Friendly Frugaleers Ambling into Autumn, watching our wallets and the weather!

[Cagliostro]

Hello! All welcome as we continue trying to use our money wisely!

Morning.

Dparents are going back to France today until thursday. So there was a lot of faffing last night and this morning. Ds is awake but I’m leaving him until I’ve heard both of them go downstairs. Don’t want to get in the way of a faff.

Catface is seriously disturbing my sleep. We’re in a smaller bed. So there’s not really room for her. And she’s bouncing all over us. If we shut the door she pads it and cries. So tonight I’m going to try and get her downstairs and leave her there. There’s loads of comfy spots she can nap in. And a load of space for running around.

Riding today. £30.

News yesterday - mortgage approved!!!!!! Offer is available for acceptance for 6 months. We’re going to look at house again on Monday. It will be a shame if we have to back out but we need to really think about placement of “stuff” and storage etc.

Long weekend for me. Monday off as dparents in France. So ds is coming house viewing on Monday. Which is a bit of a pain if I’m honest. Butneeds must.

This time possibly a bit of both. How big were your buns?.

I rarely bake anymore because of the effect on my waistline, might do some this weekend, thanks for inspo thistime

I rarely go to school gate as dc get bus and I'm at work but feel like this at birthday parties, luckily some of the parents overlap now as DD's classmates siblings appear in ds's class so I'm in better position now.
Noticed on thurs pick up there were two groups at school gate, but I've 'friends' or 'acquaintances' in both groups now

My buns were quite decent until I breastfed

Morning.

snuggly, I think wreck has a good idea. If you could justify it financially that is to say, it's certainly justifiable professionally. Might give you that breathing space.

Terrible nights sleep again, not sure why, probably bunged up. Not doing anything major so I'll live.

I need to menu plan, make some salads (which DS will eat all of so don't know why I bother), check in the loft for the horse box items and bedding for university (luckily it was all washed and scrubbed very recently obviously), do a pile of ironing, couple of calls and the persuade DH to come floor shopping with me. And weed one of my raised beds.

What can I plant said raised bed with over winter? I'm a bit out of inspiration.

jam

Hi would it be ok to join this looks like a lovely thread. We are hopefully moving house in October (still have not exchanged contracts) and am trying to get finances in order before we move because I know we will have to spend on the house when we move in and also want to go into the new year in a better situation. So lots of NSDs which is hard as i love online shopping! Cooking lots in the slow cooker too and meal planning which is definitely helping the budget! Loving the autumnal weather at the moment, can't believe its the first of sep!

Welcome delphini, lovely to have you on board. I love September too, probably one of my favourite months.

Morning all, welcome Delphine

Good question Jam, ds is volunteering this morning and I have about three hours to kill as it’s too far for me to come home so I was thinking of puttering around the garden centre for some winter bedding but don’t know what to buy

They are digging my street up, the position of the house means that the are right up against two sides of my house - they started at 6am and have one of those plate whacker things, my walls are vibrating

Hi delphini! Love a 1st of the month - always full of good intentions! Moving house is always fraught with hidden costs (take-aways when everything's packed up, buying another corkscrew as you can't remember where you packed the old one, card & bubbly for new owners etc) so perhaps start trying to set aside a contingency budget now to ease you into the new house?

My buns varied - ones at the front were paler and rose all the way to the top of the cases and 'filled out' the sides but the darker ones at the back didn't rise and seemed 'thinner' inside the cases (good use of technical baking language there!)

@delphinidewdrop of course you're welcome, you'll fit right in!
We love our slow cookers, meal planning & em is on the point of purchasing a house too

Wolf definitely need to get out of house so! You reminded me too au pair wants compost! H is going to town & has list of last three books dc need, he can get compost too

Ah thanks, I have been lurking for a while and really liked the look of it!

Oh no Wolfclub that must be a pain for you, a very early start on a Saturday morning.

Justanothermile September is so beautiful isn't it. Always has a fresh start feel to it!

Planning on making a roast chicken later and going to have a look to see if there are any blackberries left to pick for a crumble, my DD is 13months and running around a lot , its hard to fill her up as she gets bored of one food very easily, so am trying to give her a fruit based pudding as well as a 'main course' to get some calories in. If only i had these worries for myself!

Sounds like your oven doesn't heat evenly to me. Try the fan oven next time?

Jam

Footy practice today and sorting out the house. It's getting too small now and there is stuff everywhere. It's driving me crazy.

Hello Delph.

Happy meteorological autumn everyone

There will be a winter bedding section. Or you could plant winter veg? Don't think it's too late yet for sprouts and cabbages etc.

Right we are off on a Naice Day Out.. meeting old friends we haven't seen in a while at a NT house and gardens

how did i get old enough that that is what I started doing at the weekends, rather than going down the pub with mates ?

Thistimenextsummer - yes thanks, I have been trying to calculate costs as I think we will need new toilet and sink for downstairs loo, new carpets etc. Can't get a proper idea on carpet cost until we move and measure up but I have set aside what I hope is a generous amount. Its all so expensive! Also curtains etc.

I see that em is purchasing a house too, so exciting! Would be nice if all in by xmas, in our chain is a new build so difficult to guarantee a completion date, they will just give 14 days notice. But at the moment they hope 'late october'

delphini welcome!!!

We’re doing the practical stuff at present. Dh is trying to work out whether our bed will fit in new master bedroom. He has said he can’t possibly sleep in a double bed. So it has to be a king. I’ve suggested to make it fit we get a divan/ottoman bed. So that’s an option.

We need to seriously think about storage.

Dh is measuring dparents house at present. He is convinced it massively bigger than the potential new place.

It’s not.

I’ve had to point out that the original house was only 3 bed. But the old owners went over the garage. And extended out back. So he needs to remember this. Kitchen is the same size as the original kitchen here. Bedrooms are slightly smaller. Living room is narrower. But only by half a ft. And shorter by 2ft.

Morning all. Welcome delphi

Big job today. Decided to get out of my storage unit. I was supposed to be out by yesterday, but life takes over. I have sent the guy who runs the place a grovelly email, and will try to get it done over the weekend. If I can save myself the £80 this month it will be worth the push. Nevermind that I should have done it last weekend. Lots of tyres to move. God I hate bike tyres they really smell.

Does dh think he is 6'4" em ? Ds has a 5'9" shorty matress, suggest he tries one of these! my 5'9" dp can sleep on it fine I'm guessing your parents house would sell for over what your new house is??

I think monday's next look at the house will sort this all out. I recon it will look huge after being squished in with your dp's, especially as the space of your flat will be a fading nemory already.

Yes having another look at the house will really help, and being able to measure it all yourself.

We sadly can't get into the house we are wishing to move to until we actually move which is irritating as I have 100s of ideas and just keep going on about them to dp, but his answer always is 'well we will have to wait and see when we move in, can't make any decisions now'. I see his point, v sensible, but argh! I love planning things and at the moment can't plan anything, very much in limbo.

That will be good to get your things out of the storage unit Lonely, £80 is a lot of money. It always feels good to get things done, totally agree with the eat a frog mentality.

Dh and I just attempted lots of duet stuff on piano and clarinet and I made a massive breakthrough in not making the clarinet squeak like a train whistle. It turns out that when I use my right fourth finger I have to jam it right in the hole, rather than just put it over the hole. Now the notes sound right first time.

Sorry that is not frugaleer-related at all but it made me very happy and I just wanted to tell someone. It didn't cost anything. Yay!

Morning all.
Welcome delphini, I'm pretty new too and they are a lovely bunch.

Today will be busy. Ds2 needs a haircut, then we are going to get last bits for school which will include his shoes, a adult size 9 or 10, I've left it because he was a size 8 in March so didn't want to get them too early.

Then it will be get house and school/work ready for Monday

I really love September too🍃🍂🍁

lonely that will be a nice saving.
Aww take that sounds lovely

Glad your mortgage is approved em 👍

Just spent £25 in Starbucks 👎 that’s what happens when we set off before 7am to visit PIL. Still, no kennel bill as we’ll be home by evening so really we’re quids in

Feel free to ignore me, the mardyness appears to be contagious.