NST February frugality and frolics

dolly84

Yesterday turned out to be a NSD, sorted some of my clothes out which involved a lot of trying on, the keep pile ended up bigger but I have a large bag to donate which is sat in the hallway, I need to get it out before I start taking things out of it. The problem I have is I am tall with long arms and legs, long trousers are not a problem to find but sleeve length is a battle for me and sometimes when I try things on they are fine but after half an hour or so of wear the fabric crunches up as it does and the sleeves are half mast which means I need to wear things to find out if they are keepers.


Plan for today is to dog walk in a minute, the sun is shining so that should be pleasant, then I will get some bread made, make some energy balls for this week, vacuum, sort laundry and clean bathroom. I may run later today, oh I also need to make a chilli for tea this morning, I'd better get my skates on I think.

XSpender

Food Expenditure - £300 £216.73 spent.

Excursions – Half term next week and have 2 days off with DS but nothing spendy planned

Budgets – On target

Reduced food budget by £150 All stocked up and shouldn't need more than the basics between now and the end of the month

Useful leftovers. COMPLETE 15 FROGS 14.5 completed (glued the wooden floor trim in the hall back down) - too full of the lurgy to get much done this weekend

Aim to take your lunch to work every day – 7/20 taken to work (including today)

Remind yourself of what you have and be grateful I am grateful for 1) Rugby - watching DS play and then watching the professionals 2) Sunshine 3) Cuddles off my old dog

You should pay to your debt or savings first and live on what is left. 3 more payments still to make in Feb

Spend Free Days (SFDs). 3/18 but probably the lowest spend weekend I can remember! £13 on a budgeted haircut and that was it!

Use it up used up all the Christmas buffet stuff from the freezer for a Rugby buffet yesterday. Leftovers will feed DH and I for a couple of lunches too

Regular check ins are recommended, daily if possible. – I'm here

Outdoors. Regular exercise is important – Out with dog, too full of cold to run

Indoors - Nurture and protect yourself. Colouring, reading, watching TV

Vending machines etc. – 9/28

Advance planning Made a big long list of stuff for the weekend and got struck down by the lurgy so not much achieved but the fun things planned with DS

mothernerd

Just offering up my plan for when you're weak as a kitten but want to keep going, (treacle and the the snail are way out in front of me).

Using a pin called "how to organise your life in an afternoon" as a template but obviously much adapted.

Stages one and two (as pinned) get caffeinated and let the children watch cartoons. Mine refilled a 2 l bottle with tap water and heated some soup. The children (29yo) will watch cartoons without my permission.

Stage 3 'straighten the house' Not cleaning just tidying and putting things that don't belong in a particular room in boxes (at the foot of the stairs).

I scraped the gunk out of the kitchen sink (mostly burnt on scraps from pans), chucked in some undiluted washing up liquid, used toilet cleaner in and around the bowl + a tiny bit on the plughole and base of the tap (to make it easier later). Slowly (only when I really have to go downstairs) taking things that are being collected/ given away out of my room.

Stage 4 Think this was getting the 'children' to help you relocate the boxes of stuff to the correct rooms. Well they have emptied the dishwasher and put stuff away, my clean clothes had been taken from the washer and dried (I think in the tumble dryer but we will let that pass), fed themselves and DS3 has been talking to the internet provider (he also gave me a bar of chocolate). Quite happy with that.

Stage 5 is list writing. Quite a few lists. I have done the food one - all simple things but if I have to, I can live on tinned soup and fruit for a couple of days. Made tuna and sweetcorn wraps (with lots of vinegar for my throat) for yesterday's evening meal - it took forever but I did it.

Other lists are mostly things turtles often do but a list (of lists) is helpful when struggling with cotton wool brain. Including brain dump of things to do. Found myself fading as the day wore on so will continue to work on those (some part done over the past couple of weeks - skip list aka get it out in the back yard stacked on one side asap). Listing appointments and people to phone were on it too.

Advanced stages (to get you in front) were to plan tomorrow (now today) and plan the week ahead.

Well today i have a funeral to attend. Someone mum worked with so have known him since I was eight. When he left he ran a shop at the top of our street so often bumped into him. His wife ran another shop nearby and I often went there for mum's cake decorating supplies. She died last year.

Have decided I don't need to buy a black dress, dark blue things will do (had to think a lot about what I had that would be suitable). I set the alarm for 10 am (funeral is at noon) but woke before it went off. Slowly working on getting ready and will probably borrow DS3's walking stick as it's a block further than little arseda.

Afterwards I will phone mum (she might not want me to go in case I pass the lurgy back just as she is recovering from it). Will cut short today's visit anyway but I can take bread and milk and stay a while (until I start to fade) - don't need her looking after me.

Plans for the week. I have my first info/ exercise session on Friday and the charity 'do' is Friday evening. Apart from that I will work out how I am each day and just do what I can. Have to take back my SFD for yesterday as I went out to buy an ice lolly (and sweets to stop me interrupting the service with my coughing fits).

See you later turtles. All hugs very gratefully received.

Toni'sfriend

Mothernerd - Lots and lots of hugs from me. I honestly don't know how you manage to do as much as you do with all your health problems etc. You are a true inspiration.

NSD No 2

Pleased to say I swallowed a few frogs this morning. Been putting off contacting the council about fly tipping, general mess that I'm being left to clear up because nobody else can be bothered, etc. Phoned this morning and I am going to follow it up, We need letters going out to people who are renting privately explaining their obligations and some signs put up. I am on my my horse now. I hate litter. See no need for it. My bin is full of someone else's rubbish and my recycling bin is full of stuff that shouldn't be in it. Grrrr!!!!!!!!!!!!

Apart from that Himself had quite a productive visit to the hospital (I think). Now all I have to do is persuade him to follow it up. Easier said than done but I suspect that all his health problems are linked if only I can persuade him that this is the case.

So have had a salad for lunch and meat loaf and steamed veg for dinner. Pretty healthy?

Another early night, I think.

greent

Sending ((hugs)) your way, mothernerd


E Excursions and entertainment should be planned - - need to look for cheap/ free things to do for next week

B Budgets set. Food reduced to £350 - plus a special extra Brexi-pocalypse budget of £50
Food £191.39/ 350 :eek: + Sainz shop
Brexi-pocalypse £14.00/ 50

U Useful leftoversWill carry on with frogs. - diy and fleabay/ fb00k listings next week - and stuff out to other places (school/ work/ CS) - have taken some pics for flebay today

A Aim to take your lunch n/a

R Remind yourself of what you have and be grateful. Today - the longer days (again), soft tissues, having enough energy to get some housework done in small batches

Y You should pay your debt/ savings first Nothing today

S Spend Free Days (SFDs). 3 - went to Sainz tonight

U Use it up. all food today from stores - both OH and I are still full of a cold

V Vending machines etc, None today

A Advance planning.This week has a plan (although it is loose and currently not being followed because of colds!) - and the following week is beginning to have one HAve planned some baking for w/end to take with us next week - will use up some of the stores :T

Kerry_Woman

NSD today 8/20.
Walked around the park with someone who I usually see at the park. It was nice to have company, it was not planned saw her near the entrance.
Dealt with a few frogs, which included to try and get a refund for an order which has not been processed as yet. It is for something that I usually order on a regular basis. Decided to stop getting the buddy boxes that I get from the mh support organisation.
Used what I had already in.
Stayed in after going for the walk and done some self care.

apple_muncher

My mum is 87. She is in a care home. She has vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. Her body is like a little welsh pony - stocky and sturdy. Her belongings are packed and unpacked. Jigsaw pieces are stored in socks and squirreled away. Anything like photos may be cherished one day and ripped up the next, depending on which bit of the dementia 'net curtain' she can see through at the time. A while back we were concerned that she was losing weight, but she is now a good size 16 and well under 5' tall.


What on earth can I give her as a present???


All ideas welcomed and considered.
Apple x

mothernerd

apple what age is your mum mentally? A couple of years ago I bought toys for my mum's partner (nearly ninety but mentally 2 - 3 yo). I bought on behalf of myself, my mum and one of his daughters and I chose sturdy wooden toys - a car transporter with four colourful wooden cars (the trailer let down to take the cars on and off), a train with two carriages which were made of wooden blocks which stacked on pegs. I also bought some plastic (think fisher price type) cars (police/ ambulance/ digger) which had a press and go button, from the charity shop and some mega blox type bricks and figures.

They were safe (all the pieces were too big to be swallowed), not easily broken and would help keep the movement he had left in his hands - he was starting to have problems feeding himself (I had switched to giving him a spoon and bowl when he was still with my mum - it's so frustrating when you want to eat and can't get the food into your mouth).

I would look at something like the galt toys for pre-schoolers - a friend of ours had a plastic bar with large plastic 'nuts' different colours and shapes to screw on and off. There used to be a small board (about a foot square) with pegs and cogs - you put however many cogs you wanted on whichever pegs you chose and then turned a handle to see how they turned. Fisher -price pop and lock beads or the large wooden beads they have in some infant schools with a large shoelace to thread them on.

Does she already have one of those 'twiddle' muffs or whatever they are called - made of different material textures, brightly coloured and with a few things like bells and 'rattles' on them.

Hope you don't find these offensive - they are activity type things, need to be safe and help keep remaining faculties - hands/ eyes/ ears going. A bit like mental health, everyone's dementia is different.

greent

apple_muncher wrote: »

My mum is 87. She is in a care home. She has vascular dementia and Alzheimer's. Her body is like a little welsh pony - stocky and sturdy. Her belongings are packed and unpacked. Jigsaw pieces are stored in socks and squirreled away. Anything like photos may be cherished one day and ripped up the next, depending on which bit of the dementia 'net curtain' she can see through at the time. A while back we were concerned that she was losing weight, but she is now a good size 16 and well under 5' tall.


What on earth can I give her as a present???


All ideas welcomed and considered.
Apple x

Have similar issue for my Nan next month (she'll be 89) - some days she recognises people in photos, others not. I was going to do one of those multi-photo frames for her with various family members - the home have said they are happy to hang it on the wall. I thought I might even label the edge of the frames with who is in the pic - the staff might talk to her about the people in there

Otherwise - potted bulbs or pretty flowering plant? - longer lasting than a bouquet. A pretty coloured lightweight cardigan? (thinking layers are sometimes good for varying temperatures)
x

ooh - and my mum was maybe going to get a pretty light coverlet for her bed - the covers in her room are institutional beige..

mothernerd

Couldn't find DS3's walking stick so gave myself plenty of time and there were lots of things to hold onto. Stopped and held onto a street sign every time I needed a rest. Managed most of the standing up in church but held onto the pew in front (sometimes just fingertips, sometimes gripping desperately). It got progressively harder.

Came out of church at 1.20pm and took me until 2 to get home with a trip round little arseda for a few bits for mum. Multiple people stopped to ask if I was okay and I crossed the road linking arms with an elderly but spritely lady. Used one of the 'broken' trolleys (actually nothing wrong with it except it belonged to another SM) to hold onto and get me home.

Mum wanted me to stay home (will go tomorrow, we will both be a bit better and a bit stronger then) and felt totally wiped out so have been resting and reading for most of the afternoon. I have rooted out the breadmaker (being collected) but that nearly flattened me again. Have a bag of easy to prepare and eat food so staying where I am for now.

Today I am grateful for the life of someone lovely who I once knew (he had kept his lovely curly hair but it had turned from black to snowy white), for the wonderful hospice people who cared for him at the end and for time to rest.