The cinema and a surprise visit

Hello readers how are we all this fine summer's day ? Now I don't want to tempt fate but for the last 3 days I have been getting around without my stick. I'm a little bit wobbly but I'm managing :)

We did not go to Frankie and Benny's (or as I like to call it Ben and Jerry's lol) in the end. I am a little bit short on funds this week what with having 2 camps to pay for. I explained to the boys and they were great about it. We will go in a few weeks when Brad gets back from camping as the 20% off voucher I have does not expire until the end of August.

Today we went to the cinema myself, Brad, Ben, Brandon, and Brads best friend T. How much would you expect to pay for transportation, cinema tickets, and food and drink for 3 adults and 2 children these days ? I did some calculations and this is what it should have cost.....

Transportation £19.80 in bus fairs
Cinema tickets £40.75
Food and drink £20
So a total of £80.55 omg no where near what I paid. Here's what I paid and how.....

Transportation £8.90 used the train with my friends and family travel card
Cinema tickets £10 T, Brad, and Brandon got in free due to there disabilities and Tuesday's is cheap day so £5 for Ben and £5 for me
Food and drink £0 I took food and drink from home
So a total of £18.90 for the 5 of us and a saving of £61.65

I got given a lovely box of chocolates from T and his mum for having him for the day which I thought was a lovely thing to do and I was very touched by the gesture.


Yesterday I had a surprise visit from my sister Leanne and her fiancee Carina (yes they are a gay couple and I couldn't care less I love them both infinitely). It was so good to see them both as well as being my sister she is my best friend and I hate being so far away from her (I live in Wiltshire and Leanne lives in London). We took the boys to the library to sign up for this year's summer reading challenge the mystical maze. They chose their books and a couple of DVDS and then we popped to Morrison's to get some ice creams to eat in the park on the way home. £1 for a box of 4 mint ice cream cones so 25p each. Brandon has already read his 3 books so we will be going back to the library on Thursday to get his first prize and get some new books.


Anyway better get on. I have to help Brad pack for his 10 day camping trip which he is going on tomorrow. It's sure going to be quiet around here without him.

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

School Holidays and a 16th birthday

Hello readers as you can probably tell from my absence the last few days all 3 of my boys are now on summer holidays. As a result my blogging may be a little sporadic as I intend to spend every spare minute enjoying their company and doing as many frugal activities with them as possible.

Friday was Brads 16th birthday he had a smashing day and loved all of his presents.....

 

I used newspaper as wrapping paper and used a black and green ribbon to coordinate with the newspaper I think it looks pretty good.

 

 

The fun part is always the unwrapping

 

A kindle fire HD (on offer in Tesco at the moment for £99.99 plus you can double your club card points in the club card boost promotion and use theses towards the cost).

 

Lynx shower gel and deodorant XL packs and on offer in Tesco 2 for £6. He usually has the value brands so this is a real treat for him.

 

A kindle case reduced to £2.50 in Tesco

 

5 pairs of value socks £2.50, and a shirt reduced from £16 to £7 in the sale.

 

A huge box of maltesers £3.25

 

 

Opening his birthday cards

 

 

 

Brad spent half the day with me and Lee and the rest of the weekend with his dad and step mum. He is due home tomorrow when I will be taking him for a belated birthday meal to Frankie and Benny's (Brads choice). I have a 20% off voucher which will keep costs down. On Tuesday he will be going to the cinema with a few friends. Tuesdays is cheap day at £5 a ticket so I have said I will give him £20 for him and his 3 friends tickets, they all have free bus passes due to their autism, and Brad will be using some of his birthday money for snacks and drinks for him and his friends.

 

 

 

 

Today I went yellow sticker shopping (sorry no picture but the boys have their kindles with them so I am without a camera). Here's what I got.....

 

6 x Boxes of 2 chocolate éclairs 9p a box

2 x Melon duo snack packs 9p a box

Pack of 2 fresh cream doughnuts 9p

2 x Boxes of 6 mini buns 9p a box

3 x Chicken and bacon baguettes 39p each

3 x Apple snack packs 5p a bag

2 x Packs of quorn ham 9p a pack

3 x Prawn sandwiches 19p each

1 Tuna and cucumber sandwich 25p

2 x Small loafs of bakery bread 9p a loaf

 

In total I paid £2.64 for this little lot thanks to a saving of 85p in pre promotions on top of the yellow sticker reductions :)

 

 

How do you deal with birthdays on a budget ?

 

Much Love

Claire xx xx xx

 

 

 



 

A bang to the head and a trip to hospital

Hello readers sorry I have not been about the last few days. On Monday night I had a fall in the bathroom and cracked the back of my head on the side of the bath. I blacked out for a few seconds but came to when Brad came in calling "mum mum are you ok". I got up with Brads help and made it to my bed. I had a terrible migraine and felt a bit nauseous but fell asleep ok. When I woke up Tuesday morning I still had the migraine and felt nauseous and quite shaky but plodded on with the day. Come Tuesday evening my vision had gone funny it was like looking through a kaleidoscope in certain areas of my left eye. I decided to call the NHS helpline and get some advice. Whilst on the phone to them the left side of my face and my left hand and forearm went numb and tingling. The NHS worker was taking no chances and called for an ambulance. The ambulance arrived quickly and assessed me at home and decided it was best to take me in. So it was off to the RUH in Bath to get checked out. I had some tests done and a CT scan and all came back clear. The doctor said I had a mild concussion and a migraine due to the fall and that it had exacerbated my MD symptoms. I was sent home at 2am and told to take paracetamol and rest and to make an earlier appointment with my MD specialist (I usually see him every 3 months).

I was going to tell you all about my blackberry mid morning snack and our yummy dinner as well on Tuesdays post.....

Tuesday's mid morning snack from the bush at the end of the garden

Presents for the boys school teachers cost £1 per teacher for the milktray. I made the vase of flowers and used flowers from my garden

Tuesday's dinner of scotch pie and potato slices cost 24p a plate

Today I felt a lot better and a friend of mine told me about Aldi selling full school uniforms for £4. Well I wasn't about to let that offer pass me by and I knew at those prices it would fly out the door and I would end up missing out so it was straight off to Aldi`s. Sure enough when we got there there was a huge crowd round the school uniform. I managed to get the boys the following.....

Ben

3x Navy jumpers £1.25 each

3x 2pack of white polo shirts £ 1.25 each pack

3x Black school trousers £1·50 a pair

Pair of black school shoes £6·99

Pair of black daps £1·49

Pair of jogging bottoms £2·99 

Brandon

Exactly the same as Ben

Total cost for both boys £46·94 and all I have left to get is a school bag each, a pencil case and pencil set each which I will pick up from poundland next time I'm in town. I had budgeted £150 for school uniforms and school stuff but thanks to Aldi`s promotion I will have ended up paying a third of that.

If you need school uniforms I suggest you pay Aldi a visit quick smart before they sell out because at those prices it won't be around for long.

Much Love

Claire xx xx xx

Cooling off in the garden

Hello readers it's been another hot day here at Tilly Towers. I have spent most of the day in shorts and a bra lol (sorry if that's TMI). I've never been very good with the heat even as a child. I have felt quite unwell today nothing MD related just this heat affecting me. I am now sat on my patio on my garden swing enjoying the cool breeze as I write this post on the kindle. 

Brad has finished school till September so I have a few days on my own with him before the youngest 2 munchkins break up which is nice. He is 16 on Friday which is super scary. It only feels like yesterday I was bringing him home from the hospital. I still have his cards and presents to get but know what I'm getting so will do it later in the week when the Mr is over and can distract Brad for me.

We had meatballs and spaghetti for tea tonight here's the costings and a pic.

25 Fresh meatballs 33p (yellow sticker and a pre yellow sticker promotion)
2 Jars of value pasta sauce 78p
Half a pack of value spaghetti 10p
50g Of cheese to top 50p

Total £1.71 and served 5 so 34p a plate

I think I'm going to do some more knitting whilst it's nice and cool out here. I have made 4 snoode style scarfs so far for Xmas this year and have started my fifth.

Have you started your Xmas preparations yet or am I just being super organised ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

This weeks meal plan and shopping list

Meal plan

Monday= Meatballs and spaghetti

Tuesday= Scotch pie and potato slices

Wednesday= Fish pie and vegetables

Thursday= Omelette

Friday= Hotdogs

Saturday= Egg, sausage, and potato slices

Sunday= Roast chicken, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables, and gravy


This weeks shopping list
15 Yorkshire puddings
2x Tinned garden peas
2x Tinned carrots
Tin of sweet corn
Packet of instant mash
Cornflakes
4 Pints of milk
Chicken roll
6 Apple's
7 bananas
4x Fruit yogurts
3x Cookies
3x Chocolate digestive
6x toilet rolls
Mouthwash
Washing liquid
2x Wet wipes
Tin of cat food
Box of cat biscuits
2x Cat milk
Bag of frozen prawns
12x Fairy cakes
8x Mint ice cream cones
Jar of chocolate spread


Total was £21.47 I had a voucher for £1·50 off a £20 shop so I ended up paying £19·97 for this week's shop. I may do a few yellow sticker shops this week but we will see.


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Numbers And Meatloaf

Hello readers how are we all today ? How are you all coping with the thunder storms. They don't really bother me being almost completely deaf but I know a few of my friends are having trouble getting a good night's sleep at the moment.

Today I have been working on and updating my lists. I have the following lists which I go through and update occasionally.....

List of debts
Monthly list of outgoings (aka The Budget)
A financial to do list
A general to do list
A list of crafting ideas for my Xmas stall (and the fb selling page I hope to set up)
A list of daily chores

As you can see I'm obsessed with lists lol. They do seem to keep me focused and on track though. Here is my current list of debts.....

Catalogues £1145
Pawn shop £300
Overdraft £2700
Solicitor £410
Personal credit £1260

Total in debts £5815 now
Total in debts at the start of my debt free journey £10577


So a total of £4762 has been paid off not quite as much as I would have liked but at least the figure is going down and not still rising. I aim to post a debt list every 3 months here from now on to keep better track of how much is being paid and how quickly or slowly the balance is decreasing. I will post my monthly budget later in the week.


For tea tonight we had meatloaf, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, peas, carrots, and gravy. Here are the costings.....

2 meatloafs 38p (yellow sticker)
Half a bag of frozen roast potatoes 50p
8 Yorkshire puddings 27p
Stuffing 20p
Peas and carrots 9p (yellow sticker)
Gravy 10p

Total £1.54 and served 4 of us so 39p per plate

For dessert we had melon and grape snack packs which cost me nothing. I got them on yellow sticker at 5p a bag and there was a promotion on them of buy 4 get 20p off so they worked out cost negative. When I worked out I had got them for free I went back in the store and bought all they had and ended up with 24 bags of melon and grapes for free plus I got a box of coconut, a pineapple raspberry snack pack, and a box of watermelon for 14p due to another fruit promotion. The woman serving me nearly fell off her chair when she put through the 3 fruit boxes and 20 fruit bags and had to charge me just 14p lol :)

How has your weekend been ? Have you been up to anything nice ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Ten Ideas To Keep The Kids Entertained On A Wet Day

Hello readers how are all my UK readers getting on with this thunder, lightening, and rain. I am almost completely deaf so the thunder does not really bother me, I find the lightening fascinating and pretty to watch, and as for the rain dampening our spirits no chance of that happening at Tilly Towers. I thought I would share my top ten tips for keeping the kids entertained whilst being stuck in the house today.

1) Have a movie day. Make a bowl of homemade popcorn and chill out with the little people in your life. I am lucky enough to get free DVDS to borrow from the library but you can also pick up DVDS and VHS videos for as little as 20p in the charity shops. I got loads of old VHS videos for the kids from one of the free sites on Facebook.

2) Play board games together. The boys get a board game each for Xmas. Over the years we have built up quite a collection so there is always something for us to play that will please everyone. Also keep your eyes open for cheap games in charity shops and on the selling pages of Facebook. I also have an adults game compendium which has chess, cards, backgammon, bridge etc. It is a very good quality set made of wood and felt. It was brand new never been opened from a charity shop and I paid just £5 for it and it has given us hours of entertainment.

3) Family games on the Xbox. We have had the same Xbox 360 for about 3 years now we also have a ps2. You won't find any of the latest games consoles in this house lol. The Xbox 360 was a Xmas gift to Brad and Ben from their dad and the ps2 was bought for £20 second hand by my sister for the boys. The good thing about having an older games console is you can pick up second hand games for pennies. We have a few games where you can play 4 players so the whole family can get involved. Our favourite is who wants to be a millionaire and as well as it being fun it is also educational.

4) Build a den. Turn your sofas back to back or position the dinning chairs to create a square. Throw some large sheets over the chairs from your linen closet and you have a den. With a little imagination you can get hours of fun out of this. You can play castles, dungeons and dragons, pretend camping the list is endless.

5) Have a teddy bears picnic. Throw a blanket on the living room floor bring all your teddy bears down to join in. Have a picnic lunch in the living room with all your bear friends. If like Brandon your little one likes teddies they will love this idea.

6) Crafts. I have a cupboard full of crafting activities for the kids things such as mask painting, decorate your own egg, make a stain glass mobile. All of these were very cheap from shops such as b and m or poundland. I also have paper, paint, paint brushes, pens, pencils, and crayons.

7) Jigsaws. Again these can be picked up really cheap from charity shops and come in various abilities. Hours of family fun in a box.

8) Play hide and seek. Free fun for the whole family. There are lots of places to hide in the house and the kids will have great fun searching for everyone. My boys usually give themselves away by giggling when they hide lol.

9) Baking. Make some cakes together. Ingredients are cheap enough and you get to eat the end product. My kids love licking the cake batter from the bowl once the cakes have gone in the oven.

10) Loom banding. Our new favourite and hours of fun. You don't need an expensive set either I got my loom board, hook, catches, plus 100 bands for £1 from poundland and you can get bags of 300 bands for £1 making this a fun frugal activity that will give hours of entertainment.

Hope this gives some of you some ideas for this wet Saturday.

What do you do to keep the little ones entertained in bad weather ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

BBQ On A Budget

Hello readers I have had a wonderful day today. I wanted to do something special for the boys to recognise all their hard efforts at school this year and Brads exams. I decided to do a BBQ as the boys love barbeques and I still hadn't road tested mine since I cleaned it all up and replaced the new part (saving myself £90 on a new one). It was very cheap but oh so very cheerful. This is the price run down.......

A tiny paddling pool £1 from poundland
A fishing game £1 from poundland
A hula hoop £1 from poundland
9 Packs of bubbles £1 from poundland

A bottle of cola 45p
10 Bread rolls 10p (yellow sticker)
10 Finger rolls 10p (yellow sticker)
10 Value sausages 75p
10 Value burgers £1.38
10 Value cheese slices 64p
5 Choc and nut ice cream cones £1.25

Total cost for entertainment, lots of food, and yummy ice cream for pudding £8.67 for the 5 of us.

And here are the pictures of our celebrations.....

 

My babies

 

I will not smile for the camera I will not smile

 

Oh no I'm cracking

 

Darn it I cracked lol

 

I'm forever blowing bubbles

 

Pretty bubbles in the air

 

They fly so high

 

Nearly reach the sky

 

Hula time

 

 

Oooooo I see fish

 

To hard to catch them so I am going to cheat when I think no one is looking lol

 

Well can't catch any today and you know what they say if you cant beat them join them lol

 

Mmmmm nice and cool

 

Baby if you leave the garden you will be grounded for a week

 

Handsome dude

 

Ugly dude lol

 

Yummy food

 

Can anyone tell me what this beautiful flower is ? She grows freely along my boarders and is such a vivid orange its truly stunning

 

 





 

 

To top off my wonderful day my lovely next door neighbour A has given me some jars and lids so tomorrow I am going to have my first ever attempt at jam making :)


How do you celebrate on a budget ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Celebrating Bradley

My beautiful son Bradley gave me his school report this morning it is his last year of school and he goes up to post 16 in September. I have cried my eyes out this morning reading his report. When my son was diagnosed as being on the high end of the autistic spectrum and having severe learning disabilities I had to grieve for the son I lost the son I had so many hopes and dreams for. We were told he may never walk, talk, or come out of nappies he has defied all the odds and he is one of the fittest most talkative young men you will ever meet. He is polite to everyone and so far he has worked 3 different jobs for work experience and every one of them did not want to let him go and said he would be welcome back any time these include a café, a craft shop, and a nursery with small children. He has overcome bullying from both adults and children alike. He has surpassed all expectations of him from both professionals, family, and friends. I have always told Bradley I don't care what you do in life all I ask is that you try your best in everything you do and he has. He has achieved so much in his life it has been a very hard long journey for him to get to where he is today but through grit and determination we are here at the pay off point. There have been times I have wanted to give up but with the support of my partner, family, and friends have kept going. I have walked through fire to get my son the opportunities and chances other children are just given and it has finally paid off. I am soooooo proud and pleased to tell you all that Bradley has passed the following exams 

Btec certificate in vocational studies
Btec home cooking skills award
Entry level certificate in p.e
ASA National swim award (at the highest level that can be achieved in school)

We are still waiting to hear about the following exams but it is projected he will pass all of them

GCSE English
GCSE Mathematics
GCSE Science
GCSE Performing arts
Cambridge national certificate in ICT
Entry level certificate in design technology
Entry level certificate in humanities

Everyone of his teachers has been astounded by the progress and results Bradley has achieved over the last year and can not praise him enough. To my family and friends who have supported us over the last 16 years thank you for sticking by us through not only the good times but also the bad. To my most amazing son Bradley thank you for teaching me the art of patience, true love, and empathy. I am so very proud of you my darling you have completely blown me away with your pure grit and determination this year you truly are an inspiration to others showing that no matter what life throws at you you can overcome adversity to get to where you want to be. You are my inspiration son and I love you more than life itself xxx

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Feeling Guilty

Hello readers I come to you tonight from my bed and a little sad. Tonight is Ben's showing of the play he has been working hard on with his drama group. Unfortunately I am to wobbly to attend. I have been off kilter all day but since this afternoon I can feel an attack brewing and did not want to risk the embarrassment it would cause to Ben should I go into full on attack mode in the middle of his play. He is not alone as Lee and Brad have gone over to support him. The Mr is under strict instructions to take lots of pictures and make videos of all the parts where Ben has lines. I am so disappointed that I can't be there with him. This is the aspect of my MD I hate the most when it effects my ability to be the mum I want to be. I do my best not to let the MD win and still take the boys out whenever I can and attend all of their events when I'm able but inevitably sometimes the MD wins and I have to concede defeat and just rest.

At the moment I am click clacking away with my knitting trying not to think about what I am missing. I believe there will be a thunder storm tonight as I often get like this when one is brewing. The weather is a major trigger for MD patients :(

Have you ever missed one of your children's events ? Did you feel as guilty as I do right now ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Jam Making

Hello readers a quick update on Brandons school situation yesterday. I went and spoke to his head teacher today and it turns out that the child in question had been teasing him for some time and yesterday he just snapped. The mother of the other child has also been spoken to and she is happy that it was six of one and half a dozen of the other. The other child has been spoken to about teasing Brandon so this should hopefully stop now. Both his head teacher and myself have told him that if he has problems in the future to come and talk to us instead of taking matters into his own hands. We discussed a suitable punishment and she was pleased with how I handled the situation at home. We both agreed one more day of no computer privileges would surfice and the matter has now been dropped.

The Mr took me for a spot of lunch today and it was so nice to get out of the house for a bit. I'm very wobbly at the moment due to this cold causing my MD to play up so I had to go in the wheelchair. We called into the local green grocers on the way home and I managed to get a large punnet of strawberries, lots and I mean lots of plums, some carrots and broccoli, and a bag of Apple's for £2.40. I have decided to turn the strawberries and plums into jam. This will be my first time making jam and as I don't have a canner I will be using the hot water bath method of canning.

Do you make homemade jam ? Do you have any tips or recipes you care to share ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Parenting Advice Needed

Hello readers as far as frugal living goes this is kind of off the beaten track but I would really welcome the view of other parents out there. As a lot of you will know my 6 year old son Brandon is autistic which can often cause behavioural problems. Today I was too poorly to pick him up from school so my friend S picked him up for me. When she dropped him off she told me that there had been a problem in school today and the teacher would like me to go in when I am able for a word. It transpires that Brandon had strangled another child in the dinner line and had to be removed and taken to the head teachers office. Although Brandon does have behavioural problems he has NEVER put his hands on another child (other than his brothers when they fight amongst themselves). My heart dropped when I heard all of this as this is not the way I have brought my son up to behave. I asked him why he did what he did and he told me that this boy had been mean to him on a number of occasions. I told Brandon that it was unacceptable for him to put his hands on another child and that if he had a problem with this boy he should have spoken to me or a teacher and NOT taken matters into his own hands. Just because he is autistic does not justify his behaviour and I know that if I was the mother of this other little boy I would be furious. He was sent to his room immediately for half an hour and has had his computer privilege taken away from him until I have spoken to his teacher tomorrow and come up with a suitable lengthier punishment. When I see the teacher tomorrow I will be telling her that I want Brandon made to apologise to this boy (I was kind of shocked that this had not been done anyway) but also that this young man needs to be spoken to about tormenting Brandon and discuss a suitable punishment for Brandon to try and teach him that this kind of behaviour is completely unacceptable. As I say I do not condone violence in any way shape or form and will not tolerate that kind of behaviour from one of my children regardless of his autism or the fact the boy had been tormenting him. If he had a problem he should have come to me or his teacher so that we could have dealt with it for him. Please do not think that Brandon is a bad child because he is not he is a wonderful, kind, compassionate little boy and this is completely out of character for him. I have had another chat with him this evening and asked him "do you understand why mummy is so disappointed with what you have done" and he has told me he does and that he should have spoken to myself or another teacher instead. His exact words to me were "I will say sorry to him tomorrow even though he is mean to me" this is a decision he has made on his own without my telling him. I am hoping that this means he understands the severity of his actions and will learn from them and that this will be a one off incident.

Have you ever had similar problems ? Do you think I am being to hard on him or not hard enough ? I would welcome any parenting advice on this one readers.

Many Thanks
And
Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Yellow Sticker Sunday

Hello readers anyone who reads here regularly will know Sunday is one of my yellow sticker shopping days. Well I went last night and this afternoon and between the two trips I managed to get £77.62 worth of food for £8 :)

Last night's finds

Today's finds

Here is a run down of what I got its original price and the price I paid.....

Fresh coley fish fillet was £2.62 paid 55p
2kg Sliced roast leg of pork (from the deli counter) was £24.16 paid £2.36
0.490kg Pressed ox tongue was £6.57 paid 65p
3x Apple snack packs was £1.50 paid 27p
6 Pettit filous fromage frais was £1.50 paid 15p
4 Triple chocolate muffins was £1.49 paid 9p
4 Cadburys chocolate doughnuts was £2 paid 18p
8 Sugar ring doughnuts was £1.30 paid 18p
6 Pannini rolls was £2.40 paid 27p
Family sized Apple and strawberry pie was £1.39 paid 29p
12 Strawberry iced doughnuts was £2.95 paid 19p
2 Strawberry cheesecake crowns was £1.09 paid 9p
6 Mini croissants was 80p paid 9p
A sausage and egg sandwich was £1.49 paid 15p
A ham and egg sandwich was £2 paid 19p
A ham, cheese, and pickle sandwich was £2 paid 19p
4x Tuna and sweet corn sandwiches was £5.96 paid 60p
4x Melon and grape snack packs was £2 paid 36p
A honeydew melon quarter was 35p paid 9p
0.215kg Corned beef was £2.02 paid 20p
2 Fresh cream scones was £1 paid 9p
2 Lemon swirls was£1.09 paid 9p
4 Pints of skimmed milk was £1.39 paid 15p
2x Cheese and chilli flatbreads was £3.20 paid 18p
5 Crusty bread rolls was 75p paid 9p
A loaf of white hovis bread was £1 paid 9p
2 Cooked bacon ribs was £3.60 paid 35p

A saving of £69.62 :)
A lot of it has gone in the freezer, some of the cakes were given to 2 of my friends, and the rest will be eaten over the next few days.
If you will excuse me readers I have come down with a rotten cough and cold so I'm off to make a mug of hot honey and lemon, take some paracetamol, and head to bed.


Anyone else out there as mad about yellow sticker reductions as I am ?


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

A Fun Frugal Day

Hello readers Ben and I had the best day yesterday. Brad and Brandon are at respite this weekend giving Ben and myself a much needed rest and Lee is at his place as he is working. I wanted to do something fun and out of the house with Ben instead of him being stuck on the computer or kindle all the time but also wanted it to be a cheap outing. We were spoilt for choice yesterday as there were several things going on in our area. There was a street fair with lots of free acts to watch, there was a summer fete at one of the local pre schools, and in the next town (a bus ride away) there was a free cooking demonstration going on by famous tv chef Gino Dicampo (hope I've spelt that correctly). We decided on the street fair as there was lots of free acts they had on. They had.....
Clog dancing
Belly dancing
Majorettes
Karate demonstration
Musicians
Puppet show
The little zoo
Pony rides
Pig show
Dog show
An open air evening concert with various tribute bands

All of this was free and great fun there were a few other things there but you had to pay for them. The only things we paid for was £2 for Ben to go on an inflatable obstacle course for half an hour, and I spent £2 on The British Legion tombola where I won a red leather hand bag, some tupaware, and a pair of ornaments all of which were brand new and a girl can never have to many handbags or pieces of tupaware lol. I took a picnic lunch and a bottle of pop so we didn't have to pay to eat or drink when we was there. Here are some pictures of our day out.....

This is Dave Hickory the ballon man. He is amazingly talented and can make anything out of balloons. It was fascinating watching him.

This is the minion Dave made for Ben 

The majorettes keeping us entertained

A tortoise from the little zoo

"Hey stop taking my picture or I will take your phone" lol

Rocky the raccoon he was adorable and I fell completely in love with him

Ben didn't want to leave Rocky and if I'm honest neither did I :(

A cute little pony and her goat friend

Ben enjoying his ham and cheese sandwich I made for him

A nice mother and son shot

This little chap scared the life out of us as he rode up to us and started talking to us. We didn't see the man controlling him at first (if you look over Ben's shoulder you will see the chap in control of the puppet).

All in all we had a fab time but decided it was time to come home as we were both very tired and mummy was quite wobbly (I nearly fell over 3 times lol).
Once home we spent the evening watching films and Ben taught me how to make loom band bracelets. I think I may have caught the bug that is taking over the UK at the moment as I have made 4 loom bracelets since last night lol.

What about you have you had a fun but frugal weekend ?

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

No Spend Day

Hello readers not much to report from Tilly Towers this evening. My day has been spent at home doing the housework and little else. On the plus side the fact I have not been out at all today means I have not spent any money not a penny and that can only be a good thing. I am aiming for another stay at home no spend day tomorrow. For tea tonight we had fish, chips, and baked beans sorry no picture we were so hungry I forgot to take one. Fish was 85p for 4 pieces Morrison's value, 2 tins of value beans 50p, 1/3rd of a bag of value chips 30p so total cost £1.65 and served 4 so 42p a plate. Anyway I'm off to do a little knitting and I think I'm going to have an early night.


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Cheap Cheat Cupcakes

Hello readers today I have felt much better than the last 2 days :) This morning we got the free bus to Trowbridge to pick up a few bits and pieces. I got 2 bags of frozen value sausages and 2 bags of value chicken nuggets. I also got a few baking items but more on that shortly. Ben and I are not very keen on the Morrison's value sausages we find them slightly spicy and really not to our taste. The Tesco value sausages are much more to our taste and have no spicy after taste so I got 2 bags which should last us some time. At £1.50 for 20 sausages they are not as cheap as they used to be and have risen in price by 50% since I last bought them. They were £1 a bag back then and that was only about 3 months ago. That said it works out at 7.5p per sausage and they can be used for many a frugal recipe such as sausage casserole, sausage with potatoes and vegetables, also you can defrost them and squeeze the sausage meat out of them to make homemade sausage rolls. Brandon is a little fussy about what he eats at the moment and whilst he enjoys a lot of my dinners there are a few his not to keen on so its handy to have a few bags of nuggets in for when we are having a meal he does not like so that he can have some nuggets instead. As Morrison's do not do a value brand of chicken nugget in my local supermarket I picked up a couple of bags while I was in Tesco today which should last quite a while.


Now readers are you like me and look longingly at the gorgeous looking cupcakes winking at you from the bakers window ? Then you spot the price tag of £1 or more for that gorgeous looking cupcake and decide its to expensive and walk away feeling deflated. I had a look in Tesco today and saw a platter of 12 cupcakes for £6 half the price of the bakers at 50p each but still out of my price range. Well take a look at these little beauties.....

12 Yummy scrummy cup cakes which took me 5 minutes to knock out and cost me just £2.69 so approx. 22p each 1/4 of the price of the bakers. Here's how I made my cheap cheat cupcakes.....
I got a pack of 12 Tesco value fairy cakes and topped each one with cupcake icing from a can. It was super easy to apply the icing and the can comes with different nozzles for different patterns and clear instructions on use. The cupcake icing was £3.49 a can and it says it will do 10 cupcakes if like me you don't smother the cupcake in icing but instead give a generous centre blob you could easily get 20 cupcakes per can. To make it even cheaper Tesco often have their bakery items on a 3 for 2 sale stock up on the cans of cupcake icing when they are on offer and this will bring the cost down even more. I bought 1 can of chocolate icing and 1 can of vanilla icing. Finish off by sprinkling with some decorations and you have some fancy pantsie cupcakes that were quick and cheap to make.


You remember the 2  dresses I got in the charity shop sale for £1 each well I wore one today and the Mr took a picture that I thought I would share with you to show you what I got for my £1.....

I am not the most photogenic person in the world lol but as you can see the dress is very nice and at just £1 a complete bargain.

For tea tonight we had 3 slices of pizza each it was just me and the boys as Lee was called into work unexpecitedly to cover for someone. It served 4 and cost 68p so 17p per person. The 2 pizza bases were actually cheese and tomatoe flat breads and cost me 9p each I added about half a bag of yellow sticker cheese as we like our pizza cheesey 50p. I also added a few slices of chopped ham to my half. Popped it in the oven and within 10 minutes it was done quick, easy, and cheap tea that we all enjoyed. In fact Ben told me it tasted even better than the ones you get from Dominos or Pizza Hut :)

 

 

What's the best bargain you have ever found it can be anything from food to clothes or holidays to furniture ?

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx