April Amigos Accounting Achievements and Adaptability

[Wolfcub]

New Fred for old friends and new

Agree about the expensive food shopping & the difficulty adjusting to a once weekly food shop.
I hate the idea of the track and trace app. Apparently we are the only country taking this approach, unsurprising given Hancock's love of all things tech based. But so many people saying this is not the way to go.
In frugal news (sort of), I bought a nerf gun on eBay last night. The dc were very excited on finding one in the cupboard of doom yesterday & talked me into buying another for lockdown battles! £10.
Ds cooked tea tonight & dd is doing tomorrow

Thanks for the love for my dad. He sounded so much better today having had a sleep in his own bed.

Sorry I have been awol today - I was busy at work. I will have a proper read tmwr.

Glad he’s improving unescorted

Nerf gun sounds an excellent purchase north! I was wondering about something like that, we are gradually getting outdoor toys (we have a lot of sport stuff from when DH ran the home ed PE classes) although I have a feeling all the bullets would end up in the neighbour houses or the school field within approximately 8 minutes 😂 maybe super soakers instead for when it’s hotter.

Found out yesterday the local adult education people are offering a small range of short distance learning courses for free so I’ve signed up for one.

Told mum I’m starting to think about careers and her reply was that nobody will get jobs now and that she’s glad she’s not in the rat race. Was kind of hoping for a bit of excitement and asking what field etc but oh well! So thank you frugaleers for being so nice about me taking that first step the other day 💐💕

I’m excited anyway. Started writing a list of possibles.

Lane that sounds really positive about courses and jobs. I think this time will see lots of people re-evaluating work/life/relationships.

Unescorted you must be so relieved about your dad.

North we've just started giving dd8 some household chores. Just sorting laundry and helping with the recycling for now... can't wait til she can cook dinner 😂

Thanks madden :)

That’s great about the chores. We put up a chart at the start of this term for the Caglets (J is 12 and I is 10, felt the toddler is a bit young 😂 although she insists on taking cutlery/sauces to the dinner table every day!)

This is the current one and it’s working pretty well. As of next week we are increasing it to include hoovering (just living room) twice a week, possibly some dusting and cleaning the living room windows/back door, changing their beds etc, so they’ll have two tasks a day instead of one. Will change the bins round as well, DS had an infection on his hands over Easter so we wouldn’t let him touch the bins at that point!

Got lost on tiktok last night. On an equestrian loop. And discovered fairfax and favour boots. Am now lusting after a pair. But at £345 they are NOT at all frugal. One day if I come into an unexpected chunk of treat money....

Wooden blocks arrived this morning for the dc. Ds loved them. Dh was a bit at the amazon box but I pointed out that both kids can play with them, they’re timeless and actually not plastic crap. So.

Yeah wooden blocks are always a wise purchase! Endless open ended play. Cagletini has my old ones plus some extras from when the others were little.

I’m tempted by putting an order in ATM but it’d mostly be home ed stuff.

I am bored and grumpy today so this may lead to spending money. I usually do the town shopping and DH needs his meds so I may go but can’t really be arsed to move ATM

Lane - sunday is bedroom tidy and change bed sheets here too, dd2 hates it and will avoid it at all costs. Dcs don't do much more than that, I've tried charts and rewards over the years but it never seems to work, possible because I'm not always here to supervise.

Madden it's actually really good when dc can help out with the cooking dd1(14) is really into baking and will Often prepare dinner if I'm at work, as long as she's got a recipe or an idea of how to do it.

Girlie it's so hard to just survive at the moment isn't it? I know that sounds really dramatic, but I'm worried for the mental health of everyone after this.

Exciting day today as I'm going to Asda later on for the weekly food shop, got lots in the freezer but nothing fresh! Who knew this would be the highlight of my week.

There's an interesting thread on MN about stuff that users have treated themselves to to help get through the weeks, everything from a Mars Bar to a Cartier watch I've ordered a candle, Nutri Ninja and a duck pond (very small) anyone else here made any purchases to lift your spirits?

Yes I think we are only managing to do this because life is so much simpler and we aren’t rushing off to ballet or scouts etc. Really hoping by the time things go back to normal we are really used to it. Mine seem to quite like having it written down so it’s predictable, as they don’t whinge about it (unlike if we randomly ask them to do something)

Purchases - I’ve bought myself a couple of nerdy DVDs and some piano music but haven’t found the alone time to use them much!

£58 butchers. Will wander down later and collect it. Need to meal plan today so I can finished my supermarket c&c order.

I've bought nothing to treat myself. I do need to get DC to do more chores. As my two are same age as J&I I'm shamelessly stealing that lane.

Yes I’ve bought a cross stitch kit.

Not really bought myself any treat purchases although I'm saving money so that when this is all over I can get my living room done! Now dd is past the toy stage I can actually have a grown up living room 😁

I've bought puzzles, books and dvds for dd all of which have gone down well.

I find with dd if I leave her with a list when I go out to work she will do the housework jobs. For example on the list Ystd was sort and put clothes away, tidy the dresser cupboard but also do your puzzle, make some pancakes etc. Only ever 5 things on the list and so far she's done it with no complaints....

If I'm home though I can't get her to do much at all 🤪

girlie what’s that like? A grown up living room...?!?! 😂

Got a battery for the weighing scales (thanks for the many offers) and weighed myself yesterday. Could have been worse. I'd got into a bad habit of eating a chocolate bar every evening while watching TV. Only a treat size bar but still..... So I've knocked that on the head.

Went shopping early this morning in Lidl and Super Valu. I still have to get a few bits in Centra and steak burgers from the butcher. Banking app is playing up - I'll post my spends later.

I spent a few hours yesterday pruning a shrub that's growing over the wall from the garden behind mine. It's a really vigorous shrub with red berries and it's totally taking over my trellis. I wouldn't mind so much if it was a shrub with pretty flowers. The shrub is so well established that there are actual wooden branches poking through my trellis! Really wish I'd tackled it when the shrub made its first appearance at the top of my wall. I might ask the local odd job man how much he'd charge to saw them off. Once the DIY stores are open, I can get some varnish and paint the trellis. Then fill my patio with flowering tubs and maybe a climbing rose. Question - do I have to varnish the trellis or can I paint it instead? I kind of fancy painting it a nice blue colour. But I guess the whole point of varnish is to prolong the life of the trellis. Hmmmm......

DD My hairdresser is going to trim my hair in a bit. Then we might go for a walk.

My sour dough starter #covidbingo

I haven't bought any treat purchases but have made purchases to make the most of the new normal - Disney+, printer, child's bike seat - and all give me extra time and patience which are my biggest treat of all

I've realised another bizarre thing about weekly shopping and not sure where this falls on any kind of lockdown bingo but... pasta. There was a pasta shortage, I was a bit worried as we only had about 1/3 of one of those big 3kg bags and half a bag of macaroni and surely we eat pasta all the time, no? Well it turns out we don't as we've still got the majority of that left 8 weeks later. I'm not really sure why either as we all like pasta, but when I think about it it's usually a quick meal I do for the kids when me and dh are eating something different later and atm we're all eating together. Hit me with your favourite pasta meals as I think our repertoire stretches as far as bolognaise, cheese, cheese and peas, pesto and peas and the classic children's favourite, completely plain 😂

Our treat purchases have been a big case of beer from one of our favourite breweries and a few jars of chutney, chilli jam, curry paste etc from a favourite spicy treat shop! I have just had some crackers with brie and chilli jam. We have bought a few books for the dcs and things like glue sticks but their birthdays were not long ago so I haven't bought any new toys as they'd had quite a few new things then. Dh was worrying about all the Amazon boxes that arrived the other day until I pointed out they were tampons and pull ups, not very exciting!

madden I'm the same re: pasta. I bought a 1 kg bag early on. There were only a handful of bags of pasta on the shelf that day and I didn't want to be greedy when it was such a high demand item. I really worried about how I'd replace it when it was gone. Well, I've hardly touched that bag. It's been a novelty to have time to cook fresh dinners so we've been eating lots of meat and two veg dinners. Or rice dishes. Anyway, my favourite pasta dish is chicken and chorizo pasta bake or just chicken pasta bake if you've a fussy DD who doesn't like chorizo.

Mmm crackers brie and chilli jam.

£140 Sainsbury's order in for tomorrow. Some is mils though.

We're the same with pasta. I think we probably do eat it more when we are all at work/school because it it quick to cook but since we've had more time for cooking we've been eating other things.

£122 in Asda - I'm in shock!! I've never spent that much on a food shop in one hit!

I am feeding 4 adults (2 big eaters - 6ft3 & 16 stone a piece) a veggie teen and A 14 year old that eats like a bird but admits she's a food snob, so won't entertain anything processed or value brand, favourite foods are steak with asparagus, fresh berries with Fage Greek yogurt, halloumi and sourdough.

Another very boring day, with the exception of my Asda trip.

I'm feeling very selfish because I can't wait for these restrictions to be loosened a little and I'm reading that people are begging to continue as we are right now. I don't know how much longer the country will continue to obey the rules, especially when the news that the fella who suggested the rules hasn't been sticking to them!

Is anyone watching anything good on tv? I've binged watched most of the A word on BBC iPlayer just in time for the next series I tried normal People but just couldn't get into it.

We just watched the Sewing Bee which was fab, I loved the grapes and the star dungarees. Othe r than that we've been enjoying Mrs Maisel on Amazon and the programme where the architects use VI to show people how they could transform their houses. Can't remember the name but it was on BBC2 last night.

Have you got Netflix Camden? You have to stick with Normal people, it does get better.
I can't wait for the restrictions to lift as well...