The super savvy savers continue steering their way through September

[northender]

Thought I'd start a shiny new thread as we've filled the other one so quickly.

Sorry, I'm struggling to keep up with the thread but making sure I post or I won't keep going with this.

Payday today. Paid the outstanding rent and a mortgage payment. Tomorrow is our rental inspection so I need to wait in for the agent AND I have a million jobs to do online including update the budget.

Today was a spend day. Top up shop with list and the bakery.

Hope everyone is well.

Elextrolux Do you have a metre? old boiler? would you qualify for a grant for a new one?. It's horrible being cold and unable to afford to even boil the kettle.

Thank you In all honesty even boiling pasta is beyond me today. Thankfully found some crackers so just shuffled back to the sofa with them plus some cheese and grapes I'd forgotten about. DH is going to try and get out early from work (he's owed shedloads of hours, it's just taking them and getting away from the bloody place that is difficult... manager of small store) so hoping dinner won't be an issue now.

I HATE that a simple bug can knock me out so much but that's life with what I have. I feel guilty when I see my colleagues working through coughs and colds but I just can't. Thankfully I haven't had many bugs at all this year, compared to my normal. We haven't even done any home ed today so I'm kind of feeling the guilt!

Need to phone in sick for tomorrow so I don't have to do it in the morning. And update them on what happened at the Dr (apparently the specialist's diagnosis letter they have from 3 years ago is no longer good enough so I need a new one... even though nothing has changed since then? )

OTOH in all my time glued to the sofa I have had plenty of opportunity to browse online and discovered that some anime films my DSD and I are desperate to see are showing at the BFI festival. So tempted especially as we could tie it in with a free Manga exhibition at the British Museum - lovely day just the two of us. Hopefully I'd be well enough to go mind you they might be sold out anyway by the time public booking goes live so maybe it'll be out of my hands.

Electrolux
Is there anyway some of the rest of us can help with trackie bottoms or cosy socks? PM if there is. I've decluttered a lot got rid of stuff that was gone past it's best.

pink that was my idea, one gift and keep another for next party. They have a great Frozen set with body art tattoos for girls not much for boys though. Books sound good to me though, as you can pick up decent ones for less money. I remember my mother used to pack us off with a colouring book and a pack of markers to parties in the 80s! will look up the crayola sets too.

No heating on here at the moment, hoping to get to the end of October before I cave in.

Yesterday's Leftovers for lunch today, haven't spent a penny but I've only been home from work since 2pm, picked up a parcel, did some housework and will do the school run soon.

I was planning on a no spend week, but dad has a swimming badge I need to collect and pay for today. Will try and continue nsd until at least Friday.

I'm not sure if I should have a tesco shop delivered this weekend or give Aldi a go?

Crayola Supertips or Crayola Twistables
Would these be a good enough present?

Yes I'd say so - my DCs would both be happy with that as a gift!

On balance I prefer the twistable one I think

lilac the twistables are the exact set my son got. I he was delighted with them.

fuzz I'm so sorry to hear how unwell you are. that anime show sounds lovely. And really nice to spend time with your dsd! Hope you get tickets and feel better soon.

digger don't worry about keeping up, just posting is a huge help, we all do it when things are busy!

NSD and I got £1.20 cashback that I've taken as amazon vouchers for dh's christmas present.

Nsd.

Twistsables are great.

Fuzz and Electrolux

No heating on here though there's a distinct chill in the air.

Think work have been underpaying me by 50 a week for the last two years. Hoping so anyway could do with fifty pounds!

Thanks Pink :) I'm trying to just accept it and work around my limitations. Figuring out what'll happen with work will help I think. Sorry to all about the whingeing in the meantime

DSD and I are pretty close, funny considering when I first met them (more than a decade ago now!) she was the one of her siblings who was much more reluctant to get to know me :) anime is kind of 'our thing' so DH is left at home with our little ones :o

Thanks Spotty hope you have been underpaid and get that as a lump sum :)

Much sympathies with the heating, Electro - we had a few freezing winters before our landlords thankfully put in double glazing (the old windows were rotting). It's just bloody miserable.

Hope you get some luck with freebies somehow, I'm often amazed at what is offered for free on the FB selling groups etc.

(and conversely I'm often amazed at what does sell for money on FB - used toys and clothes for barely less than new RRP, and still people snap them up.)

Electrolux That's grim. I am truly sorry that you have to go through this. Can you access any grants or benefit payments to help you out? It isn't right that you should be so cold.

Ipsos - I hadn't heard of almond flour, so that's a first for me. As a child we holidayed in Scotland and we have taken the children many times. It's my favourite place, well, apart from Italy.

fuzz Sorry you are so poorly. Can you manage to give the kids a snack until DH gets in?

50p today on chocolate.

And I am sat in the hairdressers so circa £35 cut and colour.

Heating has gone off, yesterday I was chilled to the core, but they have put the heating on at work.

Hi all,

Fuzz hope you start to feel better soon, am guessing that is one of the downsides of home ed that you can't pack the kids off to school and then crawl into bed which is what I tend to do when ill!

Lila I put a £5 limit on gifts and buy from budget shops like the Works, Wilkos, Supermarkets etc. Quite often will pick things up in the sales and keep back from when a party invite comes along.

I hate feeling cold, it actually makes me feel down and anxious so my storage heater is on in the living room but on very low. Have also put the heater on my bedroom on as well as no other way of drying clothes. Will try and just use those 2 heaters though this winter and non of the others...

Today has been a NSD however work is asking for a £10 deposit for the Christmas do, plus I have sponsored someone £5 who ran the Great North Run! Will all have to wait till pay day though as am overdrawn already.

Thanks folks. Yes sometimes I do wish I could have more quiet - although they are with CM tomorrow so will crawl back into bed then. OTOH whenever I was ill and had to do the school run it absolutely slayed me (no car or bus option so would be out and on my feet for around an hour twice a day whatever the weather) and it would always make me more ill, so swings and roundabouts IYSWIM. The DCs have been brilliant today bless them, just been playing lego and role play games quietly with the odd cartoon/snuggle on the sofa thrown in. I can barely talk so I just gave up on the idea of actually doing anything for today. Sometimes their play ends up representing what we're learning about though (eg I've lost count of the times they've acted out Theseus and the Minotaur in various ways :o) so I'm trying not to beat myself up about one 'lost' day.

In other news DS has a space at Beavers starting on Monday! Hooray :) (well except for the fees/uniform, yikes, but he has about a month's free trial first). Thankfully it's at a time when DH will be able to do the dropping off and picking up. 7-8pm seems quite late for a club for under 8s though?

Gp today was much better than last one I saw a month ago for my cough. Actually looked into it. Tested bp blood oxygen and breathing. And has sent me for a chest X-ray. A bit scared about this. But as they've advised an appointment could take up to 8 weeks to be sorted for me o doubt it's anything to be too worried about.

£36 at gp but I can claim this back from work.

Other than that no spends today. Yay!

Hope you're feeling better soon fuzz. Best thing to do is to stop and let yourself get better, people who work through colds usually have a lingering cold for weeks and bring the germs to work with them to make everyone else poorly. Don't feel guilty.

collie I was a diehard Yankee snob until I found The Country Candle Company in a little shop in Keswick. They've got an online shop too. I buy the tins (lavender and bergamot is lovely, as are the Christmas scents) and they have as good a scent throw as any Yankee. Still a bit pricey but not as much as Yankee.

Posted £60 worth of clothes and boots to be returned today. Nice to have more money coming back but I'd rather have a pair of winter boots to fit my huge calves. The search continues. Spent £16 on a few more xmas gifts and worked out we're roughly 1/4 of the way to being finished which is nice. £12 on subway when there's food at home though. Expecting a spendy week as Aldi have their baby event on Thursday.

Collie I got some nice smelly candles at Dun Elm for £1!!

Electrolux that is pants. Have you got a spare blanket that you can put under your sheet - sounds counter intuitive, but it works. I also use a wooly hat at night.

Much more successful day today. My only spend was £3.50 on a swim, and will get half of that back from work through their Fitness Scheme.

It was the first swim of my Aspire Channel Swim. I need to swim 22 miles over 12 weeks. I swam 55 lengths this morning so that is 0.8 miles done, only 21.2 miles to go... Apparently some pools let you swim for free if you are taking part in it, but I've emailed both of my local pools and they don't.

fuzz my ds is starting beavers too! He starts next week. ??60 registration fee to be paid tomorrow tho! Our group is 6 to 7pm, then cubs from 7 to 8pm. But suppose it depends on when the leaders are available. I'm so excited for ds to start. He has special needs and struggles socially, so think this will do wonders for him!