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

[Laska5772]

...and here we go !
Welcome all!

Morning frugaleers, it's a local office day today, I have packed up breakfast and snacks (no time for lunch) so should be a nsd.

Thanks Em I'll look up those recipes. It's the cheese sauce I don't know how to make. Everyone I ask says "just make a cheese sauce", so I've never found out how that works. LOL!

sunny it's the easiest thing to do. I use butter, about a cm slice from a standard block, melt it, add a big heaped tablespoon of plain flour, and stir in. I use a little balloon whisk. It goes grainy, then you cook it off for a bit, keeping it moving. Then add milk. I use about 3/4 pint I think, but I feed lots of people. Then you bring it to the boil, stirring all the time. It takes about 3 minutes to bubble and thicken. Season and it's done when it's thick and smooth. Then I add a few handfuls of whatever cheese I have. Anything goes. Mascarpone, philly, cheddar are my usual fridge finds.

You tube will have tutorials. I use them for all sorts of things. Like the mirror glaze, that worked so well.

No idea whats on today, but I have a lot of posting to organise.

I make it the same as lonely. I don't measure anything just guess.

Should be a nsd today it's quite frosty and I'm going to one of my more rural schools so the roads might be icy, 8 miles of back roads.

DC's school have their book week this week. It's sleepy story time tonight where they get to go back at 5:30 in their pjs, drink hot chocolate and listen to stories

Same, but I stir in the milk or alternative gradually while heating. It's one of those things that you think is complicated but it's a doddle to make.

You can also do a bechamel sauce by putting the butter, flour and milk in a pan all together and stirring as it heats up. It thickens beautifully without the need for the fiddle of making a roux first.

Need your ds' holiday plans sound great, it will feel weird, but how fantastic to see the independent young man you have have nurtured and encouraged, starting to spread his wings.

Just made a list of jobs to be done today & I will definitely be kept busy. Circuits class at 9.30, then cricket trousers to alter, accommodation to book for dh's parent's golden wedding weekend. They asked me to find somewhere bexause I'm good at that sort of thing. Like I have nothing else to do. Anyway, they are paying and at least I get to choose where we go! Then I need to sort out a hospital appointment for my mum and take ds to his latest hospital appointment, hopefully to sort out his jaw op. I've been doing a bit of reading up and it looks like his bone and teeth issues could be connected to the VitD deficiency. It won't make any difference now but at least it's an explanation as to why he has had so many problems. He seems almost back to his normal self, he's done 2 training sessions over the weekend, has come through them fine & so will be on the plane to the Caribbean, barring emergencies! So excited for him, he's got through all this with so little fuss, he deserves something good before knuckling down to his revision.

I've just about recovered from the night in with our friends on Saturday night. It was a late one (I made my excuses around 3 a.m. but the others stayed up until around 5 a.m.!). We got a Chinese take away and had drinks at a friend's house. The takeaway worked out at €11 each so €22 for DH and I. I also brought a bottle of wine for approx. €8.50/€9. I didn't go overboard with alcohol on the night but I find that as I'm ageing, I have less and less tolerance for alcohol and late nights. I was very tired and slightly hungover yesterday and took to my bed around 9.30 last night. With the result that I was wide awake at 6 a.m. this morning. Feel much better today.

NSD yesterday.

I was supposed to go out walking with a friend this morning but she cancelled because it was so cold and frosty. I might head out later myself when it warms up a bit. I need to take out money for the milkman and to pay another instalment off DD's Scout camp this summer.

I've made a list of all the projects (sounds more interesting than jobs) I want to get done at home. Some of them are long term and some are short term. I'm keen to get going on them.

Welcome aboard Nofilter and good luck with your plans.

A lot of sick frugaleers still - get well soon everyone and

I'm off work today with a poorly dd, she has a sore throat and is sounding very hoarse. I get very twitchy when she gets a sore throat due to how poorly she was a couple of years ago. Have got her a drs appointment for lunchtime.

Oh well gives me chance to catch up at home a bit more, none of my spends have come out of my bank yet so have been working out what I should be left with once everything does come out. Its not quite as bad as I thought so thats good!

Frugal win of the day I had a large coconut body wash that i had picked up in pound land but it was rubbish and didn't soap up very well, was deliberating what to do with it and decided to decanter into a hand wash bottle. That worked a treat and its enough to refill the hand wash a few times!!

Frugal win of yesterday, I sold £80 worth of stuff in the end via Facebook selling pages that will go a long way to paying for a new bed for dd.

http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/styleandd_beauty/3050909-Soap-instead-of-shower-gel
Just read some of this thread & going to try out soap in the shower myself, all the bottles do annoy me

Tayto that was a cheap night out, I'm always in bed early after a night out, just after dc!
This weekend will be a good test - I've been ill, not back to work yet, wedding fri night & night away sat night but I'm^ alcohol free^ so will the tiredness be as bad

North good to hear your ds is feeling better & will be able for his trip

Girlie my gp prescribed Keral this time for my throat & it's amazing. Granules you mix with water & gargle and then swallow. You can't take nurofen with them as they're the same but the pain relief goes directly to the source.
Great Facebook sales

Thanks for the hints on the cheese sauce. I must look up and find out what coelicas do for the flour. I suppose it will be cornflour or gluten-free flour, but someone has probably worked it out somewhere.

Lonely I hadn't thought about looking for cooking tips on youtube. Thanks for that. I'm sitting here making videos myself to explain the science of optics on youtube, and somehow it had just never occurred to me to ask youtube how to make cheese sauce.

Morning,

Thanks for all the welcomes frugaleers!

Sympathies for the poorly! I have a 2 year old and I’m blown away by how many illnesses she’s had - a merry go round of sleepless nights, Calpol and very dark eye circles!

She’s in nursery today I’m quite looking forward to the break after quite a few days off ill!

Aiming to go to my farm and potter around and also have a NSD. I’ve tried to budget this first month quite practically and have a £10/day budget for miscellaneous but I haven’t needed it yet (except for a Starbucks and cream cake on Saturday ahem!). It’s like a game to see how much I can keep in these envelopes!

Although I can’t seem to breathe near my horse without some expense spewing up so we shall hold that thought!

Ooh macaroni and cheese yum!

We ask YouTube lots. Cooking, DIY, make up reviews, shoe dying.

Ooh Keral sounds interesting mammy I might ask the pharmacist about that next time

Great news north about DS recovering

Sunny we basically only keep gluten free flour in the house and it’s absolutely fine for cheese sauce :)

girlie hope your dd feels better very soon. I can imagine how scary it must be

Mammy have you ever heard of Soap saving pouches? They turn your soap into an exfoliate thingy and also save it apparently!

We are concerts here and use dove soap...

Cag I'll try that then. Thanks!

Fluffy good thought. I'll have a go.

NSD & I recovered £12.55 from a dormant bookies account.

Making lists of things to eBay today & I've suggested to Dh we need a clearout. Now I have to wait the statutory 2 weeks for it to be his idea.

North You can say no to tasks like that, I do. I figure if relatives can find me on mumsnet they can sort their own admin out. I politely declined the last request. People don't realise how long this stuff takes & if it turns out to be a bad stay you'll feel responsible.

Nofilter I'm a bit squeamish about wet clothes, sponges etc refuse to have jcloths in kitchen etc so I'll pass on that!

Need to get a soap tray for shower maybe though

Fluffy you know him so well.

How long is the tumble dryer taking now you've got the spin dryer?.

All my yarn hoard has gone!! It took an hour, but I sorted out each parcel, printing labels etc. Dropped 2 off at the post office, £32 postage (will transfer from paypal), and four huge boxes dropped at Matalan as for some reason it's a dpd hub. The staff were very but very nice! I wanted some storage boxes from there, but was pushed for time, so left it this time, frugal win.

Then £25 diesel as the car was very hungry, as usual. But I can't fault it for fitting things into.

I use soap in the shower as well as shower gel 😁 dd gets dry skin so I don't think soap would be great for her.

We saw a nurse practitioner who has prescribed dd steroids which has freaked me out a bit, she is meant to take 8 a day 😲 am waiting to speak to a dr as want to confirm it has to be steroid tablets and that inhalers couldn't be used instead. All of this has triggered my anxiety big style 😧 it just brings it all back how poorly she was.

Just a quick post but girlie, DH has severe asthma and when he was really poorly over Christmas, this is what he was prescribed and they helped loads, his inhalers were making no difference. Try not to worry, which is easy to say, it might be to prevent your DD getting so poorly again.

I'll read back and post later x

The little pink things girlie? Dd2 has to have them every so often, and ds when he had bad croup. It's done by weight iirc, dp's had hundreds of them to take (he's v heavy). They work very quickly. I hope she rallies.

This first year of high school is like a perfect storm isn't it? Extra work, responsibility, every new bug known to 11-18yr olds, friendship groups, and puberty. Dd2 has also had a lot of time off, we have all decided (us, school, gp) that it is rooted in anxiety .

Didn't manage a NSD after all. £7.50 car wash and £8.90 nit repellant spray for DD...a girl in her class at school has apparently been treated for them.

Today's spends - £9.10 parking and £2.50 train snacks (oops).

Got £10 back from my Quidco account though.

In other frugal news I've just realised I'm being fed at work each day until Friday so saving a small amount on the packed lunches....

Has anyone got one of those over the bath dryer thingies which kind of stands on the sides and looks a bit like a teepee? Am considering one to try and cut down on tumble dryer usage. We never need anything in a rush, but use the tumble dryer as we're out of the house all day so too scared to leave the washing hanging out in all weather, and don't have hanging space indoors. What about a Lakeland airer? Can you leave them on when you're out? Is there a timer?