Frugal Friends, planning, saving and considerate spending through July and August

[Wolfcubisthefemalenominal]

New Fred frugal friends

Thanks Wolf. Most of those things are paid for by general taxation - PAYE and VAT. The roads are covered by Motor Tax not that you'd know it by the amount of potholes everywhere. The bin service is provided by a private company - you choose your own provider. We also pay property tax although that only came in a few years ago.

Does that mean your bins are emptied on different days from your neighbours if you all chose different companies, Tayto?

Decree Nisi applied for!

Hard bit next - consent orders which are going to need a solicitor

Snuggly yes. Some of my neighbours put them out on Wednesday night for Thursday morning collection and I put mine out on Thursday night for Friday morning collection.

Big steps wolf but happy for you to be moving forwards xx

£28 amazon on kids coat hangers. Dh has pretty much finished ds’ wardrobe. So I’m hopjng he can get it in his room later today/tomorrow.

I need to get baby’s clothes hung up (which will free plastic boxes up for other things.

I bought wardrobe dividers so can hang everything in age order. #organised.

Next steps:

• get dh to fit second rail in bangs wardrobe
• move nappy packs wipes etc upstairs to free space in understairs cupboard
• chuck more stuff under our bed.
• sort my wardrobe and hang as much as I can - dh wants to get rid of our bedroom dresser for something smaller so I need to see how much I can hang up/fold on shelves.
• get dh to get baby bath down from loft. Fil took the ladder away yesterday (it was his). If all else fails we have the big bath but also a collapsible solid dudes laundry basket which dh mistook for said baby bath the other day....

Busy morning here, went to see our puppy is growing fast and so cute! It's about 10 days until we can bring him home now!!

Other spends
£2.20 parking
£26 Wilkos on various stuff
£35 Primark mostly on summer clothes
£10 Subway lunch for both of us
£12 ish in Pets at Home on cat food and other bits

Dd spent £50 of her own money buying the bulk of the puppy gear, bed, toys, lead etc.

Knackered now, chilling out for a bit and then need to start packing for our holiday next week.

The only way I remember bin day is by seeing my neighbours bins out.

Wolf - that sounds tough. Is he playing ball on the draft or will it be a fight? Have you checked the gov.uk page about the process? ( I suspect that might be an egg sucking com
ment)

Girlie he is sooo cute

Em that sounds like a super busy day. Take it easy

Unescorted he’s formally responded to say he won’t contest my grounds. Getting him to disclose his financials might be a different battle

Dh was meant to meet Fil two hours ago. They still haven’t gone to meet him. It’s crazy because dh moaned the other week about Bil and sil not being able to keep track of time.... 🙄🤔🤯

Busy day here yes but I’ve been doing things carefully and slowly. Dh hasn’t done any of the other things I’ve asked him too. But there we go.

Just picked a basket full of veggies from the garden. Runner beans, sugar snaps, tomatoes and a giant courgette which ds is insisting is a dinosaur. So that’s dinner sorted (veg stir fry).

I was going to order a cereal dispenser from Amazon but the postage would have added £25 to the cost! Then I remembered why I never order from Amazon. They sell them in Argos but they're out of stock.

£78 Asda delivery.

Meal plan:

◦	Spag bol 
◦	Butternut squash risotto 
◦	Chicken drumsticks/tapas/salad
◦	Pasta pesto with feta and green veg 
◦	Pizza 
◦	Orzo and meatballs 

Lunches:

Bagels, cream cheese, bacon, crackers, Melba toast, pate (veg or meat), falafel, salad

Breakfast:

Rice crispies mulit grain shapes, crumpets, brioche, fruit, toast (bought st delfour jam which is the only one I let the dc have

Snacks:

Breadsticks, humous, fruit (strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, apples, satsumas, watermelon, mango (frozen)), granola bars, banana soreen

Think that's it. School holidays are like feeding time at the zoo all day every day also have yoghurts and ice cream.

Great meal plan Wreck

£10 ish pub

Girlie that is one cute puppy.

Em - my tomatoes are just flowering. I suspect that there may be a need for a green tomato chutney recipe later in the year.

Wreck - I like the sound of the pesto and feta & green vege.

I haven't cooked for a whole week - my nephews are staying at my parents so we have been eating up there. I keep buying things and then having to put them in the freezer as the dinner invites tend to be a bit last minute dot com.

I just do pasta pesto usually with broccoli and peas then crumble in some feta. It's my go to quick and easy meal that both dc eat!

I Like it more & more!

wreck love the meal planning. My go to quick food is pasta pesto and cheese. Sometimes I go nuts and add bacon.

Yesterday’s quick dinner was pasta cream cheese bacon onions and peas. Cheats carbonara. Love. If.

We have a cucumber growing!!! And a couple of pumpkins!!!! I am so proud of our garden! And dh. Because let’s face it he did all the work.

This is our first year growing things. Will absolutely do it again. Fil gave dh a plastic greenhouse thing. So we can start plants in there next year. Dhs colleague is going to “trim her bush” And give us the cuttings. I almost wet myself laughing when dh told me this because I’m childish and then explained she has raspberry and blueberry bushes.

Nice lazy day today (although I’ve done loads).

Ds is in bed. Not sleeping at present - he’s just put his light on - tomorrows job is to shift his cot away from the switch. He isn’t growing so much!!!

I’ve chucked a couple of bits under our bed (I love the ottoman bed. Buy one. It’ll change your lives!) and have folded al my T-shirt’s/camis/vest tops and put them neatly in their drawer.

I am hoping that this weekend is the last one we will spend as a family of 3. I’m feeling a lot of what I can only describe as “pulling” down there. So hoping baby is actually on the move.

Have also got laundry in the machine to finish at 7am tomorrow. It’s amazing how productive I can be when I’m not working.

Am going to attempt to use my mat leave to get us into more of a routine housework wise. We are going to get a cleaner (when is another story - I’m tempted to start in September/October but dh thinks we should wait until January). But cleaner won’t tidy up or do laundry. So need to keep on top of this.

Em, the "pulling" sounds promising!

NSD.

Ohhhhhh!

I bloody hope so!!!!

Oooo Em!

That would confuse me, Tayto!

Fingers crossed, Em!

NSD

MORning. Awful sleep. Was up 4 times. Twice to pee. Once because door slammed. Once because ds was whimpering.

No baby yet although still feeling the same as yesterday.

Ds is in bed with me at present. When do they learn about lie ins?!

Morning
When they are teenagers em.

Usual Saturday spends yesterday though got DS some clothes from Sainsbury's.

Ds likes to stay in bed until 8 sometimes...but now they're older they can at least get up by themselves. Most of the time it's fine but some mornings they argue so much we all end up getting up

Dh pissed me off last night. I found out he was going out (because ds told me ) then dd comes downstairs and says 'daddy said I can sleep in your bed' er no you can't. She's an awful sleeper and I want to be consistent with her. Plus it's my bed. Cue 90 minutes of absolute hysterical sobbing from her. She eventually fell asleep (in her own bed). Dh was literally three minutes down the road and didn't bother coming back despite reading my message saying how awful it was.

Anyway there's my moan for the day, I'm sure you've all missed it

LSD today as need to pay for spinning but that's it.