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

[Cagliostro]

Hello all :)

Thanks need that's good to know.

I miss Lilac and I'm thinking that that's because I didn't twig when she namechanged. Would that be right?

Brand new water meter at the new house! Yay! Which is fantastic because our monthly usage is roughly £50 a month LESS than standard water rates. Phew phew and PHEW!

Yes she did name change genie.
Collie come to darlo. A 500k house would be awesome round there. Love house porn.
I microwave frozen veg, tis a godsend. Boil steam or roast fresh.
Cake in t'oven. Too much mix so sandwich cake waiting to go in.
Nsd

Oh I'd love to life

£500k is waaaaay beyond our tiny tiny real life budget I just love history & architecture. I bet a grade II listed house is freezing cold in the Winter! Brrrrrrr.

Tuna pasta bake for tea. Hearty & cheap.

A doubtful frugal win: DH has promised me that my beautiful area rug is rolled up in the loft! I don't believe him. But if it is - it would be wonderful! But I don't believe him at all. The thought of DH struggling to get a rolled up rug in the loft is hilarious. Up a ladder & in a small hatch. I'll buy the man a beer if he got it up there! I don't remember discarding of it though. I wonder where it went cos there's no way it's in the loft

cag :( feel better soon, my love

No way I could afford £500k either. Double what we could stretch too. We can but dream collie.

The only things I don't like the microwave for are jacket potatoes and scrambled eggs.

Genie, the poster above you on the thread is the poster you're asking after. I steam veg the old-fashioned way, in a sieve over a pan of boiling water.

One day you'll end up in the North East, Collie. You know you want to!

Agenie I was busy all weekend only catching up properly today cheers though x

I'm starving but hoping dh is home so I can go to my Unislim class, won't eat if I'm going do I want to go to class or eat more

Collie Fab, when you move in look here www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/free-water-saving-packs and order whatever you can get.

I use a metal steamer insert over the potatoes to cook veg. It saves me putting another ring on the hob. Like this one

I use plates as the lid to save microwaving them.

£4 Aldi. Too worn out to do homemade Chinese curry so it's chicken crispy bakes. Got cat food and a yoghurt.
£14 cleanser. Fab new company called fabled gave me a 15% discount and an Ocado driver will deliver it tomorrow for free!

I used to order it in in John Lewis but I don't want to pay for click and collect and I can't afford two right now. They did say they are trying to change shopping habits and it's working, just not in there favour.

I wish I'd mentioned padding before.

*their.

I do veg for the DC in the microwave as it's quicker. DH made me a lovely chocolate microwave cake last week when I was having a shit day, was ridiculously easy just with stuff from the cupboard. Le yum.

Still catching up, thanks Collie I don't feel so bad now. Annoyingly tomorrow is supposed to be my afternoon in London by myself :( hoping I can manage it as this opportunity doesn't come along often!

Genie re: ASD referral we wrote down some of the behaviours that made us suspect they are on the spectrum. Things like unusual prosody, sensory under/oversensitivity (with specific examples), social problems etc.

It can be particularly useful to categorise the issues according to the Triad of Impairment - there's some good descriptions on the NAS website (national autistic society).

Basically you just write a list that may as well have the title "reasons my kid ain't normal" :o :o

The difficulty lies in the fact that most individual traits can be found in anyone, but it's the combination/severity that make a diagnosis likely.

Always at the end of a PM if you want a chat.

Thanks Cag. I think we're a bit borderline, but ideally I'd like the lessons without the label, iykwim. Very interested to know what you find.

Mammy glad to know it's you. I got confused as several people changed at the same time.

I'm tempted to name change but the last time was completely unsuccessful

cag really hope you get to go to London tomorrow

We're watching Mary berry on tv.

We're doing Christmas this year. Dh has decided that this year instead of turkey we're making a beef wellington. expensive but we've never made one.

My thoughts were 28 hour slow cooked beef. But I do love a Wellington.

No more spending this week (unless spending my gift cards).

Removed my nails and have buffed and out oil and clear polish on them. Appointment is a week on Friday so loads of time for them to air and re-grow.

Cat face purred today. And rubbed her head against my hand. (Mostly because She's too impatient to wait for dinner to get from packet into her bowl and because I'm too slow to get food into bowl).

Thanks AGenie, that experiment was real citizen science. And yes I too microwave frozen veg but I looked at the steamer fluffy recommended and think I might get one.
Cag., I do hope you make it to London and have a fab time there.
Mammy that would really piss me off about the house.
NSD here. 3rd this month.

Queen Mary is the best, followed by Delia. We are having beef this year too, may run to a Wellington.

£3.80 gym class.
I have one of those metal steamer which go on their own ring or fit a few of my pans out i put potato or pasta in the steamer base and make it do two things

Hi all, just sitting down now be so glad to finish the swimming lessons at Christmas, its def the thing that tips the balance in time/busyness/being knackered!

Had a shit day really, some woman went into the back of my car this morning, really hit it with a loud bang God knows how as we were crawling along in heavy traffic she was very apologetic but I am beyond fed up as its not long since I had some other woman crash into my stationary car!! Fair bit of damage to my rear bumper - grrrrr.

Dd also been upset this evening as there is a girl being horrible to her, its been going on a little while but I was hoping they would sort it out amongst themselves but it appears not Will ring the school tomorrow and try to speak to the teacher, its all quite subtle what this other girl does but dd was properly sobbing about it tonight.

So all in all a shit day!!

£40 petrol (budgeted) no other spends.

Sorry to hear people are still feeling poorly

Poor girl, women can be vile to each other.

You need an accident management to sort it out if it's her fault, they sort everything out like courtesy cars & compensation claims. You just take delivery of your courtesy car & hand the keys over to yours.

They recover the costs from her side.

Poor Girlie, you really have had a bad day. Either one of those is bad enough but not two. And poor DD. Girls can be horrible in quite a subtle way. We had it with DGD but thankfully the other girl moved away. Anyway hope it is all sorted tomorrow.
The car idea of Fluffy's sounds great. I didn't know you could do that. Do you need special insurance, Fluffy?

Oh girlie poor dd why do people have to be so cruel

No, anyone can use them if it's the other sides fault.

They deal with all the shit.

girlie what a crap day you and DD have had I hope the teacher can help :(

Yes thanks ladies, the car is just another thing to sort out, will call insurance on Friday - my next day off. Have had stomach ache ever since and not sure if thats stress or if something got jarred!

Yes girls can be mean, this girl does things like whispering behind her dds back and getting other kids to laugh at her. Also takes the mick constantly for lots of little things, dd said she feels constantly on edge like she can't be herself around her as she will find away of making fun of her So rubbish.

Just looked in the mirror. I look a bit puffy. And have 5 giant spots on my face. Excellent. Just what I needed to go back to work with.