Frugalleers Spending September Safeguarding our Shiny Shillings

[Wolfcub]

Welcome to mid September frugal folk

meadow it is!!!! I bumped into a friend of my sisters (who is also an illustrator and has designed the cutest things for kids pm me anyone if you want the link to her page) yesterday. Her dd is now 3 months old. I had a baby cuddle and she said “man this mum thing is tough isn’t it?!” More people need to hear this I think.

And it’s ok not to be ok I think. Sometimes.

Can you tell I’m super busy today....! Haha.

Meal plan

You sound like you're doing really well meadow I used to try and leave the house every day when dd was little but sometimes walking down the road to the postbox and back was all I could manage! It does get easier as they get a bit older and by the time they're toddlers you have to take them out everyday otherwise they go a bit mad! Children are a bit like dogs in that respect, they need a walk at least once a day 😉😂

So a flea jumped on me this morning 😲 girl cat has now been doused in flea stuff and I am washing and hoovering like mad! She was a bit over due on the flea treatment but I hadn't noticed her scratching or anything. I can't stop itching now!!

Meadow can you not just use a kettle for water to warm bottles?

You are doing fabulously well meadow.

So, that’s shopping done! One swoop on Primark for £100 and one trip to the Vans shop for the same. Tons of cheap clothes for university that DS bought and I bought the Vans items, this was his birthday present.

I like shopping with DS, he’s not a browser.

Meadow I had a great play mat with mine and used it for ages from newborn right up to age 2 (just to sit on and eat etc) as it could go in the washing machine and was really big. It was called a Tiny Love Super Mat.

£60 Aldi
£15 Tesco
£20 fuel

Meal plans:

Breakfast for dc (dh and I don't tend to eat it):
Overnight oats with apple in
Brioche
Blueberry wheats
Toast

Lunches:
Sandwiches
Sandwich thins
Sausage rolls
Pate/cheese/pickle/chicken/salad
Fruit
Crudités and humous

Dinners:

Pizza (dd choice)
Burgers in brioche buns (ds choice)
Lentil dahl
Minestrone soup with cheese roasties
Beef and ale pie with roasties
Sausages with mash and veg
Freezer food so something and waffles.

Happy birthday jam!

Also at Tesco I need led vanish and ds needed school socks so that bumped the price up a bit

Happy birthday to your ds jam is he excited about uni? Was talking to a friend whose dd is off to uni next week and is terrified bless her!

We just had a down pour of rain which my garden will be grateful for! It's still been so dry here, still not felt the need for heating yet though! I want to hold out til Oct at least!

Some heavy gauge bakeware fell in my basket at Sainsbury’s. Unfortunately I forgot bondaweb or to withdraw some cash for a quick trip to the pub later doh!

I was so excited and so nervous about going to uni. It was hard but overall a positive experience. Good luck to your son jam. What subject is he studying or do you not want to say?

Born In theory I can but she's fed on demand and I really can't predict when she will want to be fed it's all over the place, and she doesn't really give feeding cues anymore she just starts crying and that can be really sudden in the middle of a nap or anything so I feel a bit stressed to wait until then to boil the kettle and have to wait for it to be done then warm the bottle up etc whilst she's probably screaming the whole time.

I am watching a Netflix series called Everything Sucks. It is set in an American high school in the 90s. I am so sad . Although actually if anyone wants a recommendation, The Good Place is reaaally good and funny. Series 3 is coming out in like a week or something.

Meadow Both my formula feeding friends relied heavily on pre-made formula. One used to run into boots, buy a new bottle and a carton and just get stuck in without washing or sterilising. It seemed to work.

meadow I kept some ready made stuff handy just in case. Kept one bottle in the changing bag at all times. It saved us a couple of times!

I think meadow sums it up really well girlie, he's excited and nervous. It's two weeks away yet so I think there's time for him to still be chilled about it as it seems like ages. He's going to study Maths at Lancaster meadow, I think I've mentioned it before so no worries about saying it here

The bakeware from Sainsbury's is amazing isn't it wolf.

I STILL need to menu plan. Bloody hell!!

It is Jam I think I’ve just doubled my collection!

Em They're not jealous at all are they. Wanky finance worker

NSD.

Went out to get cash and bondaweb - literally no bondaweb to be found argh!!!

Nope fluffy not at all.

We pay almost £1k a month for 3 days a week. But we get loads from Nursery. Location is convenient. Ds gets fed superb food. Their ratios are stricter than other nurseries so he gets more attention. They do exciting stuff. We have a Nursery social media app and they post daily pictures/videos of ds for us. Which is lovely. I also post pics of our weekend activities so they can see what we’re up to.
They go on trips and outings. The chef is amazing. The building is wonderful. They have a garden and grow veggies and most importantly let the kids be kids. So being messy is encouraged. Exploring is encouraged (safely). They teach manners. All babies sit at the table for their meals etc.... so lovely. And they’ve been superb in reassuring me I’ve done the right thing.

I like that I can visit ds at lunchtime if I want. I don’t. But I can.

Went to Asda £33 for a weeks shopping for 2 -included £9 slowcooker fluffy
Didnt need much.
DS can take the Sainsburys one to Uni.
M&S £ 10 meal deals are good atm.
Got 2 curry ones (2 mains 2 sides)
Pizza one ( 2 huge loaded pizzas,2 sides)
3 for £10 fish, plaice and 2 packs fresh tuna.
DH and I will have curry tonight .
Everything else will go into the freezer.The sides are used as meals.
Need to do a meal plan

Not for time for a proper catch up (dd is snotty and SUCH hard work!) but I just wanted to say to Meadow:

• you sound as though you are doing brilliantly and enjoying your dd much more than you were, those first few months are the hardest
• I spent a Fortune on pre made formula. Same problem as you, in that she would be suddenly starving. Then a friend lent me a Tommie Tippee perfect prep machine. They are quite expensive new (but I think would still have paid for itself in savings on ready made formula). In the end I paid her £20 for it, and then sold it for the same!. Works with any bottles and formula, not just Tommee Tippee, and was brilliant. Bottle made at right temperature in under 2 mins. Have a look at it
• re. mats, we had one and dd did enjoy having dangly stuff to look at (she wasn’t a fan of tummy time either). But they are quite expensive for what they are and they don’t use them for long. Round my way people buy and sell baby stuff (like play mats, toys, slings, tommee Tippee machines etc) on our local parents’ Facebook group. Might be worth having a look to see if there is one for your area. If it had been around when DS was a newborn I’d have saved a fortune! There’s loads of stuff in brilliant condition going for £5-10
• and yes, you can usually wash the mat bit just give (I’m the same about cleaning second hand stuff)
• the baby clothes I sent you were probably the things that were on the big size - I expect dd wore them for longer than expected from the label. Which is why they escaped being shipped to Cag, who got all the ‘normal’ fitting stuff! So you may find your dd fits some 3-6m sleepsuits better than others! But they are comedy big when you first go up a size anyway - incredible to think they’ll be bursting out of them in 3-4m!

Hope your doing okay today Mammy

Gotta dash, DS has had his first after-school club today. I tried to prepare him but no idea how much he understood and the new routine will have thrown him. Fingers crossed for us!

I see what you mean Meadow there is nothing worse than a hungry crying baby, especially through the night. I used to make my bottles up with water only and add powder as I needed it. it was handy for quick feeds as I just kept the next feeds bottle of water out the fridge so it was at room temperature. I used something like these to keep the milk in, but I'm not sure if that's frowned upon now. Anyway you seem to be managing really well

meadow meant to say that we used to make up a bottle for ds as we went to bed and kept it in a warm bag. By the time he woke up for it it was cool enough. I know the guidance is to not do this but honestly whoever made that up has probably never tried to rapidly cool a bottle at 3am whilst juggling a crying baby.... but ds has been fine.

C’mon 5pm....

I forgot to show you all my new tv unit from Ikea. I love it

Very nice Wreck your house looks lovely and very tidy!!

Finishing at 4pm on friday rocks! Sitting on my bed, had a coffee and 6 custard creams.

meadow you are doing so well. Remember most people who say they go out every day for stimulating hikes with their ebf cloth nappied 3 week old baby are actually slumped on their messy sofa in a ratty dressing gown feeling helpless, just like the rest of us. I call it "plastic fantastic" ie the shit they post on facebook that you know is bollocks (but still makes you feel bad somehow). Keep trucking along at your own pace.

I only want to sleep the weekend away, but there is so much to do...

That looks fab wreck I still think ikea is brilliant for well priced stuff.

em some people are just plain jealous. Fuck them. You know your ds is in the right place for nursery.