New Thrifty Gifty - Organised for Christmas and all ocassions 2010- Santas Challenges

toffeeapple

Great ideas for the challenge, do we have a month to complete all the tasks? :j

All the back to school stuff has been purchased, just awaiting delivery of DS's school shoes that I got off amazon... (£20 cheaper than clarks for identical shoes!!!). I do however have to wash their jumpers through so they don't come home on the first day covered in burgundy fluff and have to label everything. This year I am just going to write names in with a black sharpie because last year the iron in labels lasted all of about a month!:(

Kids wardrobes were done last month so they are all in order and I know what they have so I can think what they need for the winter season. Need wellies, jeans, couple of smart jumpers and shirts for DS, tights, Christmas Day dress, winter boots and long sleeved tops for DD.:eek:

I must tackle mine and hubbys this month though, not looking forward to that!!!

Already stocked up on batteries, my battery tin is always full!! I think I have OCD about it!! :T

Car Boot, have put off all month. Can't face 5.30am start on a Sunday!! Have put main stuff on another site and sold some of it. Looks like I may just have to do one Car Boot to get rid of the bags in the spare room then. _pale_ Will try and rope in my friend to do one next to me, not half so bad then.

Thats all for now, need to get up to date with all my lists and have to get on with my crafty stuff, hard to do with the kids about as they want to 'help'!!:whistle:

Got MIL coming for 2 days today, :mad: so have to go and tidy. Lemon Drizzle cake in the oven already... got to practice the fake smile now in the mirror!! :rotfl:

Time for a :coffee: i think!!

SugarSpun

supa-girl wrote: »

Me me me sounds great. I have agreed with my girlfriends that on the day the kids go back we will go to the coffee shop with the little ones and have a long coffee/catchup. Many of them have all their kids at school which means my 2 youngest get passed round the table and I get to drink a coffee while it's still hot - a rare treat!

I love the feeling of finishing a cup of something before it's cold - something I never actually realised was a luxury before I had a child.

Winged_one

I actually started to tackle the littlun's wardrobe last week. I need to do more. And we only thought of ordering labels last night (new to school and creche was so small that it didn't matter).

I am off out at lunch to get a few things anyway, and will add a few more to it now that I;ve seen the list (it's a useful reminder!).

I need to get more organised (although I DID manage to get a calendar to print each month on an A4, which i then abused the work colour photocopier to print it in A3, for the wall at home - and a second one for my work wall for work meetings!).

cdsmiler

Have any of you seen this? Found it on the Freebies list. Very funny!
http://workdayfunnies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Christmas_Application.pdf

elysia2003 wrote: »

Being crafty - like I said DD now has a bunkbed style bed. She keeps losing the remote control to the TV down the side of the mattress now she hasn't got a bedside table, so I've ordered some material off ebay to make a pocket/pouch thing and I will velcro it to the rails. She can keep her book and remote control. tissues etc in there and not lose them!

Love it - that's exactly the type of thing my Mum would come up with! She's recently made DD a laudry bag to hang on the back of the door (do you think I could find one to buy?! Her's is much better anyway!).

Pips_Mum wrote: »

Pips 18 months and did have an Advent calendar last year but didnt get the point of it and didnt really understand the concept of opening the doors BUT was well pleased with the piece of chocolate each day!

White chocolate!! You suddenly made me think that a bit of white chocolate wouldn't hurt! Forgot all about white chocolate. Sorted. And then I can plan to make something nice and homemade for in a few years time! (Thanks Nickybo too!)

Clare x

NickyBo_2

I've had a lovely morning shopping on my own. DS in nursery and I told DH I was going to be a long time so he chose not to come, excellent!

I got myself 2 pairs of trousers and a skirt from the charity shops - £10.50 in total! That's my back to school/work clothes sorted as I also picked up a black cardigan and plenty of tights in Primark.

More charity shop bargains - an unopened Marks + Spencers 'gold shimmer' bath set. Comes in a lovely big gold box, looks really posh and expensive - £3.40
Also got two books for DS, they both look brand new, 75p and 50p.

Boots bargain - I wasn't even looking for Christmas presents but spotted a sign in the men's toiletries aisle saying 2 for £6 on 'Fish' products. My brother loves the 'Fish' range so I had a look. I spotted a gift set with body wash and spray in, costing £5.99. I read the small print on the sign and it only said excluding fragrances. So I took the two sets up to the till and asked if they were in the offer, she scanned and said yes! She seemed to be surprised too! So I got 2 sets for £6, effectively paying 1p for the second one :rotfl:

Went in Poundland too. Picked up some garden tools for myself, our new house that we are moving to soon (fingers crossed) has a massive garden and I don't think my current little tiny tools are up to the job. I also got a clownfish soft toy for DS. It came in a lovely package shaped like a fish bowl. He had it as a treat for doing so well with potty training. When we opened it we saw it is actually a big finger puppet too Bargain for £1!

nicki_2

cdsmiler wrote: »

Have any of you seen this? Found it on the Freebies list. Very funny!
http://workdayfunnies.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/Christmas_Application.pdf

Clare x

I've had to print it off for my DD :rotfl::rotfl: I'm going to include a covering letter stating that "Santa is trying to become more efficient & now has to take into account health & safety rules when it comes to delivering toys" and put it in an envelope. She's away at the minute so will have no idea :rotfl: Am I mean? :rotfl:

elysia2003

Susan - It's impossible to share a mini packet of maltesers - there isn't enough in there! (My wardrobe's like yours too!)

Supergirl - I remember it being a luxury to have a hot drink too. We even had to take it in turns to eat our meals. Thank goodness that's over! No more!!!

CDsmiler - As long as I'm sewing a straight line (well sort of) I'm ok. I have made curtains, cushions etc but they are very basic. Thanks for the link, I've saved it for a bit later.

Nickybo - isn't it lovely to go shopping on your own? I miss it terribly. One more week after this one until the kids go back (trouble is, OH is off next week as well - he's worse than 10 kids put together.) :eek:


Nicki - Have you come up with anything yet? Would you post it on here please if you do? I'm no good at things like that but it sounds great!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've just been school shopping. I already bought neices uniform, coat, shoes and pumps as SIS is absolutely skint at moment - the last thing she needs is more debt so I helped her out. I thought I'd bought all of DD2's too - when I realised I forgot her cardi's. Marks and Spencer on had 1 in the whole shop in her size and so did BHS. Needless to say, I grabbed them and practically ran to the till. I treated myself and bought a top in the sale too.

I went into Boots to buy something to put in a Christmas hamper for DD1. I walked around the store and noticed a SA was reducing all the baby products. I bought a pink gingham changing mat for £2 and a baby bouncer for £3.50. Bouncer is online for £17.99. Best of all I got a £5 ruby and millie voucher and used it to buy what I originally went in the shop for - so in effect the baby stuff was free!

I don't even know anyone who is expecting so am I organised or what!:j

Pips_Mum

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:Elysia!:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:
Very organised!

nicki_2

elysia2003 wrote: »

Nicki - Have you come up with anything yet? Would you post it on here please if you do? I'm no good at things like that but it sounds great!

Okay, DD (who is 9 going on 90!) absolutely loves The Santa Clause trilogy. I don't know if you've seen the third one (With Jack Frost etc in) but Santas Right-hand elf is called Curtis So with this in mind I wrote this:

Mr. S. Clause
C/- Mail Service HOHOHO
North Pole

August 2010

To whom it may concern,

Due to the huge increase in the number of children, Curtis and I decided to send those children who are on the good list a form to fill out to assist in the efficient processing of your requests. This will help us to plan my route more efficiently. Some of the questions on the form will also help me to make a note on my list which roofs I have to take special care on because sometimes it can be hard to remember a year later which ones I had problems with!

Curtis has made a mistake on the form though! It says at the bottom to return it by Air Mail. Don’t worry about that. Just put it in the envelope provided and I’ll magic it up here.

Thank you for your help.


Santa Clause

Then I signed it with a red pen, put it in a envelope (including an extra one addressed to "Santa Clause, North Pole") and wrote her name & address on it. :rotfl::rotfl: Now the only question is, will she recognise my handwriting? I can but try. She may or may not believe it as she's in two mind as to whether Santa is real or not thanks to her class mates. :santa2:

mum2one

supa-girl wrote: »

ooh, this is a BIG challenge for me!! :eek: Best get cracking!
School uniform - still need to get footwear for DS2. Waiting for a lump sum of money to go into my account tomorrow and have planned a trip to a nearby discount shopping centre, where you can pick up clarks and so on for about £12. Wouldn't normally leave it so late, but finances must this year

Have been discussing doing a carboot with my best mate, so will pin her down for a date - have a LOT to get shot of, hopefully make a bit of cash for my offset Christmas....

Wardrobes is also a biggie, with 7 people in the house! All the kids seem to have shot up over the summer, so I need to have a good sort through. I usually pass my kids stuff onto friends and they pass theirs onto me. Have a bag full off stuff for DS3 someone gave me the other day so I need to have a look through that. My wardrobe is horrific!!! I still have maternity stuff in there and my youngest (and last!!! ) is almost one! There is lots I don't/won't wear so I might start with mine - get the worst done first as they say!

Batteries - could do with some more rechargeables - all the ones we have are in use and the kids tend to "borrow" the ones from the tv remote which drives me mad!

Me me me sounds great. I have agreed with my girlfriends that on the day the kids go back we will go to the coffee shop with the little ones and have a long coffee/catchup. Many of them have all their kids at school which means my 2 youngest get passed round the table and I get to drink a coffee while it's still hot - a rare treat!

I have also copied down the list into my notebook as extra fopod to thought.....well I had better get cracking, it's going to be a busy month!!!!!

Thanks for this challenge, with so much on my to do list, it's really good to have a focus

SG

Oh heck, sorry to keep you busy, were have to extend the me me me treats 4 u. I haven't done Miss Hoodies shoes, b the day b4 she starts schoolo. xx