Frosty the Snowman - it's the 2025 Christmas thread!

fionaandphil

That is very strange, I thought it was about 12 months before they started charging. Normally you get a receipt with them which shows how much is loaded.

Spendless

fionaandphil said:

That is very strange, I thought it was about 12 months before they started charging. Normally you get a receipt with them which shows how much is loaded.

It was a corporate gift from DHs employer. Each was given on a seperate occasion last summer. We've had them before from his workplace, though never 2 lots before. Its not exclusive to him, if the company hits certain targets they give them to say everyone in a particular department so the receipt Im guessing is an overall amount of how much the company pays for the whole lot of them rather than showing that each card they give out is loaded with £20. 
Previously weve received one in the summer and Ive used it to buy a Xmas present towards the end of the year. 

princesskitty29

I’ve been awol for a little while as we’ve had a few things going on here in yhe last few weeks. We had confirmation that DS1 is autistic, it’s been a lot to take in and we’ve experienced a lot of emotions but I think it can only be positive going forward for us as a family to know this. I feel guilty we didn’t know sooner as my son is 10, however he is perfectly well behaved everywhere he goes, it’s just at home that we have massive challenges with his behaviour. I mistakenly thought for years that if a child is neurodivergent then they would display the behaviour everywhere, but I have since found out this isn’t true and learned a lot about masking! Thankfully the school have made a few adjustments for him and we’re hoping it might help him be less burnt out when he gets home and more able to manage his emotions. Time will tell!

On the present front I managed to get DS1 a hooded blanket in the Next sale for £9 reduced from £22. I bought him one for Christmas just gone and he has practically lived in it ever since! I’ve decided to keep this new one for Christmas as the weather is warming up now and he won’t need it as much.

mandco

Princesskitty I sent you a message.  I’m sure it’s been a very emotional time it’s a lot to take in but knowing will definitely bring positive changes going forward. Great deal on the hooded blanket - I was a little disappointed with the next sale as everything I liked ended up being oos - it said in stock but once added to the basket said oos.

nothing Xmas related here but did sell a couple more bits on vinted and picked up a couple of the £1 Easter eggs - putting the grandkids Easter bags together at the weekend ready to drop off next week as they are going away for Easter. Think they are Pretty much sorted - they have plenty just not as much as I’ve done previously and I’m second guessing myself but tbh they really don’t need anything else. Might pick up a cheap note book they can use for their stickers to keep it all together rather than them using loose sheets of paper they usually do.

Spendless

Dont beat yourself up for not realising @princesskitty29 Our daughter started struggling in school at 14 (she attended 3 diff ones in yr11!). She was under Camhs. No one identified an issue. At 18 she moved away and began suspecting herself that  she had ADHD. This was confirmed last year by which time she was 21. It wasnt something we'd ever considered. 

Awareness and adjustments should make all the difference. 

Daughter was 22 at the beg of the week. She came home for the weekend. We bought her the longchamp bag she wanted. DH swapped some hotel loyalty points for a dept store gift voucher which paid most of the cost of the bag. Jellycat toy was bought on Vintd. I paid for a subscription perfume service to get her a small handbag sized Chloe perfume and some Hello Kitty bits (her request) were bought at B&M. 
1 more bday to get through next week for FIL, DH has ordered him some plain T shirts as he needs clothing more than anything else in the care home and then this 'birthday cluster' is over. Next is parents WA, our WA and fathers day that all fall within days of each other. Ive seen a canal boat trip with a meal and really fancy doing it with parents,  call it a joint present for the lot and book it to coincidence with my birthday in Autumn. It would take parents away from the demands of my Nan for a few hours and give them a break and Ive seen if we take out travel insurance with the company we can cancel within an hour or two of sailing (so before we had to set off from home as its not local). Main  thing stopping me booking is I recently lost my job so am very conscious of costs at the minute. It's something to ponder on though. 

fionaandphil

@princesskitty I agree with the others that it's better to know and you can now all start learning how to manage it in a way that fits best with his needs.

@spendless sorry to hear about your job loss and hope you find something new soon. I'm sure you're glad you got all your Easter gifts early.

mandco

Spendless sorry to hear about your job fingers crossed your able to find something soon though I know the job market is pretty tough at the moment. - it’s ok the government saying they want more people into work but where are all these jobs going to miraculously appear from?  everywhere seems to be cutting hours/staff numbers. the company oh works for is currently in meeting to discuss options but have told them they need to make at least a 50% cut either/both jobs or hours   Oh is the only one of his team that can do a certain task so hopefully he won’t lose his job totally but he could still face a cut in hours.
Sounds like you found some clever & budget friendly ways to get dd what she really wanted for her birthday - it’s definitely not easy when they get to the expensive gift ideas stage.
the canal boat trip & meal sounds lovely and Doing it as a joint present is a great idea - the cancellation policy is really good a lot of places require so much notice it’s basically worthless especially when you have family health worries making longer term plans more uncertain.

Found some plain paper notebooks reduce to 30p in £land perfect for what I wanted for the girls Easter bags so those are now sorted.
had to take oh watch back as it kept loosing time - they found a fault & fixed it and gave me 2 jewellery cleaning cloths in fancy Looking packaging as a goodwill gesture so have popped those away for dd’s stocking.
dropped of another lot of recyclables at boots - needed hayfever meds anyway as loving the weather not the itching but also realised I’d run out if calpol( it’s the only thing taz will take) at 2 in the morning   found a few bits ood while I was looking for some so need to do a medicine box review this week to check if I need to replace anything else. 
Won a £10 Argos voucher - runner up prize.  Would have been nice to win the main one but hey it’s the first thing I’ve won from a comp in I can’t remember how long so I’ll take it - A win is a win 
sold a couple more bits on vnted only a few £’s each but it all adds up - I’m finding things in the £1-£3 price range seem to sell best at the moment.

Making the most of the lovely weather and catching up with the endless washing - good excuse to have a bit of a clear out and find more bits to list too

Spendless

Thanks fiona and mandco - When the rise in NMW and the amt that employers had to start paying Nat Ins at, were  announced in last year's budget, I recall thinking straight away 'this is going to cost jobs and make prices rise'. Lately my mind has been wandering to 'well, if I could immediately think of that, how come the people that run the country can't or don't...?' I will think my next steps through once we return from the U.S after Easter.

mandco - I too would have been excited at the jewellery cleaning cloths given and the fancy packaging cos I'm a sucker for that (DS once told me I was a marketing manager's dream -lol) and would have done exactly same, put them away as a stocking filler. Congrats on winning the giftcard. Don't know if you have any plans for what to do with it  but I think I'd be tempted to use it soon. I detailed on here how DH's giftcard ended up having nothing on it. He has since told me that the same thing has happened with a member of staff in his dept. I would have dismissed this as the company messing up and receiving more than they'd paid for; if it wasn't that someone on my diary has also posted about an issue with giftcards. In their case  they'd contributed with others to buy a JL giftcard for a significant sum but when the recipient went to use it. it had been already been used, enquiries showed this was at a store miles away in a different part of the country where none of them had ever visited. Shaming on SM was the only way they got reimbursed. When I read it, I was very glad we ordered something on the JL card DH used within minutes of receiving it. I've also recently had the experience where DD thought she had lost/mislaid her part of the Tesco parent/child giftcard. I checked the balance on mine and then spent  all but £2 of it. I went to use the remainder later that day and it had all gone and not by me or DD. I was prepared to think it was just DD had dropped it and was just chance it got used, but with the other giftcard stories I'm aware of I'm now not so sure as it seems like there's some 'hocus pokery' going on somewhere! 

We go to the States later this week (me accompanying DH on a worktrip again)  Not sure I will be buying much this time though. It seems too early to buy for gifts. The next lot of birthdays are Nan's 100th, mine and DH's all in the Autumn. Still considering the trip for the anniversaries/father's day and have potentially found a way to make it a bit cheaper, so can't think of anything anyone would want/need that we haven't already done/got.

mandco

Spendless good point about the gift card - don’t have anything specific I need right now but I’m sure I can find something to use it on so will have a look later and see what I can find.
experiences are always a good option when you don’t need stuff and spending quality time with family/friends creates more lasting memories too.
hope you have a lovely trip - if there’s nothing you need then worth waiting to buy later especially if your more budget conscious at the moment though nothing to lose having a look and seeing if you find any bargains. I was a bit sad we aren’t able to go back to the states this year due to health issues so wish I’d stocked up on some items when we were there 2023 as running out now. I do love the bath & body works stuff especially the hand gels and while you can get them here now they are ridiculously expensive compare to over there. A lot of the Toiletries & medications/first aid stuff is so much better than ours too not to mention the snacks.

Lidl’s & aldis are going to being doing 15p veg for Easter so wonder if the other supermarkets will too?  I know most places are doing offers on meat but stock seems to be very limited at all my local stores neither Tesco or sains had any lamb in stock the weekend and the beef joints weren’t great - wonky shaped and lots of fat so debating picking a joint up for easter this week and freezing if I can find one rather than waiting till closer the time.

mandco

Spendless huge thanks for the gift card suggestion as it was actually faulty and said balance has been used or never existed? - they have sorted it and re issued as it was only just sent to me but if I’d waited and found out later I’d have lost the money. ordered taz a Lego set to put away - £4.40 after the gift card.