Its tough, it will get better and guess what its freezing brrrrr!

catznine

Lauren - never, ever feel guilty that your children are getting second hand pressies! You can get some incredibly lovely toys second hand and you are being a better Mum by avoiding getting into any debt over Christmas. Spending huge amounts on presents will have got a lot of folk into debt and is something that I feel really must change in this credit crisis! I blame the advertisers! Christmas presents for my ds were often second hand in his early years - we spent £10 one year and this netted us lots of fab fisher price toys all in excellent condition! He certainly didn't suffer and his sister who came along 6 years later also had a lot of fun playing with those toys!

Good news for us today that same ds and his wife are having their first baby (14 weeks along now) and have just had results of tests and scan through - all is ok!!! :j One very active little baby as well! I have been given a couple of the scan photos of my first grandchild!!! so excited! Baby is due in May:) and I am knitting already! We have had to move dd's wedding though to a month later! Bless her she couldn't have not had her big brother and family there!

Made a huge amount of mincemeat yesterday, so much nicer than the bought stuff! Also a bottle of sloe vodka! Just have the Christmas chutney to do and the cake.

dollydaydream07

i can't believe how much 'stuff' we have!!!

i have just spent 2 hours in one cupboard and have 3 bin bag fulls of stuff for the charity shop! i could sell some of it but i just cba!!

i upset DD on the way to school this morning, driving along and i was thinking out loud and said that we needed to do a shoebox this weekend - she asked what for so i told her it was a box of presents for children from another country who's mummy and daddy's don't have any pennies to buy them anything so we are doing this to make sure they have a present, i said it was really sad that some people don't get anything and she said 'it is mummy, those poor children, it makes me really sad' i looked in my mirror and she was wiping a tear away

DH told me yesterday that his company will be opening another store but it will be in town centre rather than on the outskirts and his area manager wants him to run this new store - i don't know if it will mean a pay rise but one thing i do know is that it will be a really profitable store and be even easier for him to achieve his targets so will result in bigger bonuses each month!!

i have been having a think and even though we aren't having any problems in our marriage i am going to start putting £10 a month away - as has been said by some, you never know whats going to happen so if anything did happen and we split at least i would have a little bit of something to get us sorted - or i might just use it to pay off some of our debts!! who knows but i will be opening a new account(if i can as i don't have any income) and stashing a tenner a month in it!!!

right better get off here as i need to go to the charity shop and to aldi for a couple of bits - will only be taking £10 with me so no overspending!!

Rowan9

(((hugs))) lovelife - hope you feel better soon. It's hard when you feel down like that. Keep warm. Hot drinks? Hot food? Don't be hard on yourself. I love your user name - it always makes me smile. Hoping it will make you smile again soon.
W

kidcat

Dollydaydream - there are lots of accounts you can open, but a credit union one might be good if there is one available near you, that way, if anything did happen and you needed to you will have built up a small nest egg and be eligible for a small loan to tide you over as it were.

Lauren - buying second hand presents means that you are not crippling yourself with debts and that you will be able to afford to live in the coming year, that is the greatest gift parents can pass onto their children.

I have three children in school today, hallelujah!!! Still one off who has been to doctor and apparently he isnt putting it on (which I admit to thinking) but is very congested, doctor would not give us a sick note however as he says he shouldnt have to for a child and that school should accept my word and a parent. Thats all very well but school still require one or else so I predict trouble this week.


Lovelife- sending you hugs and some sunny flowers to keep you going. I am feeling very low at the moment too, and cant quite understand why, I can only assume its weather related although never been this bad before.

Having trouble today finding places to store the Approved food delivery from yesterday, and am seriously considering emptying a huge portion of the garage to a charity shop, although I was hoping to car boot sale it all, I just dont see how I can do it at the moment.

Fruball

lovelife wrote: »

Finally caught up on thread..... GAILEY, sorry to hear about hubbys job, you seem to have been waiting ages for the outcome and that sort of limbo is stressful in itself...........

Feeling very down at the mo............not so much 'LoveLife' more like hanging on in there........

Suddenly...........no energy, motivation,enthusiasm, i feel like a lead weight, tired, tearful, full of self doubt and a bit of a failure really......

I can't bear the cold........ was going to write more but need to give myself a kick up the backside and get up, dressed and on with it........ sorry for being a miserable cow.........

I recognise a fellow S.A.D. sufferer when I see one Have you been along to see your GP? I am lucky that one of our GPs at our practice gets SAD so it is properly diagnosed and dealt with... I know some others are not so well informed. Hope you feel better xx xx

Fruball

I remember some people on this thread were after cheap veg seeds... I posted the link for the 20p seeds but there is a bit of a lack of variety on that site... Found another one though, just 50p and more varieties LINKY

redlady_1

Frugal - I love you!!! Thank you for that link. I have just been thinking about my seeds.

Fruball

redlady_1 wrote: »

Frugal - I love you!!! Thank you for that link. I have just been thinking about my seeds.

Glad to help

Here is the link to the 20p seeds

UnderPressure

Thanks Frugal great links there, we grew a few things this year with a bit of success and have decided we want to grow a lot next year so these will come in really useful, I did buy a load of packets from Willkinsons last month they were clearing out the summer stock got a load of stuff at 35p a packet!

Sadly the greenhouse took a battering last year with high winds smashed 70% of the glass I am going to renew the lot in January with Polycarbonate make it a bit safer.

Did well out of the compost bin this year as well and it is well on the way to being full again so hoping for a good haul next year to made a big difference this year.

I keep toying with the idea of keeping a few chickens as well, I have been looking on freecycle for a while now for old stoks of wood that I could build a coot with not seen anything so far hopefully will do over winter

Anyway thanks for the links they will come in really useful

anguk

lauren_1 wrote: »

Sadly some of us don't even have the luxury of going to a shop to get presents, you are right though, £50 will get you 1 or 2 presents if that. There is no prize for being the cheapest or who got the most for their money, if anything i feel guilty as hell that everything is 2nd hand

Don't ever feel guilty for buying second hand, your children will get just as much enjoyment out of them. One Christmas when my DS was young every present I got him was from jumble sales, I got an entire set of Thomas Tank Engine ladybird books and loads of Fisher Price toys.