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Fantastic Frugaleers Continuing Austere April!

998 replies

Cagliostro · 15/04/2016 17:49

Hello! :)

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northender · 03/05/2016 22:08

Great news about dh's job lilac
Another busy day today, not much spending.
Ds is over the moon as his school football team won the County cup which is quite prestigious. Dd has had her third counselling session at school which seems to be going very well & really helping her.
Meal plan went out of the window as we had curry tonight instead of wraps but at least I didn't give in to the takeaway urge

Cagliostro · 03/05/2016 22:16

Meeting was ok. Really quick actually, just went through what would happen next. I DID bring up the line manager issue though and they looked shocked, so at least it's been noted and they definitely agreed I AM doing the right thing.

So yeah. Four weeks notice starts today. Sad. :( I managed ok, I think I cried most of it out in the small hours last night. It did hit me more when I was taking all the stuff off my locker.

Unexpected silver lining - get full pay for my notice period. WTF. Not complaining though obviously!

Anyway. I will be ok. I had a lovely day all things considered - took DCs to the last of DD's writing class, so that was a little party thing, then stopped at the park for a while with a good friend. Then, because I spent some of our Clubcard vouchers on impulse last night (as suggested above, I decided to line up a treat/distraction!) I took the DCs to the cinema (Zootropolis - OMG the sloth bit. Actually couldn't breathe it was so funny!) and dinner.

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CremeEggThief · 03/05/2016 22:47

Cag, you're a Star for getting through the day. Well done for telling them about the horrid deputy manager. Take it as easy as you can for the next few days.BrewCake

lilacclery · 03/05/2016 23:19

Sounds like a lovely treat to round off a very unpleasant day cag
And please make some nice plans with the full time pay you weren't expecting also. Hope you can start sleeping the night too now.

wreck that's a bargain sandpit, my dc have had a heap of sand to play with since last summer it's diminishing as the wall is being built Grin

lilacclery · 03/05/2016 23:19

Laska where are you?

Cagliostro · 03/05/2016 23:33

Thank you Thanks

We hadn't got around to booking our trip up north (for a board game convention :o) as we weren't sure what was going on with both our jobs, but I think we are going to do that now. Will be a couple of days in Birmingham (NEC plus the museum/canals etc) and then we might do a day in Leicester for the space centre. :)

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AuditAngel · 03/05/2016 23:44

Purple yes, that would have been the production David Essex was talking about. I was really thrilled to meet him, gavinf been meh in advance. He was delightful. Happy to get into mischief with the kids backstage, never said no to any photo or autograph requests.

Fantastic Frugaleers Continuing Austere April!
Ipsos · 03/05/2016 23:49

purple We get rats too sometimes and I just call the council out. It's free and the man puts poison down once a week until it stops disappearing. I would really recommend it. Much better than worrying that it might still be around.

Well done for managing that meeting Cag. That must have been really hard but you did really well. I'm so glad for you that you have your new teaching role to move into. Take it easy on yourself there.

I'm still trying to get ready for this meeting about ds's attendance. I was feeling really calm and positive about it until I phoned the GP for advice and she said she didn't believe me that ds gets ill and thought I was just being pfb (I'm paraphrasing obviously.) I think maybe I need a new GP that's close enough to actually take ds to when he's ill, then they would know.

AuditAngel · 04/05/2016 00:01

We live next door to a stables and have some very bold rats living under our shed. Our concil pays for the pest control officer to visit for free. Check your council website.

AdoraBell · 04/05/2016 00:02

Well done Cag and great news re the full pay.

well done to Mr lilac

spent £5 today. MIL gave me money back in Jan for my birthday and today I found a pair of earrings that were £5 more.

Ipsos · 04/05/2016 00:35

Unescorted how are the house improvements going? I found it amazingly exciting to feel that the house would soon be properly nice. I hope you are enjoying it too. It was a lot of upheaval doing the work. Are you finding that? tbh I still haven't got things sorted out properly again. There are still piles of things in the dining room and odd paintbrushes and puts of paint that were never rounded up.

At the moment we are varnishing the wooden climbing frame in the garden. It's well on the way though. Ds's friend who lives next door is forming an orderly queue every day next to the slide, while also wearing a welder's mask. If I don't finish building the climbing frame soon, he may explode with frustration.

babsmam · 04/05/2016 06:34

Will done cag, you deserve the treat.v
Ipsos that's poor from the doctor, just cos you don't always go doesn't mean they are not I'll. Write down all of your points and times DS was ill.
£10 on a gym induction that was a waste, but I have the card now so no excuses. £13 in Morrison's. Do much for my NSW.
I need to get my head out of my arse to be frank and sort out my eating, fitness and spending

Ememem84 · 04/05/2016 06:56

lilac congrats!

cag well done on getting through yesterday.

I'm back in the uk now. Just waiting to see which flight home I can get Smile

Trip was amazing. Short. But amazing.

WreckTangled · 04/05/2016 07:00

Blue Amazon have them cheapest they've ever been I checked on camelcamelcamel Wink

Omg audit I love David Essex Envy

Cag I'm really pleased it went well for you I hope you can start to get on with things without the worry of your job now

Ipsos · 04/05/2016 07:50

Hi Babs Thanks for the encouragement. tbh ds has had so much illness that I can't begin to remember it all. The school have records but he is almost always ill in the holidays too. I think I'll start writing it all down myself. I already do that for my own health, so I can start doing it for him too. Hey ho.

Ememem84 · 04/05/2016 08:26

ipsos ive found its useful to write stuff like that down. I do it too. I started initially just tracking sleep, so I could try and work out why I wasn't sleeping well. Then Dh bought me a tracker band which does that for me.

I try to keep a log of what I eat and drink too. Just to see if it has any effects on my health.

The last 2 days in Israel I haven't had any "proper" tea or coffee. So no milk. And I only ate veggie or fish. Didn't feel half as snotty and sluggish as i usually do. Haven't slept well as have indulged in a few glasses of wine.

Was bought a bottle of bubbly on Monday by the boss. Only 2 of us travelled over in the end instead of 3. My direct boss couldn't travel with us so I went with the other. Who I know but not very well. And I'd never travelled with him before.

Boss I was with reported back to boss at home how well I'd done with everything. New people new culture flights being away from home etc. And they treated me and more importantly said well done and thank you.

If you haven't visited Israel I would urge you to get out there. My mind was blown at the old city. I'm not in the slightest bit religious. But we went to visit the sights - and was completely overwhelmed by the immensity of it all. Had a bit of a cry at the holy Sephulcre - the church itself is immense. So beautiful It was so lovely seeing all these people who clearly had so much faith all together queueing to see the relics, the tomb, and the sight of the crucifixion. Kissing the stone Jesus was laid upon. I was sceptical about the whole thing if I'm honest and I hope I don't offend any of you didnt understand any of it, with no concrete proof. To me, it didn't mean anything, just some nice stories. But. This week, I think I saw proof in seeing Jesus' bones. although my scientific/logic mind wants to know how they know they're actually his makes me think maybe I should believe in something.

The western wall was insane. We arrived at 10. And it was fairly quiet. No wailing. Just a few people praying. Had a wander around and ended up back there at 2pm. Absolutely packed and so noisy. Amazing how something as private as praying can be so public and noisy. I did want to go up to the wall. Apparently "they" write their prayers and stuff then in the walls cracks. The standard line is that the wall is solely held up with prayer. Not concrete.

So. Yes. Go. Food is great. People are friendly. It's fairly cheap. Pretty sure our flights only cost £200 pp.

I've brought back the standard gifts - tea towels, fridge magnet, crown of thorns, a dreidel and menorah for my sisters religious ed box for her class.

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 04/05/2016 08:42

Woe Em you have sold it to me! Sounds incredible.

Audit that photo is so cute!

Glad the meeting went o.kay Cag and thats good news about the pay, a board game convention sounds awesome Grin

I'm not feeling great today, scratchy throat and a bit achey. Not got much on luckily, meeting a friend for coffee in a bit and have belated parents evening after school as missed it before Easter when dd was unwell. Haven't been overly impressed with her teacher thus far in year 5 so will be interesting to see if she feels dd has made any progress!

needastrongone · 04/05/2016 08:54

Cag, well done on getting through that, and the full pay Grin. You can mentally close that chapter now, sometimes having finality can help one process their feelings about the situation. Your day sounded lovely too.

Audit That's a lovely picture, and good to hear DE is down to earth and friendly.

Em You have tempted me re Israel, it sounds lovely, not been on my radar before. Well done on getting kudos from your colleague.

Will be another LSD, I need chicken feed and toilet roll (ALWAYS forget toilet roll, or have 400000000 rolls in the house Smile).

I also need to get permission to take DD out of school for 2 county fairs that the team have qualified to ride at, which will be fine as the school are supportive of team sport. They check achievement and attendance first, but there's no issue there. Parents evening tonight for DD, she has been given a high set of target grades to achieve, but she's a worker and a fighter (more so than DS, who will wing it to some extent) so she will be fine.

Frugal tea last night, made a tomato based sauce using the 'oldest' veggies in the fridge (muchroom, leek, pepper), mixed in some chorizo (for DS really) and served with pasta. Used up the grated cheese I buy to take away when we compete.

Right, must get to work.

Ursulatodd · 04/05/2016 08:54

Em your trip sounds wonderful! (Israeli champagne makes me think of Friends!)

Ipsos you mentioned recently that a teacher at your son's school had suggested strategies like going in for the morning and then home in the afternoon if feeling unwell. Maybe you could think of some similar strategies to suggest to EWO/school about how you will deal with frequent bouts of illness in the future. At this stage I think they're just looking to put a plan in place that you and the school can both agree on.

Cag we took DD to see Zootropolis a couple of weekends ago and out after using tesco vouchers! It was her first ever trip to the cinema and she loved it! (We're still laughing about the sloths now - 'Niiiiccccckkkk'!) enjoy your Midlands trip - I've always fancied the Birmingham back-to-backs (National Trust).

£14.85 on fuel for our new wood burner! It was ordered and paid for as part of our renovation at Christmas but was only installed yesterday. We need to test it out before it gets too warm! I'm hoping that come the winter we can save a bit of money on heating bills - does anyone have experience of whether wood/coal save money over gas central heating?

DontLetMeLetYouGo · 04/05/2016 09:34

Just a quick post here. My last shift on my ward. The relief is an understatement to be honest. Just need to sort out bank at the hospital and book myself shifts for community.

DontLetMeLetYouGo · 04/05/2016 09:34

Will catch up properly later.

PurpleRibbons · 04/05/2016 09:53

Wow, thank you for all your lovely messages yesterday, I ran out of time to check in yesterday but have just caught up. You are all right, the rest did me a lot of good and I feel a thousand times better today! DH helped me to blitz the kitchen last night, we've cleared all the clutter and scrubbed all the work tops, cooker and sink. I did the floor this morning, it looks amazing! I've also dusted/polished/vacuumed downstairs; put away all the washing except for one load I'm about to peg out and been to B&M for some new scourers and washing up brushes.

No sign of Roland Rat yesterday thank goodness. I've named him to make him seem less scary.

I have to confess to falling off the wagon yesterday though. Went out to buy foundation and ended up getting blusher too. Then bought 2 nice notebooks and a wash bag Paperchase plus a little treat for my mum. Then I spent a tenner in Hotel Chocolat on treats for DH as I seem to be out/working a lot lately and he's picking up all the slack at home. Also got a small toy for DD in Tiger but I managed to resist all the lovely art & craft things!

Well done Cag on your meeting, that's great news about getting 4 weeks pay too. Also congrats to *Lilac's' DH on the new job.

Em your trip sounds amazing, pleased you've enjoyed it.

I'm wondering what to clean next, I'm on roll...

Cagliostro · 04/05/2016 09:54

Thank you everyone Thanks

I'm such a twit, I forgot that I'd booked onto the Kidzania trip when we were supposed to be in Birmingham! FFS. Might still be able to manage both particularly if DH manages to change his time off. Stupid brain! Blush

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Ipsos · 04/05/2016 10:33

Ursula thanks, yes I'm getting it all written out bullet-pointed in a hard backed note book even now. Ds is mornings only this week. We're a bit bored at home because we're not getting after school playground time, but it beats the heck out of being lonely and ill, which is where we would have been next week if we hadn't had afternoons off this week. Smile

Em your holiday sounds very interesting indeed. I am religious but it never would have occurred to me to go to Israel. It's lovely to be able to see it through your eyes. I'd love to hear more if you have time to give us commentary. :-)

WreckTangled · 04/05/2016 11:06

Isn't life great when the sun is shining? Smile

What is this? ---> Angry Bird

I've done day 1 of the 30 day shred. I won't be able to do it every day but I must lose a stone! I've done it before and I quite enjoy it.

Dd went to school dressed as a Victorian to celebrate their centenary. I've just tidied their room as it was so messy.

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