Frugally Forward To Autumn

[Wolfcub]

New fred

My caveat is that I have adult DC that were fussy as kids but now will eat anything, so much easier!

Had a lovely afternoon with my friend and we caught up on all the news. We met at a hotel overlooking a lake so after lunch we went for a walk around the lake in the rain. Then the rain got heavier so we nipped back into the hotel for coffee. There was a wedding party at the hotel and I felt a bit sorry for the bride and groom - I'm sure they'd planned on getting some beautiful photos by the lakeside. Anyway, we had a carvery for lunch and then dessert of toblerone cheesecake and coffee. It was so nice to see my friend and hear all her news. I've known her since we were about 10 or 11 and we both have big families so it was good to exchange family news too. I also enjoyed the drive there and back. I could have gone the motorway route but I took the more scenic back roads - passed lots of pretty villages. The sun peeped out occasionally to light up the landscape and there was a lovely rainbow at one point.

A quieter day tomorrow - I need to get a small grocery shop and then catch up on laundry and housework.

@BigSkies2022 the Readers Digest DIY book reminds me of me and DH's first house. We were decorating the hallway and I decided we should take the radiator off to paint behind for a better finish. DH wasn't so keen but I eagerly went to get our DIY book (which had been gifted to us as a house-warming present. Anyway, 20 minutes later and we're both holding the radiator on to the wall whilst simultaneously mopping water and calling an emergency plumber 😂😂

Aprox £35 today on a prescription and little Aldi shop

Small save so my DHs most requested dish sweet lokshen kugel contains all the sour cream, cream cheese, eggs and butter etc well it's not a cheap dish so I found kugel Yerushalmi which is a different type but still sweet and doesn't contain all the expensive ingredients but instead main ingredients of sugar and vegetable oil. Well he loved it and is happy for that to be made instead so I'm just happy that I can make him happy with a much cheaper recipe.

Spend: pizza from pizza hut. Large on a deal £10. But, it fed us both and 4yo DD and baby DS had a slice. To keep the cost down further we walked there, picked up ice cream and bottle of cola in a shop on the way.

DD decided she will now eat mushrooms (v picky eater) so I'm excited for meals with mushrooms in.

We've had people over, so this weekend wasn't frugal but not especially spendy either.. Because we are off in out van on Tuesday I have been very careful in food planning so we dont throw anything away when we leave.. so I made bbq chicken kebabs and sausages with salads and we'll eat left overs today .

Its going to be a few spendy weeks here especially on diesel and sone eating out but that's holidays and has been budgeted for .. Sadly I think that its looking a bit rainy up in Scotland , but hey ho...

So today and tomorrow should be NSDs (unless theres any last minute things we need to take that I have forgotten...

Oh hang on! , I want to get a couple of books for my Kindle.. ( LSDs then.... Not planning on visiting any shops or food shopping)

I have a s fussy pants as well Martha, who needs a diet intervention for her health which limits me more

The thread has been very fast moving so I'm not going to attempt to mention everyone, but good to see more new faces.
Collie keeping my fingers crossed for you & the job, sounds like the interview was ok.
It has been an emotional couple of days here, Friday was ds' 21st & yesterday he left for Somerset & his year long work placement. Anyway, all went well and he arrived safely last night. His presents were a good sharp kitchen knife, scoville fry pan & saucepan & a cast iron shallow casserole with lid, all of which he was really pleased with. He's so excited to cook for himself.
I finished the quilt I'd made him just in the nick of time, early Friday morning. I'll try to post a pic. It's very outing as it's made from his childhood football club duvet covers chopped up (he supports 2 teams). No-one else supports the same combination of teams 😂.
After all he's been through in the past 5 years (he has had multiple health challenges & ME) I really couldn't be prouder.

It’s always raining in Scotland laska that’s why they say “it’s not the wrong weather, just the wrong clothes.”

from a Scotsman friend

I’m not the scot, they are our friends

The quilt

Amazing, ds is very lucky and happy birthday (belated) to him

🤣 its ok we have good waterproofs .... I may take a couple of woollies also ( that will be strange and I haven't actually worn socks or proper shoes since May either) Actually last year in Dumfries and Galloway we had fab weather... We are going further north this year ..

Fantastic quilt @northender , you are so talented..

Hopefully the forecast will be wrong

That's amazing @northender what a brilliant 21st present!

We went to the West Coast and Isles a few weeks ago and the forecast was rain, there was also times of the day's where it got sunny and warm. Wandering round in waterproofs is the norm, it seemed. Have a lovely time 😊

Gorgeous quilt North. Laska I'm following a bloke of Twitter who is sea kayaking round the country for a year starting in the Scottish islands. It's very interesting to follow his journey and see all his beautiful photos.

Ds didn't get up again yesterday. A row was had in which as usual his failure to get out of bed for a week was my fault. He has sport today so will have to get up

Found a nail in my tyre so need to try and get that repaired this week, pretty sure it's repairable given where it is. 50p to pump tires up at the garage though.

I did a receipt comparison on my lidl shop, not all of it was the same but where things were the same they'd gone up 10p per item over the course of the last month!

Almost finished that pile of shredding I found, need to keep waiting for the shredder to cool down as it's overheating. What's been really interesting and slightly terrifying is looking back at old bank documents. In one year, and it wasn't even the worst one, we'd paid nearly £700 just in arranged overdraft fees. Not once in several years on the bounce we're we ever in credit (and that's also not counting the loans and credit cards which I also found some scary statements for). Makes me realise how far I've dragged first us, and then me, up by the bootstraps.

Didn't sleep at all last night, the back to work dread has set in. Need to charge phones and headsets and stuff today as it's an office day tomorrow.

Mushroom risotto for tea I think maybe with some kale. Will do sausage and veg roast tomorrow.

Just shows how amazing you are wolf

nsd planned today as also back to work tomorrow

Thats fantastic work Wolf... I remember just how great it was when I finally paid off my debt ( that I had when I started on this thread originally ) a few years go and started properly saving...

What was great was the support that I got here to properly budget ( I used YNAB and I have not stopped since ) and setting savings goals - In my case the what seemed unattainable buying a campervan dream - and now- rainy or not- we are off in it again !

Love that quilt North - as you know there is a special place in my heart for one of those teams! Was he pleased with it? I love the idea of sending my DC into the world with a home made quilt, what could be more ‘mum’ than that? I hope his placement goes brilliantly, he so deserves it.

I don’t think I was on the thread when I finished DS’s Roald Dahl quilt so here it is. Tbh, he’s not as interested as I’d hoped but DD is currently curled up under it. I have all the fabric to make her one of her own, with purple /pink /red blocks in the background - maybe next year.

have fun Laska - even when it’s raining Scotland is beautiful. I hope you get to park up with a lovely view, at least!

good to know Mrs is okay, hope her mum improves soon.

I’m in spendy limbo at the mo as I don’t know whether my friend’s wedding is going ahead and I don’t think I can ask. Trouble is I don’t have anything to wear and I’m not sure how much effort to put into this problem! Given it’s only 3 weeks away though I have cracked and bought a couple of dresses in a couple of sizes. I’ll only keep one of them (or none - I’d hope to lose some weight if the wedding is rescheduled to a later date and also it might be a different season so no point keeping it). Max price is about £100. Need shoes too though - my feet grew in pregnancy so none of my old stalwarts fit me any more and anyway, I can’t do much of a heel these days 😭. I’m using my blue light card to get a bit off here and there.

Dinner out with friend on Friday £42. 2 courses and shared bottle of wine, just a local restaurant, but that’s London for you! Weekly shop was only £109, low for us, but I’m out one night and DH will probably get a ready meal as he doesn’t cook. We’ll still need a bread and fruit top up.

I'm this >< close to buying a ninja Foodi. The one I want is out of stock everywhere so I’ll have to trade up to the next model if I don’t want to hang around. There is an NHS discount though. Does anyone do cakes in it? It’s possible in principle, I just don’t know if it’s actually good. That would defo save my oven as I bake a lot. They sell baking tins that fit inside but I’m hoping that some of my existing ones will fit. I read on a food group that it will cost over £5 to run the average oven for 2 hours by January - I need to find my power rating and work it out for myself but if true, that adds a huge amount to the cost of a roast. And my oven is big, slow and inefficient so it will defo come to more than that for us. Eek.

I’ve also broken my kettle. The switch has broken off - I can still use it by shoving a pencil in the hole but that might not be a long term option 😂. Sigh.

Cross posted with Wolf - you’ve come so far and are doing such a brilliant job, financially and with DS. I hope you feel genuinely really proud of your independence x

I'm waiting to have words with GS when he emerges from his bed. Went out with his sports team, he's 17 they are all adults some married men in their 30s with kids of their own. Well he got home at midnight, barely able to stand and this morning I go into the bathroom and find I have to clear the basin before I can do my teeth. I won't describe it but let's say he wasn't well in the night. I'm not impressed, he's supposed to be looking for a part time job but it is hard to fit round school and his sport commitments and God knows what he's spent last night, I imagine he has no pocket money left for the rest of the month.

Sorry to be negative, I just needed to get that off my chest to someone.

@HalfWomanHalfChocolate £5 for 2 hours ? Fk.. was that Gas? .
DH makes bread, hes really into it and very good .. We do try and maximise oven use but bread uses a high heat setting and so I can't always put other things in at the same time

Vent away gran. That’s grim!!!

We’re doing lots of housework today, and I’ve just found more school uniform to label 🙁

wolf you really have achieved so much

I’ve told DH that if he wants to make a Christmas cake this year, he needs to bake it before the next electricity price hike.