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

[Laska5772]

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

Hope your dad is feeling ok unescorted
It was actually NorberttheDragon who gave her the lovely babygro :o 🐉 she is currently dressed as The Flash (Cagletini not Norbert)

Well I have established that any and all willpower fucks off out the window when I have PMT. Spends £12 dinner. Fail fail fail. The last few days have been awful but I must cling onto the fact that the rest of the month has been really good and I’ve saved loads. Just need to get back to it.

I had a panic moment earlier and was about to scrabble around for bus fare. Then I remembered I no longer need to! This was the first day I’ve not needed to pay for any bus travel as all three of us could use our passes. So that felt pretty good. :)

Cagletini didn’t have such a long nap today and I think she’s ready for bed now. So that’s an improvement. It means leaving the living room in a state (I have been sorting out all our home ed resources which are in a right mess) but at least DH is off tomorrow so it should be easier to get it all sorted.

Harry Amen to that.

Meadow I use premier inn, your in the hotel such a short time.

Meadow I too was very impressed with your early sleep training 😂 Might be worth a try though

Up late writing another letter to the school about DS’s LSA support. The battle is never over for a SN mum...

I expect I will hear from DD soon. Still, she’s been asleep since 7pm so is officially a Little Bobby Dazzler. She’s earned her spinning /singing /flashing crab-and-starfish plastic tat. Bless her.

Trying to catch up Mon was £15 in the chippy ds1 has rugby training on a Mon and as not passed test so Good old Dad has to take him you can't stand in the way of a Welsh boy and his rugby and I have a sinus infection going on home Ed activity tomorrow and can't take to meds can only inhale steam. Tomorrow is a home Ed activity but my home Ed budget is counted in direct debits and any money left like £15 last week rolls on in budget so renewals of apps and subs for online courses don't cost a fortune.

Meadow staycity apartments on millennium walk are in an ideal location- stayed there last sept. They're on a luas stop, walking distance of O'Connell st & Grafton st. Next to a huge spar shop & Jervis st shopping centre. Close to restaurants too.

Staycityy*

Just catching up.

Spendy day yesterday:

£120 weekly train
£10 days parking
£13 ish supermarket extras

Today - £9.10 parking

Seem to have developed a really sore throat and sore ear. Hardly had any sleep. Interviewing all week so can't be ill....wahhhhh

We use premier inn too. They do the best breakfasts.

I have the worst spot. It's under the skin and massive, so painful too. Meh.

Dd had a brilliant time yesterday despite her and two friends falling asleep between songs 😂 she's still asleep now unfortunately neither dh or I can go into work late today so she will have to get up for school soon. Will probably leave it until last minute to wake her up and she can eat breakfast on her way to the bus.

Morning. Indoors day today for ds and I. I’ve just woken up.

Today’s jobs. Laundry. Ppi/Plevin reclaim. Ds’ passport form.
Try and get ds to afternoon nap.
We may pop out for a walk but not sure yet.

Morning all. It’s a money in, money out kind of day. School dinners and performance paid for and a chunk of the school trip. Holiday payment made and money transferred into the joint account. I think I had a healthy bank balance for about 5 hours while I was asleep

Wolf the possibilities that face you when you see the newly inflated balance first & then reality hits & you must pay your bills

Mostly indoors day for me too. Washing, cleaning bathrooms and floors, making muffins. I hope dd naps at lunch.

I also need to investigate upholstery cleaning. I have had a little accident (a time-of-month leak, ahem) onto our sitting room sofa. The bloody chenille one that’s impossible to clean. I don’t think it can be steam cleaned so god knows but if I can’t fix it we’ll actually need to buy new sofas as it is completely . There’s already a massive stain on the other side of the cushion and DS won’t ever leave a throw or loose cover in place. DH didn’t notice yesterday and I felt too crestfallen to confess. Ug.

Dd had another quite good night with only one waking but I was up late so am still knackered. I must try to go to bed early this evening.

My waters broke on DMiL's sofa seacow, don't worry!! How was your night with DD after you posted?

Wolf its why DH doesn't have access to our money, he's the sort that would have spent it all my now!!

at unescorted. It's just my thing, 'tis all. Good news about your DF.

Paperwork morning this morning, lots of boring crap really.

Seems like a quiet day for a lot of people here. Was going to get dd weighed today but the weather is atrocious so will leave it until next week. She's absolutely crazy rolling all over the place. I went to put the kettle on earlier and she rolled next to the bin and was trying to extract the bag. Luckily it was empty and I caught her. She's started to pretend to cry if I don't do as she wants, its very cute.
@wolf I always get very excited checking the bank balance on payday for the 5 minutes before I have to pay the bills/transfer it out again.

I am at home stillpoorly but feeling abit better today..
Am looking for savings accounts
and someone - preferably a housing association - to lease the house from us that Dh lives in all week as he is retiring very soon now.. Its a nice problem to have, i know , but its proving difficult .. we may have to go down the private rent route (which i dont want to do really).. or sell it . You'd think there would be a shortage of decent 3 beds availiable for rent places in a town less than 25 mins by train from London ..

ds has had his first nap meltdown of today. crying like he was in pain/tired/super aggro. its possible he's had the same cold bug we've all had with sore throats, headaches etc. nd he's teething. i gave him the teeniest bit of calpol. it was a different cry to his usual one, hence a different solution to the issue. i feel awful doing that as do not want to rely on calpol to get him to sleep (although i know a load of mums who do this...so don't feel too bad - its a one off. not an every nap time occurrence). he's been asleep since 11. in his cot. on the sheepskin rug. he looks so comfy. i may hop in the cot later and nap

whilst he's been sleeping, i've managed to get my PPI reclaim done. i read the MSE website, and even though I have cancelled the policy, i should be able to reclaim something. hooray. heres hoping.

and if i can't I've lost nothing by trying. just a quick form to fill in and docs uploaded.

Em I don't think it's a problem to give him calpol if he's in pain. My ds had a lot because he really struggled with teething, but it never made an ounce of difference to his ability to sleep. It was really just a pain killer for him. I just made sure always to note the time and volume so I didn't give too much in 24 hours.

I'm still cosied up in bed trying to get shot of this flu thing. It's an odd one definitely. Nice to have a stop though. Dh also at home with a bad cold.

thats what i'm telling myself sunny

I think for ds - its a combination of maybe a cold, teething, being overtired (from not napping) which is causing the lack of sleep during the day. at night we put him in the cot and he sleeps through. probably because he's overtired.

the danger of forcing encouraging daytime naps i suppose is that he doesn't sleep too soundly at nighttime and i lose my full nights sleep. but we shall see. I'd rather a broken nights sleep and a happier baby though.

Ah bless you seacow hopefully something can get it out. I used to live in fear of leaks when mine were heavy.

So both DH and I are fully up to date with our extra income for the previous year - DH didn’t need to do a tax return because he’s in employment and just had to phone up to tell them what he’s earned from sports club. And then they said they are writing the tax off because it’s “not worth the admin cost in asking for the tax” (probably about £30 as after expenses - buying lots of sports equipment - there wasn’t much profit in the first six months). WTF. 🤔 I’m really quite shocked at that. Not complaining though. He’s told them what he expects to earn in the current year and they’ll take the extra tax from his wages starting now, and then we just have to tell them after year end if the estimate was correct and then get billed/refunded accordingly (there’s probably lots of you thinking “well duh 🙄” but it’s all new to us so just thinking out loud really sorry 😳). I’ve got a note in the diary for April telling both of us to do our calculations straight away this time. Honest we will... 😂

Forgot spends yesterday included the hall hire for World Book Day but I’ll make that back in PayPal with ticket costs. Need to sort out materials etc (should also be covered by the tickets). Exciting!

Seacow how annoying! You could claim off the house insurance if you can't get it out, that's what it's there for!

I've finished all my work for today not sure what to do for the next three and a half hours.

Em my Gp told me to not hold back on Calpol for teething (obv staying within 24 hr total max dose). He said it is miserably painful for them and they don’t become dependent on it, he said it wouldn’t do them any harm at all if they were on it ‘forever’. I don’t think it makes them drowsy either. If it helps dd to sleep i think it’s because the pain was keeping her awake.

Sleep Lady also said that lots of daytime sleep helps nighttime sleep, as long as it isn’t too near to bedtime (generally they sleep better if not overtired). That threshold varies by age but I think 3 hr gap or so after the last nap is a good rule of thumb. So you shouldn’t lose your good nighttime sleep if ds naps better, as long as it’s not too late in the day.

Mo I think fake crying is quite advanced - how old is your dd again?

I am dying for a nap but have so much to do. Dd has just fallen asleep on me so I am hoping I can put her down without her waking and crack on. Need to mop diner/kitchen/hall without DS in the house.

Gosh didn’t think of that Wreck. Not sure whether we have accidental cover... I could check. I’d be to claim though.

Appreciate the sympathy, I am dreading telling DH. He won’t be angry, he’s not like that. Just a bit TMI/squeamish

AF is all over the place since DD. Grr.

You don't need to be embarrassed it'll only be someone on the end of the phone. Wonder if they would send someone out to inspect it

🙈

Em there's a good book called the "No Cry Sleep Solution" that lists the times that babies of different ages are biologically programmed to sleep at and for how long. I found it very helpful. The idea is that if you can get out of their way at those times then they will get the sleep that they need, and be better prepared also to have a good night's sleep. It was that book that enabled me to diagnose obstructive apnoea as well.

I'm being very good and resting. not like me at all

I'd just say blood. They won't ask any further & you won't be the first.

Farm shop fruit £3. 3 apples, 3 oranges and 5 bananas. Pricey.
£5 petrol.

I've been looking at shoe dyes and I reckon I can re-vamp several items.

My tired kurt Geiger sandals can be dyed dark blue. I live in navy.
My damaged M&S ballet flats can be navy.
My pale pink faux suede courts can be khaki (ha! You weren't expecting that) possibly black if it doesn't work.
My handbag with a tan leather trim can be navy trim.
It's all stuff I'd be binning otherwise.

I'm dying two tops black today which means I don't need to buy a black vest from boden & finishing unpicking superdry logos.