Remember remember it's frugal November

[LonelyOversharer]

Woo hoo! I've never done the new thread before!

Lost a post but it was basically admiring a talented person in Lonely and stunning DD in Cagletini.

Laska Jasmine is the only flavour I struggle with, DD loves it. Funny isn't it?! Glad the codes worked.

£108 Sainsbo's
£80 Ocado.

I could get this down if I wanted to, but we eat well and don't eat out at all often. This includes lunches. 4 adults. I'm going to total it all up at the end of the month.

OMG epic frugal win!!! Went into mothercare as I decided to get some smaller leggings and tops for so she can get more wear out of her cardigans :o (I got some newborn size trousers and a top in boots yesterday and they are too big still!). I knew they had a sale on but when I was at the till it turned out they are closing which is a shame obviously but silver lining, basically everything is on sale! All clothes and loads of toys and apparently they keep getting more stuff delivered. Closing in January so at some point I'll go without the Caglets and just stock up on clothes from 3 months up. Yay!!!

Also got my fave nursing top (well I say fave but really I mean the only one that doesn't end up flashing my boobs at all and sundry) half price in a different colour. Double yay!

If anyone with littlies is looking for particular toys (mostly ELC brand but they had some Lamaze etc) let me know as I can have a look to see if it's cheaper, I'd be happy to post.

€15.96 on two faux pearl necklaces for dc's godmothers for Christmas
My dsis got a full time job today - she's been doing bits and pieces since finishing college over 12 months ago, and it hasn't been for the want of trying. So pleased for her as she can continue with her personal training hours as well. She has been really bothered about money in last month or so and now there's light at the end of the tunnel.

£5 spend in post office.

Picked up parcels from nz - some lovely clothes for ds. More than yous to write.

We then called df and met him on a walk. He treated us to a coffee yay. Dm is away this weekend so he’s having dinner with us on Sunday and ds is taking him for lunch tomorrow. I’m just there to facilitate the driving of ds and grandad to lunch. Haha!

Made a veggie lasagne for dinner (only ricotta in the fridge. Dh said to use it instead of white sauce (that’s not right surely???! ) but have done it and will see how it turns out.

Also threw together some peanut butter flapjacks.

Fairly frugal day. Yay!

Oh and kind person at the beach told me one of my brake lights is out. Sigh.

Awww cag she’s so cute! Lonely you’re so clever!

£8 lunch at a really nice deli. Was worth it. I’m so tired now I can barely stand and my words are getting muddled. Have been to 14 schools over four days, seen roughly 300 children and have done a million miles of driving.

Omg Cag you have made such a cute baby!!! You and Em are making my ovaries ache a bit

Lonely amazing!! I am so jealous of your talent as well, I really wish I was crafty in some way

Another busy but o.kay day at work, my student is good company and been nice to have some help with some of the heavier visits.

Spends
£10 to the window cleaner
£5 to a colleagues collection (recently bereaved.)
£1.50 drink

Think thats about it...

Ooh em peanut butter flapjacks sound right up my street

Well done mammy Dsis . First full time job deserves a

lonely you are just so talented

I am officially the most ill person ever with my man-flu. I went back to work today, or more like I sniffled pathetically in bed in my pjs over my laptop

wreck sounds like you need a pj day tomorrow

Great news on the Mothercare sale cag . Remember to keep the receipts though as cagletini might get Christmas gifts. We were given sooooo many newborn bodysuits, it was handy to swop some stuff for different sizes

It has been a very cheap week. No train fares or work lunch was needed. Internet shopping hasn’t appealed either. Although I have primed more tissues.

Glad the student has been a help girlie. Great when people make your day better rather than adding to what you need to do

Bacon sounds like you're having it rough there.
Dd & ds were whingey this evening threat of no Ladybirds for her put a stop to it

Lovely pics Cag and fabulous gifts Lonely! (I especially love the watermelon cardi - is the pattern online anywhere by any chance?)

We've had an awful 24 hours with the dcs. Both were awake for hours last night (unusual for DS who does wake a lot but usually gets back to sleep okay; par for the course for DD at the mo 🙄). So only about 90mins sleep for me last night and it's been downhill from there. Poor DH got home about 30 mins ago to be greeted by a full blown tantrum from DS and a crying overtired DD, whose bath time etc was delayed by the aforementioned tantrum. I am feeding DD now while the tantrum rages on next door.

Anyway, £8 slimming world and around £10 top up in coop (mostly berries and smoked salmon because I felt like treating myself for lunch. Still haven't had lunch though ).

A fellow ASD mum came over this morning to ask for a bit of help with her son's EHCP which is in progress (he's about the same age as DS and some similar ASD characteristics). I am not an expert but have been through it so was happy to help. She brought Milk Tray as a thank you. Slimming World forbids so I'll have to find another home for them I did seriously consider eating them for lunch at 2pm though

Cba to cook but found some hm meatballs and yummy sauce in the freezer - hooray for batch cooking and lovely speedy microwaves (Need ).

I am expecting another bad night as DD seems to have got into a pattern of waking up and wanting to play for a couple of hours between about 2 and 5am. I am going to start waking her up earlier in the morning and delaying her nap a bit to separate those sleeps - and hopefully the night time gap will disappear. It's quite hard to introduce any discipline to napping though as she falls asleep in the pram on the school run and that buggers up the optimum nap times. Can't see any way around that though. It's so much harder to manage stuff like that with dc2 when you have to work round dc1!

Too tired to remember much of what I have read, apologies if I've missed anything important.

Ikea have changed their kitchens since we put in ours so not as simple as changing the doors all must be replaced so that idea is put to one side for now

seacow sounds like a really tough night/day. You are doing so well to keep going! I so hope you get a better night. Yes, definitely much harder when you have to work around the school run. Thinking back, as DD2 was formula fed, I just managed to put her on a schedule which worked. Doesn’t work so well with BF I guess.

Gutting about the cupboard doors mammy. Do you mean a whole new kitchen now?

Seacow I remember how hard it was with naps etc with ds. He used to have to just cry in his cot whilst I got dd ready for nursery! (He was always up at about 6 and ready for a nap at 7:30) he soon got used to falling asleep on his own but he never had much of a routine.

Tough day sea. Early night tonight?

seacow Days like that feel endless don't they? Especially after a bad night. Hope tonight is better for you all. Another admirer here of cagletini and lonely's crafting skills, all beautiful!

Nsd today, yay! Though I do need to order DD's school photos. She's squinting and cheesily grinning, so it's actually a terrible photo of her, but it's the first one so I feel like I should get it!

DH is cooking tonight, chicken curry and we're trying cauliflower rice for the first time....I'm not convinced, but we'll see what it's like!

Well done on keeping going Christmas I would be rocking in the corner on 90mins of sleep! ! How old is dd now? Yes to working on a daytime routine to help at night, that's what I did. No naps after a certain time etc and up at 7am whether we felt like it or not!

Oh seacow, you really are having a tough time. True fact - I think of you often and just how much you have on your plate. I think that’s the hard thing about having 2 (or more), you don’t ever get the opportunity to have an ‘easy day’, you never get a night off, especially if you have a school run etc. There’s 18 months between my two, it’s wonderful now but the first 2 years were a blur. DH had just started the business so no help there. DS was up at 6am whether Dd slept or not. And bloody hell, she was an incredible sleeper.

All that waffle means I’m just trying to sympathise. Without a microwave

Would I be able to gently suggest, without trying to interface, that maybe sleep training would be an option?

@LonelyOversharer wow 😍 so creative and @Cagliostro your dd looks adorable!

Sorry to hear it’s madness a go-go in the @ChristmasSeacow household. Here’s to hoping you get some rest tonight but wanted to say a big congratulations for having the willpower to get rid of the Milk Tray 👏🏼 I wouldn’t have been so strong! Have you lost much weight/had success with SW so far?

I spent £4 today on a tub of hair mask conditioner stuff from TK Maxx, £3 on Oyster card and £3 on lunch. I did get some second-hand baby clothes from a charity for free at the hospital today though, a lovely little charity that helps families struggling on low incomes and provides basic baby clothes like sleeping bags and sleep suits. Felt very ashamed and embarrassed going there but they were lovely ladies and not at all judgemental.

90mins!!! :( And you still helped another mum and managed not to inhale a box of chocolates?! [medal] I really hope today is better.

Thank you all for the lovely words re: DD, it was my intention just to show off the knitting she was wearing! I am very excited to put her in the cardigan when we go out tomorrow :o

How many clothes do I need for a 3-12 month baby?! I will mostly get practical stuff I think as I know dresses will be impractical at crawling stage, and I have no idea what size she will be when that happens. Will look out for coats for spring/summer and probably a bigger size snowsuit for the latter half of the winter? And Christmas jammies (not themed but the elves deliver pyjamas on Christmas Eve) - I had my eye on an Animal (muppets) sleepsuit but DD1 saw it so I can't get away with that (clearly I will still buy it though ).

Then toys for 6m/12m like stacking cups and shape sorter if they have nice ones (I do really love ELC stuff I was absolutely gutted when our local one shut). High chair, stair gates, weaning stuff.

Have I missed anything? 😂

Ah hamburgers I felt like that a few years ago when we got Christmas presents from homestart charity. But remember they exist to help and if you need it you need it, it is braver to accept it I think. 💐

So there will be 8 weeks between our two - can I send the newborn stuff on to you when Cagletini outgrows it?

Omg I’m so overwhelmed with all the love and support on this thread! Yes @Cagliostro that would be unbelievably helpful. I’ll pm you my address tomorrow and hopefully I can return the favour at some point for someone else in need.

Have been really really struggling the last week... my DH got sober with AA but relapsed 7 days ago after a long period of sobriety 😞 I’m devastated but trying to support him as best as I can. I feel sorry for him because he is used to being a great financial provider and now we’re on benefits with a baby on the way and drowning in debt. It’s hard to stay positive sometimes.

😞

Seacow sorry you've had such a tough day, you are an absolute though managing it all!

for whoever said they were unwell sorry I'm always rubbish at remembering who said what .

Another pooey day as usual but less vomiting still which is good and I managed to get a shower today . It's literally exhausting me to have a shower atm. I also realised that actually the GP gave me a 4-week sick note for work when I requested a 2-week one, and I didn't check the dates properly in my exhausted-blur and sent it to work. So I'm not actually due back til like the 5th of December. On one hand I feel like that's probably for the best as well this week is almost done and I'm nowhere near getting to return but ergh I'm worried about money and things as we'll have to make do with my SSP for like a month by that point :/ should I let the Council know I'm on SSP now, will that mean we're entitled to more HB?

Got letter from the hosp for my dating scan, it's not until the 8th of December so I'll be about 13 weeks then. Was kinda hoping it would be sooner but ah well. Clinging on to it as something to look forward to but then I'm terrified in case something is wrong so argh.

Clearly feeling a bit poo atm.

Hamburgers Don't need to feel ashamed that's what they are there for! Glad you got some nice stuff. I saw a thread on MN earlier where someone was 3 weeks pregnant and was asking if their list of stuff they needed to buy for baby was ok or not . I feel like that is kinda premature. Although I will admit to having a browse of prams/travel systems and having a heart attack at the prices !!

I do have some questions actually.

1. Does anyone have an idea for a Xmas present for a 2yr old girl ideally not exceeding around £15? Not soft toys as she has a billion, and I could do books but again she has a billion so would likely already have any big ones I could buy. I don't think she's interested in baby dolls at all. Also not clothes, again she has a billion. Her parents are well-off so she already has tons of everything!
2. When did people first get bra fitted in their pregnancy? I'm nearly 10 weeks and my boobs are already visibly swollen. As I'm at home all the time now I'm just not wearing a bra much at all. Mothercare's bra fitting part was clearly designed to make you go and buy 3 million different maternity bras throughout your pregnancy so I don't feel like I can trust that. Worried about the expense of it all.

Yay hamburgers I will be very happy to, hopefully it will fit your little girl do you know if she's coming up big/small? Some of it is bits the lovely lovely seacow sent me so it is all serving the Frugaleers very well!

Meadow bizarrely my boobs stayed the same cup size throughout this time despite being more achy/tingly etc. So I didn't get fitted until near the end and I just have a couple of nursing bras. If you are uncomfortable it would be worth it though I think?

For a 2yo you can't beat Happyland IMO