Friendly Frugaleers Festive Preparations and Financial Accountability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred

Thanks for the new thread
Sorry to hear about your gran wolf
unescorted the talking tour sounds like great experience for ds, well done to them both
Happy birthday girlie hope you've had a good day
Went to a Bargello (quilting technique) workshop with mum today which she paid for as my birthday present. It needed much concentration, but was really good. I've come home with 2 cushion cover panels (almost!) and feel quite proud of myself.
Came home & spent a couple of hours cooking & baking. Did a trial run of cupcakes for dd's birthday at the weekend, made broccoli, cauliflower & blue cheese soup (for lunches), curry (for today's tea)

@Mynameisnotthis I've been waiting for it too, and look at it now

@Happierwithouthim woop! I got this one about an hour ago.

I think that’s me done for Christmas!

Dust? Dust? 😂😂😂

Well done on the Alexas! I've got a lovely couple of hours in town on.my.own on Saturday whilst dd at a party so I'm hoping to finish off any last minute bits then.

I've got work this morning then an afternoon of cooking/baking and getting ready for lots of visitors to arrive for the weekend.

Happy Friday!

Excellent I've just to figure out over breakfast which child wanted this & pick a colour

You are welcome wolf. I know I lived that too.
Sorry about DGM.

Sorry sea, meant to say awesome work on the business case. Well done you. Get some sleep now though please.

Thanks for sharing the Alexa deals. I’ve been pondering one for our room for ages as I have music on to relax a lot these days.

Might switch the microphone off on this one though. :o

Bought the other presents that were sitting in my basket too. I’ve mostly been focusing on the toddler (Facebook bargains) although DH has been getting the odd thing for the others.

Meant to say hugs to you wolf

Well done seacow :) I had to google the dust thing! Never watched Little Britain

Well done Sea that's fantastic, hopefully you get to rest this weekend. How's the bathroom going?

Girlie hope the rest of your birthday was fab

Great deal on the echo ds and I have one each and a full Alexa downstairs

Mortgage appt with the bank today. I also think that apart from a few bits for staff, my friend and something for dgm (dependent on how current situation shakes out) and some chocolates for people I am done

I haven't started at all on my Christmas shopping except for the google home for dd & a little wooden toy for my niece.
I was expecting sale of house to be gone through & thought I'd need my savings for deposit on a rental.
H said he's going to contribute & his will be through one4all vouchers so need to wait for them to come through too.
I've the advantage I suppose of childfree days when they're with him to do it too.

Wolf sad about your dgm hope she goes peacefully if it's her time.
What's the difference between dot & full? Will they able to ask questions & play music on dot?
I had hoped for one between them as it'd be in a common area & I could use it too

Seacow all those late nights have paid off well done you

Lap I had similar thoughts re the microphone as I pondered a dot with clock for our room. I bought the dot when shading did the 99p offer last month. It lives in the kitchen and DD loves it. She calls it ‘Alexar’ and sounds funny. Maybe north country-ish despite being born and bred in the West of Scotland . I don’t remember being a fan of Little Britain yet can quote all sorts of nonsense from it. Think my Dad must’ve been a fan.

I bought DDs main present on Facebook too! DSs main presents are hand downs. Trying to resist the twitch tho!

Hope the mortgage appointment goes well Wolf

Happier the dot and full do exactly the same things, the difference is the quality of the speaker. For kids the dot is fine. I'm a music lover so wanted the better speaker for downstairs which is where I generally listen to music

Thanks for all the bday wishes, I had a nice day and have some lovely gifts so am very lucky. Went out for dinner last night which was yummy but got caught in a torrential downpour on way back to the car! Dd, I and the dog looked like drowned rats when we got in 🤣

Wolf sorry to hear about your dgm.

Well done sea and yy to catching up on sleep now!!

Happy anniversary wreck

Got another nice day planned, off to a local spa with a friend this afternoon! It's a small one and only costs £10 to use, I've booked some treatments and used vouchers from last years bday to pay for them.

Ystd spent £3 on parking and £3 on a meal deal for dds lunch.

I have an Alexa dot that my mum got me last year but always turn her off at the wall unless using her!! I don't like the thought of her listening in 🤣 plus I watched something on fb along the lines of freaky Alexa stories 😵

It's bad enough with fb listening in, some of the adverts I get are 😒🤭😳😬🙄

I bought the dot - got dark grey fabric because dd's google home has light grey. Used my shop and scan vouchers so only paid €2.55 actual money for it. I transferred the full cost then from joint account to reduce my credit card balance

One of each is enough in the house though isn't it? I don't need one for myself.

Ha ha, I can indeed eat as much DUST as I want .

The project is good news but I feel it will now lead to more late nights . I had a late one last night catching up on the school governor stuff I’ve neglected with the work deadlines anyway. It’s never ending. But still good to see work stuff happening.

Belated happy birthday Girlie. I also turn my Alexa off at the wall when she’s not in use.

Sorry to hear about your DGM Wolf. You seem to always have a lot to grapple with, look after yourself.

I started well on the Christmas shopping and then stalled. I’ve got a few gaps to sort out, ideas are rather lacking. I have some 20% off M &S vouchers valid until 25th November if any regulars want one?

£8.50 at swimming cafe for drinks for ds dparents and me.

£143 (gulp) for next terms swimming.

Going to try and take Dd to get weighed later and have a walk.

Dgm looks like she's going to be released so a much better situation than yesterday thanks for all the good wishes

Bank appt went well they were super helpful and well versed in divorce crap. Appt quicker than planned as they'd made me an appt to apply for a mortgage and I wanted to talk options and rates and get advice

I'm treating myself to lunch

£82 food shopping (aldi and sainsburys)
£30 fuel
£8 entry to open air museum Christmas market
£5.50 coffee and cake

I've upgraded my phone as mine is dying and I use to it check my sugar levels. Black Friday deal so iPhone XR for two years £32/month including my nhs discount. Was over £50 everywhere else. Can sell my old one for £100 on music magpie.

wolf glad to hear your dgm is on the mend.

I can't believe how organised you lot are for Crimbo. With all the drama in the unescorted house we have decided to break our go away at Christmas plan and do a Proper one here. I am writing a plan of action - how to get people out of the house so they don't get something thrown at them, learn to use my mum's new cooker, have the right amount of ingredients and saucepans in the right house....
Dd is doing the decorations …. she will be in her element, although I need to get her to tell me what it is that she needs.
Ds will be in charge of getting dh and Ddad to and then out of the pub in a timely manner so they are in a fit state to do the washing up.
Dmum and dd will be in charge of glass filling. Champagne for the cook mostly.... All of this needs to be planned so they all think it was their idea in the first place and therefore do it willingly and without stress.

£20 late fee from nursery. Fair enough really. I also bought chocs for the key worker who stayed with DD.

DD was playing with Shopkins at a friend’s house yesterday and was very taken with them - she loves small world play and also toy food - so ideal! I’ve just won a bundle on eBay for £12 - I’ll put some in her stocking and hold some back for toilet training. But I must admit I don’t really understand them. What is the actual point of them? 😂

That's good sea. Our nursery used to charge £15/10 minutes