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.

[Laska5772]

girlie I dont yet , although Vet said she could possibly lend me one to try. Yo you know what make yours was? we have to go back next week to see how he is doing, but he is already looking brighter. Hes still annoyed though as he was a 'graze' cat and now has to have two meals at set times.. yesterday he had to wait until 8m because of the timing of the insulin jab he had in the morning and he was ravenous and all over me several hours beforehand (and as hes lost so much weight I felt really bad making him wait). Today ive pushed back half an hour as vet said that would be ok , .He ate TONS this morning!.. I dont wan to to overfeed him but it was two packets and i think he still would have eaten more if he could have .

I have found a couple of low carb - no grain alternatives now though to the really expensive stuff. Butchers classic for cats in tins and sainsburys fine flakes..

I know its more expensive , but if you are cat owners perhaps ts worth considering what you are feeding them ( I didn't and just went for what he liked and was cheap) . have now discovered Whiskas/ Felix et al is full of grains and sugars which isn't good for them,. and Dreamies are the total pits! Obvs not all cats will get health problems but i now realise that it would have been much cheaper in the long run to buy the more expensive food , and then he might have avoided diabetes and £££ vets bills. ( which I had done).

em how exciting! Enjoy le lunch!

[Laska5772]

I ate everything ! (and got fat as a child) . have been on constant diet ever since really

[SnugglySnerd]

That's awful Wreck

Cag I find traditional "British" herbs like thyme, parsley, rosemary and sage do well in a window box or pots outside. It's not warm enough for basil or coriander though so they go on a bright window sill. I just buy the growing pots from the supermarket and keep cutting and watering.

Have a fantastic day Em.

[SnugglySnerd]

Apologies to any Simon and Garfunkel fans that I listed the herbs in the wrong order!

[QuiteCleanBandit]

Oooh em so exciting you glamourpuss!
Report back to cheer us all up !

I took a take it or leave it approach.
No forcing or comments.
Imagine someone commenting on everything you eat or trying to make you eat-awful
I had a friend who commented "good eating"at every mouthful
Ive no idea why people do this to their DC.
Its all about controlling others imho

Thats awful Wreck

[ChristmasSeacow]

MY top tip for herbs and spice jars is Sainsbury’s. They have flat pricing of £1 per jar, which works out well for the usually pricier ones. AND, most importantly, the jars are very attractive screw top ones. So they look proper nice if you have them on view in a rack, or even Just to give a small thrill when you get them out of a cupboard. I’m dead shallow... and sad 😂

Bad night’s sleep here as both dd and I were coughing for hours. I had to come downstairs for an hour to cough in peace! Off to Yorkshire Sculpture Park today, think parking is ££ but we have a picnic. Might buy ice lolllies though as it’s going to be pretty hot and we have no ice/freezer at home.

We need to stop off in Mothercare on the way back and get a rubber grippy mat for dd’s Baths. It was very stressful holding her slippery wet body yesterday as she tried to play in a very slippy bath!

[SneakyGremlins]

I need to do an Iceland shop, does anyone know the minimum spend?

Or maybe Aldi...

[ChristmasSeacow]

That is awful Wreck.

I do comment if the dc try something new - I thank them for trying it, regardless of whether they eat it or reject it. But no other comments on food and no pressure. I do have to make concessions for DS though as he definitely won’t just ‘eat when he’s hungry’. It rarely works like that with ASD, unfortunately. He’s quite restricted in what he eats but it’s not too unhealthy a mix so as far as I’m concerned we’re still winning! I totally know what you mean though Cag, it’s exhasting and disheartening to cook stuff for them that they won’t even try. I make myself do it from time to time so we don’t spiral into a complete rut... it’s for DD’s benefit really as DS is a bit of a lost cause st the mo. But there’s a lot of 😬😬😬🤐🤐🤐 going on with it and eating their leftovers

[MeadowHay]

Seacow I like Sainsbury's herb jars too, but I've switched most our shopping to Asda for the last 6 months or so because it kept working out much cheaper so tend to just buy Asda herbs now. The good thing about Asda's is there's a shakey-opening thing as well as a bit one so you can sprinkle straight from the jar easier too. Tbh the stuff you get in packets from the 'world foods' aisles usually cheapest but then it's faffing about to put it in a jar at home and I always end up making a big mess with them.

Gremlins Iceland minimum spend online for delivery is £35 but I don't think there is one for in-store orders? DM has shopped at Iceland for years in-store and gets it delivered and I don't think there actually is a minimum spend in-store but I could be wrong. I love Iceland! Aldi don't deliver I don't think?

So yeah, I'm alive! Hope everyone is well. Last couple of weeks been mental and HARD. DD wanted to feed CONSTANTLY it was so exhausting and I still find BF painful so it took a massive feed on my MH. Think she was going through a growth spurt as it's calmed down over the last few days she's been feeding more like 2-hourly which is not so bad in comparison, at least I always get at least an hour break in-between feeds which I wasn't before it was awful. But now she's got colic it seems, yesterday she screamed and screamed on and off from like 3pm until about 9pm. She didn't sleep more than 3 30-minute slots since she got up at 6am yesterday morning and exhausted herself with all the screaming too so she slept from like 10.30pm right through til 5.45am ! Then DH got up and bottle-fed her expressed milk and she cried on and off still until she fell asleep around 8.30am and has been asleep since! She must be utterly exhausted from yesterday. It was so sad and stressful when she was screaming with tears and everything for like 30 minutes straight and I just couldn't do anything to help her and she was clearly in pain . Thankfully was at my parents so me, DB, DM, and DF all were taking turns to try and settle her. I took her out in the pram at one point and that calmed her down but basically as soon as we got back in she went back to screaming and still didn't sleep. Colic sucks.

Also frugal wise, OMG we are so skint. We are also moving house on 11th August and my dad insisted and insisted the house would be ready by then so there was no need to stay on another month here etc, well I should have trusted my better judgement as it's not going to be ready and God knows what state it will be in when we move in . Sigh.

[WreckTangled]

Meadow! It's awful when they cry like that and there's literally nothing you can do. Well done on the feeding! Tiger in a tree hold sometimes worked for us.

My colleague has sent me flowers in the post! So lovely and lilies which are safe for cats. All I did was cover her work whilst she was off after a bereavement, nothing special

[SneakyGremlins]

Thanks Meadow!

I need to fill my freezer but can't carry much so shopping at Aldi would take several trips.. Will check out Iceland!

[CremeEggThief]

Welcome back, Meadow. I think the best thing for colic is cuddles, which I'm sure you're already doing. Take care. 💜

Gremlin, I think Iceland has a minimum spend of £25. Delivery is £2 below orders of £35, so not bad at all.

Life, he's going into Year 11 in September...He just has a bad temper at times and thinks it's ok to lash out like a toddler, Seacow. It really is hard, Girlie. It took me ages to calm down. I pointed out to him later on that thousands of people in this country would kill for the chance of our lovely HA home, and yet he thinks it's ok to put holes in walls and doors!Thanks for listening anyway, folks.💜

[CurlsandCurves]

Aw Meadow colic is just the worst. Make the most of the help you’ve got and get some rest yourself. That sucks about the house, hope it’s not as bad as you fear.

Hugs Creamegg . A friend of mine has similar problems with her eldest. She does so much and yet according to him she’s a selfish b!tch who never does anything for him. Heartbreaking.

Sleepover is done, got my house back. Apparently they were up till 4. DS showed me the trailer for the horror movie they watched, ‘Truth or Dare’ 🙄. So everyone’s tired, and it’s hot. A quiet day is definitely needed here. I’ll leave them to it and get the birthday presents wrapped I think.

£4.20 on bread, nuts and crisps.

[WreckTangled]

Managed to change the theatre booking phew! Cost me £14 but that's ok, I've paid as it's my fault.

[QuiteCleanBandit]

Creme
Thats very worrying behaviour-not just usual teen stuff.
Can you chat about whats going on?
Any chance of bullying for example?
Coupled with this is completely unacceptable (Police would be called next time) plus what will he be doing to repair the damage/what are the consequences?
I have 3 DC and while they have had their moments this is quite extreme to be making holes in walls .

[Girliefriendlikesflowers]

wreck that's abuse re your stepfather 😡 the flowers sound lovely.

creme that's not good, yy to getting him to repair any damage.

meadow so lovely to hear from you, babies are hard work and I can remember having days like that with dd. Hope she settles soon bless her.

Autoglass have been out, £75. Will go back to garage later to collect mot certificate.

[Flappyjack]

em wanna swap jobs? How glam are you?!

wreck how awful. I think that would of left me with food issues for years...:(

meadow I found babies so much harder than I expected. The crying got right under my skin...still love a newborn though. Awww.

Frugal day here, packing for our holiday. DParents will be paying for a couple of meals away and I've packed beans hahaha.

£38 asos dress.

[Cagliostro]

I'm getting very behind on the thread (and PMs sorry ), not set up wifi. Can't help but notice I'm getting a lot more done in the house because of it though just been pottering about unpacking cleaning and organizing.

I feel cleaner than I have in months because I had a shower! Shower at the old house was, needless to say, broken . I don't like baths really. This one isn't a fancy power shower or anything but it's pretty decent with good pressure etc so I'm really pleased yay!

I took a risk today and washed some dry clean only curtains. As wanted to clean them before giving the keys back. Figured if they went bad we could get cheap replacements for less than dry clean charge. They have come out perfectly! They are now drying in the lovely breeze through the house. I am a bit sad to lose them as they were lovely but we have curtain poles now not those runner things and we had to leave curtains as part of the inventory anyway. Plus I am irrationally excited about having curtain poles. We have curtains left here plus some from SIL but when we redecorate I will enjoy buying some!

You've totally sold me on the sainsburys herbs. I do love a nice jar

[Cagliostro]

Aaaaargh who knows about nappy rashes? Baby has had a bit the last few days but I just saw some white spots there too, it looks really angry. Does that sound like thrush?

[BestFootForwardAndThenSome]

Cag yes it does. My ds had thrush really badly in his early years. Miconazole nitrate is the things for bf thrush on skin, but I think it's prescription only. Maybe there is something non-prescription for bottoms though? The Pharmacist would know. I'm pretty certain that you could just go straight to a pharmacist with a thing like that if you want help asap and it's too late for a GP.

[Bornlazy]

cag clotrimazole (Canesten) is the best one for thrush, think you can just buy it in a chemist. Do you get stuff free for children on the minor ailments thing like we do in Scotland?

[Cagliostro]

Thanks. I could see a GP tomorrow, but we are going to asda later and I think there's a pharmacy

[Cagliostro]

No idea about the minor ailments thing!

[Fluffycloudland77]

Crème Hopefully this is the last bit before his hormones settle. One of our relations had this with their eldest ds. He is a lovely boy and the parents have given them a brilliant upbringing but he has the family temper and hadn't learnt to control it when he punched a door. He was 17. I have the Irish temper and am now so well controlled dh says I'm Mr Spock.

I read something that said toddler brains and teenage brains were very similar in appearance V adult brains.

NSD.

[Bornlazy]

Cag minor ailment scheme