From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

FrugalHedonist

My advice would be to resist technology as long as possible, i bought my daughter a tablet during lock down out of necessity as everything was online - she was 6 at the time and suddenly it became the most interesting thing in the toy box. She is now 10 and is one of the few children in her class that don't have a phone, she isnt too bothered by this as I have already said I won't be considering it until she is at secondary school. However I know it's coming and having to manage that is a stressful prospect but I'm trying not to resist too much as I'm aware the world I was a child in has gone so trying to compare is useless 

Greying_Pilgrim

Thank you everyone for taking the time to make such supportive posts.  It is greatly appreciated.

I did do a response before, but then struck the wrong key, and "poooof" - in true panto stylie, t'was gone.  🙄

Anyhoo, amongst the erudite, witty and humourous bon mots........... 😉  I did say to RT that I no longer follow my own advice regarding themed meals 🤣  However, it did also jog my brain cell (singular) to think "why not".  We have - hopefully - gone past the stage of 'no likey' or 'if it ain't pasta, I ain't eating it' with LG, so they are now 9 times out of 10 eating pretty much the same as us, so I need to get my bum into gear and get into the groove again.  I was reasonably flexible with myself - saying 'curry' rather than detailing the specific dish, and 'pasta dish' rather than 'lasagne', ''getti hoops' or whatever.  So, something I could do.  Ta for the nudge RT.

If you're wondering why I'm here and not there, it was literally because as I was on before, the activity teacher messaged to say they were concerned about travelling and could we please say if we were going to turn up.  I thought about it - consulted a weather app (which erroneously showed rain around the time we were to travel), and decided we wouldn't go.  Naturally I am now not sure if we could have gone and it would have been OK.  Still, you have to make a decision and stick to it.  I'm not sure what other attendees would have decided to do (we don't all travel from the same area).  

FrugalHedonist - I am sure you are right, and whilst we may not be enthusiastic about phones etc, we do realise that they are on their way 😕 DH and I feel things have changed so much since we were young - and no, not everything was good about the 1970's and 80's, but times were simpler.  And I've mentioned before, that whilst there were 'them and us' in school, there seemed to be less of a division - or perhaps it was just more of us who were working class poor - so we didn't feel the need to 'keep up' with anyone.  

LG seems to have had a good day at school.  So I am grateful for that.  Lots of washing brought home so mount washmore has gone down this morning, and has grown again, already........  

Right, better whip up summat to eat.  

Greying X

badmemory

Those tablets & phones are quite scary.  My friends granddaughter has had one from quite young & a few weeks ago we all had a meal out that was the first one she hadn't spent & been allowed to spend the whole meal with her eyes on it.  She is now 14 & is only now learning how to join in a little.  I had said something to my friend before about it & it seems he had said something in the past & decided that he was now keeping out of it.

FrugalHedonist

Times were simpler and I think certain behaviours that were once considered the norm are seen as a bit odd or unnecessary. I always take homemade lunches, often leftovers and a lot of the younger staff members find it hilarious and often comment on it. Whereas I find it odd that you would pay for the same sort of thing 😂

EssexHebridean

Your comment about people going round trying to give the impression of "look how much we have" struck something with me - how different the world is in MSE, as although different just by one letter, we are all far more inclined to give off an air of "look how much we SAVE"!  It's got to be healthier surely, rather than striving for the next "thing" to instead by trying to work out how we can live well with less... 

rtandon27

Just for a chuckle - I thought I'd confess that at work I'm know as the 'coupon queen', the 'deal queen', and the 'freebie queen' and I happily wear the names with pride. 

I've taught anyone who will listen how to make loyalty work for them & get cheap or free stuff if they insist on eating out at every meal, This even extends to tech classes on how to use apps for those who are a bit put off by their phones!  The whole concept is a bit foreign to most as we do have a meeting over lunch culture in the office and all have to participate routinely in those.  At least with those I've got an ongoing list of prix fixe places!  We also now have regular freezer meal days, where we all bring in leftovers and then descend en masse to the section of the building that houses the microwaves.

Also our communal table regularly gets stocked with 0li0 pastries & easy peelers that I nab and then take in to share round.  Lead by example and be damned the critics!

carolbee

I’m a huge fan of your diary and love to hear about your life and shopping experiences 
I think your values shine through your beautiful descriptive writing 

Greying_Pilgrim

Good Morning MFW'rs

Wet start with  us - as forecast.  

I did manage to get 2 tiny loads of washing processed yesterday - unfortunately I had to do them separately because of  the fabrics, but they were done in the shortest time and certainly benefitted from a good blow on the line.  I brought them in, just before the school run, put the dehu on laundry for 1hr, and then they've had an evening in front of the rad.  Dry now.  

Tea last night was 'stew and dumplings' with green beans.  The stew wasn't really a good match with the dumplings (more on the mediterranean side of things), but the weather was worthy of dumplings.  I'm not very good at making them, but by chance, yesterday's efforts were nice and fluffy, so they got munched up.  Yoghurt and various fruit accompaniments for pud.

I helped out the auld guy in the red suit & beard and did some 'packing' 😉 Now at least if any snooping takes place, things are not instantly recognisable.  

I was listening to a short podcast yesterday - the lass was from the US, and she was on about 'paring back' the 'holiday' celebrations.  She was a mum of 4 young kiddos, and most of the suggestions were along common-sense lines.  But I thought that it was interesting that turkey had got the 'order of the boot' on C'mas day (I must admit, I thought turkey was more of a T'giving meat meal over in the US), in favour of a big pan of lasagne.  The 'older' (but still young), children helped to make the pasta, and it was set out family style with sides.  Lasagne (now morphing into a 'pasta bake'), has become my goto on C'mas Eve.  Throw in some garlic bread and red wine (for the adults), and I'm a happy bunny 😁  But overall I just found it interesting that people are choosing new traditions, working out what suits their budget/time of life etc.  I remember when DH and I got together, I thought that we had to 'do it all'.  Although I also remember a 'Vicar of Dibley multiple meals' situation on our first C'mas together, which coincided with in-laws getting their first house and 'hosting' and then the parents-in-law expecting us to join them for tea on the same day because we'd missed lunch....... 🤣🤣   I can laugh now, but blessed heck, I was stuffed to the gills at the time, especially as the SiL was anxious to impress with incredibly exotic ingredients..... 🤢  Thinking about it, in comparison our 'C'mas' now is positively 'Cheese sarnie on white bread with a can of orange pop' 🤣🤣  But lawks, isn't that cheese sarnie delicious, when it's on your own terms, and what you choose.....

DH has spotted a second-hand car that may suit us, but it is quite dear, and (naturally) we've not built up the 'replacement car' savings sufficiently yet 😕It is too much (the seller is being greedy),  but if we did get the price knocked down, and still wanted to retain a windows fund, we would be back to 'virtually nowt' in our budget pots 😕  Don't know how comfortable I would be, not having much of an emergency fund.  Although you'll all know the situation where your existing vehicle is starting to cost you 'lots' each year in maintenance costs to just keep it on the road.....  I suspect it will come to nought, as the seller probably won't budge on the price, but isn't the timing of these things always off?  

Right, better go and make sure everything is ship-shape and we're ready to roll.  

Ta for popping by.  Greying X

peb

Cars are expensive at the moment..  I have two friends in need of a new to them second hand car and the budget originally allocated has had to be doubled.

And yes, Christmas, id love something straight forward but with good ingredients.  A nice bread with white Stilton for example.  

Greying_Pilgrim

Thanks peb.  I heartily concur - and yes, the "splurge" being good ingredients to savour, rather than the splurge being "lots" which may lead to waste. 

Personally, i don't think 'feast' has a stringent definition, hence why I ditched many of the "traditions" a long time ago.  I do appreciate that being veggie helps somewhat - I don't have the stress of finding the right bird that will fit in the oven, or worrying about defrosting/cooking a 20lb lump of meat with a hangover.  And hopefully y'all know me well enough to know that I am incredibly supportive of folks eating meat (at anytime), if that is their choice.  But I do feel that the 'meedja' (in all forms), does contribute to so much stress with it's "must haves", "new twists" and "curated menus"......  I am glad that people are starting to have the confidence to shape their own festivities.  I am quite sure, if we had a 'good' takeaway nearby, in a cuisine style that we preferred, our treat to ourselves would probably be a takeaway meal on the 25th or the 26th.  As it is, I think we can indulge LG's love of a 'boofay', or even their delight in a cheese & crackers board.  Simplicity is very underrated.

I do sometimes worry that LG isn't getting exposed to somethings - but then (for example), when offered the opportunity for a school xmas turkey dinner, they refused and weren't interested to try.  As long as they know they can try things, then that will have to suffice.  Perhaps if we had a wider grandparental type network, they would have had more exposure to the 'Sunday Roast' type scenario, and been encouraged to 'try a bit'.  But still, I'm happy that they are expanding what they do eat, and along with no interest in a roast with all the trimmings, neither have we yet set foot in a mccyd's, so........

Greying X