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

I am having a g&t at the cinema bar, while I wait for my friend. Chin, chin!

Thanks, I can't complain too much though it's half term now! Just grumpy that our lovely anniversary weekend has got off to a bad start.

It's the oddest thing, but I've been rushing around like an idiot for days, and sleeping badly in way that I've never done before (waking at 1.30am for no reason at all and not getting to sleep again until 5am.) and now I seem to have a stomach virus.

I wonder if this is the Mum equivalent of when ds goes a bit flaky for a few days when he's coming down with something? That would really explain a lot.

Wish I felt better though. It feels like such a waste to start the holiday by being stuck in bed feeling like garbage.

breathless Cant they induce you? I was 10 days late and really wrinkly, Like i'd been in the bath too long.

hair That's only one quote though, is there anything you can do to bring it down?. Buy the boiler and then have them fit it?

£31 on food
£8 on kebabs and chips. I wouldn't have had the takeaway if the shopping hadn't been so low.

Hahahahaha! God Bless the Guardian for suggestion that we plant "Ground cover pants". Fantastic.

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/jan/10/leendertz-gardens-lawn-advice-gardening

Ah big ((((hugs)))))) all round. I don't give a knack if it's mumsnetty or not.

££49 at vets but dd is better now.
£4 at beavers

Oh dear, sorry to hear everyone's poorly / having a tough time.

DH is working. I've just got the kids to bed and am sitting down with a cuppa. Quick tea of fish-fingers / waffles / veg.

My washing is still out getting soaked, I was being frugal still hanging it out on a dry but cold day... then it started some sort of storm when I wasn't looking - can't face going out to fetch it for the tumbler but I suppose I should lol, tomorrows forecast is awful too.

Congratulations on going past your due date breathless. I always think 41 weeks is a great place to get a baby to - gives them a proper long time to develop and lay down a bit of extra fat and all those iron reserves iykwim. I had several friends whose babies were just a few weeks early and they seemed to have a harder time. Good luck there!

Thanks Blue and Babs.

I realised a small frugal thing today. Althought my washing machine does 1600rpm, it doesn't actually do that on the standard 40 degree wash. It only does 1200rpm there. I'm doing to change the cycle that I choose to get a faster spin. Yay!

fluffy unfortunately we have a back boiler so need to get the new set up and start from the beginning and only have 1 suitable outside wall where it could go, so it's mainly the work to get a whole new system that's the cost. Our old boiler is still just about working, though not cost efficient so we have a bit of time but I really wanted to get all modern

Sorry so many people are not well and feeling low.

That's great that you're getting a new boiler Hair. We got one just after we bought our house. The old one was a big floor-standing thing that was basically a bunsen burner in a box. It even had it's own huge floor to ceiling cupboard. Once that was gone we replaced it with a new boiler and a dishwasher, which was a huge improvement.

Will you post a photo of the old and new when it's done? I'd love to see.

thanks guys

Am back from dropping dd off now, survived the dark lanes! Now in my pjs with a cup of hot choc watching Gogglebox

Hoping the wend will be o.kay, Ipsos sorry to hear your feeling rubbish as well.

Welcome home Girlfriend. Glad you're all cosied up now. I'm getting on with my mission to read the entire internet, and I'm under a warm duvet, which is good. :-)

ipsos feel better soon. If it's a tummy bug remember to stay hydrated. And keep warm.

Feel better to all of you sickies too xx

We went to pizza express. Yum. And I had pizza. Obviously. And mini janmie donuts with gelato for dessert. We also had a £30 voucher. So only paid £10 for 2 pizzas. Desserts. And a couple of beers a lemonade and a coffee. Win.

Sorry about all the sickness going round

Staying at my mum's tonight so hopefully will have a relaxing day tomorrow, should really be going to sleep now but I forgot to bring my tablets which help me sleep as a side effect! Oops.

I finished my 'freelance' job today so got the second half of the payment which is very well timed - presumably I can pay a cheque in at any branch of my bank so I could do it in my mum's town rather than waiting til I'm home? I hardly ever have cheques so I can't remember!

The lady asked if I'd do her next project too so feeling rather pleased, although need to figure out the money side of it - this first project was just typing up/editing something she'd already written, with a lump sum type thing, but this one is something she's only just started, and she would like me to do a little at a time rather than wait til the end. So I'm not sure how that would work, as I've no idea how long it'll take or if it'll be the same length as the first one etc. My dad reckoned a rate per 100 words or something rather than per page or per hour, what do you think oh wise frugal ones? :)

Also, she gave my DCs a fiver each as a thank you for being so good while they waited at her house for us to finish the project, how sweet is that? She's such a lovely lady (and an amazing painter, her illustrations are fab) :) think we will be visiting the toy shop tomorrow for them to see if they want to spend it. And the music shop I used to frequent when I still lived here, which I'm really excited about. And Hotel Chocolat. :)

That's so sweet fuzz! Yes you can pay it in to any branch.

I'm going shopping today to lidl. I dreamt I forgot my £5 voucher

Hey everyone. Sorry about the illnesses and bugs going around :( DS woke up with a cold. Bless him. He said "hi mumby" as he's all blocked up.

Going into town soon as DH needs a haircut. I'm going to pop in to Boots & New Look. To browse.

I too need to go to lidl.

That's lovely fuzz. Not sure about the rate thoughts though.

Thanks Em, I'll work on that. It's a still-drinking-water bug, which is always the better kind I think. Pizza Express sounds lovely. I'm glad you had a good time. We used to go there with Tesco vouchers and it was always great.

Fuzz this is my dilemma at the moment too. I'm doing writing work and I'm hoping to be paid by the hour. I spend a lot of time editing for succinctness, so being paid by the word count would be rubbish for me. As a typist, it may be ideal for you though.

Poor ds Collie. I hope he feels better soon. Enjoy your shopping trip!

I'm thinking of hiring a cleaner with some of my writing money, as I'm constantly run ragged these days. I keep worrying about how I'll get her to do the work right though, which is probably silly. Does anyone have any hints?

OMG! I'm languishing in bed with this bug, but I can tell that dh is making ds's breakfast because the gas and electricity shows up on my energy monitor graph. I feel like a Bond Villain with surveillance equipment.

eeww you can keep the flat cola fuzz! Well done on the writing work. Am I right in thinking that you do piano tuition too? Sounds like you could do well self sufficiently and not worry yourself about your illness/job. Yes you can pay cheques in anywhere

ipsos I find with our cleaner that she is happier being directed rather than me expecting her to be a mind-reader. Also she's happy to do anything I ask but I always balance anything extra. E.g. I would leave a note saying 'could you clean the front room window rather than doing the dining room this week'. I was always reluctant to hire a cleaner as I felt the money was better spent elsewhere but I am a complete convert - now see it as a necessity rather than a luxury!

We're on holiday and DD has been really poorly. She's not often unwell but this has been proper 'character changing' - listless all day not even improved with Calpol!

Ipsos do you have a white fluffy cat and a poor Eastern European accent? With the FiT if you don't make the Dec cut off look at selling your RoC - renewable offset certificate. There are trading sites where you can sell them to large energy companies so they can hit their renewable targets.

I too have had the bug.... We had a letter around about the start of redundancy this week so I didn't feel able to take time off. Neither did anybody else. Our office was like a set of a Zombie film. Our SMT bought in tissues, flu medicine, cough sweets, Albas oil etc... which was kind. It was not a very productive week in our office.

ipsos It took a bit of time with our cleaner. By that, I mean she kind of took a few weeks to work out in her own mind the best way to tackle our house iyswim? The most efficient way I mean. If I am in, she has a very specific routine that I notice.

As with ursula, there may be times that I ask her to do something specific. Occasionally, there are times when I might notice she has missed something and I will send her a quick text in a friendly manner (this doesn't happen often). I do find that we all clean differently, for example, she will do my internal windows every single week, which I wouldn't do personally, but then I might do something she hasn't.

And agree, I would rather knock £20 off my shopping bill than lose my cleaner, it makes that much of a difference to my life.

That said, I do still obviously clean a fair bit, and obviously there's the cooking, washing, hoovering that goes on daily, but it's good to know everything else is done.

Thanks for the hints on cleaners. I think I should bit the bullet and do that. There just aren't enough hours in the day just now.

Been awake since 545. Dropped dsis at airport. Saw the sun come up. Lovely.

Now back in bed with a tea and bacon.

Clarks have refunded me the postage I had to pay for my boots (and other eBay sales....) i paid for everything in one go but got an itemised receipt. Told them how much the postage to them was in my email.

They seem to have ignored this though and just refunded it all.

So I'm £11 up.