Frugaleers hurtling through November... is it too early to mention the C word? All welcome for money saving chat!

[Cagliostro]

Hi all, please settle in for chatting about all things frugal, and all things everything else :o

£27 Riding. Almost came off. Almost. Jumped for the first time since May. Instructor said if I wanted to canter the jump I could. I’ve never done that before. So didn’t ask pony to canter at the lead up to it. She had other ideas. So we did it. Then the second time round she went so fast and jumped so big I threw my body forwards. And as we landed the rest of me went forwards and I just had to hang on. Scary. But. Only almost came off.

Picked up new duvet set, laundry egg and space blanket and ds’ wrist rattles from the post office. £14 in M&S on tonic water crisps humous and chicken Kiev’s.

Popped into see Dm and her friend this afternoon. Friend hasn’t met ds yet so it was nice for him to have someone else to play with and show off for.

Dh has done nothing today. I asked him to change the bed. Nope. Luckily this time I didn’t strip it first. So don’t need to worry about changing it this evening.

Tomorrow I’m going to yoga in the morning. And as dh has mon- weds off work have booked a ton of gym classes and appointments for me. Can get a lot done when I don’t have ds with me.

I’m thinking about cancelling my gym membership (although this means I won’t be able to take ds swimming without paying for it) as I can’t go without finding someone to take ds for an hour or so. I want to do classes at 6pm and in theory dh should be able to meet me there at 545 after he finishes work and can then take ds Home. But I know it won’t happen. Am going to try though.

Thanks Girlie I've ordered a book about SPD anyway. I do wonder if it might be a menopause thing as two GPs separately said to me two years ago when it was really bad that I was having all the same symptoms are they did during menopause. So I'm really hoping it is now, because I don't want to do this again.

I wen through a wanting to find myself via religion phase a few years back and toyed with the idea of converting to Judaism. Turns out I coukdnt live without bacon.

I have a veggie friend who is veggie except for McDonald’s. And bacon.

£57 Etsy spends on baby leggings for ds and dnephew (who is only 5 months but is wearing age 9-12months already - he’s a whopper!)

Want to sort wardrobe and do a bit of ebaying soon. Also need to find a dress for our Christmas party. Have had a look on eBay and seen a few I like but no bids yet.

Strange definitions of being vegetarian

I could actually get the ethics of avoiding dairy more than meat tbh. I’ve joined a few FB sites, there’s a few fanatics but mainly normal folk.

OMG. Strictly. Joe's quickstep. Wow!!! ❤️

There’s vegan cheese but I don’t know what it tastes like. I’m loving almond milk. It certainly makes you think about what you are putting in your mouth, that’s for sure.

We eat veggie maybe 5 dinners a week. Maybe one of those will be vegan (but not a conscious choice - mate a vegetable curry with coconut milk - not what I would have thought of as “vegan” in my head I assume vegan food to be icky dry lentil loaf or something).

We buy soy milk (or used to when I was still getting my period) as it helps me feel bloated. We don’t buybit all the time just one week a month.

£37 food, _32 v farm shop

If I didn't have the dc to cook for, my diet would be terrible. I'd live on cereal probably. As it is I want the dc to eat well, and have a full varied diet. So I cook every night bar odd Macdonalds like tonight from scratch, protein, veg, carbs. Ds of course does not prescribe to this.

For me food is control. I eat like a horse, any old rubbish when I'm feeling very random, and I hate it. I love to calorie count, so am very careful not to show this too much to my girls. But I could eat the same meal every night, and nothing else all day except coffee if left to my own devices.

As you all know I love baking, but rarely eat any, unless its biscuits. Love homemade biscuits or flapjack.

I have been pondering if I can live solely on speculaas until Christmas.

Is anyone else feeling festive yet? The lights have started going up round us, makes the grim rollercoaster road home much more fun. I'm going to gut the downstairs next week, ready for decorations! And the shop shuts next week! Yay! Time at home. Don't get paid for it either way, so I'd rather be home, in the warm.

Vegan cheese all tastes the same apparently. Guy I was on ot with today went vegan earlier this year. Best decision he made he said. He was a massive carnivores but feels much better.
We should eat less meat but I struggle with inspiration and a fuss arsed eater

I'm home. Spent loads and am exhausted. Need to ice ds' cake now.

I think I'm going to order this dress for christmas day! Clearly my marbles have rolled away, but it's £14.99 and I usually wear jeans. My dad wears a tie at Christmas! From the reviews it's a thin jersey material, but my parents house is like a blast furnace, so that's ok.

Do it lonely

Hi all, hope you are all well

Lonely I love that Xmas dress, go for it!

Em I love your riding stories. Hope you didn't get too much of a fright though!

I haven't caught up, sorry. Have been feeling so grim haven't been on my laptop since I last posted. HG is not really any better. I tried to cut my medication down from twice daily to once daily on the prodding of pharmacist & GP but then have been worse since so going back to twice again tomorrow. Hardly kept anything down the last few days food-wise, permanently starving and exhausted . I also had a horrid sort-of-complication with my bum at the beginning of the week. Will say no more as majorly tmi but worst pain I've ever had thus far! Feeling very down about it all. Missed my flu vaccination a second time because I had an awful migraine so couldn't get to the GP for it so need to get DH to rearrange for me next week and need to see GP next week as my sick note for work runs out on the 5th Dec and clearly I'm not going to be well by then .

Parents came to visit again yesterday and were on their best behaviour . They are coming again tomorrow. It is nice to see them when DF is not in one of his moods!

Nearly at end of first trimester now. That is what is keeping me going, the thought that a third of it is nearly done now at least...bleurgh.

Also I have a permanently guilty conscience for not having cut out dairy. Keep saying I want to but it just seems hard and also pricey as even the cheapest soy milk is much more expensive than dairy and we are pretty skint atm.

Wow meadow you are really going through it :( I really hope it all clears up soon. That beautiful baby will be worth it. Don't even think about dairy guilt etc now frankly you need to eat anything you can keep down, that's the priority! 😘

I haven't set up phone or iPad yet.

I have made some decisions about DH's Christmas pressies though, it's also his birthday in January.

lonely love love love that dress!!!

meadow oh lovely I’m so sorry you’re still having a rough time. Just a thought - are you by any chance taking pregnacare? I never suffered from HG but I did feel awfully sick. Worse when I was taking pregnacare. If you are taking a preggo vitamin avoid that one. I took boots own and also seven seas when I coukdnt get the boots one. Don’t beat yourself up either. You’re doing amazing. It will pass. And like you say, you’re almost through the first 3 months.

Meadow so sorry you're still so poorly.

Ds' birthday today he's five! I think I joined this thread not long after he was born.

We're gouge swimming then to bills for pancakes hopefully dh will pay for lunch.

Aw happy birthday miniwreck!

I have booked my Tesco Christmas delivery slot. Have to pay for it (we only have the midweek saver at the mo but went for Saturday 23rd) but £4 to not have to go to the actual shops for fresh stuff is totally worth it! I have just checked out with alcohol for now and will edit later.

I found out yesterday that boots deliver here again. Hooray. They only do click and collect but that’s better than nothing. Means I don’t have to frig about the store with ds in his pram a teeny basket and huge packs of nappies/formula. Hoorah.

Trying this morning to get dh to make Christmas present decisions for his family. I’ve offered to buy them but only if I know what he wants me to get. It makes sense for me to do this as I have time, and he cycles to work so can’t easily bring things home.

I’m planning a shopping trip on Tuesday morning. He’s off work so can spend time with ds while I shop in peace. I’m also going to do the food shop.

My laundry egg arrived yesterday. I’ve used it twice. It’s pretty good. Albeit on one wear clothes (ds’) not sure how it’ll cope on dh’s gym stuff or my riding gear but if we use it for half our washing then it’s still saving us money. Supposedly it lasts for 720 washes. So almost 2 years if we do one wash every day. It is noisier - plastic egg flailing about in the machine drum- but I’ll get used to it.

Dh asked me whether there was anything I wanted for Christmas. Anything at all in the world. Tempted to tell him I want a forest green mulberry lily bag. Because it’s beautuful. Lovely colour. Beautiful soft leather. Shiny chain handle. And it’d be lovely for when I go back to work. But it’s pushing it...seriously pushing it..... Maybe if I get a Christmas lottery win....current jackpot on our lottery here is over £750k. Fingers crossed!!!

May suggest lovely riding gloves. And waterproof jodhpurs/waterproofs instead. And may ask him to pay for my gym membership for the year. More practical than a handbag. (Not as shiny or lovely or green though...)

I’ve gone against my initial thoughts of buying him a lovely watch. It was expensive and also df had his serviced last week (df also has an Omega watch which was gifted to him when he retired) it cost him around £300 for a service. It’s a beautiful watch but dh doesn’t wear one currently. And maybe it’d be better for a birthday or something. It’d also deplete my savings pot and come February I’ll need that for spends as after the end of feb I’ll have zero income coming in until 21 May (first payday back at work). Maybe next year...

Dh has asked for a new pair of joggers - he fancies the soft ones from jack wills. So will get a pair of those. And will have a look for some other bits. He’s incredibly difficult to buy for - if he needs something he buys it. Annoyingly I washed his rather fancy Bluetooth wireless headphones the other day. Oops. So was going to replace them. But he’s already replaced.

We are having a lazy one at the moment. I’ve been to yoga already then came back and crawled into bed. Must get up!

Happy birthday to your ds wreck our wee boys are the same age (I'm finding 5 very bossy!). Have a lovely day. Having a birthday so close to Christmas plays havoc with present planning though. Dd1 is 3 weeks the other side.

I made another amazon order last night. £57. I must be nearly done! It's all arriving this week, so I can lay all the stuff out, and see whats what. I'll have overbought for one, and underbought for another I expect, as usual. But all the colouring pencils/books were ordered last night, they're mandatory and my dress, we shall see Then I shall start to wrap. I use a different paper for each child, so I don't have to write endless tags

Today is a do nothing day. Need to finish ds' hat, and a couple of etsy orders need doing to go tomorrow. Turkey leg cooked overnight in the sc, so just roasties and veg to do for tea.

em def get the watch for his next "landmark" birthday. They're very special imo, more so than a tag or a rolex. Not sure why. My dad inherited my uncles one, and it is by far the most beautiful of his too many watches.

• great uncle. More coffee required.

lonely dh’s next landmark birthday (if we’re going for ones which end in “0”)isn’t for another 8 years. But the “5” one is in 3... that’ll give me more time to save.

I love the Omega ones. The one I’m going to get for dh at some point is black leather strap black face. Silver number markers and hands. A beautiful piece.

£40 seasalt, probably a couple of hundred in Smyth's toys. Our generation shite. This is the start of my main shopping period. All saved for. RL shopping on Friday