Frugally Forward To Autumn

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Ds has just had a complete and total meltdown again. I have no energy for this shit.

Hope dd is better soon Em

Good luck with the application Collie

North instant pot vortex plus. Love it

Oh the queen!

Collie, I've never understood that reason for rejection. I wonder whether it's code for, 'you'll be managed by someone younger than you, and we think your superior knowledge might make that person feel insecure.'? It's pants.

Yes, queen. Gosh. King Charles III. Going to take some getting used to...

@BigSkies2022 a little bit snooping on LinkedIn has made me realise that the lucky person was a graduate with no actual work experience. Baffling and gutted :( I expect its nepotism. The SW isn't particularly professional

Ti's weird having a King now. What a gloomy day!

I think it can be that but can also be they don't think that candidate will stick around because they will move on to something better. Of course it can be that the job was already ear marked for someone and they are just going through a charade of open recruitment.

Anyone got any ideas on how to get medicine into a 3 year old? Dd had an ear infection and throat infection. Antibiotics (amoxicillin the banana one) given by dr. Trying to get it into her though is an ordeal and actually makes it worse.

she sprayed the first lot at me. The second dose she held in her mouth and spat it out. The third lot just now she flat out refused. And bit me.

she also now won’t take calpol. so I’m at a loss what to do. Other than sit on her and force it in her mouth and make her swallow it (which is what I did do in the end).

Can you hide it in a small glass of milk Em with a teaspoon of sugar in it

@ememem84 yes mix it with nesquik strawberry milkshake xx hope she's OK

Will try that tomorrow morning. I mean the drugs she’s been given are rank tasting. I did the one for you one for me but too. That didn’t work.

DS used to have that one too. It's so bitter its hideous. But the strawberry milkshake fake flavour hides the bitterness. No idea how! But our GP told us about this trick when DS was 2 (he used to get ear infections a lot!)

Bless him though, always put on a little bit of weight with all the milkshake he was having 🤣

@ememem84 my 3yo is also terrible at taking medicine. He had antibiotics which he refused, took him back to the dr and they said here try this one it tastes much nicer!!! Why didn't they give him that one to start with? He then wouldn't have calpol for ages because he was scarred by the experience. No advice really just sympathy, hope DD feels better soon. DS prefers his calpol from a spoon rather than a syringe if that helps.

£1.60 yesterday on strawberry milk (coincidence about the latest posts haha, ds just loves strawberry milk) as told ds he could have some when I picked him up from nursery then realised we had run out. So a lsd.

Buying lunch at the work canteen today as it's the last day of my training course and I've managed well without so far. DH also getting lunch on campus today with colleagues he's not seen for a while (he's a lecturer). So there will be some spends.

No washing or house cleaning done this week while we've both been at work FT (how do people with little kids who always work FT do it, much admiration). So I have a mound of washing to do this weekend before we go on holiday Monday. Will be a quiet low spend weekend cleaning and getting ready for holiday. Also have to meet my dm to hand over ddog so that's a bit of a drive for me on Sunday.

Hope the milk and sugar trick works em

£7-ish in Sainsbury’s
£4-ish in coffee shop after gym
DH bought protein powder at the gym, £45 😱

It does seem strange having a King.

Dd has decided that her ear is better so no medicine for her today….🙄

she’s with grandma today. Good luck grandma. I didn’t give her any this morning first thing. Left grandma to it.

I did not have a good morning with Dmum. I’m hoping DH calls me soon as I need to vent and swear a lot. Also, 50 minutes on the phone to her landline provider who are shit (same one as Collie I think). It then made me very late for my appointment to visit Ddad, not that he noticed. But I also have loads to do! And now DD2s school want us to rock up earlier for collection this afternoon. Argh.

Well restarting my frugal month hasn't worked, puncture today cost me £25 and I was advised I will need 2 new tyres before my MOT. Maybe I should aim to have a mad spending month and I might do better. Also had to pay a £20 deposit to borrow a blood pressure monitor from surgery but I should get that back in 10 days.

Joy of joy had the appointment for my next blood test and it is on my birthday. What a treat!

£20 on replacement Bosch stick blender. I did have 2: one is now with DMum, the other with DS. So I have replaced it. Will combine daily steps with picking it up between downpours this afternoon.

Spinach and chickpea curry was nice, and the cherry tomatoes a good addition - prevents the dish turning to khaki sludge, always a risk with pureed spinach!

Listened to a Claer Barret podcast on investing. I very much want to start doing this again (stopped paying in a while back) but the advice is always - build up a solid cash reservoir first, equivalent to around six months expenditure, before you start investment funds. So I totted up my expenditure, (including credit card repayment and tax provision, about £20 a week for hobbies, entertainment and transport, and about £20 for birthdays/Christmas) and 6 months comes to around £11, 300. If I managed to save £600 a month, it will still take me nearly 2 years to build what they recommend.

I just wonder what others think of that kind of hedging against loss of future income? Are these personal finance experts and pundits just living in cloud cuckoo land? Who manages to build and hold these kind of reserves and never touch them? I count myself lucky if I can get to £2K, and invariably something comes along that disrupts my income/expenditure balance, and I have to dig in and start again. Well, maybe 2023 will be my year to build up a bit more of a kitty!

We have been pretty good this month but the tax bill of 1857 has wiped us out and we’ve still got to get to 20th before new budget starts with me hsving my hair done next Weds and is going on holiday next Thursday!

so we will basically be going into savings this month which is rubbish

Afternoon.

skies, we invest, and are quite specific with our pension fund and other stocks and shares investments. In truth, we let our financial advisor guide us, based on our specific circumstances and attitude to risk. Despite having worked in financial services in the past, I don't think I'd have enough knowledge of the changing markets to generate the highest returns. It's also a long game this kind of investment, but, done well, has provided far higher returns than our cash in the bank or ISA's etc.

Sorry to hear about the tyre gran

Not the best use of a day off time, poor you.

Spends today.
£21 Lidl, including a veg box for £1.50. Photo attached,
£20 phone top ups for DH.
£3.20 vending machine coffees for DH, can hardly deny him a coffee at present!
£30 Amazon, various bits needed for appliances.

Menu plan for the week.

Mushroom bourguignon.
Courgette and feta/muffins/fritters.
Potato pepper and broccoli frittata.
Veggie moussaka
Bubble and squeak
Mushroom and cauliflower penne.
Sweet potato and white bean chilli.
Aubergine and coconut curry.
Veggie burgers.
Veggie broth and Lidl free bakery bread.

Amazing pair of Hush ankle boots arrived. £10, they don't look like they've been worn!

Sad news re the Queen. Good luck King Charles.

That veg box looks amazing, must go to li D l

Been an exhausting week at work. But low spends as I’ve been working all the time! £4.50 on flapjack and coffee. And £7.52 at supermarket on way home on fruit (DD request) and cheesecake for my friend who’s about to come round.
hope Em DD is better soon …so glad not to have to give medicine to little ones any more!
gran sorry to hear you need further tests and are having lots of expenses
skies I know exactly what you mean, I’d be delighted to have £2000 in savings. I have saved that but for a specific purpose - new windows. And that was before all the price hikes!

Sorry to hear about the extra test gran
Good luck with the app collie

strange day at work,
thank goodness it’s the weekend

resavings: having 6 months in the bank feels unattainable but any savings is great at the moment

Morning

Sorry to hear about the tax bill diana. It can feel all a bit relentless can't it?

An exhausting week here too martha, sympathies.

The veg box is ace life, apparently they sell quickly and they don't always get them in. It's supposed to be veg that's close to turning but it's all fresh as a daisy.

Quiet day tidying the garden today.

Meant to mention I usually pick a recipe book or website and menu plan from just that one each week, below is Jamie Oliver.

That said, made this last night (Lidl now sell black beans, really decent price too). Was lovely, and easy. Added a bit of teriyaki sauce left over. All Lidl food so pretty decent value.

www.riverford.co.uk/recipes/black-bean-mushroom-ginger-stew

Have a good day folks!

Morning everyone! I'm popping in briefly to say hello! Busy weekend ahead with a party tonight (partly already paid for so hoping not too much spend) and then bringing my mum back to stay for a week.

Spends:
£51 school money for after school club and school dinners
£3.05 popcorn for class treat and biscuits to get me through Friday 😬

Bargain veg box Need, I've never seen one in our local Lidl, and lovely menu. I could quite go for mushroom bourginion which is saying something as my appetite appears to have done a bunk. I do think having a veg box forces a certain amount of creative thinking, I've been getting one (again) for the last couple of months after a long break and we've had some interesting recipes we wouldn't otherwise have tried. Also agree lidl black beans is a good thing. We use a lot of them and they are much better than kidney beans

Agree six months savings feels unattainable.

Been shopping around for car insurance follow g ridiculous renewal price. Need to do some more research and plump for one. I'm not paying £100 price hike!

£25 activity today and need to find £140 for course next week. Spendy month.

spent £60 on Vinted but got three jumpers, three blouses and two pairs of boots. All for work. Waiting for it all to arrive now.
We are on road again to MIL today so need to get a wiggle on and make a lasagne for us to return to.