Super Scrimpers sashay, save & --squander-- their way through September

[lilacclery]

Thought I'd start us off!

I burnt fish fingers last night collie. Properly burnt.

fluffy I always burn fish fingers. I can't get them right. The other day I caught them on fire in my grill and they were a bit frozen in the middle. domesticated

I've barred Millie from the living room. She's in the hallway. With her food bed litter a chair to hide under a fleecey blanket on said chair to sit on if she so wishes. I'm taking control back.

She can run up and down the hall. There's nothing she can damage. If she pees i can wipe it up and we're replacing the hallway carpet (the bit that's carpeted) next year. So it's not much of an issue.

Have you tried zylkene? It's a milk protein capsule you sprinkle in her food.

It really relaxes them and she seems a traumatised cat.

You can buy it off amazon or pets at home.

Will give it a try. Thanks! I think I'm expecting far far too much.

£7 in co-op on some bread, pastry, a lotto ticket for friday and some self adhesive hooks.
I am really tired, just having a coffee and hope my energy levels will come back up again. I've got lots to do :)

£8 something in tesco on lunch, bread, cream cheese and reduced fruit.

Ds is finally signed up for swimming after six months on the waiting list. Will be another £30 a month and is on a day I was hoping to do overtime as I'm so poor

Welcome Ineed.

Iceland don't deliver to us

Em I think see how the the toileting issues go, for me that would be cause for concern. You need to be able to trust that your cat isn't going to wee/poo on the sofa!

I use Iceland for frozen chopped onion, pepper, stew base, peas, string beans, microwave rice, usually good offers on branded stuff. I get waffles, chips, quorn, lollies. The loo roll and kitchen roll is decent. I couldn't do a full shop but it's OK. The party food is nice too.

Hope Millie behaves in the hall em.
Happy birthday need ds.
Need to meal plan and shop but frankly can't be arsed.

£10 Amazon, £2.5 eBay, £40 play mobil

Hi ineedsomehelp ask questions, post scenarios as to financial decisions you're unsure of etc here. Great blend of knowledge & experience & advice here.

Love that counselling taught you that girlie I figured it out about a year or so back that it was all about dh & dc & their wants & needs and have tried to put myself first a bit more since.

Genie that's an interesting theory about hairdresser getting nails done etc. My hairdresser would have been instrumental in me getting counselling but she's my colleagues sister & would 'know' me anyhow.
I might get my nails done for wedding in a few weeks actually

£18.50 in Sainsbo's, included a bottle of red.
£60 Christmas present.

Thunder and lightning here

girlie its concerning me too. But it's been 4 days and she's scared and stressed. I think being in a quieter smaller place might help. (and will help my sanity) because our living room/kitchen is all open plan its noisy to washing machine kettle extractor etc. It might calm her a bit. I've read a few things online and all have said that the average time for settling a rescue is 3 weeks. Ours is not average. I'm expecting that by the end of October we'll see a massive difference. Long term thinking.

The vets I've registered with are great. They are patient and caring and sympathetic. I've spoken to them initially and have been reassured that I'm doing the right thing.

She's eating so that's a start. I want to get her on a routine. And for her to associate me with food.

Other news. Our new bathroom is finished!!!! apart from a huge mirror but that's on order just the bills to pay then!

Em, can we have a pic of your bathroom? I do hope Millie is ok. I think when they are a little older, ie not a kitten, they take a bit longer to settle. They are all different.
Happy birthday Need DS
AGenie , I think you are right about nail techs and hairdressers. I tell my hairdresser lots of things I wouldn't tell others. It is therapeutic. We should get them on prescription from the NHS for stress.
NSD again YAY. I think that is 8 this month ( too busy to go to shops)

She pooped in her litter box!!!! it was huge and smelled but she pooped in her box!!!!!!

She's now sitting in her Travel box in the hallway. She is such a clever.

Ta da!

I have to admit, seeing the start of the last two posts on threads I'm on, which said "she pooped in her box" and "tada!" I had a momentary panic about what picture you'd uploaded :o that'd take mad cat lady to a whole new level :o

Seriously though gorgeous bathroom, looks like a posh hotel :) awesome.

Wreck I'm purely being nosey here but I'm wondering if that extortionate recorder club was individual or group teaching. Anyway what I meant to say was that if DC wants to learn, you can get a decent recorder (Aulos is great) for under a tenner and there's a really good book called 'recorder from the beginning', also usborne do one. Should be fairly easy to learn at home.

Sorry about the stress collie [hands over all the cake]

It's an interesting point about manicures etc. Honestly it's like a nightmare to me, I would never feel comfortable in that situation. I am not neurotypical though, with the asd. But no just no. Don't touch my hands. Or my feet, never the feet! I'd probably end up involuntarily kicking them. :o

I totally agree doing things for oneself is vital though. My friend - who has a toddler and is struggling with second pregnancy - wisely said the other day "you don't just have a baby, you give birth to a guilt complex" :) true I thought.

I find other stuff relaxes me in a way that having nails etc done wouldn't. Puzzles/games, reading, seeing a film with a friend etc. Have to say since making a lot more mum friends (when I started home ed - basically no mum friends before that) my mental health has improved dramatically as I have people to talk to, whether in person or on our group FB chat.

Girlie That sounds great. I was nervous of it last time, but this lady that I'm seeing is amazing. It's like having a personal management consultant. I tell her all the people-troubles that I'm having and she helps me work out how to finesse the various situations so that we can get things under control. She says that I need to soften my language a bit so I'm looking into books on diplomatic skills.

The other thing that she does that's incredibly helpful, is that If I get really stressed talking about a problem and my stomach starts to knot up, then we stop and do a meditation thing for 5 minutes and then I'm unknotted and we go back to problem solving. It's the most fantastically useful thing.

INeed we have an Aldi and and Iceland next door to each other too. I wonder if they travel in pairs?

Gorgeous bathroom em I agree with cag like a hotel bathroom.
Also em you'll be unreal when you're a mom because you're being a great mom to Millie.

Last night I spent €25 getting my haircut & blowdried & after sleeping on it last night I'm going to have to blow dry it again

TGIF!!!

Wreck could your dh take ds swimming so you can do overtime? Even sometimes?

My car insurance will refund me €40 when I change cars
Must price changing au pair to mine, that'll probably cancel out the savings

Cag I think it's individual.

Nice bathroom em!

Been raining all night and still going now.

Lilac they're at 10:15 on a weds morning so he can't.

Should be nsd.

Nice bathroom em. Hurrah for Millie. Maybe the smaller space is helping her feel more secure.
We have aldi and Iceland together x2 (1 also has lidl) and in my mams town.
Nsd planned, dh pay day. £250 on dance fees will be cashed soon.
Thunder in the night and rumbling on atm.

Ineed we are a chatty bunch but post away with the frugal stuff too, no worries all have the same motivation.

Smyth's toys bonus/ discount weekend has started apparently

WreckCat refuses to go out when it's raining. He's better not poo on my floor! We've got rid of the litter tray.

Thanks guys - posh hotel is the look we were going for. There's going to be a big mirror on the wall behind the sink. But that's on order. It came in under budget too. We think total spend was £4,500 or thereabouts. Budget was £6k. We managed to get a lot in the sales. Yay!

I promise I'll never post a picture of cat poop.

My mum has been asking how she's getting on. Last nights text consisted purely of emojis (mums just got herself an iPhone) and was simply this "😺💩📦"

Hoping for nsd today.

I think Dh might be out again tonight.

Payday on Wednesday.

Then we can start paying the bathroom bills. And our parish rates £363 due by 29 oct. Sort of like council tax I guess (based on sq footage of property we own/occupy). May save that one for octobers payday though.

You've nailed the posh hotel look Em, I love the bath. It's going to make your house much more desirable when you sell & £4.5k is good going.

I forgot yesterday £3.50 for facial sunscreen. free home delivery or £1.50 c&c. Go figure.

I've got another £10 JL voucher coming, that's 3 in 3 weeks.

If wreck cat isn't keen on crossing his legs you're in for an interesting winter there wreck. I'm trying to train our cat that the bath is OK to wee in. It's easily washable and preferable to the side of our bed. Plus I use the shower