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

Itchy Times

Hello Readers

Not much to report I am afraid as I have been down and out the last 2 days with a chest infection. Had a pretty good day on Wednesday on the yellow stickers, I managed to bag the following.....

2 Pretty pot plants 10p
4 Chocolate ring donuts 5p
2 Loaves of bread 10p
24 bottles of actimel 10p
Small tub of extra thick double cream 5p
12 cheese and bacon chicken kievs 15p
3 Mince beef hotpots 15p
A large brisket of beef originally £9.67 cost me £2.25
500g of stewing steak 85p
1 Punnet of peaches 9p
2 boxes of blueberries 18p

Total cost £4.07


I received a notice seeking possession of my home yesterday for rent arrears which is just what you need when you feel like death warmed up. I could not understand why because I always pay my rent. I rang my landlord in a panic to find out what the hell was going on. It turns out I was one week late with my payment and the letter was issued the morning before I made my payment so that payment had not been deducted from the arrears. After my payment had been deducted it turned out I was £58 in arrears and this was for a repair to my kitchen light where I was charged £58 for someone to put my own light bulb back in and replace the starter (£3) in Wilkinson's. I decided to contest the charge as I felt it was way to much. I was willing to pay for the cost of the starter but not the call out charge as the guy was already here anyway doing a job that the landlord was responsible for, not myself. It seems mighty strange to me that I receive this notice at the same time as I put in a complaint about being over charged for a repair. Their threat had the desired effect, I was so scared about losing our home that I have agreed to call back on Monday and pay the £58 just to get the notice seeking possession dropped.


Yesterday I noticed a slight rash on youngest son's ears but thought nothing of it thinking it was probably just the shower gel I used on him and made a note not to use that one on him again. This morning my poor little man was absolutely caked in a angry bumpy rash but only on certain areas of his body, his ears, cheeks, nose, hands, and feet. Despite feeling very unwell myself I took him to the doctor's this afternoon to try and find out what it is. He is showing no signs of illness he just has this itchy rash on certain parts of his body. The doctor said it was very odd and could be one of 2 things, either a viral infection or an allergic reaction but that it was very odd that the rash was confined to certain areas of his body only. She has given him antihistamines and antibiotics and told me to keep an eye on him over the weekend and if anything changes to call 111 and seek advice. Bless him he is so itchy with it, I am hoping the antihistamines hurry up and kick in and at least stop the itching for him.


Other than panicking I would lose our home and rushing youngest son to the doctor's today I have done my best to rest and keep warm to try and get rid of this chest infection. Tomorrow I have a few bits being delivered for free from my best friend and her husband. She is lending me her Windows 7 installation disk to try and fix middle son's computer as he has somehow wiped the operating system off of his computer. He has saved up enough money to buy his new computer that he wants but I thought if I could mend his for him then he could sell it and buy himself a new computer desk and chair with the proceeds. Bestie is also giving me a small foldable dinning table and chair that she was getting rid of which will be perfect for when youngest son starts his home tutoring next week as well as using it as a computer desk. I mentioned to Bestie that I was considering buying middle son's old computer from him if I am successful in fixing it so that youngest son can have his own computer. Bestie informed me that she has a base unit that has Windows 7 already installed on it that she no longer uses but no monitor, keyboard, or mouse to go with it but that if I wanted it I was welcome to have it. As luck would have it I have a spare monitor and keyboard from middle son's old computer 3 years ago that I hung on to as spares. So all I need is a mouse and a mouse pad, the mouse will cost me £3 from Morrison's and the mouse pad will cost me £1 from Poundland. So for £4 youngest son will have his own working computer that he can use. I did offer to pay for the items that Bestie is giving me but she said no stating that I do lots for them also, and babysit whenever I am needed and as sister's (not by blood but by heart) helping each other is what we do.


For tea tonight we had Mince beef hot pot and for pudding Peaches and cream (all yellow stickers)

Total cost 25p so approx 8p each

Anyway must dash youngest son is laying next to me scratching like mad so I am going to smother him in calamine lotion in the hope he can get back to sleep bless his little heart.

Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx

MIA = Missing in action

Hello Readers

Sorry I have been MIA for the past few weeks. I don't know about you but when there is to much s**t hitting the fan and I am feeling overwhelmed I like to retreat into my cave (home) and hide away from everyone and everything. Well that is what it has been like here for the last few weeks, I put out one fire turn around and there is a fresh one blazing. I won't go into details but a LOT has been happening with family both here and in London recently but I am pleased to say things are finally starting to calm down.

Youngest son has finally been permanently excluded from school due to the fact they can not cope with his ADHD. I could appeal the decision based on the fact he has been expelled due to a disability and therefore is a victim of prejudice but I am choosing to see this as a good thing. I told the school before youngest son started there in June that this was not the right setting for him, that they would not be able to meet his needs, and that he should be in a specialist setting NOT a mainstream school. My hope is that now the local education authority will have no choice but to find a specialist setting for youngest son. The school STILL have not submitted an application for an EHCP although I have a meeting to sign a proposed draft on Friday. For the next 5 months whilst we go through the EHCP process youngest son will receive home tutoring from the LEA and I will be topping his education up with some home studies until he is back in school.

Middle son has been pinpointed as someone who should "seriously consider going to university after finishing secondary education". Whilst this was lovely to hear it certainly wasn't news to me. Middle son has always been classed as "gifted and talented" since primary school. We have discussed the issue of university many times in the past and looked at the most frugal way of doing so. So far I have £3000 saved for him for university, my Nan has £1000 for him, and he has a child trust fund currently worth £900 (this is invested in stocks and shares so the value can rise and fall depending on the market. However this was a £500 investment made by the government on his behalf 13 years ago and has almost doubled in 13 years). I will continue to save for him for the next 5 years to help with the cost of tuition fees but we will also look at any financial assistance he may be eligible for at the time via scholarships and that sort of thing. To keep costs to a minimum he will continue to live at home and attend Bath university negating the need to pay out for digs and all the bills incurred when you live away from home. He will also get himself a part time job to cover any costs such as trips, textbooks etc that he incurs whilst at university. My hope is that with a little help, some hard work on his part, and mummy's frugal brain he will be able to get a university education without incurring a ton of student debt.

Eldest son is still living with his dad but things are slowly moving in the right direction. The disability workers are meeting this month to finalize and sign the care package, Y, one of the other mum's thinks she has found a house for the 3 boy's to rent through her church, so all that is left is for the care agency to tell us the staff have finished training and are ready to go then I can finally get my boy back in the area where he belongs. I have been seeing eldest son every other weekend which has been good, we also talk on the phone and face time several times a week. It feels like we have grown closer since he has moved out and that he has grown up a lot so it was definitely the right move for all concerned.

As well as constantly putting out fires lol, I have been doing my usual thing of living as cheaply as possible and we are slowly getting used to the most recent cutback we had to make when eldest son moved out. I have already started on Xmas 2017 :)  I didn't need cards as I still had lots left over, I bought gift tags / gift bags / and rolls of wrapping paper dirt cheap in the January sales, I have bought 5 Xmas presents in the January sales (total £10), and I have increased my usual £30 a month Xmas savings to £60 a month and made my first months saving of this. I have been doing my usual yellow sticker shops and have refilled the freezer after eating up what was in there over the last few weeks. I intend to start writing a post on the 1st of every month with how much electric I have used, how much water I have used, and how much I have spent on food / toiletries / cleaning products / and pet products to try and help me see where my money is going a little better each month.

Tea tonight was Cheese and bacon chicken kiev with homemade chips and some mini chocolate mocha donuts for pudding. Total cost 20p so approx 7p each (I bloody love my yellow stickers lol).

Until Next Time
Much Love
Maria xxx