The Friendly Frugaleers, halfway through June!

[Cagliostro]

All welcome!

Errrm possibly a stupid question but what exactly is the deal with the Marketplace bit of Ikea? Is it all stuff you can’t get on their website?

With furniture we will be just making notes to order online but if I see something in the market bit do I need to buy it there? (100 tealights I’ll never use...)

My dc slept 12 hours last night. It was needed after many late nights and early mornings. It's already hot but luckily our office is fairly cool as the sun doesn't shine in. I'm going to have a falafel salad with some beetroot and mint dip. That stuff's delicious!

Yay girl cat sauntered in this morning! ! God knows where she had been, very unlike her to wander off.

I'm full of cold, very annoying!! Plan today is not much, need to do some tidying and make a couple of phone calls and that's it.

All the free ice lolly offers have ended now.

Curls A few of us posted codes last night.

Ah, I thought they’d already been used by someone. So they can be used more than once by different people? Great, I’ll sort that out later.

I just bought two sun loungers for £48 delivered. dh is not going to be impressed!

I'm back from my test. The assessor did 2.5 hours of it with just me. She said at the end "I'm not in doubt about a diagnosis.", but I hadn't the presence of mind to ask whether she meant that I am or that I am not ASD. Anyway, it was nice to talk to her.

Back again after another few days absence! Life is just mad at the moment. Good though.
Been to circuits class this morning which was warm but really good, enjoy Zumba Curls
Big car and little car both sailed through their MOTs and services last week. Total bill is just over £400. Big car alone was £540 this time last year.
Had a lovely weekend, with a mixture of cricket (obviously!), BBQ, family time and a walk by the sea.
Have another very busy week coming up so I am planning like mad to make sure everything gets done & runs smoothly.
Another hospital appointment for ds this afternoon about his eyes, but they do seem to be improving so that's good. He enjoyed his Prom & looked fab & is now busy doing not very much! His suit , shirt, tie, shoes & all came to £150 and we gave a friend a £20 voucher for a fishing shop as a thank you for providing his quad bike for ds to arrive at prom on. Managed to sell ds' old suit to a friend's son for £25.
Dd has been invited to the annual school sports awards dinner on Wednesday. She is going to wear a hand me down dress from a friend's daughter which looks lovely on her & of course very frugal.
Need to renew my driving licence this week & start looking at home insurance as that's up for renewal shortly.

When do you find out sunny? Well done for going, how is ds today?

wreck were they from argos? I got the same ones, they're great!!

I’ve submitted my first two receipts to Shoppix.

Did you remember the cashback Wreck?. Our steamer chair cushions cost £65 each last year but they are soooo comfy it’s like being in bed. It took me 12 years to get around to ordering them (paid in survey vouchers).

Thanks Girlie. I think she meant that she definitely would diagnose me as being ASD but I have written to check just to be sure. She said that I also need to be tested for Ehler-Danlos, which was interesting as we just finished having ds tested for that. She said that the difficulty with food intolerance is likely to be related to that.

I've to go back again, but just to tell her more of my story. She said she thought it was good for me to get it all off my chest. She was very nice.

They're from mountain warehouse! Used a voucher code so no cash back.

DS1 has only 1 pair of shorts that fit, but he’s been happy enough wearing trackie bottoms. He does need shorts now this weather is here to stay plus he’ll need them for holidays. I’ve managed to find some he will wear (fussy, head to toe Nike, Adidas or North Face). So that’s just set me back £50 for 3 pairs.

Just done my freezer inventory, there’s loads more in there than I thought, which is great.

And I just wanted to share the best £9-odd I’ve spent in a long time. This fan is rechargeable, has three speed settings and folds up for easy storage. It’s really powerful and works fantastically! From Amazon.

The assessor wrote back to say that everything strongly indicates a diagnosis of ASD. So I have now formally passed the geek test.

£850

Sunny, well done. 🏅I hope having the diagnosis is helpful to you. It sounds like a really positive experience for you, although I bet you're exhausted now, after all that talking. I hope you can have a quiet afternoon and evening.

Girlie, great news about DCat. 😃

Spends so far: £5.57 in Aldi and £7 on my credit card in Asda (a book that the library didn't think would be in for a month and I need it straight away for Book Club, a birthday card, and a photo frame).

Well done sunny! Welcome to the club :o how do you feel about the diagnosis?

There are a couple of good Facebook groups I can point you toward if you’re interested in that sort of thing.

I am absolutely friffing knackered, got back from Ikea just now. Holy crap that place is exhausting. I think we have made most of the decisions though.

Also paid rent on new house for another week (direct debit hasn’t set in yet) using our online portal thing. And have got an email from a piano mover, so need to reply to that.

Thanks Cag and Creme. I'm very happy about the diagnosis. I always figured that I was Sherlock Holmes' little sister. Also all my friends here consider themselves ASD and I'd have been gutted if I'd been formally excluded from that club.

I'm happy to continue as I am, although obviously I'd be really glad if they could help with the sensory trouble which is a PainInTheButt.

I find that the older I get, the more open I am/less I care about others' reactions to my sensory issues and quirks, Sunny.

Me too Creme. My sensory trouble is quite bad at the moment but I'm hoping it will get better as I accrue extra weeks and years of sleep post-baby phase. Ideally I would like to be able to 1) eat and 2) travel by train.

The assessor person said that now I've been looked at, there are people I can be referred to to help with that, so that's good. I had no idea that they existed. I'm hoping that that doesn't cost and arm and a leg.

Im really shocked that you had to pay for assessment and then for help Sunny
I thought it would be available on the NHS
£850

Afternoon ladies. . It has been a while. I keep dropping in and then I get busy.

Lonely I have harvested. I am soooooo excited. Thanks for all the seeds. I think this warm weather may have given me false confidence.

Cag you must be looking forward to moving in. Yes IKEA marketplace is an exhausting experience. At least they do ice-cream by the checkout.

Wolf London is nasty in the heat. Although all the smoke in Manchester is a close second.

DS has the opposite problem - he is a couple of years behind is age for clothes. Although he is getting taller so it either ends up around his ankles or he looks like a Michael Jackson impersonator. I don't think there is a real child that fits off the peg clothes.

Sunny does the diagnosis make it easier to access services?

I was offered it on the NHS Bandit but there is a 2 year waiting list, so I went private. I need to get my health fixed really as my son is 8 now and I want to be able to take him travelling and things, so waiting 2 years is not a good option really.

Thanks all for the encouragement btw, while I was doing this. I know it's not frugal-related and definitely wasn't frugal ( at the cost) but it's great to be able to tell you all about it.

I'm not sure unescorted. No idea really.