Festive Frugaleers gather round the (best value and carefully researched) Christmas Tree for support, advice and chat. All welcome.

[needastrongone]

New thread.

Fail. Need to go to the pet shop for frozen mice and rats. Went to the freezer to get out the feed, nada. "Oh, we ran out last time" gee, thanks for telling me. [Hmm] much cheaper bought in bulk, but the snakes need feeding today.

The change in routine will be hard on ds seacow I am like you with correspondence, it takes me days to reply to texts! I haven't even ordered the school photos. I will, but not got round to it yet.

My 'sceptical' smiley didn't work. My browser has stuck me back onto the full internet page. Can't remember how to get back to just the talk thing it's usually on.

£45 in Aldi I feel like i've robbed them, got so much for that!! Their veg is so cheap at the moment, big bags of spuds for 28p, carrots 19p, broccoli 19p also got a cheese selection, biscuits for the cheese, big bags of crisps etc, lots of extras for Christmas, loo roll and a chicken to roast tonight!! Love Aldi only thing I couldn't find was some nice soft drinks, although did fine non alcoholic mulled wine.

Dd finishes school after lunch today, we are both ready for it, quiet afternoon might stick 'Its a Wonderful Life' on

Nsd so far.

We're at winter wonderland. Definitely not frugal

£6 on some battery lights and a broom.

99p on a kindle book suddenly reduced fron 9.99 and one that's been on the top of my wish list for a year now Am Chuffed to bits Christmas reading sorted!

Ooh what book laska I'm nosy! I'm just reading my way through a few withdrawn library books so I can declutter them. Crappy thriller/family drama type stuff really. Then I must read some more on my kindle as the light will be good during night feeds. Currently I either watch iPlayer or go on MN! Definitely treating myself to Netflix in the new year though.

Appts were mixed really. DD just has to go back in six months for meds review and we have to take her off it for a week after Xmas! She is seeing OT next month though. DS was assessed for his coordination etc and it transpires he is neurologically normal in that respect so she reckons his extreme clumsiness is actually more due to inattention. He scored outrageously high on adhd screen, but she can't refer on until we have backup from a club leader. She said it's possibly just ASD though and just happens to be the way it presents IYSWIM. So not quite sure what to think. In a way it doesn't matter as he already has ASD diagnosed but I just want to understand him as much as possible. She was in favor of applying for EHCP for both of them to get assessed for learning difficulties. So I guess we have some action to take in new year.

Then went to Morrisons where we bumped into crazy stalker lady norbert and got the other nice food for my parents.

Last one in the Jussi Adler Olsen Department Q series Cag 'The Scarred woman' but you really do need to read them all to get the characters (start with Mercy) .. Very good Danish Noir ..but not gruesome and great detective characters and associates. JAO was highly recommended by DHs Danish reles a couple of years ago and ive now got several friends into them as well. This last one came out in Danish over a year ago and Ive been desperate to read it ..

I did just finish 'The man who died' by Antti Tuomainen .(also 99p at the mo) . this would also make a great Christmas read. Its a 'murder' - of sorts but quite funny/ bizarre also .. I really liked it

.. ..

NSD & the shotgun app paid me £20 Amazon vouchers. Media cell app paid me £20 Amazon yesterday & I collected £5 nectar points this morning.

Cag So not awful news then?. In-attentions standard for kids surely, if it wasn't you'd only need to tell them things once.

£36 pets at home. Got the rainbow boa a stick for christmas. Said stick was £24. I tthink it must be a magic stick.
£54 tescos. Not much for that. Did get 4 skinny cookie sheets for my electric oven. Royally peed off at the gas oven yesterday.
£40 diesel. Necessary.

Homemade fish and chips for tea. Isn't fish expensive at the mo? I bought frozen as this seemed better value. And butter has gone up, again.

It's only the 21st and Tescos was a bit heaving, trollies overflowing everywhere.

Does anyone think it would be beneficial to have a separate current account for direct debits (I'd actually open an account to transfer our remaining funds minus dds on payday)?

We do that mo, I keep one for cashback at Waitrose too.

Waitrose has saved me a bundle this year.

Sort of neutral I suppose fluffy I'm glad she's not said no to further query anyway, as it's starting to get to the point where, despite the fact he's a really sweet and kind kid, others are starting to be wary of him because he is SO in your face and impulsive. Most of his friends have conditions like ASD/ADHD and even among them he still stands out a mile for being so away with the fairies, his clumsiness etc. So it's a worry as it's getting worse as is often the case around this age. She agreed he's beyond normal in these behaviours, it's more that we aren't sure if it's down to the already diagnosed autism (for example being more in your face because he's socially unaware) or if it's a diagnosable issue in its own right. All these conditions overlap so much it can be very tricky to pull it all apart. :)

Book series sounds great laska :)

On a more positive note the pediatrician commented on how good Cagletini's head control is :o #Proudmummy

You have time to work on these things Cag, don't forget a lot of us are wandering about just off the spectrum & have had to train ourselves how to interact.

You have time.
You have understanding.
You will learn more as you go.

Luckily the caglets are with you 24/7. Not in a school.

Frugal win. Tried sending dd into the toilets at kings cross on her own as it's 30p but the man wouldn't let me so sent us all in together for free (obvs we all went to the loo once we were in) saved 90p

Cag what medication has she got to come off of? I sometimes think it's harder to hear that there isn't a specific problem as it doesn't give you a answer for the symptoms [clumsiness]

Thanks fluffy :)

It's melatonin wrecked and I'm rather dreading it. It has made the most spectacular difference to DD's life and ours too. She had one night without it the other week, we forgot it but when I remembered later I decided to see what happened. I deliberately didn't tell her as I didn't want that to affect it but... Yeah not a good night. She tried without the next day but was aware of it as she remembered but begged for it after a couple of hours :( Dr agreed to wait until christmas day is over at least. She has to have the break though or we will end up needing to increase the dose

Oh no cag. I completely sympathise with you I can only imagine how awful it will be. Is the theory that the body will start to produce more of its own melatonin once you stop? Do you reduce it slowly?

Oh no cag. I completely sympathise with you I can only imagine how awful it will be. Is the theory that the body will start to produce more of its own melatonin once you stop? Do you reduce it slowly?

That is going to be a hard week for me

NSD for me, finally!

Me? I meant her! Sorry Cag, I've had a cider and I've lost the power to type

Just checked the credit card account, and DP spent £130 in sainsburys today. This was before £10.50 off, and £40 of vouchers i’d saved for this shop but still! He was being a bit cagey, and wouldn’t let me see the receipt as apparently he bought something for me. I’m get a washing up brush for Christmas I guess

Been a tidying up sort of day.

cag for your appointment earlier and that norbert really does sound like a stalker

Ah, and NC for the Christmas competition

£2 raffle tickets for scout at the carol concert. Dd won a Bear, ds is a sore looser. I'm like another fricking soft toy - bah

Just checking in. I'm struggling to keep up at the moment. Going to read back now.