Marching into May, packed lunches all the way ! Join the frugaleers for frugal tips and friendly chat .

[QuiteCleanBandit]

New thread

Spends
Aldi £39.48
Home bargains £5.98
Arm and Hammer whitening toothpaste 99p and a dustpan and brush for my potting shed.

Seacow I'm sure it'll be fine. Plus they're usually a bit more lenient with SEN children and in school trips too, it's not like it's every day.

I survived spinning. Can't wait for bed!

£38 hair, £18 the range on a birthday present, £10 pizza, £7 India takeaway.

Wow life your Indian takeaway was significantly cheaper than mine.
Ds ate, thank goodness, and ate plenty with no stress and no food refusing. Such a different story to lunchtime.

Our Indian is pricy too.

Wolf I'm pleased your ds ate something and seemingly enjoyed it

It must be Indian night! We had to swap a wheel (all mavic cosmics look alike & dp gave a guy someone elses wheel, duh), so tescos. £7 for 2 main course, 2 sides. All in £29 with cat biscuits, actimel, lollies, the usual tesco suspects.

Just watching qualifying for the grand prix, then I am working until bed time. Boo. Might have a bath as well.

wolf controlling food when everything else is in chaos is a coping thing I think? Worth mentioning to whoever ds is talking to about whats going on? I certainly do it when my (undiagnosed) ocd flares up. It's bloody stressful for all concerned.

The dd's have informed me that it's a bank holiday monday this week, so no school...news to me!

Lonely that’s a good point which I will raise with them next week. I do very similar things so I can appreciate why he’s doing it, it’s very worrying
A bath sounds like a great plan can you take a book and a glass of wine ?

Their not expecting you to fall for that are they lonely?

I have caved and taken some decongestants. These generally make me super dooper sleepy and I also occasionally hallucinate/have wicked crazy dreams. Good luck dh. It’s a needs must situation. I’m so bunged up I won’t sleep otherwise.

Learned my lesson the hard way with these - no paracetamol or ibruprofen with them. Makes me feel super floopy and sick.

em take it easy. Dp once washed a sudafed down with monster. Hallucinating wasn't the word! He was properly tripping. Very strange for a few days. Idiot.

fluffy not sure at all. Will check.

love dp has been much, much better about working. He is doing his hours, it makes such a difference.

Lonely, it's only the 30th on Monday, so it's definitely not a bank holiday!

£7.95, on 2 cappuccinos and a cake at Costa for DS and me. It was a nice treat after our walk. TBH, I was amazed he came on a walk with me, as it rarely happens now.

I SO wanted a takeaway pizza tonight, but I eventually made pasta and pesto with a bit of spinach chucked in. Feeling meh about being sensible, especially as so many of you seem to have had a takeaway tonight!

Lonely May 7th is a bank holiday, so a week on Monday. Schools are usually open, aren’t they? Must check that...

No takeaway here Creme. I do quite fancy a hm curry though... mmm. DH and I have had words about meat-free meals today. I think we should, for all the many good reasons, and he is adamant that it’s not a meal. He said he’d get some chicken to put in e.g. a veg curry. I think he should grow up

No schools definitely close first May Day and will be closed on the 7th. It's the only thought keeping me going at the moment.

One day in and I'm behind with the new thread. Spendy week though. A lot of things suddenly needed replacing. I realised last night ds only has 2 pairs of trousers in the right size. Lots of shorts if we ever see the sun but not trousers. Have bidded for some nice ones on Ebay. Fingers crossed!

*For not first. Sorry for such a confusing typo in the context!

Morning.

laska absolutely learnt my lesson with Sudafed. As I said taking it with paracetamols and ibruprofen make me feel very odd. Proper trippy.

I slept. Had some wicked dreams. A bit scary. But I slept so I’ll chalk that up as a win. I’ve woken up alone. Dh I guess slept in with ds as his pillows are gone. I have catface (so not actually alone) and ds’ big blue whale in bed with me.

I was convinced until about 3 weeks ago 1 May was tomorrow. Convinced I went back to work on a Monday. Which obviously if it was I wouldn’t be going back as it’s be a bank holiday!

As it is I do a 4 day week then a 3 day week. We get 7 May as May Day and 9 May as liberation day (to celebrate the island being freed from nazi occupation during ww2) annoyingly I have to work on 8 May. Usually I’d be clever and take this off if we have both bank holidays in one week.

Today will be spent mostly trying to kick this colds ass. And de-snot. I cannot go back to work all snotty. Husky voice/no voice/bit of a cough I can do. But snotty face? No.

I need to make sure my work outfits for next week are sorted - am planning on putting them together today and hanging back in the wardrobe.

Also need to go through my work stuff (contents of my desk) and see if I can get rid of anything and put together my “emergency” bag - I keep a freeebee make up bag in me desk (from clarins which once has free samples) and keep tights, pants, sanitary pads etc, paracetamols, make up, sewing kit, tissues, hair brush that kind of thing in it.

Also must find my glasses. I know I brought them home. But haven’t worn them for a few months as haven’t spent my time sitting infront of a screen.

Just catching up on the new thread as I abandoned the last one a couple of weeks ago.

Life has been a bit of a blur really, issues with dmum & ds. Dmum has had lots of GP and hospital appointments as she had suspected cancer but thankfully they finally found bleeding duodenal ulcers so she is now on all the right treatment and feeling much better.
DS has had tonsillitis again, so more time off school (only 3 days but added to the rest this year it's not good). He had a bit of a melt down last weekend about his GCSEs. He has missed so much work that he just didn't feel able to catch up & was ready to throw it all in. Anyway school have changed his entry to double science instead of triple and will be applying to the exam board for special consideration for him . It doesn't make a huge difference, but every little helps. So he does seem more settled and focussed again now & of course it's the cricket season so that's a real positive for him in among it all. I think overall he's quite run down & a little shell shocked as he'd never really been ill before y11 and rarely had time off school.

Seacow I hope your dad is more settled when you see him
Wolf more for you, sorry to hear about your ds' issues, such a worry.
lonely definitely bank hol next weekend!

On a positive note, I have managed to stay frugal through the stress and chaos. I've been slightly obsessively monitoring our electricity meter readings and all seems to be steady and normal at the moment. Still can't explain the massive surge in our usage in March but am just going to have to suck it up and keep a close eye on things from now on. It was my dad's birthday on Thursday so him and mum are coming round for lunch today, a frugal choice as we were going to take them out, but for various reasons this makes more sense. I've got another really busy week ahead so I need to do some planning today.

It's good to be back

Em good luck going back to work, it doesn't seem like any time at all since you started your mat leave. Is ds doing okay at nursery?

Oh and dh bought a new oven yesterday and took old one to the tip.

Sadly he bought one with a plug. And it needs to have the plug taken off and be wired in. He’s going to ask Bil (an electrician) if it’s something he can do himself or whether we need an electrician to do it. Bil probably would do it for us but he lives in Australia.

£215. Oven.

north hi!!! I know it’s gone so quickly. 7 months off. Wow! Ds is doing fine at nursery (apart from being a germ magnet) but he loves it there. And he’s doing so much more now. Sitting up properly, playing really well, rolls over etc. They’re so so nice so I feel less guilty sending him as he does enjoy it.

That's great Em it makes such a difference to how you feel leaving him if he's happy and settled. It a few years ago now but I remember, as much as I loved my time off with both the Dec, I felt a sense of relief going back to work. I think it was feeling that I'd got a bit of the old me back if that makes sense?

North poor ds! I'm pleased the school are helping him out.

Yes no bank holiday tomorrow but definitely next Monday so no school or work. We're still in bed I don't want to get up as I'm in pain from the spinning yesterday

north it’s so good to have you back, so sorry to hear your mum has been poorly but really glad it’s not as serious as it could be

Em be careful on the oven wattage. Wired plug ovens tend to be lower power and ones to wire into the wall higher (layman’s terms probably not quite accurate). Mine has to have a wired plug and I know I can’t buy the unwired sort and fit a plug as it wouldn’t work. I don’t know if this applied the other way but worth checking with brother in law before doing anything to make sure you can take it back and swap it if you need to

Thankyou all re the bank holiday!! My girls weren't being chancers I think just excited about a day off!

Have not heard from dd1. I figure this is good, as I filled in about 54 consent forms, someone would have rung any one of the 4 numbers they have for us. Just odd if her phone is not in her hand (I text her at 6 and midnight), odd but good. Plus she is in a group of 6 within a group of 30, so would be missed if something had happened. Why am I worrying so much? She's 15.

Hi North! Sorry to hear you've been having a hard time.

Good luck back at work Em!

I want to go back to bed but it's not really an option. How I miss Sunday morning lie-ins!

Bil says werenok to sort the plug out. He used to be an electrician here before he moved to Aussie so he knows about uk stuff as well. Phew. I’m a bit twitchy about dh doing it himself. But he has done similar before so...I’m just going to let him get on with it.