Nursing A Broken Heart With A Spending Spree

Hello Readers

Eldest son was up for the weekend and was due to leave on Sunday but decided he wanted to stay for an extra night so left this afternoon instead. It was lovely having him up and even nicer to have him ask to stay an extra night. I miss him terribly. We spent lots of time talking, watching movies together, and on Saturday he took myself and his brothers out for lunch. We have arranged for him to come up again in 2 weeks time for the weekend which gives me time to save his train fare up. If I could afford to I would have him up every weekend but it is just beyond my financial means right now so once a fortnight will have to do until I can get him back up here and into his supported living house. I will be ringing his disability worker tomorrow and chasing it up as I miss my boy so desperately and just want him back home in Wiltshire where I can see him several times a week.

As I was nursing a broken heart I decided to go on a shopping spree to try and make myself feel better. I bought myself 2 pairs of jeans, a black shirt, a thin black jumper, and a nice padded gillet total cost was £2.50 lol. I bet you thought I was going to say a much larger amount than that didn't you ? lol. My local air ambulance charity shop is a little gem for bargains at the best of times but they also occasionally have sales today was any item of clothing for 50p. I also got middle son a lovely Tom Wolfe jacket for 50p and a Burton jumper for 50p. Youngest son got a teddy bear that he wanted for a 20p donation. So in total my spending spree cost me £3.70. I also popped into Morrison's this evening to see if they had any yellow stickers and I managed to get the following items.....

2 Frijj milkshakes 10p
2 Bags of diced swede and carrot 10p
2 Bags of egg noodles 10p
2 Pots of mixed fruit 10p
2 Loaves of bread 10p
6 Finger rolls 5p
6 Crumpets 5p
A family deep fill steak pie 5p

Total 65p


The Bestie brought over the table and chair for me this evening so I now have a little work station in the dining room. This will be used for youngest son's home tutoring and both youngest son and I will share the computer until I have fixed up middle son's old computer for youngest son to have in his bedroom. So what do you think ? This whole set up including the computer cost me just £1 to put together thanks to the generosity of my wonderful soul sister aka the Bestie lol.

Table and 1 chair (Bestie)

Computer (Bestie)

Monitor (spare)

Keyboard (spare)

Mouse (Pondland)

2nd Chair (garden)

Towel covering (towel cupboard)

Total cost £1

Speaking of which I am babysitting for Bestie's 7 beautiful children tomorrow so I better get some sleep.
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx

Eldest Son Is Home For The Weekend :)

Hello Readers

The last 2 days here in Wiltshire the sun has been shining and it has actually warmed up a little. It feels like spring is finally on its way and I for one can't wait. I have not had to put the heaters on and I have switched my jumpers to T shirts with a light cardigan or shrug over the top. I love spring, it is my favorite season as its not to cold but not to hot, its just right for me.

Yesterday I gave the house a thoroughly good clean and took a bin bag of bits to the charity shop. Bestie asked if I would mind making her a carrot cake and as I had all the ingredients I needed I said "sure" (my way of thanking her for the "new to me printer" she gave me this week along with lots of spare ink and several DVD's). It was my first time making a carrot cake as myself and the boys don't like it. There's something very wrong about putting a vegetable in a cake in my opinion lol. Having said that I did a pretty good job, it smelt delicious, and if it had not been a gift for the Bestie I would have taken a slice for myself which kind of blows my vegetables being in cake is wrong theory out of the water lol. She has assured me it was delicious and that it is almost gone as her little ones keep pinching a slice lol. I also did a spot of yellow sticker shopping and managed to get the following.....

30 Munch bunch yogurts 25p
A lettuce 5p
A bag of carrot's 5p
6 Bags of apple and grapes 30p
A loaf of bread 5p
8 Cinnamon and sultana muffins 10p
2 Ham and mushroom tagliatelle ready meals 10p
A Chinese pork and egg fried rice ready meal 5p

Total cost 95p

Today I got some housework done before the arrival of eldest son. I get so excited about seeing him. Since he moved out in November I have made a conscious effort to see him every other weekend and save hard throughout the month to help with the cost of his train ticket (£32 with a disabled railcard). We always have a giggle and it is so nice to be able to enjoy each others company instead of having to be the bad guy all the time, telling him off about things. We get on so well now and he has grown up so much since staying at his dad's. I think he finally realizes just how much I used to do for him when he was living at home and he tells me all the time how much he misses me. I miss him terribly but him moving out was definitely the right thing for all of us. This evening we have watched a couple of movies on Netflix and shared a big bag of toffee popcorn (50p from Poundland). Tomorrow he is taking myself and his 2 younger brothers out for lunch and a shake away. This will be a lovely treat for us and certainly not something I could afford to do right now. I am very grateful that I have raised such a sweet, kind, caring young man.

Dinner tonight was chicken nuggets, homemade chips, and spaghetti hoops. Total cost £1.90 so 48p each.

I must start remembering to take some photos from our day for the blog. Anyway off to bed now.
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx

Hidden Treasures

Hello Readers

It has been a nice couple of days here. Yesterday I had my friends little girl for the day and got some jobs done around the house before heading off to messy church. Messy church is a wonderful place for children to learn about god. They start with some games, then a short bible story, then craft activities, and then they have tea. I have taken youngest son a few times and he always enjoys it. It is open to all, not just members of the church and is run completely on donations. I was extremely disappointed to see that out of the ten families that attended on Sunday I was the only one to make a donation. I realize that times are hard for a lot of families but even 50p for 2 hours of fun and food would be something. I myself don't have much in the way of spare cash but I always make a donation as does Bestie when she attends. It surprises me how the church manages to continue with this activity, but somehow they do and I think they should be highly praised for that. This months subject was hidden treasures and youngest son managed to earn himself  9 chocolate coins through games and activities. He also made a crown with jewels out of play dough and decorated a biscuit sandwich with edible hidden jewels in the middle, both of which he was allowed to take home. For tea there was platters of cheese, grapes, cocktail sausages, carrot sticks, cucumber sticks, crisps, crackers, sausage rolls, cakes, and biscuits. Each child also got 2 pancakes each as did the parents. We had a lovely time and look forward to going again next month.

Today I had a dental check up and all was well which was a relief (I have a major phobia of the dentist). I popped into Morrison's afterwards as they currently have Huggies pull ups on special offer for just £2. As I have mentioned in the past youngest son has continence issues and we go through 3 pull ups a day. I always  buy the cheapest pull ups I can but when I see a good deal like this one I like to stock up so I bought 5 packs which will keep us going for the next 3 weeks. I will try and pick up another 5 packs before the offer ends. On the way home I popped into Besties for a catch up. We had a good old giggle and before we knew it 2 hours had passed. Youngest son was very happy that he had got to spend some time with his Bestie and they arranged to meet in animal jam land (a computer game on the internet) when we got home.

For tea tonight we had pork, mashed potatoes, veg, and gravy. Total cost 76p so about 25p each.

Anyway I have a busy day tomorrow so I am off to hit the hay
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx

Insomnia, Complaints, And Bargains

Hello Readers

Damn insomnia is keeping me up so I thought I would write a bit of a catch up post before trying to get to sleep again. I am in the process of putting in a complaint to youngest son's previous school as I have now received his draft EHC plan and well let's just say I am far from happy with it. This is a 70 page document and my complaint has to be made to both the school and the SEND department of education. It is going to take a lot of time and hard work to write up these complaints but it's something I must do for my son's sake. I went through similar many years ago with eldest son and trying to get him the right provision to suit his needs but that was years ago and I am older now with less energy and less motivation. For youngest son's sake though I am digging deep and getting on with it. Youngest son will start his home tutoring after the half term and having met with the tutors and visited the building they use for practical lessons such as art and cooking I think this is going to be a good fit for him.

I had a lovely day last week with eldest son. It was just him and myself as youngest son was at respite and middle son had plans to go to the cinema with friends. The original plan was that he was going to cook me lunch at home and then we would watch a film on Netflix and munch on popcorn. Eldest son decided he wanted to take me out for lunch instead which was a lovely treat. We popped into Poundland whilst we was out and they had several items on sale for 50p. My boys love pot noodles but at the usual price I refuse to buy them but at 50p I stocked up and bought 10. I also stocked up on toffee popcorn for 50p a bag and bought 12. I occasionally take the boys to the kids club at the cinema (£2.50 each and I get in free as youngest son's carer). I always take my own drinks and snacks from home so these have been put away and will probably do us popcorn for the cinema for the next 6 months.

Middle son got a postcard in the post from his headteacher praising him for his hard work at school which I thought was rather lovely. Also he finally reached his target amount of savings and was able to buy his dream computer which arrived today. Needless to say I have not seen him all day as he has been in his room playing around with it and getting it all set up how he wants it lol.

It has been a pretty tight week or so here so I have not had any yellow stickers. We have instead been eating down the freezer and store cupboard. Tonight we had steak and ale pie, mashed potatoes, carrots, and gravy. Total cost 47p so about 16p each.

Anyway readers I am going to attempt to get some sleep if I can.
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx

Brighter Days

Hello Readers

Hope everyone is keeping well. The next 2 weeks are going to be incredibly tight here so I am doing everything I can to be ultra frugal and come in, on or preferably under budget. It is one of my little peeps birthdays on Saturday and his mum has asked me to do his birthday cake for him. We have decided to go with a Dora the explorer theme as he loves the tv show. In total the cake will cost me just £5.23 to make and it will be personalized with his name and how old he will be. For a cake like this to be done professionally you are talking around the £40 mark so this along with a Dora DVD will be my birthday present to him. I have 4 bananas way past their best but I am not chucking them, tomorrow they will be turned into 2 banana and blueberry loafs, one for me and one for the Bestie. I still need to get a mouse for the computer Bestie helped me put together but will do that when I am in town on Friday after a meeting I have. I am feeling a lot better now and my chest is finally loosening up again which is such a relief. Youngest son still has his rash but it appears to be drying out now so I am hopeful it will be gone in a day or two. I have eldest son coming to visit on Saturday and he has asked to cook me lunch, anything I want, its his treat, so I am really looking forward to that. I have a pack of 25p sweet micro popcorn in the cupboard and we will watch a movie together on Netflix (currently on a 30 day free trial). I popped to my little local one stop last night about 8pm and was able to grab a few yellow stickers .....

2 Loaves of Hovis 25p each

A bag of frozen prawns 50p

A bag of easy cook veg 25p

A punnet of sweet cherry tomatoes 20p

I absolutely love prawns but never buy them as they are wayyyy to expensive for my budget so when I saw this bag of frozen prawns reduced from £4 to 50p I grabbed them. They have been defrosted, washed, and placed in a bowl in the fridge for me to grab a couple as and when I fancy a few :)


Today I had to go and do my weekly shop which in total came to £13.27 (with yellow stickers). Whilst I was there I managed to get the following.....

8 Pints of whole milk 40p

2 Toffee sundae deserts 58p

2 Cloves of garlic 5p

A ham and cheese toastie 9p

2 Chicken legs 45p

A loaf of bread 15p

6 Free range eggs 29p

A whole extra tasty chicken 99p

We will eat well for pennies again this week thanks to my yellow sticker bargains.

Dinner last night was roast beef, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, roast potatoes, veg, and gravy total cost was £1.91 so approx 64p each.

Dinner tonight was Beef curry and rice total cost £1.53 so 51p each

Anyway off to bed now readers
Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx