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

Need Oh no, I hope your MIL is doing ok?

Socathe How old is your DS? My DD is 4 and loves our local pottery painting place too.

Spent about £96 in Tesco, mostly household shopping but there was a few bits of Xmas prezzies and a few clothing items for DD. I basically filled a small trolley and I was shocked at the price. The staff member told me I'd save over £20 through Clubcard 'deals' and I just thought, no I haven't, because I only bought those things because of the Clubcard prices, if they had been the other price, I wouldn't have bought them and would have bought the next cheapest available items, does that make sense??

I have issues with both of my shins atm which is painful and limiting my mobility a bit. Had an appointment with the wound nurse at the walk-in centre today who was not concerned but DH has since informally diagnosed me with something else so will probably need to go the GP on Monday. (He is a Physician Associate and works in a GP surgery so qualified enough to make the diagnosis, for context.)

Thanks for well-wishes about my DM. She is still in A&E. Yes, you read that correctly. Since 11am yesterday morning. She has her own room there now but it's A&E, so there's no television, it's really noisy and full of people wandering around outside, she's had no proper meals for two days as the only food there is sandwiches, there are no washing facilities...she is a cancer patient and needs admitting, but they are saying there are no available beds for her either in that general hospital or in the cancer hospital for her. This is our NHS in 2022 and it's not even properly the winter peak yet either. It's scary, frankly.

Weight he's 3, I wasn't sure how he'd be as he gets bored of painting and drawing very quickly at home but he loved it! Happily did it for about an hour.

Ugh your poor DM. My DH left the NHS (he was a paramedic, now lecturer in paramedicine) and he's so glad to have left that absolute shit show (excuse my language but really there's no other way to express it). He's been out of it for two years now, it was bad enough two years ago but he hears horror stories from his friends who are still in. Whole 12 hour shifts where they take over a patient already waiting on an ambulance outside A&E, wait there for their whole 12 hours then get taken over by the next shift. Crazy.

That's awful to hear about your DM weight. Not great for paramedics and other staff either, must be demoralising. What a plight in 2022 😢 my own DM is 90, manages at home but does have an incurable but treatable cancer. My sibling has moved in with her and has a busy social life, they've both just had terrible colds. So worried she's going to get Covid and need admitting, she's avoided it so far. At least they've both had their boosters.

Amazon £9.99 hair colour, £5.89 delivery bags, £59.20 DD Christmas present.

Joined Vinted, four out of five items sold v quickly, £7 pending.

It’s awful weight , sending you big hugs

getting into the retail park was bad but once inside was ok. Queues at till but ok. Some genius changed the car park layout at this one and it is truly shit causing no end of chaos.
we will need to go back but can go on an evening if needs be

Oh gosh weight, I had to re read that post re your DM, that's just incredibly tough for her, family and the NHS. It's the start of winter too....my DMil is okay and at home, but probably at the stage where she needs to go into a care home in truth.

Sorry to hear about your mum too kessie, is it a positive arrangement that your sibling is there?

Love the pottery idea socathe.

Boo to the queues life

Mini golf at least sounds fun weight

I slept until 8am! Literally unheard of for me! Probably very much needed.

Friends did pay for pizza last night and DS drove, and I took a bottle of wine that I had bought in for friends the previous night so literally a extremely low spend evening with friends!

Jobs today and a bit of batch cooking, short jog, hospital, catch up with Strictly.

Not expecting to spend anything other than a coffee for DH.

oh @WeightoftheWorld how awful for your poor mum. And yes, it’s hard to believe we’re in 2022 sometimes.

Finally, the rental house is done! I was there with dh yesterday cleaning, he was doing last few jobs such as putting up curtain poles, sealing round bathroom furniture etc. FIL is going to go tomorrow and touch up any bits of paintwork that need it. Next job is gas electricity and EPC checks and finding a letting agent. Oh and putting up the loo roll holder which Dunelm managed to lose so we are waiting on another one! I can’t believe how quickly we’ve managed to get it all done, it’s a totally different house.

Last week of the month so I’m about to do a very frugal shopping list for this weeks food shop. Also ironing and get a beef casserole in the slow cooker for tonight. Only spend will be some crusty bread to go with it.

Em missed your pic of the lemur, so cute. Love the idea of a sloth.

Curls yay for the rental house, that's sounded like a real slog!

Need great that your evening turned into a LS one 👍

Sibling 2 being at DMs is a mixed bag really. Mentally nice for her to have company, they are a great cook and they are helping sibling 3 with her care (neither work unlike me and sibling 1). I do realise I am really lucky with two DC and a full time job that the two middle siblings have taken on most of her care needs as some of my colleagues my age or younger are dealing with most of that.

So far £10 on swimming, paid for DD and her friend to swim at the leisure club, I'm free. They've been promised a McDonalds after and then more online shopping to get Christmas done. Keeping it under control though, did the budget last night! 😳😳

£4ish in Tesco on advent calendars for DS, DH and I (yes we as adults still like to have one!), I was eyeing up the kinder one for DS at £5 then thought he's 3, he won't be bothered and got the £1.25 Cadbury's one instead. Same for DH and I. £2 on new socks (mine are all in holes). I really feel my attitude to spending has changed. Walked round the shop and kept seeing things and thinking that would be useful. Then stopped and thought but do I need it? And the answer is more often than not NO. In the past I would have just bought these things.

Sold something on eBay for £88. Will need to pay to post that later. No other spends for today.

Good minds shift their socath

£8ish in Sainsbury’s. Yoghurt, soap, fruit and chicken thighs. DH bought coffees.

Good for you socathe with the mind shift. I’m entering dangerous territory for me - I save all year for Xmas and then do quite a lot of spending. It includes things the DC need like new underwear, bedding etc which I count as stocking presents, so it feels like justifiable spending. But it means I get used to throwing money around and gets hard to rein myself in! For eg I was browsing last night and found a lovely brushed cotton sheet with robins on it 🤩🤩 from matalan, managed not to put it in my basket yet…
Big food stock up yesterday as DP just paid - £190. Included a wearable blanket but it was an odd shape so I’m going to return it. Tesco and the Company shop. Planning to do the rest of the monthly shops online to keep costs down.

was nearly a NSD but bought logs and coal for the wood burner, £26. We’ve only recently started to have the heating on, not looking forward to next months bill. Been for a walk and DP and the DS’s are gearing up to watch the World Cup. All the prep match talk is basically a debate about human rights - don’t think anyone quite knows what to do with it!

sending lots of love to everyone worrying about elderly parents. weight how awful for your DM.
socathe I teach midwifery having been a clinical midwife. It is very similar to your DPs experience, I really feel for the students and staff and the pressures knock on to us as the students need a lot of support. God knows what is going to happen to the NHS.

on a brighter note em, lovely zoo!

I'm on the app so can't see the thread as I'm typing now so sorry that I don't remember who said what. Although need it sounds like you had a fab low spend evening out!

And socathe sounds like you've got full on frugal spirit which is what we like to see haha.

NSD today for me, it was actually a very spendy day as a family but DH paid for it all. Busy, expensive day out but a nice one overall. Except for DS being quite difficult but he's struggling with constipation which is really bothering him, won't say all the gory details but it's pretty bad poor thing.

DM was today finally moved out of A&E after over 2 days, but still no bed for her on a proper ward so she's in some kind of holding area. Not sure if it's a short stay ward or really not even a ward, I don't have all the details yet.

weight I am so sorry you are going through this, we had the same with MIL a few months ago. They held her for 2 days in processing and wouldn’t tell us anything or let us visit, she was so distressed. She’s 93 and has cancer. She then ended up in hospital for 8 weeks as she broke her leg and couldn’t weight bear and there were no places for her to go locally and no at home care available. NHS is f*cked and I can’t see it getting any better under the Tories.

had a lovely weekend with friends, got a new tattoo 😄 I am already planning my next one haha when I got my first I swore it would be my only one.

busy week at work, it’s admissions season at my Uni so lots of extra marking and UCAS forms etc plus end of term reports coming up for my own students and I’m trying to apply for promotion.

Good luck with the promo gen

Morning, I’ve woken up feeling absolutely awful. Aching all over, chesty cough. Not done a covid test yet but I will as 1 work colleague has vulnerable family members. Just brought a coffee back to bed. Feels very indulgent, I never do this.

I’ve also rung DS2 in sick. He’s not. But all his mates are doing the same in order to watch the blummin football. Wasn’t going to allow it but I’ve spoken to the other mums and bowed to peer pressure. It’s the only match during school hours, he’s doing great at school and is never off ill. So. Just this once.

Payday!

throen a decent chunk at my credit card. So that’s good.

back in work today.

spends £70 boots - calpol paracetamol cough meds and some no7 stuff for me.

ds went to dr today with a barky cough. Throat infection poor baby. So he’s off school.

Gen That is awful but why wasn't she allowed visitors?! That is frankly inhumane. My DM has been allowed someone with her the entire time until she was finally moved to a proper ward last night where actual visiting times now apply. So it was horrible but my DF was with her almost all the time apart from brief visits home for washing and to bring food and stuff for her. She is finally settled on a ward and the irony is they are hoping she may be able to be discharged within even a day or so! What a palaver. We will see. She is unsurprisingly feeling much better now she has a proper ward room with an ensuite bathroom, a telly, and warm meals brought to her.

Spent £3.25 or something on shoe polish today for DH as he went loads of places yesterday and couldn't find the right colour. Finally picked up my migraine meds from pharmacy since I ordered my prescription prepayment cert a few days ago. So an LSD for me so far but I'm going to look to book Xmas grotto for the kids tonight which will set me back £30. Been umming and aahing because it will be so spendy - £30 admission for the two of them, plus the car parking is extortionate, and the only slots left meant we will inevitably get lunch out afterwards in the place. But DS has never seen Santa or an Xmas grotto before and I want to enjoy it whilst they're still little enough that they do!

Today was eventful but not in a good way. Went the GP about my shin issue half expecting to be fobbed off but instead the GP has arranged urgent blood tests. There's a 6 week wait for routine ones, he spent ages on the phone trying to arrange to have me skip the queue to be fit in. Have to go Thursday afternoon, desperately hoping DF can have the kids for me as I really don't want to have to take them both. It's a bus ride there and back too. Then to top it off, DD got sent home from nursery for being unwell. There literally hasn't been a single week for a month or so now where one of them hasn't been sent home sick. It's getting really stressful to manage work.

Hello all. Trying to stay frugal on food. Mushroom stroganoff tonight, made a big chilli yesterday and froze half. Have done the hardest bit of painting the dining room - ceiling done, picture rail done, can start on walls tomorrow. Thoroughly recommend Two Fussy Blokes brand for paint rollers. Car has been taken away to garage today, and no excess demanded! Ddog recovering well, vet happy with how the surgery is healing.

Weekend was good and we actually went out! London Jazz Festival during the day to see niece sing (free performances, hot chocolate at BFI cafe afterwards) and Vietnamese restaurant in the evening to catch up with friends we'd not seen in 2 years. Nightcap in the Citizen hotel in Hoxton afterwards, which made us feel very cool indeed. Dropped in to see parents on Sunday afternoon (so nice to be 30 minutes drive away and just able to toodle round for a mince pie!). Wore my new trousers, purchased with birthday money.

It was nice to feel like grown up people with a bit of disposable income, frankly. I have also decided (after 4 years) that I can finish therapy at the end of the year, and I will therefore have a bit extra each month from January onwards.

Well it was going to be a NSD but we've just ordered a Chinese so £28. Bit of a frugal fail especially as we have food in for a meal to cook tonight but I guess we'll cook that tomorrow instead. DS is a bit under the weather and has been coughing all night long so we're both tired, not much of an excuse but there it is.

DS was at grandparents' today and dozed on grandma on and off all afternoon, he had been fine all morning apart from the cough but suddenly came down with a temp at lunch time and has barely eaten. Then when I picked him up he obviously perked right up and has been bouncing off the walls. We'll see how tonight goes but really hoping he doesn't get sent home from nursery tomorrow. Our first winter bug.

I sure the Chinese is worth it Socathe, small folk being poorly is hard work. Enjoy!

Good news re Ddog Skies. Your weekend sounds good! I wish I'd appreciated how fortunate we were financially pre DH getting poorly. That being said, it's only what we did for years when the business was in its infancy, I'd just gotten used to not needed to count pennies! Enjoy the little extra in January.

Weight, assume lack of visitors due to covid? I'm so pleased to hear about your DM and that she's feeling better in herself. Hope the blood tests are okay.

Hope you're okay Curls.

Enjoy the tattoo Gen!

martha, I buy standard toiletries etc as stocking fillers too. My dc are adults and don't need much so it's useful for them and me.

A NSD! Was supposed to meet a friend for a walk but it's 💦💦💦 so going Saturday instead. Two wet dog walks today is enough, much as I love her company!

Bhaji burgers for tea. Cheap and easy.

weight they said she had covid so wasn’t allowed any visitors and kept her isolated in a room on her own. The NHS seems to be clinging to these lockdown rules!

Morning! Well it’s not covid thankfully but I still feel horrible so doing as little as possible before work later.

My weekly shop went well yesterday. Under budget and I bought about £15 worth of Christmas food in there as well.

Hope you’re all ok, love to those with poorly relatives xx

Thought of our sloth loving home Ed poster, sorry I can't keep up with name changes

Have been so busy lately not been online so must catch up
Good luck with the promotion Gen
Hope your DM is much better very soon Weight
Curls hope you feel better soon
Good news re your Ddog Skies
Socathe my lot are having a McDonalds tonight needs must

Your weekend sounded smashing
kessie so Sorry to hear about your mum
Em hope your Ds is much better
Martha we have just cracked over the heating too and we are not looking forward to the readings next month either
Spends today petrol £57 , groceries 8 in the Co Op
Covid has reared it's ugly head in my Mums ward Hey ho fingers crossed she doesn't get it from the damn hospital again!
Hope l haven't missed anyone out

Ds back at school today. He was bouncing off the freaking walls yesterday.

spends today. £90 on shoes for me. Two pairs. Both 50% off moda in pele. Two pairs of chunky loafers. One black and the other leopard print. Had my eye on them both for a while and my poor black loafers had finally had too much wear. So they’ve been binned.

£45 in next. Christmas T-shirt. School trousers. And parts of a sheep costume (white leggings and T-shirt) for dds nativity.