Frugaleer just jamming.

[Unescorted]

Hoping all your new year wishes come true.

Green I bet they put one shoe in the window! Easily rectified with leather.

Jam It’s lovely but the cleaning would put me off.

Wreck I was going back to Waitrose online before the vouchers arrived. I hate rl food shopping now.

Yesterday's spends
€14 on dinner
€15 local panto ticket & raffle tickets (note to self don't buy raffle tickets anymore)
€56 on fuel card for diesel
€6 on protein bars this was in case I got peckish at panto but I didn't so I'm going to cut them in half for evening treats instead.

I'm returning a headband to Debenhams today so €9 back on my card, will use voucher to buy benefit they're real mascara if price instore matches online otherwise I'll order online- I've got gift voucher for that though.

Autumn it's great that you got some help & that you could say definitively that your household can manage on a 30% reduced salary hopefully it'll be a better life balance for you all

Legally blonde is the only movie I've ever walked out of cinema for after paying

I've got jets in my bath, think they've been used about 5 times in 10 years, luxury is wasted on us.

Green great saving on the shoes
Jam that's bigger than DC's bedroom that they share

Cag your poor Dh, I know if I don't run I feel like part of me is missing, good for you as a family to have extra time together despite the unfortunate circumstance

Unescorted that's great decluttering & recycling of children's bedding, just one of the jobs that got put on the long finger eh?

Girlie that's crazy money for slushies, glad the girls enjoyed while you froze your bits off

Morning all. Happy frugal Saturday. I think my day will be spent cleaning 🧹 bah.

Cleaning, tidying, sorting here too wolf. But I think it may take all weekend. Trip to the tip too #livingmybestlife

En route to ILs. Predict a LSD, probably coffee and chocolate on the way home this evening.

Greetings from the 1980s!

Meadow that is a brilliant result, I am so chuffed for you! Although the judge was rude was it ultimately his decision to support your claim? In any case that’s such a great outcome and worth the horrible experience, I hope. Btw, I didn’t mean to not reply to your pm about baby clothes.... I put them in a big box but then couldn’t squash the lid down to tape it up so am on the hunt for an even bigger box!

Can’t catch up on everything right now (phones get frowned at here) but I can confirm that time has indeed turned back. Last night we had quails eggs in croustades as a canapé, and then meat fondue with steak and chicken. Brilliant. I’ve had a lie in and am about to go downstairs to reveal our matching family PJs. DH took a lot of persuading...

I actually did something useful yesterday, I called the Asda credit card people and got the online lock lifted (I put in the mastercard password wrong). So hopefully when I do my asda online shops I can use my asda credit card and get my cashback! Just a little job I hadn't got round to as they close at 6 and aren't open at weekends.

As I came down to let the dogs out this morning, how much better it is to get through! It is clearer and much lighter (cleaning windows will do that). Might need to rethink feeding the dogs in pants and a t shirt in the (side of house) conservatory now the crap isn't blocking the window. Wouldn't want anyone to bring up their breakfast!

Not finished yet, but have made great strides. Todays job is to get the poor broken tumbler out front (our postie collects any metal we tell him he can have) and clean the gap for the new one. Dp is going to stack them as this one's tank is at the bottom and he cannot bend. Watching him try to put on socks isn't funny anymore, and he's only 46. Bloody back injuries.

On a side note I agree with jam about core strength...when dp broke his back, he was so fit and strong his muscles held him together for several weeks (but couldn't have helped the nerve damage which was instant). Since then, whenever he is able to get fit, his pain is much reduced. We are still waiting for an "urgent" mri appt. cag it is so hard to support them, as we cannot take away the pain. Hang in there my lovely. Remember to look after you too.

my £300 of Hush sale stuff came yesterday and all went back apart from a lovely huge wool shawl/ scarf and a tshirt! so just £35 for both . My halo is back on. .

No spends planned to day.
We had our house insurance and they actually offered us it for £40 less this year.. also was the same for the house Dh lives in during the week. we havent made any claims and the cover is the same .. Has anyone else found this ? it was Aviva .

DH boss wasnt in this last week so he has not resigned yet!!

lonely you have given my job for the day.... window cleaning. This time of year we need all the light we can get. This is an advantage of living in a bungalow.

I also have to get to the post office. Fit yoga and a run out in somewhere......must get out of bed!

Woo hoo! DH went for a pint last night and discovered he'd won a €20 voucher for the local butcher's at a charity raffle before Christmas. I've a Tesco delivery coming today so I'll hang onto the voucher and use it next weekend.

Bringing DD to the credit union later, so she can lodge the remainder of her Christmas money. She spent some and wants to save some.

Is it sad that I was dreaming about hanging up washing last night?

Ahoyhoy!

Riding today £30. I’ve just jumped out of the shower. Lazy morning here. Ds is napping. We’ve just watched “sing” he didn’t watch much of it mind...he just ran round like a loon. So. Much. Energy.

One load of laundry in washer. One in dryer. One folded to be put away.

Bedding to be changed today too.

I still have the sinusey snottyness. But am working through it. Resting where I can but largely just trying to ignore it.

No other spends planned today.

Oh joy it appears awful neighbour has bought, and is setting up, a burn bin. That means no open windows today and no washing outside. The man is a complete aggressive arse so no way to ask him to be sensible and not burn until evening

Brilliant news Meadow, re the payments. I agree it's time for a paeds referral for DD, you've all suffered long enough.

Autumn that actually makes sense, I know that if I don't confront things but instead just simmer and seethe then it increases my anxiety cos I'm even more on edge if that makes sense?

cag sorry to hear about DH. Hope his pain reduces soon.

Sounds like everyone else is doing ok, especially Jam in her ginormous bathroom! Wreck hope you have an easier weekend with DH.

DDog is home from vet, yay. Vet initially thought he had pneumonia but after bloods he was diagnosed with bladder, stomach and ear infections. He's on a hefty course of antibiotics. £745 that cost us. Insurance will hopefully cover some of it. Seriously though, how can it cost so much. Will encourage one of the DC to become a vet I think (our vet drives a Porsche )

Littlest DD turns 2 on Tuesday so we are having a wee tea party for her this afternoon. Should be fun!

While I was writing this DH was doing the weekly hair inspection. DS is in desperate need of a haircut. DH has just found a baby nit in his hair. DS keeps saying "mummy look it's so little and cute". Ermmm I think not, son... so guess delousing the family is now on the to do list too....sigh

Our vet drives a Porsche too, panermera. Before that it was a Bentley continental cabriolet.

Lonely and Cag I'm really sorry to hear about your dh's/dp's back troubles. A friend of mine recently had bad back trouble and I know just what you mean lonely about not being able to take away the pain for them. It's so hard to watch and not be able to help.

I have decided to get the oven element replaced, so that I will have a working oven and not have to go oven shopping. One thing off my list. Phew!

dh is tickled to discover that the most irritating thing in my life is the stains on the kitchen sink.

ds is obliging me by speaking more clearly and using a whiteboard for complicated explanations.

Wolf I hate selfish idiots like that.

Food shopping done.

Aldi £51
Sainsbury's £22 on a new iron and birthday card
£30 fuel only £1.26.9/l 🙌🏼

Meal plan

Chilli
Veggie spag bol
Chorizo and tomato spaghetti
Butternut squash (and chickpea?) curry with cauliflower rice
Teriyaki chicken with sticky rice and stir fry veg
Pizza
Have also got enough bits to cobble together another couple of meals if need be.

Autum if your sink is stainless steel barkeepers friend will lift even very stubborn stains (it’s an abrasive)
Flylady also has some very good sink cleaning tips that are very low effort

Meal plan. Ocado shop coming later.

Morning! just

I would meal plan but A) it's more expensive because I have to buy fresh veg etc and B) sometimes Thursday comes around, the chicken and peppers need using, but I fancy something else instead!

I am going to have words with the family about accumulated stuff. There is so much junk in this house.

Where is a good place to get boxes... I just need them temporarily to put folded clothes in. The plan is to get DS's room cleared, stripped and painted. Then he can move back into it and DD will have enough room in her room to keep her things there. The only problem is that until I clear some space in the rest of the house there is no space to clear DS stuff to. The junk belongs to dh and DS in the main -shit lying about to be put on eBay at sometime in the future. It does not appear to be in the near future unfortunately.

Would it be bad form to hire a skip?

Boxes - have you tried asking charity shops?

Unescorted I often think that I would like to hire a skip as a Christmas present to myself and junk a load of stuff. I think it's a great idea.

Wolf thanks for the sink cleaning tip. Ours is called Blanco silgranite and is a sort of plastic-looking stuff that is made from compressed powdered granite apparently.

I looked up their cleaning video and it says repeatedly "Always wipe your silgranite sink dry with a microfibre cloth after every use."

Clearly that video was made by a person who has never owned or used a sink.

I have ordered some of their special cleaning goo, which is absurdly expensive and gives no clues about what it actually is.

I think I may be about to change from punctuating my writing with this face to punctuating it with this face .

Not sure that's a good idea.

I meal plan with fresh fruit and veg. I tend to do something junk foody on a Friday or Saturday, something that takes some effort on a Sunday, ensure I have something quick on a swimming night etc but that's it. I get enough meals for the week and decide what to have on the day usually.

Cardboard boxes- argos archive boxes.
Plastic storage boxes-Dunelm or the range.

wreck that is very expensive fuel! I paid £1.14.7 in Asda this week (twice, thanks dp for using my full tank). Is that just the going rate with you?

So far today I am just finishing etsy orders off. Blardy things. I am sick of camels, even if each one makes me about £12 profit.