Festive Frugaleering

[Unescorted]

[[https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/credit_crunch/4340188-Savvy-savers-sashaying-through-September old thread]

Opppppps - we nearly filled the old one

Hello everyone
Been shopio to Primark bought a lot of lovely things for DDS stockings.
My Favourite was a plain black thin woollen scarf with their initial on 6 pounds but it is gorgeous l couldn't resist !
£60 in there and £49 in Lidl , 27 in the card shop!
Bought all the special cards though thankfully it takes such a long to read through and the pushing and shoving and sneezing and coughing that was going on was afearful!

NSD. Spent most of the day cleaning the fridge freezer. There are some casualties that are now dog food.

Mrs I was £42 in the card shop and I was extremely uncomfortable with the amount of people just barging right into my space. My DM was going yesterday for cards and I told her not to as I think they must be one of the most likely places to catch covid ( she went anyway )

Vodka is still my drink of choice but I always use a measure so I know exactly how much alcohol I'm drinking. Wine on the other hand is guaranteed to give me heartburn and a terrible hangover.

I haven't had a nsd for ages. I left my Christmas shopping later than usual so it's been an intense spending spree. I feel quite overwhelmed by it all.

How's your dad Unescorted? Did they get the power back on?

Dh & I went Christmas shopping yesterday. The shops here were very quiet, due probably to the dreadful weather, rain and wind. We persevered and did pretty well.
Both dc have Monzo accounts and use the pot system. I've got a spreadsheet running and so do the same thing.

nsd yesterday and today. Went to the beach yesterday for a long dog walk and it was glorius - bright sunshine but very very windy. Will probably do similar today after lunch as weather is much the same

Still eating a somewhat weird selection of freezer/stores - we had beef stroganoff with fried gnocchi yesterday and I have made a chicken pasta sauce into a pit this am which we'll eat with roasted carrots

Have a lovely day everyone

I have also had a vodka moment, and a blank tape collection.

gen the Irish passports are a bonus.

Born they did get the electric back on. I had to call social services and the medical team to get them to call the electric company. The medical team told the electric co they were on verge of calling for a helimed. A generator turned up a couple of hours later. Their neighbours were off until Thursday. So it is as well we kicked up a fuss. He is very poorly now.

Have a horrible cold or maybe a throat infection, not really sure. Feel rubbish in any case!
Have bought dress x 2 and shoes for party next Sunday (one dress will go back) plus booked to have hair blow dried on Sunday morning. In total about £150. Worth it as haven’t seen a lot of these people since before covid, and some of them are bitches from former work so want to look my best
£17 on whiskey for my throat
Credit cards down to £120 and £90ish so will clear them on Dec payday. They were £4000 and £1250 in the summer.
DH’s also down to around £1000 from over £5000 this time last year. We have really learned to live under our means and have cash flowed a lot of IVF drugs etc on top of paying debts off. Looking forward to starting to save once we have cleared the credit cards.
DH is downstairs making me homemade soup ❤️

Nsd.

Christmas party last night with work so am feeling a bit delicate today. However came home last night (dparents babysitting) to be told that dd had a funny tummy and had been sick 🥲 poor baby. So no sleep for me as I stayed up all night worrying. Dd slept through pretty much.

She’s hardly eaten today though. But so far have “only” had two funny tummy nappies. So that’s good. She’s drunk loads too.

She asked for a biscuit just now and against my better judgement I’ve given her one.

Hope she recovers quickly em

Gen hope you feel better soon too.

I spent £5 on coffees, DH wanted lunch out but I said no. We have loads of food that needs using. After lunch I needed to walk into town, for my sanity.

Fridge freezer was collected this morning,

I’m okay on vodka and wine, most drinks really, but my teen horror moment was with Pernod 🤦‍♀️

Gen nice work on the CC. and GWS

em hope she feel better already soon.

Where has the weekend gone people?

A double Bacardi and Diet Coke will never pass my lips again 🤢 Makes me feel Ill just thinking about it, and this was 20 years ago.

Hope gen and DDem feel better soon

DD2 got contact traced by school, posted yesterday afternoon, result back 9am today-negative.

DC won, and our Christmas tree went up today. Will do the rest of the decorations next weekend though.

DH started a job application about an hour ago, deadline is tonight. Nothing quite like leaving it to the last minute…

2 more weeks of school to go!

and thinking of you and your Ddad unescorted

love that’s Jack Daniels and Diet Coke for me. I can’t even smell it without feeling sick!

@Gensola

love that’s Jack Daniels and Diet Coke for me. I can’t even smell it without feeling sick!

I have this problem with tequila. Also sambuca

I drank Whisky and coke when l was 20 and have never been able to drink it again. The hangover was so awful l was so ill!
NSD for me today thankfully
Well done on the freezer clearing @AdoraBell
Born it was crazy in Card Factory , they did keep all the doors open though thank God
@Unescorted oh bless you so worrying for you re the power failure with your Dad being so poorly, you did a great job getting a generator out
North you are so organised well done!
Granny l like the sound of your weird selection meals they sound yummy
@Lovemaltesers glad your Dd was negative, fingers crossed this OMicron varient is very mild

Back from spendy weekend 1 - excellent
Think I’m just going to do a top up and eat the freezer

Dd was fine. Until about 2am. When she woke up with a funny tummy. Then again at 5 when she did a sicky.

We’ve been on the couch since about 530. Watching cartoons. Poor baby. Poor mummy.

Hey guys!

I lost you all, then found the new thread 😊

Spending has been off the scale recently, but I'm determined that I won't be reckless and have a really skint January, which i usually do. Last year I got a budget book from Wilko for a few quid and it really helped me keep on top of random spending, I'll look for something similar to use next year in the hope I can get back to being frugal.

I've finished and wrapped almost all of my Christmas presents now, I don't actually have many to buy for just dh, dc's x 4 and my mum, I also buy a small gift for dc's godmother and that's it, FIL doesn't celebrate Christmas but we usually buy him some nice food which is straightforward and cheap!

Took ds2-19 out for breakfast today which was really nice as I don't get to spend much time with him alone, he's always out when I'm in.

An older friend of mine always sends a yearly newsletter and I just received it this morning, it was so nice to read and has made me think about how busy we always seem to be, but doing nothing important, either work, shopping or housework.

Hope everyone's looking forward to some time off during the next few weeks or so.

Sore throat remedies please - I have strep throat/bacterial tonsillitis and feel wretched.just started my antibiotics but will take a day or so to kick in.
DH is making me macaroni cheese for dinner bless him. And putting up the Christmas tree to cheer me up!

Ahh Gen bless you sweetheart , my DD2 has the most dreadful tonsillitis and strep throats , she uses Difflam it's very good
Spends today Matalan 10 , marks 7 , Home Bargains 50, yes 50!
Iceland 15, did you know that they do Biscoff cream biscuits OMG and they are Vegan! On offer in Iceland @ 2 pkts for £2 atm
Well done on finding us and getting all your pressies done @CamdenLurker
Ah Em hope your baby girl is much better now lovely
Glad you had a good time Life

By some miracle, i've managed almost a full day of work whilst DD has been home. we've had no more sicks. and only one poop (and t was relatively normal) so i'm assuming she's on the mend. hoorah. she's eaten loads too.

i'm now flagging. am tired, and am going to pack up the work stuff soon.

have done way more than was probably expected today so that's all good.

the only dilemma i have now s that dsis said that its 48 horus since last "episode" for them being allowed back to nursery. what would you do?

my options are:

take both kids to nursery and i go to work dh in work
take ds to nursery and cancel all my appointments tomorrow and stay home to wfh again
take ds to nursery and make dh stay home with dd whilst working from home.

given the bug is likely to have come from nursery, and if im honest her sicks were a result of her coughing a lot...would i be unreasonable to just sent her as normal, knowing that i can always come home?

i'm more than happy to be told yes i am.

gen have you got a mouthwash? Corsodyl or similar i believe are good for throat infections. to help numb it. (unless of course the Dr has given you some sort of rinse (difflam i believe is the one i usually get when i have that infections).

failing that, soft comfort food lots of sleep and alternate paracetamol and ibroprofen every 2 hours. unless obviously you have allergies or can't take either.

do you have a snood? or a neck hot water bottle? keeping warm will be good too.

haha cross post re throat remedies with mrs

@ememem84

haha cross post re throat remedies with mrs

l would be tempted to send her in tbh with you if she is absolutely fine but l am fully aware it is wrong l am just being honest with you Em It's really difficult l know love

There are some occasions when a young child not being able to tell on you, can work in your benefit em…

I have contact traced all day. I don’t know how schools can stay open much longer?!

I don’t consider sick after a coughing as “sickness”