Festive frugaleers saving through to the new year!

[SnugglySnerd]

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

The PA turkey was tasty actually. Ds enjoyed it. Dh is watching football with ddad. It’s painful.

I’ve had chocolate rum torte. God it was delicious. Mmm.

We are home! And utterly jiggered. We set off at 2, it took 40 mins to get home. The dogs were £42. The house is still a tip, but I have today and tomorrow to get it straight enough to 'do' christmas.

We had a pile of food at the pancake house £61, and 4 slushy drinks £11 before we left. Oh, and another swim. So 4 swims in 48 hours.

I think it has been well worth it

...must have pressed post.

happier get the house on the market as soon as you can. I think the sooner you introduce the new normal to the dc, the better. And it takes away any false hope anyone might have.

meadow what a time you are having. seacow is right on the money with her advice.

Just started the watch up, why does it always make me snivel?

DH and I braved the supermarket earlier. We hit a big Dunnes Stores which is very posh and now sports a Sheridans cheesemongers. St. Bernard would be turning in his grave! Our bill came to, I think, €212 (I'm too lazy to go looking for the shopping bag which contains the receipt). DH says he's still traumatized by what shall be known in the history books as the Battle for the Last Jar of Cranberry Sauce. He won! We were going to pick up some wine and whiskey in the off licence but the queue was crazy - it's a decent sized supermarket off licence and the queue was winding the whole way around the perimeter of the shop! We'll pick up the alcohol somewhere else.
We're not hosting for Christmas dinner but we'll have seven for breakfast on Christmas morning and five for breakfast on the 27th. My brother is hosting my family on St. Stephen's Day (26th) but we've offered to do all the veg. so we've to cook assorted veg. for 20 odd people.

We came home and had a very posh lunch of walnut bread, fancy cheeses, parma ham, salami, olives etc. We're having a second cup of coffee and then I'll get stuck into some cleaning. I'm going to clean the plaster off the floor of the newly plastered room and then give the upstairs bathroom a scrub. DH is going to pay the builder for his work and also pick up some turf and firelighters and set the fire. DD is going to clean the small, downstairs bathroom and hoover the dining room.

My ds and dh seemed to do okay but they were going to a small express-type shop in town and quite early. I wouldn't fancy a big supermarket during the daytime right before Christmas. Yikes!

I managed to convince ds to watch half of "The Sound of Music". That was something of a victory. Enjoyed it too.

I have sunk to a new low. I have had to treat my hair for headlice (thanks kids!) and I am quite enjoying sitting in my dressing gown with a hot drink while I wait the 10 mins for it to work. It's almost like a spa day! So basically I need parasites in order to get 10 mins me time

Snuggly I totally know where you are coming from. Enjoy your ten minutes. but keep some of the mites in a fish tank for when you next need ten minutes off

Sometimes it sucks snugg ! I have treated myself for threadworms, twice. Lots of conditioner, keep combing. Your hair will be very soft! I don't envy you treating 3 little wrigglies either.

I only need a pair of tights for christmas day, and possibly another pack of bacon. I will go out first thing, I have a wee pressie to hand deliver to town, so can do both jobs. Kinda glad I bought the turkey on friday.

Are you back from CP Lonely?

Autumn
I'm dreading thread worms though Lonely. Managed to avoid them so far...

I'm actually too young to go to CP

sneaky. You'll age soon enough and then you'll have it to look forward to

Glad you enjoyed your passive aggressive turkey em

We are having a very chilled few days. DP did the main supermarket shop today £60. I need to collect the turkeys and bits like pigs in blankets tomorrow. Then dare I say, I think we are ready.

DP just needs to wrap my presents. Then we just need to locate where we have stashed the presents as we've wrapped them.

My DC are bouncing off the walls with excitement!

My Dad seems to be better now so that's good.

Ah lovely nits and worms. Happy Christmas....

£16 cinema, don't think she charged me right. Beggar outside the door q crying DS.
He is such a kind soul and wanted to give him some money.
The work we do makes dh and I hardened as we have seen how beggars and so called beggars spend cash. We give to the food bank and homeless charity. More so the food bank.
Try explaining that to a 9 year old who sees a man in the cold.
I'm crying too. Maybe next time I will just give him 50p. Or a cuppa

Life it’s really hard isn’t it. Sometimes our jobs have a lot to answer for and often others don’t understand what we know and see. There is often a guy who sleeps under the railway bridge when I have to go over the other side of the hills for work. It used to be an old guy and I sometimes gave him food. There is a younger guy who has replaced him now and I try and do the same if I have something in my bag.

Judging by the number of newborn babies there were at CP (why!!! Its like exhaustion x100) there doesn't seem to be an age limit! But I suspect the babies were accompanied

Have done a bit of sorting, and knitting a collie dog for my ex colleague. Might drop them off tonight actually. Last job before doing some baking, so want it out of the way.

Yes autumn got back a bit past 3. 3 out of 4 dc have been/are sleeping!

Never encountered threadworms until ds. They seem to be his parasite of choice. The girls preferred nits. Lots and lots of nits.

life your boy sounds like a sweetheart.

Welcome back Lonely.

Neighbour just gave me a piano book for Christmas and it has my favourite tune in, and I can play it. I'm right chuffed with that as I'm honestly crap at the piano.

Sorry, that looks a bit blunt.

Welcome back Lonely

❤️ for your boy life. DH gives everything he owns to the homeless if we go out in town. But lovely your DS is so caring, it's such a super trait.

unescorted your phrase tattoo smile particularly resonated. I'd never thought of it like that but was so in agreement.

meadow. Hugs, tons of them. You've a tough time going down there. Some wise old advice has come your way. Do you ever get chance to leave Dd and just go off and be you for a while? Even just to grab a Costa (unfrugally) and just breathe your space?

So glad you've had a ball lonely.

what - seriously awful time this last year has been for you. Trite and superfluous comments from me will not make a jot of difference. But hoping 2019 is less awful.

Autumn do you just literally be on MN all the time? I've no idea how you post so much, especially at this time of year. Kudos. I struggle to keep up at present.

Big spends were
£160 Christmas shop from Ocado
£85 Marks and Spencer's posh food. All using vouchers.

2 hours running this morning and gym this afternoon. Jamie Oliver vegan Shepherds Pie in the oven, that uses a serious amount of good stuff.

Last night was my DF's birthday (87 - I thought he was 86!!). Two lasagnes and salad and deserts. I've cooked like a loon this weekend.

Frugal win - my vegetable delivery folk have given me a massive pile of veggies and fruit as a thank you for the year, local shop. I have more veg than I can possibly imagine!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I think we will have a meal out. DH has been a star and offered to let me lie in and he will let the chickens out. We are all going to prep Christmas as a family as we've a good number for the day itself. Table to decorate tomorrow (needs the spare bringing in from the garage).

Walnut bread sounds amazing tayto

Sorry for wittering so much Jam. Sometimes I think you might need a button to just hide my posts so you can keep up with the news in between.

Yes I'm living on MN as ds and dh are on the switch all the time. I'm also having a much needed rest after many many years of the kind of excitement that Meadow is dealing with just now. Very glad to have a bit of peace finally to put my feet up.

My girls seem to like nits too. Their hair must be the head louse equivalent of a 5* hotel. It takes hours to comb and even more hours to comb mine. We get through gallons of conditioner!

All the Christmas food shopping arrived with no substitutions. Only thing missing was olives but I think we can manage without. Have about 5 more presents to wrap and one more to collect from the sorting office tomorrow and then we're done.

DD has already crashed from the excitement. She's been lying on the settee since about 4.30 too tired to move!

We've arrived at mums, had to do two trips as couldn't get all the stuff in the car in one go 😮

Nice to be here though and we've got out Christmas pj's on already 😆

Your dc will remember that holiday for life Lonely.

Oh and I honestly don't understand why we can de worm and de flea pets but not children? !

It seems as though they're a bit poisonous to both pets and children:

www.nrdc.org/media/2000/001101