Scrimping through the remains of September, Austere Autumn approaching, frugal friendly 'Fred

[Justanothermile]

Thought I'd make a new thread, I'll post on the old one and alert to its presence.

All are welcome, we are friendly folk.

Yes it's birthday party weekend for dd. Sleepover was fine. 1 gone home so down to 4 children until 3 when others arrive.

£10 dd riding lesson. £5 footy and £5 hair cut for DS. Pony party will be about £200.

Got Thai curry in SC, corned beef pie in oven and buffet tea for grown ups.

Cake was £30 but so worth it

28 Sainsbury’s including 15 for a present for ds
40 hair
6 breakfast for me and ds at his activity - all money goes to charity so essentially it’s a donation
Trying to gets my act together to do some cleaning. I have set ds in tidying his room but results will no doubt be limited

Fantastic on the refund @mammynowanauntyIRL!

Spends today:
£6 coffee and pastries DS and me after a trip to the library, nice one on one time with him.
£38 supermarket

I hope it's not a sign of things to come mammy with ex messing you about with money. Is there an agreement in place to say how much he should be putting in?

I'm tired today which is not surprising after a busy day/evening Ystd so quiet day today. Met up with a group of friends for coffee this morning and not a lot else planned now.

seacow that sounds rough, hope both the mini seacows are feeling better.

Dd has suddenly gone much more deaf than usual in one ear, not sure what to do with her as it's not painful and she isn't obviously unwell but it is a bit of a worry given her hearing trouble anyway. Might ask 111 for advice later...

£30 riding.

Came home and ds was tearing round the house with his walker. He’s learned to turn corners now.

Had a sandwich and dh and I then took ds to the local country fair.

Ds saw cows being showed (and up close they are masssssiiivvveeee!) he also saw one doing a poo which he thought was funny. A lady came over and started chatting to us. She owned some of the show cows and asked if we wanted a closer look. So she let us in and ds patted a cow. I did too. Beautiful cow.

We then had a look at the prize winning chickens (and a guy who I went to school with showed ds a chicken resisting typing he showed ds his cock and let him pat it. And he also patted a beautiful French lop bunny.

And...we sat him next to the giant pumpkin. 979lb of pumpkin. Insane!!!!

Then we went to the new charity warehouse. I picked up a pair of size 5 lk Bennett black patent court shoes for £1 and am listing them on eBay later. Not something I’d usually do but....well.

Home now. Ds is dicking around in his cot napping and dh is watching the rugby.

We went to a country show too and it was good. We saw dray horses pulling ploughs, and traction engines, and also birds of prey. It was drizzling, which I really quite enjoyed as it never rains here.

Used shoes can go well on ebay. Especially if they're trashed.

NSD & I got £5 nectar vouchers. Bit late this year saving for Christmas.

Oh yes fluffy I made a killing when I was pregnant. Trashed ballerina pumps. I think my record was something like £37 for a 7 pair of shoes. The foot weirdos like seeing pictures of them worn with bare feet. And toe cleavage.

I’m hoping these go well as they’re lk Bennett are in good condition and I don’t think they make these ones anymore. And although they have a 4 inch heel they are super comfy.

Afternoon.

Busy day and I've lost track a bit.

Hope you are okay lonely.

Respect for coping with all those exchange students north.

Great attitude em, cheeky sods. Well done on not being too despondent, which it would be easy to be given the circumstances.

Happy birthday life Dd.

for sickness bugs, certainly a feature of young children.

£18 race entry fee. Used a discount code.
Cancelled running coach for a good saving a month, will go towards university costs.

Made hummus, brownie, stock. Having tea at Sils.

Stock was made in the Instant Pot, looks SO rich and flavoursome.

Adora, Bosh pasta is a recipe from a vegan booked called Bosh, it's essentially a tomato and veg sauce but all the ingredients are roasted in the oven and it brings a real depth of flavour. It's frugal as it's cheap to make and there's always tons for lunches the next day.

I just put a musical instrument on ebay for a large amount of money. I'm really just hoping to get my money back on it, so will be crossing my fingers for the next ten days.

Oh and 'run buddied' at Parkrun this morning, this suits me as I get to run about and witter to loads of folk, hopefully in an encouraging manner.

Have just counted up my change jar. £60.50 not too shabby. It’s about half full (whole earth peanut butter jar)

Ds is still napping. So I’m just taking time to myself and listening to my book.

£7.45 fruit and veg
£16 in Sainsbury’s

Evening folks. Spendy as fuck today.

Got Cagletini her first shoes and one of those little backpacks which have reins attached as she was toddling round in shops once she had the shoes on (more grippy I guess). Here is a pic of her in Clark’s kissing the baby in the mirror 😂

Also visited the game shop for the last time as it’s closing 😭😭😭 should’ve gone earlier in the day as the shelves were all but empty, but probably for the best as I would’ve spent a fortune despite the 20% discount he put on today. I just got one little game and some mini packs of story cubes which the Caglets love.

Also got a couple of toys for baby’s birthday, I love Plan Toys so I got a bath boat and a dinosaur car thing.

Forgot the pic!

Will update spends now and catch up on chat later.

Weekly shop €30.84 Tesco including two weeks supply of babybels, some change from €150+ and I will meal plan from what's in later and before shopping next week.

€35.97 in Claire's on DD's Halloween costume bits, they're stuff she'll use all year through & ds got little pocket animals from the buy 3 get 3 free promotion

€21.58 in mr price on birthday presents & €5 in a book shop.
€5 to ds for two weeks pocket money, dd will get hers during the week.

I like the sound of that stock Jam. I’m a big fan of proper home made stock.

I still remember being offered ‘better than they cost as new’ for my old tatty bras via a mn pm when I said on a weight loss thread that I was downsizing from my 34KK bras. I did not reply... it takes all sorts though!

£128 Ocado, but I’ve bought a lot more than a week’s worth of stuff as I’m batch cooking tomorrow.

And £120 (I think?) in Clarks on shoes that I can walk in and which are not, at first glance at least, old-lady orthopaedic ones. I got low heels (very cushioned!) and some flat patent loafers. I’ll probably wear my fit flop boots to and fro but at least I can survive a day in an office in the new ones, when required! I am in mourning for my days of lovely shoes though 😕. Anyway, there was another (more casual but still okay for the office) pair that I liked but were out of stock, and only £32 at the mo (25% off) so I’ll probably order those too. Then a quick trip to M&S for trouser shopping (I hate buying trousers, it always makes me feel enormous). Anyway, £92 for 2 pairs of office trousers (one black, one grey), a really lovely drapey oyster-coloured blouse and a stash of opaque tights. I didn’t buy anything casual or that I didn’t need so I was pleased with that. I so very rarely get to go to the shops that I could have gone mad! £9.80 parking though - that’s gone up a fair bit since I last went there.

Good news - DS hasn’t been sick since the middle of the night, touch wood. We’ve been very cautious about giving drinks of water very little and often, and he’s not really eaten much. He slept for a few hours this afternoon and was much brighter afterwards so I think he’s on the mend. Now keeping everything crossed that DD doesn’t get it too! She’s still grumpy and a bit off/colour but her temperature is more normal. It’s going to be a very quiet weekend here, that’s for sure!

I’ve done 7 loads of washing since 10pm last night. And still need to do the actual duvet, though I don’t think it’ll dry in a day. I guess I might just need to buy a new one, at least to have a spare to wash /rotate. Is there any way round that? I don’t really want to have to store one either!

After all these shenanigans we’re having sirloin steak for dinner as a treat - yum!

Ah, cute pic Cag! Dd here goes straight in with tongues when she sees herself in a mirror

I love Plan Toys too. It must be Cagletini’s birthday soon, right?

Yup on the 25th 😭 I’m not really sure what we are getting her, we’ve not really got her many toys as I’ve been very picky.

Frugal win, turns out the backpack had a comforter toy thing inside it, but cagletini has a very similar one already so that can go for a new baby present for my little greatniece arriving in about 10 days!

Loving strictly today, always enjoy movie week!

Re duvets, it’s terrible but I just replace them every so often. Dry cleaning is more expensive than a new one from primark. Thankfully the single ones do fit in the washer though so it’s just our king size.

Cag she is so cute - lovely picture!

I need to write a list of what I have bought so far for Christmas and then either use an app or a notebook to keep track of what I still have to buy practically everything so that I don't overspend. I have been picking up bargains as and when I see them but frequently forget what I have bought.

So cute cag 💕

£54 Sainsbury's
£38 on lunch out

Oh cag how cute is she? 😍

seacow fingers crossed you’ve seen the last of that bug.

Good news here, our tenant is home from hospital and all is ok with him. Which is the most important thing, I have to say I was worried about him. But he rang and said he’s happy to have the valuation people round. So everything is going ahead as planned.

Just £1 here today on some flavoured fizzy water. Tomorrow will be not spendy for me, but DH wants us to all go to Nottingham’s Goose Fair ( v famous and I think the oldest fair in the country). So it’ll be him spending a fortune on rides, lol. So that gives you an idea of where I’m from! Not Nottingham, but not far away. We are driving to a park and ride and getting the tram in.

A peaceful Saturday night here. DH is working, DS1 is at a birthday sleepover so it’s just me and DS2. Got steak and jacket potato for tea, yum.

Oh my goodness Cag when did she grow up so much?!

Still sleep deprived here.

Spent £33 today in Aldi. Tomorrow will be low spend.