Frugaleers Frolick Frugally through February

[Ipsomatic]

Just setting up the new thread for the chatty Frugaleers.

By popular request - copied from an old thread

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/other_subjects/1324074-For-those-who-cant-afford-to-use-central-heating-this-year-How-are-you-going-to-cope

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1543785-your-top-tips-for-money-saving-and-a-more-frugal-life

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1600030-Small-money-saving-habits-petty-even

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/1628874-Gas-Elec-Bills-monthly-and-SKY-so-angry

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_classics/1911061-NO-MORE-COLD-MUMSNETTERS

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2209167-Slow-Cookers-are-shit

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/2224969-saving-money

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/legal_money_matters/2258202-Debt-mutual-support-thread-number-6-start-the-new-year-with-a-clear-purpose-and-keep-moving-forwards-even-by-tiny-steps?

orchard.tesco.com/ Sign up to this.

www.topcashback.co.uk/home And this.

www.quidco.com/home/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/ And this

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub ditto.

www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

www.hotukdeals.com/all/deals/new?page=3 Check this daily.

seacow sorry to your about your DS's 1:1 - very strange and upsetting that they did not tell you personally.

allthebest it must have been such a shock. Our microwave caught fire once but DP spotted it straight away. It was still under warranty and we took it back to the shop and they wanted send it way to fix it, instead of exchanging it. They were very snotty about it. I insisted they ring the head office and head office said no problem, just replace it. The store manager was most put out.

creme how are you feeling? I swear by tumeric (in hot milk if you can manage it, in hot water if you can't, add honey if you don't like the taste).

ems the kit that I bought for my baby that I thought was really useful was an isofix baby car seat and a woollen sleeping bag.

needastrong was your tummy always flat and you work hard to keep it that way or did you have to work at it after baby/babies?

Oh, forgot my spends.

£58 to see dentist and hygienist.

I like school holidays but I always end up spending loads.

When I used to run I wore 2 normal bras - surprisingly supportive.

Meadow I think you are exactly right about how portable children are! When DS was a baby we went through three phases:

1. Bit scared to leave the house, it felt like a major expedition that required at least an hour of preparation and tactical planning re. Feeds and nappy timings. This only lasted a couple of weeks till we got the hang of things!

1. The golden period where you can do more or less what you like and take DC along. Even easier if you breastfeed but possible anyway. This lasted several months. Booze lunches, NYE parties... anything was possible. We went on a 3-week holiday to Florida when DS was 6/7 months old and it was quite easy. We always had the buggy with us, he could sleep in it whenever he wanted, he was quite happy as long as fed /changed/not tired.

1. For us (and most people we know) it changes after 9-12 months. First, they get mobile and it's much harder to take them to places without spending all your time running after them anyway. They get more opinionated about what they want to do (and whether they are prepared to sit in the buggy/high chair or whatever). They also become more routine-led and less liable to sleep wherever they are. One if my nct friends was pretty ruthless about carrying on as usual and taking her DS everywhere and to an extent it worked - they went out a lot more than the rest of us, but otoh she had a lot more problems with him being naughty and a bad sleeper, needing to sleep in their bed etc. Personality plays a large party but when they started using babysitters more and reining it in a bit he got much better. Another couple I know with 5 kids had a similar experience (though they never reined it in - and their teens are pretty confident now but totally feral!). In short, you can do anything you like but most people find that after a certain age there is a 'cost' to having a very adult-centred life and after working very hard on things like sleeping (!) most are not willing to chuck it all away too easily!

We are probably more child-centred because of DS's ASD - he really needs routine. That said it's not totally rigid - we will keep him out a bit later if necessary and we go out and about in the day but mostly we try to keep to bedtime and bedtime routine because it is a lot harder on us otherwise!

Em you'll need less stuff than you think (except muslins - you will need shed loads of those!). I think first time parents always buy too much because it's exciting and also trial and error as to what works for your baby and the lifestyle you want to lead. Unfortunately I didn't know about this when I had DS but there is a Facebook group in my area for mums, and a lot of baby stuff is bought and sold (things like Moses baskets, slings, bouncy chairs and what have you). Great for getting stuff in good condition, no postage to worry about and not such a cost to trying something that might or might not work, or which you only need for 6 months anyway. Worth seeing if there is anything like that in your area.

Been to big Tesvobtidah while DH took DS to a nice playground nearby. About £110 and not even a weekly shop. I did buy lots of nappies,a shade for the car window, pants and food for entertaining PILs tomorrow, as well as some cupboard staples. Still, bloody expensive.

Been to Big Tesco! No idea what that typo was

Rain stopped play here. Am making a mess progress digging.

Was thinking what the most important things baby wise were, and I'd say a base for the carseat. I had a maxi cosi one for ds, and it was brilliant. I hated the faff of strapping the carseat in each time (mamas and papas hideous brown thing with the girls). Also a buggy base that the car seat pops onto, so no need for a full pram all the time - ds hated the carry cot, but loved the car seat.

wreck good for you! I was a beached whale for ages after each of mine.

need you deserve your abs, you work hard enough for them!

Tbf knitting mine were both in scbu for a bit and I think the stress made me lose weight too. Although I was lucky in that my uterus was back to normal after 24 hours.

I'm feeling a bit meh today. Can't be bothered to do anything just want a nap. I'm making a potato and pea curry later will let you all know how it goes as its a cheap eat from store cupboard ingredients.

seacow you've summed that up really well. Dd 1 reached intolerance (with me) at 10 months, and a buggy refuser by 12m. Bloody hard work to carry on as normal. I loosened things up a bit, and dd3 and ds are quite feral. Love that typo.

seacow good summary. I remember taking DS to a coffee shop to meet friends with babies the same age at about when they were 8 months old. Nightmare. He was cruising by then, and he was up and down and around and around but not great with balance yet, refused to sit on my lap for more than a minute. The whole time my friends' babies were sat on their mums' laps.

Only dipping in as have some rare child free time. I still have my belly piercing post two dc! I got a plastic maternity one when pregnant as it's longer. You have to take it out for the birth

Will I go out for lunch/go to primark/lounge in front of tv? I've been for my run so once I've that done I'm happy

Christmas, This line: "pants and food for entertaining PILs tomorrow" made my day.

Quiet day here. Two playdates for ds, which is really pushing the boat out. NSD so far.

Hello all have finally worked out how to talk to you all on dds hudl! My laptop is still at the fixers , needs a new battery and proper clean apparently.

So we are just getting to the end of half term, been a nice week but flown by and expensive in the end. My car ended up costing £550 😭 gutted, the oil leak was much worse than first thought so they had to take the whole engine out and clean it all plus the battery was knackered. So my savings which was only just beginning to recover from the house move are now looking very sad again ≤sigh≥

I've also spent more on food than I'd hoped but am determined not to buy any more before payday. We have spent most of the time at home so saved money that way, DD has a friend for a sleepover thus night and we went swimming which was £10.

Today has been spendy as we had our haircut, came to £41 for both of us (I got £10 off with a loyalty card) and a clarinet holder thingy for DD which was £18.

Ystd DD managed to come off her new scooter and we ended up in a&e as her elbow swelled up , thankfully not broken but they have bandaged it up and put in a sling. Flipping kids!

I have been lurking so just about keeping up with you all !

Ha! I am not planning on entertaining the PILs with my massive pants! What a thought

Fool it wasn't just mine thankfully - as an nct group we used to quite like to go to local cafes and restaurants but we gradually admitted defeat and took turns hosting instead! Then we could at least let them roam.

Gosh, I had forgotten how relentless the cruising phase was. For what seemed like months I had to hold DS's hands while he walked round and round the dining table. It was very boring!

NSD but had four birthday presents to hand over to family today. Managed to regift a candle which was new to try and cut back on the spending. Thankfully no more birthdays until the summer now

Received £10.50 payout from TCB. Bizarrely when I chased up some other payments with TCB, this money appeared in my account from 2015! So withdrew it before they change their minds

em my advice regarding baby stuff is to buy lots of white/light coloured baby gros so they can all get washed together with muslins every other day or so. The lovely vibrant coloured stuff got worn very little as it would have to wait for other clothes to wash with it and they grow so quickly when tiny

I've got a hen do to go to in July. The bridesmaid has just told us it'll be £124 for the 'apartment' each for the two nights. Dh said he will pay thankfully. Also I will drive instead of getting the train as the train is >£80 but I can drive there in less than three hours.

Ipso Yes, my condition varies greatly. I used to be a lot worse a couple of years ago too. I'm usually ok going to places I'm very familiar with now, like uni. But even then often anxiety flares up too much and I can't get out of bed, or can't leave the flat. With unfamiliar places I usually can't go on my own until it begins to feel more familiar - with the volunteering, DH walked me to the bus stop and put me on the bus, and then the other girls from uni met me off the bus. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to go as I would probably have been to anxious to leave the flat for one thing - I had diarrhea for the few hours before I went and was shaking on the bus. Once I got there I got stuck in and was mostly fine. I find with my anxiety too that the vast majority of the time when I get places and focus on what I need to do I feel mostly ok, the anticipation is usually worse. This does vary though as there are particular things that can sent me off panicking when I'm out e.g. rain/snow, crowds of people, lots of loud and especially sudden noise, people unexpectedly talking to me if I don't know what I'm supposed to say back etc. It is seriously limiting but there are ways to plan as well to make me as free as I can be like trying to plan outings for less busy times, checking the weather before I go anywhere, taking diazepam for the most scary things, getting DH to take me places the first few times until I build up enough familiarity that I can try to go alone etc. It is very tiring to say the least! But I can see my (slow) progress and that is positive.

Our leader set us a goal of earning 4 bonus bites this week - my brother took my children to cinema & I used the time firstly to go for a run earning me 5.5 bonus bites & secondly to go to Penneys(Primark) where I purchased two tops & a pair of skinny jeans one size 8, one size 10 & one size 12 🙄 and then went on to Tesco for a lunch deal so had tikka wrap with grapes/apple slices & a diet club orange. Spends in primark €42.50 & Tesco €3.50, grateful to my db for the few hours to myself

Gosh Meadow what a fantastic job you are doing there. I'm in awe of you mapping your way through life like that. Do you find that vitamin D supplements make a difference to you, and that you are better in summer than winter? I'm highly strung too and I am radically better in summer.

Been It's odd, but I didn't really need muslin squares for ds. Babies are all so radically different from one another aren't they?

I just seemed to spend all my time buying more babygrows and more vests with poppers between the legs. Every other week he seemed to grown another inch, usually quite suddenly in the middle of the night.

Also zillions and zillions of those yellow packets of tiny baby pampers nappies. Millions of the things.

Seacow that sums up life with babies perfectly. For the first 7-8 months I did pretty much what I liked and DD just came with me and slept in the car or pushchair, then she could move about and it got more challenging! Like you said I was reluctant to miss out on the precious 2 hours of nap time every afternoon too! I miss afternoon naps!!

I was one of those annoying people that pinged straight back after birth, despite living almost entirely off cakes and biscuits for the first 12 weeks. However, I am under no illusion that I won't be so lucky this time as my stomach is a big mess of stretch marks and dry skin and pram walks will be shorter and slower with DD in tow whereas first time around I walked for miles every day with that buggy!

I have the attitude with baby stuff that supermarkets sell plenty and there's online shopping so if we suddenly find we need something it's not impossible to get it. I kept the tags on a lot of stuff too (especially gifts) so we could change them for a bigger size, we got swamped with newborn stuff!

It was almost an NSD. £2.30 parking in town and DH just went out to buy a lemon and bought a big bar of whole nut chocolate - what a star!

Meadow Would you also mind if I add to your post that, with DH who has bi-polar, that we have found the MH is not a linear condition. There are days where DH can conquer the world, other days where he's barely functional. So it can be tricky to really understand MH at times, unless you live it. Which is totally understandable.

Great post about babies Seacow. Entirely practical and pretty succinct explanation. Sums it up really well. Often you can be flexible, but sometimes it works better to stick to routine.

Knitting Thank you re the abs comment. I suspect that your 2DC's are not feral, we just get more relaxed out of necessity with more than one. My friend had 3 in 15 months (twins, then pregnant 6 months later by accident). No family anywhere near. She coped because she had to and relaxed her standards. She did amazingly well though

Fool I have good abs now because I spent 6 years not being able to run competitively due to injury. I just can't go through that again, I missed it terribly. The abs are more for injury prevention than fashion purposes but a very nice bonus ha ha!!. I've always been slim though.

Ended up spending £6 on a fish for DS, and forgot his driving lesson of £40 earlier.

Oh and I was 1st in my age group and 9th female overall at Parkrun today. 5 of the faster ladies were in their 20's, not bad for a 45 year old old fogie!!!

I loved being pregnant was huge 2nd time round (rice pudding with flake in ). Dd is 15 and erm I'm still trying to lose the baby weight.
I've been so tired this week I'm having a relaxing weekend well as much as I can. Ds is home for the weekend so I took him for breakfast this morning £10. That's all my spends for today.
Saw my crush yesterday when I was food shopping I avoided him as I know I'd just end up talking rubbish!

Snuggly I think you must be right about the difference between having one and having several children. Ds and I used to zoom round the town with him in the pushchair and the extra weight of pregnancy just fell off me.

I suppose with several it must be a different lifestyle though, and partly because multiple children would entertain each other, whereas I had to go and look for entertainment for ds.

I do think that having several to entertain each other would really be a good thing. Ds has had three playdates today! That's a record for us.

That must be some apartment wreck for sharing that's expensive. Just thinking do you get paid term time only or is it spread out over full year?

I never used muslins with either dc

Been I regifted too this weekend, bottle wolf blasts & box of dairymilk.

I've been inspired by db's food cupboards they are quite bare, mine are always packed solid and still nothing in them. Going to do a clear out & meal plan using what's there.