The Crumpet family's journey to Mortgage Freedom:-)

RoaringTwenties

Deffo take the chance Crumpets! DS never comes on hols with us, he's rather challenging [ahem ] & would be a pain on the kind of hols that we can still have whilst DD is a baby (cream teas, visits to little churches, pub lunches etc) so he goes to my Mums, he loves hareing round her massive garden, and has a few days that are completely focused on him. That also means we can give DD the attention she deserves (& misses out on quite a bit as we have to focus on DS in the ordinary course of events). Enjoy the time with the younger ones, you had that time with her when she was your only one! And she'll have a great time with her friends. Hope you have a lovely break

Good luck for the sleeping bag too, let us know [STRIKE]if[/STRIKE] when you win :T

Crumpets

It's agreed, our first camping trip will be when dd1 is on a school trip in May - provided it's not pouring down with rain of course I won the sleeping bag on eBay for Ds and dh went to collect it this morning, it was bit further away than I thought so dh wasn't too pleased:o only £2.75 though:T

I've listed 8 items I think on eBay this weekend, if I go up into the loft I may be able to find a few more things if I have the energy later. It's such a chore isn't it? Hopefully they'll all sell as that should definitely cover the cost of 3 nights camping:T

Today my parents came round and brought lunch with them:T only hotdogs followed by strawberries but was a nice easy lunch, trying to get dd1 to eat though is becoming a nightmare, she doesn't like anything, so she says:mad: it's so frustrating, I do have some sympathy as I was a fussy child but still...

This afternoon we are going to use a groupon voucher and go bowling, it's the first time Ds has been so I hope he enjoys it. We'll probably grab dinner there as a treat, everyone's looking forward to it as we don't have a bowling alley close by so it's not something we do very often.

I promised the children a trip to the zoo this holidays and it is so expensive! I'm toying between paying to take them to the zoo or using tesco vouchers to go to a safari park.. Pros to going to the zoo are, it's nice walking around the animals, no theme park rides, more interactive, we haven't taken the little ones before. Cons are it costs a lot. Pros of going to safari park - can use tesco vouchers and get a free return ticket, cons - theme park rides that require wrist bands to be brought, boring driving round the animals (IMO), we've been many times before. Hmm I'm still not sure...

Right, I'm off bowling now, wish me luck!

Crumpets x

Crumpets

well bowling was fun! when we first went in ds was little frightened but once he got the hang of pushing the ball down the ramp he really enjoyed it. Our groupon voucher was valid for 2 games but one would have been enough as they were fed up by that point. we abandoned the 2nd game halfway through and too them to McDs for dinner. it was really lovely and dd1 in particular enjoyed doing a more grown up activity.

Today has been a little frustrating, I had to go to the dentist for a filling today :eek: and the dentist is not far away from Ald! so I thought I'd go shopping at the same time, however, I realised that I didn't have any change for the car park or a £ for the trolley so, I had to drive out if town to get cash and then spend some so I could get the change to park, by the time I got back into town the car park was full so I just had to come home:mad: that took me most of the morning:(

This afternoon I've done a bit of housework and I'm going to take the kids to the library in a while, I will let them choose a dvd to borrow as a little holiday treat. Dh and I have decided that we are not going to go to the zoo or safari park, instead we are going to go to a local wildlife park and then possibly go out for dinner (this will probably cost the same as the other activities, but it feels like better value for money)

Tonight I'm hoping that we'll got through our finances, we have a couple of bills to pay and I also need to pay the last instalment for dds school trip. it will be good to see how much money we have in the house fund as I'd really like to decorate our bedroom this year, if we have enough I can look out for curtains etc in the sales.

crumpets x

Goldiegirl

Crumpets wrote: »

Dh and I have decided that we are not going to go to the zoo or safari park, instead we are going to go to a local wildlife park and then possibly go out for dinner (this will probably cost the same as the other activities, but it feels like better value for money)

x

I think local wildlife parks are a really good choice for younger children, as it's a natural setting and a chance to learn about the local area, and they can be quite hands on too


It's been fun reading about your Easter activities

RoaringTwenties

Glad you are still enjoying the hols Crumpets. Our Easter nests were a triumph btw

My DS went back today and it felt really strange. Got a heck of a lot done round the house though! :T

Crumpets

Well done on the nests RT, I have to say my enthusiasm for the school holidays is waning now and I'm looking forward to getting back to normal next week. We have a few nice days out planned though to finish off the holidays, I hope the children have had a nice time.

Today was a busy but NSD which is what we like. I popped round to my friends this morning and the kids managed to have a play in the garden before it rained and then this afternoon another friend came round with her children for a play date. It's a shame the weather has taken a turn for the worst but a lot of fun was still had. It's gone very chilly here today and I've even resorted to lighting a fire, it's been ages since we last had one and it's lovely to be sitting by it.:T

I mentioned on LGPs thread yesterday that I have set myself a challenge to loose 7lbs in 7 weeks as that is when I go on holiday. I started my healthy eating today and did ok, could have been better as I felt like I couldn't refuse a piece of cake this morning, but I counted the calories I've also drank my 2 litres of water and i think I have more energy than I normally do at this time of night.:T I still don't feel well enough for exercise but I've just been invited swimming tomorrow night so I'm hoping to go to that.

I've paid a couple of bills today but dh and I haven't had chance to go through the finances yet, I think it will have to wait until the kids are back at school as they aren't going to bed early enough to get much done.

I have an opticians appointment tomorrow and I think I will need new specs, I need new prescription sunglasses too so I'm hoping the opticians might have a deal on. It's been 5 years since my last pair and I'm struggling to see with them now so they are a necessity:cool:

Crumpets x

littlegreenpeas

Hi crumpets, glad you are starting the weight loss well.

With your glasses you can always take the prescription to who is doing the best deal you are not obligated to get glasses where you have a test. I normally get my company to pay for the test and then take it to test co and use the clubcard points.
Lgp x

Crumpets

littlegreenpeas wrote: »

Hi crumpets, glad you are starting the weight loss well.

With your glasses you can always take the prescription to who is doing the best deal you are not obligated to get glasses where you have a test. I normally get my company to pay for the test and then take it to test co and use the clubcard points.
Lgp x

Thanks for reminding me, I actually went to specs@vers and they were doing their buy one get one free deal so I have ordered some new specs and new sunglasses, I did pay on my clubcard credit card though so I will get some points.:T

I finally got to go shopping today after my failed trip the other day, I spent £61:eek: I really don't know how I can get it any lower:( it's very frustrating as left over grocery funds usually made up the majority of my extra overpayment. One thing I did notice is that I spend quite a lot on frozen pizzas as we all like different ones, I need to get back into making our own, but we never seem to have found a good dough recipe and it always seems so much effort.

This afternoon we went to the local wildlife centre and had a brilliant time, the weather was beautiful and all the kids enjoyed it, even dd1 who doesn't seem to enjoy much at the moment:T we will definitely be making are turn trip, infact I may investigate a season ticket. We then stopped for a lovely pub dinner on the way home and all the kids were worn out and were tucked up in bed nice and early:T we definitely spent less than we would have done if we'd gone to the zoo so I think we made a good choice.

Tonight I have been swimming:A I almost didn't go as I was exhausted but my friend persuaded me and I'm so glad she did. Time for a lemon and ginger tea and a chill out now

Crumpets x

RoaringTwenties

All sounds good Crumpets, you seem to have really made the most of the hols :T. I did smile at the idea of DD1 not enjoying much at the moment, have you got a tweenager on your hands?

I think groceries have just got so expensive over the last year or so. I still say to OH that Aldi saved us last year! I was spending sooooo much money in Sainsys, it was getting out of hand, I'd spend the whole weeks budget for food, toiletries, household cleaning etc just on basic food. But the point is that wherever you shop, the cost of food (& fuel) is just cutting into domestic budgets like never before in my adult lifetime

Hope you all have a good final day off tomorrow

littlegreenpeas

Well done Crumpets on the swimming and sounds like a good decision on the wildlife centre. :j. I agree shopping is getting very expensive and considering there are more in your family, you are doing well. X