We aint no April Frugalling Fools.. There may be Showers ahead, but we'll sail through together ...

[Laska42]

Heres a new thread for the April Frugaleers!

Spring has arrived and summer is a-coming..

Good luck everyone trying to save money, There's lots of good support here..

laChatte and pointless , yes but at least you are not nearly 58 like me!
Not looking for sympathy ,cos i know its rubbish for all of us especiallyyou yonger ones , but im in the age group whicl took the biggest late-stage whack in added years to be worked .. and my official pension age went has gone up up from 60 to 66 in the last 5 years, s..a friend 2 years older could still retire with pension from 60..o its a bit demoralising

Anyway if last that long (public sector cuts ) Ive worked out that with pensions from when i was younger . I should be able to do it , although ill be pretty broke for a while .. (Im lucky though Dh has no pension). ive been putting extra by in AVCs for sometime now also but i might have to wait for those ..

need brown sauce eh? cheaper than Marmite.. however BS id the devils sauce (on bacon sarnies anyway) but I think we may have some in back of cupboard from when people came for weekend and insisted on having it perhaps il give it a go ..

DS voted the chicken wings a huge success today.

so .. ( and I know you are all just going to sigh at me here ). One Monsoon order this one will definately be going back , as I found in Laura Ashley (one of the two high st shops here that are ok) a lovely top similar style (muchnicer actually) and just what i had been looking forand £16!! (the very last knockings of a previous sale I suppose) ,

I also spent £13.46 on two massive bags of compost at B&Q
and £2 on a doz eggs from bloke at work who has chickens..

Need we have space for chickens,id love some but DH not keen (he ha a bit of a bird phobia , so im not going to change his mind) .. How are you keeping the foxes off? . The ones round here ( country foxes) look very well fed and healthy..

.

Mmm bacon sandwich with brown sauce and whole grain mustard made with toast. Yum.

£6.40 travel.

I made a green soup (spinach, potato and onion, with some broccoli) soup for dinner, as I was craving something good. I had a banana afterwards, but still don't think I had more than 3 of my 5 a day today, Girlie and Spotty.

Oh actually I had some olives too the dc had one each but only because I didn't want to share

NSD other than money for cleaner.

I'm Knackered though. Have a lot to get through at work before Friday comes. Friday will be hectic with a trip to great ormond st with my children app at 3 and then back in time for a work dinner and somehow have to get changed in time for 7.

Quick turn around there NK - hope the appointment goes well.

Well I didn't quite manage to post every day while we were away but never mind. Had a lovely time and spent quite a bit but it was all well worth it. As the weather was so lovely we decided not to travel back until last night so spent the day on the beach. That sounds cheap but we got the boat there and back £20, had a pub lunch sitting out overlooking the beach and then finished off with fish and chips in Plymouth. So not cheap but some lovely memories.
Back down to earth with a bump today, with both of us back to work. Dd is with my mum until I finish work tomorrow, ds was home alone but then had a couple of friends round and seems to have made major inroads into the Easter chocolate supplies!
£10 ish spends today on bread, milk etc. Dh making curry for tea which is smelling delish
My unfrugal confession is that both our car insurances were due and I didn't have the time or inclination to compare prices this time so, for the first time in years, I went with the renewal quote. In mitigation, I'm sure they were pretty competitive, I reckon I must be labelled as an insurance tart! Hopefully this time next year I'll be feeling much better and have the energy to shop around.
So that's my lot, I'll catch up with the thread properly later.

I do think it is quite hard to get your 5 a day sometimes!! I am not a big fan of fruit but do try, sometimes at work I will take a banana and apple in and force myself to eat them I am also very boring in the veg dept and really only buy carrots and broccoli.

Slightly better with salad, love things like avocado, raw pepper and grated carrot but maybe only have that once or twice a week.

Dd had a melt down tonight over spellings only tried to do 5 with her but she got none of them right and had a complete screaming fit more suited to a toddler than a 9yo pass the someone.......

iamnota glad it worked!

£70 asda delivery, fridge was bare so much needed!

£35 ish in matalan, dd summer casual pumps/converse copies/crocs/hat, ds tops. May as well get early in the summer to get the most out of them?

Took my watch to the jewellers fully expecting to pay £5 for a new battery, went back 15mins later to be told it was dirty inside, battery was fine, cleaned and working and no charge. Result! Not many jewellers would do that?

Made £8 ebay sales.

Oh dear girlie. Sounds similar to what I have with my son. Teaching him to ride his bike without stabilisers atm, the neighbours got subjected to his screams in full glory up and down our road....

spotty No , no . No!! Bacon sarnie + TOMATO sauce.. ill see you outside for a fight..

girlie I love avocado.. I have a great recipe for a grated carrot salad can passon (if you like pumpkin /sunflower seeds..)

Pass that made me laugh, yep had exactly the same with my dd when she learnt how to ride her bike, in fact learning anything new is a struggle. Its like she thinks she should either already know it or be able to learn it in 10 seconds flat It is so frustrating.

Trying to teach my DD1 to ride a bike too pass!

The screaming came later when I insisted she wrote some thank you cards.

Ooo Laska yes that sounds nice, i think I like toasted sunflower seeds, not sure I have ever eaten pumpkin ones!!

ned although we are expecting a bill from the plumber who had to replace our whole hot water system. sigh.

have sorted a few more bits for the car boot/ebay.

Grated carrot salad

Grate 5 or six carrots put into a bowl
Squeeze 1 lemon (or one orange also good)

Get a dry frying pan turn on heat high and cover base of pan with (husked) sunflower seeds/ or pumpkin seeds (or both mixed).. toast moving round a bit until they start to 'pop'.. Try not to burn any ,( move around a bit with spatular) put seeds onto carrots and mix .add a little salt and black pepper

Now the 'magic' bit.. ( do this if you can, it really makes it special . but its still good without)
Cover base of dry pan with a thin layer black mustard seeds.. toast until they start to pop. ( you'll know when they are done because they wil start to pop out of the pan!) , tip into carrots quickly and mix

After seeds added to carrot .. put 3/4 table spoons of olive oil into now (very) hot pan . heat again briefly .. (stick a shread of carrot in and when it sizzles its ready) .

Pour hot oil onto carrots and seeds and mix. (it kind of 'cooks' some of it )
Add your lemon or orange juice..

Simple.. but everyone ive made it for ( especially kids ), absolutely loves it..

Keeps in fridge for a day ..if you have any left (unlikely)

7/4
£9 DH got lunch stuff for the week
£98.42 huge tesco shop as having lots of people over this week

Too tired to catch up on thread tonight. Back to work and it's a longer shift due to Easter closures. Paranoid because DH has been to the walk in today and was told that his femoral nerve has 'probably been caught' where he previously had a prolapse. He's been sent away with painkillers and the fervent hope that the pain goes in a few days. Due to having had surgery once, if it were another prolapse he (we) would be utterly screwed. Trying not to panic but being an anxious person anyway (I have OCD) it's not easy

I'm going to use that recipe too Laksa

Another - don't stress too much - re DCs not eating the best of diets. I have a friend whose daughter was a non eater but has flourished in early adulthood, and now her youngest son is doing the same. He literally eats chips and pizza but is active, growing and doing well in school.

I like raw Beetroot in my "carrot" salad. Can't really all it carrot salad when it's 50% Beetroot.

Spent £23 -ish yesterday and another £16- ish plus £1.50 on coffee today.

Will try to catch up properly tomorrow.

Laska do you make your own compost too? I suppose if you now have chickens you won't have much green waste left over.

Laska it is rubbish what's happened to our pensions but I know they are still much better than what a lot of people will get. I like the sounds of your carrot salad, DH would love that, he eats carrots off the chopping board before I can get them on to cook!
The tent is still in good condition and DD loved crawling in and out of it. As we've never camped with a toddler before we're going to do a couple of nights somewhere nearby as a practice run so we can come home if it's a disaster.
We are going to use our free John Lewis cake vouchers today and also open a savings account for DD. We've been meaning to do that for ages but she got a cheque for her birthday so we have to get on with it now! It will start her off on the right foot to be a frugaleer!
We also have a cheque to pay in from my mum which she gave us to have a treat. We were planning to get a takeaway and beer but the weather forecast is good for the rest of the week so we might have a day out instead.

Hi tewi
Thanks! Yes it's a quick turnaround so I'm hoping it won't be too long. It's just a check up for my son as he was v poorly a few years ago aged 4 (he got diagnosed with juvenile arthritis) and was hospitalised for 2 weeks there. He's made a full recovery as far as I can see and that's what the consultant says too. So it should be a 'fun day' out. Just a bit hectic!!!

I'm trying to think what to pack in my bag so that I can transit from day clothes to evening wear!!

I was that fussy eater broke my mother's heart at 12 she told me if you're not eating what we're eating cook your own, which I did. Now she looks to me for cooking & food advice as I'm a much better cook than her!
I didn't eat veg except for salad veg until I was 19, still don't eat mashed anything or drink milk as these were forced on me as a child as they were '*good for you' !
What changed when I was 19 is 3 of us cooked together in college & my fuzziness wasn't catered for! I eat most veg now & Monday my father commented lilacclery has a great appetite now remember how we suffered with you!!

I suppose what I'm trying to say is we eventually grow out of it!

Laska your salad sounds fab, have screenshot it! I also use beetroot & carrot together in salad

Bought a stamp yesterday as dds big school had no post box so I had to post her enrolment form. And €3 on a sandwich as I spent 20 mins of my time yesterday morning putting ds back to sleep instead of making my lunch he got an extra two hours though so it was well worth it

Wear skinny jeans with a nice top and pack a skirt and necklace?

Should be a nsd today. Dd's first play date. Except I have to go with her

Dinner is chicken and chorizo casserole from the freezer.

Morning.

Pass try without the peddles on for a couple of hours of scooting. They learn to balance the bike which makes it easier when the peddles go back on. I admit I am not a fan of training wheels after dd caught a root at speed and headbutted the ground at speed. We did the peddless way with DS and he was riding his bike within a couple of hours.

Poiintless our kids loved camping at that age - although I had to work on a clothes packing formula of 2 x number of days away plus 50% and a bit more. You will either have no clean clothes left or tons.

5 a day..... nope not a chance. I try to hide vege in food, but they have become canny at spotting it. I worry they will die of scurvy.

How can there be 7 days until pay day? This month is going on and on....scurvy will be the least of our problems, although we won't have to have a gym or Slimming World subscription.