Frugaleers, keeping their frugal resolutions in the new year. Keep on, erm, resoluting!?

[Cagliostro]

Hello everyone! :)

snuggly I think you are allowed a lazy morning! Your body is incredibly busy just now. All the best with your appt, hope your littlest one has grown a bit x

Dc didn't wake up until 6:45 so major lay in we've been running late all morning finally ready just in time.

I have a hospital appointment today hope I have change didn't think to look. Worst case I'll just park at my friends and walk. Annoying though as I also have work and hospital is a forty mile round trip.

Have left over pasta for lunch.

Cag I've already had lots of blood tests but everything was fine there, which is good but also kind of frustrating because then it could have been fixed quickly. E.g. had vit D, diabetes, coeliac, full blood count, iron, liver function etc all fine. Might try and have a talk to GP next time I'm there although not planning to go for another month or two as just been last week and got two months of my antidepressants.

confused I love your pup! I want a dog soo badly but DH can't be persuaded at the moment . He said he'd review it again in the summer/autumn (as we are planning to move back to our home city then) which is fair enough.

Got to be in uni 9-4 today, anxious erghh. First class is in a building I've never been in and with a tutor I've never met - find this difficult as I'm on the autistic spectrum, don't like new things!! Trying to breath deeply and tell myself it will be fine...

life re reapplying for a job- it'll normally say on the advert if previous applicants need not apply. Also no harm contacting recruitment to ask- they are normally just a point of contact rather than anyone with influence in the decision making process.

need waiting for the delivery time today for my boots

Thanks, knitting!

Boots arrived, looked gorgeous.

But my ankles are too fat and they are cutting off my blood supply to my feet

Now I realise I have fat ankles

Confused loving gorgeous Fred! We have Flo who's 8 but she thinks she's 8 months. Completely bonkers and totally mute - she's never made a sound her whole life, except for when she's sleeping sometimes when she howls like a Baskerville hound. Chills me to the core!

Hoping for a very low spend day today, down to our last £35 until Monday, but Im going to make the winter hotpot someone linked to up thread, have everything apart from the beef mince.

We're with Scottish Power - I'm going to ring about a smart meter today. Think it would really help if they could all see what is being spent.

I'll leave you with a pic of my gorgeous Flo!

Confused lovely picture

Cag really interesting re CFS/Fibromyalgia and abuse have wondered if there was a link as have noticed some of my patients who are sadly really disabled due CFS/Fibro have been sexually abused at some point. It does make you wonder if there is some sort of therapy that would work with the body and mind to help with symptoms? Have you heard of Louise Hay, she has written a few books and while I def do not agree with everything she says I do think that learning to truly love yourself is so important.

Good luck at the appointment Snuggly

I am still in bed as well, still feeling rubbish head full of snot and generally feeling like crap. Was hoping to feel better so could go back to work tomorrow but not convinced atm. Got boy cat for company though dd still off as well, partly due to us both over sleeping this morning but tbf she is still requiring 4 hourly calpol for her sore throat.

Both cats have the vets later for a check up, boy cats diabetes is still poorly controlled so want to see if the vet has any more suggestions. Girl cat is still on steroids for her auto immune condition honestly its just as well they are cute

I'm with Scottish Power Nee let me know how you get on as would like one as well!! Gorgeous dog.

Need that soup sounds amazing. I will have to give it a try , along with that hotpot, and see if DP will eat it, he's a fussy sod. Doesn't like a lot of things but no rhyme or reason to it, and more often than not refuses point blank to try new things.
I'd love to know where we are going wrong with electic. I'd like a smartmonitor too and see if we can pinpoint what uses up so much. Many of the large appliances are quite old so an old A rating might not be good enough.
I didn't talk to DP about turning everything off last night, I just did it on my way to bed. For a change he went up before I did. I did hit the wrong switch though and turned off a couple of heat mats (for the animals) instead of the microwave. Have to be more careful.

Knitting what beautiful snakes. Mine is just a boring brown really. We're her 3rd home that we know of, and took her in purely because we felt sorry for her. She's shown her gratitude by attempting to bite us when we're near, and lots of hissing. Nothing like the lovely Cali King we had before.

Italian Alexa is the 'latest must have gadget' (apparently) by Amazon. Basically an interactive speaker. DP is a geek through and through, doesn't drink much, doesn't smoke, doesn't do much of anything but sit at his PC so I fell soft and bought him it for Xmas. I bloody love it and use it more than he does.

I was going to make a soup and bread last night to send with DP for work for lunch but was too sore and both of us were shattered. He might be coming home to get something on his way elsewhere or more likely he will get out of work too late and buy something. So I'll get things ready during the day today and make soup tonight instead.

Doors just gone, got a box. It'll be my pedal thing, but too sore today to play with it.

lemon what are you using Alexa for? At the moment we use ours to play music, tell us the weather and DD keeps asking it to tell jokes. I fear I'm missing something useful from it!

My observations so far from the energy monitor are that the kettle and microwave use a lot of energy but only for short bursts. The heating and oven use a lot of energy to get hot but then go down to medium once they have heated up.
The washing machine uses more than I expected and the tumble dryer uses less.
The bread machine was on overnight but used very little energy, I might experiment with using it to make tea loaf etc instead of the oven as it's a lot more efficient.
The tv uses next to nothing which surprised me too but it is a really new one so possibly they are made more to be more efficient now.

I've just put the heating onto constant but set the thermostat a bit lower to see if that's better than it heating up from cold on the timer.

I told you I was already obsessed with it!

Love the doggy and reptile pictures. Nee, wow what a super dog-a-log. Stunning. I will post a picture of my two soon.

I'm sorry, I've skim read. But here goes.

Girlie Get well soon.

Cag That makes total sense. The body and mind are so interlinked. I will admit that I did wonder the very same thing about you re your physical health and the abuse. I don't know what to say that doesn't sound pathetic, but you are a lovely kind person and a credit to the fact that you won't allow your past to define your future. xx

Been I am sorry about the boots. Worth a punt at sizing up? I am a scrawny thing, especially round the legs, so it's good to get a pair of boots that are not gaping.

The soup was wonderful Lemon.

Well I've stocked up my fridge for the week so we don't need to go out. Spent less than £100 on shopping during the week, so pleased with that.

Spends today.
Personal Trainer - £15. It's hell and brilliant all at once. But, for the the first time in my entire adult life, I have a defined stomach. Not quite a six pack, but a pack at least.

It's also my B'day today. My lovely DC got up at 6am (DD earlier as we do the pony) to make me coffee and breakfast. DH is on his way home from Singapore, so should be back for 2pm.

Having a lovely quiet day in. I have a busy life. A day in is wonderful for me.

Might do Boxercise though later.....

Interesting stuff Snuggly re the energy consumption. Have an easy day. x

Need Happy birthday!

Neenook I love your dog, he's gorgeous! I'm so jealous!!

Girlie Hope you and your DD feel better soon

I am at uni but have a two hour gap between the class I've just been to and the next lecture.

Happy Birthday need

Happy birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy birthday lovely Neeeeeeeeeeeed
Happy birthday to you

A quiet day in sounds lovely.

I am still in bed am so fed up, I don't do being ill very well!!

Happy birthday, Need!

Also get well soon, Girlie.

That's really interesting Cag and Girlie about the CFS and Fibro. Someone should convert the cost of CFS and Fibro into a $ amount and tell Donald Trump. Women's health needs to become an economic issue.

Happy Birthday Need.

Happy birthday, Need.

Spends: £9.70 travel to work and £3.75 on lunch (cheese scone and a pot of tea, as I wasn't that hungry).

Get well soon, Girlie. I would say today is the first day I'm almost back to normal, bar and cough and sore throat, sInce I knew I was brewing something last Friday.

Spent £1.50 on cake in the library café on campus. But I did my whole 9-4 day so I am proud of myself!! Enjoying a nice cup of coffee at home now, exhausted.

My bras and the duvet set I ordered from Debenhams arrived. The Hermes delivery driver dumped them by the post box things for each flat downstairs. I'm confused though because if he got in the front door to the building then surely one of the neighbours must have let him in to put them there in the first place? I'm wondering if said neighbour took my packages but then instead of keeping them at theirs just dumped them by the postboxes. Not happy but I can't know who is at fault and to be fair thus far none of our post or packages has gone missing since moving here which is a first for us so it seems all our neighbours are actually honest here so I guess no harm done really.

Happy birthday need! 🎁

£2.60 hospital parking
£55 home sense on tea towels, six packs of pulsin bars, a new bottle for ds, coconut oil, green tea, a thermos food flask, two birthday cards, a valentines card and a packet of chocolate covered berries which were very expensive but delicious and totally healthy

Chicken casserole with left over roast chicken for dinner. Will serve with Yorkshires. The dc's will be whizzed up into soup.

Got a pay rise. Baring in mind NMW will be £7.50 from April I'm quite offended by the £7.60 they've given me. All the more reason to keep looking for a new job. Interview is on Monday.

look at that Flo, think I've fallen in love

£9 on boots being re-heeled.

Happy birthday Need 🥂🎂🎉

Fingers crossed for that interview Wreck

Wreck, good luck for Monday.

MeadowHay, glad you got through the day and had cake.

Snuggly, hope it went ok at your check-up. I noticed similar when I went on to a smart meter; actually, even before on the pre-payment meters. I was shocked in a bad way at the electric shower and washing machine, and in a good way at the tumble dryer. I no longer consider jacket potatoes that frugal a meal, as an hour and a half or so in a gas oven costs more than one would expect!

need...Happy Birthday!!
Girlie Hope you feel better soon

Had a freezing bracing walk by the sea with my auntie today & then scrummy lunch at a cafe whilst trying to defrost, £13 so not frugal. Sometimes it's great to have a proper catch up with people, uninterrupted by children.
Decorator has been in all week so the hall, stairs & new loft room are looking fab. It will be finished tomorrow, can't wait, am so happy with it. £500 (including paint etc) so again, not frugal but worth every penny. Will start putting pictures back up at the weekend.