Spending October organising our spends - friendly frugaleers this way!

[ememem84]

New thread because old one is almost full. All welcome. fluffy can you be a doll and please post the helpful threads? X x

two not too

Wolf I did that with mcd this morning, could purchase sat I think then

Delighted you bought the boots girlie

I love Pink! She’s my go to girl for the gym/housework.

Off to the mobile co at lunch to sort out broadband etc for new house. I think I can get a decent deal if I sign up for a new mobile plan. But. Need to chat with them to check.

Went to phone shop. Told it’s be an hour and a half wait. And maybe I could come back at a less busy time.

I just managed to cut a better bridge for my violin than the last one, that makes it sound all vibrato-y, which is very nice. It was only a fiver as I did it myself, rather than £60 from the shop.

Also, sitting.

£33 in aldi, happy with that as I got loads.

I love Pink as well 💗

£1.50 veg box in Lidl. I got fresh mint, about a pound of spuds, 3 satsumas, a corn on the cob, three fresh beetroot, two carrots, pack of button mushroom, 3 tomatoes, 2 bananas, and radishes. The box has holes in the top so I’m going to make it into a cat toy for the Bengal to ignore.

I found a way of storing bananas, separate into single fruits and lay on the top shelf of the fridge. Doesn’t look pretty but tastes just right. The separating is v important.

£10 petrol
£13 Aldi.
£4 Lidl.

Nectar swipe and win is back on 26th October. Easiest way to get the £10 min spend is on the petrol pumps with the spend limit buttons. You can do two separate £10 fills at a time before paying in the kiosk. It stops the cashiers hating you for the massive long queues.

jam Dh likes a m&s red, do they do good wine discounts?. I never really shop there.

Snuggly Emergancy uht whole milk for next time? It’d be less hassle than baby wrangling x 2.

My parents had emergancy dried milk but that’s a step too far for me.

I used to freeze milk. It defrosts well in the microwave in an emergency.

Decent day today so far. Much doing of music, which was very nice. I think the postman may have heard me as he went both ways down the street. He must wonder what I'm up to.

Two tips with wine at M&S. For instore purchases, the trick is to wait until there’s a promotion of 25% for buying 6 bottles. Then, pick 6 bottles that are already offering a discount on each individual bottle, often they have a third off anyway. Then you get the multi buy discount and individual one. Can work out at Aldi prices for M&S wine.

Online, it’s usually 25% for buying two boxes of wine but a similar theory applies, find boxes of 6 that are already discounted. You have to stock up a bit more, but it’s a good discount.

Near Christmas they often have special buy boxes. I got a box of 6 white wines that are usually £12 a bottle for £5 a bottle, but that’s a random thing.

£40 sports massage, double session.
£14 Amazon.

Just about to book the first stage of my qualification, usually it costs £160, but membership of UKA discounts that by £20. Club are going to pay half of the fee and I’ve found a small fund payout of £50.

Happy days.

My paypal buyer hasn't paid and I see he has never bought anything on ebay before and only registered three weeks ago. This is looking a bit fishy. Fingers crossed he surfaces before the deadline tomorrow.

I've had an autumnal nc btw.

I made paint today. This is incredibly messy as we use pigment powder and resin...and I had two holes in my glove, so it looks like I've cast too many votes in a foreign election. And will do for several days.

Nsd so far, but have shuffled another few k onto my credit cards. Will do a final sweep up next week. All the statements are up to date, so as long as I pay before the next one, then no more interest should go on, as it's already been added for this month. But never again!

Omg omg just booked onto a home ed trip to the Yayoi Kusama exhibit 😍should just about be able to do off peak train especially if we stay at mums

Back to the dr today with ds. He went to nursery and when I picked him up they said he hadn’t been his usual happy boy self. He’s cried every time he’d eaten and was quite distressed. They said they’d considered calling me this morning but he bounced back.

Turns out they’d noticed at around 4 pm that he has mouth ulcers. Poor baby babboooo.

So. Called dr and got in to see someone. She said he has bronchiolitis. It’s viral and self limiting. And we’ve been given advice on what to look for. His ears are red too. So ibruprofen and paracetamol when needed. Lots of water.

He gulped his milk down this evening then cried so much. Either because it hurt him or because it was all gone. Temperature normal though. So that’s good.

No charge for dr. So that’s a plus

There's your mum radar working perfectly em you knew something was up with him. He's going to be so sore. Sounds like the gp is a good one.

Cba tonight. So tired. But have lots to do. I filled an ikea wish list shopping basket. Just for giggles. I'm not even close to buying. But I did order the girls new beds two days ago. On the argos 25% off deal. So £450 instead of £600. That's 2 pine beds with 6 draws underneath. The bunk beds are done for. They have the biggest bedroom, but with a central window and a big radiator on the opposite wall, space for everything is hard. So doing away with the draws, and all most of the crap, I'll get them a table to go in the middle between the beds to use as a desk/lego/craft place. I set the delivery at the end of next week, so time is truly ticking for half term decorating...

They are lonely I’ve said it before but although we have to pay for it (£42 for me to go the other day and that’s with a subsidy from the govt...) we get seen quickly. When I took him on Monday the dr said she’d make a note and someone would see him if he got worse. We didn’t see our dr but another at the practice who is just as good. Last appointment and no charge. I was told I’d have to wait. But I didn’t care. I did also say to the receptionist when I called that I’d be happy with the first appointment tomorrow but she squeezed us in yay.

I’ve told dh he can stay In with him tonight. I’ve had maybe 16 hours sleep since Saturday. And all broken up. So I need a decent sleep. I probably won’t get much of one as will no doubt be listening out for ds. But I’m not in with him so hopefully a quieter night for me.

Also my butt and legs are killing me from the gym yesterday. So need a good stretch.

Since being home I’ve done a load of washing, loaded dishwasher, emptied and refilled nursery bag for tomorrow (in case ds goes), have text the boss to let him know I may/may not be in ds depending, dh has bathed ds, and made dinner (lamb tagine and couscous) have sorted things for the morning, changed my teeth aligners over (ouch these new ones are tight!) and have done make up off moisturiser on and am now in bed. Catface is nowhere to be seen. Hmmm.

Just had a look cag - exhibition looks really interesting! Are you going with other HE'ers?

Lonely good luck with the half term decorating plans! Will the kids help out (or hinder?!)

Oh Em your poor ds ☹️ - wishing him a good night's sleep and speedy recovery and a good sleep for you too.

I don't feel too bad on my poor sleep. Please do correct me if I use this expression completely incorrectly but I think I ate some frogs at work today 😂. Set out a few boundaries and drew a few lines.

I haven't however managed to do anything to prepare myself for sleep tonight. At 4am I was planning ahead to long baths, good books and meditations but busy life got in the way again. I have just sat down to watch Ruth and Eamonn's 'how to get a good night's sleep' so fingers crossed I'm 😴 by the end of it!

Yes somehow they managed to get a slot so are now offering the spaces to home ed families. :) Don’t know most of the people going as it was arranged by a London group. But one friend is going with her lot so we will probably travel together. Also may be going to the Jewish museum soon which would be good. I am not so proactive with trips lately as I have the baby to cart around with me.

I’ve escaped up to the bedroom as I’m feeling so touched out this evening. Clingy DD1 and grumpy baby.

Gosh a baby with mouth ulcers poor thing 😰 that must be so distressing.

Yay for frog eating! I did that this evening by finally trying my sling again. Since changing to a new one and not managing to get the hang of it straight away I had put it away and not tried it since we moved here. And then started feeling like it was too late as I’d left it too long etc, but have now tried it for a bit just pottering about the house a bit, and baby liked it :)

Poor em ds even one mouth ulcer is horrific as an adult so can only imagine the poor boys hysteria, ds had bronchiolitis several times, I know you've got this but if you want to ask me anything pm me.

Was out for dinner with my cuz, we struggled to split bill with correct change so I paid 2/3 to her one third, we'll straighten this out when we go away next month. €22

€2 on two lovely lindor choc bars on special offer, gave one to au pair, she's a gem these days

€62 on diesel, it's costing €30 a week now, need to budget it in weekly instead of fortnightly.

Got credit agreement for new cc but don't see promotional period mentioned so need to check that out.

Nsd today. Spent about £15 yesterday and hoping for lsd tomorrow.

em hope your ds has a better night tonight. It’s great that you can get to see your doctor so easily. My GP is not too bad and usually if you phone first thing you can get an appointment that day. I know that some practices are much worse than this and you have to wait days/weeks to get seen.

mammy your au pair sounds great. Will she stay with you for a long time?

this hope you sleep better tonight.

Great day in the office though I am slightly at how much needs doing in the next 2 weeks. Bet I end up burning the midnight oil.

Glad you got the boots Girlie!

Ouch to baby mouth ulcers, that’s no fun.

I have a couple of frogs to swallow but I did the accountant frog today so might just focus on work tomorrow and have a froggy Friday instead.

I’ve just realised I can’t quite reach to unzip my dress and DH is asleep 🤔

Broken sleep here. Dh was in with ds. But that lasted until an hour ago. I woke up to ds crying. Again. Dh was letting him cry it out (aka dh was sleeping).

I’ve (probably stupidly) sent dh back to our room and I’m here with ds. He’s starfished in the middle of the bed. Snoring. He is exhausted and probably hurting. I’ve given him some ibruprofen and am hoping he gets a couple of hours at least.

I guess I’m not going to work today. Dh won’t take the day because he’s booked Friday as a holiday. So he’ll be with ds then. Which is great but I had Tuesday and was late on Monday because of ds Doctor and was late yesterday because dh.

I have left my proper alarm clock on in our room. It’s loud. And will go off at 545. Because I wanted to get a good sleep get up early and do some yoga. Oh well. Bye bye yoga. Dh will get a shock though. Oh well.

I just hope ds eats more tomorrow. Poor baby. Short of whizzing up his food there’s not much I can do really.

Drinking is most important em. Feed him what he feels like. Have you tried ice lollies. Not healthy but the cold will help Soothe a poorly mouth

Crap nights sleep here too Em and no poorly baby to explain it. Think I just have too many things whizzing round in my head at the moment. Hope your ds improves quickly, mouth ulcers in a little one must be horrible.
Lonely it must be a great feeling transferring the money around after all this time?
Cag great news about the shift changes for dh.
Wolf good luck with Camhs.
Girlie when is your party? The boots sound like a good birthday treat.
Jam good on you for doing the coach training. The amount of goodwill and unpaid voluntary work that happens to keep amateur sports clubs going is colossal, and yet it's so important to the health of the nation to get people active.
Ds will be doing his first cricket coaching badge in spring. He won't officially qualify until he's 18 in September, but will be able to do all his practice hours with juniors during the season, under supervision. The club will pay for the training, he will give back a couple of hours a week for the next 10 years at least probably.
Dd is very excited as her drama teacher has decided to take the group into a care home to perform some pieces for the residents. Dd loves talking to older people and has real empathy so will love it. The Sound of Music is one of her favourites and she has been asked to sing Edelweiss which she did really well at the show last year. I think it's a brilliant idea, we need to get more interaction between young and old.
We're getting ready for half term away with friends. It's something we do most years, there are 17 of us this year. We've rented a big house which works out very reasonable between us & I'm in the midst of a big tesco order for it. I do most of the cooking when we're there but I'm fine with that as it means everyone else does all the clearing, cleaning etc.
I've had a couple of good days for study and have managed to make a good start on my Christmas tree skirt project which is properly frugal, using lots of leftover fabric pieces.
First job today will be to write a big list of jobs needing doing before we go away tomorrow.