Muppet's SOA

tealady

How about skill swaps (or food swaps). Eg for 6 free range eggs perhaps someone would swap some home grown veg or give you a lift somewhere. Slow cookers are great as well, they can cook very cheap cuts of meat (I used to have one before I became a veggie).

poodlehorse

Muppet, who am I to judge you? No I think it is a great idea! And as you say it cost you £40 out of the £125 just to go to work so realistically you were taking home £85 per week? Shouldn't be too hard to tighten the belt a bit here and there then. As for the contacts - totally understand you need ones that feel right. I have a backlog here as I seem to not bother these days when I am just in the house so I will be kept going for a while and have just cancelled my DD. When I run out I am hoping I can get laser surgery as I know DH is going for that either this year or next (I hope this as he is blind without glasses and he works hard for his cash so he deserves to spend it on himself rather than us and the house all the time). Anyway staying at home is hard work! But very rewarding if you like that sort of thing, which I do. I love to cook from scratch and bake and although I am constantly tidying up after DS and am grateful to be doing it rather than slogging at my desk all those hours a day. Our quality of life as a family has improved massively as a result and DH would agree, I used to come home late and be too tired to cook or clean and be grumpy and stressed. HE says it is great to have 3 squares put in front of him and he is loving the home cooking I do more of now. I always did cook from scratch but in the end I think we were living on pasta as it was quicker than anything else.

Oh and thanks for the baked potatoes idea, I hadn't thought of that and they are soooo much better done properly than in a microwave. Now I want it even more. It is still raining and cold here tonight. BRrrrrrr