Spring shenanigans, frugal mischief, Maypole antics, garden faffing, bargain binges, picnic pandemonium, Spaniel loving and Bank Holiday mayhem 😁

[DirtyGertiefromno30]

Welcome everyone, new and old to our lovely supportive frugal thread .

What thread is this?

It's called "he has eaten a fat ball" on mn classics! If you google it you should find it. It's so funny

Afternoon, dear frugal friends!

The videos didn’t work on my very ancient iPad Big, I have loads on my coaches running platform, which I sadly couldn’t share as it’s part of the paid for package. Lots of toe scrunches, toe lifts, heel raises, tip toe, walking on high toes, heels, lateral toe walks etc so I expect very similar and I hope they work for folk with more up to date tech. Thank you.

Ha ha life, no one has ever aspired to be me before, nor would wish to be me if they were me I suspect 😊

Thank for the kind fitness related comments. Running is ‘me’, it’s the thing I fiercely protect now that life has changed so much. It did revert to head clearing jogs for a long time post DH’s stroke, but it’s nice to train with structure again. I’ve also seen how quickly things can change, so that motivates me to be as fit, healthy and strong as possible and I’m adamant my DC won’t have to care for me, they have done and do too much of that already. And, I bloody enjoy it, it gives the days structure now I’m in the house a lot. 😊

Today frugal friends, I entered the realms of retired living fully! We attended lunch and bingo at the local pub. A fiver (!!!!) for slow cooked beef stew, crusty bread and jam roly poly with custard for pudding. £10 on bingo cards (I borrowed a dabber 🤣), and I think we spent £7 on drinks (a pint and a half for DH and a soft drink for me). Behold my winnings!! Okay, I was 20 years younger than any other person in the pub - but it was good fun, village life at it’s finest.

Re bird feeders - on Countryfile on Sunday (literally my favourite show!), the tray bird feeders are to be removed apparently, as sick birds can perch on them for longer and spread disease. We don’t have these anyway as too many squirrels around here - it might be relevant for folk.

@needastrongone love the bingo and lunch date, something for me and DH to look forward to when we retire!

@DirtyGertiefromno30 I asked DH about the bird thing - he looked blank and he keeps birds at his allotment. Sorry no help - some men! 😂

Hope the free cake arrived @drspouse

Good news today was it was LSD £4 for an orthodontic case for DDs retainers (the braces are off!) and £2.49 at Lidl.

Went for a walk with a lovely friend who's dad had given her money for our lunch 😍

Drama at my DM, DB kept falling over drunk and nearly fell onto DM. Lucky the carer was there. Ambulance took him to A&E but he got a taxi back to DMs. Safeguarding concern gone in by both me and paramedics. Silence is deafening from the siblings and niece, apart from my normal Dsis who is on holiday but sent messages. At one point today I thought of withdrawing some of the money I have ready to go into an investment and buggering off abroad this weekend. I won't of course but the thought was tempting...

Thanks for sharing those videos @BigSkies2022

haha yes I remember the fat ball thread @bedfrog

Yesterday I spent £8.30 at Sainsbury and £15 for dog walker.

Today I am hoping for a NSD although currently sat on the tube trying to persuade myself not to buy a snack when I get near work. I have non-contact time from my class all morning and the temptation is always to have something to munch at whilst I’m doing my work.

Have a good day everyone.

Good morning everyone 😊
Spends yesterday were £40 Aldi
Morrisons £4
I am on my way to see Mum , earlier today because she's got a hearing aid appointment, they are coming to the home to see her thankfully.
Hope everyone is feeling ok and has a lovely day 🤗

Morning.

@Lockin26 - that sounds incredibly tough re your DM/DB. I’m sorry the family are burying their heads. I’m assuming your DB won’t even recognise he has an issue?

Today will be a NSD.

Lasagne and salad for supper. I’ll bulk up with lentils or even black beans and use the mince for a chilli too tomorrow.

Thanks @needastrongone spoke to adult social care this morning (DM has an allocated social care officer for her direct payments) and they said while she has capacity and wants him there, little they can do. But she is escalating to her manager as the hospital had a copy of the safeguarding concern and let him go. He fell 4 times, once almost onto her. She is 94 and very frail. He is open about being an alcoholic but doesn't see it as an issue - even though it's taken up 1.5 days of my leave this week, ruined my lovely Dsis holiday and countless professional hours. Effing clown 🤡 just had a message from her care coordinator clearly concerned too. Anyway likely more of a post for elderly parents or something but I don't really step outside of this thread!

Today so far haircut £32.

Just stuck a massive rack of marinaded bbq ribs in the Ninja outdoor cooker to smoke them. Using up my freezer while on leave.

Lifetime shed from Costco delivered, going up Saturday. Maybe once it's up I might think the expense has been worth it!

I've been snacking this morning @Schnout hope you got through the morning okay.

Hope your DMs hearing aids appointment went okay @DirtyGertiefromno30

@Lockin26 that sounds incredibly difficult. Would it be possible to get some sort of restraining order so he can't be released into your mum's care?

Today I was having a low spend day but had to get diesel... £50 didn't even get to 3 quarters full.

@Lockin26What a nightmare .I’d be fuming too. It’s so frustrating when everyone sees the risk but nothing can be done while your DMum has capacity. Good they’re escalating it though, and that her care coordinator is concerned and involved too 🤗.
Those ribs sounds delicious 😋
Yay re the Costco shed 😁
Hope things calm down for you all sweetheart 💐
Thank you for asking about Mums hearing aids, the audiology team were fantastic
TBF to them . Mums aids are much better and she can hear more with them in thank God 🙏

Oh Lasagne tonight with chilli tomorrow sounds delicious @needastrongone😋

I know @MyAgileHedgehog the cost of fuel is just unbelievable. We use the petrol price comparison app to compare and go to the cheapest then obviously. There can be as much as 10p a litre difference. That would be £6 every tank full for us .

Afternoon all,

Oh @Lockin26 I'm so sorry. I don't step outside this thread either so we are all here for you and shall help as best we can with support and love for you. I'm glad that it's not just you seeing the problem but heartbroken your siblings have heads in sand.
@DirtyGertiefromno30oh your lovely mum will be able to hear better now, this is amazing!
Bingo and lunch sounds completely up my street @needastrongoneand I can't wait for my turn. I bet you had so much fun and your kitchen is beautiful btw.
@BigSkies2022thank you so much for the links. I was doing basic exercises so this will help massively.

£89 in Lidl this morning. Less than other weeks but I also got hanging basket plants, a moving house card and a reduced Easter egg for a friend.
Had my school best friend over for coffee today, have known her for nearly 34 years and it was so amazing.
Then went to the park for some fresh air before going to gymnastics for DD and I've just found out she has secured her first choice in primary school!!
It's not my first choice but that was a 30 minute walk away which Im happy to do but mum won't be able to manage as she is doing most of the drop off and picks up whereas this school is right opposite my house. As in. Open the door, there is the school gate. And it's a small birthday rate so small classes so I'm hoping that serves her well considering there are a few "hyper" boys in her year that she knows from pre school.
Right, time to Google "he ate the fat balls"

@MyAgileHedgehog our fuel budget has ran short by about £20 this month.

Thanks for the support around DM @Frugal25 @MyAgileHedgehog and @DirtyGertiefromno30 it's very frustrating, so thank you🙏 Dsis and I keep each other sane.

@Frugal25 perfect news about DDs school and also seeing a friend of 34 years. I love seeing my two oldest friends, they keep me right! 🩷

No more spends - need to collect some bedding from Dunelm but that's paid for. Gonna treat DD to a Maccies on the way home - she's done a 4 day youth academy during this 2nd week of the Easter holidays and they got excellent feedback.

What a lovely day you have had @Frugal25🤗
£89 in Lidl and still got plants, a card and a treat in too, not bad at all. And how lovely seeing your school friend after all these years, those catch ups mean a lot♥️
Great news about DD getting her first choice school, especially being right on your doorstep. That will make life so much easier and small classes is a real bonus too 👏
Ah bless you, thank you re my Mum, yes she will be so much happier being able to hear again 🤗

It was also allocation day for us today we got our first choice luckily.

This is amazing news @DeepFriedCreamEgg!!

Marvellous news so pleased for you @DeepFriedCreamEgg 👏👏😁

Well done Frugal and creme egg on your school places. We had a commute to primary and it was such a faff frugal, I'll always wish I could have gone back in time and picked the walkable school. Ah well! Two mini frugaleers off to big school in Sep, how exciting.

I succumbed to a latte and a cake again today, unfortunately. But I worked out we can eat for at least the next 3 weeks from the freezer. We have rather overbought on meat. We have to have lamb kofta at least once a week.

Good news on the school places. Roll on September with the cute first day at school photos. We have been having a clear out now the last of the kids have moved out... It has been lovely finding early year treasures.

@drspouse I found having a pack up cake helped with not succumbing to the drift past ooppps how did I end up in the cafe moments.

@MyAgileHedgehogisnt it lovely finding the pictures and the Christmas cards and Mother's day cards and craft gifts, Christmas tree decorations, it's emotional letting them go in the first place but after that there's so much to enjoy . The concerts, sports days , Halloween, bonfire night , world book days. , Christingle and harvest festivals service and parties oh it takes me back to lovely memories ❤️

Spent £29 in Iceland today and running total for Bonus card for round ups/christmas is now £11.07
Doing battle with YouFIbre at the moment who have taken over from BRSK - they wanted to charge us £85.99 but the bill was wrong, it has now been adjusted but it's still wrong as BRSK offered a £5 reduction on the package for the first six months of the contract. This hasn't been honoured and I don't think it will be corrected before the direct debit goes out in 3 days time. I raised an issue and they said it would be 72 hours for a response!! It is irritating because the final bill from BRSK was wrong too but as they don't exist now I can't get copy of the bill for March either. BRSK was one of those companies that said how much the DD would be and sent a bill when the payment was processed - guess what? No bill sent as they were taken over by You Fibre.
The furniture for the bedroom will be delivered next week and has now been paid for - just waiting for the guy to book in to build it up for us. Should all be done and finished next week. Still have some bits to pay out for as we need some storage knick knacks for things like socks and shoes plus a floating shelf and maybe a picture or two but no rush for those. Still on with the decluttering and hopefully more will go when we start transferring clothes into the new wardrobes. Had a couple of sales on Vinted too in the last few weeks which was handy because I was considering shutting down the account.

I think I'm going to go to the supermarket tomorrow rather than order a delivery - as I find I'm less tempted by random offers. Well, we'll see if the theory holds out! I just discovered a list app called Bring! (With the exclamation mark...) which sorts your list by supermarket aisles which might reduce random expenditure as well.

Congratulations to those getting good news on school transfers. There may be systems where this process doesn’t bring a load of stress in its wake, but I’ve not come across one.

Oh, @Lockin26- that is a horrible situation. In the films, this is where family organise ‘an intervention ‘. I mean, reasoning with addicts is a losing game, but your brother surely doesn’t want to hurt your mother?

Book group last night: Flowers for Algernon. A really good discussion again, and I always get lots out of it. Nevertheless, I don’t fancy this month’s selection from either group I’m reading with, so I’m sticking to my own list for a few weeks.

I have booked a table at Padell, a pasta restaurant in Shoreditch for the three of us tonight. I reckon I can get away with around £35 a head, so I can treat us from my guilt free spend fund and have enough for new trainers this month. Not concert tickets as well though, so those will have to be a May treat.

Slighty tetchy exchange with DS about money management this morning : he missed a payment for his gym , because while he had funds in his Monzo, he forgot to move them over to the relevant account and the DD failed. And the gym wants to charge him a penalty before he can résumé going. I’ve suggested - let’s not mince words- told him to write and explain what happened, point out his long and trouble free membership, tell them he is currently job seeking and carves out his gym sub each month, and will struggle to continue membership if they insist on a penalty for a simple mistake. So could they waive the penalty, etc

It’s cheaper for a business to retain customers than find new ones, so if he isn’t spinning me a yarn about first time and no warnings, there’s a good chance he’ll get what he asked for. Day three since our conversation and he hasn’t done it and is talking about just changing his gym and leaving this loose end.

GRRRR! this sort of untidiness drives me wild, and makes me pretty insistent and emphatic when i talk to him about sorting it out! The gym still has his university email on their records, which he can no longer access, so they might have been chasing him a while.

That lad needs a proper job and to be able to work towards leaving home! Please, please, let his search be successful soon!