Countdown to a Frugal Christmas, The Friendly Frugaleers still knitting,nattering and money saving!

[QuiteFabULousDahling]

New Fred

Thanks Girlie that's really kind of you. I'm trying to wedge the reality of it into my sense of identity, before I get a chance to rationalise it away. I may have to glue the certificate to my laptop screen. LOL!

People round me keep saying really weird things like "Ok, now just skip grade 2 and 3 and go straight to 4, then skip 5 and go straight to 6."

Then another person just rubbed his hands together and said "Ok great, grade 8 here we come."

I reckon that having taken 43 years to reach grade 1, I could probably take my time a bit about going any further. I may just spend a few days polishing the instrument and not playing it.

We’ve been to dparents. Dh went out for dinner so at present it’s just me ds and catface at home.

Dh has put the tv up on the wall. Yay. This will stop ds trying to bang it. I’m not sure how I feel about wall TVs. But I definetly like that there’s little risk of it being broken by a toddler. I can’t work out whether it’s up straight either. There are lines drawn on the wall so maybe it’s those which are tricking my brain...

Stairgates are also up. Catface is afraid of them. So won’t go under them. Or through. She needs them opened. Sigh. Ds can’t escape his cot so we’re ok to leave them open at night.

My cushions look lovely on our bed. Yay. Two grey and a blush pink. I have seen some other pink ones I want too. Five throw cushions isn’t excessive is it?!?!

Forgot to say earlier well done to north too

moi the Green and Blacks Tasting Collection seems to be very popular as its half price at £5.50 in Tesco and, intermittently, Amazon at the moment if you do decide to go for chocolates.

Have ordered some glucosamine North and will see if that helps, thank you

Yes, that is what I thought life, but they seem to be going back and forth and HR are worst than the administrator.
Jam thank you, I will show them that tomorrow.
Unescorted, my apprenticeship finishes in Feb, I didn't know that they could argue it.
I am going to compose an email and sent it to the head.
Thank you all.

Spends
M&S £7.48 on milk and some fruit
Boots £9.50 on a few stocking fillers
Argos Xbox live £39.99, but only £10.99 in cash as had vouchers from before.

I’m watching the chilling adventures of Sabrina on Netflix. This is nothing like Sabrina the teenage witch I used to watch

If it doesn’t have robotic Salem in Em it’s no good

Next weekend life
H agreed to everything I laid out for next six weekends with dc

moi & unescorted that's a fab way to get exercise fitting it into your daily routine*
*
Wolf I need to do that with h too, well I know what I'm getting them from me, guess just need to sort out Santa

Moi I'm thinking l'occitane for teachers, what does she like? Hobbies etc

Em 5 cushions isn't excessive

Green & blacks tasting collection sounds fab

Tayto & not2obvious have you watched innocent on virgin player? I'm just watching first episode now.

moi I used to get dds cm a bottle of wine and some nice smellies, probably spent around £10-£15. One year when I was very skint dd painted a £3 terracotta pot and I put some pansies in it, the cm loved it...

Ok, have been a little naughty tonight. I joined a casino and deposited £20. I just fancied a few games of Steamtower, a steampunk slot game I got overattached to last year. I reasoned that if I blew my £20 then it's better than wasting it on lottery tickets as it's fun. Anyhow, just withdrew £50.07! So up £30. Half a days pay. I know this isn't the way this always goes, but woohoo for tonight.

These guys need some finishing, and I need to make 2 sheep, but here is the alpaca and noro nativity set, the 2p is for scale. The figures each have a shiny 2p in their bases, it makes them stand up nicely.

So I've caught up on the last few pages.

Girlie you were asking about the HPV vaccine. DD got it last year. I agonized over it for a while but went ahead with it in the end. I hope I did the right thing. I just felt that I could never forgive myself if DD was diagnosed with cervical cancer as a result of my failure to go ahead with the vaccine. I'm not telling you what to do though. Just read as much as you can so that you're making an informed decision.

Autumn iirc some of the people who received the swine flu vaccine claimed that they developed narcolepsy. I found this article www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/oireachtas/state-should-stop-fighting-vaccine-cases-and-give-compensation-td-says-1.3562603

Seacow hope you feel better soon. It's sad that MIL seems to have a better relationship with her other DGS. There was a thread along those lines on MN recently - did you read it? Lots of posters came to the same conclusion about their parents or in-laws - that they favoured one set of grandchildren over theirs.

Lonely annoying about the washing machine but at least you're in a position to pay it off quickly.

mammy I hate those bouts of insomnia. The nutritionist was very good but I knew a lot of it already. Knowing the theory is one thing - putting it into practice is another thing! She spoke about the balance between the main food groups and the importance of reading food labels especially in terms of sugar content. She spoke about input vs. output and recommended making small changes. I'm not really looking to lose weight but I could definitely do with eating healthier. So my changes this week are to eat brown bread instead of white, and to eat porridge for breakfast on my days off work. I quite like porridge but I'd gone very lazy and was just making toast for breakfast. Some people had specific queries re: their own health issues and diet, so she answered those queries as best she could.

Wolf sorry to hear your hip is bothering you.

life any particular reason you're so tired lately or is it just the general grind of life?

Congrats. north and Autumn on your exam success!

em well done for resisting the Bobbi Brown offer. I think cushions on a bed look lovely but I just couldn't be arsed lifting them on and off the bed every day. Also, where do you put them when you're going to bed?

Fluffy who is dn? Niece? Nephew? Neighbour?

I enjoyed 'Meet me in St. Louis' and have been humming 'Have yourself a merry little Christmas' all evening.

Congrats on the exam result Autimn, and well done to Lonely for quitting while ahead

Busy day with some work and some kid stuff. DS is still agitated, no idea what’s going on there but I will work on him. NSD for once, hallelujah!

I am child-free on Friday and thinking of going Christmas shopping in Westfield. I hate the place but there is a Tiger (good for stockings) and a few other places that might be good for gifts. I want to be done by the end of the month, though in-laws will stump me as usual . I can’t believe it’s nearly December!

And congrats too North (brain like a sieve sorry). Weren’t you worried you’d have to repeat it? That must be a relief.

I didn’t read that other thread Tayto though I’d be interested to. I think it’s inevitable really, and to be fair they probably feel the same twinges when they see my dc with my mum. Not intentional but just how it is because my mum sees them much more.

Cold is much better today so I feel halfway human but really tired, Night all!

Morning all. Weather is foul today. Life if you are heading south wrap up warm and take waterproofs!

Just sat in the station waiting for my train.

Sea I’d like to be done with shopping by the end of the month too. I’m still not feeling Christmas at all despite repeated attempts to get myself in the mood and I don’t think my lack of organisation this year or the lack of the usual rounds of baking and preserving have helped. Need to give myself a kick in the bum and get on with it.

Happy frugal Tuesday everyone

Morning all.

My aim for Christmas is to be done with the gifts for nz by Monday. So they can be posted. And everything else by 11 Dec. That’s my last day off this year. And everything will be wrapped etc by then too.

Nsd planned today.

Re the cushions I just chuck them on the floor when I’m getting into bed.

Just catching up. No travel this week, it's dh turn. Off to London village next week.

Curvy, try ACAS. They were very helpful to me in the summer

25% off at Tu sainsburys. Dh bought two pairs of jeans there on Sunday 🤦🏻‍♀️ I might look through the sale rail, I got 3 £3 tops last time. My frilly sleeved navy velvet sweatshirt is epic.

Hello frugaleers! Gosh I can't believe I've missed a thread and a half - I'm sure I wasn't gone that long??!!

Life got Fresh Princed here for a few weeks (flipped turned upside down) with our house on the market and a real possibility of moving before Christmas 😱.

We're in the limbo stages atm so thought I'd better start being accountable again before we start haemorrhaging money on surveys and moving costs.

Tayto yes this is the only vaccine where i feel a bit damned if you do damned if you don't, there is a thread in children health running at the moment about a child with CFS and the mum looking for help/support, a frightening number of posters have dds with similar symptoms and they all believe the hpv vaccine is to blame. Given CFS is often triggered by a virus its not hard to see that there could be a link.

I am still feeling a bit rubbish, got a horrible feeling I might have a stomach ulcer so have made yet another Drs appointment, I don't think I have ever in my life (pregnancy excluded) been back and forth to the drs so much!! Am also going to go to a health food place to look for some natural remedies as am happy to give anything a go. The good news is as I can't eat anything much I have lost over half a stone and am going to be slim jim for my party!!

Just took my head out of the sand and looked at my bank account which was £90 over drawn so have moved some money about, I am not too worried as am expecting to get some money for my birthday which will bolster the savings back up. Payday is next Monday and I need to do a big food shop Friday as have lots of people about this weekend and am having a birthday massage tomorrow.

Will be back to full on budgeting next month!!

I need to get all the Christmas bits out that I have bought already and see whats left to get, I think its just my baby nephew, my niece, my mum and my dad so not too bad. Dd just needs a couple more bits but the bulk of hers is done...

Goodness it's gone cold all of a sudden. Proper November weather. Which means it takes 10 timed longer to get all the kids out of the door with gloves, hats etc which they keep taking off and losing

Congratulations on the exam passes!

Should be NSD today. Trying to get a few jobs done but the dts are making extra mess faster than I can clear it up!

So cold here too!!! I’m not wearing socks!!!

Dropped ds at nursery today. My first solo drop off for a very long time. No tears today though. Phew.

Windy cold walk from nursery to work. Should have worn my big coat.

Thanks a lot for the childminder gift suggestions. I'm sure she would like some nice chocolate and some nice smelling lotion etc.

Will need to buy some sugar, washing up liquid and cat food later. And soup for lunch I think.

Fluffy, thanks for the tip about Tu clothing - will pick up a few Christmas gifts now!

Congratulations to Autumn and North

I've got day off today which is good as I have the period from hell, flooding and pain that ibuprofen and paracetamol is not touching.

Very cold here too had to dig the hats and gloves out this morning.

Fluffy I was with Outfoxthemarket but i've just switched due to their new Direct Debit plan, they wanted to increase my DD by £106 a month. I've switched to Pure Planet.

The rain is coming down in torrents. Think I'll cook an early dinner and collect DD from school (she usually walks home).