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

[Cagliostro]

Hello, all welcome!

Welcome, Regina!

Result, Em!

Not much planned for today but need to do something nice with DD. It's very cloudynamic. Hoping the rain holds off so we can go out somewhere.

Re pets, I guess we just do it and don't think about it too much. Dogs get a walk early before work, and again when I get home, which clears my mind. Chickens are fairly low maintenance and get cleaned out once a day, I bet they take less than 20 minutes a day. Pony is more of a commitment I guess. Holidays etc take a bit more planning. They give you so much more than they take away pets imho. I can't speak for cats, but think, as Em says, 'need' less than dogs.

Re pets, I guess we just do it and don't think about it too much. Dogs get a walk early before work, and again when I get home, which clears my mind. Chickens are fairly low maintenance and get cleaned out once a day, I bet they take less than 20 minutes a day. Pony is more of a commitment I guess. Holidays etc take a bit more planning. They give you so much more than they take away pets imho. I can't speak for cats, but think, as Em says, 'need' less than dogs.

Definitely worth thinking about BEFORE you get them though!

ddog1 has done wonders for DH's MH strangely.

Catface is the best. She give so much back now in snuggles and affection and love.

We brush her every other day which she seems to enjoy. But weve had to take things suoer slow. I still can't pick her up and cuddle her. She will sit on my lap for a bit. But most of the time she's happy just being close to me/dh. She physically has to be touching one or other of us. With just a paw or what's more common is that she lies up against us.

How could we not love this little face.

em glad the Great Laundry Standoff has come to an end

Planning a quiet weekend here so it should be fairly non spendy. DD has a friend coming over later for a sleepover.

I would love a pet but like you sunny I do worry about the commitment, we are not organised people! The Caglets would absolutely love one but it's been easy to say that at present we can't have any pets in our house due to the size of it (literally no space even for a hamster cage!) and the landlords probably wouldn't be happy anyway. We have said that when we move we will get a small pet once we've settled in (obviously this depends on how that is timed with baby though!) - crested gecko is the likely choice. DD is desperate for a dog but there's just no way - what if I am not well enough to walk it when DH is working? Maybe one day when the Caglets are teens and can take it out themselves. I am convinced that a cat would really help DD with her anxiety and sleep issues - I would encourage it to sleep on her bed for company and snuggly purry stress relief at night - but DH hates them. My friends are all threatening to buy us cats as a housewarming present. :o

We are going to have a second look at the pram in town and possibly buy it. Yikes. Bit early (yesterday was 3 months until due date - officially in third trimester now!) but it's a staggeringly good offer and it would be one big decision out of the way.

DH has just gone to see the Caglets onto the bus and he will jog down to the shops. Then just see them into the coop to choose and buy milk themselves. All gradually increasing independence etc. DD got a bit nervous at the last minute, even though she's been going into shops alone for over a year, and has been getting buses alone sometimes too - but I suppose doing the two together is a bit new, so baby steps and all that. If we were nearer the local shops it would be easier but we are right on the outskirts here - perhaps when we move to a different part of town we will be nearer the parade and they'll get more freedom.

Aaaah em catface is gorgeous 😍

Housing update BTW - I mentioned the other week that we seemed to have moved up the list a bit, well we had wondered if it was a blip but weekly results since then seem to confirm it's true! We are now consistently about 30th so it could be sooner than we imagined, as one or two houses a week are coming up. Yikes! Considering that before we did the medical needs application (earlier this year) we were generally between 80-100th, this is incredible. :)

Awesome news cag I've got fingers crossed for you xxx

Also dh wasn't keen on the idea of a cat. But I regularly hear him saying to Catface that she's his fave cat. She seems to have taken to him too. She's cheeed his shoelaces, peed in one of his trainers likes to "knead" his bum when he's sat on the couch - she lies down and kneads the nearest bum cheek....

Great news, Cag. I hope things happen for you soon re housing.

Oh god, pets. Fish are easiest, but pricey to set up a tropical tank. Any reptiles are ace pets if you can cope with dead mice/live insects.

My cat is just one of us, he is an outside cat, "if you let him in, you feed him" works well. Now he's old he has a litter tray (the new covered one is a hit, no more poo on the floor), which I deal with. He sits where you don't want him to, and eats odd things left lying around. No catflap as I got so sick of live toys in the old house, very memorably a stoat once, uninjured and very very angry.

The dogs need more, I take them out on the bike 4-5 miles each night, or about a 2 mile walk if rainy. Quick play in the morning, food, fuss.

The ferrets are ace but smell, they live outside!

Chickens are useful, just need food and water, and provide me with lots and lots of eggs. Mine get a full clean out once in a blue moon, bale of straw down when squishy.

On balance I'd always go for a cat first.

Cba today, so going to the range, as you do. Will probably buy a load of random things I don't need.

Great news on the house cag!

I didn't mention our fish but that's DS's area. 3 tanks now......

We also look after a bearded dragon quite regularly and he is ACE!

Good pet chat. DS has a few tropical fish, which we clean out once a week. He likes being responsible for feeding them. I am allergic to cats and not really a huge fan. I prefer dogs but while we are out of the house for long days we can't do it (and DS is terrified of them too!).

Sleep is no better here, I average 3-4 hours a night in 1-2 hour snatches. It won't last forever though. Re. DD's vomiting the GP prescribed infant gaviscon, but I realised when I picked the prescription up that he had only given me enough for 2 days . So not much use really!

I have been run ragged this week with toilet training DS. He is mostly doing well - so much better than I expected and he is very pleased with himself. However, he isn't quite quick enough usually, hence we are not having big accidents but are still getting through a lot of clothes! The washing machine is on several times a day at the moment, I dread to think about the electricity bill.

One bad thing: we realised on Monday that water is getting into our garage (attached to the house). It's under about an inch of water. I haven't been able to do anything about it during the week with DD and DS on my hands but my mum was down yesterday so I went to explore. There is quite a bit of stuff in the garage (bikes, booze and boxes) and so there is a lot of mouldy wet cardboard. It smells terrible.... boak. I also found that one of the wet boxes contains all my old photos, college formal photos, my art portfolio of stuff I did as a teen, old lab books etc. Ruined. So I am a bit sad about that. I put it all in the drive to dry out overnight the neighbours will be judging and DH is taking it to the tip now. Then we have to deal with the water - still more stuff to take out and then we need to sweep it all out and swill it down with disinfectant. It's a gross job. And then try to figure out where it is getting in. I fear expensive repairs...

I have spent lots of money too. Extra shorts and trousers for DS (school and toilet training), a new lamp to replace a broken one, ditto laundry basket, a strimmer for the garden, a second black bin to stop foxes eating our nappies ... I was on a roll of sorting things that have been annoying us. And I still need a stiff broom and lots of disinfectant for the garage so off to Homebase later.

Phew. Not really keeping up with life here!

Good news about the parents' house hunting Sunny, hope it comes off. Helpful family nearby is the best thing ever.

I think cats are generally good pets as they are fairly low maintenance that said they do create some mess, cat hair is the bane of my life!! They also have clawed at the carpet in various places and I hate the litter tray was a passion.

That said the house doesn't feel like a home when they are not in it, they give lots back in affection and girl cat has really helped dd with various things (she is like a therapy cat!) There are also lots of cats in need of a good home in shelters up and down the country...

Cost wise you need to consider food/ flea and worm treatment/ insurance/ vet bills/ litter tray/ cat flap etc etc.

I am the proud new owner of a lovely little red car and am £3800 poorer going to spend the rest of the day in the garden.....

Thanks for all the thoughts about pets. I think I would get a cat now if I could find space for a food dish and litter tray. We're like Cag, the house is just jammed full. Which is weird because we have three bedrooms and two large reception rooms, and only three people. I'm not sure how it gets so full.

I went to John Lewis to look at storage and saw all of the beautiful things that would make our house look nicer and just shelved that decision. Too complicated.

Congratulations on the car Girlie. That sounds fantastic.

80% of my housework is generated by the cat.

Cag That's not long to wait, you'd be quite near giving birth by then.

£7 co-op.

Christmas sorry to hear things are so complicated at the moment. I remember when I was under siege with ds and my Dad was driving 500 miles each way to open my post twice a year, because otherwise it didn't get done. Baby care it really really intense sometimes.

Same here, Fluffy I vacuum every day because of the cat. The little sod just came in from the garden to use his litter tray and then went back put!

Sunny we don't have a litter tray. We only used one for the first few weeks when he wasn't allowed out.

Girlie good news on the new car which will be much more reliable.

Cag that's great news

Our cat is very hairy but my dc are also very messy plus the they all love each other so much it's lovely to see.

Nsd! I resisted buying coffee.

Sunny I was thinking of tropical fish, as you have some knowledge there anyway and they are (relatively) low maintenance. Setting up tank would teach your DS about waiting for the conditions to be right and the balance of the tank etc. Plus, automatic feeders make holidays a lot easier than having dogs

Who knew that cats caused as much mess as dogs?

I just put my most frugal hat on and registered my gift voucher on Waitrose website so I can use it for groceries.

Quite glad about that, because now I don't need to make hard decisions about what to use it for, and my end of month numbers will look much better.

Great news about the car girlie , some big payments just have to be made like replacing cars. Here's wishing you many years of inexpensive frugal car care

seacow you are doing so well with so much on your plate right now. about the leak. I hope you have missed out spends on convenience/ takeaway food, you certainly deserve it!

We had a £13 off £90 spend in Tesco and DP decided we should both go to the shop with the DC . I said we should try out the scan and pack and we spent £90.50 before discount. Normally I'd end up spending £130 to try and spend £90 so that worked. Fridge is rammed full.

Anyone know if student loans affect mortgage applications? Our fixed rate runs out at the end of the year and I'm thinking of starting a post grad OU degree in Nov and will need a loan. I could pay for the first part of the degree from savings and then get the loan after mortgage is sorted as it says you have to get the loan within 9 months of the start date of the course. My parents paid off my undergrad loan and DP paid his off as he only had a small loan so we've never had to factor it in

I don't think student loans can affect mortgages or nobody I know my age or younger would have a mortgage!

We have a litter tray because our cat is very old and can't always make it outside! I think he prefers it anyway.

Pretty much decided on the buggy. Didn't order today though because there's an event on Wednesday where you get 10% off any spend! So that's another nearly £40 off. They checked stock and there's over 200 left and the offer will still be running so it's not a risk to leave it.

I am wondering about investigating strollers that can go from birth though as that would take up a lot less space - that's my one concern with the one we've been looking at. It is awesome in all ways but that.

Dad is very happy to get the fridge now rather than wait until we move, so that's awesome. Will investigate that too! Budget will cover a big one as well. My dad is awesome.

Currently though what I really want to investigate is FOOD! I'm sitting on a bench in town while DH takes the Caglets window shopping, I keep getting wafts of something garlicky and it's making me SO HUNGRY!

Fluffy it's quite scary how quickly the house could happen! Kind of hoping it is either a little quicker or (more likely as anyone could be put on band A+ and thus we would understandably be bumped down) a little slower or it's going to be right on my due date. :o Not that it's entirely out of our control mind you, it's a bidding system so we don't get offered somewhere unless we ask IYSWIM. It's such a huge decision, it's all been fairly abstract so far as we've been bidding on everything knowing we won't get it. But in a couple of months everything we bid on could technically be where we spend the next 5 years minimum!

Hi all, just checking into the new thread, then going back to catch up as have been awol for a few days, poorly baba and me and dh have been pretty ill too. Hope everyone is OK!