Fantastic Frugaleers Continuing Austere April!

[Cagliostro]

Hello! :)

Yay collie you go girl!

Thanks ladies for the info about selling the bag - I've got everything from when we purchased it in Monaco so all good there... ;)

Spent a bit today :(

£3.77 McDonald's (needed to get out of the house DD 1 weeks and really grouchy!)
£16.25 Butchers Lamb chops and chicken plus some marinades and sauces.
£2.40 packaging and chocolate ahem
£16.20 returning an inflatable bed - £60 refund minus postage £16.20 :)
£6.74 Spar Milk and few bits
£3.65 Fruit & Veg shop

That's me done for shopping though this week and muscle food delivery tomorrow so I doubt I'll need to shop until the week after next.

Night out at cinema planned tomorrow, DD staying at mums, will use my voucher and probably fall asleep after 2 minutes haha - will take some snacks from home...

Oh and I bought Pet Insurance £18 PCM but got £21.45 cash back with TCB

Have a broker calling back about mine and mums health insurance tomorrow to bring those costs down as I'm sure we are massively overpaying with Bupa ;)

Spends - Monday
£2.60 bus
£3.07 snack/drink

Got lots of free printing :o but still definitely considering getting our own. I'll ask my friend more about the subscription thingy and report back

Should be nsd off to work in a sec. Dd is up and won't. Stop. Talking. She's so excited forest school is starting again today they do it every Tuesday afternoon for the rest of term

Forest school does sound exciting wreck. Nsd planned today , work work work

What's forest school? School outside, in the forest? About nature? Or something Jess obvious?

Hoping for nsd.

DS loves forest school too and he's only 2.5! They learn how to make stuff out of logs (bird feeders etc), learn about campfires, toast teacakes / marshmallows, make dens out of leaves & sticks, learn about foraging. sometimes I'm jealous and wish I could go to forest school as well!

Thank you for the driving lesson encouragement. I've never been so scared.

Yep they climb trees and build fires then have marshmallows and hot chocolates. Ds does it at pre school too.

Good luck collie, driving will transform your life!
Forest school sounds brilliant, I'm going to find out if there's a session I can take DD along to, really hoping she will be outdoorsy like me!
Off to the supermarket in a bit, shopping list is much longer than I'd hoped.

Omg Forest school sounds amazing! Your lucky DC's!

Don't be scared Collie, I promise that driving will enhance your life. You could even get an automatic car, they are far easier.

Have to say, Forest School sounds fab! I would 100% have sent my DC to it if there had been such a thing in our area. What's not to like? Fresh air and outdoor skills? Other kids, even a fab name

Easier for DD and me to get up today, does get easier after a day or two.

I did twitch and get a new Nigella book £12 on Amazon.

Thanks Em. I'm 5'10" too. I think I may be passed jeggings at 40 though. I should start getting my trousers from the Peoples' Friend magazine adverts. It's clearly the way forward. (Not totally joking).

Ipsos you can totally wear jeggings at 40! You're not ready for beige slacks just yet!
£62 in Asda, less than I was expecting especially as I bought us all new water bottles to replace manky ones.

Should be a LSD for me.

Meeting up with a friend at the park. We're taking a small packed lunch with us. I'm getting into the routine of this- I'm proud lol.

I will probably get a coffee with said friend so should all come to below a fiver.

I need to get DM a birthday card.

Ipsos, I'm 38 and live in jeggings and skinny jeans. Back with spends later.

Yeah ipsos get yourself to m&s and join me in high waisted jeggins. They're literally the best thing ever.

Just back from dropping dh & ds off at the station. They're off to London (£48 train fare) for a football match tonight. They have a hotel booked nearby (£60) which is also close to Olympic park so they are going to have an early start in the morning & go to have a look round. They have tickets booked to go up the Orbit sculpture at 1000 & train back in the afternoon. Sent them off with food for the afternoon and they have breakfast booked at the hotel so they shouldn't need to pay for too much more. It will be good for them to have a bit of time together before ds goes back to school on Monday.
My mum and I are planning to take dd to London in July just for the day so I need to be on the case for the cheapest train tickets which come out 12 weeks ahead.
I really want to get some sort of insulated back pack to put food and drink in & keep it cool for picnics in the summer. I don't need one with other picnic kit in, just the bag. I'd like a backpack so it's easy to carry. Any recommendations?

Good luck with the driving Collie it will be so worth it.

They have lots of things like that in Homesense, North.

Spent the morning listing items on Hardlyeverwornit and taking pictures.

Thanks Adora!!

Next jobs is a full house "cleanse" for items to sell on eBay ;-)

Did anyone sell babygros after DC grew out of them or should I drop them at a local food bank perhaps? Kept all the cutest ones for my memory chest ;)

I think lots more schools are starting to do forest school, it was on the news recently.

Nsd.

Just back from our little outing. We didn't have a coffee in the end but the kids wanted to go on a bouncy slide.. £2 for 10 slides which is cheap where we are compared to others. However the lovely gentlemen let the children stay on much longer and he then gave them a bottle of water each (his own). Was very chatty and lovely and refreshing for people to be so friendly.

We got discussing children's parties and he said he'd advised some people to bring along a picnic and he'd sort them a deal for kids with bouncy castle for a child's birthday. It sounds pretty ideal for me and something I may look into as DS has a summer birthday. It's right by a park and lake too so kids can chill out and play. Sounds good to me...

Thanks purple I hadn't heard of Homesense but just had a look at the website & it looks good, there is one locally so will have a look soon

DCs love anything forest school related :) they're setting a local one up for home ed kids soon, including a 'fungus walk' :o

There's loads of free/very cheap resources around from charities ATM, if people like going out in the woods etc. We got a 'poos and clues' (tracking animals from their poo!) book, I think from the Woodland Trust for £1. Canal and River Trust sent us a duck feeding bag/info for free (but they phone you and try to get you to sign up to membership - I'd love to but £10 a month is just too much! They weren't pushy though). Friends of the Earth have a bee-helping kit if you donate - it suggested £15 one off but you can change it.

Forgot yesterday, £72.91 Tesco delivery

More time spent yesterday me? sleep? pah downloading lots of free worksheets etc. Am registered with loads of teaching resource sites but don't pay subscription to any - there's so much available for free if you look hard enough. I figured if I paid for one membership I'd want to do more and more... so better to do none I reckon!

Cag have you been on the TES website? Lots of free resources on there.
DD has a cold and looks very sorry for herself.