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

[Wolfcubisthefemalenominal]

New Fred frugal friends

wreck me too. It sends my anxiety levels sky high and also there’s the point that I can’t leave and go home!

Dh is talking about having “everyone” round for a “sip n see” (wetting the baby’s head effectively). I’ve said no. Because we don’t have space or enough glasses and I don’t want them all here.

Suggested we go to the pub. And hire the nice room at the back. Dh has reminded me we’re trying to save money. In my book, £400 (room hire and a rough estimate for buffet food and a round of drinks if we’re feeling generous) is a small price to pay for maintenance of mental health and a clean tidy house.

If you think you'd enjoy it more at the pub then I'd do that, Em.

Dh pointed out that we're spending "a bit more" on food because the kids are here for lunch every day instead of it being covered by nursery/school. He is sort of right, I don't think he realises quite how much I've spent

Think we might go for a walk today if ds can be persuaded. Will need to pay for parking

Life, reasties Christmas bargain thread is up and running

Em is there a compromise position - somewhere away from home but cheaper?

Oooh thanks wolf.
We are going to Beamish today.
Did kynren last night and took DC as they are old enough now. Very good, they loved it. Zero spend too.

Yy is there a middle ground? Do you have to get a full buffet. Could the pub just lay on tea and biccies? Then those who want to drink can sort themselves.

Hoping for nsd today.
John Lewis have agreed to take DS’s broken bed away and refund the money so I will need to buy him a new bed as they are coming on Friday. He really need new flooring so might try and do everything at once which realistically probably means a new wardrobe too as I don’t think his will survive a move 🙈

em how many people is he planning on inviting? Would your dm have it at hers if you explained how anxious it’s making you and paid for any drinks/food.

Wolf I always watch Reasties threads and need to sit on my hands to stop me buying a million things I don’t need. It makes me very nostalgic for the days when my dc were small.

Frugally frying off the leftover polenta to have with cooked breakfast. Ds vocally not a polenta fan so we will see how this goes

If anyone uses Persil non bio powder Amazon have a good deal on at the moment. It is £13 for 130 washes and it is included in the spend £30 get £10 off deal that they have on. They also have a free sample of non alcoholic gin worth £19 (ok it’s definitely not worth that amount) for prime members.

It's lashing rain here. Yuck!

I'm going to the cinema with DD later to see 'The Lion King'. That will probably be spendy although obviously we'll stock up on goodies in a newsagents rather than the cinema itself.

DD's back to school on the 28th so this is our last weekend of the summer. Next weekend she'll be away with Scouts. I'd forgotten that the school have introduced uniform shoes, so I must pick them up this week.

I'm contemplating buying tickets to see 'Blood Brothers' in Dublin next year. It coincides with DD's mid-term break so I could get tickets for a week night which is considerably cheaper than going at the weekend. I saw it years ago and loved it.

To be fair I estimated the cost of the pub. I have no idea on that. It may be cheaper. Also dh is a classic “let’s do this” and then he never organised anything so I’m quite possibly stressing about nothing.

New perspective. They’ve gone swimming and I forced myself to put Dd in the pram and we went for a walk. Walked a lot further than I meant to. Almost 9km. Did a loop around the lanes here.

Stopped by the shop on the way back for apples Diet Coke and some sweets. £5

Now home eating a fruit bowl with a coffee. Dd is a bit unsettled but I’ve put her in the magic vibrating chair while I have my snack and wee waiting for her bottle to cool down.

Born what is the Amazon £10 off deal and how might I access it? Am about to buy a rucksack for days out with the children so that would be handy!

I’ve been up with the kids since 6.30am but am still not dressed

Sea it’s only on selected pantry items I’m afraid. Some of the stuff is way over priced but you get the occasional bargain.

Ah I see. I’ve never thought of looking for household staples on amazon, I buy own brand stuff like washing powder (SWFL has obviously worked on me a little at least!). Might have a look though, ta

I'm really struggling with tiredness today. I can't make myself do anything and I just want to be left alone. Suspect my period might be imminent!

£6 entry to local agricultural show
£2 for ds to do an activity there
£8 ice creams for me,ds and dm. Lots of lovely springers there. I so need a dog. Is 40 too old to beg your parents for a puppy for Christmas?

Me too Snuggly - on both counts.

Stayed in so not spent anything yet but I’m about to buy a few bits on Amazon - a kitchen knife sharpener and some long kitchen tongs to keep in the car for when DC drop their toys in the back and start screeching . And maybe a peg bag. I could make one but doubt I’ll get round to it any time soon.

I feel faintly depressed to be home from holiday and it’s about the house. It’s the clutter, and the fact that I unpacked the car and can’t find space to put everything away. Especially in the kitchen, which has hardly any storage and I have loads of stuff . Sigh. I actually loved having much less stuff on holiday - in particular kitchen stuff, clothes and kids’ toys. It was so refreshing and took much less time to manage. I think I need a change of attitude and approach to living with stuff. I’ve been gradually decluttering clothes at home over recent months and that is much better. However, I don’t think we have an unusual number of toys but we still have quite a lot, and we do have a lot of books and the DC are very good at spreading all their shit out. I am in the mood to tackle it but back to work tomorrow so not sure when I’ll get the chance. I struggle to get DH on board too as he is a big of a hoarder - magazines, CDs and books mostly. Sigh.

About to go and finish making a roast chicken dinner. The weather on holiday was generally quite autumnal and it has put us all in the mood for a roast!

Nsd. We are also having a roast chicken dinner Sea or Tesco nut cutlet roast dinner in my case!

It’s a good point Sea. I realised yesterday that I feel better and calmer and more able to keep the house clean (without killing myself doing it) now that there is less shit everywhere. I’m going to try very hard not to reclutter the house once I eventually remove h’s stuff from it (currently confined to the attic and spare room)

I am really tidy on holiday because I have less stuff and more space. I don’t even use half the things I have in my house because accessing them is so difficult. If someone came in to my house and majorly de cluttered it without me being there I probably wouldn’t even miss it 😳

@LivingInLaputa we're going to the Hawth Wednesday night and we're considering going out for dinner first but I don't know the area at all. I know the hospital and the mall plus the airport but that's it can you recommend anywhere? Probably grill sort of place where we can have steak or something

£51 renewing membership. ££sweets, tea, fun fair

£19.99 trainers for DD1
£10 wellies for DD1

Stuff drives me mad too seacow. Once DD2 starts school the week after everyone else, I am determined to use my day off to get rid of stuff -and paint doors and woodwork-! Once that’s done, I might have to start working on that day but that will probably take at least until Easter as there is so much to do

Love I always end up food shopping and general house work on my day off so I still never get any of the big jobs done!

Hiya wreck I’m probably the worst person to ask as due to fussy kids/anxiety we tend to stick to the same predictable chains that are everywhere! Can’t really think of any interesting indie places to recommend here really.

There’s a smith and western in tilgate, and there’s a leisure park (free parking 😅) with the usual frankie and benny’s harvester etc (there’s a steakhouse there I think but I’ve never tried it and errrrm I’ve not heard good things 😳)

There’s another harvester literally 2 mins down the road from the theatre too (hawth park inn I think it’s called).

Errrm other than that there’s pubs but I don’t really know them other than the ones near my house 😂 but then you’d have to drive through town

Thanks! We're not after anything fancy so the harvester might be a good call if it's close by. Cheap and cheerful