MSE Parents Club Part 12

aless02

Ooo, have fun GISI! Hope the weather's lovely for you.

My uncle (in-law, if there is such thing! ) is running in the London Marathon today. That's the only person I know personally...DH likes to watch it on TV and then tell me what he was doing two weeks ago (at his marathon in Paris) at that same point, lol.

scruffy, that was evil of you to link to the pushchair last night. I think the Petite Star Zia is my newest pushchair lust, but sooooo don't have 90 quid right now, wah. But the price is just so good!!

SugarSpun

Morning all

Sorry Tara, wasn't here but yes, Landy Bridal or Milly's Bridal are the cheap places (check both; they differ depending on the dress). I got my wedding dress from someone else, but he doesn't have BM dresses, only flowing medieval style wedding dresses.

Hi Weezl I'm glad your DH is looking after you. Mine and I are friends again.

Off to chip the cereal off the baby's face before we have her photoshoot!! I'm so excited, my friend's a great photographer and he doesn't want to take money or stuff in payment.

Except that I was hoping for a couple of pictures of Molly and me together, and since my hair's much browner since pregnancy I bought a quickie dye yesterday to put the red back in it. And it's awful. It's a horrible brassy purply red and I'm going to wear a hat till I can get it fixed on Monday.

Somnium

Gah! Does anyone else find that if they want their OH to do baby related stuff for them then they need to ask/tell them. My OH is so fab at other stuff around the house but leaves Tahlie to me and it would just be nice if he occasionaly offered to change a nappy or something. The biggest annoying thing is the amount he sleeps tho, I get approx 6 hrs a night usually but OH usually falls asleep for anhour or so before bed then 8 hours in bed and at weekends he lies in for a few hours! he still has the cheek to say he's tired too! like I said he's fab at cooking and housework and other stuff but these 2 things drive me potty. I try talking to him but he thinks am having a go

kindof - I suppose lasting 5 years that's pretty good value then really. Yeay for prjector, we have a fisher price one and T loves it, it has changeble discs in it so the patterns get more complex as she gets older. I can even putter her down awake and put it on and she is perfectly happy.

Weezl - as you know T is only 6 weeks but my nephew is nearly 11 and has grown up with v little money and is a very well rounded young man still. I believe probably down to his personality than material belongings. My lil bro was very Himmler when I said I hoped T turned out like J. He has a good understanding if money andit doesn't grow on trees. Last year he wanted a ps3 but it was too much for his parents to afford as a present so he saved all his money for months and then gave to his dad so they topped it up and he got one for Xmas.

weezl74

SugarSpun wrote: »

Except that I was hoping for a couple of pictures of Molly and me together, and since my hair's much browner since pregnancy I bought a quickie dye yesterday to put the red back in it. And it's awful. It's a horrible brassy purply red and I'm going to wear a hat till I can get it fixed on Monday.

SS try a few hatless, just in case something can be done with after edits, for example a very overexposed colour saturated shot would look very good with a superdyed hair colour, the kind of aftereffects that venture are good at, example:

cazscoob

weezl74 wrote: »

We're all on MSE for our own money saving reasons. It seems to be that IRL people say that children get very expensive as they grow up. How much does everyone feel this HAS to be the case?

I don't want fergie or kessie to be bullied in school for not having the right things, but I also don't want to have to get branded goods all the time just at the whim of a 10 year old in fergies class with more money than sense. Does this make any sense?

My kids dont have a designer wardrobe full to the brim and every 'IN' item going, i use car boot sales to buy branded and designers clothes to suppliment the asda/matalan and possibly next clothes they own. Lewis must have clarks trainers due to his narrow feet and he luckily loves them!(usually they are bought in the sale!)
Megan on the other hand must have certain brands as she gets very upset and some little girls are just horrible if you dont 'wear the right thing'
In their old school Megan was picked on for not haveing a Helly Hanson jacket and at £60+ i struggled but bought one to make her life easier. It did help her and gave her the confidence she needed and stopped the girls for a few weeks. I usually make sure that birthdays and christmas are about them getting a little more than they would throughout the rest of the year and our families are always asked to buy clothes.
IMO boys are easier to deal with as there will be certain things that they like and they stick to them whereas the girls chop and change their minds at the drop of a hat! with the exception of the cost os football strips lol! HTH XXX
ETA i think that kids learning the value of money from a young age makes a big difference, them having to save towards things and also understanding the general household bills. My kids know money doesnt grow on trees and that if they want something then generally they will have to wait.

slept in for the boot sale typically?? not sure if i should take pics and put it on gumtree now?

csh_2

weezl74 wrote: »

And on that topic, I have another question I'd love everyone's thoughts on, particularly those with older children.

We're all on MSE for our own money saving reasons. It seems to be that IRL people say that children get very expensive as they grow up. How much does everyone feel this HAS to be the case?

I don't want fergie or kessie to be bullied in school for not having the right things, but I also don't want to have to get branded goods all the time just at the whim of a 10 year old in fergies class with more money than sense. Does this make any sense?

I'm wanting to decide to drop our income, but I don't want to risk fergie's happiness by not having essential cash...

Hope anyone can help!

Love weezl xxx

DD is 14 this year, and while she certainly doesn't have everything branded, she still costs a lot.

There are a 'group' if you like you will have everything branded, and pick on those who don't. I believe the term for them is chav and I certainly wouldn't worry about what they think!

DD is quite emo, she doesn't have many branded things but some like converse and other names that relate to her style. For every branded thing she has she has about 6 unbranded others IYKWIM?
Obviously there are some things she wouldn't compromise on like a phone and laptop. :roll eyes: When she says 'everyone' has one, they usually do. These would be birthday/xmas gifts. There are some kids who get i-phones as a random purchase!

In actual cash terms excl clothing. She gets £3 a day dinner money. At the start of secondary school I got their lunch price list and decided this was the fairest amount for her to get something decent to eat at the school and get the sweet shop on the way home with her friends. I could prob get away with £2.50 a day. Some kids get £5 per day. I know of one that gets £7, no !!!!!

She gets £15 per week allowance. She can spend or save this depending on what shes doing. Out of this she would maybe go to the pictures (£4.50 on the bus, £6 to get in to the pictures) or swimming or just save up for something.
Every week she buys Kerrang at about £2.50 and youthclub at the church is £1.50 to get in.

I would say she is average to other kids. There are obviously those who get much more and those who get much less but this pitches her at the group in the middle, the unnoticed group if you like. Not much bullying goes on in this middle group.

Becles

weezl74 wrote: »

We're all on MSE for our own money saving reasons. It seems to be that IRL people say that children get very expensive as they grow up. How much does everyone feel this HAS to be the case?

I've found this is a problem when they hit teens and want to be like everyone else. James has a friend who's Dad used to be a professional footballer for a local team, and he's on the coaching staff now. I'm guessing they have a lot more money than use as their house decor looks fabulous and the boy wears all brand name stuff.

James really wanted a SuperDry jacket like his friends, but they are stupidly expensive. I managed to find a copy of the jacket in Primark, and explained it's pretty much the same jacket, but it just doesn't have SuperDry stitched onto it. He also saw some tops and stuff he liked in Primark. I said he could either have the SuperDry jacket, or he could have the copy jacket, plus all the other stuff he liked. He soon decided he'd go for the copy jacket and other stuff, and I still ended up spending less than the cost of the SuperDry jacket :money::D

Charlotte is still in a nappy for sleeping, but yesterday afternoon I forgot to put one on before she went to bed and luckily she was dry when she woke up. Took the nappy off this morning and it was dry as well. Hoping this is the start of no more nappies

csh_2

got-it-spend-it wrote: »

Wants, wants, wants http://www.pinklining.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/62_63_105/products_id/375/.

Bargain!


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pinknico

got-it-spend-it wrote: »

Wants, wants, wants http://www.pinklining.co.uk/product_info.php/cPath/62_63_105/products_id/375/.

I don't need it but I still WANT it!!

Enjoy the photo shoot today Sugar.

Hello Weezle, the main cost I have found with OH children and now our own is just going to school!! Trips,lunches,sponsored events, non school uniform day (happens quite a few fridays!)
The older ones like branded stuff but are under no pressure to have them.


Yay for soon no more nappies Becles!

weezl74

hey! thanks for all those quick responses

EA, I notice you're TTC, big congrats and excitement from me :j:j:j

Can I be a bit old mother hennish and please ask you to deliberately super enhance your iron levels as soon as you possibly can?

I did a lot of research about small gaps whilst thinking about the timing for Kezzie, and I think upping your iron is one of the absolute best things you can do to help you and your baby

As you are BF, there will also be big demands on your body's calcium levels too, so please consider those as well.

OK I'll butt out now

edit: but if you did want to know more about why and what the research says, I am very happy to help...