Festive frugaleers saving through to the new year!

[SnugglySnerd]

New thread! Tried to post on the old one and it was full. Newcomers welcome!

Morning all. Happy frugal Tuesday.

Good luck with the exam Girlie.

The result doesn't come for ages btw. My accompanist told me I'd done okay but he only knew because he loitered outside of the door evesdropping.

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I dont think most men think of their wives as their mother ,thats incredibly odd particularly if they try to break the bonding process between mother and child.
Red flags everywhere.
I also dont know any men who strut around either other than a very pompous cockerel called Nigel who belongs to my friend and we all laugh at him .
Seriously I agree with Jam it sounds very controlling ,I hope you are ok Autumn ?

em I did laugh at "titty"
Sounds like DH is a bit in shock and possibly feeling the weight of responsibility (not that you arent)
Sounds like you have it covered .

Lonely you are very talented .
Could you get one of those coffee machine descaler sachets to run through?
Fluffy will know what the frugal version is.

I'm wondering what else we can get rid of pre-Christmas as we were struggling to hide presents never mind having to find places for them once they are opened. Toddler toys are still fairly large!

Citric acid is the cheap coffee machine de-scaler. You can buy it in Wilko’s but I don’t think Ireland has Wilko’s. It’s very concentrated so works fast.

Home brew shops would sell it. I think Oust is the brand name.

I need some to de-scale our washer, our water is basically liquid calcium.

I once had a tip from a washing machine engineer that a dishwasher tablet in the washing machine on a hot wash is as good as anything.

Few bits to do today but not having dogs to walk gives me the concentrated time to do so.

You can get citric acid on Amazon.

Jam I am going to try that as my washing machine smells if it’s not been on for a while.

God I am so tired today 😩 didn’t sleep well and now just want to crawl into bed. The weather here is miserable too so staying under the covers would be lovely however not an option. Ds2 is off school as he has a terrible cough ( all bloody night) and sore throat.

Pukka I'm pondering that. I think that the roles of men and women in society are changing a lot at the moment. I constantly find myself having little quiet chats with the men around me as we try to negotiate our roles and our behaviour, and to work around the ways that our respective jobs drive us to behave. It's a puzzling business.

Of course! 🤦🏻‍♀️ Amazon will have citric acid. So will eBay.

Boots has citric acid I think that's where I got it for descaling steriliser all those moons ago!

€14.40 on a sandwich, water & protein bar on way from gym to meeting, babybels for dc lunch and a lovely set of led lights which you submerge in liquid in a wine bottle. I've got a glass trumpet yellow bottle so think I'm going to put them into that. If they're cool I might buy them for gifts

Autumn if you are worried about a situation then Relationships board is very helpful and supportive or 30/90 days .

Namechange,then its not linked to your normal posting .

It was a very stormy night here. Poor DH got a call at 5 a.m. and had to attend to an alarm that was going off. There was no sign of an intruder though - he reckons it was just the wind.

It won't be an NSD as I'm meeting a friend for coffee and a mince pie at 11. It's our last meet up before Christmas. We meet up every two months or so.

I also have a big Tesco delivery coming this afternoon. It added up to €146.85 including €5 delivery charge. I have 2 - 3 weeks of non-perishable goods like pasta, sauces, canned veg., toilet rolls, tin foil, detergent, Tayto crisps etc. We've ordered the turkey and ham from our local butcher. It's more expensive but his meat is really good and we can pick it up on Christmas Eve. We opted for a boned and rolled turkey and any leftovers will be frozen. We'll get the veg. locally - the local fruit and veg. shop is quite reasonable. I didn't buy much meat or bread because the freezer is fairly full and I need to sort it out and figure out what's in it and use up the contents between now and Christmas. It's a small freezer and fills up quickly.

Happier thanks for the recommendation for dpd wizard. I've made a note of it and I'll look into it in the new year. I'm sure I've ordered DVDs from Amazon before without any issue - maybe they're too busy in the run up to Christmas and are concentrating on their UK customers.

em in an ideal world, DH and I would both work 4 days a week, with a different day off. It would mean we'd have equal time with DD and I would be less pressurized at work. But DH says working part time just isn't an option for him. So he works full time and I work 3 days.

Lonely that was a lovely surprise to see your DD playing such a big role in the school production. You should be very proud of her!

My clothes line goes out in March and comes in at the end of September. It's just too cold and/or wet from October - March. But I love the smell of clothes dried in the outdoors.

lonely all your knitting is fantastic, you're so good. I love them!

em DP has said if we have a 2nd he would like to drop a day as well as me drop one (we are both 5 days at the minute) I have no idea if he actually would though it's a nice idea.

Big party type food shop done at the weekend, then DS had some kind of sickness Sunday night, I was like the walking dead yesterday eurgh.

Seems fine this morning when he asked for rice cake, raisins and quavers for breakfast though.

Dh has this idea of us both retiring at 50. Because “who wants to work the rest of their lives?” Which is a great idea. But he also has expensive taste (as do I). We’d need a hell of a lot of cash behind us to retire at 50. I’m all for retiring early but just don’t see it happening. Especially now with 2 kids.

We’ve had words. I’ve told him I need help. He’s “helpfully” suggested a support group for depression. Because that’s the help I need. I’ve told him that no, it’s actual physical help around the house. Being more organised sort of help. Actually remembering stuff help. Etc. So have said that if he won’t help. I’m getting a cleaner in January. £40 a week. He’s against this. But it’s either he steps up or we pay out.

Back at work today. Thankfully. I miss being here. I’m in no way a workaholic but I do enjoy my job. It takes me away from being “mummy”. Don’t get me wrong I love that job too. But it’s nice to be in a grown up world where people aren’t trying to pick my nose all the time!!!

£250 transferred to my regular saver today and I’ve thrown £50 into my Lloyd’s account almost at £1000 in there now. Since September. Woop.

I think equal hours are not necessarily the most important part - but an equal relationship most definitely is and anything less than this is a concern.

For me, it's the subliminal message given to the children. I was thinking about this while I (voluntarily!) walked the dogs this morning. I want DD to fundamentally believe that she can achieve anything she wishes to do, regardless of gender, but then actually I think I'd be more saddened if DS displayed any type of misogyny. I'd feel that I'd failed him in some way.

Maybe it's because they are touch older, I don't know. Interestingly, it's far less of an issue to them. DD tells me to stop going on about feminism if I do start arguing the cause!

Hope all is well there autumn.

I'll post financial aims too later. I've a good idea really what they are.

I need to rethink my financial aims. I think.

Hoping for a call from midwives today. I just want to know when my scan appointment is!!!

Financial aims - Stop spending on unnecessary stuff just because I 'have' to. will look around the front room and think 'ooo a cushion would be nice there' and promptly set my mind to buying said cushion. same for bedding, or curtains...I'm a spender and it's a shit habit to have.

Aiming to buy new house after the wedding so increasing pot for Solicitors fees/stamp duty etc is a good start.

Also loosely back at Matched betting after a couple of years off from it, not throwing too much time into it but a week in and I'm £30 up. If I can gain that every week it'll cover the payments to one of the credit cards so thinking of balancing out that way.

Thanks for the 25% Pjs tip, I work near a matalan and Ds needs some 'big boy' jammies so will head over at lunchtime and check that out

I think equal hours are not necessarily the most important part - but an equal relationship most definitely is and anything less than this is a concern.
Yes, this. We have an old fashioned set up now really, DH working and me at home, but we’ve had everything from both working to neither working (health reasons), both of us have been SAHPs at different points. It has all worked for us, even with the difficulties with health and kids with SN etc, because at the heart of it, we are equals.

I get unbelievably frustrated with the crap some of my friends put up with from their husbands TBH. Men who can’t look after their own kids, like it’s beneath them. No. Fuck off and grow up.

With a view to starting the new year frugally and being organised I've already started a shopping list for batch cooking during the second week of the hols. We've been running he freezer and cupboards down pre-Christmas to save money so I'm hoping to do.a big restock. Some of it will use Xmas leftovers too.

That's good that you and your dh make that work as equals Cag.

I shall have a think about that. I can't explain on MN as I'd be very very identifiable in RL, but I shall keep pondering.

I did a cracking good lot of my voluntary science work this morning, which is the thing I do to keep my career going, so that was good.

Totally agree Cag. What also winds me up is friends asking me "who's babysitting?" when I go out. Er... nobody. DH is at home so we didn't need a baby sitter. Also the amount of praise my mum heaps upon dh for cooking a meal or changing a nappy. Especially as "he's been at work all day". Yes he has. So have I when I do it but nobody acknowledges that.

Rant over!