Managing Money Mindfully in March with the Friendly Frugaleers

[Happierwithouthim]

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All welcome on this thread, we're a friendly bunch who like to get bang for our buck, and manage our money as well as we can.

Pet pics very welcome too

Tayto- do you have a plastic placemat? Or a disposable plastic party tablecloth? They are excellent for modelling clay or other crafts, it scrapes right off, and saves any surfaces.

Dd2 loves any kind of Fimo, play doh, Clay and that kind of stuff even though she's 12, she can still make an awful mess!!

What kind of card do you think you’ll use snuggly? I’m not sure if cereal box card would get wrecked too fast 🤔 but corrugated may be too tricky (and not as pretty when coloured, unless I use paint that will show up better, but also we don’t have a huge amount of paint so I don’t want to use it up 🤦‍♀️😂)

There’s a chance I’m overthinking 🙄

I made her a couple of matching games last night - photographed bits from books she loves (this one is toot toot beep beep) and I was reading the words so she had to put it on the right picture.

Tbh it was just an excuse to use the laminator 😂 trying to think of as many games as possible that I can somehow make myself with the insane amount of recycling in our kitchen 😂 thinking shapes/colours/counting etc

Gorgeous doggie Camden. The modelling clay is for a project DD's doing for her Junior Cert. (state exam). It's supposed to be mounted on a wooden block so she's trying to improvise. But I don't know if the state exams will actually go ahead. They haven't been cancelled yet.

Happier I just glanced at the headlines on RTE and it says the ICU in the Mater is now full . I know there are other hospitals but even so.........

LaneBoy I love that matching game you made.

Hi all just catching up.

Sea I love that rainbow! Your comment about your sons hair resembling Liam Gallagher made me laugh 😆

Camden my teen dd is getting out of bed later and later 🙄 she is also not interested in crafts or baking and has to be peeled off her phone. Your dog is gorgeous 😍 sorry re your job, that's rubbish.

I'd forgotten about blowing eggs!! I might see if I can get dd to have a go at that later and might try the handprint salt dough thing as well.

I got up very early this morning to get down to Morrison's for the NHS hour 7-8am 😴 I managed to get everything we needed though including loo roll!! Spent a fortune £140 😵 this is the most I have ever spent in a supermarket on a single shop. It included Easter Eggs, treats and nice bits for Easter lunch/day as well as toiletries and a few bits for the garden.

Knackered now though!!

Lane I have a lot of paper plates left from a party that I thought I might use. We have already used some to make animal masks.

I cut out a lot of shapes from those foam sheets and we use them for colour and shape games and making pictures.

Yesterday I made numbers 1-5 out of play dough and got the dts to splat the right number as I called them out. I did the same with dd but with answers to the 2x table.

Sorry posted too soon, matching game from familiar books is a great idea! I might do that too.

Hi all.
Not keeping up very well as still feeling a bit rough.
Life, hope you feel better soon.
Sea love the rainbow!
Camden sorry about your job, that is rubbish.
Lane and Snuggly do your dcs like to post things? You could use a container with a lid, slit a hole and they could post buttons, lollysticks, money.
You could also make shakers from loo or kitchen roll holders. Seal up one end with some paper, fill with rice, pasta or lentils or small stones, then seal the other end.
If you wanted to make a rain maker, some idea as above, but you need paper fasteners, screws or nails to poke into the tube, so that the materials have something to hit to make the rain sounds.

Curvy they're all great ideas.

We've had great fun playing a Youtube video for cats which shows a spider crawling around on a web. DCat1 was trying to catch it with his paw . DCat2 was watching intently but didn't attempt to catch it.

We've also been spying on our neighbours. There's a lady who cycles past our estate most days. We call her 'The Wicked Witch of the West' because she's always dressed in black (even on hot summer days) and wears a black hat. Well, The Wicked Witch of the West cycled right into our estate (this has never happened before) and dropped a bag into our next door neighbour. There's been much speculation about what the bag might contain and how The Wicked Witch of the West knows our next door neighbour.

We may have been spending too much time in lockdown!

Tayto loving the Witch mystery!

Tayto such an Irish thing to do watch the neighbours movements
Au pair was puzzled with a tractor passing most nights circa 1am I suggested he worked by day & a week or so later another neighbour confirmed that he is working by day & his brother is sick so he has two farms to work by night

Dc were thrilled to receive post from Granny today including €10 for Easter each we spoke to postman & he gave them both two of the free an post postcards each to write back to Granny & Grandad(after carefully checking discreetly that Grandad existed too!)

I cleaned out freezer & condensed things down into mini freezer bags. Made soup with veg lying around in pressure cooker, out walking now & will make brown scones when I go home to go with the soup.

Happier DD sent off her two free postcards yesterday - one to my Dad and one to my eldest sister. They're both postcard people so we figured they'd appreciate them most.

We played a bit of tennis outside and I've now ordered a badminton set from Amazon. It's really hot for April - if I go out again, I'll be applying suncream.

Phoned Dad earlier. I feel bad because I'd invited him up for Easter. Now he'll be spending Easter on his own and we won't be doing all the nice day trips we'd planned. But sure, everyone else is in the same boat.

Ooh I like the idea of making a rain maker. We've done shakers before but hadn't thought of a rain maker. Brilliant!

Afternoon everyone, isn't it gorgeous out
You are all doing wonderful crafts and games and being so inventive for the Dc , so clever well done everyone
Pidgy is still with us, presently sunning himself on the lawn after a misty shower via Dh's hosepipe
Have been cooking eating again
Bread & butter pud , Victoria Sandwich, Lemon drizzle cake & fruit loaves
Cleaned the kitch & had a naice lunch of corned beef & mustard sarnies on the lawn wih Dh
North they were beautiful bless her , will put pic on you take care in work , don't overdo it
Curvy hope you are feeling better very soon
Tayto
Happier love those stripy trainers
Have pics of baking and Pidgy and flowers

Pidgy 🧡 & BFF flowers 💐🤗👏😍😍😍
We are doing a Teddy bear hunt for the DC to spot when they go walking 😍🧡😄

22 degrees here 😎

Done a bit of decorating.

Tomorrow we end our isolation. My mum has sent a massive shopping list for her and DP is going to do both of our shopping.

FIL dropped off Easter chocolate at a distance. Still very strange that not one member of our family has asked whether we need anything, seeing as we haven’t been out for 13 days. FIL breezily stated, so you must be short of food now... I think DP is quite hurt really. We will ensure we offer help when they need it.

We haven’t done anything educational with the DC this week

Snuggly, glad I could help a little. Young children can get bored so easily. Remember to wrap the rain maker in some paper in case of sharp bits.
Maybe song cards on sticks, like the picture, we find that they work well at nursery, each child can hold one while waiting for their turn.

Another activity is if you have some tubes, kitchen rolls, at least two, stick those up on the wall, put a basket underneath. The child can put pompoms or other small objects though the tubes and then see how many they have collected in the basket.

Also, if you have outdoor space get the children to 'paint' the fence or floor, using just water and a paint brush.

Saying that, I must get the DC to draw/create something for my parents and PIL to go in Easter cards.

Love those ideas thanks so much! I’ve been making two more matching games and then the very hungry caterpillar I’ll try and make a little posting box so she can “feed” the food to it

Such good ideas Curvy, thank you. We're all pit enjoying the sunshine at the moment (in tha garden). Next couple of days definitely look warm enough for some outdoor water play

No worries guys!

Not sure if it is still available, but twinkl were offering free access to their site.

Lane, you could also photocopy some of the pictures in the hungry Caterpillar and put those on sticks.

Objects of reference can make the story came alive for little ones!

Mrs wow fab baking and lots of lovely food, you are making me hungry!
My dd has a very similar blanket to the one in your second photo!

Yep curvy it was your postbox idea that made me think of it - current view is this:
(also making matching games for another book hence the other pics :o)

Lane, wow so busy!
Your children are very lucky.

TBH curvy it’s showing me I actually can do a lot of the stuff I want to do if I am less stressed! It’s really making me think about finding a better balance in life once things go back to normal. I’m anxious about the pandemic obv but overall I’m actually the calmest I’ve been in years