Friendship and Falling Leaves, Frugal Autumn Continued

[Wolfcub]

New fred

Morning all

life that sounds a blissful day today

gen sorry about the oven that's rubbish, do you use your oven alot could you do without one? Your DH sounds like my DH with adding near to a veggie dish 🤣

north what's the mn email? I don't get emails?

Well after saying how cold it was last night weve all woken up a bit snuffly so maybe we are a bit under the weather. I've got a headache to boot.
Uniform wash this morning hopefully get it on the line in a minute, DC just pottering around. We are off for a walk in the woods try to blow the cobwebs away! Then slow cooker chicken casserole for dinner. Bath and early night I hope!

Morning, just enjoying a coffee in peace, everyone else is still in bed. Dh was out DJing last night so that’s why he’s still asleep, usually he’s awake by 7.

Struggling to keep the food spending under control this month. Part of it is due to dh and ds1 having time off so they’re eating at home more, plus drinks and snacks. The bank holiday tomorrow has thrown me too. I usually food shop on a Monday so I’ve had to do a top up to get us through. Wasn’t expecting to need to, but we’ve run out of everything (which is how I like it before I go shopping, just not this week!).

Going to get it back under control by doing a full inventory and meal plan for the rest of the month.

decaff we use it a lot, I tend to batch cook and do a lot of bakes etc. We have ordered a new one plus installation and disposal of the old. Had to go on credit card as we have no savings after wedding 🙈 it will just delay our debt free goal by one month. I can’t wait til the day we have savings so we can cover stuff like this, it will be such a good day!
curls I really notice that too, DH wipes out a whole pack of biscuits in two days. We both get free lunches at work so that makes a massive difference in term time. My staff room also has free fruit and biscuits.

Boo on the oven Gen. I can recommend AO

Morning everyone.

I slept in this morning. Only woke at 9. I'm surprised the cats let me sleep so long - normally there are some loud hungry protests outside my bedroom door around 7ish. I've been quite tired this week so I feel much better now. Although I'm a bit behind with my schedule.

I'm going to hang up washing shortly and then head into the big town for some shopping.

Sorry to hear about the oven Gen. Btw I knew you were planning a wedding but I must have missed the actual event. Did you have a lovely day? Did everything go according to plan? Was it a big wedding or a small one? Would love to hear about it but without putting in anything too identifying.

A beautiful autumn day here but it's been very chilly at night and in the mornings.

I am being a sheep with Disney plus, but ds and I will enjoy Thor and I won't have access to the tv for most of the week and can watch Disney on my laptop

tayto aww thanks for asking! We had the best day, we were already legally married (lockdown wedding with no guests/reception party etc) but we decided to go for it and had a blessing ceremony in a walled garden, champagne in the garden then a 4 course dinner followed by live Jazz music and drinks. It was honestly just perfect, I have the happiest memories and am so glad we did it. I got my dress from a pre loved wedding boutique and have just dyed it dark blue to use it as a black tie dress for events. I just wish we could do it all again 😅
we didn’t go into debt for it but paused our debt snowball to cash flow the wedding and obvs used up some savings. I’m glad we did it for the memories but need to buckle down now and save an emergency fund plus pay off the pre-existing debt (IVF loans and a car loan!).

Beautiful sunny September day here.
£40 food shop yesterday - will supplement with freezer food, tinned tomatoes and kidney beans, and allotment fruit and veg.
Allotment productive - me and DD picked rhubarb, runner beans, kale, lettuce and corn, so dinner will be sausages with kale and runner beans in a tomato sauce with rhubarb crumble to follow.

Did you post a photo of your wedding Gen? I seem to remember a lovely one.

News from DS and DH in Leeds: they spent £90 in Aldi and DS has food for the next 3 weeks. His duvet isn't thick enough, so they have gone shopping in JL and bought him a better one, dunno how much. DH says JL want to charge £125 for a fitted sheet! God knows what they are looking at, because I am certain I have bought double fitted sheets from JL for nowhere near that.

Yesterday did improve on the shitty-shoe cleaning! I did an online ballet class in the afternoon and the teacher, although Italian and teaching in her apartment in Verona, very sweetly referred to how 'everyone is very sad because of our queen, but I am really happy as well to be here with you all.' Weight training in the sitting room this morning, took Ddog out in the afternoon, now about to stretch while watching Inventing Anna. This single lady's life is rather nice!

I'm beginning to think we need to move back to the South East.
Worried about the future in the SW. So much deprivation and uncertainty, it makes me sad.

Lost track of the thread again!
Gen sorry about the oven, that's been a pattern of this year for us, dread anything breaking.
Collie thats awful to hear. We are in the NE, where deprivation is always acknowledged but I think the SW is sometimes overlooked? And other coastal towns.

Loved Inventing Anna bigskies

I'm about to make rhubarb and ginger jam ginger rhubarb **from my neighbours allotment. Your haul sounds amazing!

LSW £30 shop in Lidl, Aldi and coop. Last week before DHs payday so a new 4 week cycle about to start. I find a real focus just before and after payday helps to steady me for the month ahead 🤞

My electric heat alarm has just started beeping. Hoping that's a battery or something and it's not broken!

Panic over it was my hair straighteners bleeping as had been left on. I had visions of a broken electrical heat alarm 🙈

@kessiebird I love the NE, I know Teeside really well so I know what you mean. The SW poverty is very similar to that. Ex industry / mining closures lead to social deprivation. People often forget as its so beautiful and everyone is in holiday mode.

But did you know that many children come from families that are too poor to travel 3 miles to the beach so they've never been? 😔 it's been this way for decades.

Disney + is proving useful. Enjoying it and created a list for DS. All the retro stuff too like Herbie and Homeward Bound. I might keep it for Winter and ditch Netflix!

@kessiebird
Yes, we were pleased. Still got some apples on the tree too.
DH has bought some winter lettuces and more broccoli to plant.
I've never made jam (chutney, yes) - good luck with the rhubarb and ginger.

@ThisisCollie2022 . I agree 're SW. I was born in Torquay. I left😀

Yes we in the NE are always recognized as poor and deprived. Waves to Kessie
but the south is often missed.

nsd planned today well cos everything is shut, might have a baking day as another fundraiser on Sunday coming

mary berry apple and almond Devonshire cake is a winner. Made it from apple glut yesterday

£125 for a sheet. Does it make the bed for you?!

I grew up in inner city Belfast in a very deprived area, there was a lot of unemployment and drugs and other crime, I went back to see my granny who still lives there and it’s even worse now, my DH was shocked to see how run down the place is. Where is all the money going?!
what are peoples plans today? I’m still feeling quite unwell but ventured out for a short walk yesterday for first time. I’m making home made carrot and coriander soup and scones (cheese and plain).

All this home baking is making me hungry!!

NSD here. We'll be going out for another new walk. I had a goal of 25,000 steps for the full weekend and I'm on 19,000.

The more steps I do, the happier I feel 😊 I used to do 15,000 a day but a sitting down job makes that harder to achieve these days!

@Theskyoutsideisblue help me move 🤣. I like exeter though! We went there recently and it's changed a lot in the last decade. We used to live there, I regret leaving!

We’ll be having a walk this afternoon’s with puppy, he needs a new walk on a weekend to work his brain and de mischief him

@lifelongfrugaleer
Thanks for the tip re the cake!
Me and DD will try that today with our glut.
NSD planned here too (as everything is shut).
Will watch the Queen's funeral and work on the allotment later.

My parents are from a tough part of the NE, it seems worse every time we go back, which isn't often in truth.

ginger, we benefit greatly from my SIL's allotment. We have to get creative with the cooking, but that's no bad thing.

Well, everything is tidied up from having family over yesterday and I'm back in bed with a cuppa thinking about menu planning.

Doubt I'll spend anything today, unless DH wants a coffee, then it'll be £1.60 at the vending machine.

Gen, take care of yourself. Bugger about the oven, just what you don't need.

Someone asked about MN emails. I must have signed up when I rejoined, they are called Mumsnet Swears By. Got to be honest, some of the offers are really 'middle class' and certainly not ones you'd contemplate on a budget. Almost tone deaf in some respects (sorry, just my view), but appreciate everyone is in different circumstances I guess. And it's worth a quick browse just in case.

Will be back with a menu plan.

Morning all £22 yesterday on lunch for me and ds but it was really also dinner because eaten late afternoon.

Today is study, watch the funeral, probably bake scones and walk the dog. Ds also needs to do homework which probably means WW3 will break out. Need to finish clearing furniture etc out of the room, there is literally nowhere to put it thus house is too small when things like this have to happen