The Friendly Frugaleers, watching the pennies as we wait for sunshine!

[Cagliostro]

Hello, all welcome!

Em definitely teach baby boy about laundry. DD1 is 3. She can put a load of washing on with very little help. She also matches up all the socks for me.
She is currently washing up plastic containers although that was out of a desire to sit down with a coffee than because it actually needed doing!

Hoping for NSD after horrific weekly shop costing £130 last night. We had run out of a lot of stuff but that didn't even include formula as they had run out. Aptimil always seems to have sold out everywhere. I think if I'd known that in advance I'd have used a different brand.

Happy birthday lonely! 🎁

Welcome chaos

Snuggly cow and gate is the same as aptimel.

£55 Lidl
£3.50 Wilkos

Meal plan:

Pizza
Spag Bol
Shepherds pie
Roast chicken
Chicken casserole
Meatballs in flat bread with salad
Pasta bake

It's a lovely day here. The dc are being really annoying though. I hate taking them food shopping.

Happy birthday lonely 🎉🎂

It's so hard to be grateful when you have been quite clear what you would like. Hope your parents give you cash to put towards a tablet. Could match betting help fund it too? Then you'd have a new phone and tablet

Tried to go cold turkey with nappies for DD2. After her third pair of wet pants, she went and got a nappy to go under her pants. There's no hurry, she apparently kept on insisting on sitting on the toilet all day yesterday so thought I'd give it a go

Welcome chaos

girlie correct. We have set chores. Laundry is mine specifically. He cleans bathrooms (when he's shaving his beard gets everywhere so he cleans). All I've been asking is that dirty clothes go in the basket for washing and clean clothes get put away within a reasonable amount of time which I don't think is too unreasonable.

He's just met me for lunch and has asked why he has no clean clothes. Ive said that clothes will be washed once they're IN the basket.

I'm feeling a bit sick/sluggish at present. Time for more fibre drinks when I get home I think. Sigh.

Spends today £4.75 on toasted wrap for lunch, an icy cold fresh lemonade and some salt and vinegar chipsticks.

Have just spent some time researching "flat earth theory" after speaking to a colleague and also reading an article in the daily fail....people are crazy yo.

The basket thing seems entirely reasonable Em. Does your dh earn a stack of money to make up for being like this? #MrDarcy?

I have just been sent a john lewis token for £185 as a thank you for being a tester for an energy use meter. I'm tempted to blow the whole thing on sweeties.

I also just went to the Equality meeting at my old workplace where we brainstorm about how to improve access to science careers for women. I always talk too much at these meetings because I have a huge backlog of bad treatment that I've seen and I find myself getting it all off my chest. It's weird to find out that I have all that resentment built up, and embarrassing when I leave and realise that I couldn't stop myself. I think it's good though. Maybe. Or something.

Oooo sunny I would treat myself to some really nice bedding. Save it until just after Christmas though for their brilliant sale.

That's a good idea Wreck. I want to spend it on robots, but I know that more clutter is not what we need. It's a tricky one.

sunny oh I wish he earned pots of money! He earns a decent amount (hes a fund accountant). Sadly we're not at the stage everyone expects when they find out he's an accountant. People seem to think that accountants all earn six figures. Sadly not the case.

I'd spend your voucher on bedding too. Supposedly we spend a third of our lifetime in bed. Why not be comfortable. We bought lovely bedding about 4 years ago from the white company. Oh it's so soft. And so lovely (and was in the sale so was still over £200 but king size bed and about 6 pillows) worth every penny. I'm a fan of good quality bedding. Quality bedding in my eyes = quality sleep = happy Ems. Dh is also a believer in happy wife happy life (laundry being the exception...) haha!

I vote bedding or a robotic vacuum cleaner sunny DP is currently researching one for us

LOL! Love Yes I was thinking about robot hoover too. We have two and they are both still working though so I probably shouldn't. We also have fairly recent bedding. If I have any wit about me I ought to spend it on two week groceries from Waitrose, but that would take a lot of restraint.

Em That's a tricky one then.

Happy birthday lonely.
Lots of pre holiday and work stress here. Will be fine but I'm out for 2 weeks after today.

Happy birthday lonely ⭐️

Em entirely reasonable. Has he seriously not been putting any laundry in the basket? FFS. Also big yes to teaching Emboy chores, it's so important to learn this stuff young but especially for boys I think, if the many manchild DH threads on MN are anything to go by!

£17 in coop, £4.50 taxi home this morning. Needed food to share at friends house (got dinner stuff for tonight too) but saved loads on train fare as we got a lift to her house so didn't feel bad getting a taxi which made the trip to the shop much easier. Just got dropped home too :)

Mil has dh (and his three brothers) all doing their own washing, cooking and cleaning long before I met him.

Happy birthday, Lonely .

Congratulations on the vouchers, Sunny. I won £100 JL vouchers once, and I got new bedding and cushions, IIRC.

NSD so far.

Cag I think you're right about that. Oddly, whenever I get dh and ds to do housework they are really pleased. They say that doing housework is much easier than the guilt of feeling that they life with a martyr wife. I hadn't thought about that. It does seem to really help though if I sort of team-lead the housework and say things like "today we do the living room". Then we all pitch in and do it.

Eternally grateful to DMIL for not treating DH like some form of prehistoric specimen that needs 'doing for'. He's in the villa cooking ta, but has brought me a drink down at the pool.

Have a super time life, god I hate the few days before the holiday!!!

Well done on the vouchers sunny. If you don't need bedding etc, then maybe use for Christmas presents. Or, as you won the vouchers, they have amazing clothes and a brill returns policy, they stock all sorts of brands of clothes. In addition, their lighting is fab, we have a few of their lights, all great. Or, material, if you sow?

lonely, I'm enjoying being relaxed. Sort of, I've got up,early to run and tidied up every day. I've got a month from hell when I get back, but that's okay, I'll be rested and energised again.

We got up early today and went to Herculaneum. I urge anyone to go if you can. It's better than Pompeii. DD bought a book about it and is sat next to me engrossed.

Spends
£22 - entrance fee
£6 parking, but no one then checked...
£90 - supermarket for a ton of food, at least 2 meals worth.

Re dh and the laundry. This is the one area he fails at. Everything else I can't fault. He cooks and cleans and ok is a bit messy at times (but aren't we all) but he just cannot seem to grasp the concept of "if you want something washed it goes IN the basket"

He doesn't ordinarily do laundry (my job) because he ruined one too many nice jumpers (his and mine) and I effectively banned him.

I'm counting down the minutes until I finish work. Have listed everything I need to get done before I go on leave. And another list of things I want to get done.

The "new me" has taken over the new client work coming in and I'm left clearing a backlog of outstanding points/tidying up loose ends/reviewing accounts etc. Last month before my adventures with baby boy... gulp.

Happy birthday lonely. I don't think you sound ungrateful, DH Can do this, thinking he's putting his own original twist on things. You can't help,that slightly sinking shoulder feeling can you? You are not at all selfish.

To be fair em, I was just about to say that your DH doesn't sound all that bad, but you posted in between me thinking that

I've listed some things on eBay. Hope they sell!

need he's not all that bad at all. To be fair he moans about how my hair falls out all over the place and I never pick it out of the shower drain I don't and now can't because I can't bend that far in a small space

I'm in the car now waiting for him. May have sneaked into accessorise on my way here and bought a pair of silver metallic pointy toe flats. £8.10 70% off. Woop.

Slightly concerned though at present. Car is in multi-storey carpark near the harbour and our power station thingy. I can hear all sorts of sirens going off. Not sure why. Am wondering whether I should move the car.....no one else seems bothered but I'm just not sure what it means.....!

I'm awful. Dh is tidier. When he something about it I tell him pretty girls are never tidy .

Happy birthday Lonely! 🎂 My DM got dad a book of love poems on scented paper one year so for her Christmas present he got her his favourite aftershave. Phones can be returned, I'd say something otherwise you'll be disappointed you use it that it's not the one you wanted.

We are in decorating misery. Trying to cover dark brown with pale cream emulsion. The cats unsettled so he's pissed in the hall to cheer himself up.

NSD. It's been a looong day though.

I moved the car.