Frugaleers saving and chatting through April

[SunnyLikeThursday]

Newbies welcome to join us for a bit of chat about budgeting, saving, paying off debt, and everything else that comes along.

Bacon sorry to hear about the job but sounds hopeful that they're keeping your contact details on file. Fingers crossed!

Cag that'll be a long two weeks waiting for your scan. Glad to hear about your relative.

Girlie DD got verrrry upset when we watched 'The Good Dinosaur'.

I forgot to say that there's no restriction here about taking holidays during Term Time. However, if your child misses 20 (or more) days in a school year, the school must notify the Educational Welfare Services of the Child and Family Agency. A lot of families take holidays in June (the school year finishes at the end of June in primary school) as the schools are winding down with sports days and school tours etc. and most of the course work has been covered at that stage. Oh and flight and accommodation prices are cheaper obviously.

I think the issue ought to be how the travel industry so shamelessly inflate prices.

Totally agree, Fluffy. Also 90% attendance would be good cause for concern. 95% is government recommendation and we would definitely be concerned about 90% at our school. That's like missing half a day every week.
What really pisses me off is when parents book holidays and expect us to set work for their kids to take with them. We have enough to do teaching the students in front of us. Best they get from me is that I send them to the tray to pick up missed hand outs and allow them to photocopy a friend's notes. It's up to them to find out what they missed and catch up.

Just spoiled my NSD by ordering Easter biscuit cutters from Amazon.

Yeah, we are restricted due to the business too, to when DH judges it to be quiet. We really are not as restricted as he thinks, but he's somewhat of a control freak....

Thing is, I think a lot of schools ARE incredibly accommodating towards absence for the right reasons. DD had 4 extra days off last year to compete at some pretty amazing events and venues, wonderful opportunities. The school were fantastically proud of her (and her team mates from the same school) and were glad to sanction the time off, even sticking it on the website 'representing the school' yada yada...

I think the holiday in question was to Disney, which I am not sure any one could argue successfully enhances the educational experience .

I reckon keeping the communication open with school in this regard would be key for your DS seacow, they surely would be fully aware of how difficult some situations might be? How lovely about baby DD and your mum getting so much pleasure.

Snuggly A guy on the radio said similar. Put it into the work place, it's like a colleague having every other Friday off unpaid/unauthorised. Which obviously has implications on the team, especially if you stick in their annual leave and a few days sick.

Agree though, holiday companies certainly don't help the situation.

I've planned the rest of the years training tonight and collected DS from the gym.

I don't think we have fines here for taking kids out at teen time though it's something I believe "they" are thinking about bringing in.

Just googled rainbow boa. Wow! I'm not a huge fan of snakes but that's pretty for a snake

Have started a baby wishlist on Amazon. So far steriliser, baby monitor (not a wifi one) and changing bag on list.

Told dh I'm itching to start planning a nursery and buy cots etc. And that I'm sad I can't yet. Which is why I'm frustrated about the moving thing. 😞 We'll get there I know.

Wow cag 14 weeks you think? Almost the same as meeee. 15 weeks today. Eeek.

Just had to have a bowl of cereal as I realised I'd only had belvita biccys and jelly bunnies (babies) today. Bit shaky. Trying not to eat, but at the moment what I am eating is crap. Not losing much weight, but I know this is becsuse I'm cycling again, I always go up before down.

Viv all prepped, and dp has gone to meet the courier. Have shuffled all the invoices into date order, and sifted all the till receipts... just sums to do now We would get an epos system, but we're such a small shop, it's really not worth the outlay.

The rules should be different for children with additional needs, same as for chronically ill children. A trip to disleyland just because it's cheap off peak is not on. Has anyone else noticed that it's always the richer more entitled parents that think the rules don't apply to them ? And fluffy is right, if it wasn't so bloody expensive in the holidays no-one would do it.

Lonely, I don't know if you remember my friend that has been very ill with cancer this last year? Well, they are doing some amazing holidays at present, making the most of family time. And again, just like DD, school have been incredibly supportive of this time off for their DC. Schools generally know their pupils, and also know when to be concerned...

VAT is shite, I hate VAT quarter..

If I am not on tomorrow spends will be
£30 cleaner.
£100 fill up horse box.

Spends: £7 travel; £4 tea and a scone out ; £4.20 window cleaner. I'll catch up tomorrow.

I'm not really sure about the whole thing. I haven't paid much attention TBH as it no longer applies to us :o but one thing that struck me about the whole fine thing is that it just further penalises poorer families anyway. DD's friend for example had a Disney/Universal etc holiday over two weeks (one was half term) - the fine they paid was such a tiny percentage of the money they'd saved by going (partly) in term time, so they just paid it and went anyway. Whereas a family wanting to do Pontins or something, the fine would basically wipe out - or even exceed - the savings.

Ah Em it's a frustrating time, wanting to get going on the baby shopping! Wishlist sounds like a good compromise though. My mum phoned me from Mothercare this morning. Not to buy anything (I've banned her for now :o) but she was excited to look around "I thought I'd never be doing this again..." :o I'm just really wanting to plan the big stuff, work out what we need to put aside etc. Your buggy talk has inspired me :)

Aw, Cag and Em, your babies might arrive in the same week!

I had a reasonableish amount of sleep last night, hooray! Just trying to get up...

Em that's so annoying. Ea's here are not allowed to withhold offers.
Our school is good with holidays but you have to have +95% in the last rolling calendar year. I agree 90% is not good aftendance but was that including the holiday?
Yesterday £3.75 on fruit and £3.80 on rubbish zumba as not in the zone.
Today £2 school, £3 beavers, £15 cleaner.

life I'm pretty sure ea's here aren't allowed to either...will be having words with the firm when I meet with them on Monday.

Friday. Finally. Hooray. Should be lsd. Friday is my new day to buy lunch. I figure 4 days of pack ups deserves a treat.

Em If you're looking at baby monitors then the BT 150 is really fantastic. It has a set of lullabies built into it, and when I bought it I thought that was just a gimmick. However our ds was a total non-sleeper and in the end the one thing that helped was those lullabies. He went to sleep with them every night for about 5 and half years. They knock me out too. They're like a Jedi sleep drug.

www.shop.bt.com/products/bt-baby-monitor-150-045299-4M8P.html

Oh, maybe it's discontinued though. Might be worth looking at BT ones to see if others still have that set of songs on them.

Thanks, Sunny you've reminded me I need to send DH into go into the loft and look for our baby monitor.

Just spent £21 in Aldi on a few bits plus treats for the weekend. We're planning a picnic as the forecast is good.
Then had a hospital appointment and ended up spending £12 in M&S on lunch for us both.

We had the same baby monitor as our ndn (old house), and as their house was v small you could hear everything that was going on yes, that too, ugh so I stopped using it fairly quickly!! Never bothered after that, I coslept anyway with the last 2 so didn't need much stuff for that.

Have been out on my bike, 20 miles flatish. Been to the coop but spent a tip dp was given by an old boy, who wouldn't take no for an answer!

need I remember, how is she? I'm glad the school is understanding, makes a real difference in these circumstances.

I have a strong urge to buy some yarn. What is wrong with me?!

Just been to look at travel systems. Mamas and papas this time. £799 for a six piece bundle (including a cup holder - the lady kept mentioning this so I imagine it's an essential....!)

But although that's still expensive it's more reasonable than the £1300 we saw the other day. Just for a pram.

Em The cup holder is very useful. I had two, one for me and one for ds.

The travel systems do cost a lot but if you're going to walk millions of miles then it's good to get the right one. If you're tall then it's especially useful to look at whether you will be able to stand straight up and use your full stride length. When I was at your stage there wasn't one that allowed that. I think the twin Bugaboo that has now come out probably accommodates a longer stride length then the chameleon though.

I walked about 6 hours a day with ds until he was about 2, and still lots after that. If you have very lively infant, then going for walks is a very good way to keep them entertained, and get them to sleep too.

People who take buses generally prefer an umbrella fold one or the bugaboo bee, but I was never a bus person. An awful lot of the decision is unique to your lifestyle unfortunately, so following other people doesn't work so well.

I always liked the Emmaljunga ones, but in the end I got the chameleon. It's very handy to be able to turn the handle round so the pushchair can put pushed up to a table in a cafe, just as if it was a highchair. It's at just the right height. We even used it at the piano so ds could sit in the pushchair and play. It's at the right height for that too.

Blah, blah, blah. Sorry, I could talk about this all day.

I agree you definitely need to consider your height when choosing a pram. Also check before you buy it that it will fit in your car boot. Mothercare let us take them out in the car park to try them out properly.

Be wary of sodding salespersons em my first shit buggy was mamas and papas, it broke constantly and had to be 'sent off' each time can you tell I loathed it!

Have a look at Phil & Ted's (good if you're even thinking about another!) Quinny (Buzz is excellent), I had a babystyle Oyster for ds, which was very good indeed too - mid price.

One thing - think about the car seat. Some big brands are such that you have to buy their carseat. I am very much of a maxi cosi for stage 1, especially with the quick fit base. Lots of brands are compatible. But I think this is the best on the market.

Phil and Ted was one that I really wanted to like, but with the long stride it was really impossible. The second seat is right where my knees were meant to be.

The trick I found in the end was to get a bugaboo chameleon and then lash on the handlebar from a racer bike to the handle of the frame. That was just enough of an extension that I could then stand straight up and walk properly. I think the Bugaboo Donkey would work without the lashed on extension.

I only mention because I know that Em is the same height as me and so probably has the same stride length.

The bugaboo was super expensive in John Lewis but much cheaper online. I ended up with a lot of the accessories too, even though I'm not really an accessory kind of person. I had two cup holders, the handbag thing and the aeroplane bag. I also bought a 3rd party rain cover, because the Bugaboo one is demented.

It's odd that I was kind of fashionable in pram choice, as I never buy brand name stuff. This one just seemed to do the job perfectly and nothing else would have done the job for me at all.

I just blew £70 on a software programme that claims to retrain the breathing of people with chronic hyperventilation. I know that I do have this, but it's really hard to fix as it takes months of controlled breathing practise. I'm hoping this programme might help. Fingers crossed it does.

I'm the meantime, check out my profligacy.

I've worked in areas where the pushchairs cup holder is for the parents cans of beer. You can tell the classy mums because they drink Stella Artois not Carling. Baby has cola in a bottle.

£2.49 granite parasol base (used nectar points)
Garden parasol free on valued opinion vouchers
£1.89 lighter fuel powered flame thingy for lighting the BBQ & a can of lighter fuel. Hopefully I won't get it wrong filling it up, I caused a fire in the microwave the other night.

We can finally throw the parasol away that Dh owned with his mad ex gf.

Em you might not need a steriliser, my mum used her dw in 1977, you use the highest setting but some have a hygiene setting now for baby bottles. You can buy little cages to put dummies and teats in so they don't fly about in the dw. Her hv wasn't happy about it but dw ownership wasn't the norm in 1977.