet dessert recipes and birthday cake for next week. Been slammed on here for time so haven't made it into town to the local (better) butchers but definately going next week for bbq party food. Going with the less food of better quality and masses of french stick, salad and dip-n-chips to bulk it out option

NSD went out the window as realised I had no veg, was running out of other stuff plus DH now working bank hol weekend (hopefully double money minimum!) so weekend away cancelled and we need to feed ourselves so £60 but that includes meat and bread for meals next week. Kids still going away so I'm only feeding 2 of us

Good luck to Platinums DH

Exasperated Tesco & Sainsbury's both do plimsolls (£3.50 & £2.50 respectively), are they not wide enough for your DC? Or if not, try Clarks or Start-Rite. Defo just send in old raincoat, it will be enough.

Daisy what a shame your weekend away is cancelled. Can you still do something special when DH is not at work?

Shortscotty at your allotment haul

Fluffy well done on not buying the Le Creuset! Put it on your Christmas list

Platinum good luck to your DH.

Had my scan this afternoon. DH made it after all (officially 'working from home') & friend had last minute picnic cancellation so had DS1. Scan went well, baby is OK & 1 week further on than midwives thought, so am 13 weeks exactly, due 27th Feb. Baby was a jumping bean, took ages to get a look at face. Am hoping this will not be the one to break the sleeping-8-hours-at-a-few-weeks mould

Not much spent today, DH paid for scan photos (£3 for 2) & thank you bics for friend. Bought McD for DS1 as planned plus coffee for me, that was £3.50ish, then will get fish & chips tonight, so about £8 there.

confused I'll try the supermarkets next, hopefully one of them will have something that fits. M&S and BHS both far too narrow.

Good news on the bean :) and glad your DH made it too.

Paid £8 for DS to get his hair cut this afternoon. He looks terribly grown up all of a sudden and is driving me mad.

£13 lighter after another essential food shop. I am pleased with myself though as we are doing well at eating up what's in the cupboards and freezer before doing the next main food shop.

shortscotty have you had your allotment for a long time? I have just acquired one but won't be growing anything on it until we have cleared it of weeds - it will covered in weed suppressant membrane until next spring and then I hope to get some spuds in. Any tips much appreciated!

I'm so glad DH wangled the time to go with you Confused

I want an allotment

I was having an NSD but then DD1 had to stay for a missed test. That meant going back so DD2 and I had a snack £6 instead of going home, then bought lovely bread I hate the plastic stuff OH wants to eat from the road side vendor £1.30 for 8 bread rolls.

We started with the dog trainer, and the bloke actually started with OH , he'll get him sorted out. The puppies hadn't forgotten us and Floppy and Teddy had a conversation across 4 enclosures.

Almost forgot, I gave DDs 1 quid each to splurge in the sweet shop < soft touch> they share with friends.

Our plot is supposed to be a joint one with DH brother hasn't been near in 18 months but happy to tell us how much it needs weeding so I try to help out as much as hayfever and family allows. Had grand plans to go often but haven't and two week holiday has left us with very behind on weeding. We only went yesterday to pick cabbage before slugs ate them but was horrified by the mess so hour weeding made it look a bit better. Our problem is we have huge ideas about what to grow and then practically it doesn't happen so we get disheartened.
The potatoes were a lovely surprise as we only threw then in to keep the weeds down in that area. Going to pull my finger out now I am back in home mode and try to get there more often, must start being a bit more careful what I volunteer for though as next week is full of odds n sods meetings not enough time in the day

Glad you got spuds out of your de-weeding

Could DH tell his brother 'yes, it really does ' when he mention the weeding?

I would love an allotment, but wouldn't know what to do with it. Am a rather poor gardener.

I ordered my groceries online for delivery, because even with the £3 delivery charge, I'm saving money - it's too easy to just toss things in the trolley while I'm there. This way I can keep my eye on the total as I add things in, and adjust it accordingly before I'm done. So £43 spent on groceries, and I'll have to add another £5 at Farm Foods for toilet roll and frozen fish, as it's cheaper there. Another £2 for some fruit towards midweek and that's my £50 for the week.

I also had a separate order (on Amazon) for £23 for nighttime pullups for the month. Actually it lasts just over a month, so about every 4th month, I can skip the order. Free shipping and cheaper than in the supermarket.

I'm hoping that I can put aside a little bit of money towards the vinyl flooring planks I want to put in my entry/hallway. I've already done the bathroom with them and it looks great. Hate to spend extra money, but need to get things done before winter as current flooring is cracked and in poor condition.

I am £10 up, the dab radio I bought came down £10 in the sale so I made dh take it back and exchange it.

NSD for me.

confused glad your DH made the scan.
adora good luck with those puppies - sounds like you have your hands full!

Had a good LS weekend (at least for me) Spent £120 on food but made 4 x each lasagne and cottage pie for freezer. So pleased with that. Also bought second half of uniform for DC's £220, bit of a shock but no choice so have to suck it up. Bonus is my parents bought their school shoes whilst kids were back in UK and refused to let me pay them back so that was nice. Another plus is youngest out if nappies in the day so that's about £60 a month saved if I include all the wipes and swimming nappies.

Kids came back last night so DH bought DD some flowers to give her at airport (they always do same for me when I fly in from UK or work trip) she is 8 and was delighted.

DH should hear about job today (and I also applied for a new job and I'm waiting to hear if I got a se one interview) so big day for us all today!

There's a good website for waste conscious food lovers called, 'love food hate waste.'

england.lovefoodhatewaste.com/content/two-week-menu

The two week plan's good and includes shopping list :)

Tried the sweet & sour recipe which was good.

This weekend has been all about swimming-twice and blackberry picking-twice. That's all dcs wanted to do which suited us as some of the swimming was prepaid so we've only spent £6.20 not counting £6.47 dh spent in pub on post picking drinks

I've planned out a few cheap/free/Tesco vouchers for this week and then the summer holidays are over. I think we've done fairly well but we're still going to limp to payday which is mid September. I hate 5 week pay months.

FX for MrPlatinum

I do indeed have my hands full, I've insisted on proper profesional training because OH's genius solución To me being unable To walk all four is that I walk them individually. Twice each day. I told him if I'm spending 8 hours a day walking effing dogs he can do the housework and cooking, and he'll be abroad. Anyway he's learning, and so are the dogs.

We got DDs' birthday presents today, Samsung tablets. I spent £90 booking tickets for 1 of them, with 5 guests. T'other's was £50 but that doesn't include feeding them.

Well done on that radio Fluffy

Just back from holiday so checking in with serious post holiday blues .
Our finances have slipped a bit again but we have a 2 month plan to sort them out but will need some serious frugality to achieve it. £25 on groceries today. Otherwise no spend as my parents are taking us out for tea tonight
Will try to catch up with thread properly later.

Just spent a tenner, bread, minced turkey and offal for dogs, sanipro and summat else. The minced turkey sounds extravagnat but it's cheap and I don't use it for us because when I did it had bits of bone, which makes it perfect for dogs.

Hope you had a good time Northender

Urghh £10 on sushi for lunch as determined to stick to low carbs which I then promptly ruined by having DCs left over lasagne for dinner

So not sure what's happening with MrPs job. They contacted him today to say they didn't think he had enough experience for the role they interviewed him for (fair enough he doesn't) but they liked him and they want to "create a role" for him. Great it's a job (woohoo!) but have no clue as to what salary will be - they're pulling together an outline package as we speak so hopefully it'll be doable....

Hope the job offer works out Platinum

Don't think I could handle low carb thing, the few times I've not had carbs at lunch I find myself buying crisps or chocolate within 20 minutes of finishing the meal.