May the frugaleering be with you - frugal chat and support for frugalers old and new.

[babsmam]

I took the liberty as we were nearly at the end of the last one.

This one cag I'm going to visit the parents later and see if they still have them. I re-read Malory towers and st Clare's a few years ago. Took me right back!

Good for you east.

Yes Cag she thought they were poorly written.

I've done the shred, ab challenge and bum challenge dh at work so just house work and enjoying the lovely weather again

It was quite fashionable in the eighties and nineties to ban or look down on Enid Blyton. My tutor at university was rather condescending when I answered The Secret Island was my favourite childhood book, and told me to go back and read it through adult eyes. Well, I did, and it was just as wonderful as I remembered! I call it my comfort book and whenever I feel in turmoil, turn to it. It's like being wrapped up tight in a soft, warm blanket.

I don't know that farm one. But I remember the secret island! One of my other favourites was the Secret of Moon Castle. I've had a liking for L-shaped rooms ever since. :)

Got the final night refunded from Travelodge. Then booked the Holiday Inn instead of Travelodge for Leicester, since it's got a pool and a half board option which seemed like a good deal too good to be true possibly - the website is confusing me though, not nearly so polished and user friendly as the others. And I went through Quidco this time, should be about £20 cashback.

Good going, Cag.

I've just ordered some garden screen fencing from Primrose, as one of the reasons I don't like using my back garden, is the view of my neighbour's back garden. This is what I have had to put up with for nearly a year, and it looks MUCH worse in real life . 3 rolls of reed screening for £53.97.

I may have just downloaded the secret island to my kindle. Goodbye productive afternoon.

We are at the theme park again today. I'm eating a picnic whilst DS goes on teacups. It's warm weather, so we brought food and drink with us. Having a couple hours here before he goes to his dad's. Then I need to crack on with my to do list.

Blimey that was spendy. £100 in matalan, £10 asda, £15 Argos, £50 fuel.

Afternoon pottering about now. I think I'm addicted to raspberry magnums

Happy reading, Em.

Hello! Wreck your garden is a stunner - I'm surprised you ever choose to go out anywhere on days like today!

We're in the process of updating our garden. Creme we had a similar problem with extremely low walls (I think Victorians must have enjoyed talking to their neighbours ) and have tried various screening over the years. This year we've had proper fences put up and it's amazing! I do love my neighbours but it's nice to be in the garden and not feel forced into chatting. Our project for the weekend has been to relocate a flower bed. £120ish in B&Q yesterday.

Went out last night to a friend's party. Only spent £30 between us whilst there but also spent £30 on a babysitter.

Checked the freezer and have done a meal plan and shop- £30
Pulled pork , salad, wraps
Carbonara
Rice/chorizo dish
Turkey stir fry
Baked potatoes
Fish , sweet potato wedges , green beans
Pork fajitas
It's a bit pork heavy but means that I can have an empty freezer next week , ready for ice lolly season! I'm meant to be on a diet but have decided that dieting and frugaleering is hard work so will have 2/3 of my usual portion . I love Enid boy ton too , is there a museum or anything dedicated to her?

We need a freezer week too. It was supposed to be this week but we've ended up with takeaway/meals out etc instead must get a grip!

I loved Enid blyton and read every single one of her books my mum kept them all in the loft n think my niecve is reading them now.

Cag if you book the space center online I think when you visit you can upgrade to an annual pass free embarrassed to say despite living here we haven't taken ds1 yet and he will be 6 this summer.

Sounds cool East thanks :) FWIW I don't think it's always worth taking young children to places like that when they're that age (especially if you have to pay for it!)

I've just used £7.50 clubcard vouchers to get £30 off at Thinktank. So should be about a tenner on top.

I do need to sort out where we will be leaving our luggage though. We're having two nights at Leicester, so we can do the space centre on the Thursday, then on Friday we'll get on a(nother) train to Birmingham so maybe I should get early check in so we can dump our stuff and then go to the museum? Hmm.

Cag there are often luggage storage places at train stations?

We've got roast chicken for dinner with Caesar salad and wraps for the dc. My phone says it's 26 but I think it's hotter!

Dh still at work and he's been doing ground work today.

I get really swollen ankles when it's hot

Check if the train station has a left luggage, Cag. Probably cheaper than early check-in.

Great minds, Wreck.

Thank you! I will do that. Think we're going to New Street. :)

Whoa. No it's not cheaper, quote is £24 for 3 suitcases! Early check in is a tenner. Ah well worth a try!

Hello :-)

We got the magic wishing chair and a new illustrated thing that is a sort early reader famous five. I can't remember which one. They're short stories, so not the usual long novels. Ds likes them. The first story of the Magic wishing chair is kind of weird. The two children come home from boarding school to only the cook. Their parents are away but have bought them 36 bottles of fizzy drinks for the weekend, and some buns. That's attachment parenting right there.

Creme I'm thinking of getting some of that screening too. Is it good?

I have name changed. You can probably guess who I am though.

Have a look on Primrose.com, Ipsogenix (nice name change) and see what you think. I've gone for the bamboo 4m x 2m. I only ordered it today, so I hope it looks good in reality. I'm sure proper fencing is better, but I don't have the money and don't plan to stay here longer than a few years.

Cag, really surprised about that! It's worth knowing, so glad you found it out.

Ooh Ipso I like those FF books if you mean the ones from this range
Here - they're actually EB original stories, as opposed to some of the others around, so it satisfies the purist in me! And DD lapped them up when she wasn't confident enough to read the full books to herself.

Yes those are exactly the ones Cag. We like them too. Ds doesn't hold concentration for long enough to manage the FF novels yet. Ds is onto Tintin now and loving that, so I feel we have a good long run before I need to find a new series. (Phew!)

The Faraway Tree books were my absolute favourite books by Enid Blyton, I read and re-read them again and again, I read EB tons.

I don't know if this is really old fashioned now, but DD used to have a CD player, and we used to buy her all the classics to listen to, as she used to love to play in her room for hours and hours as a child. All the EB stuff, tons of Dahl, Horrible Histories. I still have them all, not a lot of cases for them any more, but I am happy to post them to anyone that wants them, free. They are being wasted in a box somewhere.

Scorching here.

DD's team qualified for the next stage of the most important competition of the year today, but only by a whisker, as they were frankly shite, and ought to have qualified with ease.This also qualifies them to ride at a lot of horse trials, as you have to be a certain standard to do so. The pony was a lunatic, as I have been feeding him a different feed all week, which is far higher in sugar, so he was rearing and bucking with excitement the whole time, but super super fast, which they needed. DD just grinned, she's not scared and experienced enough not to deal with him. His previous owners were there and were laughing their heads off, they warned me of the consequences of feeding him sugar We've got to be really friendly with them, he's not the easiest, but his character wins folk over.

DH 'borrowed' £20 from my purse and it's all gone on things like bacon sandwiches and coffee, which I could have got him from the horse box, so £20 wasted.