The Friendly Frugaleers, figuring out our finances with furry feline photos!

[Cagliostro]

Hello all :)

Cag DH and I have been cutting our fizzy drinks right down too recently, it's going well. But I find the more you drink the more you want one! A few days ago he got a few cans from Poundland and we had one each with our tea, I hadn't really even thought about fizzy drinks in weeks but then the next day I wanted another one!! We mostly drink water and various teas at home, and try and take water bottle with us when out and about. We also have squash sometimes at home, and then fruit juice with our dinner. We are trying to keep fizzy drinks more of a treat now and just for meals out etc, for health and money reasons.

Hi all. Yesterday £17 in Waitrose on not much, lunches for work, fruit etc. Only went there in the hope of getting some cheap sistema bottles/boxes, but already gone. £75 dancing lessons balance,

Today £7.59 for McDonalds for tea, £38.01 for petrol (can reclaim).

Feeling shattered at the moment as overdue for a B12 injection, that is booked for next week.

Just slimming world £5 and one more book library fine 75p .

Signed up to valued opinions. Can't hurt can it. I'm assuming there are no suitable surveys for me at the moment as nothing happened when I clicked the find surveys button.

Unlike TCB! I clicked on one of those free cash back ones for signing up to a competition site, put some details in then realised some of the affiliates are things that charge like £4.50 a week or something. Yikes! I don't suppose I've accidentally signed up for that though, as they have no way of taking the money since I didn't put in my bank details (and if they take it by phone, I'm on prepay minutes so can't come out of that. It rattled me though I must admit - made me remember just how sneaky some companies are and how easy it is to click a thing here, a thing there and end up thoroughly down the rabbit hole (but no smoking caterpillars on the other side to make things interesting)

I'm waffling, must be sleepy. Should go to bed as I am teaching from 9.30am and need to tidy up a bit more.

I keep missing new posts! Thanks for the encouragement re fizzy stuff. It's my caffeine source as I don't drink tea or coffee. But yes i definitely feel that having one leads to wanting for more! I had epic cravings after my can of good old dr p. TBH I felt crappy generally after. I'm hoping that I can remember that when I next want one.

Cag I also don't drink tea or coffee, but rarely juices or cordials either so always get my 2 litres of water daily.

I find after a fizzy drink I need to go to toilet more urgently & frequently

I used to love Diet Coke but gave it up when expecting Dd 7 years because of the effects of aspartame on baby's developing brain & never went back to it.

I was a blood donor for years, never availed of the Guinness though just chocolate! After my post partum haemorrhages after having ds I received two units of blood & can't donate anymore as a result.

What you & your friends did was a lovely idea AGenie

In frugal nees I did my tax return last night & we are due €947 refund, I've a few more expense receipts to record so might be able to bring it up more

cag well done! In my office it's the norm to bring lunch. So less people buying drinks. Old work I'd have a can of Diet Coke on a daily basis. Now it's a weekly if not fortnightly occurance. More water here!

mammy woah!! Great frugalling tax refund!!!

Amazing mammy!

We've run out of coffee def need to get some. Not sure what I'll have for lunch either but I'll rustle something up. Ds has swimming lessons this morning.

Just remembered that I have a training thing at lunchtime but free lunch provided

I just missed a nice long post :(

Basically, gotta do the meal plan today. And wait in for a delivery (that didn't show yesterday). Then I'm going out for a naice country walk.

Also, I have to start thinking about potty training. DS knows what the toilet is for (and is excited!) but he doesn't recognise when he's been for a wee in his nappy. He just goes. Plus he only does a #2 ever 3 or 4 days. So that'll make things really tricky. Apparently potty training after the 3rd bday is not good. But I can't rush him, can i? I also think moving house will confuse things! I want to wait until January but am feeling the pressure. I know this isn't frugal related but it kinda is as I have to buy a toilet seat, pants, pull ups for night time and do many more loads of washing! and save ££££££ on not buying nappies!

I need to do my tax return! Haven't got the foggiest how to do it mind you

Hmm thickly throat is back. Hoping I can fend it off a second time

I'm annoyed, I signed up to nectar and put my mobile number in so I could get a text with my card number on (thus not having to wait to start earning points) has a text arrived, noooo.

Thickly? I meant tickly.

That's a fantastic tax rebate!
Collie we tried potty training in the summer, it was a total disaster! DD was excited about wearing pants but can't tell when she needs/has done a wee so we had a lot of accidents and she got very frustrated. We've knocked it on the head for now but I'm keen to do it before she turns 3 and before the twins arrive.
I quite like giving blood, nice lie down for 20 mins and biscuits afterwards! It's also such an important thing to do.
Hoping for another NSD today. Have a friend coming round with her kids to play with DD and my mum is bringing me some cooking apples.

Collie I haven't heard that about turning three. Both mine were nearer three than two and dry day and night in a few days. We had tried it a few weeks before with Ds but I think if it's not working after three days you should wait longer.

I would love to give blood but not allowed.

Both of mine were nearly 3 Collie, and trained very easily for leaving it later. DS literally had no accident, so was probably over ready to be honest. DD only a few. DS always stood to wee, so the toilet seat was hardly used. I think the key is lack of pressure.

Em Is now the time to mention my walk in wardrobe? You started it anyway by mentioning further boots when I had quelled my desire!

I can't remember which famous film star it was but, when asked her best beauty tip said 'drink water, drink water, drink water'.

Another tip to drink extra water, if relevant, is to keep water in the car. I get an extra litre a day by doing this. I drink loads. Fills you up.

Brill tax rebate Mammy, well done!

Should be a LSD. Making soup for tea as we are all eating at different times, so might indulge in buying crusty bread, as all the veg is home grown, so cheap.

DH took £20 out of my purse this morning.

DD had just turned 3 when she was potty trained. We'd tried it before that but it just didn't happen. But when she was ready it took a couple of days, and she ditched the night nappies at the same time. DS was slightly under 3 but same story - he was ready, so it was quick.

What really made the difference was NOT pestering them to sit on the potty etc, I just left them to it and accepted (reluctantly) that there would be accidents. It made it quicker I think as they were having to realise themselves rather than being led by me.

Snuggly good plan to try and get it done before the twins arrive. However it is very common for children to regress when new siblings come along so I'd still keep the nappies etc for a while.

Also never heard that about potty training collie dd was still having accidents on her 4th birthday and ds trained before he turned 2 and now at almost 3 can have 4 accidents in one day and nothing for months again

cag can't offer you any advice on tax return as I'm in Ireland. I've just one more to do for October next year and that's me finished with being self employed then.

em also the norm here to bring your lunch which is fantastic, and most people eat healthily too. People used to look at me a bit funny for bringing in my lunch at last job as we worked in a shop I was a frugaleer then too over 8 years ago.

Just did up a Christmas budget in ynab

Oh phew! Loving the potty training stories! I'm being nagged by nursery. They said he was "behind" for not being toilet trained. The gits. But I can't force him to know when he needs a wee. I'll wait until new year then! He'll be 3 and 2 months in January

Thank you all it's a good job this nursery lady is only a temp.

:)

Woohoo, managed to cancel one of the SIM cards, just waiting for my other DSD to reset her password.

Waiting for my first pupil to arrive :) should earn £38 today for all 3. Evening pupil does mean I have to get a taxi back from Brownies but then don't need to again until November as she has rehearsals for a show, so can't do lessons. But due to the taxi thing, when this pupil cancels I'm only down a fiver rather than a tenner IYSWIM.

I also need to rearrange my Thursday pupil as the sort-of-childcare plans have fallen through. Stressing about that as I know they are busy most days but I really don't want to lose them (hopefully the feeling is mutual).

The two friends I'm supposed to be seeing at the weekend for our night in have kind of fallen out. I am not liking this 'stuck in the middle' feeling.

Ds1 and ds2 were easy to toilet train just after their second birthdays. Ds3 was 3 years and 2 months before he was ready. The nursery were giving me grief over it but he was completely dry within a week and has never had an accident since during the day, nights were another story.

Hoping for a NSD today. I bought cooking chocolate in Lidl yesterday so going to make some chocolate crispy cakes for ds3's lunchbox. Still waiting for free school meals to be sorted.

Trying to keep up with this thread but it moves so fast! Wrote a big post last night and then managed to lose it.
Work is really stressful just now and I'm trying really hard not to default to online shopping which is my usual release mechanism. Need to find other non-money related ways to de-stress.

For any Sainsbury's shoppers out there: there are loads of freebies to get with your online shop at the moment!

Shreddies MAX cereal
Knorr Stock Pots x 4
Little Dish toddler meal
Tub of houmous
Lurpack Infusions 115g
Knorr recipe mix

Scroll down for voucher codes Sainsbury's offers if you shop online

Just did my shop for £65. I think that's the last full shop I do before moving because I can't face packing cupboards full of food!

Cag I was just reading the reviews of this magnesium oil on amazon and the first one says it is brilliant for Fibro. I wondered if that was something that you'd tried? I'm thinking of having a go myself.

www.amazon.co.uk/Better-Magnesium-Original-Spray-100ml/dp/B002VPDX4W/ref=sr_1_1_a_it?ie=UTF8&qid=1475059569&sr=8-1&keywords=better+you+magnesium+oil

My god your all so fast, can't keep up with the speed of the tread I'm sick, have a cold, sore trough and a hideous headache and can't take a damn thing due to baby dd... Woofeeckinghooo...
But at least it's a nsd, because I refuse to do anything. Ignoring my long list of stuff I ought to do...