New frugal thread for autumn savings

[SnugglySnerd]

Just filled up the last one. Hope you all find the new one!

We just went to the dentist and ds is now signed up to have his teeth fixed under GA. I wrote to them before to say that there may be developmental behaviour problems and it was much much easier because they knew that. They all just looked pleased with the little he managed rather than looking accusingly at me when he wasn't all Mr Perfect. Phew. Now just have to figure out a way to manage it all.

Homework help

Dd and I need an interesting way to present ten facts about Egypt. I suggested something with cardboard flaps but apparently someone has already done that. Any ideas?

Lonely have you any gilets like provis or trespass lumi you know that look like regular jackets but light up like mad when car lights shine on them?

wreck

Could you:

• make a sand box and make ten pyramids. Different fact under each pyramid.

• make a Mummy - use an old doll and each “layer” dona different fact..,

Good progress with the dental stuff sunny

At least you can now go shopping again em . I did a lot of shopping and returning clothes when I had a newborn as could never try things on, but could shop

lonely slug incident? Do tell! We have a hole near our dining room patio door where slugs get in. I don’t walk there in the dark anymore. DP has promised to fill it —three months ago—

lonely not an expert ebayer. But maybe you should list your stuff for buy it now and leave the open to offer option on? You probably won’t sell quickly but some cheeky person will make an offer and you can get rid. Apparently for oversees buyers now you can post it to an eBay warehouse and then they post it on (the extra charge goes to the buyer) so ebay then know it has dispatched if they claim it doesn’t arrive

Along the lines of em's suggestion pyramids have 5 sides right underneath and four to make up the sides? 10 places to write a fact if you make them from cardboard?

Can't help with creative presentation ideas I'm afraid, as part of my Asperger's I am awful at stuff like that. I sometimes used to have panic attacks in art classes even in primary school, once I was about 10 and realised how far behind my peers I was . It's really sad because before then I loved drawing and arty things, I mean I was far behind my peers but I enjoyed it, but as soon as it started to dawn on me that I was so horribly behind, I got mad anxiety about it and that anxiety has still never left, which means I can't enjoy anything vaguely creative really.

Spends today:
£5ish on lunch in the work canteen which was a chick pea tagine thing with couscous and a bottle flavoured sparkling water.
£1 charity donation in exchange for a pin badge thing.
£1 for a piece of cake again for the charity.

Cag Good luck with the forms, I know how grim they are but you can do it!

wreck or you could cut pictures of an Egyptian peoole from the hyroglyphs and make a comic strip type thing - have them saying the facts with speech bubbles of it has to be flat.

Sympathies on the creativity thing. Was just talking to a friend yesterday about how we both much prefer crafty stuff with set instructions (stuff like building a specific Lego set rather than just using random pieces to create something) as it's far less daunting. I think it's also why I am totally obsessed with board games TBH - there is freedom but within a set of rules! :)

What about canopic jars wreck that was one of the first craft things we did when we took the Caglets out of school, we used old vitamin tubs from Boots and covered them with clay. Could put little scrolls with facts in maybe?

Had a really nice day. Took me such a long time to cheer the hell up (super tired too) but my friends are so awesome and just let me be. Only paid £1.30 for a drink as everything else was included in the party package.

Neighbours aren't home so no news there.

Thanks everyone. Will discuss with dd in the morning and see what she wants to do

mammy sorry, the only gilets are bright fluro yellow, not retroreflective. Plus made for cycling so only fit right when you're curled up on a bike.

em you will do so well helping with doing ds' homework. You're going to be 'that' mum who produces the most amazing things that put the rest of us to shame! Great ideas btw! Glad you had a good mooch. You are doing so well, 2 weeks pp I was still sitting on the sofa holding a screaming baby, sobbing and bleeding.

The slug incident. Our house is like a damp sieve, and we get these huge milky white slugs (house slugs?) in the downstairs at night. I always collect, bag and put in the outside bin. One night dp decided that a piece of kitchen paper a sprinkle of salt and they'd be grand in the kitchen bin. He didn't tell me how lazy he'd been. So I go to change the bag, lift off the lid and my fingers slide through about a dozen huge beasties hiding in the lid to get away from the salt. The lid is still where I threw it. Dp would have followed if I could lift him.

Ewww I feel sick hearing that story lonely

Poor DD2 went to bed at 6.30 and keeps being sick every couple of hours. Hoping maybe now she’ll just sleep until morning and will then be better

Impressed with all the creativity. I can do the creative things but am not good at coming up with the ideas in the first place. Hope you get inspiration wreck
Em glad you've had a good day, it's so good to have time on your own.
Lonely eww to the slug story, we have a couple who come in at night during the summer but for the life of us we can't see how they get in.
Cag hope you get the forms sorted, so stressful.
Need I went into Cambridge today after the course. As Seacow says, there's plenty to do for a day I'm sure. It looks like Park & Ride is the way to go. There are so many cycle & footpaths, it's easy to get around. Lovely selection of shops in the centre & the architecture is amazing. If the weather was okay, I'd be tempted to hire a bike & see a bit more of the place. The Botanical Gardens were on the road I took in but closed & may be worth a look. Hope that helps.

The course has been fab so far, 1 more day to go. My brain is at exploding point but in a good way. It's really got me thinking about how I want to develop my career. I now feel like I know what I want to do but just not quite how to get it. Was brave and went out for a pub meal on my own tonight, it was lovely but I am looking forward to getting back to the family tomorrow night.

north that's nice to think of you being just out there somewhere. I'm glad your course is good.

There's so much to do here it boggles my mind. I'm glad you found bits that you liked.

Seacow dd has always found birthdays and Christmas difficult as she feels overwhelmed by all the presents (almost like a sensory overload). She copes better now but I remember at least 3 or 4 occasions where she ended up in tears for that reason. Your DS sounds lovely, glad he's liking school. Hope your dd's sleep settles soon.

You could try Facebook lonely in any cycle for sale pages. eBay would give your a wider audience though.
I would do FB first then eBay. Could you set up a shop selling page for them both?

Nsd yesterday. Picked up my light box from Asda and got a £7.49 refund at the range for in used party stuff. Can't find the receipt for the test but it will get used..
Shopping today plus as child birthday present.

Hello, got busy yesterday and didn't get back to the thread sorry!

Love we did get DS in his uniform (brute force on Day 1 if I am honest with a chocolate brioche bribe) and he's fine with it now - the problem is he won't take it off after school and won't wear PE kit or anything else! He definitely has a problem with transitions!

Sorry your DD is so ill, that sounds like a nasty bug, hopefully on its way out.

We went out to a quiz last night and left the dcs with a babysitter. We were here to help with half of the bedtime routine but she had to finish it off (with detailed instructions about what order we do things for DS as he likes familiarity). The babysitter was his key worker from the nursery he has recently left so someone he likes and knows well, but he is all about context so he still said a forceful goodbye when she arrived! However, he was as good as gold and went to bed perfectly. The same cannot be said of DD however... she was awake pretty much all evening, crying on and off. The babysitter had to walk back and forth a lot and eat her dinner with one hand while standing up. As she left she said 'I work with children all day but it's different at work, you always have back up from other people. This has made me really think about having my own children'. I.e. DD has managed to put a very experienced nursery worker off the idea of having her own children . I am
sure she'll come round when the memories have faded . Anyway, DD greeted us with tired smiles and then fell asleep, waking only once for a feed between 11.30pm and 7 am - a new personal best! It seems we either get a good evening or a good night, never both... but it will come. I feel like a new woman now anyway. (And we won the quiz - hurrah!)

Lonely are you winding the shop up then? You said something a few days back about a big decision, I wondered whether that would be on the cards. I do wonder whether specialist Facebook groups (cycling clubs) would be the way forward -maybe have a post advertising a sale and offering a prize for commenting and 'sharing' the post to get it spread?

That slug story made me shudder. I'd have chucked DP out too!

Glad you are enjoying Cambridge and your course North. You have strengthened my resolve to go and be a tourist again. I feel so enormously happy whenever I get to visit Oxford again, I should go back more often. I got married there so even happier memories.

Hope you get to the end of your dentist saga soon Sunny. It sounds as though you are also making progress with DS - do you suspect ASD or similar? It sounds as though your DS is very high functioning but may have some issues, hopefully if you do identify what those issues are you'll get some helpful strategies implemented at school to support him. Like with the dentist, just a few adjustments can make a world of difference.

The friend who is staying tonight is leading me astray tomorrow and taking me to the knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace. It will be impossible not to spend, literally! But I haven't had a day out since having DD so it will do me good and DP can enjoy a whole day with the kids and appreciate me more

Happy Saturday all! Off to make the spare room habitable for guest and then going to hairdresser to get my roots done. More me-time!

Dh was spendy yesterday. He spent...£14,000.

On paying off another chunk of our mortgage. Bringing this down to under £120k. Which is insane.

I’ll admit when he said “hey guess what I’ve just spent £14k” I was sort of hoping he’d bought a new car or some diamonds....but mortgage payment is more practical and will help us out enormously in the long term. The more we pay off the more we get back when we sell the smaller the new mortgage we need. Yippee.

We’ve been here 7 years now. And around 50% has been paid off so we’ve done super well.

Have to go to the shop today for things for katsu curry.

Mils friend is coming round today at some point to see ds. So will probably have to buy some biscuits too.

Was feeding ds earlier then after he was done and burped just had him on my lap and he was wriggling around. He let out the most enormous fart. And then looked accusingly at me. And then cried when I told him it wasn’t me. On the plus side, I think his wind problem is sorted...!!

That's brilliant Em, it must have saved you thousands in interest.

I think so fluffy dh did say how much but I wasn’t listening properly....

Morning.

Em We did similar this year, 10k off the mortgage and 15k each in pension funds. Appreciate most can't do this, but if you are financially able, then it's a sensible financial choice long term.

North I bet your head is swimming with information! Take a few days to process it if you can, sometimes that way a course of action comes to you. Thanks loads for the tips on Cambridge, you and Seacow have been fab, thanks guys.

Lonely Yeah, a regular stock check helps ha ha! Running a business sure is tough and a more than full time occupation as it fills your thoughts much more than being employed. I'm sure even the specialist stuff will sell on Ebay, we use it occasionally for random and very specific stuff that we want rid of but will never sell otherwise. The high viz stuff must be extremely marketable at present, maybe as a bundle?

Seacow I'm so pleased that you have had a good nights sleep!!!! I know you've a busy weekend coming up but you cope so well with it all. I was getting marginally concerned though, got to admit!

We spend A LOT on food. I witter periodically about the appetite of the teenage male....DN has just gone to Uni and DSil is shocked how much food they are NOT getting through! It's not an area I skimp financially on either, as I'm massively into eating well and we rarely eat out either. I could make massive cuts in my food budget if I ever needed to though for sure.

Spends today
£40 driving lesson.
£50 Ocado

DH is on a downward spiral. Here we go again on our roller coaster MH journey...

£42 Lidl. Yay me. Only a few bits I couldn’t get.

Being married to an accountant I'm always impressed you're allowed to spend anything at all Em. I bet some make us look profligate.

£227 car insurance & £55 cashback. Free online amendments so no charges when I buy a new car in November.

I'm trying find a non-annoying you tube video on wilko home brew kits. So far their all quite annoying.

Home brew beer works out at 50p per 500ml bottle & I can control what goes into it ie no sulphited sugar syrups or citric acid.

Women used to brew their own beers years ago in England.

Is it the new building causing it Need? Does he know it's happening?.

Quick check in for now

DD2 slept all night and is happily eating breakfast as if she wasn’t ill yesterday