Frugal Living Challenge 2011 - Part 3.

natnat13

I have just watched the Kings Speech, very good film, watch Burlesque last night that was good too. Taking full advantage of my lovefilm while it is cheap! (did groupon £6 for 3 months).
Went shopping today, did massive shop, getting lots of monthly things like washing powder, dishwash tabs, squash, cans etc, it came to nearly £90!!! Was slightly shocked as I stuck to my list, howver because i have 2 fridges now I bought more yoghurts, milk etc so I shouldn't need a big shop again now til after xmas hopefully!
Did some baking with DS2 this afternoon, he made cheese scones with very little help, he's 4 at the end of the month (new years eve!) and loves cooking, he stood their for about 15 mins rubbing the flour and butter in then poured in the milk I had measured and cheese I had grated, mixed that then rolled and cut them out! He was so pleased when they had cooked.
Also made a big sponge cake, apple and raisin flapjacks and roast beef.
He is going to a friends after pre-school tomorrow which means I have 6 hours to myself, for more sorting, tidying, wrapping, wirting cards etc, etc!! Tree is up, we wanted a real one but decided to save the pennies and put the plastic one up, it looks fine.
Who wanted decs, I have purple baubles, red and gold bows and lots of ceiling hanging things which I would be happy to post to a fellow frugaller, just PM me, Nat xxx

Cherryjack

Bigjenny wrote: »

If you have any denture cleaning tablets like Steradent or supermarket cheapies try one or two of them in hand hot water in the vase and leave for a while or overnight , you might have to break them up if the neck is narrow.

Bicarb work as well.


HTH

Jenny

hehe its all about the teeth my sons just lost his top front tooth so im calling in the tooth fairy this eve.. no denture tablets but sure i have some bicarb will give it a shot.. thank you :beer:

jammy_dodger

tumptyteapot wrote: »

I need an idea for something to put in the center of the pass the parcel I am doing for my family - it worked really well last year, I'd collected little presents from charity shops etc and named them so that no one was left out, the person unwrapping handed the present over to the named person if it wasn't them. It meant I didn't have to think of something that everyone would like. At the center of it all were musical crackers, which cost a fortune. I need a cheaper alternative that a family of 2 parents, 3 adult sisters (one mentally handicapped) and one 8 year old child will enjoy, and.. one that isnt too big as the parcel has to be wrapped around it and it will be huge.

One sister is a diabetic, they are all vegan.

im just back from work and catching up , its snowing very heavy and typically not a gritter in site , at least i havent got to go far the next 2 days and can catch up on some seriously overdue decluttering

just a thought on the pass the parcel

maybe you could write a "cherade" for the recipient to act out and the one that guessed it starts the next pass the parcel round in the middle could be a small jigsaw that you could all do (plenty to choose from in cs shops or perhaps a cd again from cs shops and very cheap they are round here

jd xx

SandraScarlett

Oh what lovely messages! Thank you all so much, and the quote was absolutely wonderful. I spent the morning at SILs, poor sod has found cupboards brimming with suspicious unopen packages, all mail order, that DD has acquired, plus a bag of accompanying statements and some receipts for returns.

He'd tried phoning up the companies to ask what was owed as of now, and they all quoted the Data Protection Act, and wouldn't tell him a thing. So ladies, I sinned! :eek:

I telephoned the companies, quoted the account numbers, was able to answer the security questions for DD, ie full address, date of birth, Mother's maiden name ha ha!!! Anyway, what we originally thought were bills for over £1,000 eventually totalled just over £60, which was a huge relief. So I paid those, but we still have packages, that contain clothes, and lots of them. I've suggested we just put them away, and not mention them.

I came home to find DH had tried to put up the decorations, and muddled 4 sets of lights up, like spaghetti, and then just plonked them on the tree. So I practically bit my tongue in 2, nailed a jolly smile on my face, and painstakingly spread them across the floor, and unravelled them.

The air was thick with the smell of burning martyr!

xx

paidinchickens

Have you all won the lottery and boogered off without me??? no posts all day :eek::eek:

Sandra does a burning martyr keep the heating bills down xx

Not a very money saving day today as I just want to eat everything in sight.........sofa next I thinks:D

Hope everyone is well and I have missed your postings Lola

PIC x

Cherryjack

paidinchickens wrote: »

Have you all won the lottery and boogered off without me??? no posts all day :eek::eek:

Sandra does a burning martyr keep the heating bills down xx

Not a very money saving day today as I just want to eat everything in sight.........sofa next I thinks:D

Hope everyone is well and I have missed your postings Lola

PIC x

oh gosh it is quiet lol.. everyone must have busy at the same time :-)

Today my 5 year old son did his xmas play.. im so proud. Last year he had a horrible teacher in reception class who basically said he had autism and was fast to write him off. He struggled so hard with his speech, he was seen by a specialist and they said his understanding and speech was behind but no autism. She was a witch and took a real dislike to him, he would fall asleep on the toilet floor and act up when he was good as gold at home. Cut a long story short.. new teacher this year in year one and she loves him.. hes getting lots of praise, stickers and certificates. Is now getting 6/6 in his little spelling tests and he did his play and had a speaking part on the mic and did it perfect .. i blubbed away crying with the pregnancy hormones.. his new lovely teacher cuddled him at the end :T:j:j:-) Such a lovely day :D:D:D:D:D:D

On a frugal note i was out replacing my printer..to become the mad coupon lady :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: my dell one needed cartridges.. which were £40.00 to replace at 9p a sheet to print. It was cheaper to get a new H.P printer for £17.00 which came with ink and prints at 1p a sheet!:money::money:

Hope everyones well and sorry for going off the whole point of the thread lol :)xx

dizzy_lizzie

slowlyfading wrote: »

Nothing much happening this week, apart from my birthday on tuesday, so I expect it'll be another quiet one.

slowlyfading technically it's after midnight so today is your birthday...:D However you spend it I hope it's lovely for you x x

Sandra thank goodness the bills weren't as high as you thought. At least that was a blessing. It must be so hard on everyone what you're going through at the moment. Huge hugs x


Paidinchix if I won the lottery and I mean the biggie, or near enough I would treat all of us on this thread to a fantabulous meal out at a right posh place Aw that would be awesome wouldn't it?

Cherryjack Bless your little one. It makes me so sad to read what he had to go through. Thank goodness he now has someone who obviously loves her job and realises what teaching is really all about. Not just about abc's and 1 2 3s it's about compassion, kindness and understanding for every little person whilst in their care.
Well done to him for his role in the nativity, that is a huge achievement :T One very proud mummy on the day

I was supposed to be having an early night but decided to completely empty my wardrobe and have a declutter. Of course it took me five times as long to put it back in but I've had a good sort out and feel so much better for it.
I've not even had my tea yet! Made everyone else's though but it was quorn chilli so I couldn't have it :-(
Think I'll have some tea and toast after a quick dip then beddybyes.
The days are just whizzing by and at the moment I'm definately not making the most of them. When I've got a bit of time I just can't get motivated and end up watching something mindless on telly or browsing the net.
Right off I go.
Warm hugs
x

seriouslyfrugal

Hi

Happy birthday Slowly Fading :bdaycake:

P.I.C: No lotto win here although I did watch million pound drop last night :rotfl:

CherryJack : Its amazing what the right teacher can do isn't it and also how things can get take out of context I suspect that the teacher this year has a different way of working / explaining things which suits your liitle one better - which in turn boosts confidence.

tumptyteapot

whole salmon reduced from £27 to £15! that is 8 meals :-) Thank you Mr A.
I have a resolution to become mad voucher lady but I don't know where to start, any pointers?

We don't eat ready meals and a lot of the vouchers I see are for very processed food I just wouldn't use. Is it possible to get things like flour, butter, eggs etc, all the cooking basics I use cheaper with vouchers? I am wondering if it is worth the hassle of trawling through all the vouchers that are no good for us to find ones that are.

tumptyteapot

jammy_dodger wrote: »

just a thought on the pass the parcel

maybe you could write a "cherade" for the recipient to act out and the one that guessed it starts the next pass the parcel round in the middle could be a small jigsaw that you could all do (plenty to choose from in cs shops or perhaps a cd again from cs shops and very cheap they are round here

jd xx

genius! lovely idea, thank you!