Austere April continues with the Friendly Frugaleers! Join us as we discuss our direct debits, prattle about penny pinching and possibly babble about Brexit...

[Cagliostro]

All welcome!

Forgot my lunch this morning, so £3.50 on lunch from the co-op.
moi, yes being vegan does have that advantage, I just wish we were all vegan, it would solve lots of arguments when out and about!
But we do take lots of snacks when we go out, but also agree with others, chips and ice cream will always win!

Will definitely try this moi. I also just need to not give in to pester power as I really don't want to set up an ice-cream expectation for the whole summer (easier to distract the little ones but not so much the older one 🙄)

Just spent £17 on decorations for DS’ 3rd birthday party next month - it’s going to be Thomas themed this year. £8 of that was on a lovely material banner which will go in his room after the party. Trying to buy bits as I go so it’s not a huge hit at once. At the start of June I’ll order his cake & rolls (M&S), I’ve got family bringing salads, jacket potatoes & fresh fruit, so the rest of the food will just be part of our normal food shop.

YY to ice cream and chips. Will the promise of lollipop back at home work. My DC are not malliable enough for that.

Just had an unexpectedly sad conversation with Camhs re ds, his current support package had ended and they are looking at what/if they can do more. poor kid

My bil also helpfully reminded me its my wedding anniversary this week I had forgotten, which I think is a great thing, so I’m slightly annoyed at his insensitivity

Will have to spend for dentist later and I think a loaf of bread and bottle of milk. Other than that no other planned spends

Productive lunchtime.

Took maternity leave benefit form to the tax office.
Booked appointments for eyebrow wax, bikini wax and pedicure.
Bought dsis some flowers for delivery tomorrow (she’s upset about something but doesn’t want to talk about it 🙄) so ordered from ds to be sent to her school (she teaches) £30.

Sandwich £3.00.

Oh no wolf that's hard. Can you afford private talking therapy?

It's definitely hard to avoid buying ice creams etc when out in the summer, I tend to keep some nice ice creams in the freezer to point dd towards when the ice cream van goes round.

That's hard wolf and yes very insensitive of bil.

I had a good day at work, slowly getting there!

£3 meal deal in Tesco for lunch.

Not what you need reminding of at all wolf. Dh brother I take it.
Bad news about DS sessions. Just as they were helping him.

Sats today so doing dd fav tea

£23 dentist £5 Tesco also £2 tooth fairy later as dentist removed ds’s last baby tooth which was persistently hanging on by a thread.

Nsd except usual £5 skate park.

£31 swimming lessons.

Why oh why did I leave putting new bedding on the bed until after game of thrones. Eejit!

Oh hate that when you want to go to bed and it's not made.
However, oooo GoT!!!!

Need bits of fruit today.

Back to work today. Made packed lunch last night & fruit for breakfast so the only spend may be a chai latte on the way in. Not frugal in the slightest but actually keeps me quite full & it’s delicious

Lovely weather this morning but I seem to have lost my lovely brogues so all I have are my boots. I’ve looked everywhere. We have recently renovated the entire house so there are only so many places they can be at home & they are not there. Can’t find them at work either (looked in drawers, under my desk). Last possible place could be my neighbour’s drawers but I doubt it. I’m gutted. They were so comfy.

Oh that's so annoying @mrsg, no doubt they will show up as soon as you replace them

I always do that with changing the bed 😫 - sooooo annoying!

Hope you found your brogues MrsG - it's been too hot for boots today (Washing dried outside again though!)

I've stumbled across an ideal snack-hack... I'm going to freeze Frubes in their packaging to take out on days out. Hopefully we can keep them cool enough to be a good alternative to ice-cream but if they do end up defrosting, they're still a treat.

£23 takeaway. Unfrugal Wolf!

£26 lunch for me and friend. I had snuggles with her new baby. Squeeeeee!!!

Smoked salmon and prawn sandwich and chips. And salad. And a flat white. X2. Yum.

Dh is making tofu stir fry for dinner. I’m not convinced it’ll be delicious. Hence the bug lunch. 😂

Just dumped all the clean laundry onto living room floor and sorted it into 3 baskets. Dhs. Ds’ and mine. Now to put away.

In other news my boobs have started leaking. Ffs. I’m aware this can happen but seriously?!

Frugal fail to confess here. Was tempted into buying a pack of 12 Estrellas just for the free ice bucket! Ds will drink the Estrella, but was a bit unnecessary. Otherwise doing well I think. Work on driveway & garden is to start soon so have applied for a loan to pay for it. It's affordable & we have been waiting for so long, it'll be great to have it done. I'm off to a meeting now, will read back properly later. DD's turn to make tea tonight. Spicy chicken with salad & potato salad. Yum! And even better as it was made for me.

Pregnancy is so glamorous em 😆

Sorry i’m awol at the moment. Just one more assignment to go! Then perhaps normal life will return. On the plus side, no time to go shopping

Lots of missing regulars at the moment too. Hoping they are just busy too.

£6 in Aldi.

Sorry - I posted and dashed off. I use plain cotton, but I am sure poly cotton would work - I will have a look for some in my stash and have an experiment. I will report back. The wax I get from an art supplies shop in Manchester - Fred Aldous. But it comes in 1kg bags - so if anyone needs some just PM me and I will post some over. Alternatively grate an unscented candle on a coarse cheese grater.

em the leaky boobs. You are bringing back memories. DH & I used to do target practice …. v. childish but fun. And better than being embarrassed. Not so good in meetings. Layering is your friend. I still haven't grown out of my love of cardigans, unstructured linen shirts and vests.

wolf that is sad news about the CAMHS sessions coming to an end. Do you get EAP through your part of CS? Ours offer sessions for employee and immediate family.

I forgot my card when shopping in Aldi today - bless them they realised the Pimms and white wine needed to be cooling down..... so they rolled the whole trolley into the chiller so I wouldn't be drinking warm wine. While I went to fetch my card. I got home to realise they had tucked a damaged box of ice creams in there too. I love that shop!

unescorted I had leaky boobs after ds was born. But not before!! Had to buy pads today. Ffs.

Have also ordered some reuseable ones.

2nd was loads worse than number one child for leaky boobs. I figure by the second shame was a thing of the past.

Can I whisper this here.... number 1 is applying to Oxford for her degree. We broke the news to her teachers who have all been really supportive. I was worried they would give her the don't be disappointed speech. The intake is 26 so it is going to be tough but they think she is of that quality.

Still no brogues. How can they just vanish?! I resent having to buy a new pair - they weren’t cheap at £60 & I’ll only wear them at work for a couple of months (maternity leave starts August). I looked at some backless loafers today which were nice but again £60. I hate spending money on stuff for work - is that weird??

Definitely not a NSD for me today as I bought a another pair of trainers. I’ve been following a stylist on Facebook/Instagram & booked a personal shopping session with them for March once I’ve hopefully lost the baby weight (the session will be paid for using birthday money). My clothes have always been a sore point for me & I feel happy doing something about it. The trainers are fabulous 😊