First Frugalling month of 2018 almost done , so Forging forward into Feb we go

[Laska5772]

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

Laska I think it's quite usual for them to split it's just the horrible dangly bit which is making me squeamish. We have the dentist in half term anyway.

I just counted my change out of my coat pocket from dominos. I paid with a £20 note it was £15.99 and I've got £5.05 in change

I hope everybody has a good day, particularly catface and Love. Networking, moving and no sleep all suck!

Part of our drive caved in last week. Only a small part but worrying none the less. We called our insurance company immediately and they sent a man round this morning to assess the damage. Apparently it's a combination of rat digged tunnels and rainwater. Lovely . DH has contacted the authorities re the rat thing, and the insurance should cover most of the work on the drive, which will have to be at least partially dug up etc. At least it shouldn't cost us too much but it is annoying none the less.

Love - I come into Waterloo everyday and it was chaos this morning. Not the best start to a Monday morning.....

£9.10 parking but that should be it for today.

Catface - I really need to get my wobbly bits down the gym too. Hardly been the last couple of weeks and I can feel it and not in a good way. I feel so much better mentally and sleep better when I get into a routine of going to the gym.

Wreck - your poor DS....that made my knees go a bit wobbly just thinking about it!

So the rat man has been and gone again. Less than an hour after DH logged it online. I am most impressed with the local authorities around here!

Sorry to hear that things are so hard Catface. That sounds like a real grind.

The financial times did a piece a few months ago about how burnout is huge in professional women of about 35 - 40 and the lucky ones are the ones who can afford proper counselling to get everything in order again. Apparently with women being expected to be perfect at everything these days, it's really common for them to end up totally knackered. I think they really hit the nail on the head there.

fwiw, in the end I signed up to see a proper clinical psychologist to help with this kind of situation a few years ago and she's a total godsend. It's just nice to have a neutral expert outsider listen to all the complex situations I'm managing once in a while, and help me figure out the rights and wrongs, where to set boundaries, and how to do it, and so on. I would highly recommend it.

I'm really glad to hear that you're getting time to go out and do some sports for yourself. That's really great. Well done.

I just took ds to school, but it's clear that I still have the 'flu, so I'm going back to bed. 'Flu is weird for making my heart beat go all to heck. I am not keen on that at all, so will be trying hard not to get distracted from doing proper resting. I am rubbish at resting

Morning everyone.

A busy weekend so I'm just catching up now.

I lost my bank card on Thursday night. So it was a frugal weekend for me but only because DH paid for everything . Hope I'm not too long waiting for the new card and pin.

I'll be glad to see the end of January. It seemed to go on forever. Roll on February and longer evenings and less rain hopefully.

We watched 'Everest' last night. Memo to self - don't ever climb Everest! Also, not a very frugal undertaking. A good movie though.

I didn't quite succeed with the no take away January. I had one McDonalds with DD when we were out in Dublin one day but it was cheaper than having lunch in a restaurant and I knew I'd be too tired to cook dinner when I got home.

Seacow sounds like you'd a verrrry tough night on Saturday night

Wreck I laughed when I saw the photos of your cat claiming your new chair. She looks like a queen sitting on her throne (or possibly a king sitting on his throne?).

Unescorted very sorry to hear about your Dad.

Girlie good news about the gas and electric overpayment

Wreck your DS had a bad fall!

Merry welcome aboard. I'm in € land.

Catface I can't get over the gf's comments. She sounds like a real charmer! I know what you mean about getting back to the gym - I have to get back walking too. I got very lazy over Christmas. Getting fresh air and exercise is good for my mental health and I also sleep better.

@Taytocrisps Everest?! OMG we watched that a while back. Brilliant movie. But so sad. And it made me feel really cold. I always knew I’d never be able to climb Everest. I would die for sure. Always fancied going to base camp though. Just to say I did it. But it put me right off. Maybe one day I’ll travel to Nepal though. And find the lowest altitude bit of Everest. And sit on it and take obligatory Everest selfie #mountainsyo

So far this morning I’ve had healthy breakfast. Porridge with frozen raspberries (Waitrose essential no less) a cup of tea and I’ve had almost a litre and a half of water. I’ve showered. Moisturised everywhere. Ds is napping. Washing is on. And I’ve cleaned two shelves of the fridge.

Dm isn’t feeling great today so I’m going to take ds for a walk instead of gym.

Apparently with women being expected to be perfect at everything these days, it's really common for them to end up totally knackered. I think they really hit the nail on the head there.

Never a truer word spoken. Damm societal pressure for us to be beautiful smart independent don’t need no man/anyone I can do everything myself women.

In an act of societal defiance today I didn’t shave my legs. Ha. Take that pressure to be perfect. Ive got stubbly legs. Ha! Pow!

OMG I never shave my legs poor dh

I actually had breakfast today for once, not as healthy as you catface. Had ready brek with frozen raspberries, honey and chocolate chips

LOL! Catface I love it. My act of societal defiance has been going back to bed and shutting my eyes. Best decision ever.

I forgot to say that I spent approx. €8 on a kindle book 'Into Thin Air' by Jon Krakauer (a personal account of the Everest disaster) because I wanted to find out exactly what happened and why certain things went wrong. I won't say too much because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it.

My sister went trekking in Nepal years ago which I quite fancy but I definitely won't be tackling anything like Everest.

I'm reading all posts but my brain is in such a fog I can't retain enough to respond
Been to gp signed off work for the week, and been sent for a chest X-ray.
Dd is well enough to go back to school tomo

Hello, I'm back! I need to be back, I've been wildly spending on crap and can't afford to! The threads always go so fast that I don't always have time to read all of them.

So, I need to be good. £5 spent today on circuits class.

I do need to book train tickets for our holiday at Easter, that's going to be around £100 for 5 of us.

Also need to upgrade my phone as it's so damn slow now and the battery runs out fast, and I pay too much for it.

My ex starts his new job today so hopefully he'll sort out paying child support once he gets paid (think he gets paid weekly, he has done with all his other jobs)

DH managed to contact the landlord and we have to pay for the plumber we need then send them the invoice. Looks like around £100.

I’ve done virtually all my tax return - easy but I’m confused about the U.K. interest thing... do I put no because I only get interest from my ISA (and that’s pennies anyway) and those are supposed to be untaxed? I definitely put something in last year but I can’t remember.

I did randomly transfer a bit into my ISA though just to make it into an even grand. Woohoo!

Am at home .. this cold is rotten.. I am not saying its flu but i feel really quite cr*p today .

Just renewed my BT line 'saver' £208 (but i've been budgeting for this by putting the monthly cost away all year..) .

We had pheasant for dinner on Saturday (a brace left over in freezer from Christmas) , I boiled down the carcasses for stock yesterday and now just need to go and make soup with veggies and whats left of the meat ..But really feel so awful ..i am going to have to make a huge effort.. but I do know its just he medicine I need.. . This is the one thing about DH working away .. when one of us is ill we are on our own..( but then also that can be a blessing..as we can just get on with it without fuss ..)

Sorry about all the poorliness.

Forgot to say I finally tried the soup maker and it’s fab. Or maybe I did say it, I can’t remember which thread I posted on. FFS.

Mammy sorry to hear it's so bad, and Laska too. It's definitely that time of year, it seems.

Welcome back Norbert!

Cag the internet offers this as top google hit:

"Do I have to declare any income I get from an Isa on my tax return? No. Not only is interest paid tax-free, but you do not even have to mention income from Isa savings on your self-assessment form."

That seems good then.

Catface I just found this on a website about burnout:

"We inspire girls to live authentically as their super selves."

www.huffingtonpost.com/carrie-severson/im-a-recovering-burn-out_b_5928762.html

Good Lord. And we wonder why there's a problem.

Oh double FFS. I appear to be bleeding again. Sorry TMI. But whaaaat 😡😡😡 I’m tracking it in the diary.

It would explain why I feel spectacularly grumpy today. This will not be frugal as grumpy=hungry

Oh thank you sunny I can never understand the help bits on the HMRC site so googling should’ve been the obvious step but yet I didn’t 🤔😳 that’s great then I can delete that section and send it off yay! 💐

Interesting article sunny

£25 Waitrose. Mostly lovely green veggies eggs bread. And cheese. And pre packed pre roasted cold chicken.

My lunch treat is: lovely soft seedy bread, strong cheddar, spinach, chicken mayo toasted. And a side of chopped cucumber apple and tomatoes.

NSD today-hooray! I don’t have enough of these. Just choir tonight, and I paid my subs for the whole year in Sept.
I have been using an instant cooker all week, so have various left overs racked up in fridge so I won’t need to cook for a couple of days.
Jury is out on this. I feel the food is a bit bland as a result - kind of pressure cooker effect - although flavour improved after overnight in fridge.

Good to hear that about soup maker cag I intend buying one this year. My blender doesn't make smooth soup & therefore I rarely make soup and when I do it's disappointingly gritty.

For those in Ireland there's now a RevApp for recording your medical receipts presumably for med1 form just saw it at gp this morning

Wreck, yes West Sussex. Wreckcat is a very fine cat.
Laska, we hadn't been to Weald and Downland for a year or so, there is a new house or two and they are rebuilding a bakehouse and a dairy. And new shop and cafe. Had a sniff around the shop as one does, happy to find absolutely nothing I wanted!

Very lazy morning. About to be up and doing. I need to walk round to the Coop to get either a small beef joint or some mince for dinner. If I feed DP much more chicken he'll start clucking.

West Sussex here too. Not been to Weald and downland yet because it’s a bit out of the way but there are trips there sometimes.

Frugal lunch out of the freezer as we are out of bread. DH had made some Bolognese the other week and we don’t have any pasta so I had it with rice and micro veg instead. Really lovely.

Just watching horrible histories and feeling BLAH.

Tax return done but system is busy so can’t submit yet

I did leek and potato, it was nice but slightly thinner than I’d like so I’ll do more potato and a bit less liquid next time. Perfectly fine though. I cut too much veg for that one so I then made a batch with carrot and garlic added, which is in the freezer. Not making any today as I’m out of freezer bags but my next plan is sweet potato and red pepper.