From Frugal Foundations to Fortified Family Future

rosewoodspa

Hello

I always read along but have never commented before but just wanted to say I don't know if your Co-Op have the same scheme but ours have a junior member scheme which then gives a free piece of fruit to youngsters each day in the holidays (apple, banana or orange). You don't have to buy anything to get it either and don't need to go collect every day. Might be worth checking up on for the Easter holidays.

Rose

beanielou

I got a quote for bricking up
half of my living room window which is large. The quote was horrendous. Even if I had the money I could have found way better ways to spend the money. 

Greying_Pilgrim

rosewoodspa - I didn't know that, I shall investigate.  Thank you.

beanie - I wish the previous owner had never bothered putting them in.  They are neither use nor ornament, and they are best part unuseable because the outside hasn't been matched up in terms of access 🙄 If this was our 'forever' home, it might be worth doing, but yes, in terms of priority, it'll probably be languishing on the list for a long time.

So we got a bit of shopping.  Not alot.  £7.81 spent.  I did benefit from onions being in the PoTW.  LG found a quantity of money on the floor in the shop, so we handed it in to a member of staff.  

No £1.50 boxes and the shop was very quiet.  

Tea was coconut, chickpea and butternut squash curry, with lentil dhal and basmati rice.  LG moaned about having curry 'again', as apparently we'd had it last night..... (we hadn't).  I suspect they are just not over enamoured with the BNS, but it was the last 1/2 a bag and I checked through for seeds (found 2).  It all got eaten (eventually), and there is a portion left for another day.  Pud was yoghurt and a bun that DH brought home from work, as it had been a colleague's birthday, and they'd brought a stack of cakes in.  

Off to update siggie.  Ta for popping in and for your ideas and inspiration.  Appreciated.  Greying X

rtandon27

Just out of curiosity GP - what did we have for dinner last night? - a quick scroll back leaves me none the wiser! 😉

Greying_Pilgrim

Um, well - LG and I had benefitted from lunch round a friend's house, and we were stuffed.  We got back home literally one minute before DH arrived home.  So I whipped out some YS'd crumpets, grilled them with cheese atop and served with baked beans 🫤  Not nutritionally dense, but quick and easy - light enough for us and DH just got more beans 🤣

Greying X

rtandon27

🤣🤣🤣  I was sitting here chuckling & OH asked what was funny - so I told him about LG's 'curry again' comment and his answer is that baked beans is in tomato sauce which totally counts as curry, so LG is totally correct! 🤣🤣🤣

Greying_Pilgrim

Good morning MFW'rs

LG had complained that we were having curry 'again' because we had already had ramja masala, dhal and rice this week.  Economical living/eating was so much easier when it was just me and (my then) DP to please.  Whilst I have never been one to eat the same thing 6 days on the trot to save a shilling, (I know, my bad😞), it seems like my plan to dish up curry more than once a week has stalled on fallow ground too 😟  I can't remember what phrase they used, but basically they were disappointed that I wasn't dishing up something a bit more 'exciting' to eat 😟 Thanks to our kind friends, there has been 'treat' foodstuffs this week, it isn't like we've done without or existed on gruel.

Urgh, the weather forecast is vile for today, and yet it is already warmer than yesterday 🤪I would risk pegging out if it was just about the breeze, but rain is forecast too - although it is supposed to be raining now and its not 🙄

I was considering pizza for tea tonight, although it would be tight on whether it would use up too much of the remaining cheese.  I do have money left in the budget, so could buy more cheese, but it would use much of what is left of the grocery money.  I would have to make wedges to go with (no biggie) simply because there were no oven chips in MrL yesterday.  I don't know if they were defrosting the freezers (a member of staff was wielding a hammer at some ice), or whether they had no stock.  There were 6 or 7 empty freezers and wall cabinets, anyway.  Perhaps I should have asked - maybe they would have got a bag out of the back for me?

Sorry I can't report any monumental money-saving prowess.  Half-term has been a bit of a damp-squib, partially because of the weather, and partially because we've not been quite as outdoorsy active as I'd have liked.  Sure, in some part this is due to the weather, but we've also not been in the company of like-minded souls.  I was a bit disappointed that DH's long weekend didn't yield any trips out.  Although the garage is a bit tidier 🙄

I realise I'm sounding like an un-grateful lout, and I'm not, as we've benefitted from some wonderful company and a whole heap of kindness.  I'm just suffering cabin fever I guess.  

Off for a pootle to find my sunny disposition.  It'll be covered in dust-bunnies under the sofa or summat.  

Greying X

rtandon27

Hard to be sunny when the forecast is so glum GP.

I've yet another day of hanging laundry inside whilst working from home. It's the soap smell that gets to me!

I've already asked the OH why he couldn't be a multimillionaire on a warm island! His response is that my taste runs to Celtic men who by default come from the North and drink ale. Think I need to reevaluate my taste!🤣🤣🤣

LotsOfTea

@greyingpilgrim I think every parent feels your pain when our beloved offspring moan about the catering. It's hard not to take it personally when you feel like saying "honestly I'm bored of having to cook every single day and decide what we're going to eat". Sometimes I think kids being tired/ having had lots of fun/ having a growth spurt/ having learned lots of new stuff so their brains are tired etc etc result in them expressing it by moaning about something mundane because they don't really know why they feel a bit grumpy. That's just my theory anyways. I'd certainly be delighted to get fed at your house, your curries always sound delicious!

Greying_Pilgrim

Ha ha - oh rt - your OH's comment did make me chuckle - thank you 😁  Sun-kissed islands must get a tadge boring after a while, mustn't they? - and how do you get sunscreen stains out of clothing anyway?  🤣

LotsOfTea - I think you have hit the nail on the head.  I do think sometimes kiddos comments have zero relation to the object/subject in question, but are a rail against something else.  And yes, whilst we have had more "treats" this week than we typically do, we hadn't got to saturation point, so I suppose treats/interesting stuff were still attractive.  As it happened, the bun that DH had brought home from work was sufficiently 'attractive' enough to encourage LG to finish off their 'pedestrian' curry, to have dessert.  The bun was divided into 3 so not a huge piece - and we'll gloss over the fact that DH had a piece - despite having munched one at work too 😡(there were plenty, and he had been encouraged to bring one home for LG by his colleague).  

We popped to the PO this morning to do the banking that I'd intended to do yesterday.  We did have a look through the local cO-0P, and I couldn't see any "obvious" signs of free fruit for kiddos.  It doesn't mean to say that they don't do it, but I couldn't see any stand with fruit/signage - like I have seen in MrT and MrS before now.  There was plenty of YS'd stuff, but all at prices than I wouldn't even pay 'full-price' for elsewhere.  One of the worst offenders were swedes - horribly wrinkly , small tough looking things that were YS'd down to 74p!!!!  74p!!!!!  WHERE is the blue-shrieky smiley when you need 10 of 'em!   Most other places charge around 62p for fresh ones in sizes from baseball to mahoosive and every size in between!

Then I intentionally walked home the 'very long way' home to incorporate a ramble, to get moving and get a breath of fresh air.  LG did groan at first, but we saw several people from school to say hello to, and there were things to spot almost every step of the way.  We were lucky in that it was only slightly spitting for the most part, with the rain only really starting as we were several hundred yards from home, so we didn't even really get wet.  

No money spent as there was nothing (affordable)/we needed in the cO-0P and nothing else to temp us.  

Greying X