BOO! The Freaky Frugaleers prepare for Halloween and beyond. All welcome!

[Cagliostro]

:)

Lounge hallway and steps hoovered and steamed!

Hallway wood floor steamed

(Catface not phased by any of this - she just rolled over on her towel)

Windows are open. Sun is shining and I'm letting the day in.

Dh has told me I should just chill today. Easier said than done when he's taken over the entire couch playing Xbox despite saying he's going to do xyz today.

I want to veg and watch tv!!
Two loads of washing done so far today.

Third load in at present.

Am also Christmas shopping.

Raked up leaves for an hour this morning ( up early as forgot about clocks changing! )
Making leaf mould to try and improve my heavy clay soil so that I can expand my veg plot. Trying to be as self sufficient as possible.
NSD

Is he normally this spectacularly unhelpful Em?

£126 in sainsburys. Lots of stuff I wouldn't normally buy. Also £2.50 sparklers and £2 poppy appeal.
Christmas cake baking next weekend. Dc out at a party in a bit.
Done some sorting out, inspired by you lot, and might do some more this afternoon.

Hi all, Em you sound like a woman on a mission!!

My house is a state to but I am not feeling motivated to do it at all, need to sort the kitchen which is looking particularly bad at the mo

Had a nice morning, as the hour had gone back and we were up we made it down to the Jnr Parkrun for a nice 2k run round, then went to mums for a cuppa and shower! Have been into town but was very good and didn't spend much at all, dd ummed and ahhed over some stuff in Claires but decided she didn't really need it, it is very over priced imo in there. So actually only spent £2.30 on a sandwich and drink in Greggs for dd.

cag I want to say yes. But then he does all the cooking and the food shopping. It's just cleaning he sucks at.

I've just washed up and cleaned the kitchen (dh's job today) and have emptied freezer so it can defrost. His words "I was just going to do that" this is a standard phrase of his.

My response today was "ok. You can take over then"

He's gone for a shower.

He's taken tomorrow and Tuesday off work. And promises that he will do everything else.

he was supposed to change the bedding yesterday he didn't

Dh has informed me that him and dc are finishing the playroom while I was out. Counselling has infinitely improved dh as a husband and father.

€28 nct retest
€14.96 on 10 die cast vehicles & 2 jigsaws for ds from Santa
€34.99 on a drill for dh his gave up doing some work on our home a few weeks ago. This will come out of tax refund, we will also purchase 2 android boxes replacing sky & paint for house indoors.
€14.25 on nappies, strawberries, cream & bar of choc for me
€10.49 in Tesco on a mop bucket fairy liquid a baguette & some bliss yogurts everything was on offer except mop bucket.
I deliberated with you guys as a my rationale over a €3 mop bucket be one for €5.50. Decided you lot would agree that the €3 was flimsy & wouldn't last the pace like the more expensive one & that the €5.50 one was every bit as good as the €15 vileda one except not red
Holland & Barrett €10.89 on 250 own brand kiddies pre vites. This is enough to do both dc until first week of March. Compared the content to the ones which were on offer at €5.20 for 30 & own brand one was superior. They didn't have the ones collie recommended got a free choc date there too le yum

Then €30 on diesel for au pairs car
All done & home with 2 hours, town is 30 mins away, amazing the difference it makes not having dc with me

£18.47, on top-up shop until Friday and £1.90 bus fare home.

I went out on a mission to buy warm clothes today as I haven't been able to get warm recently. Only realised when I got there that it was because I still have a mild temperature from the flu. D'oh!

I did manage to buy nice warm gloves though and I have sent away for warm boots too:

outlet.eccoshoesuk.com/ecco-sullivan/p2107

Hoping they are nice when I meet them in person.

Buying clothes that will actually keep me properly warm is a thing that I've learned from frugaleering. This year I have a warm clothing budget. That's a new thing for me.

Sorry to hear about the housework troubles Em. Good luck there.

I blame the mothers em, mil never expected Dh to clean but it was expected of sil, despite the fact that fil cleans!. It's taken a few years of "two make the mess, two clean it up" & "thanks for cleaning that up" when he's told me "kitchens in a bit of a mess" followed by "unless you're expecting me to do it like I'm your mum or something" .

In the brief period between his ex moving out and me moving in (no I wasn't the ow) his mum went round to clean for him

trying I'd love a veg plot. I always look at the kitchen gardens in national trust places longingly. Nothing like freshly dug potatoes or fresh broad beans. Dh not going for it though and the cat would see it as one giant litter tray come butterfly genocide area.

NSD & I wrote a draft business plan.

Rang sky because they sent me an email offering a free upgrade to fibre & apparently it's only to new customers. So why send it to the email address I log in to sky with?. Fuckers.

Fluffy Ds asked for a GAP baseball cap today and I bought it for him thinking over and over "loft insulation - Fluffy would approve". He did look warmer in it.

genie great boots - and they'd look ace tucked into skinnies (if you felt that way inclined).

fluffy I blame mil too. Although my mother has that attitude. I mentioned yesterday that there was loads of stuff to get done and that dh hadn't done anything. Dm asks why dh was supposed to do it. Poor dh. Why should he have to do it. He works so hard all week. because I don't obviously

It's frustrating. But I've told dh that the state of the house is stressing me out. And that he needs to step it up.

And I've stressed again I want a cleaner for Christmas.

I've also told him unless I see a marked difference in the "stepping up" in the next week I'll stop doing things for him and will focus on myself.

Good going Em! Definitely need to nip it in the bud especially before a little MiniEm is on the cards. Poor DH indeed.

I have got the Caglets to agree to sell some more toys. Just little Disney figures and that sort of thing but should fetch a few quid.

Chest definitely feels clearer since putting Vicks on under my socks! Will do again before bed.

Vicks on feet is the best.
I had this issue with dh. Sharp knocked that out of him. Mil runs herself ragged after fil. No thanks.

Nsd for me. Dh paid for he Halloween trail. We had soup and crusty rolls for lunch and watch polar express

Dinner is oven food as I cba today really.

Ds' birthday party in less than two weeks. I've done nothing but book the hall and have no money

Oh no Wreck! What kind of party were you thinking of? And for how many, how old etc?

I'm sure we can mumsnet your party wreck as cag says.

Well luckily it's a joint party so I don't have to do it all by myself. We're doing a superhero party and we are both poor going to have different tables set up with decorate your own superhero mask and finger puppet. Decorate your party bag. Will take a photo of each child on a backdrop to use as thank yous. Will have pass the parcel and musical bumps probably and then loads of balloons with sweets in for them all to pop.

Food may well just be pizzas etc as there is a cooker.

That sounds like a wonderful party Wreck.

Em I know what you mean about the boots. I think they could look just right for a tattlers cover or something, worn outside jodpurs. As it is, I'm going to wear them inside Next jeans, with a bit quilted coat and only I will know that I am secretly looking very snazzy. The toes will look very nice, I'm sure.

Are they all going to wear super hero costumes too, Wreck? I think pizza goes down very well and it's easier than sandwiches, from my dim and distant memories of DS's and his friends' parties.

Stand your ground, Em.

Love the boots, Genie. Perfect with tights, leggings, jeggings and skinny jeans.

Wreck pin the cape on the superhero as a twist on tail on donkey? Also found a really good site for printable kids activities the other day, will see if I can find it again.

Had a lovely afternoon at the seaside. £5 on a t shirt for DS2.

Em I used to have trouble with my DH and cleaning. The way round it was to say "the kitchen and bathroom need cleaning, which one do you want to do?". He still needs direction now, but apart from cooking and laundry, I genuinely believe it doesn't cross his mind that things need doing.

Party ideas sound great, Wreck. I saw a good idea online this week of tying a balloon to the handles of each party bag so that they double up as a lovely decoration during the party and everyone has a balloon to take home.
Freezer is now completely empty so the food shop this week will be a big one! We managed to eat or cook most of it but the frozen peas didn't survive unfortunately!
I am very tired, think I'm a bit confused by the clocks going back plus DD was up at 6.30. Although I have had the same amount of sleep as usual it has psychologically made me feel like I was up very early!
Em my mum has offered to pay for us to have a cleaner for a few weeks when the twins are born but I think I'll end up getting stressed about the house being untidy when the cleaner comes!

Sold ds's car seat for €95, the one I've my eye on for him is €85!!

Love the boots genie you should def try them with some warm tights and a skirt, too nice to be hidden inside jeans all the time

Wreck I did a few parties like that for dd when she was younger and they were always a success, we also did things like having someone doing those kids tattoos and painting nails (maybe more for the girls!) the old fashioned party games were always fun, musical chairs, musical bumps, musical statues, pass the parcel, pin the something on something!! You can get party bag fillers quite cheap on Amazon or Poundland.

We had a nice afternoon, ended up popping to Pets at Home spent £12.50 on cat and hamster food.