The Friendly Frugaleers - Furtively planning Christmas, as August arrives

[StoogingOn]

Welcome one and all!

St Eval
Oh I forgot Strictly

Haha jam he’s not riding. Not ever.

It’s mummys thing. Haha. It’s my time to chill. He can do whatever else he wants but not horseys.

He bumped his head twice this evening. Ffs. He’s also smashed me in the face with a toy and tried to touch my eyeball. And bitten my boob. And given me a good dental exam with his little dirty fingers.

He is so boisterous. And lovely. And loving. He was confused about my teeth. He pokes around with dh’s teeth a lot. But rarely mine. I think he was confused because I’ve got my aligners in and my teeth are all covered and feel lively and shiny and smooth.

We had a go at brushing his teef again. Had to brush mine with his brush. Then his. Then dh’s then his again. Then he had to have w go at brushing mine. Toothpaste in the eye. Ffs.

£49 on tesco for me today, but nothing else.

Good luck with the packing Em. I love the horse photo. Sorry if my comment about the twangy thing was clumsy. You're only going to be there about 20 more seconds aren't you? I hope the move goes really easily. You're little lad sounds absolutely lovely.

Not fully caught up yet, missed a lot being at a home ed party. Cagletini crawled around ate grass got nudged about by a lovely dog, I am definitely a relaxed parent despite being anxious in other ways. :o

Loving all these cute pics! My photo today is not cute, look at my glasses 😭 they've just suddenly gone like that, WTF?! They are a few years old though and I was planning to replace soon (does maternity exemption cover eye tests?). But it is weird. The top was blue before.

Cagletini bloody loves those twangy things! Thankfully at the old house they were only on internal walls, and the ones here are still fascinating despite not being twangy. I need a new one actually as the one for the front door is missing. I'm guessing wilko as they seem to sell everything.

cag I believe so. Ring your optician and ask. I think it's like the tax credit excemption where you get the eye test and nhs voucher that gives you £19 or so off your glasses (mine were £139 so that helped loads!).

Spent a couple of hours clearing out the hoard from one corner of my bedroom. Yes it took that long. Filled 2 kallax boxes, 2 bin bags, a baby bed guard out for the tip, and some big stuff to go out tomorrow. My yarn hoard is moving in there. I simply can't bear to put it in the loft with the spiders, rodents and possibly snake

It's pouring with rain now. It always rains on my birthday. My 21st I was in the middle of the Atlantic, and I swear there was one cloud in the sky, which scooted over and rained on me.

Aww lovely pics of DCs and cakes, yum!
Lonely that's brilliant news!

Spends today
Lidl £28.78
Morrisons £27.41
So shopping for just under £60 and it did include some cleaning bits, so quite pleased with that.
Co-op £10.80 lunch for 4
Nike shop £28.50, new running trainers for me!
Pret £5.95

We had a lovely day out and dp paid for new trainers for the younger two, we went to Wembley stadium and had a tour, dp paid for that too.
DS2 has packed his backpack for camp tomorrow and made his lunch.

Hope everyone had a lovely day, I'm knackered after lots of walking and running around with the kids, night all.

Cheers lonely I will check ASAP. Also will be getting insurance this time, because Rowan :o

Fab news on the loan, bet that frog you ate tasted goooood! 🐸 And happy birthday. What happened with that snake in the attic in the end, I can't remember! 🐍

I ache like hell. Need my bed.

I should really learn how to use the heating soon!

Am I the only person who doesn’t know what a twangy door thing is?!

Lonely brilliant result. Am so glad for you, and especially lovely news on your brithday! Those cakes looked fab, although marzipan is the food of the devil . Was that you in the pic with your DS? You look mighty young for 42!

Cute kid pics too, apart from the actual spider . I don’t really freak out about spiders but I’m not keen on the big hairy ones.

DS is scared of literally all animals. Except perhaps cats and birds, as he seems to trust that they won’t approach him. He definitely doesn’t get that from us, we are fine with animals. He’s a very anxious child so while I do think the way that we act around things makes a difference, it is only within the boundaries of his own fears. That’s SN though, maybe it’s not the same for all kids, I don’t know. Dd doesn’t seem to be scared of anything yet, hope she carries on in that vein as DS is quite enough to manage on that score!

Spent £10 on a t-shirt for dd today but nothing else. Dm paid for the small top up shop. She’s babysitting tomorrow so DH and I can go out for dinner. So that won’t be an NSD.

sea defn think there's a difference between children..

The twangy thing is the door stop that is on [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Lhy-jK93hY4 spring]] having googled I am with Em's DS on this.

I thought I was ok with spiders as in I remove them from mine or dcs room in a vessel like a glass/something but dm impressed me this evening she picked one up with her bare hands to move it outside for them

We stayed in holiday let when DD was about 2 that had twangy door things. She wouldn't leave them alone. It was great because we always knew where she was and what she was doing!

I would definitely agree the SN makes a massive difference to anxiety levels.

You can literally find everything on YouTube can't you?!

It appears we are all pretty similar in the parenting dept, I'm going to work the word slattern into the next thread title

I bet eBay would be good for children's riding clothes life, given they grow so quickly and the stuff would be relatively unused. Also there's Robinson's Equestrian, Rideaway.co.uk, Eileen Douglas tack, Equine Superstore. All online.

I'm off for a run now but feel a bit crappy today so might have a nap afterwards before visiting parents etc.

life and also sports direct do riding gear.

I’d suggest not buying anything until you know this is going to be a permenant thing. And then invest in a hat. And a back protector. I wore a borrowed riding school hat for my initial lessons but felt I needed my own as no idea whether they’d been dropped etc.

I don’t wear a back protector (haven’t found one I’m comfortable in yet) but my instructor makes the kids wear them. Especially once you get cantering and jumping.

The rest of it - cheap jodhpurs and boots from one of the above places and a hoody.

Today is packing day. I’ve been up since 630 with ds. Dh’s turn for a lie in. After ds has had his morning nap dh is going to take him to visit fil. Leaving me pack stuff.

Then as soon as he’s back I’m going to drop him off with dparents. Dm called yesterday evening asking how things were going and asked whether we needed any help. Anything at all. So she’s feeding us tonight. And is looking after ds this afternoon. Ddad is excited! He hasn’t seen him since Friday!

Plans today. Take clothes to dparents. Pack kitchen. Dismantle dining table. Move boxes from under our bed to ds’ room. Defrost freezer. Clean fridge.

And do a dump run if dh comes back with ds in time.

I’d normally be a bit at dh for escaping he packing this morning but I’m in that frame of mind where it just has to be done. And I don’t care who does it. It needs doing.

It’s going to be much much easier moving into our new place (when we find it) as there won’t be any crazy packing up to do and no rush. We can find it do anything to it that needs doing then move in.

Ds has had some toast a yoghurt and half my apple for his breakfast. And he’s now playing with my whip which I left on the floor after getting back from the stables yesterday This may end in disaster.

Looks like rain all day and we have no spare money so will just be at home. I'm going to make a shepherds pie as it's definitely the weather for it, been craving one ever since it started raining

Thanks. I am going to borrow for now but if she sticks at it, I have no doubt she will, I thinking birthday and Christmas presents.

Tbh em, I would prefer to pack and let dh take the DC. Then again im a control freak.

Hope you feel better today jam after your run/nap. Are you seeing your dm or your mil?

We are going to Middlesbrough Mela today - in the rain- a nearby museum has a magical world display too.

I'm also a slattern parent... dds used to insist on wearing big tutu dresses (second hand or hand me downs) then spend all their time up trees, rolling down hills or upside down 😂 I could hear the tutting and the dirty looks I got from other parents when their dds wanted to copy! and I abide by the 5 second rule, however did have to put my foot down when dd1 aged 8 at the time ate chips off the floor in McDonald's (we hadn't ordered yet...)

Mine also loved the twanger we used to have them in our old flat. They are very loud but such a satisfying noise.

scandi I buy dds second hand Xmas presents. Means I can get them more for my budget and don't have to build things 😁

lonely that's great news about the debt, it must be such a weight lifted from your mind.

My dds like creatures too and are eager to stroke or hold them. However dd1 freaked out in the sea the other day over tiny crabs while dd2 chased her with them! This was last year at an event we went to. Did have to say no to the begging for a snake after this!

life and waterproofs if she doesn’t already have them. I still haven’t bought any...but am going to this year....have said that every winter!

wreck oh Shepard’s pie sounds delicious. Mmm

It’s just started raining here too. Which probably makes packing easier as I won’t be desperate to go outside!

We have waterproofs already. Thanks em.

Dd asked if we can afford a house with a paddock. Er no!

Keep losing posts . Must be down to dodgy wifi/data connection here. So, if this one makes it, happy birthday to those who have had them & great news lonely.
Spain is still warm & sunny, 4 days to go, keeping to budget so far...

nocuts do it! Snakes make the best pets! Oddly they have amazing personalities. We have 2 pythons (one very similar to the non albino one in your pics, but much smaller), they don't do much, but Lola taps on the glass when she's hungry.

We started with a corn snake after much badgering from dd1...

Snake #2 escaped as a baby and was never found. There was a hole in dd1's ceiling (aerial cable) and it would have fitted through it. We might never solve the mystery. But I like to think he's in the loft living on spiders and mice.

I think seacow will be the only one with a dryish day today, judging from the weather map on the news. Raining hard here, trip to the tip, storage unit and might get some picture frames as well today. My dc did me some brilliant arty things, they're the best presents.

Morning all.

Cag I got prescription glasses for £10 by checking on MoneySavingExpert & they have a page with offers on glasses.

No spends yesterday, MIL wasn’t feeling well so didn’t come up so I took DS to the park to let DH get on with gardening. DH has ordered a bunch of things from eBay in the last few weeks though so will need to update YNAB. Think they are mainly small bits for my birthday 🙂 (he’s not getting me a big present, he wants to take me hot air ballooning next year when I’m not preg instead which is good as we won’t need to pay for it yet).

Today we are going to a friend’s for lunch so should be very low spend except for putting petrol in the car. I try to stick to £50 a month but we have gone way over this month because of a few slightly longer trips. I’m also struggling to walk too far due to pelvic/hip pain so am driving literally everywhere 😒 DH drives a work van during the week so luckily we can get away with just one car as we couldn’t afford two.

I’m a “relaxed” parent too 😂 little monkey is constantly mucky (he’s 2.5). He’s quite fond of being outdoors and we have a big garden. I’ll find him walking about with worms in his pockets etc (he digs them up to feed to the chickens, though I try to discourage it due to worms being so good for the soil).