Friendly Frugaleers Festive Preparations and Financial Accountability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred

£3.50 to Dm for come calpol saline drops for Dd. Dparents came up and have picked Ds up and whisked him off to let me eat on with things here. We are so lucky that a) they are close by and b) they’re willing to help.

Dd has been napping since 1130. She’s had one bottle today but I’m just feeding her as and when. I figure she needs to sleep to get better so let her sleep.

I’ve tidied upstairs and cleaned the inside of windows in ours and ds’ room. Have hoovered floors too upstairs.

LAUNdry on.

Dm cleaned the kitchen for me #lucky #bestmummy

And I’ve just finished wrapping the presents.

I swept & hoovered & put on range at my parents before leaving, last night they'd 5 of us under their roof but this afternoon they come home to an empty house so I did my best to make it as nice as possible for them.

Stopped at Aldi for bottle of water for dd (my boot supply is gone!) while I was there I got a small ham fillet, 800g turkey breast fillet, family pack of salmon fillets, 4 pk of decadent individual desserts, garlic ciabatta for dc starter, choc & fudge chips for Christmas fluffy pancakes. €37 one day food and that's on the cheap, well salmon is for tomorrow.

Plus got a message from someone bringing presents for dc so spent €40 on 4 book sets for his grandchildren

I'm now 100% finished

Em you are lucky
Wolf I get how you feel

Wolf totally get how you feel, I'm normally pretty robust as well but sometimes it would just be nice to have someone to chat to.

Dd also has an upper respiratory infection 🙄 typically her temp dropped at the Drs, it was back to 39 this morning. She seems a bit better in herself though, I'm working from home (thank God for my new job!)

Just spent £7 at the coop on top up bits, Ystd I spent £17 in the little Tesco's on stuff for dd (tons of smoothie as she'll drink them and I figure they're good for her) plus the Christmas radio times.

I’ve found a cleaning setting on my oven!!!! So it’s going. 😂

Washing my towels with some vinegar. I watched a video on you tube yesterday and apparently the vinegar strips all the yuk.

Think I'm caught up on salad for a while

€34.50 + €2 tip for lunch out on our journey home le yum dc got cookies for finding the resident elf too so I saved on buying dessert

Let us know how tea towels turn out em

Girlie hope dd recovers quickly, my little niece was very upset & off form on sat went to doctor yesterday she's cutting a back tooth and has a chest infection poor mite

Oooh that’s a lot of salad happier

Towels seem to be ok. They’re in the dryer at the moment.

Oven is cleaner than clean. So glad I found out about that function!

Dparents have dropped ds back. We’re watching peppa pig.

So far today I’ve achieved the following:

Beds made
Upstairs hoovered (all rooms and landing)
Stairs brushed and hoovered
Bins emptied
Windows cleaned (all indoors and glass doors too)
Three baskets of laundry folded and put away
Presents wrapped
Three new loads of laundry done
Kitchen floor cleaned
Floors swept downstairs
Bin out
Recycling all stuffed into the box and put out

Just thinking about dinner now.

I often do towels with vinegar Em, and woollens. It also acts as a fabric softener which is good because I don't like the smell or feel of actual fabric softener.

I need to eat some salad. I already feel fat and it isn't even Christmas Day yet.

I ate salad.

I'm not worrying about the fact that all my clothes are too tight until the 1st of Jan 😶

Today was spendy but DH paid for it all. We share finances completely like so it's irrelevant, his spends are still mine haha. We went to the garden centre for Xmas grotto for DD, predictably she was terrified of Santa but she liked the rest of the grotto. She also enjoyed wreaking havoc in the garden centre...we went to the retail park afterwards and got her feet measured as suspected she had grown a width fitting and yep, she has. Bought her 3 pairs of shoes from Clarks, 2 of which are around half price in the sale, so that feels like a win despite the expense. She has a cold and whilst she's mostly ok in herself, the coughing is reallyyyy disturbing her (and thus, our!) sleep.

Can see some other littlies are poorly too, I hope they all soon recover. DD was poorly at Xmas last yr too, I remember. She was so screamy, I'm sure this year will be better as she is not so screamy now thank God.

I am yet to ever use fabric softener.

We are planning to do a load of our chores tomorrow whilst DD is in nursery for a bit, but I'm not sure I will send her if she seems more poorly tomorrow morning.

I keep meaning to try vinegar on my towels. My sisters swear by it in place of fabric softener.

Hope the kiddies recover. I came down with a cold yesterday and so did DH so we’re not firing on all cylinders. DS is also showing definite signs of stress even though I’m trying to keep things fairly low key. Can’t be entirely avoided at this time of year.

Anyway, I had big plans to get lots done today but ended up having to edit a work document and that took all morning - so much for annual leave 🙄. I’ve managed to get quite a few jobs done this afternoon but in rather a scattergun way so I don’t feel ‘ready’ for Christmas. I usually like to have everything tidied and sorted by Christmas Eve so I can relax and enjoy the vibe. We’re off to the in laws tomorrow and I’ve not packed or sorted anything. Bloody work.

On a good note, the cleaner is coming tomorrow morning so at least we’ll come back to a clean house. Assuming I can tidy everything and then stop the kids undoing my good work and getting in her way!

Merry Christmas all 🍷 💐

Merry Christmas Adora.

Got to collect the meat this morning. DD has presents to drop off. Christingle this afternoon as the Catholic service is just too dull..

I'm deliberately not looking at my phone or laptop for work.

Happy Christmas Eve!!!

We had our Christmas argument last night so that’s out the way. Phew.

I’m feeling awful. Sore throat hot and cold achey. And have both my babies to look after today. Dh is off to work.

Dsis is meant to be coming up for brunch but she’s le hungover so I’ve said to her to just come up when she can.

Dh still needs to do his Christmas shopping. He hasn’t got anything for Fil. He was going to get a voucher for a nice hotel here. Which they would love. However. Said hotel closes for Christmas. And vouchers can only be bought there. I offered a few times to sort it out for him. But nope. “Stop nagging me and I’ll do it ok. Just leave it. You’ve done everything else and not let me participate let me do this...”

This was part of our argument last night. He suggested I take the kiddos into town today and buy Fil some things. I said if I was going to town it’d have to be without kiddos. It’ll be manic. So it’ll have to be after dh gets home from work. But town shuts today at 4. Dh finishes anywhere between 230 and 5 today depending on when they decide to close the office. So yeah nah I’m not venturing in. His circus. His monkeys.

I've deliberately hidden my work laptop and phone. I got a few texts on my own phone yesterday but nothing taxing just domestics.

Food shop was done yesterday morning we were out of the supermarket and done before 8am. Sainsbury's shelf stocking left a lot to be desired

All cleaning done except mirrors and windows inside but ds keeps undoing what I've done grrr and at his age he should know better. Will try and get these and another load of washing done today

Drs for me today, ds has a commitment for three hours so I'm hoping that will get him out from under my feet a bit

Steak for tea, I have some really fat steaks so looking forward to that.

Went and rescued my fallen rose trees yesterday as best I could. My thanks is being cut to bits,one of those roses needs gauntlets

Happy Christmas Eve lovely frugal folk. I hope the poorlies soon start to feel better

I don’t miss the work emails at all!!

Happy Crimbo Eve Everyone!

My phone & Laptop are firmly packed away.

Today is going to be a day of frantic cooking - the to do list looks ominous. No shopping thankfully.

The kids have invited themselves to my M&D's for tonight which gives me an unexpected clear night.

£50 butcher's but got another Christmas dinner meat in my freezer.
£10 coop £2 Bakers

Dsis came round. She brought pastries. And the most beautiful Christmas Eve box ever for the littlies. Ds hasn’t seen it yet. We’re waiting for dh to come home.

She’s now upstairs napping in dds room with catface. Ds and Dd are down with me.

£25 flowers for mum

Second lot of washing on. Last couple of presents wrapped on behalf of others. Presents under tree, stocking stuffed and hidden. Mirror and insides of windows cleaned. I think I'm done although I've had to nip the floor again as ds walked all over it in muddy shoes - we are a no shoes inside house so I was . Quick and not entirely tidy coat of polish on fingers and toes

Drs shortly and will then pick ds up and spend the rest of the day chilling until it's time to Cook the steak 🥩

Been doing lots of food prep this morning. Tired now after a rubbish night with poorly dd2. Have a few presents to wrap then I'm done. Hoping we get some sleep tonight to avoid Christmas grumpiness!

Hello, you lovely lot!

I've been very bad and not been posting, just very busy.
Have tidied and cleaned all of my downstairs. It still isn't as clear as I want it to be, I still have large pieces of furniture that are the exes. But it hasn't looked this clean or spacious for years, so I'm pretty proud of myself! Throwing things out is very good for my well-being!
Just have to wrap a few more presents and swap empty stockings for full ones when dcs are in bed.

All my dcs are home, and I'm just so bloody happy and really looking forward to Christmas day tomorrow.
There will be no rules this year! Well one rule, just have fun!

Merry Christmas everyone x

Awww Curvy you sound super happy - well deserved. Enjoy!

I have spent the whole day cooking - but it means the most taxing bit of tomorrow will be putting a couple of things in the oven, squirting a bit of cream on things and drinking champagne cocktails.

Thanks Unescorted.
Sounds like you will have a wonderful day tomorrow, the prep is worth it though, isn't it?
It makes the day go so much smoother.
Enjoy tomorrow with your wonderful family x

All prepping done here.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone x