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[northender]

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£102 in the dive shop down the road from work. Bought ds a life jacket (necessary), myself a rash vest (after an almost incident on Saturday where ds nearly exposed my boobs to the entire beach this is a necessity - and I’ve been meaning to get one for ages now!) and a new bikini for me. With cats on it.

Will take the money for ds’ life jacket from joint account.

Other than that nsd. Brought a whole packed lunch today. Wahoooo.

I had a tough day on Saturday and cried when ex walked out the door for the last time (I've no doubt he'll be back at some point but the last time for us as a married couple). The rest of the weekend was better. My eldest sister called in around tea time (bearing flowers and wine) and we ordered pizzas and watched 'Paddingon'. She offered to stay on Saturday and Sunday nights and I was happy to accept her offer. My other sister called in yesterday with her DH. They'd just bought a camper van and wanted to show it off. We had tea, coffee, doughnuts and the last two Wispa bars and chatted for a while. It was lovely to see them all and I was thinking of Laska when I was looking around the camper van. After my DSis and BIL headed off, we (eldest DSis and I) went to some nearby gardens and had a walk around. The gardens are very tranquil and we had a nice time admiring the flowers. We had soup in the cafe there. Spends were €7 for entry into the gardens and €5 for soup. DD didn't come with us as she went to a local funfair with her friends. Dinner was left over pizza and salad. We watched another movie last night - 'The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel'. We never actually drank the wine in the end but I'll hold onto it for our next weekend together. I'm very grateful to my big DSis for giving up most of her weekend for me. She helped me get through the first few difficult days.

NSD so far but I've just ordered a Tesco delivery for tomorrow - €50.07 + €5 delivery charge. DH will have DD this weekend so I don't need a lot of dinner stuff. I had a good root through the kitchen presses, fridge and freezer before I put together my order so I've a fair idea of what I have and what I need.

What fab sisters you have.
£69 Aldi, £9 prescription

NSD today.

Good to have the first days over @Taytocrisps. Are you working this week? Will that help to distract you a little? for you.

Going to tackle a pile of ironing shortly, and I need to paint my toenails too, i frugally haven't had them Shellaced so far this summer but I miss it, I might get it done next week.

@Taytocrisps sisters are the best. Xx hope you’re doing ok lovely!!

Life jacket fits. Sadly ds loves it and we had a bit of a mission getting it off him. I think if he could have he would have worn it to bed.

Picked up some basic long line vests from George on my way to the car. £12 for 4. (2 for £6). Black white and grey. Necessary.

9 work days of 2019 left for me.

Went trough my maternity pay today with our accounts lady. From November I’ll be on zero pay. She’s stretched it out as much as she can realistically. And had kept my tax rate at its current level (19%) if it goes down she’s said not to let her know as if I over pay the worst that will happen is that they owe me money.

Tayto I'm glad you're being looked after in the real world, they sound like fab sisters.

Only spend today was £20 to dd for a school trip next week.

Sending huge hugs and love your way Tayto. Your sisters sound fab.

Ex came round and took the kids out for a bit, so I went to Westfields and spent £60 ish on some clothes for me from h and m.
They are having a sale at the moment, I got some linen trousers and some patterned ones, which I usually don't go for, but tried them on and they looked good, a few tops, some socks and a pair of flats.

£50-ish Tesco delivery today (had a great substitution of some fancy fish fillets instead of some breaded freezer fodder I'd ordered - a £5 price match refund!).

I'm trying to be more organised with when/how I cook to minimise after school/work kitchen chaos and meltdown time so had a weird scenario where we were eating mash id made this morning whilst I was also dipping in and out of making bolognaise that we'll be eating on Wednesday. I'm hoping to have enough time in the morning to make soup for supper tomorrow evening 😂

Tayto sisters rock. Your exH leaving the house for the final time must have been really emotional but from here on in it's your chance to have many more exciting firsts

Wow em, 9 days!! How exciting!

Ruby me and dh often have discrepancies in spending needs/habits. Mostly it's fine - I prefer frugaling and some of my good habits rub off on him; he prefers to have experiences and live life in the present even if that costs a little extra and that's good for me to remember from time to time too. How do you feel about the stag/sandal imbalance - will it even out somewhere down the line?

I also thought the Ruby DH spend is not so bad if it evens out somewhere down the line, but otherwise not okay at all. If he can keep up with the lads on a stag then you shouldn’t be worried about replacing necessary footwear, imo!

Tayto that sounds very tough. Glad your DSis could be there for you (and that she ‘gets it’).

Exciting times Em

LSD. Bought bananas and beetroot, £2, but also paid for DS’s class school photo, £11.50. I don’t know whether the memories will mean anything to him but I want to hedge my bets so am stashing all his class photos each year.

My DM is looking to sell up and move to a retirement flat. She was looking at moving near my sisters (cheaper than here and less urban) but I think she’s still considering the possibility of coming my way. I’d love that but don’t want to put her under pressure. The only grandkids are here and realistically if she lives ‘there’ rather than ‘here’ she’ll keep doing a lot of driving - okay for now but maybe not in a few years. It’s a big decision for her but she doesn’t like where she lives now without dad. Quite rural and isolated. I am trying not to get my hopes up.

Work in town for the next 2 days, so extra busy! Im also trying to be organised Madden, especially for my days on site at work, so I made meatballs and tomato sauce this evening for tomorrow. This evening we were still working through the paella mountain I made yesterday for a big family lunch. Here you see a very large paella, not a very small table

sea paella looks yummmmm!!! I made one once about that size. We were eating it for ages. But so so good!!!

Had a much better sleep last night. Dh in the spare room. I’m in ours. Middle of the bed and managed somehow to find a position to sleep in that I was actually comfortable. Essentially I’m pretty sure I was starfished across the entire bed.

8 working days left of 2019!!!

Have received my sick pay from the other week. £90. To cover 3 days off. I think that’s a reduced rate as I didn’t make social security payments while I was off on leave with ds. But will check. Haven’t had the letter yet to explain everything.

Today’s jobs aside from work - do last minute typos on essay make sure references are done and then get it ready to post off tomorrow.

Tayto your sisters sound fab. Keep going it will eventually get easier

Sea that paella looks amazing

Em glad you slept better

I’m on the bus today it’s bloody extortionate! I did Liverpool and back for less than £10 in diesel last week. Today I’ve spent £8 to travel 13 miles one way!

Yum that looks amazing sea would be lovely to have your mum closer, for both of you.

I'm working from home today, have got a fair bit done this morning and lots left to do this arvo.

Should be a nsd.

I had a counselling session this morning so that was €60. Parking was free because the parking meter wasn't working.

After the session I went for my favourite walk along the river/by the castle. I was tempted to stop off for a coffee and scone at a nice cafe but I had a stern talk with myself and just got a take away scone instead for €2. Cherry and walnut scone - yum!

I also stopped at Lidl and bought chicken and mushrooms for a chicken curry dinner (€5.48). I've a Tesco delivery coming but it's not due until later this afternoon and I want to get dinner on soon.

Oh and I picked up gardening gloves for €2. I've been meaning to get some for a while.

Thanks again for your kind messages. Sorry for hijacking the thread with my personal life. I'll try to stick to normal frugaleering stuff going forward. Thatsnotmybaby yes, I'm back in work tomorrow. Just three days of work left and then I'm off for two weeks.

@Taytocrisps use us as a sounding board whenever you need to. Xxx.

£0 today on swim bands for ds. Managed to get some on Facebook from a friend of a friend. Yippee.

£12 in new look on a yellow dress and a yellow short sleeve oversized shirt. Will go nicely with shorts while I’m on mat leave. Also will fit me now (but on the snug side).

Dress will also fit now as is a stretch jersey type one.

tayto

It would be so lovely to have your mum nearby sea but can see why you are trying not to influence her try and do some subtlety

Odd few days here. Childminder has been unable to work, so we’ve had to call in favours at work to do school pick up and drops. Picked up DD2 about an hour ago. My mum said she was going to send me an email about my dad, which she didn’t want to discuss in front of the DC. Having a wobble whilst I wait for email to arrive...

No derail tayto. Emotions and spending are linked. As em says sound off anytime.
£18 Holland and Barrett

Tayto that’s what we’re here for. Use us in whatever way you need.

£7 breakfast and lunch.
OcAdo coming in the morning £96ish

Really worried about my dad.

Thursday night he went to bed, woke up a few hours later. Got dressed and then had his breakfast as he thought it was morning. Last night he went to bed, woke up a few hours later. Didn’t know who my mum was. Thought the woman there had murdered my mum (my mum was there) and looked everywhere for her. My mum had to call some friends round to help. He’s had blood test today, they want him to have a chest X-ray and back to gp tomorrow. Apparently today, he has still wondered who that woman was.

My mum said nothing about it when I dropped off DD2 this morning. I really wouldn’t have left her if I had known.

Oh gosh love :(

Oh gosh @Lovemaltesers, that must be so worrying. With it coming on so suddenly though, it must have a physical cause and hopefully it's something relatively minor like a UTI (I know they can cause confusion in older people). Hopefully they get to the bottom of it very soon .

Spends today:
£16 supermarket, food for dinner and a stock up on food for work.

Oh Love I’m not surprised you are worried, that sounds quite frightening. My first thought was UTI too so I will keep my fingers crossed for a straightforward cause and solution

Oh love that’s scary. I hope it’s “just” something like a UTI. Or dehydration or something.

Dgrandma refuses to drink water or anything because she’s not as mobile as she was. And has been in and out of hospital for UTI’s dehydration etc. And they’ve all made her super confused.

Picked Ds up from nursery and took him across the road for a run on the grass. He loved it. Burned some serious energy off. He’s now asleep. Yay.

Slow cooker chilli with chunky pieces of beef this evening. Le yum. We ate outside. I love being able to do that!!!

Hey tayto I’m so glad you’ve got your sisters 💐 and well done for the counselling. I’m meeting my new therapist tomorrow! Expensive but I’m hoping worthwhile!

Ah it’s good isn’t it em - DD had a friend to sleep over on Sunday, and they ate dinner in the garden - neither of those things would be possible in the old house.

I bought a cheap slide and water play table thing for the garden today.

Tayto, we are all here for you, vent whenever you need, god knows I have!

Love, that does sounds worrying, hopefully the Dr will get to the bottom of it quickly.

Spends today
£3.50 on lunch
£12.68 on toiletries and cleaning supplies.