October Frugaleers part deux

[CremeEggThief]

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

spotty my dd had conjunctivitis with every tooth she cut and it never cleared without drops which are prescription only in ROI ds only had it once though[happy]

Poor dd lilac, my dc have never had it thankfully

Pointless we've had this. If it's bacterial then you can dilute a tiny amount of Johnson's baby shampoo in water and then bathe the eye in it using an egg cup. If it's viral then you just have to wait until it goes away. Viral conjunctivitis is like a cold virus but it's a special one that goes in your eye. Johnson's baby shampoo has the antiseptic used by eye surgeons apparently, that's why the no-tears formula. So I've been told anyway. Works a treat on conjunctivitis.

Pointless I was told that you need to check and prob chuck any eye make up that you may have used in the last few days, it maybe harbouring the bacteria/ virus that caused it in the first place - sorry! I would talk to a pharmacist about what to treat it with.

Am going to meet my mum and sil for a coffee later, have found having a week off work very costly but nice to catch up with everyone! Dd is having a friend over for tea tomos and we haven't done that for ages.

ipsos if either of them get it again I'll try that out.
I used to have to kneel on dd's chest and put my elbow on to her forehead to try get the drops into her eyes from 8 months or so because she knew she didn't like it!

Thanks for all your welcomes

Aurora - wow £30-35 is a really low budget for food - I thought keeping to £50 was good. What meals do you make?

In an effort to keep spending low this week, am avoiding Tesco and Lidl like the plague today - not sure what we'll have for tea though! We do have stuff in, but I'm so used to just buying what I fancy on the day as I'm always passing a supermarket.

Today had to sub DH money for bus fare to work (£3.50) as I needed car to take DD for hospital appointment which meant £3 in car parking charges as well. If I got out again today, leaving purse at home - I really want money for new curtains for the bedroom!!

Welcome back to all our returners and to Aurora.

Electrolux, that's great! Really pleased for you. Xx

Great news Electrolux!

I have actually spent a bit today but on Christmas presents. I've also invited my mum and step dad over for Christmas dinner that may well include my little sister and her boyfriend plus my uncle if I save £10 a week out of my food budget until Christmas then I'll have £100 ish extra for Christmas food.

Great news Electrolux!

spotty that's a good plan, £10 a week seems a bit more doable then finding £100 just before Xmas. As it stands Xmas day will be me, dh, dcs and my dad and we've budgeted £50 for Xmas dinner and boxing day buffet which should be plenty, we don't really drink but guests who do will bring their own and probably some more food too.

NSD today. So close to getting a takeaway late last night but we had toast instead. These past few days I've not been hungry at dinner time then finding myself ravenous a 10/11pm when its too late to cook but not too late to order a takeaway, which makes no sense because by the time a takeaway arrives I could've cooked anyway.

We spend money on very boring meals. Plus dd is only small (although we find we waste a lot as we make her food and she might not want it)
Typical week might be:
homemade pizza (dough is so cheap to do and I make a big batch and freeze some) Topped with watered down tom purée and ham, cheese, mushrooms etc.
Then we'll get a whole chicken and I butcher it. One breast I butterfly and beat the hell out of to flatten it before portioning it, rolling it in flour, egg and breadcrumbs and then fry for burgers.
We use the thighs and wings for curries/stews in the slow cooker and strip the meat off so we all get enough.
Then final breast for the freezer (ready for a week when I need something like washing powder and need to cheapen the rest of the shop)
I then roast the carcass and strip all the rest off and freeze it for risotto or soup.
We also only use half a pack of mince for bolognaise etc bulking it up with lots of whizzed veg and lentils so a pack can do 2 different meals.
Beans on toast with a fried egg once a week.
I use mysupermarket to price everything and have an epic organised list before I go.

fuzz I buy tesco lentils. They aren't guaranteed gluten free, but tesco are good for labelling, and often label if it may contain gluten, even if no gluten ingredients, but the lentils don't say it. Neither dh or ds 2 feel bad after eating them. I don't use them too often, but like you, couldn't find any that were guaranteed!

Thanks for all the lovely words yesterday, really appreciate them. Feel much brighter today, despite it being a bit shit.
The exhaust on dh rustbucket car was hanging off, so he had to fix it before he could go to work. €13 on cable ties, but it seems to have done a good job. Want to get rid of that car once the credit card is paid off in the new year, so very reluctant to get it fixed professionally!
Electricity bill that I wasn't expecting for another week (which would make the total come out after payday), €99,due on the 16th.
Things are getting very tight now, but determined to make do with what we have now, rather than putting things on credit card or going into overdraft, so we have our full salary next month. All bills will be paid, just have to be inventive with grocery budget etc! Hate October every year, so many outgoings.

Great news Electrolux.
Thanks for all the conjunctivitis advice, eyes are less red than they were first thing but still sore and watery, will see if it clears up over the next couple of days. Good advice about binning eye makeup, all mine is really old anyway, probably what has caused the problem in fact.
Window shopping today but resisted buying anything. DD kept waving at the lady in Hotel Chocolat who thought she was cute and gave us each a chocolate - I've trained her well!

Feeling quite pleased as had a very frugal morning, got a free deluxe hot choc as had collected 10 stamps on the loyalty card, cycled in so saved on parking and popped into the bike shop and they pumped up my tyres for free.

Spent £2 on some jewellery making things which will go in dds Christmas stocking.

Lsd

Aurora that is good going for food, I seem to be spending £40-£50 a week on food but this is for all food for the week including pack lunches. I could probably do better though although i don't think we are particularly extravagant, hardly eat any meat etc.

Well done MiniPointless

Elextrolux fantástico news

Glad you are feeling better today Pink

Spent another £23 on various grocery bits, sweets for Xmas stockings, junk food for a sleep over, biscuits for next week. I'm doing it again buying next week's food before this week's is eaten because I'm stressed, FFS. Turns out Chilean mortgage provider may require that we give 4 month's notice of wishing to sell. I now have a seperate account just for groceries so that I can't go over my self imposed limit for the month.

Hmm my Lsd is no more, spent another £23 on Amazon I blame having too much time on my hands! In my defence I got a nearly half price play mobil calendar for that and a 500 piece puzzle for my mum for Christmas plus a few stocking fillers. Still need to stay away from Amazon for a bit I think! Agree with Fuzz that the £20 minimum spend def makes you buy more.

Omg when it rains it pours. Was doing the wash up, and the spout part of the tap mixer just broke off. So now the water sprays everywhere when we turn on the tap. Absolutely has to be fixed, can't even fill the sink for the wash up. No idea how to fix it, so going to Google it.

Oh damn, Pink :( hope you can find an easy and cheap solution. What a pain. Can you wash up in the bath for now?

Unfortunately it was the Tesco lentils that DH couldn't tolerate. Maybe it was a contaminated batch and most are fine but we can't take the risk really :(

Electro thank goodness it's been sorted, finally! That's an awfully long wait. I hope they will backdate it.

Think I will be applying for PIP soon. I really, really regret not reapplying for my DLA (I had a year at HRM and MRC but then was in a good phase when it ran out) as I know it will be a battle to get anywhere. Or with ESA if I end up losing my job. Which is looking increasingly likely TBH. Got another absence management meeting next week. :(

(forgot to say thanks everyone for the Waitrose advice! :))

electoluxthat does sound a big relief.
onlypink that sounds a pain. could you stick something on tap with waterproof tape to make a spout for the meantime?

If it makes any one feel better our weekly food shop comes in around £120!! An extra large whole chicken just about does one meal here (and tbh ds1 could possibly eat it all himself!!)

£10 on dd2 dinner card
£10 in Morrisons on socks for ds2 and a couple of tops for ds2 and dd4 (both needed)
£10 on cakes & biscuits for tonight's bake off final (traditional treat!) and some treats/sweets/giant marshmallows for halloween (slightly unnecessary extravagance!)

I've got my gas and electricity monitor set up and running now. It's quite good. It says my tumble dryer costs 30p an hour to run and the oven costs 50p an hour to run.

You'll love that ipsos. Hours of fun.

electro That's such good news. Your MP sounds good.

Adora When will they let you know?.

£1 on padded envelopes
£30 on petrol, filled up at sainsbos because they are offering extra nectar points on fuel.

Great news electro it must be a huge relief for you.

I had a lsd. Friend paid for lunch today and I had a cheeky glass of wine

On way back to work I also stopped by paperchase and bought my colleague a new pencil. She's just broken up with her dp and needed cheering up. Unicorn pencil did the trick.

Good news about the Pip.
Adora hope the mortgage people don't enforce that.
I have stopped buying as much from Amazon due to the postage. I won't buy for buying sake as that defeat free postage, unless it's something I need.
Fuzz, sorry about the job, hope you are able to get the benefits until you have a good cycle. Sorry I don't know much about it though.

Bugger the only pink, hope that's your three.
Nice one mini pointless, the girl has taste
Nsd here