October continuing into Novemeber frugaleers part trois

[Lovetoknit]

Hope it's okay to start the new thread since the other one is already full
£1 at Cornwall Ambulance shop for 3 books for dc after I dropped off my old slow cooker and some books and £1 at Prospect hospice for some wool and fabric
Just made cauliflower cheese with some bacon and cavolo nero for dh who had it for lunch and there is enough for his dinner too, the rest of us are having homemade burgers, buns and wedges

Sounds good to me, what and ipsos .

£20 for the gas meter and 72p on oneof my favourite chocolate bar , Frys Chocolate Cream. Just getting out of the house helped a bit. I already take a high strength vitamin D and Citalopram, ipsos. They keep me functioning.

Good stuff creme.

Definitely free parking What :-)

Sorry, I am going to be my usual blunt self - f**king Tories. Smug bastards. They have a lot to answer for. Killing the public sector.

at Ipsos

creme I am so sorry you feel down. ipsos is right, winter struggles. I think we all feel it a touch, but definitely some more than others. Hey, the twinkly lights will be out soon for Christmas, then it's January, then it's Spring!

blue I am the bitch from hell then, as DH is diagnosed bi-polar and still has to help at home. I spent nearly 5 years trying to make his life 'perfect', and do absolutely everything at home, so he didn't have to worry about anything, or be anxious or go downhill. I made myself ill actually. It didn't stop him rapid cycling, I tried harder, it didn't change. It was my hugely understanding GP that told me to stop, that my actions couldn't influence his mood patterns, that he was ill, it was an illness that even he can't control, that I was making myself poorly and exhausted and down myself, when I finally admitted I could envisage the rest of my life like this. Actually, me treating him normally seems to work better. Ha, wish I had seen that sooner!

£14 spent. £7 on flowers for my lovely friend for her birthday and the rest on a shed load of cards, we have a number of birthdays coming up.

To cheer the thread up, DH has been smoozing with our fab new client and they want him back next week to look at transferring ALL their business over.

First round on me if we do ever meet up, I might stretch to lime and soda rather than tap water

I think a meet up would be hilarious, I think Needa has quite a big house........

Keep meaning to ask Spotty how you getting on with your pump?

Oh creme hugs sorry you are so low. I've been looking for work for 12 months. Haven't even had an interview. Before maternity leave I had a superb job. Very professional and very decent pay. Now I get rejected at Tesco & B&M. We don't have JL or Waitrose here. Wish we did!

Have a sticky toffee and ginger cake in the oven but I made it in such a rush I get its shite

Do you mind if I join you, have been following for a while and this seems to be such a friendly and supportive thread. I've realised since following you all that I'm not being mean if I say we can't afford something but actually making better choices of where to spend our money. My son recently lost his job (older mum but still a mum) and we are supporting him so need to be more frugal.

creme I can't imagine how low & frustrated you must be & the idea that you want to do something and are over qualified makes me on your behalf.
at the idea of a frugaleers meet up. Competitive low spending?!

Need That's an incredibly interesting insight into your behaviour v dh. It hadn't occurred to me that making one's self happy might actually be more positive for OH than constantly working to accommodate. Interesting! Very very interesting. :-) Avoiding the martyr route is one of my great hopes. :-)

to you too collie and good luck with your job hunting.

This is such a supportive thread and yet as a couple have said, how sad that so many people are struggling with anxiety, depression, stress. We all need make time to be kind to ourselves rather than just making sure everyone else is alright all the time.

Big hugs to Collie and Creme job hunting is just the utter pits isn't it.

I've had a frugal few days thanks to staying with my mum. She got last minute tickets to Swan Lake and treated us which was amazing - the DCs and I have never been to a ballet before, to my surprise they were really good and sat through it with very little fidgeting. It's the kind of thing we could never just impulsively do IYSWIM, so I was very grateful that my mum took us.

The only down side is that now DS (6) is even more determined to be a dancer... so must go on a hunt for affordable dance lessons. It's the cost of all the outfits in performances/exams or whatever that really worries me, but I hear it's much better for boys as they can reuse a lot of their outfits. One of the few upsides to sexism I suppose

In other news, I mentioned earlier that I was having my autism assessment - well I had it, turns out I do indeed have Asperger's. Which has no relation to frugaleering but I thought I'd update anyway. I'm feeling pretty good about it, as I've wondered for such a long time, and it's nice to have a 'reason' for feeling so painfully inadequate different. :)

Very true North. But lovely that we have a safe space here where we are all anonymous and can be ourselves. :-)

Welcome wine

Girlie it's going well thanks. I really need to do a two hourly test over night but I've been putting it off for months! Haven't had an hba1c in a while I do need to book one but I'm worried it won't be great!

I'd love a meet up too spotty and north I totally agree with you - we're feeling pretty demoralized in education too, the kids keep me going I love being in the classroom, it's all the other rubbish and the fact the goalposts keep being moved that piss me off.
I was just feeling very happy that I'd had a NSD and my mum had given me £26 she owed me then the kettle died. I'll probably go and replace it tonight as we use it constantly but that's my £26 gone already!

Wirral thank you I feel the same really - I've spent a long time wondering why I was so different and yes, why I fucked up all the time! So I am pleased I now have a proper answer and hopefully can start to - as the specialist said - accept myself a bit more. :)

Congratulations on getting a diagnosis fuzz. That's got to really help with figuring out how to solve problems. Would you mind my asking how they did the test? I've see the questionnaires online but I wondered if they did anything more subtle when testing in person.

I've found this thread to be so so supportive. Even if the support hasn't been directed at me. I find it comforting to pop along of an evening and hear about everyone's days. And what's been happening. I know there's support here if I wanted a rant/moan/money saving advice....

Today's spends £3 on a bottle of lambrini. Pink bubbly lambrini.

Met friend for lunch and she paid which was lovely. Panini with cheese ham and pineapple. Curly fries sale and coleslaw. Proper wintery carb fest.

Chicken tacos for tea. Dh is currently homemaking. Yummy.

Tomorrow I might have another free lunch out. Boss sent a meeting request over lunchtime so am hoping it's a lunch thing not just a stuffy meeting....!!!

Enjoy your fizz Em!
Pleased you have a diagnosis fuzz.
Good news here - the kettle is working again! Think it just got too hot or something.

for creme and collie and for anyone else who is feeling the gloom of depression falling over them.

Creme I think you might be exactly where I was 8/9 years ago. This year I think is the year I'm finally getting my head round the idea of never going back to primary teaching. Just not sure the depression and possible CFS allow me to do the job as well as I want. I had the same issue with job hunting for stress free jobs well below my skill level. It's almost certainly because you are overqualified and is a total PITA. I used to DEA at the jobcentre to help me, not sure if they exist anymore but possibly worth trying.

Perhaps don't do what I have done and go for nhs jobs though. I could easily have written north's post. I've already lost my shit twice over insignificant things this week. Thank god for a long weekend coming up. Perhaps all that overtime wasn't a great idea.

Fuzzpig I think we might have been on an adults who think they might have autism thread together. Glad you have got your diagnosis (if 'glad' can possibly be the right word.

pointless I'd be so sad if my kettle broke. again I failed to establish how to make tea on the hob last time.....

One of these years I'm going to learn not to get to the fireworks display 4 7.30. We're on about the 5th repeat of the final countdown a

I'm sorry crème :-( I can only say I hope something good happens for you soon.

Winelady - I love your name! I have a glass on the go right now.

I spent €2.70 today on some probioticyoghurts. I had to take antibiotics last week for a UTI, and a friend advised that it's a good idea to do probiotics afterwards to boost all the good bacteria that have been killed off.

Currently making a Spanish omelette (excellent end-of-the-week recipe for using leftover bits and pieces) and watching Downtown Abbey on catch-up with a glass of wine.

Thanks lovely frugaleers :) rafa I have been on some of those threads in the past :)

ipsos the test was a very long conversation basically - they did send me a couple of questionnaires which are similar to the kind of tests you can take online, but much more detailed (there was a whole separate one just for sensory issues). What surprised me was that although the specialist did have a look at them, and ask me some specifics about a few of the questions, she didn't actually sit there adding up the score. She mainly went on the conversation we had which was good I thought as it's much more than tick boxes IYSWIM. She asked me about various things I struggle with both now and in childhood. She then talked to my parents for a while to see what I was like when I was a baby/toddler. I would guess that although obviously she was listening to (and making very detailed notes on - she will be writing a report which will be sent to me and my doctor) what I was saying, she was probably observing how I communicated with her as well (she did say at the start that it wasn't an issue if I looked away etc which helped!).

Good news on the diagnosis fuzz (is it OK to congratulate?)
Need I think you scare me a bit but I likes it. I imagine you are quite formidable. Please don't think that's an insult you make me smile.
Creme sorry you feel like that, do you have support in rl? I don't think we live too far apart.
(((hugs)))) to anyone else feeling it. This is my first winter off citalopram and time will tell.

£3 in morrisons, parent fail as ds needed a filling.
I think a meet up would be awesome but imagine the budgeting and planning, that's a whole other thread!
Sorry if I have missed anyone or anything work gets in the way of frugal chat.

Aw thanks again, everyone. It really means a lot to me.

Fuzz, pleased you got the diagnosis you've been after.

Rafa, what's DEA at the jon centre? I don't actually sign on, as it's too complicated if and when I get the very odd day of supply and we just about manage on child maintenance, child tax credit and child benefit.

I know I am well enough to work part time or supply 2-3 days a week. I know I can, but I've never been given the chance , to do a job I am trained for and good at, in the way that I want and can. And I don't know how to get a job at anything else, if applying for entry-level roles and being prepared to start at the bottom and work my way up, isn't good enough for them.

I know I'm not the only one going through this, but what's to become of us?