The Lockdown Saving and Spending Continues! May Frugaleers continued

[LaneBoy]

New thread!

Evening everyone.

Watching the babies grow up has been such a joy - I say this as a person who never really wanted kids. DD1 was a Surprise! She and DS have been such a positive influence in my life.

wolf sorry to hear it has been tough at work. We are ramping up to offset the lifting of furlough. Working in a counter cyclical sector means I am secure in my job but, at times like this it is eyes on stalks. We are employing & we are so much better than our department…..

I've put the heating on. Jumper just isn't enough.

I sat on bed this afternoon under one duvet on the other. I was that cold.

Hearing on hear too Life and hot water bottle out

It is bloody cold isn't it?! I have my big cosy winter slippers on.

I’ve been freezing today!

Flapjack was alright but a bit sweet for me - that’s why I like lonely’s, I think - the nuttiness balances they sweetness. It did set though (just - next time I’d still put more oats in, I would have done This time but I’d already added extra seeds...).

Thanks for the tip about Woman’s Hour Madden - I often listen to WH podcasts so might do that tomorrow. Sounds interesting!

Been properly planning my return to healthy eating from Saturday (when Ocado comes). I’ve hit rock bottom but am actually feel positive about it right now. Looking forward to not feeling so sluggish... but it was a whopper Ocado shop

School yesterday to do some work in my classroom and to attempt a (disastrous) online meet with my kids. Tech issues.

It was really great to see my colleagues. But a bit nerve wracking considering all the changes we pull have ahead of us.

No spend day though. That was good.

Hi all! Thought I’d drop in as apparently it’s 205 posts since I last wrote anything 🤣 I’m rubbish at keeping up.

Fairly frugal times, I finally sorted some regular payments by phoning the bank and (assuming they’ve cleared it) reduced my bank account to the basic one which I had been unable to do in person . Not spending much except food, I did buy Cagletini a couple of orchard toys products this week though :o

I’ve been focusing on decluttering and one thing I did was gather all the half used puzzle books, activity kits, novels I’ve not read yet etc into one box - all stuff to use up because I wouldn’t keep them after using. It’s kept me off screens a bit more (and will hopefully be useful when DS complains of being bored as all he wants is screens) and although it would only be a few quid here and there, it’s stopped me spending on new books, puzzle packs on the apps I play etc because I know I have plenty to do still. The exception is a monthly book club to support my friend who sells usborne - it’s only YA fiction though and I’m really craving a Proper Grown Up (not in a dodgy way haha!) Book Club.

Loving hearing about everyone’s little ones developing too. I am generally enjoying DD2 much more anyway (I think because she’s my third and I’m more chilled) but lockdown has cut out so much “outside noise” that I’ve spent more time just playing with her than I was before. Also because there’s such a big gap (just over 8 years between DC2/3) the older two are so proud of everything she does and I love seeing them marvel at her!

They were very excited last night as she’s been drawing endless circles for weeks (literally just filling pages with them 😂) but last night drew people with faces for the first time. And because we didn’t have anywhere else to be we could just sit and encourage her which was so lovely.

DD1 was extra proud because her first people were not herself or family as you might expect, but she’d said “I draw Jimin and Jungkook” - two of the boys from BTS who were on YouTube at the time. 🙄 Apparently she is the youngest K-pop fan ever. 🤣

That’s amazing Lane, really good for her age. She’s not even 2 yet, right? Nice to hear from you again

DD isn’t much interested in drawing /mark making but was persuaded to have a go yesterday. She told us she was drawing a Christmas tree but no one was convinced

She’s gone off to nursery today - looking very tall suddenly. And very forlorn as she can’t take her comfort toy with her. She’s being very brave but I feel awful at how sad she is, she’s very dependent on her special friend. I think she thinks about him all day. Last week when I picked her up she said ‘mummy, (toy) really missed me and I did miss him too, but I tried not to cry at nursery’ .

Today I’m going to try just to do a couple of hours work and then do some housework and also play with DS a bit as school is closed on Fridays. I might also make the topper for DD’s cake for next weekend. She wants Sarah and Duck. And I have a few toy rabbit clothes to sew up and finish off.

This weekend is dying my roots, cutting DS’s hair, gardening out back and trimming the bushes out the front. So pruning on all fronts I might do my legs too

Attached is the salad we ate last night, harvested from the garden. It was delicious! I have a lot of courgettes on the way too. I’m really enjoying growing some food this year, just a few pots but very satisfying

Nooo not advanced I don’t think, she’s actually 2y7m (time flies 😱) she wasn’t interested in scribbles before 2 I think.

Oh yes I remember now, they’re 4 months apart, which I why I could only send clothes your way in the first year! I still think she’s a genius

Absolute genius!!!

Ds doesn’t do that. He does know the names of a lot of dinosaurs now.

He pointed to his plate the other day (with dinosaurs on it) and said “look mummy. Dimetrodon and parasauralophus”.

My face 😳

Oh that’s so cool em 🦖🦕 he definitely needs a Future Paleontologist t-shirt (I’m sure I saw one online somewhere). 😍 Also parasaurolophus is my fave dinosaur 😄

Yep sea you basically clothed her for a year 🤣💕

DS is in no mood for home ed today. Sigh. Going to be a bit of a slog, I’m so glad it’s Friday

lane mine too!!!!

I’ll look for that tshirt. 😀😀

Morning of interview prep for me and helping colleague with theirs too. Have a meeting this afternoon but I'm going to go and pack some of exes shit first and hang some washing on the airer

Pizzas for dinner.

Managed to get another 1000 words of my assignment written today. So am 3/4 of the way there. Phew.

Also put some sourdough together.

Have had a right mare with my stand mixer though. Haven’t put the bowl in correctly and now can’t get it off. The handle hits the base of the mixer and I think I need to move it some more to lift it. Might let dh fix it.

Thanks for all the love for the quilt. I'm making it for friends who I'm pretty sure will love it, still a fair bit of work to do though. I enjoy doing it as it needs total focus so distracts me from everything else.
Glad it's the weekend now. Work has been okay, but I haven't felt great this week, just had enough of same old same old.....
While I can see lots of positives in my "lockdown" experience, I've now had enough of not being able to choose what to do. Not sure I've articulated that very well, but I think a lot of people seem to feel the same?

I'm not sure who said it, possibly snuggly but I've also found the weekly shopping thing interesting. The dc are now absolutely switched on to what needs using rather than necessarily what they want & have been quite creative with their food. We never throw much away, but have been throwing even less away. Dh works near an aldi and we had very much got in a habit of frequent top up shops, but won't go back to that.
Not sure what the weekend holds yet, will have a think about what we want to do tonight. Dh may have to do some interview prep as he has got a job interview via skype on Thursday. He's really happy to have been shortlisted but as he hasn't had an interview for a good while, he'll give it his best shot and whatever happens it'll be good practice

Will catch up later but post my spends now
€23.87 sore throat medicine
€0 doctors thanks to gp visit card, €50 saved
€47.75 fruit & veg box
€20 horse riding dd
€14.35 magnifying clip ons for dm
€15.87 on a garden furniture set on eBay, will be amazed if it arrives
€4.50 chicken burger
€57 SuperValu grocery delivery (mon)

Will get diesel later approx €50

Happier I'm guessing it's a dolls house set

Good luck wolf and north's Dh for your interviews.

North I get what you mean - yes it is nice to work from home, spend more time with the family and do more home things.... but I want the choice to just go out on a whim & see who I want. I say this as someone who would have classed herself as a home person....

lane keep the pictures.... I wish we had kept some of DD's really early ones. I do have her first ever photo and one of her early sculptures (which I broke and she restored) they are 2 of my most treasured things.

We are going to be eating quite spicy food for the next few weeks.... Mr Chilli has grown 17 chilli 3-4 of them are ready to eat.

Unescorted you can dry your 🌶 they last for years

They are down to 5.5p each.

You can also make chilli oil. I made some a few years ago and it was so potent that you could only use a tiny drip at a time. It lasted years!

Yes our kids will eat whatever is put in front of them at the moment. They were pretty good eaters anyway but have just accepted odd combinations of leftovers and so on. It's great! £202 I'm supermarket today but about a third of it was for my mum who will reimburse me and a lot of it was stuff like toothpaste and washing up liquid we had run out of. So a big shop.

Oooh nsd today. Wahoooo