two frugal years to freedom: a fritterer's tale

liltdiddylilt

^ I LOVE the bracelet idea. May I ask what type it is? And I don't mean pandora or other ridiculously expensive types (unless it is!) but rather, silver? gold? What charms do you have so far? Is it a belcher chain.. etc?

Well done on not spending! I have not been such a good girl but at least I didn't spend my own money £20 in home bargains although it could have gone higher. Lots of cheap choccies!

I am so impressed with all your DIY. Amazing stuff!

lobbyludd

the charms are silver - I haven't actually got the chain yet but the charms are classic clip types so ot probably will be a belcher chain - each so far has been from H*t Di*m*nds as I've managed to get them all for under a tenner each with discount codes etc, but that won't last and I only want silver ones (no enamel or other metal colours).

so she has a treble clef for her love of music (she makes up songs all the time ), a starfish because that's how she slept at that point, (still does!), a snow flake, a space invader, an angel's wing, and I've just ordered her an apple, each of them so far represents something about her (in my eyes). I'd like to get her a silver owl (it's the animal associated with her namesake and represents wisdom) but i don't like the HD one so I'll search for that for next year.

bought some school uniform today - worked out the minimum he'd need to walk through the door on the first day and decided to get that this pay day, luckily shoes still fit so fingers crossed that continues. I'll order jumper/shirts/athletics kit/rugby kit etc etc from the shop's online store because I now know what size he is in their measurements.

The shop was heaving, I mentioned coming back in two weeks before school starts to get the rest and the assistant begged me not to - she said people queue for hours outside the shop in the week running up to term starting! but I can't afford the rest until the next payday (22 days!).

lobbyludd

:eek:I MUST STOP SPENDING!!!!!

we go on a camping holibobs in 10 days (lovely mum paying for the pitch) and I have the money to cover the petrol (will be at least £150:eek:) and other than that about £50 saved - which will do the kids and I for food and frugal fun, but lovely mum will want to do more spendy stuff.

despite that instead of saing the remainder of my discretionary money I have spent all £15 on 2 stained glass windows today yes they are v, cheap and exactly what I've been looking for for over a year but I really need to hide my purse now. I can squeeze some more money out for holibobs if the children stay with granparents past sunday (but suspect they'll be coming home at the weekend) or if I can work at home on monday and tuesday to save childcare. I'll see what boss says tomorrow

lobbyludd

am working from home. or at least trying to, not sure how many hours I'm actually going to be able to log.
cous cous chick pea thingummy for lunch for me (fishfingers for children). dd's favourite bear has been left with paternal grandparents which was a DISASTER last night. but after much sobbing and cuddling of other bears that just weren't the same she did go to sleep and slept til gone 11 today.

6 days to hols hurrah! need to check that the airbeds still work and mend if not. other equiptment should be sound - it's the airbeds I most often lose between camps

parsniphead

I hope you got plenty of work done lobbyludd, it's not easy working from home.

Have a good time on your holidays. I'm sure you will make some fantastic memories with the children.

liltdiddylilt

Hi lobbyludd. The chain charms sound beautiful. To this day my mum has a gold chain full of charms her own mum collected for her and gave her on her 21st birthday. She was 60 a couple of weeks ago! It is all the same, gold, so I know what you're saying about not compromising on the metal etc. I may have to start the same thing for Jellytot. She outgrew her baby bracelet a while ago (which was my very own baby bracelet and is 28 years old) and I have it stored ready for Jellytots own children one day hopefully. She refuses to keep on the replacement in the next size up that MIL bought, so eventually she will get to wearing it I am sure.

Here is hoping your holidays are as frugal as can be. My own camping experiences as a child... I can remember A: a donkey weeing on the side of our tent and braying at 6am. B: Meeting Jason Orange's (from Take That) DAD. And random little things like sitting in swimming pools full of seawater. I do not remember the number of ice creams I was given, or how much was spent or what I got for breakfast, dinner and tea. I remember the fun stuff and the weird stuff And that is mostly free and priceless!

As parsnip says, make some fantastic memories!

lobbyludd

thanks both, it will be lovely as long as it is dry - at least some of the time!!

I've done the majority of the camping food shop this evening most of this is stripy value crispy/snacky rubbish as the kids prefer constantly grazing on hols which is hard to cater for on a primus. but includes the burgers etc for evening meal day 2 bbq, and most lunches (packed lunches). I'll cook and freeze a bolognaise or something for day 1. one evening meal will be fish and chips, one will be a meal out which I'll have to borrow the money for, I've got stuff like jacket spuds/hot dogs/tuna pasta for the other 2.

I "spent" £40, but with saved clubcard vouchers and other money off vouchers got it down to £3.12 . This includes a 35cl botttle of cheapest gin for the damsons that I know grow at the edge of the campsite.

I have lots of food in the freezer/cupboards and meals which I could prepare on site, but difficulties pleasing both children and parents in the same meal and not wanting to spend entire time catering means that I have decided to throw nutrition to the wind -I think the kid and I will eat with my mum but have different meals, i'll buy enough fruit and veg when up there to ward of scurvy and other than that we'll survive in a stripy value prepacked oversalted and sugared junk food fest. it's only 6 days.

off to research whether there is any way I can wrangle some roadside assistance cover for the journey - I think one of my bank accounts might throw it in if you upgrade to a cash-per-month account - off to see if there are penalties for cancelling such upgrades after a month or a lag period before aa kicks in - It's a round-trip of about 800 miles and the car is making a few odd noises.

liltdiddylilt

Check if you can order AA cover or RAC for cheaper, then cancel after 14 days incurring no penalties. Maybe even try to wrangle a years worth but get cashback to cover it?

As for the food, sounds great! Sod nutrition, cheap and cheerful holidays are not about keeping fit and making sure you get your 5 a day. It is about making memories and seeing if you can toast jellybeans on sticks

joedenise

Have you got any Tesco vouchers left? You can use those to get RAC cover. The cheapest is £26 of vouchers, I think.

Denise

lobbyludd

liltdiddylilt wrote: »

It is about making memories and seeing if you can toast jellybeans on sticks

:rotfl: I sooo want to try toasting jellybeans on sticks now! - will report back if it works!

I plumped for green flag roadside thingummy, paying in installments is less than £5 per month so affordable for me, I can cancel if I want but will cover the christmas tour de family as well if I keep it. I have no instant access money to cover any repairs so I need to be able to get me and the littlies home no matter what and this will do it so worth it to me (TCB hopefully will bring annual cost down to about £30).