Austere October continues here!

[PeoniesforMissAnnersley]

Impressive that we've filled a thread already

NSD other than school dinner and after school club for dd.

Half term will have to be quite low key, have booked dd into daily swimming lessons which for the week mon-fri is only £13.50 which I thought was a bargain. Other than that will be play dates and wholesome country walks

Adorabell she's 4.5 so a long way from adult sizes!!

Marking my place x thanks for new thread

Thanks Fluffy, it is a bit miserable in all honesty!

I cheered myself up with a set of the ex-hotel bedding recommended on here which is a medium-sized treat (£23) but we did need it anyway as my DH complains about non-linen bedding and says he can't sleep under it!

Not trying to be pedantic, but, when I worked in shoes back in the day VAT came in at size 5 because that was officially an adult size. Has that changed? I did leave the UK over a decade ago so I could be woefully out of date.

More spends, health food shop £12
Greengrocer's £13 between two shops, one has much better and fresher eggs than t'other.

I think we have some expenses coming up with the water/solar panels/heating system. A couple of things need changing but I don't know yet if it's within warranty. One certainly isn't because a valve fitted by different company is not solar panel grade, it's for something like a radiator

All these DHs who can't sleep under X type of bedding, do they ever go out and purchase the correct bedding?

Doh! You meant 4.5 years didn't you I was thinking shoe size 4.5

Yep sorry!! She's size 11 apparently two sizes bigger than most 4 year olds

€2.50 on prescription charge for steroid cream for thrush, tablet last week didn't work. Agony has eased with cream.

the tablet never works ime ... only thing that has ever worked for me is applying natural yoghurt (unsweetened, obvs!)

Lilac DD2 turned 4 last Monday, she is wearing a 9.5 and her feet look big. That said, we went away for a weekend at the start of July and she complained her size 8 Clark's felt tight, the following Saturday (11th) I got her feet measured, still an 8, her Clark's too small, but her existing Start Rite's were fine. On August 9th I took the older kids to buy school shoes before our holiday, got DD2 checked as well, and in 4 weeks she had gone up a size and a half!

£4.39 on sandwiches, drink, crisps at lunchtime. £10.20 on parking and a travel card for a course, but work will reimburse those. Tomorrow I need to finish collating the papers for secondary school supplementary forms then send recorded delivery.

I've only ever found the pessary to work for thrush.

Dd is 4.5 and a size 8 but wearing size 9 because of her insole.

Epsom salts & bread soda in the bath gave great relief too. Had forgotten the natural yogurt trick.

Alarm going off in 15 mins, it's so wild & windy out I don't want to get up!!

Looked for a raise at work & was turned down as there is an overall one coming. Confirmed yesterday 3% from Jan 1st it's about €1k a year before tax, I'm gutted as have taken on so much more responsibility since I went back after ds. Have been told I need to be at my desk 10-15 mins earlier each day which is at double time so that'll boost wages a little but make mornings even harder at home further convincing me of need to get au pair. Dh also talking about working away from home.

audit did clarks squash your dd's foot down when they measured? My dsdwas complaining about hershoes once and she measured that they hadn't grown. A bit of a squish and her toes went flat and she had. You would've thought they'd do that eh. Dd is nearly 5 and a size 9, I think that's about average.

Also have thrush and getting a blue pill on the way to work. £3.50 in chemist near work compared to £8ish near home. Dp is stunned I waited all weekend with the itch to save a few quid!

Off to 99p shop at lunchtime for wrapping paper and pass the parcel bits. I WILL NOT buy junk food for me while there!

Will be getting milk and crisps at shop so hopefully lsd.

My new washing machine is here and on!

Just waiting for boiler engineer.

LSD yesterday - £2 bus fare (cheaper because I use the app, it's £2.20 in cash), £4.50 on lunch because I was lazy TBH.

Today I've promised a takeaway for me and DCs, DH is on a rare evening out (football) and I've got parents evening, bath/bed etc and being mid relapse the thought of cooking too just sends me over the edge! Will look for voucher code first, there's usually loads for Pizza Hut. Other than that will be NSD as I'm mooching at home all day.

What are everyone's half term plans? As I said, we will be mostly tidying, but we will do a few other things.

We are going to a nearby town for an afternoon, including dinner, with DSDs for a proper catch up (they're in sixth form now and also with a job and a college placement... I can't believe how grown up they are all of a sudden!) and that'll be an expensive afternoon because there's an amazing indie game shop that may or may not be the reason we chose that town to visit - will probably spend some of our 'pocket money' there and get some Xmas presents too. It's expensive as it's generally RRP but it's a tiny shop that needs supporting, so I prefer to get games there than online.

Other than that, I might take DCs to the cinema kids club, DH might take DD swimming, but not much else really. They're really into football suddenly (DH is really happy :o) so kicking a ball about will feature heavily, and we might try our first geocaching too.

Oh crap no I forgot as it's Tuesday that's the one day I let DD choose one thing from the cafe at the park (we wait there while DS is at yoga club). So quite a spendy day really.

4£ mac brekkie and 20£ on petrol

passthecake that magic blue pill is by prescription only here!

Mine was only €2.50 because I currently hold a medical card, due to expire 31st of this month

I went to get tyre fixed so £64
Tesco £5 odd on crisps, milk and flowers for a friend

LSD for me with 89p on milk. Despite the wind, I'm really warm here today. I need to build up DS2's water confidence for an outward bound trip next year. None of us are big swimmers (he is 12 and can swim a length unaided but that is about it). Any suggestions, the trip involves a two day canoe expedition!?

LSD today. Felt shattered at end of day so bought takeaway for DC's instead of cooking the fish I had out. Will cook that tomorrow.

Can I join?

LSD for me - £3.53 in Tescos - bananas, value frozen pizza(defrosting freezer here and just needed something to add to tea tonight) and Nivea day cream (on offer at £1.95, so quite pleased with this one.

madmog everyone's welcome here!

OUCH to the horrible wisdom teeth out

Bet your washing machine hasn't been OFF fur

LSD as all from the budget. Bought DD some joddy boots from Ebay, new but seconds. And some posh dog collars for the dogs for their Christmas presents

Veg curry in the slow cooker. We have used all the delivery I had last week bar one cabbage.

Half term - Allegedly, DH is off, but he won't be, as he will work (his own business, he never really switches off). We have a couple of pony related activities to take up two days. I will work one day. One family day. Halloween party at our friends house. Bit different when the DC are older. We used to do a lot of local parks, swimming, odd trip to cinema during half term.

Tonight I'm going to throw together stuff from the freezer and use up veg. We're having:

Mash
Cauliflower
1 carrot
Peas
Stuffing balls
Onion rings
Pigs in blankets (two chicken fingers for ds who always chokes on the pigs in blankets )
Gravy.

Nsd from me. I've asked dp to pick up sweeteners, Parmesan and a chocolate orange he can use the £5 giftcard we got from the banana spiders.

Quite spendy today, however all cash so deducted from budget already. 6.98 in Oxfam shop on trousers - my new job is casual wear so I desperately need some jeans which actually ft me. Found some lovely Per Una ones and a pair of Next trousers too.
Also 4.19 in Subway. I WILL take a packed lunch on Thursday.
On phone so will respond more fully later.