Frugaleers dripping their way through a wet January...

[SneakyGremlins]

Hang on, that makes us sound like alcoholics

Your DH knows how to do something nice save himself em I take it he thinks Fil is an idiot too? But obviously he is still his parent

love yep he does. And yep he does. Haha. Dh also paid for everyone’s Sunday lunch. Mostly as a thank you to dparents who host us pretty much every week and do childcare for us.

Food was excellent. The wine was nice. Fil made a comment about me ordering a glass of champagne while his gf had a vodka tonic. I said that if I was going to have a drink I was allowed and it was going to be something lovely. A naice glass of tattinger. My fave. Ok so it was £12...but delicious. And just the one. 😀

The hotel were so so good with ds. Brought him a colouring book, gave him some stickers, he had a kids meal (posh nuggets and chippies and beans - all home made so tasty!! And then a fruit salad plate). He loved it. And loved all the attention.

Home now. Absolutely exhausted. Am on bed resting. Dh and ds are bringing in the laundry. It went outside today 😀 and are having a play.

Your Dh isn't such a bad egg em

Ggreen I don't know what to say. It is such a shit degrading system designed to make it as hard s possible. I know when I pay my taxes I rather have them support your DS's PIP than the crap that is deemed important (House of Commons Wine cellar for a start)

I have turned the freezer off - It has pained me to have to throw out 8 bread rolls bought for the princely sum of 8p. All the other remaining bits ended up in End of Freezer Pie. However by the end of the week it should be fully defrosted and then it's friend the fridge will stop freezing the vegetables. Hopefully. If not it is time for a new FF.

Evening all, been a very busy few days and we ended up staying at mums as the weather has been a bit of a nightmare with work! Most of the snow has melted now, still very cold though.

Anyho home now, the house was freezing when we got in but is warming up nicely now!

Cag pm me if you want any Somerset advice! I know the area very well

Em your fil sounds almost as nice as your mil! Honestly your poor dh he didn't have the best of luck with his parents did he!

I have been stockpiling a little bit but want to get more stuff really, agree with meadow that the problem will be sharing food out with family and friends. My db has 4 kids and they get through loads of food, dd and I don't really eat that much.

I am really tired, am day 4 of a 6 day stretch - ugh.

Dd struggling a bit atm, is finding school difficult (again) think will email her tutor as am at a bit of a loss in how to help her think her birthday always highlights the friendship issues.

I can't really afford to do much stockpiling!

I mean I try and spend £5 per fortnight on soup/other tinned stuff to put aside but still!

Sneaky that is the frustrating thing about this whole thing - it is the people who can least afford it who get shafted the most.

Girlie we went through a really bad patch with dd & friendship groups - yr 7 to wend of yr9 and then again in yr11. I don't have any advice on how to overcome it but we got through it by listening and giving her coping strategies. She now has 2 really good friends and an assortment of people who she talks to. Ironically she is now considered one of the "cool" kids and those who previously shunned her are clamouring to claim her friendship. She doesn't give them the time of day - the whole experience has made her a stronger person because she knows she can be on her own, but I would not wish it on anyone.

That's s lovely gesture of dh em. And we'll done ddad.
Sneaky it's tough to think of stock piling if you don't have the money. Any little bit you do will help if there are price rises/shortages.
Keep going love, you can do this.
Big hug Gg.

Got more braised cabbage on the go. Veggie haggis for tea frozen before went OOS in Sainsbury's.

Thanks unescorted your comment means a lot. I wish we as a country looked after the most vulnerable people in our society better. We're working hard to make sure ds is as independent as we can, I try not to think about what will happen to him when we can't look after him anymore. I guess his siblings will need to fight for him and care for him. He really is lovely and I am very proud of what he has achieved. I really hope he can get some sort of supported employment when he finishes his course. Anyway have asked dh to look through the DWP stuff with me tomorrow, I know it will upset him too I need his help.

girlie nope he didn’t really. Fil is always right. He likes to criticise.

They’re away for a month next Saturday. Bil arrives from nz the same day they come back but at 9am as they arrive home at 9pm. We’re picking Bil up from airport. Fil said to dh today that we can just pick Bil up and drop him off at theirs. Dh said we’d drop him back once they’re home or the next morning. Fil: “what do you want him hanging around all day for?” Dh: “because he’s my brother and I haven’t seen him since early 2017?!” Fil: “well. You know best...”

Anyway. Sunday lunch was tasty. Ds was super well behaved. He’s now asleep. Fingers crossed he sleeps through. He’s teething again I think. Left cheek is super red and hot. Poor babooo. Also according to wonderweeks (meadow if you haven’t already downloaded this do it...) he’s due the next leap tomorrow so could account for some of his crabkieness

ggreen I work with a group of parents who are in a similar position to you - their children are a little older. They are setting up a housing co-op for their adult children. So they have secure housing for when they can no longer live with their parents. If you are interested in going down that route pm me you email address & I will reply from my work email so you know I am not a randomer (Tuesday - when I am back in).

Thanks unescorted I've pmed you

Grass I'm so sorry to hear about the PIP, was this a renewal or a new claim? I totally understand why you don't want to do a F2F tribunal, but please really think about this if you haven't already submitted the appeal request - your chances of success at a F2F tribunal hearing are significantly higher than on a paper hearing alone. Your son is much more likely to succeed if he attends a hearing. I know it's awful - I mean, you know that I know - but I don't regret it because there is a much bigger possibility that on the papers alone, I would not have won. Are you getting any professional help wit the appeal? I don't know where you are in teh country, I used Fightback 4 Justice for help with mine, they're based in Bury but help people all over the country and regularly attend tribunal hearings, mostly in the NW but they can go further afield - it's not free, it's not a charity, it's a CIC, but I really valued their help and it was money well spent, I wouldn't have been able to do it without them. There may be other local organisations that can help you for free - I know some councils have services, and CABs etc but the quality of advice in these places can be really patchy whereas I can vouch for the expertise of Fightback. Really you should be writing formal submissions to the court for your appeal - it will help your son's case. But if you get help, someone else can do it that for you/him. PM me if you want any help or to talk about this further, I am obviously very time-poor atm so can't promise I can help, but I might be able to.

NSD. DH looked after DD and I went to the cinema to see Green Book with DPs and DB, it was one of the best films I have ever seen, possible THE best?! DPs paid. I've had loads of time apart from DD this week with being poorly so DH and DM been taking her a lot which has made me feel a bit more normal. Which is sad cos it's cos I've been ill but oh well. Tomorrow have gynae appt at the hospital which really nervous about . Also, last Les Mis tonight!

Ooh I thought you might know girlie :o thanks :) the place we will have the assessment is in Langport.

HTTYD3 was lovely 😭😍😭😍 didn’t think much of the 4DX really, I don’t think my brain could handle the distractions 😂 my eyes also struggle with 3D a bit as it goes blurry in the foreground. So I wouldn’t pay extra for it (the free ticket DH brought home covered it all).

Back home with a baby who was a grump all evening. Her first molar finally broke through today but the other side is still waiting!

Can someone tell me why I never thought before now to pack the freezer with hot water bottles when it is being defrosted? It has enabled me to get the large chunks of ice out before it flooded the utility room (very satisfying). Now just the waiting until the motor and coils defrost. That may take several days, although HWB will be back in when I am about to wring out the towels.

I've just made an overpayment in our mortgage! Only £61 but it has taken in down to a round number and psychologically it looks like a better number! We've just said once the dts finish nursery we are going to throw everything at the mortgage. And have an awesome holiday somewhere!

Oh cag poor baby girl. Xx I think ds might be getting a canine tooth. Or his back molar. Those I think are the only ones left (I just checked the tooth chart online...)

He’s been calpol’d up And is snoring like a goodun.

I can hear him through two Almost closed doors.

Have established that this year is going to be entirely unfrugal what with no2 etc. But am going to try and be good.

I said we were going to over pay our mortgage from this month but that’s on hold.

I’m hoping for a nice bonus and a pay rise in March/April. So fingers crossed. Bonus if paid will only be 11/12ths though as havent been back a full year....but every little helps.

I’ve also definetly won £25 on premium bonds this month too! Wahooo. Maybe more. But definetly £25 when I checked yesterday.

We may end up at some point buying a new bed. I have a feeling that with the new wardrobes our bed will be too big for the room. It’ll fit as the wardrobe guy took this into account but did suggest we got a divan bed (ours is a wooden frame king size which adds about 20cm to the bed...) I’m after an ottoman one. But not yet.

Dh has made pasta pesto for lunches tomorrow and also made a chicken soup. Mmm.

Need to buy fruit tomorrow.

My eBay things didn’t sell 😭 so have been relisted

Cag I struggle with 3D - everything is either out of focus or going the wrong way. When I look at pictures of the moon it looks as if it has zits not craters. The irony is my great grandfather apparently invented stereophotography before it was co-opted by the Uk army.

Snuggly it makes such a difference when they start school - I moaned about the school trips & increased food bill (and still do) but nothing like having to find nursery fees.

Oh the nursery fees....come jan 2020 we’ll be paying £1800 a month. For 3 days a week x 2 kids. Ffs. Mortgage is £1500 a month. But short term. It’ll be that amount for a year. We hope. Ds’ fees will go down again once he hits 3. And he will hopefully get some free hours. Short term pain.

id better get a payrise

Thanks meadow that's really helpful, will ring fightback.

Bloody hell em that is eye watering amounts of money! Yes worth it though.

cag when is the assessment?

Thanks unescorted dd has always struggled really, she goes through periods of it being a bit better but it's never been easy for her. I do wonder if she is on the spectrum possibly, she has the sensory issues plus struggles socially but I think masks well.

Have spent £12 ish over the wend on food.

sneaky do you have an aldi near to you? They do bags of pasta for 29p, that's what I've been stocking up on!!

Girlie I shop at Aldi! have 8kg of pasta stored currently. Our Aldi is quite small so they don't sell many tins at all really. I was just annoyed earlier as an acquaintance breezily mentioned how she bought £30 of own brand tins/jars/pasta with her weekly shop for her Brexit stash and couldn't understand why not everyone can do that

Argh Unescorted wish I’d see your post before. I only needed to use on dog towel on the floor and had it defrosted fully in about two hours with some nice bowls of hot water

Just seen I got charged overdraft fees on the 1st which ironically made me overdrawn