The Fantastic Frugalleers Meander into May.....

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

Thought it was about time I started a new thread

Babe so glad your DS is ok. Those falls can be nasty. Sometimes life just gets you down because a lot of small things all add up to make life shit. But you need to take care of your self. And if you need ADs then so be it. Most of us have been there. I know I have more than once.
Love those pink skinnys Em.
I have felt lazy all day today. Sometimes you just need to flop about and do sod all....don't you?
Cag, what is transformations in maths...totally puzzled???

need nice one.

Wahey Team Need! Great result. :)

I'm going to have to google what sports boots for ponies are, but til then I've got a lovely image of a pony in wellies. Or perhaps Uggs. :)

Trying transformations are part of geometry - they are things like reflections and rotations. So if you say had a triangle drawn on a grid, you might need to rotate it around a certain point by a certain angle, and then figure out what it would look like after you've done so. It's fun! :o

Need to confess to a frugal sin, I'm signing up to a book subscription thing. Not one where they send you unsolicited stuff (my mum caught caught out by those when I was young apparently!) but it's a friend who sells Usborne stuff cheaply, and you do a wishlist so you know they'll get stuff they like. Roughly £5 a month each, another friend is doing it and her kids love it, and partly I'm just so happy to see how much my DCs love books now (especially considering DS could barely read when he left school last year!). Mostly non-fiction as DD especially prefers that.

And I spent ages this evening researching the wishlist rather than doing the multitude of stuff I should have been doing! Bad Cag

I had a little surge of energy around midnight though () so lots of dusting and organising ready for tomorrow (errr today).

Sounds like a great idea cag.
Shattered this morning Dh got called into work at stupid o clock which woke me up. Cup of tea and I'll get on.

Today will be Spendy. I'm taking back some things at lunch but then have an accupuncture appointment later on this evening. So the refund will be cancelled out.

I've decided I'm giving up drinking for a while. I think this is part of the reason I've been feeling so lousy. Worked out that until yesterday I hadn't had a day where I'd had nothing to drink for 2 weeks. At least 2 large glasses of wine a day. No wonder I've been feeling ick.

have also enquired about a food intolerance test. But may leave this until after our trip to Italy. Do not want to be told to cut everything out before going to the places with the lovely food have been feeling iffy the past few weeks after eating bread and dairy. Hoping it's just because I'm either having too much or because I've drink too much recently if you see what I mean and my systems gone a bit crazy.

Must buy more probiotics.

Should be nsd haven't got any plans. It's chucking it down. Going to do some exercise and housework.

NSD planned here, ds1 has a full day of preschool and ds2 and I have swimming this morning. Dh is off to London till tomorrow.

NSD planned. I'm working from home today. Have prepped something for lunch, dw is on its first round and have already hung out the washing! I'm knackered already!!

Yesterday spendy day. Bought most of the school uniforms from m&s as its having a 20% sale on uniforms. Also bought a pair of cropped trousers for me. Got over £40 so got the beauty box for £10. I usually never do these sorts of deals but I think the products in there are really good quality! And most things I will use. I don't do the boots no7 one coz I don't really get on with their products.

Went to h&m to get summer clothes for the kids and dh. £50 or so I think. Frugal win, came home to have lunch! Ordinarily I would have succumbed to something in town but I made it home and had lunch at 2.30!

Saturday was all day at work. Friday was in London. Have put in the claims.
Happy work week everyone.

Em do you take a multi vitamin? Might be worth getting your bloods checked at some point as vitamin D deficiency can make you feel really lousy as well as anaemia. If you're TTC there are probably specific vitamins to take as well.

I am enjoying the last day off of my holiday, back to work tomos its been a lovely long break though - much needed!

Am off to see a friend in a bit who has offered me all her boxes as she moved recently, also going to investigate summer childcare options a bit more.

Dd has her London residential trip next week so starting to think about what she needs to take with her, found out they are going to see Matilda - lucky girl!!

Oooh lucky DD Girlie!

I meant to say yesterday, that childcare seems quite pricey - is it council run? We used a council playscheme thing last year and that was not much over £30 for TWO children (something like £18 for the first, and sibling discount) 8.30-5.30.

I'm seriously loving having a printer at last. And a laminator. Resources agogo for class today.

Bringing DD to the doctor later so it's going to be an expensive day - €50/€60 for GP visit and maybe extra for antibiotics.

It's raining as well

On a positive note, I'm looking forward to the match later although I don't rate our chances against Sweden.

Having a worse day now. The school just phoned and said that they got my envelope for the book rental scheme but it was empty. There should have been €30 in it. They said the envelope was sealed with sellotape (which sounds right) but it was empty.

Tayto hope your dd feels better soon, ouch to your GP charges.
Babs glad your ds is okay
wreck definitely serve the salad on dh's plate, as you say he needs to lead by example.
need well done to the ponies.

Well it's been like a monsoon here this morning. Ds has a cricket match tonight, it's about 10 miles away and apparently hasn't rained at all there so it's likely to be on.
Our weekend was cricket, cricket, cricket as usual, didn't spend much though.
Today is the last day of my 12 days off which has been wonderful, busy but refreshing. I'm wading through a huge pile of ironing and trying to get ahead with cooking meals for the rest of the week. Hopefully there will be enough of everything to eat some, freeze some. I'm trying to use what we already have so that we just need fresh fruit & veg.
We're away to visit dh's family in Devon at the weekend so I need to be organised. Plans for the loft conversion are coming together nicely (but more expensive than originally planned) so we need to keep on the frugal path.

I've been a bit awol- apologies.

It's going to be a tight month this month and next. I'm not looking forward to it.

I'm having an operation tomorrow for same thing as last time. This time I'll get no sick pay as I'm on zero hours. I'm hoping to see how I feel by end of week and maybe return to shorter shift hours next week just to earn a little bit.

One good thing is that my DS won't be having his activity as much in next few weeks due to show rehearsals which is a God send in some ways. He'll still have one or two a week but that's okay. I'm still saving money.

It's my birthday Friday. I'm not sure what's planned. I can't be bothered if I'm honest.

I'm trying to stay upbeat but I'm feeling rather down. I hate worrying about money.

Don't you share a birthday with my dd and my grandad mine is Wednesday and I doubt I'll do much

Well done the non-drinking and thinking about food Em. Even a few days off will probably work wonders.

For some reason a lot of my friends just found they didn't tolerate some things quite so well once they got into their 30s. It generally goes in the order: alcohol, sugar, caffeine, dairy, wheat. Cutting down a bit is often transformative.

The upside of this age, for me at least, is that in my 30s I cared much less about what society thought of me and was surrounded by people who like me just as I am. The net result was that life was a bit nicer, and also cheaper, as I spent less on food treats and thought more about just enjoying watching life happen. I hope it turns out to be a positive thing for you too.

Ah sorry you are down too Dont it really is a daily grind isn't it?

Sorry to the poorly Frugaleers/MiniFrugaleers as well.

Got notification of a cancelled piano lesson for a few weeks, but I expected that due to her exams, so at least I know now (and it's the one I have to rush home from Brownies for in a taxi, so that works out well).

As we were all busy cleaning and getting ready, I also came up with another couple of ideas for clubs we could run due to our 'skill set'/interests (one will be run by DH not me). Got a fair bit of interest as soon as I posted it on the local group. I think for the first time, today I actually feel properly positive about this whole change in work situation. I mean for ages I've been getting accustomed to the loss of my job. And I've been able to say yes, it's sad but it's ok because I have these other options and it's exciting. But now I am really thinking this isn't just a silver lining, or me making the best of a bad situation, it's actually WAY better. I know it won't all be plain sailing to be self employed but I am really really happy. :)

I know just what you mean there Ipso - for me it's not come with age but with changing communities. Entering the local home ed 'scene' has totally transformed my life, as I'm actually accepted and welcomed and have 'found my people' rather than being at the school gate where I really didn't fit in and life was miserable feeling like an outcast. Now I can just be myself. :)

£150 on theatre tickets will get 1/3 back from my step mum. Will be giving dd a ticket for her birthday.

Well tomorrow I'm going to have to spend £9 on a hair cut for ds1. He told me he needed a hair cut this morning. He had a go himself at preschool I laughed way too much.

€50 for doc and €20 for prescription. The pharmacist told me he was saving me a bit by dispensing tablets you swallow rather than the soluble ones the doctor prescribed. DD is well able to swallow tablets so I've no issue with that.

Yes girlie ive been takin a multivitamin with a probiotic and also get vit d injections occasionally.

I had glandular fever a few years ago (awful) so know that I should take better care of myself otherwise I feel run down. It's all very well knowin something though isn't it....I just need to act upon it. I'm guessing it's just an excess of everything.

I know I don't sleep well if I've been drinking so if I'm tired I'm more likely to get run down. And repeat.

Anyhoo. Put £70 ish back on my card today as got things refunded.

Spoke to easyjet. Who have refused to refund the hold bags. I was told that it's their policy not to refund. Have told them that I'll just bring the biggest suitcase I have (it's huge I can fit in it...) and will check it in and it's not my fault if someone needs the luggage space. childish and when asked whether I wanted them to make a special exception for me I said yes I bloody did!! I'm not getting my refund am I...? it's annoying as its £150 ish I could do with. Sigh. Should have realised within 24 hours of booking I didn't need the hold bags.

Lesson learned. On both sides. I've learned to think more carefully. And easyjet will learn not to think someone won't take the biggest bag she has just to spite them.

Email the CEO, customer services don't give a shit. It's free to do.

Gesture of goodwill for a loyal customer and shit.

Thanks all re DD. They did well. at Ugg boots for ponies... fluffy, yes, the team always freeze a bit under pressure, which is a shame as they would be outstanding if they didn't, but they can't seem to get past it at present.

Good luck for the operation Don't, life can be a grind sometimes can't it?

Tayto That's not great about the money. Can you get the school to recheck and be quite firm with them? Sounds odd. It's quite a lot of money too.

Cag Life has a habit of providing new opportunities, and I think sometimes our paths are mapped out for us to some extent, without us knowing.

Glad you feel rested north, with a good long break from it all. Life here is ponies, ponies and ponies, plus DS GCSE's, I am knackered and I sympathise.

Spends today:
£20 M&S but bought lots of reduced and chicken.
£50 Morrisons.
£30 Abel and Cole.

Shopping will have to change a bit now. DS has basically finished school now, and him being home during the day is changing how we eat. Loads of tins of beans and tuna, bacon, applies and cereal have been bought.

I caught a pig today!!! It had escaped at the farm while I was down waiting for the vet to come out for Dpony's booster injection. I was merrily making his feed and it pottered past me right out into the farmyard. I was thinking 'shit', it's going to go off up the lane so I got a broom and sort of rounded it up, it kept avoiding me and grunting. Took ages, little sod. It's very friendly though so it was quite funny. Then they told me it was all caught on CCTV and they didn't come out and help as it was so funny