The Friendly Frugaleers: Saving and chatting as the heatwave rolls on.

[BestFootForwardAndThenSome]

Now that I've put that in the title, we will almost certainly get snow. LOL!

Welcome to nearly-August.

Nope. No furniture is attached to the wall....will work on that in the new house. For now though, I’ll practise saying “No!”

Yesterday afternoon he chewed all of catfaces toys. And pulled books from the bookshelf. Her basket is next to bookshelf...

Work today, then training at the gym after work.

Em I would go with distraction and saying what to do rather than what not to do and save 'No!' for when he's about to do something dangerous so that it's a shock rather than just another word. I read once that they can't control their impulses until they're three so even if they know they shouldn't touch the oven then literally can't help it. I've spent the last eight years saying no and nobody cares 🙄 (please feel free to ignore my uninvited parenting advice)

I was thinking that Wreck. LOL!

I also think it varies massively from family to family. I'm quite compliant and my ds is quite dominant so a "no" from me counts for nothing. However, Em's family is very dominant across the board, so I'm going to be really really interested to hear how her attempts at discipline go.

I used to find it so astonishing to see other parents talk to their three year old daughters and say "Come on now, finish your milk." and then watch beautiful little girl finish her milk from a cup. It was another three years before my ds could be given a cup of anything without just emptying it onto the floor and cackling. Because it really was that funny.

I'm sorely tempted to open a book on how Em's discipline attempts go. I reckon it's going to be interesting.

By "open a book", I mean start taking wagers, btw.

I think you surprise yourself with how authoritative you can be when it really matters though e.g. vase smashed all over the floor. Me "Nobody move!" nobody did! I have the Teacher Voice as dh calls it though.
Think we'll get school uniform sorted today. It looks like another rainy day so we might as well get an indoor task sorted.

Possibly yes. I think my ds is quite hard headed though. LOL!

I’m not a teacher but apparently I have the ‘teacher voice’ when called for .

I generally tell my DS what to do rather than what not to do as that tends to work much better with ASD, as I was advised by an ASD youth worker. ‘No’ can lead to a meltdown so I tend to say ‘Xyz is finished now’ and move him on. I reserve ‘no’ for danger. It does help.

I’ve had a lovely sleep, DH got up with the kids first. I actually feel more tired though, I needs to get going and hope I perk up! We’re off to visit the local castle today.

Just came back from the loo to find the dts on top of a low table. Climbing has started! Nooooo!!!!!

That's kind of what I do too I suppose. With ds "no" never got me anywhere so I used to find a way of making everything sound like "yes" even if it wasn't. So for example if he said "Can we go to the park" as we were walking past it on the way home, then I would say "Yes we can go tomorrow". It technically meant "no we can't" but it was close enough to "yes" to satisfy him.

Oddly once we got to 7 going on 8, I found that things changed and I had to start saying "no" and really laying down the law. By then he needed to understand that there were hard and fast rules in life, and in order to work his life around those, he needed to know what they were. I think that that level of understanding probably comes at different ages with different children though.

I agree with wreck on saving no for the times it really matters, also never say don't do whatever it is you don't want them to do as that will immediately make them want to do it! Much better to say I want you to sit nicely for dinner/to only draw on paper/too keep your clothes on etc 😉

I'm still in bed and I think dd is still asleep! !

Spent £3 at the coop last night, did well on the yellow stickers got carrot sticks, muffins, baguettes, a large pot of mixed fruit and a loaf of bread for a grand total of 70p!! The other £2.30 went on milk and yogurts.

LOL! at keeping clothes on.

Well the council don't help in this situation after all so that's all the deposit gone

I was away for the weekend so didn't get to do my usual weekend catch up. In fact, I don't think I've posted on this thread at all .

I was away for a spa weekend with some friends. We shared a family room and it worked out at €165 each for 2 nights B&B plus one evening meal. The spa treatment was extra. I opted for a head, neck and shoulders massage which was blissful (€50). The spa itself was lovely and we spent an hour or two just chilling and reading and snoozing in the relaxation room. The hotel had a swimming pool and we intended getting up early on Sunday morning for a swim and soak in the jacuzzi, but we slept it out and only woke in time for breakfast . I feel a bit guilty about that now. There was a free wine tasting on Saturday evening which was interesting. I've never been to a wine tasting before. I never imagined wine could contain chocolate or cherries! The hotel is situated on a lake shore so we went for short walks after breakfast each day. There were lovely views of the lake from the restaurant and the relaxation room of the spa.

We came home yesterday afternoon and I did some washing. DH cooked dinner (seafood chowder) and then we watched a movie (Darkest Hour). DD is still away at scout camp so it was nice having an evening to ourselves.

I'm relaxing with a coffee in bed while typing this. I'll get up shortly and get stuck into housework. The house needs a good once over. Back to reality! At least I don't have to cook dinner because there's loads of seafood chowder left over. There was a family day at scout camp yesterday and the parents were allowed to visit. I didn't go myself obviously because I'd already booked the weekend away before I heard about it. My neighbour went and apparently DD sent back some dirty washing. Must collect that too.

I've been chatting to DD every night on the phone and they're having a good time. I thought it was very cold last night so I'm hoping DD has enough warm clothes with her. It was very warm when she packed her rucksack and we probably didn't anticipate how much the temperature would drop.

Sunny I hope the doctors can get to the bottom of your illness. That's a long time to be feeling unwell. DS was so lucky you were there when he pulled the TV over .

Love have a great holiday

Fluffy what's campy?

Curls I've a 13 year old DD and I showed her that Harry Enfield clip too .

em sounds like a lovely afternoon yesterday with your friend and her family. There'll be no stopping DS now that he can crawl. Did I read that you've put an offer on a house? I've my fingers crossed that everything works out for you this time.

Lonely sorry your fun day out didn't work out so well.

Hi Scandi

Enjoy your holiday Seacow.

Snuggly sounds like the twins will be keeping you even busier (like you weren't busy enough already!) now that they've started to climb.

There's been a bit of chat about methods of disciplining children. I read somewhere that instead of just telling kids they can't do something, you should explain why. But obviously that depends on the age of the kid and their ability to understand consequences. It would be meaningless with a toddler. DD once gave out to me for leaving a scissors out - "Mammy, you should be more careful. I could have cut myself with that scissors" .

That's shit cag thinking about it I don't think I ever got a deposit back on my flat 😕 I guess draw a line under it and enjoy your lovely new home.

Hi all
Went to my grandmother to visit wirh my 2 girls so spent 10£ on breakfast and cake. Both girls have been to the hospital for blood test so test for pencillin allergy so now we just have to wait for the results. Promised them happy meal so getting that later.

Thanks Tayto. That's kind of you to think of me. tbh I never left ds's side as things did tend to happen to him. It's nice to be complimented on it. People generally think I'm a bit too helicopterish, but there are very good reasons.

The "campy" that *Fluffy mentioned is the bug that my GP is testing me for.

Yes I wasn't expecting it in a way, partly as we had such a nightmare with our first landlords who lied (no DPScheme then), I'm just sad as we had our hopes raised by both the HA and council that there would be some help in this situation (we had never expected it at all before they mentioned it) and we had let ourselves believe it would actually happen.

But anyway. Drawing a line is the way forward for sure. At least the rent is coming out of the deposit, rather than us suddenly having to find the money ourselves IYSWIM. And I am genuinely just so happy to be here now. We finally finished unpacking the kitchen and gave it a good clean (although I need to return the mop as it broke!) and OMG it feels so big!!!

Keep checking the online overview of the seeling from the 2nd hand kids store and already sold 3 things quite pleased with that.

That's shit Cag I'm so sorry. You are being very philosophical about it. These things are weighted in their favour anyway.

I was in Iceland just now and they're doing a 10% discount for NHS and emergency services workers. They do good offers on brands so it's worth having if you have a local store.

£3.36 ear plugs
£10 petrol
£2.50 parking
£8 Morrisons
£5 home bargains
£4 aldi.

£2.50 Iceland.

Lonely Im going to pm you, nationwide have sent me the link we need. If you've changed your mind it's no problem.

Scandi Excellent, can you sell anything or is it clothes?.

fluffy you can sell all kiddy related stuff so clothes toys furniture ect ...

Tayto Short for campylobacter, type of food poisoning.

Back from a really lovely, busy, long weekend away and I am done in. An afternoon nap would be lovely but DS2 fell asleep in the car and is full of beans. DH is giving the car a hoover, so another coffee it is.

Total spends £210 (not including Diesel.) I took a few meals to eat in the caravan but we didn't bother in the end.

I also didn't wear half my new clothes because it was a bit wet, so I am thinking of returning them because I left the tags on. Although rumour has it another heatwave is coming...hmmm.

We are going to a wildlife park later in the week so that'll be expensive but I am planning on packing a lunch.

I love method cleaning products. They work really well and they smell divine. The minty bathroom one is excellent on tiles and I use the almond floor cleaner too. I've been eyeing up the kitchen one for when the cif runs out.

It is meant to be hot again soon.

I found a Karen millen jumper in the house of Fraser sale, £75 down to £20, £3.50 click and collect at the co-op. Bought it.

I've entirely given up wearing anything but a t shirt and a pair of shorts that I bought 15 years ago to play badminton. It turned out that I wasn't any great shakes at Badminton, so they're still in mint condition. Very handy for this heatwave though.

Tbh, I'm not really looking forward to it getting boiling hot again. I feel as though we've had enough of that.

Ooh floor cleaner? What does it say about floor types please, if you wouldn't mind looking (am only on crappy phone internet)

Just getting our smart meter fitted. Achieved quite a bit today really - cleaning and various phonecalls - considering we are achy and knackered. I am heading into flare up territory for sure.

Now doing meal plan. Including things to cook in the fancy pants oven. Woop!