New frugal thread for autumn savings

[SnugglySnerd]

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

Cag i think its excusable. I fell into the Asda Christmas stuff earlier. The children will look very festive

Grumpy I donsimikar. I've got a John Lewis credit card that I buy everything on - even better now I realise it does contactless payments. I pay it off in full every month but I get JL vouchers every quarter. It really adds up.

Ooh yes DH has the Natwest rewards too, it's fab. We've actually moved most of my bills over to his account for this reason (just need to sort plusnet).

seacow. Sorry parents evening was hard for you

I’m in bed. I love my bed, it was worth all the money.

Sunny Good luck. It sounds like your miles ahead of the competition already.

Laska Could you post your recipe when you get time please?. I like it but my allergies exclude a lot of treats.

I must look at the natwest account, our mortgage is with them.

Grumpy I make my own drinking chocolate. Home made food is much more filling than processed. I do my own breadcrumb stuffing too.

I've made sausage patties for Dh in the morning. 8 for 90p v 6 for £2 in Tesco. Hopefully they will work out. If they don't I'll wizz an onion up in the food processor & make sausage meat stuffing. Meh.

I'm caught up to here but too tired to converse with everyone 💤 💤

I opened a Dunnes Stores email this evening & purchased two Leigh Tucker dresses & a pack of two pairs of tights for dd for €59 free delivery. These will be dd's Christmas/winter good wear. @5pm this evening & they're being delivered tomo

I really must transfer money from Christmas savings against cc & start tracking Christmas spends

This week I also bought a light up racing track, magnetic shapes, aliexpress own brand Lego & a marble run

Both lonely, mainly to be seen though. Although through town some areas of lighting are not great.

ooh how do you make your own drinking chocolate Fluffy? The DDs get through loads in our house! I could even get them to make it, maybe, then they'd be more aware of it being used up...

Ive had a gin. And a cry at dh. Have told him I need help during the week. He’s oromised to get up earlier and make sure I’ve showered and eaten before he leaves for work. This will mean I have to get up earlier myself but it’s better than not feeling able to leave ds for a few minutes to shower. Am now in bed. I also love my bed love it even more tomorrow when I put the fresh bedding ironed by dm and the winter duvet on

Getting my nails done tomorrow. Yay!! First time since August I think... so £39 spends. Dh wants to visit fil tomorrow but I’m not sure I have the energy so may suggest he drops me off in town an hour or so before my appointment then takes ds to see fil and then either picks me up or I walk home. It’s fils birthday tomorrow but I need some space away from ds I think. He’s so cute and so small but so exhausting. But how can you not love this face

100g unsweetened cocoa powder
200g icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Combine & sift once or twice.

Buying the ingredients at Aldi it works out at 30p per 100g.

Cadburys add unspecified flavouring to theirs. No idea what it is but that's the Martha Stewart recipe.

The salts really important, the basic mix is 1/3 cocoa to 2/3 icing sugar in any quantity.

Sorry about parents evening. Is it that he's not settling in well? I hope they are being understanding of his needs :(

I am so hungry. Amazon order may have included my favourite biscuits and my favourite sweets that are both tricky to find in the shops! (Galettes and those raspberry and blackberry domes).

Ohhhh hello little boy 😍 he is indeed very lovable! Gorgeous 💕

Not exactly Cag, he seems happy enough but he just doesn't interact with other children, and is having trouble understanding basic concepts, and they are having difficulty engaging him with certain activities (e.g. Reading - he only wants to read his favourite books, nothing new). They also grade progress on various things and he was behind with them all. My poor darling boy - I actually think he is a clever wee thing but his language difficulties (receptive and expressive) are a massive barrier. And although the school is lovely and caring I am not sure they have the experience to help him.

I do wish DH was home this evening .

I want to know what a raspberry and blackberry dome is. Although it's probably best I never find out

Hopefully in a couple of days I will be adding my own photo of a new mini Frugaleer. Still can't quite believe it's happening but I think I'm past the worst of the panic at last (this may change when labour actually starts :o) and now I've accepted it's happening so soon, I am just really desperate to meet my little Cagletini :o :o :o

She's a right wiggle bum at the mo, they'd warned me the steroids can reduce movements for 24hrs which freaked me out a bit but that memo seems to have passed her by :).

Off to drink my third cup of yucky raspberry tea of the day :o

These amazing things. Under the sprinkles they are clear jelly. You're welcome :o :o :o

Aww that is tough to hear re: the parents evening :( it's horrible that he is getting 'marked down' (in reception, why are levels even a Thing at this age?! ) because he can't communicate what he can do. I had a similar issue with DS who I knew had quite a mathsy brain but because he couldn't talk properly nobody else saw it. Your DS always sounds like such an awesome little dude and it's not nice for them to frame him so negatively just because he can't manage what neurotypical classmates can yet. But he will make progress and hopefully as they are a kind and nurturing school they will learn how best to help him

Forgot the pic

To be fair, they were not setting out to be negative, just objective about what they see. I can't be cross with them, just sad for DS. I wish I could post a pic of him, he is seriously cute!

I love those things! Never knew what they were called and rarely see them on sale. Yum.

thank you Fluffy will get that on the shopping list.

ememem84 what a beautiful baby! But you need a break - they're gorgeous, but they're tiny tyrants.

Sweet little face em
My frugal tip is I never buy handwash.
Save a naice handwash bottle -I was given The Scottish Soap Companycat Christmas and refill with Sainxburys bathfoam (white one) is 80p a litre and is lovely and moisturising .
20p for 250 ml instead of £1/£2 and saves on plastic.
Avoid all those anti bacterial agents also .

Another tip is always to look down the shelf as the economy brands are near the bottom and Sainsburys range is excellent .
Happy frugaleering

cag enabling claxon! I both love those sweets and had forgotten completely about them. Back to the amazon I go... So exciting, cagletini could be here in 2 days!

em he is utterly adorable! They can be very overwhelming. Its a massive shock to the system, you'll get used to it.

seacow your darling little ds will find his place. I really feel for you, it can't be easy to be told drivel at parents evening, but he's really doing a sterling job. Being at school all day is massive surely the fact he's coping with it is enough for now. First reception parents chat we got told that ds was very babyish. He'd been 4 for 3 months ffs.

Dd3 fell asleep in my arms I might of napped too nearly 10 and still my little girl.

Aww the cuddles stay lovely and overwhelming no matter how old they get I think. I had lovely snuggles and giggles with my two tonight after we finished reading Matilda (finally!). I might be having a newbie but they are still my babies and always will be!

Seacow I am glad they are a caring school that really will make a huge difference even if it's a steep learning curve for them too. And the fact he is willing to go in and is settling is absolutely brilliant and will carry him through.

I'd forgotten the sweets too until they started doing them in the tuck 'shop' at Badgers club. Sometimes I'd give the Caglets extra money (they earn their tuck money with their spelling test each Thursday) just so they could pick me up a few but dammit I am having my own box of them! :o

I am feeling quite good now, did my pregnancy workout for the last time (it's very very short!). Everyone keeps saying I look really well and I feel it for the most part, twinges and stuff yes but I've been pleasantly surprised that physically I feel quite good :) hopefully that applies to the birth itself too.

DH just got home and is now off for 3 weeks (standard paternity and then half his remaining annual leave) woohoo! Tomorrow DD has dancing and we will try and sort out various things in the house. Washing machine arriving in the afternoon.

Ooh how is the dishwasher BTW

Dishwasher didn't fit, ha ha! It appears that our kitchen counters are lower than the standard height (I think what they did was install the counters at standard height and then install the wooden floor, leaving less clearance. Bunch of muppets). Anyway, they could only get it in by taking the top bit off. So it looks a bit odd and the 2-year warranty is also invalidated . Still, it was that or no dishwasher.

I also messed up because without realising it I bought one with a digital countdown display. This will be as irresistible to DS as crack cocaine as he loves all digital things with a countdown (microwave, washing machine). It's not too bad with the microwave as it's only on for a few minutes at a time but we have to restrict how much we use the washing machine while he's home because he will be compelled to sit and watch it and do nothing else. With a 3-hr dishwasher cycle this is going to be a problem. So I took this [pic 1] and did this [pic 2], before he saw it. I think I'll have to leave it on forever! Glad I invested in a posh one now

Thanks for the supportive words about DS. (Who is currently wide awake 😬, although he is good about staying in his bed) . The only person in the house who is asleep is DH, who is snoring away. This is making me unreasonably furious!

Oh no! How annoying. Glad you still got to keep the machine (what would happen if you had to send it back, would they refund?!) but irritating about the warranty. Our first washing machine when we lived in a flat was invalid too as the LL's unscrupulous bloody cowboy odd job man had made a dodgy drainage pipe and there was nowhere to actually plumb the waste hose. Downstairs flooded. Nightmare time, wish I'd been on frugaleers back then!

Good idea covering up the display, guess there's some other way of knowing when it's done (our dryer sings at us always confuses guests :o). I remember you saying how much he missed the microwave timer on holiday bless him. ❤️

I am annoyed as I can't sleep. You'd think I'd be making the most of my penultimate undisturbed snooze time but clearly my brain has other ideas! 😡😡😡

Seacow babe you got any special schools where you are? Or any standard state schools with SEN units attached? My friends ds was lucky enough to get into a special school (sorry if calling it that offends anyone I’m not sure what else to call it!) and he’s doing well.* He still refuses to eat lunch there and has his own problems but the difference is that there’s only seven in his class and the teachers are able to work with him instead of just working through the curriculum. He’s a very clever boy too just struggles socially.*

Cag so exciting!!

Em that’s a good idea to get up earlier.* I think we always did this, I know once I had ds and dd I would definitely have a shower whilst dh was still home. Being tired sucks there’s a reason why they use sleep deprivation as a form of torture. He’s so cute though.*