The Mighty Frugaleers Meticulously March into March

[WreckTangled]

New thread. Sorry for lame title

Em Do you think you will find out the sex, or will that be a lovely surprise. We did one of each choice iyswim? x

We're talking about this at the moment need initially I wanted to but dh didn't. Now he thinks itd be nice and I sort of want a surprise. But I like the idea of things being organised and being able to maybe buy a dress as a first outfit. That kind of stuff.

I think if we do find out though there's no way we'll be able to keep it a secret. So if we know so will everyone else. My parents are desperate for it to be a boy. As they had girls. Dh reckons it'll be a girl.

It was stressed to me though that they sometimes can't tell at the scan (20 weeks?) so not to get disappointed.

Crikey, this is about the last page of this thread!

Muddling through indeed, and making it all up as you go along! I listened to far too many people with dd1, and had a terrible time for the first 2 years with sleep/screaming/food. If I'd gone with the flow (like I did with the others, I was a bit more experienced and grown up by then) it would have been much easier.

Been to Lidl and asda for bits, got all the baking stuff for the weekend, took cash for that, spent about £10 on stuff for home. Have settled on tray of choc cake, tray of carrot cake, 2 Victoria sponges, 2 lemon cakes, flapjacks, sultana cookies, and 2 batches of bread rolls I'll fill with tuna/ham/cheese. Another lady is making some cheese scones. Should fill up 60 riders plus helpers and families I think. Weather forecast for sunday is grim and windy, so they'll all need tea and something nice.

Staying home tomorrow to clean (house disappearing under mess) and start the cakes (lemon, choc and carrot all best a day or so later).

Erghhhh frugaleers I am ill and I absolutely have to drag myself into work from 4pm onwards as my manager is not in today so I am basically holding the fort for some huge student meetings which have the potential to descend into chaos otherwise. What a time to be ill. If I knew my manager was there I would have just called in sick but they are all relying on me so I can't.

Should be NSD on the plus side as I'm not going to uni before then as really not up to it. Laying around feeling sorry for myself at the mo .

Snuggly You are doing great, I am surprised you are posting too but then I don't really know anything about babies and childbirth etc.

All your baby talks make me so broody .

Em That would be fantastic if you wrote that book. You could do your posts here as a diary and compile the book from them.

I was about to say that we're doing well having a frugal month, but then I remembered that today is the day that the RAC man road tests the car I'm hoping to buy.

Not going break even this month then, even if it's just the cost of the RAC man. Fingers crossed the car is good. I suppose we will meet it tomorrow if it is.

If we buy it then the next big fun will be trying to sell our current car for a bit more. Exciting!

Have just emailed estate agents about viewing three houses. Eeek. All under our £500k budget.

One is £389k but I've just noticed has little to no garden. But worth looking at anyway.

One is a three bed at £495k and one a four at £467k and looks bigger and needs less work than the £495 one go figure

Will report back once I've been to visit them. If I get viewings.

NSD today and got a £2.92 voucher back from Asda.

Text my bf today after no response from him, to say that I'll be willing to see him face to face until the end of this weekend, and after that, I am not, nor will I be conversing via email or text to talk. I worked out I've seen him once in six weeks, he's been wholly silent for three of those (not in one block), this just isn't what I want. I didn't know what else to do, I'm becoming unsympathetic and more cross now. I said I'm sorry, and I am, he either gets over it or leaves me because he can't.

Waii not for the dc to come home now really, mopped the floors. They're actually home all this weekend, normally they go their dads, I hope it's not too much hard work 😬

This seems like a safe space to say, that when I did the thing that bothered him, I was very poorly. I am currently going through being diagnosed bi-polar. I was hugely unwell, didn't go to work for 8 weeks, spent so much money, made very poor sexual choices, took cocaine, the children weren't with me very much, it was a very bad episode and when I realised I went to the GP, I was heavily medicated and got better. I haven't had this since being medicated, but he does know I was poorly. I don't know if he's even willing to factor that in.
I don't know. Sorry. My brain is full today, he didn't even respond to that text this morning.

Polka I don't know the back story, but sounds like you'll better off without him TBH.

£6 on fripperies today.

He's usually really great, honestly. 14 months ago I um slept with an ex at a work party. I regretted it, felt terrible, haven't repeated it since or indeed anything else. I was unwell at the time and roaringly drunk. I confessed off my own back. We dealt with it.

Six weeks ago he bumped in to my ex in McDonald's. hasn't spoken to me really since. I have resorted to an email last weekend until today when I thought fuck this, and told him he either grows up by the end of the weekend or I'm off. I can't be expected to put up with this.

I am very sorry, I regret it immensely, have over explained myself, would never, ever repeat. I'm at a loss now.

Polka there are a few people on here who know about bi-polar illness. If you hang on for a big they might be able to help.

Breakfast with a view Em looks fab. Agree with others about parenting being a case of muddling through a lot of the time. Great to see them developing into independent young people too, but we're still muddling at times!
need that's a massive difference between January and now.

I feel like my improved diet & fitness training is starting to take effect. I've had so much more energy today and the past few days, come to think of it. I went to the gym this morning and did pretty much the same routine that I did on Monday with the personal trainer. Then washed both cars which frankly, were an embarrassment. Cleaned & tidied the bathroom and kitchen & then went for lunch with Mum (£8) but resisted buying any more quilting fabrics at my favourite shop.
Was going to have a cake with lunch but decided to make scones when I came home (I did work very hard this morning ). Didn't have enough milk so made it up with a bit of cream & some natural yoghurt, they are absolutely scrummy. Mary Berry says the recipe makes 14 but all I can say is that must be how she stays slim! I made 8!!
Towels are out on the line but am keeping a close eye as it looks like it'll rain soon.

No plans for tonight so hopefully will get chance to just sit & chill.

I don't know enough about bi-polar to comment on that side of things polka, but imo if he won't communicate then I'd dump him. Silent treatment is never a good thing. Be kind to yourself and do what you need.

Have donated to the Africa appeal through Dec.org, £60. I worked out that I spent nearly that much last month on nothing, coffee shop most of it, so this month it's going to make a difference.

I feel silent treatment is actually quite abusive, in its way.

I've listed two of the girls Boden coats on eBay, hoping to make some money there. I have seven items listed now 😊

That donation is really great. At Xmas I always do the homeless at Christmas crisis appeal and buy Xmas dinner for two homeless people. They get three hot meals, medical checks, hot showers, clean clothes and just a day safe and warm. I wish I could donate more regularly.

Meh. Men do far worse repeatedly under better circumstances & get forgiven Polka & untreated bipolar must've been awful for you.

£4 homebargains
£43 aldi

Bought Dh a birthday card using nectar points & have just realised I didn't get the matching card so tomorrow when I want to test out my new spray tan extractor fan I have to traipse over there instead to confess my stupidity to customer services. I might go in the morning and get it over with.

Em I've been thinking girl too. Time will tell have you seen the farrow and ball nurseries on their website

not even going to look at farrow and ball website. Nope. Definetly not going to

I'm surprised I'm posting too! I actually can't believe how much we've done this week, I just made cauliflower cheese for tea! The twins sleep loads during the day which is amazing because DD never did and I felt like it spent months with her glued to me. They are awake a lot at night but we are managing 5-6 hours sleep a night.
I'm under no illusion that it'll be harder when DH is back to work and when they are awake more so I'm making the most of it at the moment. They are very cute, they were asleep holding hands this morning.

£4 lunch from local sandwich shop. Have eaten about a billion calories this week, is need to remember that I'm not pregnant any more and I'm going to gain a lot of weight if I don't cut my food intake. I think tiredness makes me crave carbs!

Polka you sound like you have been through the mill and come out the other side, you have nothing to be sorry for and def sound like you will be better off on your own. The silent treatment is so immature and cowardly

We have had a really quiet day, dd seems o.kay just a bit tired, she has played with her lego most of the day. I think she will be fine for school tomorrow...

Spent £50 on an online Morrisons shop, my weekly shopping seems to have gone up by about £10 a week I think this is due to buying things like cooked chicken which is expensive but has meant that lunches and dinners are a whole lot easier. This week I also bought 6kg of washing powder which was £6.

We are still putting the heating on intermittently as well, yesterday was lovely and sunny today is a bit meh

I actually found the unmedicated lows an awful lot harder than the highs, the highs just felt good really, aside from the shame when you settle about what you've done. A lot of my debt was from this time.

He's actually responded and said he will make time for me this weekend. (He usually has his children all weekend). I'll see what he has to say for himself but I'm not having this any more.

I used to buy easier food too, cooked meats, ready made mash ☺️, but Mum has my shopping list thing now so I can't. It's been a bit annoying but a small price to pay and I've noticed the financial difference already. I hate making the dcs packed lunch though 😡

The cooked chicken has been a bit of a revelation tbh, it means I can make a wrap for work (cooked chicken, salad and mayo) which is fairly healthy and filling. Plus have been eating chicken and noodles as a quick tea in the evenings, takes about 5 mins to prepare!

Dd doesn't like it though which is annoying, she is a total tuna addict! Does your mum supervise your shopping then Polka?

My dc4 is a tuna addict as well!

Yes she does, earlier last week I borrowed a lot of money from my parents to pay off all my debts. Since then, they've been monitoring my spending which is very welcome.

Aargh everything seems to need paying for at once. Except council tax.

Tomorrow is the end of an exceedingly long and painful week. Lucrative as it's the sports club and I have two pupils as well. But very VERY much looking forward to the weekend.

We have a lot of stuff to sort out and need to make the most of DH being off on Saturday. Absolutely have to get our butts in gear about balance transfer on CC, getting my ID sorted to cancel my bank account fee, and applying for refund for said account fees (DH too, his is already cancelled). Also need to pay various people and we need to knock our savings down even more because it's doing no good sitting in an ISA when we are stressing about the day to day stuff is there. It's only a grand left in there but we could get a lot of stuff sorted with that.

Also want to do a full kitchen inventory and meal plan to use stuff up.

Oh but DSD is sorted thankfully, will get £100 back from her in May and she's got enough to tide her over now until she's home for Easter. She's also had confirmation that she will be working at her old job during the holidays (she's home early April for a whole month yay!) so that's great as the pay is pretty good.

I am glad bf got in touch Polka, hope you can work things out. I can see why he is disappointed in you but I would also be disappointed by someone who treated me in such a passive aggressive way even after we've talked it over and moved on - I agree the silent treatment is very immature. Good luck with clearing the air. You've got your shit together now and you need people on board and supportive.

Need I hadn't realised there were those half a-level thingies (can't scroll back to previous page to check actual name ). I think it is good to keep up with essay writing as a discipline as it is a skill that is still important in STEM but not a big enough part of the learning process (maybe in biology degrees but not physical sciences, Ime). It catches up with people later when they have to write theses or papers for publication; some people who are good at science simply can't write well and it is an obstacle they have to get over.

knitting and north you are making me want to bake! It's DH's birthday on Saturday and he has requested a Victoria sponge with fresh cream and raspberries, so I shall oblige. I am a bit cross because I ordered him a framed set of the special David Bowie stamps (album covers) which was released on Monday. Rang up today to find out why not arrived (I preordered in Feb) and they said there is a backlog at the warehouse. Gah. He is hard enough to buy for without the blooming thing not turning up! So far the birthday haul doesn't look very impressive. Might have to put a bow on my bump

Just £3 parking today though I have instructed DH to pick up a couple of peppers on his way home for chicken and chorizo jambalaya (had meat in freezer). DS has been a little star today - really good through the SLT review and just playing nicely all day. Also quite cuddly ❤️ Some days I just really enjoy him.

House is still a tip and SLT coming tomorrow so must make it look superficially better at least

snuggly that's brilliant amount of sleep in the circumstances! Agreed that something will give eventually but you may as well make the most of it while you can. I also remember eating a lot of carbs when I was post-partum-knackered. I panicked at 4am once when I noticed DS had developed a really nasty scalp condition... until I realised it was crumbs from my digestive biscuits.

I crave carbs a lot when I'm tired too, especially the not-so-good types! I usually buy wholemeal bread, noodles and pasta and use unrefined demerara sugar though.

Hope you sort it out, one way or another, Polka.

Sounds sensible, Cag. It's all very well having an emergency fund, but there's no point in having savings if you're struggling for the basics, really.

Spends : £7.80 travel and £10.30 on a lovely lunch out after work. Online weekly shopping came today too, so that will be £50.78 out of the account tomorrow.