Frugal the flip to make the festivities fun

[lifelongfrugaleer]

Wasn’t going to be flip but decided to be polite
46 days or so

don’t panic frugaleers

unescorted I’m going to elevate your symptoms and take a guess that it was trapped wind. I got diagnosed with that when I was first pregnant with DD. I literally collapsed in the street, I only did a pregnancy test because I thought maybe I was having an ectopic. But nooo…just needed a good fart. And found out I was pregnant.
I’m reading all the exercise descriptions to help motivate me. I’ve made a bad start, still scoffing unhealthy things. I made spinach and pea soup tonight though which is a step in the right direction. And went to the gym.
DP is giving up his hated shop job and has an interview for some teaching work which pays £25 per hour. That’s on top of his existing PT job. It’s completely up his street - teaching for a charity supporting people with sociaL and mental health needs, which is what he does already. So fingers crossed.
weight I’m sorry to hear your new workplace isn’t so friendly. Hopefully it will settle. They gave you the job so I’m sure you can do it!
need sorry if I’ve missed this. Is DH now home for good?

It was indeed a bad night with no sleep. Urgh

Oh no wolf 🙁

wolf sorry to hear that, is ddog any better today?

Yesterdays spends €6.95 on milk, ham & a reeses nutrageous bar.

Today's spends €3697.96 on 4 return flights to Canada bf will give me his share by bank transfer and I'm doing a balance transfer for my credit card which give me 0% for 12 months interest free. I've €400 in revolut vault for holiday so that's a start.

@Wolfcub sorry to hear about your ddog, how are they doing today?

@Happierwithouthim yay for the Canada flights! Bet it’s all feeling very real now, exciting stuff!

Finally got round to applying for and getting a cash back credit card for us both. It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for ages but never got round to. I think we’ll do quite well out of it.

Had my first PT session today. Oh I am going to ache, my legs are like jelly. But it was great, loved it. Apparently I’ve got very good upper body strength, which was nice to hear!

wolf - sorry about DDog, such a worry when they are ill. Mine is a bit smelly at the moment - trying to persuade him to let us introduce tooth-cleaning, but it's a very slow process. Hope Ddog improves.

All this talk of good farts and big poos resolving symptoms - perhaps Steve Barclay can promote this among HCPs as a first line response in all cases, to resolve the admissions crisis: 'Have you tried having a dump?'

oof, today I am struggling to get motivated beyond admin that can be done via laptop, and laundry which can be done via the machine! Will need to rouse myself to get to Sainsbury's and take Ddog out, but honestly, would cheerfully just sit on the sofa with a cup of tea and a slice of cake.

Just booked a treat though - going to see Swan Lake on Thursday afternoon with DSiL. Free tickets came up at a local theatre on via a sort of club I signed up for. So frugal fun, and a bit of a lift on a wet January day.

£38 in Sainsbury's - ended up spending more on things like fish fingers, frozen haddock fillets, minced beef, nitrate-free bacon (nitrates are going to be banned in food production in France, can't see why we can't do the same here, then hopefully the premium on nitrate-free would come off, and the product would be healthier).

Sorry not keeping up, return to work fairly busy..

Fantastic news about Canada happier I used the Halifax Clarity credit card while travelling in Netherlands and Germany last year. On list from Martin Lewis as there's no currency conversion fees, just a straight transaction. Worked really well as I paid it over two months as the first bill fell half way through the holiday, so no interest.

wolf sorry to hear about ddog and sleepless night

Spends £2.69 yesterday at coop.
£10 this morning at Lidl which included sushi for lunch at work.
£23 dentist for a clean. Not back for 6 months now 👍

Evening.

Amazing news re Canada @Happierwithouthim. Been a while since I've been abroad so no tips re best use of money etc but very exciting for you and extremely well deserved.

Poor Ddog @Wolfcub and bloody awful being tired. I cope well with most stuff but being tired...nope.

Swan Lake sounds great @BigSkies2022!

Glad the PT went well @CurlsandCurves.

martha DH is home at the weekend now. It's nice, but hard too being honest as he needs a lot of help currently. We are finding our way though, slowly, and glad the DC are around to help at the minute and more importantly, want to help too.

I'm still being pretty frugal indeed. £22 in Lidl yesterday but food spends will be very minimal this week as the cupboards are full. Happily perusing my recipe books.

HUGE kudos @Unescorted on the discipline and commitment to a healthier lifestyle. It does actually take a lot of determination, well done!

My positive is I'm lacing up my trainers a lot more often than in recent months, but still a lot less than I used to. Still, 4 days in a row and up to 25 miles a week.

Amazing news about Canada happier my dm and ddad emigrated to Canada when they got married but moved back here when dsis was born my first holiday abroad was to Canada aged 5 and dm has kept in touch with friends there who have visited us many times over the years and we keep in touch

after an expensive weekend due to ds 18th party finally a nsd it was a great party everyone enjoyed themselves so totally worth it but we bought balloons to decorate and realised they had charged us twice so called them today and they realised the mistake and are refunding us phew

Kind of frugal win realised I had £60 in my TopCashback account so have transferred it to my bank account not so very frugal I impulsively ordered on lush Boxing Day sale I do not need any bath shower or skincare stuff!! So no idea why I ordered but because of delays in them shipping and because some items are no longer available they have sent me a £20 gift card as an apology and are obviously refunding the items that are out of stock which as I didn’t need them anyway is a good

Need - 25 miles a week is going great guns. Even at my fittest (rowing days) I never much liked running. Never 'found my rhythm' or experienced 'the runner's high', so I hope you are getting the benefit of these mystical states!

Fanks need
Alfie we have an 18th on its way. With lockdown and changing schools he is not fussed for fuss so he is going to visit his sister instead.... That could be expensive. Happy birthday to miniAlfie.
Big I find running difficult to start but once I am up on the hills I do love a good bimble. I am looking forward to being fit for spring so I can go further.And I get to see the baby birds.... Speaking of - Mr fat wood pigeon is back and the geese are flying north already. The hotter temperatures have skewed everything this winter.

Matha I am well jel about Canada.

DH is away so we are having a couple of vege meals. Should be a bit less spenny for the next couple of weeks.

@Unescorted 🧍‍♀️💨💨

I trumped on mil today. In the car. She was directly behind me and to be fair it wasn’t on purpose. But she’d been pissing me off. And I haven’t had a poo now for about 6 days (travel anxiety and my tummy goes off). So I pooted in the car. And got her. Blamed dd who was napping obviously

@Happierwithouthim hoorah for plane tickets! I hope you have an amazing time!

wierd things here. Coleslaw comes with cheese mixed in it. I’m all for a cheese and coleslaw sandwich. That’s not odd. But to have slaw with cheese already mixed in?! Wtaf.

as soon as my feet touch down on home soil I’m stopping the booze. I need it right now to cope with mil (I know I know don’t use alcohol as a crutch). But I’m having maybe a glass of wine or a beer a night so not excessive drinking. Just haven’t had a day off. 😵‍💫

my sil bought me a small bottle of local gin because I’ve coped with mil all day every day now for almost a month. Apparently I’m a hero. Sil is the hero. She brought gin.

todays picture. The beach where we’re staying in the bay of plenty area with a hokey pokey ice cream. We’ve just had a cyclone come through. So it’s been hella windy and wet. The sea has been churning over. We’ve had a few small earthquakes too. “Only” level 2/3. So no worries and we’re all sweet as.

6 days @ememem84 how are you managing to fit even an ice cream in?
monday nsd. Yesterday petrol and flowers for a friend. Today should be nothing. Tomorrow Tesco. Need to make a meal plan

Great news about the flights happier
i haven’t found my fitness buzz yet this year so kudos to you guys

em 😂 but hope you poop soon

em I would resort to gin too. Not drinking has been easier and more beneficial than I thought it was going to be. There have only been a couple of times when I thought that it would be nice. My bank balance is very thankful.

Sorry just realised it is happier not Martha that is going to Canada. Still turning green in the corner.

As an immigrant can I say what the actual fuck is mushy peas. Cheesy coleslaw is quite tame by comparison. There are some very odd things in the British culinary cannon.... See above re haggis and tripe.

It’s delicious. Creamy and sweet but not too sweet. With honeycomb through it. It’s a chore though.

I’ve just seen on TikTok someone has suggested drinking a few pints of salt water very quickly. Not too salty. But enough so things get moving. I’m not brave enough to try it.

Am drinking hot water. Have found some milk thistle in my bag too which usually helps when digestion goes awry. Am also going to lie down and squish my tummy a bit. I miss catface. She usually stands on my tummy and kneads it for me. 😅

@Unescorted stopping drinking when I’ve done it before has done wonders for me. I sleep better. Have more energy and hair skin etc better. Go figure….

I was going to do dry jan. But the wedding in perth is in jan. So…

my drinking is just more frequent than it was. I’m not getting hammered every night. Far from it. But it’s become a habit. Like oooh I’m on holiday I’ll have a glass or wine. Or a g&t. Or a beer. I am however drinking a shit ton of water to keep me nice and hydrated. Also coffee.

Other wierd foods I’ve had here:

mince on toast. Just that. Cooked browned mince beef. On buttery white bread toast. Weird but yum.

fanta and bread. This is a tongan thing apparently. Sweet white bread which you pour a can of Fanta into. It’s strange. But again sort of good. The Fanta is sweeter too. And bright orange.

raspberry Pepsi. Yum.

the mince one probably comes from time past when white bread was used to mop up gravy as a filler food
mushy peas mmmmmm 💨

There's cheesy coleslaw for sale in M&S, it's fair yum!!

Deserved @Unescorted, thats taken work.

I used to do double that @BigSkies2022 pre DH stroke. I wish I had realised how much time I had and how much easier life was a year ago but I guess we never do 🙂.

Happy Birthday to your DS @Alfiemoon1 and good news on the TCB money.

Fuel needed today but not a full tank, should be the only spends.

So, Curlsandcurves is brought to you today by words argh, ow and feck!

I knew the squats would hit me hard. Yesterday I made sure I kept moving, I foam rolled, had a bath with Epsom salts. But this morning, wow. I really am sore. Going to keep busy and take myself off for a short walk if I’ve got time, active recovery I believe it’s called.

I need to try and recover because I’ve 3 work shifts to do. And one of our stock rooms is up 2 flights of stairs. And right now, stairs huuuurt.

Onya, curls! today'll be the worst. I quite like that validating pain...

Have been MIA due to lots of meetings regarding Mum , the end result of which is Mum is going into interim residential care until they find her carers so she can go home 🏠😊
The ward staff wanted to put her in a home straight away and not even try for her to go home . Mum was crying and very upset, the social worker was amazing she said that Mum was going to go for interim care until carers could be found .
Forgive me not catching up lts been a hellova time for me tbh.
Fighting Mum's corner .Hope everyone is ok and your poorly relatives are getting much better.💐
I bought some lovely cards and wrap and tags from Tesco today . £10 with a little bit if shopping . They had gorgeous Caroline Gardner tote bags for 1 pound . I did buy quite a few because they are so lovely and so much cheaper to put presents in than paper bags it was foolish not to get them .

mrs that is heartbreaking for your mum and difficult for you.