Nearly November; Friendly Frugaleers Navigating (K)nitting, Nattering and Nuturing our Pennies

[WereWolfcub]

New thread. Happy end of October/Early November frugaleering. All welcome we are a friendly bunch

That's useful to know about the tonsility Cag. I used to get that a lot. I shall keep that in mind.

I'm not sure about the exam stuff. It seems as though the teacher usually enters the student for the exam, and maybe would normally enter a whole lot at once, so would have their time well spent by going to the exam centre with lots of kids.

I just booked the exam myself and my teacher waited three weeks to check the dates and is not free, so I just have 5 days to find someone. I have written to our street list hopefully. There's bound to be someone round here who can operate a piano she, says, tempting fate.

If anyone hasn’t registered with Shopmium I have a referral code KYGKEMML. I get £3, you get a free jar of Nutella.

Some checkout smart accounts have free bahlsen biscuits on them.

I have another receipt app, HuYu. Every 100 receipts is worth £5, usual vouchers amazon/Argos/John Lewis/Tesco plus surveys. Major supermarkets and online delivery’s only.

I’ve given in and cleans ds’s shit heap of a room. I was fed up of falling over every time I went in there. Suffice to say he is not happy about it but at least you can now see the floor. We will be off to the charity shop shortly!!!

In the process I have smashed my phone screen protector so will need to buy a new one and have buggered my back.

Will catch up on what you’ve all been up to in the afternoon

Hello.

That’s amazing Cag and you deserve a bit of luck. Malta is lovely and yes, you can manage entirely without a car, the buses are excellent. We expected to hire one but then just didn't need to. Beaches are mostly pebble not sand though, just so you know. Lots to see. My favourite thing was the WWII bunker, not well advertised but the guide who showed us round was fab and there was no one else there! and I think you’d all love it.

DD is about the same, very listless, running a temperature (though not as high as last night I don’t think). I’ve got a Gp appointment for her this afternoon. Mum is taking her though as I now have the vomiting bug and daren’t leave the house. It’s awful and of course, my deadline hasn’t gone away! I’ve slept for a good bit of the morning though, I just couldn’t lift my head off the pillow. I’ll have to push on with work as much as possible and then sleep at the weekend.

This is a very shitty week. We have a meeting with school tomorrow -DS’s termly review of his EHCP - and I’m not sure whether to postpone it. Sigh.

Oh seacow that is shit :( I’d cancel it. They won’t want you there having been pukey anyway, and you don’t need the extra stress if it doesn’t go well. Little silver lining of the sickness that you can justify leaving it until after the work deadline I guess?!

😍 oh cag! What a thoughtful thing for your dad to do and what wonderful words to hear (why is there no 'shedding a little happy tear' emoji??!!)

Sea I'm so sorry you've been struck down with illness too. Does contracting mean you don't have the option to extend the deadline? Can you take your laptop to bed to do a little here and there whilst also resting to get yourself better?

...and finally! Look at all my Halloween bargains! The buckets were 8p! From Morrison's. Will need to remember where I store it ready for next year!

Checking in quickly.

Am at a conference today. So far have snagged myself three notebooks a set of postits a phone charger some sweets and a bunch of pens. #merch

And have had a roast dinner buffet lunch.

It’s interesting but all day. In a room without windows....

I just had my last clarinet lesson before my exam. I enjoyed it a lot. The teacher is always nice.

I still can't remember the notes of the arpeggios. I am going to write them on my hand so I can stare at them while doing other stuff.

Christmas I'm so sorry things are so difficult there. That really sounds hard work. Take care there.

Today's spend!

I'm off sick with ESA and have a work advisor meeting at the job centre? Wtf?

And I think my aftercare worker is on leave and I can't do it without her

Nsd.

Well done Thistime.

Sneaky Respect! I like days like that. for those poorly or with poorly DC. Have been well for awhile, but got quite ill last winter, so got flu jab last Sat.
Food planning, will buy ingredients Sat:
Minestrone - who knew so cheap, easy & lush - made for first time last week.
Spinach lasagne, Broccoli tabbouleh and a pumpkin gratin. Just finished baking last night’s pumpkin decos, scraped flesh & froze 2/3, rest for recipe. We are not strictly veggie, but eat lots of veg based meals to save £
DD now has been offered a new job, more dosh, better-training. She worked hard to snag it. Second job after uni. She is a grafter, I am proud mummy!

Cag that’s so lovely of your df.

Sea sorry to hear you are now poorly too you really are having a shocking week. Hope you feel brighter soon. I agree cancel the appt on the basis of vomiting they will understand

Sneaky I hope you got the bank sorted

Took ds for lunch £19. Bought planted up planter and a few treats for df and dm £19

Ordeeed new screen protector for phone and then had to order duct tape as df has strimmed through one of the planters I bought last month whilst very kindly mowing my lawn

Sneaky Do they sanction you if you cancel?.

Yeah, they'll cut my ESA

Checking in from a Costa(packet) 😉have done a lot of shopping today, bit scared to add it up....

£3 parking
£66 on two dresses, they were both half price and both lovely, one for my party and one for Christmas do.
£12 lunch in frankie and bennies
£10 to dd to get me something for Christmas
£16 on Christmas gifts for grandparents from dd
£14 a gift for dd
£16 a half price hoody for dd
£5 Costa

Feel like it was all needed and good value....

Marvellous. Just what you need. Did you get time to ring sky?. Your billing looks mental. That or your out of contract and they’ve whacked the price up.

Excellent offer on boots app, buy 2 haircare items and get 75 points. Their standard shampoo is 75p, 2 for £1.40 so I’ll get that Monday. Hopefully I’ll have enough for another bubble bath. I only have 6 free ones in the cupboard. I need to get a boots card for dh so I can double up on the offer.

Frugal things;
Made 6 portions of red lentil soup for about £1. Ready to freeze for next week.
Making vegan choc brownie cake tonight.
Finally got the smell of T cut out of the washing machine using white vinegar.

Saved a fabric softener bottle and made two lots of half strength softener mixed with water.
Cut a squash bottle open to make a water saver for the en-suites toilet.

I haven't been able to get through but I have noticed all bills from now on are £30!

Will keep ringing though!

I'm having a lot of success cutting down washing machine soap use by decanting it from the big bottle into a travel shampoo bottle. It means I can now put a tiny amount in the machine. It's better for the machine too, because it used to get clogged up with soap, but doesn't now.

Back on after a busy few days.
Seacow hope you get reassurance from the GP re dd and hope you feel better quickly, not what you need.
Cag that's so generous of your dad. What a lovely problem to have, deciding how to spend it.
I am being remarkably organised and productive today, unfortunately that's because I really need to study for my exam on Monday and am doing whatever I can to avoid it !

Sneaky Live chat might be less frustrating. Plus you’ve got written proof of what they tell you.

£18-24 to £30 is a big jump. If you are out of contract at least you can swap providers and get some cashback.

That's true but I've never switched before! New to this adult stuff

No live chat for bill options

Typical. Well if you have to switch it’s very easy. I switch every year.

Can I freeze pumpkin? This pumpkin from the allotment doesn't seem to be going down at all....