The Friendly Frugaleers Keep on Chatting (and having babies!)

[WreckTangled]

New thread, everyone welcome!

girlie ds will be 7 months when he starts Nursery. We’re planning a belated birthday dinner out for me in a couple of weeks so need dm go babysit. It won’t be a late one I don’t think but I’m going to have a few glasses of wine so bottle feeding will come in handy then. I’ve been advised by friends not to just stop bf as it is painful albeit for only a few days. But still. Could do without that.

Feeding ds as we speak. He was on the milk hunt and was getting a bit twitchy. As nothing was sterilised etc it was easier to bf.

Good luck Cag !!

Em You are doing fabulously. I want to mix feed as soon as possible too ideally but I know they advise not introducing bottle for a few weeks in case they won't BF again after, dunno if I will be able to hack BFing at all anyway though I mean who knows? It sounds hard and I imagine I would be like you and really not want to do it in public even though I totally support women's right to do and don't think twice about women BFing when I see them, I'm just irrationally anxious.

Vintage fair today, hoping to do some Xmas shopping there so might be spendy. Then we will go to visit my parents as my dad is going abroad to visit his relatives tomorrow for a weeks so won't see him for awhile.

Also, love the new thread title .

About to have a pessary Had a disappointing hospital lunch and have been seen by anaesthetist in case I need epidural/section. So much waiting around!

Hospital lunches are rarely anything else Cag! When I was in to have DD in the June heatwave they came to take my lunch order. I asked for a ham salad, they said I couldn't have a salad and substituted an inedible roast beef dinner (my ward was at 34 Celcius!) . (They also forgot cutlery ). Best dig into your supplies

Ahh the pessary. Those things are just weird aren’t they! Like a spiky little tampon! Fingers crossed it gets things moving pronto.

I’m feeling quite annoyed. I’ve just been updating YNAB and have realised I’ve spent £446 on groceries so far this month. Admittedly that includes nappies, formula and wipes etc, but it still feels far too high given we have another 9 days of October! I dread to think what the final total will be once I add in DH’s spending (we have separate accounts). How can I get this under control? I have two very fussy eaters and need food that I can have ready within minutes on workdays as we don’t get in til just before 6. Aaaagggghhh. Any suggestions? I meal plan but that clearly isn’t helping matters...or maybe I need to somehow separate out the nappies and stuff from the food, and see what the true total is?

Hmm tricky one. Food is getting more expensive. Do you bulk out mince etc with lentils? I can get at least two meals for four out of a 500g pack of mince. Batch cook at the weekends. Have at least one or two cheap meals a week ie jackets and beans, soup and cheese toasties, pasta pesto.

Thanks for the new thread.

Cag you'll are definitely allowed a taxi to go and give birth! Good luck.

Wreck yes I tried the lentil trick last weekend. So far DD1 and DS have refused to eat anything with lentils in. Little ratbags

What's your meal plan at the moment?.

Thank you Wreck

What lentils did you use? Mine don’t notice red or puy but I only put in about a tablespoons or so. I feel for you as I really struggle too.

Oooh pessary!!! Fun!! 😉 man childbirth is so glam isn’t it...?! I hope you packed good snacks cag

We are cleaning today. Woohoo. Beds changed. Bathrooms are sparkly. Living room has been sorted. Kitchen floor mopped. Almost just stacked it on the kitchen floor as wasn’t aware dh had mopped it.

Ds is also having a bath in a minute. He’s a lucky boy.

Yep so dignified 😂😂😂 man I'm bored!!!

Had 12 of those beggars cag with dd1. My cervix was having none of it! Then the stand-in consulant went at my cervix with the crochet hook. Single most painful thing I have ever experienced. Needless to say he didn't get through it. With dd2 my waters were just about leaking (she was 12 days over) so they went straight to the drip.

Fingers crossed it works first go for you x

Put some laundry on, and made french toast for the dc. Thats it so far today!

Have you got enough games on your phone/iPad? Movies to watch? Netflix? (recommend its always sunny in Philadelphia)

Guaranteed the moment you get into a series or something, things will start happening.

Possible stupid question - but what happens when you get induced. Does it mimic “normal” labour and just gradually happen? Or does it go from 0-100 very quickly.

I think it totally depends Em I was induced on a Tues with dd (they start with pesseries) but not a lot happened until the Thus when they finally put the drip up. Things had just started to get going when dd went into distress and I ended up with an emcs anyway My cervix was having none of it

Good luck Cag i'm sure your cervix will be much more agreeable than mine was

Have been into town, checked out a new PoundWorld that has opened up, wasn't overly impressed tbh. There was more in there that was over a pound than under picked up some bits for Halloween and chews for the dog £8.50.
Spent another £7 on Poundland on toiletries and cleaning bits.

Have tidied up a bit and planning a nap now!

OMG Cag are we going to have a live commentary on your delivery on MN? We may end up in classics.

Go Cag! Go hospital wireless!

Sorry to hear the lunch was tedious.

Yeah depends. Dds induction was rushed and awful. Ds with pessary was much more gentle and more like a natural labour

Not much to commentate on at the mo sadly! :o

12 lonely?! They've said they will do no more than 4! Was 1pm today, next one at 7 then the same again tomorrow and then section if it doesn't take. Fine by me whichever way TBH I want her out now!

Managed a walk to the shop. I have a puzzle magazine woohoo. Feeling very crampy but they said that'd happen from the prostin rather than it being proper contractions. So just for fun then I guess.

Yes cag 3 bunches of 4 over 48 hours, with a day inbetween each lot. Then they booked me for an elective section. It was almost 15 years ago. And I was scared as the told me dd would be poorly, so I just sat there. I'd have discharged myself and gone home to wait it out now.

With the drip (dd2) I went from 0 to 100 in ten minutes, then was told it would be like that for a min of 12 hours. The pain was so intense I had a massive panic attack (was screaming and swearing ) and had a very swift epidural!

We've taken dd3's bed down. She's had a home made high sleeper 'top bunk' with her dolls house and draws (broken) underneath. Now she's on terra firma, draws in front garden, and we can get into the room again. The wall is in a terrible state, I'm going to have to strip the plaster off, ugh. It got damp downstairs, and as it dried (shower base, now fixed) the plaster shrunk and cracked. She's been picking it too. This is a big step forwards in fixing their room up. I want to do something like in the pic (found on pintrest) to give them an upstairs lounge area

Have you got your own room cag? Hope you get some sleep today

Still not feeling well. DC are being particularly loud and screaming at each other and my head hurts so hiding from them in bed. DP brought my dinner upstairs for me

LSD - DP bought bread and milk. I bought the book girlie recommended but used my digital credit.

Fluffy I haven’t written this week’s plan yet as I normally do that on a Sunday and DS has now come out in chicken pox too, so resorting to freezer beige food like fishfingers and chips for the next day or so til
I can get to the supermarket. Normally we’d have things on the meal plan like sausage casserole, salmon pesto tagliatelle etc. 85% of what we eat is made from scratch and then round about Wednesday I have a melt down and feed everyone pizza. Friday is usually a Waitrose curry (we don’t get takeaways any more as they were just rank and full of fat). Any suggestions? Tried chicken fajitas the other day and those were roundly rejected!

Cag I had one pessary with DS and that was enough. DD2 was rather more stubborn and I was given a pessary, then two doses of the gel. If the second gel didn’t work they said I’d have to have a csection. The second gel did work insofar as it got me dilated enough to have my waters broken and then DD2 just shot out like a slippery human bullet. The doctor’s face was a picture

But god yes HOW BORING is induction. Nothing happens for AGES.

Lonely I love that! Very Scandi!

Lily Cheaper cuts?. If the salmon recipe says fillet try frozen pieces? Chicken boneless thighs instead of breast? Frozen chicken instead of fresh. I agree red lentils are easier to hide. Never tell them any things changed. Be like the fbi & deny everything.

Cag I hope your ok.

NSD.

Fajitas might go down better as spicy chicken pitta pockets. I removed all the veg & serve with tomatoes & cumber with mayo. I make the spice mix myself. It's cheap if you use big packs of spices from the world food aisle.

There's a book called the takeaway secret, they do good curries. I do a chicken tikka masala out of that book Dh says is as good as takeaway. The Chinese curry is also really good.

I will admit the curry basic sauce is a faff to store, I drastically reduce the fluid & do four portions. It's easily frozen though & doesn't use any weird obscure ingredients.

Cag Hope everything's going ok and you are managing to entertain yourself alright!

I feel like our food bills are high for two people but then some of the fresh veg and fruit is for the guineapigs but I can't really quantify what is for us and what is for them as we both eat the same things between us! Plus DH is tall and needs to eat quite a lot. Today we had tea at my parents courtesy of my mam. Yesterday we had Quorn peppered steaks which are definitely unfrugal! But that was with frugal Sainsbury's basics tinned spaghetti, and frugal Iceland own make frozen chips.