Had a Spendy Summer? Join the Friendly Frugaleers as we Segue Smoothly into a Sensible September

[LivingInLaputa]

All welcome. Couldn’t see another thread!

Aww thanks madden and curls.
Well done to your ds curls, how old is he?

Curvy that is amazing news. I am so pleased for you.

meadow Decathlon, Decathlon, Decathlon..... go at the right time & you can get all in one ski suits for a couple of quid or waterproof for not a lot. We had shed loads of them from 6 months to when they finished Primary - all different weights and styles over the years. Has to be said some of the styles can be questionable…

Hi dorset and changing… good to have a few more new people about.

sea I think I would have a "moment" on the London Eye....

Good news share... DS & DH are back 2 days earlier than expected. I get to pick them up on Monday instead of Monday. I have never been so pleased to sit in traffic around the airport.

instead of Wednesday... Doh!

Congratulations Curvy! Great news to start the weekend!

I have just spent £53 on Amazon on wooden coat hangers for the kids (annoying as we have too many adult hangers but they are much too big for 2 year old's clothes) and various teaching supplies like stickers and stampers. I am hoping they will reduce my marking time in which case they would be money well-spent!

Awesome work curvy!!

dorset thanks fo the tip! Will make sure we’re covered although I don’t tend to drive to meetings - most are within walking distance from the office (ir are in London or France so we fly).

Took ds to the park this afternoon splashed in the big paddling pool played on the playground. Bought an ice cream. Ice creams are cold dontchaknow....he took great delight in waving his lolly around and saying “dold” (cold)

Anxiety levels are al over the place today. Have told dh. But he’s dismissed it. Told him I don’t want to leave ds and Dd with mil tomorrow evening when we go out (friends engagement party). He’s not upset and angry because apparently I hate mil and never want her to see her grandkids again. This is not the case. I don’t want to leave Dd. I’d be the same if it was with my parents. I’ve explained this. But apparently I’m stressing him out. Ffs. He’s annoyed when I don’t tell him I’m struggling and annoyed when I do. Can’t win.

Oh you are all so lovely, thank you unescorted, snuggly and em.
I bet you have missed unescorted!
Snuggly, hangers can be very expensive and I hope your marking is reduced, I think you are very brave teaching teenagers.
em, I'm sorry you are having a hard time and that your dh is being difficult about it, take care and , or whatever else you need x

*missed them.

Thanks curvy

Trying to e plain why I’m feeling anxious about this to someone who’s never suffered with anxiety is so hard. Because he doesn’t get it. He sees it (I think) as me being difficult. Told me to snap out of it. Told me I need to do things for me/us. Need to take time out etc. Which I know will help. But I just can’t/don’t want to at the moment.

It annoys/upsets me how dismissive he’s been of the whole thing. Almost like he thinks I’m making it up for attention.

Dd is 4 weeks old. Still very little. So why do I need to leave her with someone if I don’t want to? If it was appropriate to bring her with us to the engagement do I would do. But it’s not really kid friendly.

Dd has just fallen asleep on me mid bottle....

Unescorted, great news. It will be good to have them home.

Em given your dh seems to experience anxiety at times from what you’ve said it’s frustrating that he doesn’t make the effort to understand. Is there any compromise solution. Eg dmil spends the evening with you and dd and ds whilst dh goes to the party - not a win on the going out front but clear dmil isn’t the problem? I don’t think there are many mums who would want to leave a four week old baby to be fair

Brief catch up.

How's the tipi wolf. I always have ooops moments in Lakeland. Especially that one.

Welcome new frugaleer peeps.

Excellent news curvy.

We spend 120 on food. I could get a couple of pounds off but it's difficult. Defo use the DLA letter.

Ah em, difficult. No you shouldn't have to leave her if you don't want to.

Great they are back early unescorted

I agree Em, the people who will look after the children are not the issue. It's very hard to leave such a tiny baby!

Not much planned for today. Park and library I think. Bit more prep for school.

Sorry DH is being unsympathetic em of course it’s natural to be anxious about leaving her! And in those post birth months anxiety levels can be all over the place. Please look after yourself 💐 it’s really good that you’re recognising it.

em sorry to hear your DH isn’t being supportive. Is there a compromise you could come to, would you maybe feel ok for just popping along for half an hour, enough to see the couple, say your congrats and explain that you need to get back to your little ones? Then DH can stay if he wants.

curvy DS has just turned 14. But he’s come back from his first round saying his back is in agony and he doesn’t think he wants to carry on with it. For what he’s being paid I was amazed he agreed to it in the first place if I’m honest. But I wasn’t going to stand in the way of his work ethic.

Nothing much going on here today. Just pottering about, get some cleaning done, tip run, make a start on meal plan and shopping list for next week.

Morning everyone and welcome to the new posters.
My food shop is around the £100-£120 mark but that includes cat food/cat litter for three cats and I have two teenagers who go through a lot of food and toiletries.

It’s a miserable day today so will probably stay in and do some clearing in ds2’s room as his is next to be decorated. I have filled a 175 litre tub with Lego that I will store in the garage until we decide what to do with it. There are so many memories when sorting old toys Ds1 was quite emotional when looking through it all ( by emotional I don’t mean crying - just cracking a few wistful smiles 😉 he’s sixteen so that’s as much as you get) and took out some of the rarer figures to keep. I’ve ordered another tub as we’ve still got under his bed to empty. I try not to think of the money it all cost and there’s no way I could attempt to sort it to sell it.

Curvy congratulations that must be such a relief.

Lap happy belated birthday to ds.

Curls ds2 has just turned 14 and I can’t imagine him even thinking of doing that so well done to your ds for trying it.

em it’s only natural to be anxious at the thought of leaving ds and dd. There’s no right or wrong thing to do, but I think most people will understand if you didn’t go. Is dh worried about offending the engaged couple or offending his dm?

Born I can't quite imagine what 175l of Lego looks like but I bet you'd sell that on Ebay or similar without sorting it. Admittedly you wouldn't get as much for it but it's the sort of thing I'd buy for the kids just as a mixed box (maybe not quite that much but you know what I mean!)

£43 haircut
Ocado order for tomorrow £190, a mix of brexit prep, food to eat and restocking my baking cupboard after weevil-hate
Ds dropped off with his dad along with some of h’s belongings which I wrestled out of the loft this morning
Couple of loads of washing done And then frantically rescued from the rain
Back playing up (see loft comment above) so I’m having a chill with a cuppa for a bit. Will watch the rugby later. Also need to remake ds’s bed

@Wolfcub I've never used Ocado. Is it good value?

Thanks life and born, yes it is a relief, it means I can plan things better knowing that I have that security.
So first thing is to get the younger two passports, my friend and I have been discussing going abroad, I've never been anywhere, neither have the younger two. We are thinking Turkey, but will start looking online soon at flights. There will be a lot of us going, about 12, so we thought it would be better to see if we could get a villa.

curls I have a 14 year old ds too, he mostly plays on the switch!

I'm going to do more sorting today. Now that ex isn't here I have realised how much of his shit was really having an impact on me and my well being. The attached pic shows the under stair cupboard, before this it was full of stuff that he thought would come in handy. It filled my hallway twice! He use to complain that my bags were always on show, well that is probably because I had no storage, because he would fill all available space with shit!
The chest freezer and hoover are the only things that live in the cupboard now. I'm going to use it for storing the xmas decs and to stash some presents. Also I'm hoping to put an iron/ironboard holder in there too.
I think my ex has made me a bit of a minimalist!
There are still lots of spaces that need a good decluttering, but some I can't really do until he moves more of his stuff out.

V proud of DS. He came back and said he wasn’t giving up on it yet. DH has seen a rack for his bike at Decathlon for £12 that he can adapt a bit to hold his papers as opposed to him carrying them on his back.

My pottering round has turned into a major cleaning session of downstairs. I’ve also identified loads of other little jobs to do so I’m going to make a list and begin to tackle once the kids are back at school.

Curvy I know what you mean, are our exes related 🤣. I’m determined not to reclutter things once I’ve got rid of all his crap

Dorset, I think it depends on what you buy. For me I find the dates of produce and service better than other online supermarkets so I dont find I’m wasting money on things going off quickly. I also think they rarely substitute something once you’ve ordered.
I’m also under physio instruction not to do a big supermarket shop as it aggravates my back so I either have to do multiple small shops (therefore small trolley) or shop online.

I find it cheaper than Tesco and about the same as Sainsbury’s. Their 3 for £10 meat deal is always really good - I ordered a whole chicken, 10 fat butchers sausages and a pack of southern fried chicken pieces this week. Often I buy salmon, chicken and casserole beef or I’ll get meatballs, chicken breasts and mince for example

That's is really a good work ethic that your ds has curls, you have every right to be proud.

Wolf 😁🤣, it is relentless. His whole idea of tidying was to put things in bags, with no organisation, so nothing ever had a home. And then to just stuff them in a cupboard, so finding things was difficult. When I was sorting a different cupboard I found 3 radiator keys! I keep one on top of the medicine cupboard, have done for years, and when I asked him why we had another 3, he said because he couldn't find it, and then when he couldn't find the one he purchased, he just got another one! But 3 bloody times, the worse thing is he never bled the radiators, I have always done it!
Yes definitely with you on the not cluttering things again.

Dorest, I use ocado too and agree with wolf, they are very good. Usually there is a code for first orders online somewhere

Oh no your exes sound like me . Need to get my act together as when I saw that lovely empty cupboard I was thinking about all the crap I could fit into it

Haha born, that did make me laugh!

It's my ds that earns £40 each week for his paper round, he does 4 rounds on a Saturday and a Sunday and takes his bike! He's been doing it for 2 years now.

Got back home this morning, stayed in the Cotswolds last night to break the journey up for dh, has dinner out last night and breakfast as the hotel this morning, I've got four children (one adult ds) and I honestly didn't realise how much easier it is with two rather than three, it seems everything is designed for families of four! Plus there were almost no arguments, dds got on really well without ds2 around, they all get on with each other mostly things just don't really work when all three of the youngest are together

Spent £70 in Asda on not much, but £17 was for a birthday cake for dd, candles, icing and some bits to jazz it up. Also took £40 out in cash, spent £15 on bargains at the market, there's a stall that basically sells everything that Approved Foods has so I do get some good bits, today I picked up 2x6 packs of sun bites popcorn for £1, 12 bottles of volvic a touch of fruit 500ml for £2 and a whole box of ultimate blends hair mask pods for £2, they sell for 89p each so that was a fab bargain. Spent £5 in Poundland on washing gel, a toblerone type bar and a lunch box and £4 on a lip wax. Plus £11 on balloons for dds birthday.

Now need to work out what needs paying from the current account so I can make sure I don't go overdrawn.

Fridge cleaned out ready for tomorrow’s shopping delivery.
£24 flour containers from amazon to weevil proof my baking cupboard, current arrangements did limit their spread but didn’t stop it enough
Need to pay £60 for club membership for ds but this is in my annual budget so not sweating it. Have topped up school dinner account. Need to chase up issue with school trip payment next week so I can pay the balance - does anyone else find parent pay is a completely bollocks system ?