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Decedantly damcing towards December - frugaleering Christmas ahoy!

999 replies

ememem84 · 25/11/2018 17:04

New thread

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ememem84 · 03/12/2018 06:26

Morning. Ds is in our bed. And is asleep. He woke up at 3. And dropped off again at about 5.30.

Yawn. Dh is lucky that he can sleep through anything.

It’s going to be a long day.

Not bad as we need nappies. And vitamin c tablets

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Wolfcub · 03/12/2018 07:19

Morning all. Crap nights sleep here =grumpywolf. Ordered some compeed plasters before I went to bed so hopefully they will arrive today.

Hoping today is a nsd

ememem84 · 03/12/2018 10:34

Busy eventful morning.

No hot water so I had to have a cold shower. ❄️❄️

Then dparents came to pick ds up and miraculously the water turned hot again. 😪😭 so dh had a hot shower.

There was an accident on the main road into work this morning so traffic was backed up. Moving but slowly.

Managed to get here for 845. So not too bad. Brought my cinnamon rolls in and have eaten one as a second breakfast.

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Kitkatmonster · 03/12/2018 11:31

Urgh. My day started badly. Youngest is full of cold, so broken night involving calpol, coughing, drinks of water etc. I planned to send her to nursery after a bit of calpol first thing but she had other ideas and vommed on the school run (all over herself and car seat while stuck in traffic at temp lights). So impromptu day off - or sort of WFH but not being very productive - it took me the best part of an hour to wrestle the car seat covers off! She’s sleeping it off mostly at the moment.

So in all likelihood today will be a NSD for me, as my car seat covers being washed and my poorly girl just needs a duvet day.

AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 12:01

I'm being very well behaved and have cancelled everything for a week to recover from having far too much fun last week. Must learn to work at a sensible pace.

SneakyGremlins · 03/12/2018 12:38

Have a worker coming round at one to help me tidy up a bit, she comes every week Smile

Laundry is on and slow cooker is on the go!

Cagliostro · 03/12/2018 12:41

Agh. Really behind on the thread, will read back. Baby and I have segued nicely from sickness bug into a bad throat/chesty cough. Marvellous stuff. Still hopefully means we will all be better for Christmas!

DH has finally got a few days off, he’s been upstairs soaking/scraping wallpaper off with the Caglets while they listen to Christmas music.

I’ve made a big and scary and immensely unfrugal decision. In a little while, I’m going to look into orthodontists. Basically, I hate my teeth. Hate hate hate. Always have, the front ones top and bottom are really wonky. I don’t smile with my mouth open ever, hate photos, have my hand in front of my mouth a lot. And I suck at self care anyway (common with autism) but there’s always been a huge factor of “what’s the point in keeping them perfect when they look crap anyway”.

Mum did take me to an orthodontist as a teen and I was accepted for braces but she said no (one wonders why take me in the first place but hey ho). She has felt guilty about this and offered to help when I told her my plan, which was a lovely surprise. I know there are payment plans and such too, and from the money dad gave me recently I could keep a bit aside.

Anyway. I always thought I’d be too self conscious to have braces but actually a few of my friends have had them as adults, I’m much more confident in my friendship group now, and actually I am ridiculously self conscious of my teeth anyway so it can’t be worse than that can it? And it has to be worth it. I’m 32, that is many decades left of not smiling, right?

Anyway. Have to take some time to think about it and also must consider if DCs would need them (unlikely as their teeth seem pretty straight) as obviously that would be a priority. Have spoken to DH (as it is family money and a lot to spend) and he’s surprised (the self consciousness is so extreme that I’ve never even discussed it with him) but on board.

then when braces are done I might get my lip pierced 😳

AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 12:54

Cag I think that's a brilliant idea. The one huge thing I've learned from the frugaleers is to stop spending money on crap that clutters the house, and instead use the money to fix the health problems that lead us into emotional spending. If your teeth are bothering you, then I'm all for getting that sorted right out. A friend of mine had the same done about ten years back and it's been absolutely great for her. Flowers Star

ememem84 · 03/12/2018 12:57

cag look at Invisalign. I’m getting my teeth straightened this way right now. New set of plastic aligners every 2 weeks, only take them out for eating. Wear them 22 hours a day. It was pricey but I was self conscious about having braces fixed to my teeth. Unless you look really closely you’d never know I had these in.

Mine were £4000 (yikes!) but I’d saved for this. And private dentist. And jersey. A colleague had it done and hers was £1500. Just for a top set. Mine are both top and bottom. Worth a look even if just to rule it out.

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AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 12:59

Em Is invisalign like a see-through moulded hat that goes over your teeth and exactly hugs the shape of them? I think my friend switched to those once her teeth were nearly there.

ememem84 · 03/12/2018 13:38

Yes autumn. That’s it.

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AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 13:40

That seemed really good when my friend had it. I couldn't see it at all until she showed me the hat taken out and held in her hand.

SneakyGremlins · 03/12/2018 13:49

That sounds great Cag! You really deserve it Smile

life Catalogue arrived today, thankyou so much!

Girliefriendlikesflowers · 03/12/2018 14:48

cag I think that would be a great investment, why on earth did your mum say no when you were a teenager though?!! Dd has an appointment with the orthodontist in Jan and I'm praying she gets accepted for braces, much better to get them done now and obviously free!!

Busy morning here and I'm still feeling like crap 😣 cold seems to be coming out today so hopefully over the worst of it.

Met a friend in town for some Christmas shopping, spent £18 in a new cheapy shop got a few gifts as well other household bits.
£6 pound land stocking fillers.
£5 coffee and bacon roll.

Spent £49 in aldi 😩 about £12 of that was Christmas stuff but still more on food then I wanted to spend. Did at least take a list and stick to it.

ememem84 · 03/12/2018 15:02

I’m getting on really well with them autumn my top teeth are noticeably straighter now. Yay! My treatments includes all appointments, all aligners, three retainers which I’ll need to wear night times only once I’m done (forever...) and a whitening treatment at the end. Yay.

£34 in boots. Nappies. Vitamin c and a Nando’s hot sauce gift set for dh.

£38 in wine shop for ddad for Christmas - bottle of gin, some boozy chocolates with marzipan and some Turkish delight.

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Bornlazy · 03/12/2018 15:29

Nsd today and yesterday. Have been very unproductive the last few days as I had two Christmas nights out in close succession so now feel knackered and the house is a tip. I need to get my finger out as my ds are desperate to get the Christmas decorations up.

Cag if the teeth will make you feel better then its money well spent.

em I have to ask was the Nando's set in the three for two and you only purchased one item? Shock I am totally unable to do that. I would need to find another two things of a similar price that I absolutely don't need and it ends up costing more to make it a "bargain"

northender · 03/12/2018 15:49

Sounds like a good plan Cag
Stressed here today as I've been having IT difficulties with part of my course. Needed to get 2 video clips off my work phone & onto my PC. Anyway it's done now but it has meant not a lot of other study stuff has been done. Got other stuff done though so, on Thursday when it should be a day off I'll do a mixture of study & day off stuff. Just over a month to go...eek!
£20 spent on a few grocery bits and bobs.

ememem84 · 03/12/2018 16:16

born yes. Yes it was. I usually would have done the threefa. But knew I’d spend more.

As soon as it’s Boxing Day though I’m going to beast boots website and order a shit ton of gift sets online for use during the year.

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AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 16:24

That's great that the aligners are going so well Em. Excellent news. Smile

I'm trying to be sensible buy the remaining Christmas presents, before it's suddenly too late for the post. This includes buying my own, which I always forget to do.

Cagliostro · 03/12/2018 16:42

Girlie and anyone else with young teen girls, where do you get bras now?! I was banking on primark doing the slightly padded (in a comfier/warmer/less see through way not a make boobs look bigger way) ones my DSDs used to get. But nothing, only crop tops which aren’t supportive enough for DD now. Adult sizes don’t go small enough.

As for the braces I have no idea why, one of several less than favourable decisions my parents made 🤷‍♀️ Have moved past it now, for the most part.

Thank you all for the thoughts on it. Totally agree autumn it’s actuallt feasible now and I can think to myself, do I want xyz or do I want decent teeth? That’s assuming they can do anything of course, maybe it’ll be too bad to make any difference, but I owe it to myself to try I think.

You definitely inspired me in this em and I know a few people IRL who had train track type and that’s made me think I could handle that if significantly cheaper. It will be sensory hell for a couple of years I guess but again, worth it.

Buses massively fucked up and DS is crying as he may not get to see his friend at tae kwon do :(

AutumnLeaves12 · 03/12/2018 16:47

I've had a minor frugaleering success. I just realised, as for the first time ever I don't really want or need anything for my Christmas. I'm really quite happy with my clarinet playing.

Normally I would have some hugely ambitious building project that would require tools and parts and I'd be scraping around for the money to fund it. This year, that has not happened for the first time ever.

That's a step in the right direction isn't it? Halo

Cagliostro · 03/12/2018 16:48

I’d seen 4K quoted for regular train tracks so the same for the Invisalign sounds good too. If it’s not massively pricier I would consider that too. I guess individual quotes depend on how much work there is to do though?

SneakyGremlinsBrokeTheSleigh · 03/12/2018 17:31

Spent £1 in Aldi!

Wolfcub · 03/12/2018 17:35

Cag I think I’d consider that an investment that you will get years and years of use out of. Go for it!

I’m experimenting with my instant pot. I sent ds to the corner shop for cream and he’s come back with Elmlea at an extortionate £2 for a small pot. Hmph!

Cagliostro · 03/12/2018 17:49

NOOOOO NOT ELMLEA!!!

There are sometimes whole threads about it.