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.

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www.checkoutsmart.com/ Plus this.

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

Good for you ipso what was the result of that?

Crikey wreck that's not something I'd expect a 6 year old to read.

Em Is there any chance that you could take at least some of your vomiting progress reports to a pregnancy thread? Normally I don't mind but it caught me by surprise just now and put me right off my lunch.

FFS Wreck. That's ridiculous homework for a 6 year old.

Cag The head was quite grateful that I went to speak to her in person because she has to show the results of the questionnaire to the ofsted inspector, so flames-to-the-sky are not what she wants. I've to go and have a chat in person about it.

It's hard though because they always just blame "the system" and that's not good enough. The pediatrician we saw said ds is fine and it's "the system" that's harming him, but that she's not allowed to intervene.

I feel so angry about it, but emigrating and home ed are not small steps to take. Have spent much of this week debating with dh, but to no good effect. Part of the problem is that the house next door to my parents is vacant just now and in the Scottish school system, but there are no jobs there for dh short of a 70% pay cut.

ipsos apologies if I offended. It's hardly a progress report though

Anyway. I've had a good declutter and decided that actually I need all eleventy billion tops in my wardrobe. They're all fairly floaty if I leave them untucked (usually wear them tucked in for work) so will do for when things start getting bigger. Didn't find dhs pin though (no doubt will find this at a later date it'll be in a pocket and will spike me...it fell from the top rail of the wardrobe. My stuffs on the bottom rail).

wreck dd is 6 and that was her homework?? Or did I misread and she's year 6?

And how is it that a seemingly strong independant intelligent woman like myself cannot cook fish fingers without almost catching them on fire? Every bloody time. Ffs.

I'm not surprised your angry ipso it's frustrating. Sorry I always feel I shouldn't weigh in on this sort of thing because obviously I am somewhat biased. But I get what you mean. It's all very well saying it's the system but sadly at an individual level it doesn't really help or reassure :(

How's DS been doing there lately? Other than the health issues?

Em she is six and in year two. Not seven until June. It's comprehension homework

Oooh fish fingers I could murder a fish finger sandwich now

Frugal wins yesterday - collected my Feb topaz treat 3 Ferrero Rocher & 500ml Pepsi max & my birthday iced doughnut at spar. Dd had doughnut, ds & dh ferrero rocher & I had Pepsi max

Spends €22.50 on lunch & dessert for dd & I, dh took ds out for McDonald's also. Hangover day
€30 valeting my car, he found €5 in the car so I gave this as tip, my car is like new! I'll be getting this done twice a year now because it made such a difference so must add it to my ynab.
Got to wait for tapped spends to go through or look at my receipts for spends yesterday . €10 on 4 sirloin steaks, €30 on diesel (fuel card) coins at church collection, €20 ish on cleaning supplies, €10 ish on Diet Coke, tropical red bull, breakfast nap, galaxy choc, newspaper €50 6 weeks Relax Kids
Spends fri night - €48 on one round of drink. Work paid for meal & quite a few drinks, a subcontractor gave us €50 towards night out, a customer bought us all a round (I ordered round & handed in money to pay for it & he'd already paid for it- I got the next one) dh & friends dh also bought some.

Ooooops you're not your

My achievements so far today ds has had a bath, dd watched Lego batman movie, I've made brown bread & fruity porridge muffins.

🙄 wreck that's ridiculous. My sis teaches. I might ask to see some of the homework she sets her kids. Age 6/7.

cag fish finger sandwich is what I made. Flame grilled though. White toasted bread. Loads of butter. Ketchup. Was ace.

We're having proper dinner tonight.

Must do a meal plan today. This is the last week dh is here before he goes to nz. so I'll be on my own (with catface) for 2 weeks. I'm off work too so loads of time to chill. Catch up on books and Netflix and ditch some of his more questionable clothes he'll be too jet lagged when he comes home to notice

Things we need to buy this week. Light bulbs. And bathroom ceiling paint. Our shower room ceiling has gone a bit mouldy. So need to clean, de mould and then repaint. Dh promises to do this before he goes.

I'm supposed to get the flat ready to sell while he's away. But I'm not going any diy. dad might do it for me though not that I can't. I just can't be bothered.

It'll be strange without dh. The last time he was away for a while was for his stag in Ibiza. They were gone for a week but he was still contactable.

He will be contactable while he's away this time but will be 13 hours ahead of me. So well have to FaceTime over breakfast/dinner.

I had asked him to face time me during the wedding so I could watch it but it'll be 4am our time....

Thanks Em. Sorry I didn't mean to be sarcastic. I meant to go out on an outing with dh and ds and the nausea of getting surprised by your post meant I couldn't go. This is a post-baby thing, which is sadly just about as fun as the pre-baby stuff you're dealing with just now. It's all fun fun fun.

He's doing better Cag but I'm so disappointed by the school system here. They drive him so hard and so fast that he has no time to think and to really grasp the basic concepts, and I honestly wonder what the point is if he doesn't have time to think about multiplication and division because he's so busy being taught exam technique to get through the SATs. The school think they're teaching him division to 100 on a numberline at the moment but the reality is that he's just getting to understand division to 12 with button to move around on a table. Grrr

I'm fizzing to be honest, and so tempted to jump ship because the house next door to my parents has several acres of deciduous woodland attached to it and that may all be built over by developers if a good buyer is not found. The flip side is that we'd be living with perma-winter and no jobs for the rest of time, which is a significant factor.

We've got shepherds pie for dinner from the freezer. So glad it's all made etc

£30 fuel
£22 breakfast including tip. It was so good I had a cooked breakfast plus pancakes and English muffins Mmm
The dc had pancakes, cereal and loads of fruit theirs only cost 99p

Ah Em the flame grilling does at least explain to me why they nearly caught fire :o I was wondering how that'd happen under a regular grill. Bet they taste nicer though. Le yum. Although I have to take issue with the butter - for me, it's preferably seed bread, no butter, but mayo on one slice, ketchup on the other, then shitloads of lettuce and cucumber on either side of the fish.

Oh Ipso that does sound very familiar with my DD. It was only once she started juniors that I really noticed, but she'd do really well getting to grips with a particular skill in maths (mostly due to a lot of practice at home) and then they'd move on so quickly before she'd really cemented it. Now that kind of thing works with some kids but DD struggles so much with maths as it is and it really knocked her confidence. There is no point doing something more complicated when you don't really have the building blocks in place. We've had to play catch up for a long time with maths since she left.

Does sound tempting with the woodlands! That part of it would be living the dream (DH has just taken the Caglets off to a little nature reserve, having done Vikings work all morning) but yikes with the unemployment :(

(I'm intrigued as to what you mean by division to twelve done by moving buttons - any chance you could elaborate on this method please? :))

Harvester breakfast Wreck? :)

cag ketchup and mayo? Very decadent!

I do sometimes put cheese in there too. Mmmm. But today just bread. Butter. Fish fingers and ketchup.

I always grill them. And it doesn't matter how long I leave them or how close they are or how far away thy are from the top of the oven. They still pretty much catch on fire.

ipso that is a serious consideration, do you think your ds would benefit from being 'out if the academic ratrace' as it were? We live in a non-academic area, and to be honest, I didn't even really know when dd1 took her sats it was so low key. She was one of a dozen in her year group (of about 50) who got the top marks (all 6's or something).

Weather is crap wherever you are, and to live next door to your parents, with land! Win, win, win in my book. Could your dp commute weekly or something?

Its funny what sets off the memory of nausea! I painted murals of mountains round our shop walls when my morning sickness was bad with ds, and it flips my stomach when I stand too close and remember doing it!

Not done much yet, am on my 5th cup of coffee though.

fish finger sandwich here: white bread, fish fingers and salad cream, must be heinz light. Electric oven for about 20 mins, then on kitchen paper for a moment to soak up the wet oozy bit that comes out. Am similarly unlucky when using the grill, even watched they catch.

Yes Cag!

Took DH to the train station, he is away now until Friday visiting his family. Feeling a bit anxious but trying to stay calm and positive. Last year I managed without him for about 10 days in a foreign country so realistically I should be fine it's just my mood has been worse the last few weeks but anyway will focus on each day at a time etc. I'm going to be working quite a lot this week so that should make it go fast.

Spent about £14 in the Tesco express on my walk back from the station on some extra groceries for the week. I doubt I will be able to do any shopping before he comes back on Friday evening so I'm crossing my fingers I won't run out of anything. Should probably make a meal plan to help me organise myself.

Hmmm cheese with fish fingers, not sure about that? I'm really fussy with sandwiches, I won't let DH do it for me generally. Has to be the right amount of stuff (ketchup and mayo VERY thinly spread, he would put way too much )

Mmm Harvester breakfast is pretty good.

Just seedy bread, mayo and a squeeze of lime (or lemon if no lime handy) for me. Lettuce is acceptable.

I want one now too but I have just eaten avocado on toast could still fit a fish finger sarnie but DH would do this ->

Oh and I don't buy sandwiches in shops generally either. They're WRONG. :o

I don't like fish fingers. My nan makes the best cheese and pickle sandwiches though. Yum.

I love sandwiches. I'd cry if I was no longer allowed to eat sandwiches.