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

[needastrongone]

New thread.

Girlie I'm pleased you've had a good day! Yes I'm starting to think I should get him checked out. We're on day 7 now and he's waking up with a fever whereas usually in a virus it creeps up throughout the day. I'll wait until tomorrow though when our own gp is open.

I was thinking ears too. You'd expect a virus to be on the way out by now anyway.

Trying really hard to resist the sales. So much I want but nothing I need! Must. Not. Give. In.

NSD & I upgraded my mobile sim plan to £3.99 a month from £5.

Wreck My ds was like that with scarlet fever too, and the only other symptom for several days was that his tongue was fat and bright red. The fever never went below 38 with calpol though, which is the GP's sure sign that antibiotics are needed so it's very easy to tell if it's that or not. Did you not say that this kind of thing happens in your family a lot though, and it just goes away on its own?

We're on to lego battles now.

Presents tidied away. Nothing (apart from the boxers I bought dh) is to be returned. Hoorah!

We were going to go to town today but surprisingly nothing is open. Which is nice. Only corner shops and only until 12. Govt here have said no shops over x sq footage can open today. Which means an extra day off for those working in retail. Or not if they’re sorting out the sale but still.

I’ve been working on my “2018 financial plan”

• save £10k
• move house
• no unnecessary spends
• use “it” up (it being toiletries food clothes before buying new.

I’ve started a shopping list for the big January food shop. Then will be strict re meal planning.

Today ds is napping in his “big boy” cot. He is fast outgrowing the Moses basket. So I want him to be used to the cot before we have to use it. I say he’s napping. He’s lying in it babbling away to himself at present. But if he gets used to it that’s all good.

Will sell the Moses basket to my sisters preggo friend. 😀

Am washing his “old” clothes too so can start listing them on eBay for sale.

I have £30 M&S vouchers so will use these for new pants and maybe a colourful pair of skinny jeans.

Still have birthday vouchers left so will use these for nice smart clothes for work. Not back until May but may as well buy the basics (smart tops and skirts etc) if I find anything nice in the sales.

Sunny if it's a virus I find it does go in a few days but it's been a week now. 111 said they will call us back in six hours...

We have finally caught up on sleep! I didn't wake until 10 (ds finally slept at 0130 after a nap in the afternoon). I have lost ds and dp to the playstation (annoyingly linked to the living room telly) and lego dimensions...they both have quite addictive personalities so I sense tears before bedtime!

I'm hoping not to go out today (bar walking the dogs etc), I've so much to do re the house, I really should just get on. My sister is moving north tomorrow, so I'm on standby to help as needed. She basically moved me here (bleached my old house top to bottom as we emptied it), as I had a 3 day old baby, so I more than owe her one! It is a massive life change for her and her boys (her newly exdh is moving up too, just not to the same area!), so anything we can do to help...

I just read the "I feel ungrateful, but" thread about presents. It is amazing how upset some people are that they got thoughtless token gifts from (usually) inlaws. I opened 3 gifts that I hadn't wrapped myself, and I knew what was in two of those! Hey ho.

Any news on ds wreck? I think a week is long enough with a fever to get seen.

We're still tidying. The Christmas clean has segued into the post Christmas tidy up. Our bins aren't being collected till the 4th 😭.

Oh no fluffy! Ours are being collected on the 30th (waste) and recycling was collected last Thursday. Just sitting in ooh.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Cag pm me your details and I'll post the snowsuit as soon as I can. I don't want any money I'm just glad someone will get some use out of it.

Hope you little one is ok Wreck

Avoiding a full on tidy up, watching rubbish TV in PJs🙈

I rejoined NowTV....waste of several pounds...not found anything distant

Nice quiet Boxing day at ours.. DS has gone back as he wanted to catch up with his mates (All good by us , and he taught us to play Exploding Kittens which we all loved last night ...) It was great to have him here for 2 days but also great to be just us here today..

We have so much left over that we decided to put the pork joint we were going to have today in the freezer and we will have it New Year when we have guest .. feels like a frugal win!

I made another sausage festive ring this morning ( as the last one went down so well,) gave some to DS to take home as well as quantities of other yummy left overs .. just need to put together a winter coleslaw to take with us tomorrow plus Ham etc..

I am having a Bloody Mary for late lunch!! (yum)..I may have a nice reading session on the sofa in a bit..

Gorgeous cold sunny day here.
Went out for long Boxing Day walk at NT place .
It was lovely and then home for soup.
Fire and catching up on The Crown

I'm sat in the middle of a nerf war.

£32 sainsbury but alot was reduced wrapping paper,. Crackers, milk, fruit and pharmaceutical products

LATE lunch of ham, smoked salmon fresh crab prawns cold stufffing jacket potatoes salad relish etc. Mmmmmmm. And a glass of bubbly.

Ds is napping on the couch. Ddad is most out as Ds has stretched himself out across the couch which can seat 3 people. And has left no room for anyone else.

DH is making his fab roast potatoes in goose fat..Yum

We haven't had any so far this Christmas.. later we will have left over beef wellington, a watercress and orange salad and roasties with salt followed by a box set

Merry Christmas Frugaleers! Hope you've all had a good one.
Seacow hope your dd is getting better
Wreck definitely get your ds to the GP, that's a long time with a temp.
Em well done on the budget planning for 2018. I've just been looking at ours too.
We had a good day yesterday, the 4 of us, my parents and one of my auntys. Lots of lovely food & drink, some noisy games and good company.
The dc's presents went down well and I got a lovely mix of presents.
Dh & ds have gone off to the football today & it's a few hours away so dd and I have had the house to ourselves which is nice for a change. We went to a circuits class this morning, she's now doing some homework and I'm chilling with nothing specific to do (that is rare!).
I am going to complain to Amazon who delivered a last minute present for ds on Saturday with no packaging, just a label on the box. DS was the only one in when it arrived so signed for it and so the surprise was spoiled . Mum had heard on the radio that there have been lots of similar complaints

I've been learning to edit videos on my computer and feel pretty pleased about that. Haven't spent any money in the sales, because I am having too much fun making videos to want to buy stuff. Yay!

We went out for ice cream this afternoon and fed the ducks. Ds was very impressed with the chocolate ice cream.

lifelong I sympathise, we got ds (age 16) an Airzooka "gun" as recemmended on a thread on mn. It is brilliant fun but dd "shot" me about half an hour ago when I wasn't expecting it, my heart has only just settled down!!

LOL! My SIL nearly shot me in the face last weekend. She didn't even mean to do it, but the three bullets whistled right past my eyes on the way to hitting the wall.

Got next years Christmas cards in Sainsbury's £1.50 for 30 nice ones.

Today's spends €2 on candles at cathedral
€38.08 on ynab renewal €11.85 on 3 ice creams and a milkshake. We went to playground it was 1 deg out so we went for icecream

Today I got out for a lovely 5k run so my day started out on a good note, went for a walk with dh yesterday too

I got some nice presents yesterday from dc & dh & we've lots of presents left at home to open on New Year's Eve. And we both got a restaurant voucher too.

I've burned lots of calories sweeping the floor at dss's my contribution I guess
Dh has returned home for work so we only had a brief 48 hours together

Em hearing you talk about clothes shopping did you regain your figure quickly post partum?

Wreck hope your ds feels better soon

Girlie you sound full of Christmas joy, I was in bed at 9.30 last night, the big boys were making Lego And dss's wife doing a jigsaw so I went to bed!

NSD

I've picked up a shift for Sunday as extra. Right smack in the middle of the day 1140am to 19:30pm unfortunately. But I'll get Sunday pay and still have New Years evening.

My plan for 2018 is to pay off a loan that I took on when in a couple. Now single...it stretches me too far...I need to get it paid down. It'll mean picking up extra shifts and being tired for 6 months....but then it's gone.

Wheely I think that's a good idea to get the loan paid off, gives you a psychological boost.
I tweeted Amazon & their response was astounding. Apparently, putting the label directly on to the box is called Frustration-free packaging!! I replied suggesting it might be more apt to call it Surpise-free packaging instead.