Amazing April Austerity.

[CremeEggThief]

Hi All,
Taking the liberty of starting a new thread, as I went to post spends on the old one and it's full.

We had a lovely day out at the seaside and visited an old lighthouse as part of it. As we rely on public transport, that's always a big part of our days out spend.
£9.60 bus fares.
£9.60 train fares (with the family railcard).
£6 lunch from Sainsburys ( £3 meal deal each).
£4.50 entrance to the lighthouse.
£7.10 coffee, hot chocolate and cookies in a café afterwards.

Oh and DS needed a haircut, which I think was £6.50.

The dog ate both of DS's Easter eggs, and was not in any way ill at all, not even er, a bit loose the next day

I hadn't thought about a smoothie for the kale, the DC are pretty darn good with veg and I stir kale, greens and spinach into curries, but that wouldn't use it all that way, so thanks.

I love kale smoothies. I've thought of another idea- Pan Haggerty with quickly fried kale as a side veg.

Thank goodness your ddogs were fine. They must have good, strong constitutions.

Ok, I had to Google Pan Haggerty, but that sounds delicious! What a brilliant, tasty and frugal dish. Thanks Creme, I love new recipes.

And I love reading all your recipes, Need. Often, the simplest food is the best. We're just finishing up our big, fluffy jackets, with loads of grated cheese, pesto and black pepper, and side salad of red cos lettuce, cherry tomatoes, drizzled with balsamic vinegar and a squeeze of lime juice.

I'm joining I have nearly spent my budget this month on the second day but it was on stuff we needed for the new baby, a big internet food shop to make bulk meals in prep for baby, new shoes for toddler, stocks of nappies and wipes from costco and a full tank of petrol. Argh! Need to spend very very little for the rest of the month now so will be glued to this thread for help and inspiration!

That was lucky need since I was told dogs shouldn't have chocolate
Welcome sparklycat
£19 for dentist check up for me, ds had to have 2 baby teeth taken out since he already have new ones fully out and luckily our dentist is great with kids, hopefully he will now wiggle the last one so we don't have to go back
£12.30 for some buttons and denim fabric with flowers to make skirts for dds
£8 at Tesco for some fresh haddock and a bottle of Czech beer to make homemade fish and chips

Dh thinks that life insurance isn't a necessary expense no amount of reasoning from me can persuade him otherwise.

That sounds lovely too Creme. We had roasted peppers (Aldi value pack), stuffed with bolognaise and haloumi cheese with salad. DH and DC complained about this beautifully fresh picked salad, said it was stringy and too strong. That's real looking and tasting salad you loons!!

Welcome Sparkly

The dogs, especially ddog1 seems to have a cast iron constitution, I now know the chocolate that he ate (cheap Cadbury stuff) is way less dangerous than the higher quality stuff Love. I like the sound of your fish and chips.

Lush, Need. I adore halloumi.

Wreck a colleague of mines husband cancelled his life insurance policy as he thought it was an 'unnecessary expense' then promptly dropped dead of a heart attack a few weeks later My colleague has really struggled financially ever since, she had to sell their house and now works all Gods hours just to cover the bills. On top of the grief she was dealing with, the additional financial worries have been awful. Life Insurance is one of those things you hope you'll never need but still very much necessary if it is needed iyswim.

Welcome Sparkly when is your baby due? We haven't had a baby on the thread for a while

When i was younger our dog (a yorkie!) got hold of the Easter chocolate and was really ill, think coming out of both ends for several hours

We have waaaaaaay too much chocolate in the flat, it is doing my waist line no good no good at all

Lila my brother is generally an o.kay uncle but do feel a bit let down on this occasion.

Life insurance for him shouldn't be too pricey, mse have a guide on it.

You could do a price comparison for him, ask for the forms to sent out for the policy you want and make him sign it.

Lovely to hear about mother daughter relationships - hopefully when DD is older we will have a bond :) my own mum and I are now quite close but only really got that way when I moved back home wnd had DC of my own.

would love the wonky veg boxes but not stocked near me. I noticed tescos had bags of wonky parsnips the other day which is a step in the right direction.

Money I am glad your family have helped out. Fingers crossed for your JSA coming through.

DMs dog snatched a bit of easter egg off DD the other day but was apparently fine. It was cheapy cadburys stuff though.

wreck I would worry about that life insurance situation, although i think we might be a little overinsured with both life cover and decreasing mortgage cover... thinking of axing the mortgage cover as the life ins would cover it by itself with plenty left.

welcome sparklycat :)

must google pan haggerty sounds like its probably tasty

Fingers crossed that the redeployment comes through cag. No news is good news and all that.

Did well today, spent the morning at DMs and then was going to head into town with them but stayed home ans had visitors instead. Fish & chips (freezer) for tea. Needed bread and milk from shop, also got some friday night wine / beer and snacks. Total spend £16. Having a much needed glass of wine as we speak!

It's been a bit of a weird week for me here.

Monday: 7.99 on a new purse. £33 bill.

Tuesday: 25.50 ice skating lesson.

Wednesday: 7.60 cinema for both DS and I.

Thursday: 29.00 ice skating lesson and I went on the ice.

Friday: 23.50 ice skating lesson.

DS has 3x ice skating lessons a week at the moment. However back to work soon and will only be able to do two a week at most so will save money there. He really enjoys it so I don't mind the expense while I can.

It's been a bit spendier this week as my brother is home and he has his DD with him as she's on school hols. My DS hasn't yet broke up. However I have activities planned out then as we invested in a merlin pass and other things. We also go away for a long weekend mid April too. Will be keeping a budget for that and taking food with us to save costs.

Our ENT trip was a bit of a bust. Ds was too frightened of the ear hoover to let the man do the work. After an hour and half of cajoling ds let the man take a tiny bit of wax out with a hook from one ear and the man confirmed that he has glue ear, though he said it only matters if ds seems to be affected by it. We had to go home then. We don't want surgery as ds and I still have PTSD from his baby and toddler operations. I can't discuss it with ds as he is not very coherent these days because of over-work from the fast pace of school. It's all terribly demoralising. I find it so hard to know if I have a deaf child with ASD or just a frightened exhausted child who needs space and time to think. I wonder if anyone sells one way tickets to the moon these days? Perhaps it would be easier there.

NSD.

Dinner was essentially crisps wine and hotdogs.

Shared nachos. Hotdog and sweet potato chips. Wine. In a proper pubby pub. With a dude and his guitar playing by the fire. Beautiful evening. when he left. The pub did lip sync battle. Dh had to drag me away i was winning with my lip sync version of proud Mary and money for nothing complete with superb air guitar...

My day was totally frugal. Dinner was paid for by Dh. And he bought my wine. I'm going to hurt tomorrow.

Does anyone know of any vouchers / codes for National Trust membership? I don't seem to be able to find any real ones.

Ipsos I have been there and got the t.shirt with ENT, dd has had the lot as well. I don't blame you for being traumatised, was it tonsils and adenoids your ds had the first time round? In a way it was fortunate with dd as she had grommets done first when she was 2yo and that was a very easy quick op with immediate benefits. When she was 4yo she had tonsils and adenoids out and more grommets put in, that op was much bigger and more traumatic so I totally understand why you feel that way.

I guess you can give it some more time, how bad is his hearing? Inbox me if you prefer, with dd in the end rather than more grommets we opted for hearing aids which were great for when she was at school.

Space There's some codes on quidco and topcashback.

Might be cheaper to buy a Scottish membership.

Thanks so much Girlie, I have messaged you. Where would we be without the lovely frugaleers?

Ah Ipsos ((hugs)))
Space there are defo 25% off nt deals about paying by Dd as I got one in a magazine last week or this week. I will root about my recycling when people are up
Going nt today with a pic nic.
Must plan legoland and stuff as its next week.

I am sorry about your DS Ipsos . DS had had two generals by the time he was (I think) 7, perhaps 8. It's not nice, in DS's case there was no choice re the second I am afraid, so maybe easier, strangely. I think re the last part of your post, listen carefully to your instinct. Does your heart tell you he is a deaf child with ASD or a little boy that needs to just 'be'. Only you can answer that honestly.

Space, I found joining NT Scotland cheaper, think I got that gem from Fluffy. I'm about to cancel though, we haven't used it once this year.

Should be a LSD, £6 training for DD, pack up already made.

In regards to NSD, do you include your normal bills or expected spenditure in this?

Or the extra bits..

ps - I do now recall my friends DS having grommets around Y3 (maybe Y2, god that seems forever ago!) and it transformed him, if that helps? I think she may have reduced dairy for a bit, but it made no difference as I recall. If the last bit is relevant at all.

Don't. My normal bills and budgeted for spends I don't include, extras say popping to Aldi or ordering a take out, clothes or whatever I do.

ipsos poor ds that sounds distressing for him and also upsetting for you. I'm sorry your having to deal with all of this. I have no kids so can't comment really but I guess instinctively only you know what is right.

I think, if I was in your shoes, I would let him just "be" for a while. Like you said he may be tired and frightened and just need some time. Make sure you take care of you too. X

Feeling fairly bright and chirpy today. Plumber is coming round at 9 to discuss bathroom. Yay!

Then I'm riding at 12 so £25.

I need to make a list for the shop on Tuesday and meal plan (fallen off that a bit...)