October Frugaleers part deux

[CremeEggThief]

HI all, took the liberty of starting a new thread.

Dh is tiling the kitchen. Well half of it. I'm excited I'll post a photo when it's done I'm trying to entertain the dc put the TV on whilst I mn

ipsos what are you selling? Happy to help write your titles for you.

Washing on, kichen cleaned .... off to do a quick flick on the bathroom. The quicker I get it done the quicker it will be finished.

Spotty can you ask your husband how difficult is it to get rid of nasty tiles (both kitchen and bathroom). Is it a don't even start job or can I give it a whirl in a day? My taste & the previous house owner's are polar opposite - they have a flower texture and are an interesting shade of orange pink & beige with a bit of geometric Aztec gong on.

Dh is baking bread. Not something he's done before. I'm suspecting someone was secretly watching the bake off while pretending it was crap/not looking at to while I was watching.

Today should be nsd. It's super housework Sunday. There is a mountain of washing to be done. And whole place needs a blitz. So many things out of place.

Off to dms later for dinner. Slow roast lamb. Yum.

ipsos I'm selling on eBay too. I was doing really well but no one seems to want my things any more.

Unescorted it took dh about ten minutes to remove the old tiles but they took a lot of the plaster etc with them. Some came off easy but some were a hammer and chisel job.

NSD today, think we'll got for a short walk and play a game.

MIL due any minute. Didn't know DH was inviting her so hope she enjoys cheese or egg mayo sandwiches and salad! Will be cooking today, but have one jacket potato and piece of fish for those I knew would be here(!), so someone will have to go without if MIL has that. Could do pasta or rice dish, but MIL is very fussy eater!

Work in progress...

Hi ladies, sorry I've been awol but lots if sh*t hit the fan in all different directions. ..

Anyway, I had a stomach bug last week so must've saved money on my food. However. ..dd has been a little piggy lately and has now grown several inches overnight and has bust out of most of her winter wardrobe. Her bday soon so apart from a couple of pairs of jeans and hoodys I am waiting to see what she gets clothes wise. I have a big bag of clothes that could be ebayed, from both kids but zero time. Will probably drop to the charity shop.

Booked tickets for xmas ice skating and Santa at xmas. .. £53

Spent too much on food shopping. Kids eating me out of house and home.....must be time for a trip to nannies and eat her food

To a pp who's dh/dp doesn't want to discuss money- my dp left it all to me with his head in the sand. I presented him a spreadsheet with incomings and outgoings while he was staring at the tv one night and as it was all there in black and white it went down better. Men like to solve problems rather than discuss the emotions/what ifs. ..

Underwhelmed welcome, that must be frustrating re your dh. Maybe go through the finances to see where savings can be made and work out what is a reasonable amount of spending money for the week and tell him thats his lot!

We stayed at a friends last night for a sleepover, was nice although me and dd are both knackered now as not much sleeping involved!! I never sleep as well in other peoples houses and dd was up with her mate til very late. Managed to get up this morning and go to the Kids park run which was an achievement, first time I have attempted it so was pleased I made it round! All good and all free

Nsd today, dd happily engrossed in a puzzle and I am going to tidy up and poss bake a cake...

Frugal fail for breakfast, was making scrambled eggs (post run) cracked in 2 lovely looking eggs went for a 3rd and it was rotten not sure why as the rest of them were fine but had to chuck the whole lot, very annoying!!

Ifonly I operate a policía of - you invite witout consulting = you cook. DH has only done in it once

I'll catch up láter, grand prix. Is about To start

Just catching up on the last few pages, thanks again folks for the kind words about what DD said all good now I think.

Have decided next month to go to the actual bank and ask for a months worth of £5 notes and £1 coins for clubs so we are not taking out £10 from the cash point and 'losing' the leftovers in frittering/having loose change about.

I LOVE this idea! I've been saying to DH for a while that I'd like to try just using cash for a while, to see if that helps. As we are awful for just sticking everything on the debit card (and it's even worse now it has that contactless payment thing!) and at least in cash I can physically see if it's there or not. But DH reckons he's the opposite and if it's in his pocket he'll fritter it just because he's there. Argh! I'm not sure how to attempt it, but I'd really like to - especially for things like grabbing food on the go which we are terrible for.

We don't need cash for clubs though as most of the DCs' clubs like Brownies and sports etc are paid termly or monthly rather than weekly subs (Badgers is only £6 a month! Bargain!). I've got a file on the PC with all the pricing info so we can figure out how much it works out over a year (some of the home ed clubs are fortnightly and booked in groups of 10 so only 2 blocks a year rather than 3). There's just one more club that DS might start but that's £2 for an hour lesson, and PAYG instead (martial arts - amazing especially compared to the hugely popular kung fu school which worked out as £9 for half an hour!) unless I find one that's more convenient. I kind of prefer paying in blocks as it means we are more committed and I have a feeling we'll end up not bothering some weeks, which would be a shame as DS wants to learn it. Clubs are costing a lot overall - 5 each if DS starts the martial arts - but as they don't go to school now, they have more energy for it and are getting a lot out of them (and things like rock climbing we couldn't afford while they were at school - but the home ed ones are 25-50% cheaper, I guess due to being run at off peak times when the space would be otherwise unused). We use birthday/Christmas money for it too so they know Nanny gets them trampolining etc. Works well so far.

Sorry I have no idea why I waffled on about that!

Thanks for the offers of help on ebay. I'll definitely ask here before trying the next thing. I don't have anything to sell at the moment. Part of the problem is I get on a tidying bender and just want things out of the house quickly, so I don't take enough time over it. I will try to be more patient next time.

afternoon all
slow start to the morning here, which was nice for a change.
nice low cost family movie night last night (did get some doritos and m&ms!)
this morning I've made a batch of peanut butter cookies, and sorted out the baking ingredient cupboard and tins/jars cupboard. ( I have discovered I have LOADS of tins of tuna!! so lots of tuna pasta bake, jacket pots with tuna etc in up coming meal planning!)
going to make a syrup sponge for pudding for tonight, and am going to make some fudge.
also wanted to make some bread...but it seems I have no salt so that will have to wait.
I have a washing mountain to sort and put away...
have also promised Ill take dd4 out for a milkshake cause she needs a bit of tlc at the moment. Then nice walk with the dogs...

best get on ...

Today's free entertainment was the Vulcan flying over. Our village had a PA system set up on the green linked up to the pilot.

spotty that is very cool. ds2 would have loved that!
been out for mikshake. popped into aldi for salt and managed not to end up with lots of stuff I didn't need!
syrup sponge in the slow cooker
need to still sort the washing and tidy out the baking tin cupboard....have a splitting headache though so having a rest first!

Great pictures spotty
Dh had to work this morning, so took dss with little dc back to Devonport to pick up some paperwork and then to train station as he has course in Lincoln this week. Stopped at Trago on the way back so ds could finally spend his birthday money on another train - Paxton, dd got little Miss book and the older dd a colouring book - £19 all together plus £8 for sausage rolls, pasty and drink for lunch.
Ds (11) had to write his own poem so I thought I would share it with you
Trains of Sodor
Thomas is blue, Percy is green, Toby is brown and Diesel 10 is mean.
Thomas pulls Annie and Clarabel, Percy delivers the mail, Stephen used to go like a rocket but now his slow as a snail.
I have no idea if it will be good enough for his teacher but at least he gave it a go
Lately it feels like it's homework for Mum and Dad and I am really grateful with have internet at home

have listed my wii on Facebook selling page (as postage from channel islands for that will be ridiculous if i sell on ebay).

and have listed a few more things on ebay for sale.

was worried that i had gone over my data allowance on my phone last month, bill finally came in. only £3 over but that was roaming charges while in the UK recently. So that's ok.

annoyed as also want to get rid of some DVD's but music magpie won't let me send for free from Jersey. i can only have a courier pick up, and have no days off where i can arrange for this. sigh.

have listed my wii on Facebook selling page (as postage from channel islands for that will be ridiculous if i sell on ebay).

and have listed a few more things on ebay for sale.

was worried that i had gone over my data allowance on my phone last month, bill finally came in. only £3 over but that was roaming charges while in the UK recently. So that's ok.

annoyed as also want to get rid of some DVD's but music magpie won't let me send for free from Jersey. i can only have a courier pick up, and have no days off where i can arrange for this. sigh.

Roast chicken for dinner with boulongére potatoes and veg. Couldn't be bothered to do roast potatoes plus we hardly have any gravy.

spotty boulangere potatoes? are they like a dolphin potato without the cream?

and you sit the chicken on top?

Umm I don't sit the chicken on top...but yes. I thinly slice onions and potatoes, soften the onions in some butter then layer them with the potatoes in a dish. Add chicken/veg stock and cook for about an hour. I'll add some Parmesan to the top towards the end.

Eme I have visions of Flipper shaped slices of potato.

We are having Dolphin potatoes with roast lamb, that scrummy puy lentil & veg thing and I am making the desert - raspberry tart. I had a 6 pint carton of milk and loads of home grown raspberries. It seemed rude not to offer the desert. Dm and Bro are doing the other bits.... Ddad is the barman. I love family sundays.

spotty I am going to atempt the tiles - half term is looking likely. Wish me luck

Went to the outdoor skate park. It also has a play Park and museum attaches. We have a family ticket (£5 for the year bargain!) so £6 in the cafe was my lot.