The friendly frugaleers natter on through November...

[blueteapot]

Hope you dont mind me starting a shiny new thread

Thanks all

DS has had a cough on & off for 3 weeks. Every time he gets better he goes off to nursery and comes back coughing again. The doctors recommended to give him 5 ml of runny honey. Apparently it's been "proven" to be as effective as cough mixture in toddlers. No idea if its true or not. We tried it and it helped DS though. Milk made his cough worse. In the end we had to get a warm mist humidifer for his bedroom and its made a huge improvement.

LSD. We need margarine.

spotty that sounds brilliant, where was it?

ipsos I think you were brave to send that text. It isn't an easy thing to do at all, even if you are not satisfied. Any response? I am guessing not.

collie Great news on the pay rise.

Sorry for poorly, teething small people.

I am going to try and get a few more bits of Christmas shopping today, which is all budgeted for luckily.

Morning all.
Today will be spendy as ds needs new football boots & trainers and dd needs trainers. Ds is making us fish pie for tea. That probably won't mean much of a rest for me as he'll need talking through it but worth it. Need to meal plan for the week ahead. It's dd's birthday on Tuesday so I'll spend some of tomorrow preparing a "party" tea as I'll be working Tuesday.

Pointless it's at ascot Laplanduk it's very pricey though much cheaper than Finland though

We've always said when we have kids we'd take them to Lapland to see Santa, better start saving up for it I think!

Collie As far as I know all cough syrups bar Pholocodiene are basically snake oil.

You cant give pholocodiene to productive coughs though, only dry ones.

Onion, peppercorns and a manky looking tomato in the sc, I'll add the frozen chicken juices and the red lentils later on for next weeks lunches.

Should be a nsd.

Fluffy is right re cough medicine. You can't buy anything OTC for under 6 anyway (so they told me in boots!)

Spotty sounds fab. I think it is fine if a treat is expensive if you feel it is worth it iyswim.

Collie don't bother with cough mixtures is the advice I have had, honey and lemon. Milk and dairy apparently aids production of mucus hence milk probably making it worse. (I have no medical qualifications)

Hi Need - Thanks, yes, that was one of the braver conversations I've ever had. I just said cheerio to one large, very cheesed off tradesman as he took his bits and pieces away. His mobile phone then pocket dialled me and I got a snapshot of him ranting to his wife at home. A few lessons learned for me there about dealing with people.

Odd morning really.

Goodness ipsos! Well done you lucky escape I say.

Don't stress it ipsos, at the end of the day if he had done a decent job in the first place then he would still be working. There is a lesson for him there.

Exactly the same advice I had babs that's why we never bothered with cough syrup. The honey is sufficient.

spotty Sainsbury's sell cough syrup for 1 year + . Didnt buy it though as our new GP said not to bother www.sainsburys.co.uk/shop/gb/groceries/cough-cold-flu/sainsburys-childrens-dry-cough-syrup--glycerin---blackcurrent-200ml

ipsos its his own fault. It's probably happened to him before! Don't worry

Ah yes it's chesty cough I'm thinking of

It's reassuring we are getting the same advice collie. I do worry so much about coughs.

Thanks, you're probably right. I've got two people coming to quote for the job already so that's encouraging.

Hang in there with all these coughs. Mine is hanging on for a long time, but warm water is all I've needed to calm it down when it gets tricky.

Hello all thankyou for all the birthday messages

Had a lovely day, got my haircut in the morning was £40 and it looks brilliant. I have about 50% less hair than I had before but it seriously needed it and looks a million times better now had family popping in and out all day and then went out with friends in the evening. Meal was £20 so not too bad and I drove so no other costs.

Other spends ystd included a very cheap lunch in Greggs, it was very busy in there and i think I was under charged by a few quid as managed lunch for me and dd with drinks for £4.25!!

Hope all poorly children feel better really soon

Oh and you will all be pleased to hear that I am now the proud owner of a shiny new slow cooker courtesy of my dad! Will be attempting a chicken casserole in it later

Ooooooh I fancy a chicken casserole. Glad you had a good time Girlie.

We've just gone through the present box and I still need to buy for 4 people. Baaah humbug!

Ah girlie, you will love the slow cooker. If you are on FB, try slow cooker saddo's and slow cooker recipes, lots of ideas on there. Don't add too much liquid would be my only hint or tip, they do generate a lot with the covered lid etc.

Decided to shop online, but will go to the garden centre for a mooch later maybe.

I've made a chocolate malteser cake and carrot and cumin soup with a hint of lemon.

ipsos It's an old chestnut, but waiting for a tradesman to be able to fit you in is usually a good sign for us.

Reporting back that the carrot, cumin and hint of lemon soup that I made for lunch was fab, will definitely be making this one again

Thanks Need. That was one of the many things that I've been realising this week, but it's good to know that you think so too. Thanks for the encouragement as always. I'm fighting my battles better for listening to your wisdom. Now wondering what will happen with the dishwasher. Intrigue!

How is your dh? Is he still busy busy busy?

btw I just realised that by buying my steam cleaner four years ago with tesco tokens, I have saved myself £150 on wallpaper stripping, so I'm quite pleased with that. Frugal win.

dh is stripping wallpaper now and ds is having a whale of a time on his computer while both parents are having fun doing DIY. Quite a week really.

It's cold here and the bright sunshine has returned. I'm so glad to see the sun. It has been a very overcast autumn here, which is not usual at all.

We think the best tradesmen are booked in advance and don't need to advertise as they get business through word of mouth